This is the classic Balinese type of sate, using finely chopped meat to mixed with spices instead of sliced meat in a marinade or rub.  It's called sate lilit and can be made with chicken, fish or tofu then grilled.   We put ours on fresh lemongrass skewers for that extra note of citrusy-herbal freshness.

Happy Galungan Day from Ubud!

I have to eat my words...I really didn't think this would taste good. In light of my recent eating, drinking and making merry tour of San Francisco, I thought there might be a few of us needing some lighter healthier options in the new year. At least until our clothes fit again. These are some successful experiments in raw food:

Celery Soup made with almond milk
















Shredded Zucchini Pasta with savoury, summery taste courtesy of sun-dried tomatoes


















Spirulina Balls...really bad name, really good taste. Please send name suggestions! They are made with dates, almonds, honey, sesame seeds, cinnamon, spirulina and they are delish.

Christmas always means baking (among other things!) Here's a mulberry pie straight out of the oven. Yes, it was immediately cut and tasted right after the photo.

This photo was actually from a couple of weeks ago. I'm in San Francisco for Xmas and trying wonderful food, taking classes at the culinary academy, loading up on some key ingredients and wine tasting. This is such an amazing and inspiring place for the food obsessed among us. The Dragonfly menu will be all the better for it in the new year!

An upcoming special...this Tasting Plate has a scrumptious assortment of chocolate mousse cake, pandan coconut pannacotta and black rice with palm sugar and shredded coconut. it's the perfect dessert for when you're feeling indecisive or sharing with a friend.

We took a field trip yesterday to an organic farm. Gede was trained in permaculture in post-tsunami Aceh and brought his skills home to his village in Bali. And some funky style.
















A rainbow of lettuces.
















Beetroot and carrots



























Malabar spinach winding up a bamboo pole. Have you tried this? The leaves are thick and succulent, high in vitamins A, E, calcium and iron and frequently used in Chinese cooking. It's also a stunner in the garden with its jewel-like clusters of little berries.

Watermelon Feta & Rocket Salad
Rucola or whatever you like to call it is a marvelous peppery green which most of us enjoy in moderation as it's got quite a bite. This salad is perfect as the sweetness of watermelon balances the bold flavor of rucola nicely. Feta and olives add a salty, briney layer and a sprinkling of seeds give a nutty crunch.

Fresh Vegetable Rice Paper Rolls- a crunchy healthy snack with carrots, beetroot and jicama, Vietnamese dipping sauce
















Thai Prawn & Snapper Cakes: a bit spicy from chili and a bit sweet from the prawns, this is our favorite version of this popular starter

I'm a big fan of the table salad that accompanies many Vietnamese dishes- big handfuls of cilantro, rau ram, mint and greens to add bold bursts of flavor. This is a bright and vivid salad for the eyes and for the palate- calamari fritti tossed with a handful of fresh herbs with the kick of sliced Lombok chilis. A dish this simple requires the best ingredients so we use freshly picked lemon basil, cilantro, sea salt from East Bali and flash cooked squid.

This is what happens when Balinese artisans are applied to a simple western holiday. We thought of decorating for Hallowe'en with some simple jack-o-lanterns and scarecrows and set our cooks to work.
















Our cooks happen to be from wood carving families and rather outdid themselves.


























The scarecrows are a blend of the humorous orang-orangan used in the rice paddies and the traditional giant paper mache demons at made at Nyepi, the Balinese New Year.

Have a look at our apotik hidup (living apothecary) when you visit. We've managed to grow quite an array of herbs and medicinal plants on our terrace. From the familiar basil and aloe vera, to the exotic jinten, kayu manis and temu, all are used in our healthy elixirs and cookery.

I share an interest in herbal remedies with our floor manager Yudi and he recently shared this recipe for an herbal tea that his grandfather used to make.

Put a cinnamon quill, star anise, cloves, knob of ginger and a bit of palm sugar in a pot. Cover with water, bring to a boil and pour into a cup. We leave all the goodies in the cup to steep.

I wish we had scratch and sniff technology...it's so aromatic and warming. We suggest it after a meal as a digestive aid; the ingredients also make for an excellent cold and flu treatment.

This is a happy little tree in my garden. Planted just six months ago, it began cheerfully growing these clusters of green, extremely sour star fruit. This is belimbing bulu, a type of star fruit that is grown in many family compounds for use in traditional medicine as well as for eating. Eaten raw, it is good for cleaning your teeth although not for making you smile. The leaves, steeped in hot water, are useful for treating colds.
















Anyway, we have so many from this prolific tree that I have been canvassing everyone for recipes. It seems to be one of those wonderful ingredients that you don't find on restaurant menus, just in Balinese home cooking. That's when I knew it was going to be good!



























Our manager Ketut Edi came up with something from his village, a soup that's normally made with fish. We made it with prawns, it would work very nicely in a vegetarian version with tofu. I took one not very good photo and finished the whole thing in no time flat. Wow, unbelievably good. It's sour, spicy, aromatic...reminds me a bit of Tom Yam Goong as it has a nice pop from Kaffir lime and lemongrass. We'll have it as a special this week but it's definitely going on the regular menu soon.

I had an interesting conversation a few years ago with a Burmese dissident about the situation in his country. He was wishing for the world to care about Burma in the way they seemed to care about Tibetan freedom and wondering why we all allowed the injustice to go on year after year. Last month, we saw stirring images of the monks' peaceful protests, followed by the chilling stories of the military round up. It's only natural for our attention to drift elsewhere as other news takes over. But we know that's how this brutality has gone on for so long and this time we're not going to turn a blind eye. Right?










Please use your liberty to promote ours.
Aung Sang Suu Kyi


Drop a line to the Burmese foreign minister letting him know we are concerned about the illegal detentions.



Foreign Minister Nyan Win
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Naypyitaw
Union of Myanmar
Fax: +95 1 222 950 OR +95 1 221 719

E-mail: mofa.aung@mptmail.net.mm

Send money to help Burmese refugees get medical treatment at Mae Tao Clinic Thailand.
http://www.maetaoclinic.org/donate.html






And ladies, don't forget to mail panties to a Burmese Embassy near you. I know, this one is a little weird.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_page.php?art_id=9048


Keep up with the news. Here are a couple of interesting articles about the countries that enable the regime to continue.


Among the Asean countries, Singapore is critical for the Burma regime. Singapore can be considered a lifeline for Burmese generals as many generals' families and cronies own businesses and properties in Singapore. Furthermore, most of their ill-gotten money is in Singapore banks and it's also the place where they go for medical treatment and shopping. If the Singapore government sincerely wants to help Burma, they should instruct all Singapore owned banks (UOB, OCBC, DBS) to stop corresponding with the Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and the Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB). Instruct Singapore-owned banks to stop illegal US dollar transactions with MFTB and MICB. Currently, Singapore Banks are helping US dollars transactions with MFTB and MICB by bypassing the Bank of New York. This is illegal. The monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has the authority to stop this. letter from Sit Naing to Irrawaddy online

But now, you as a conscientious human being or a friend of the Myanmar citizens can help. China is the country with most influence on the current military junta. As an emerging power and a global citizen, it should do the right thing by prevailing upon the military junta to stop the ongoing violence against its own people. It should firmly urge the junta to start working for the national reconciliation and dialogue with the imprisoned political activists including Aung San Suu Kyi which should lead to a free civil society and a democratically elected government in Burma. Otherwise its reputation as a good global citizen is at risk especially just a year before it intends to be the friendly, modern and welcoming host of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Please write letters and petition to the Chinese government and its citizens to facilitate this process by pulling the plug on the Myanmar military. Otherwise calls for boycotting the 2008 Olympics may become inevitable. Though we generally discourage using sports to win political objectives, dire events call for dire actions and the Myanmar people are in dire strait at present. Please help them. This is their only chance to make a difference after many prior failures played to the same old playbook. from Concerned Burmese Physicians site

Now and then we have a booking that fills the restaurant all at once. Everyone is so organized, they make it look easy.

The kitchen preparing for a group of 70 guests.

















The dining room set up.
















Action!

This pizza is a riff on the flavors of a Greek Salad: red and green capsicum, kalamata olives, red onion, a dusting of oregano. After a few minutes in a hot oven, kick it up a notch, as Emeril would say, with fresh feta cheese and basil leaves.

Isn't this pretty? It's our yummy apple berry pie with homemade lattice crust, a delicious recipe that's not too sweet so you can really taste the fruit. We alternate between this recipe and our mulberry pie.

My new favorite drink: lots of ice blended with freshly cut aloe vera, lime, honey and mint leaves. Totally thirst quenching and it's full of vitamin C and other nutrients.

Pineapple Prawn Salad
















Vietnamese Chicken Salad

It's taken me a few days to post about the book launch- everyone here worked so enthusiastically to make it happen and I'm so happy to report it was a wonderful evening. Here's the story from the Jakarta Post by Michele Cempaka:

Bilingual Anthology Sells Out at Book Launch

A bilingual anthology entitled Terra was launched at Dragonfly Cafe on Saturday, Sept. 29, to a crowded room of both expatriates and locals. The anthology features 64 works of 45 authors who have been guests at WordStorm: the Northern Territory Writer's Festival.

Kadek Krishna Adhidarma opened the launch by reading an excerpt from a short story by Sitok Srengenge, A Cup of Coffee for Vladimir Barakovski, which describes an Indonesian poet in exile.

Kadek introduced himself as the anthology's chief translator, explaining the translations were literary in nature, rather than being word-for-word.

Activist and best-selling Indonesian novelist Ayu Utami then shared her impressions on the collection of stories and poetry saying, "Literature should present a universal beauty and complexity. An anthology of work from both Australia and Indonesia is a geo-political choice".

After her speech, Ayu read her favorite short poem by Sam Wexon, Welcome to No Man's Land. Maryanne Butler, a writer from Australia, then followed with a reading of three poems from the Terra anthology.

Dorothea Herliany read: She's a Poet from Magelan in Indonesian, accompanied by Timorese poet Abe Barreto Ares on guitar. Laksmi Pamuntjak then read Dorothea's work in English capturing the crowd with her elegant voice.

Following Laksmi was Goenawan Mohamad, who gave a moving speech, saying: "Indonesia is an isolated country despite its size. The myth of Indonesia is the myth of unity. When we speak of the Javanese as a majority, it's a false majority. We're all minorities."

The launch finished with a reading by Sydney-based poet Miles Merrill, followed by a great performance of his poem Night Knows.

The event was attended by many of the well-known international writers who participated in the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival discussions and events, as well as local celebrities such as Made Wijaya and Jamie James.

King prawns, snapper, squid and clams from Jimbaran Bay
















served with pandan leaf and coconut scented rice, sambal and sauteed water spinach

August may mean summer holidays and lazy warm evenings where you live. Here it means cremation season!

Prawn and Mandarin Orange Cocktail with Absolut Bloody Mary Dressing

















Flourless Chocolate Cake

Dragonfly is hosting a photography exhibit by talented young artist Hamish Humphreys. He is just 18 years old, born in the Seychelles and having lived in East Africa, Australia and New Zealand prior to moving to Bali. He's a keen surfer and has already published in a leading Australian surf magazine. Since his time in Bali, he's turned his eye to capturing the daily life and places here. I think you will be impressed with his eye for composition and encourage you to stop by and have a look.

High season has arrived. The streets are bustling with people speaking French, Japanese, English, German, Chinese and everything in between. We're happy you came to visit and hope your holiday is filled with gracious service, unexpected adventures and magical evenings enjoying the dance, music and of course, food.

At our restaurant, we are seeing repeat guests from a year ago, when we first opened. One wrote a note on our comment card that she was so surprised that her waitress Wayan remembered her name from a whole year ago. Frankly, she was an absolute sweetheart and we ALL remember her fondly, but we want to give a huge thank you and welcome back to all our return guests who were with us from our humble beginnings.

Now, let's eat!

Seafood Salad with Thai Chili Dressing

















Martabak(a bit like a flat eggroll, absolutely delicious veggie filling with Chinese celery and other herbs)






















Balinese Black Rice Pudding with coconut cream, palm sugar

I just had a meeting with Karen of the Ubud Writers Festival and we've got our event! We had an amazing evening last year when we sponsored the "Love Debate" at the festival. Here's a photo from that night. The place filled up immediately.




















And people never stopped coming until no one could enter the restaurant until someone left. It was standing room only and people sitting on the floor- absolute madness and great fun. Our staff and kitchen had its finest performance to date and I've never been so happy to stand in a hot kitchen washing dishes!




















I also met festival founder and director Janet de Neefe. She owns Casa Luna and Indus restaurants, as well as having written Fragrant Rice, a lovely memoir of her life her in Bali. Whenever we have out of town visitors, I always take them to Indus during the day for the view and Casa Luna for the cooking class. *I must tell you Casa Luna has the best Vegetarian Nasi Campur. Try it, thank me later:). She also has time to raise four children and she looks this good in person as well!



















All right then, let's return to my original point. We have our event, it is a book launch with authors reading- sounds like another fun night. I'll let you know more as the date approaches...see you there!

TERRA: A Bilingual Anthology
Saturday 29 Sept. 5:30pm – 6:30pm
This unique and timely anthology in English and Bahasa Indonesia brings together an enticing selection of the Austronesian region’s iconic and emerging voices. The anthology — a joint publication of the NT Writers' Centre in Darwin, Australia and KataKita in Jakarta — features the best prose and poetry from over 40 guest writers featured at the WordStorm, NT Writers' Festival from 2004-2006. Dragonfly

Several of the Festival guest authors are featured in the book and will read at the launch, so it should be a really fun and vibrant event.

I should have mentioned this before. We have free wifi at Dragonfly. In fact, we are the first restaurant/cafe in Ubud to offer it as a free service to our guests. It's been a great thing and we've got a great crew of regulars who come in daily to have breakfast and coffee, send off some emails and even have business meetings here.

The internet provider we used was the same one as the other cafes were using so our service was comparable to the paid wifi access at other restaurants, which means that if anyone was doing any serious downloading/ uploading or there were 20 people using it, it was slow. And, of course, that would make some of us cranky, but we got to be cranky in Bali so let's not be too upset. Anyway, two weeks ago we switched to another (slightly lower cost) provider thanks to our trusty manager and right hand man Ketut Edi.

And what happened? Holy cow, now we have fast internet! And we are more surprised than anyone.

One of our guests asked "Did you wave your magic wand?" which shows he's spent far too long here since he's attributing technological improvements to magic or divine intervention. But, yes, those offerings to the gods of DSL have obviously been working.

Wayan Dewi, do you know how to cook this?

Of course she does. But, she informs me, it will be "pahit", bitter. In fact the name of the vegetable is paya, which sounds like the word for bitter.

Wayan Dewi started as our children's nanny but due to her quick mind and capable nature now manages many functions at our villa. Dewi means goddess and I picture her as the one with many arms, one holding a baby, one answering the phone, killing a snake with another. Our food experiments often start here at home to work out some kinks before testing at the restaurant.

















First slice into thin rounds. Toss with sea salt to remove aforementioned bitterness. After a few minutes, the salt is rinsed off and excess water squezed from the sliced paya.

















Add the usual suspects of garlic, chili and shallot, smashed with a mortar and pestle.

















Add one egg- didn't expect that.


Mix together then fry, stirring constantly.


How does it taste? Well, it's a little bitter. However, it's nicely cut by the richness of the egg and I think we'll try pairing it with something sweet and rich tasting like prawns. It has potential.



















This view makes everything taste heavenly.

Our restaurant is handily located a short walk to the Pasar Ubud up a small back road. Pass the paintings, the sarongs, the wood carvings and stacks of baskets and descend the endless but tiny steps that seem to have been cut for a 2 year old to walk down. That's where the good stuff is.
















I like to buy something that I have no idea what it is or how to cook it. Easy to do here. I do have some favorite sellers. This wonderful lady notices me eyeing the bumpy tendriled green things and immediately launches into the deliciousness and excellent quality of the bumpy green things. Most importantly, she gives me some helpful suggestions on how to cook them. Sold!
















She weighs them.



























Some of you reading this are, I am sure, also addicted to this sort of shopping whether in your local farmer's markets or the more labyrinthine bazaars of Asia. How can we explain the attraction? It's certainly a cleaner experience to buy them in the Safeways and Sainsbury's. But what a treat to slip away from behind a computer screen or mobile phone and savor an entirely hand-crafted experience, using all five senses and having an unhurried chat about veggies in the middle of the day.

Bebek Betutu is one of our most popular dishes at Dragonfly and is one of the must try dishes in Balinese cuisine. The duck is stuffed with an aromatic assortment of herbs, roots and leaves: turmeric, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, candlenut and wrapped in banana leaves. It requires hours of slow cooking to reach falling off the bone tenderness.

Bebek Betutu is normally eaten at ceremonial feasts and many restaurants require 24 hours notice to prepare this, but we have it ready to order off the menu. We serve it with long beans, a spicy sambal and the traditional cone of yellow rice for 42,000 rupiah. Enjoy!


















My three pet ducks that will never be betutu-ed.

You thought I was kidding.





























This being Indonesia, there has to be a no smoking sign or someone will be smoking. On the Stairmaster.


















It does help to have this view.

Running a restaurant involves hundreds of details: making sure every guest is being greeted, refilling water, keeping track of the timing of the food, checking the bathrooms, paying bills, organizing a photo shoot for a magazine, finding out why we're out of cilantro, making the schedule, evaluating the trainee cook, checking every plate as it comes out, writing a press release.

Since we change the menu so frequently, some days are devoted to eating.

Today I had to taste this seafood pasta.






















and the Vietnamese Imperial Rolls


















followed by the Warm Baked Apple Stack


















Tomorrow I will be posting from the gym.

If you know anything about Bali, you know that everything requires a blessing ceremony. These are photos from one year ago prior to our opening. One rainy day, we dressed up in our pakaian adat (ceremonial clothes) and blessed our new venture with the help of a very fancy priest who came to Ubud from East Bali. Thanks to the hard work and diligent fingers of the lovely ladies in the village, a mountain of offerings was created ensuring prosperity and luck for the business! This was a magical day in between the dust clouds and banging of renovating the restaurant.

This is one of the pleasures of living in Bali that I never take for granted. The fruit is luscious, aromatic and has a flavor that just does not make it to the produce section of an American suburb. Let me take you on a tour of our Tropical Fruit Plate!

The unusual fruit in the center is the salak or snake fruit, obviously named for its textured brown skin. Once peeled, the fruit resembles large garlic cloves but it's crisp and refreshing, somewhat like an apple.

Next, the humble banana. This is a take it or leave it fruit for me in the west which I dutifully eat because it’s high in potassium, not for the taste. In Bali however, they are worth eating for the delicate sweet flavor. There are dozens of varieties in Bali and the chubby little biu susu or "milk banana" are often the first food given to babies.

Mango is the poster child for tropical fruit but there is nothing clichéd about biting into a sweet orange yellow fruit in height of the season. It has an elusive scent that to me smells more like perfume than food like but is oh so irresistible.

We have adopted the Balinese habit of eat papaya daily. It has a myriad of healing properties: as a digestive aid and anti- inflammatory, in rejuvenation of cells and to cleanse the liver. The trees are very common and grow like weeds with no effort.

Pineapple adds a refreshing tartness and sweet juicy watermelon comes in red or brilliant yellow.

The photo shows what we're currently serving in the restaurant but it changes often according to what is in season. I'm proud to say that many days the fruits are supplied from our own organic garden. Slice, top with shredded kaffir lime leaves and taste the tropics!

Here we are at last! We're finally online after completing a beautifully designed website, not being happy with it and realizing that what we really wanted was a way to informally chat with our guests and guests-to-be. You know, like one of those blogs.

Stay tuned for news on upcoming events at Dragonfly, eating and drinking in Ubud, and probably some tangential posts on... (to be determined but my dog's photo will definitely make it here.)