ME AND MY JAVA: LifeStyle-LifeStyle

IT'S JAVA LUXURY!

fresh food

Java has her own way to live an easy simple life.

Life in Java gets easier as it is facilitated by door-to-door salespersons who sells goods and services such as food, kitchen stuff, household needs.

Mbak Sumijem (right) is smiling happily by her merchandise, which she offers door to door, from one place to another. Every morning she goes to market in the morning to get various vegetables, fruits and snacks and carries them on her motorcycle and meets her customers right away. She has a special rendezvous by the road not far away from a junction.

"Pinarak, Bu" she says with a smile to greet anybody who is passing by. "Klapa parut, Bu?", "Tempe?", "Cabai?"

With Rp 20,000.00 ( US $ 2) you can get 10 tempe (nutritiously equivalent to 10 eggs), a bag of cabbage, carrots, celery and leek, 2 ounces of chili, 1 ounce of garlic, 1 ounce of onion, 1 kg of potato and some snacks or fruits, to meet your family's daily nutrition needs. You do not need a refrigerator to keep all the stuff. Consume or cook it right away, and wait for her arrival the next day. So simple!

no electronics

Another seller will come to your house cluster with a van carrying kitchen utensils. No electronics is available here. Instead, as you can see on the picture, there are a large number of baskets, pots, pails, and cutlery made of recycled plastic, tin, iron and wood. "Sepuluh ribu tiga," says the salesperson to the housewives who welcome him, meaning that with Rp 10,000.00 you can have three items of your choice.

Early in the morning, you do not have to worry about preparing your morning meal. As you hear "ting ting ting ting", just go out and welcome a sweet-porridge (burjo) or chicken rice porridge (bubur ayam) seller. And abracadabra!, your breakfast is ready in a minute. Life wouldn't be as easy as this!

burjo seller

burjo, sweet porridge made of green pea and black sticky rice

bubur ayam seller with his cart (gerobak)

Mbak Emi (Bu Jangan) is coming at the door

day attack during office hours

with a smile

showing what's inside the banana leaf: pepes

another food seller (right) helping workers with refreshment

crowd approaching, selecting favorites

nice attack brings smiling faces

Missing or skipping breakfast? No worries. During the break time in the office hours, food sellers -- no appointments -- will come with various meals, bakmi, tempe benguk, jangan bobor, lele, lemet, peyek, pecel, tape, gudeg, grontol, jamu, pepes iwak, jamur, jenang jagung, and many more. Grab as much as you like. No restaurant queue, no wasting time.

nice purchase

And remember, all are fresh and affordable. If you wish, you may bring them home for your family. Forget your house maid, forget all those sophisticated kitchen tools and utensils. Save energy, save electricity!

Want to enjoy cold beverages while there is no refrigerator at home? Never worry. Just look around. You may meet street vendors offering es campur, sup buah, es dung dung, es cao, es kelapa muda. Hmm, so fresh especially on a warm sweaty day!

Es dung dung

Or, want something hot? Bakso or soto is a good idea. Finding them in your neighborhood is as easy as clapping your hands. Just aproach or call out "Bakso!" Your order's ready in minutes. There's no need to make a telephone call. Yummy, yummy, yummy...........

bakso, noodle soup with meat balls and tofu

Wish to hang out with friends or relatives? Just do it. Celebrating it with tongseng or sate (roasted mutton chops) will make it joyful and memorable. Sate is usually prepared by roasting the mutton chops on special stove called anglo. Charcoal is used as a fuel, therefore it is more self-fulfilling and independent as compared to gas fuel.