Flour, Eggs & Water

December 22, 2019 Silviana Khurniawan

Chicken mushroom noodle I made from scratch

It all started because I wanted to eat a bowl of fresh handmade noodles.

I wasn’t sure what possessed me but I suddenly had this very strong urge to make my own noodles at home. Fueled with determination after binge watching noodle making tutorials, I grabbed my keys and walked to the supermarket, bread flour and eggs on the top of my list.

And then, the unexpected happened. As soon as I mixed the bread flour with eggs and water, the scent of the dough filled the air. It was a scent so strangely familiar that I was heady with nostalgia.

Tea & Company

June 15, 2017 Silviana Khurniawan

Dear cousin,

You invited me over to your house for an evening cup of oolong tea. I was expecting a cup of excellent tea, prepared with meticulous precision, to accompany my last night in Taipei. I certainly wasn’t prepared for what was in store.

You see, what you might not have realized, when you explained to me so passionately how different the process of preparing oolong tea from black tea turns out to be, is that you taught me so much more than how to brew tea; you taught me about life. You taught me that passion, just like brewing tea, always has to be accompanied by patience. Like your clay teapot that gradually shines as you use it over and over, we don’t get to be brilliant without persistence and determination. We don’t master something overnight but who's to say we can’t sit back, relax and enjoy a soothing cup of tea in the process?

La Vie in LA Part 3

February 21, 2017 Silviana Khurniawan

It might be because I decided to play La La Land soundtrack album on Spotify. I also have a growing suspicion it might have something to do with the wine I drank at lunch, most of it I drained on an empty stomach. It might also be because I kept hearing the phrase "another day of sun" from one of the La La Land songs only to be greeted by gloomy and grey sky. It almost felt as though the song was mocking me tirelessly. Hey, listen to us singing about yet another sunny day in LA and enjoy this appropriately cheerful melody. Oh, stop.. just stop.

In case you haven't read my love letter to Los Angeles in my previous posts, my love for City of Angels is strong and true. And all of those things I wrote in the paragraph above makes me miss LA, yet again. I also somehow miss my life over there, and you know what else - or rather who else - I miss, I miss my sister and my brothers.