To be honest, it's not been a good anything else week... At the moment my weeks have more obligations in them than is compatible with contentment and well-being.

But on the food front -- awesome.

First, I have now eaten my way around all five of the famous Indonesian peanutty cousins: gado-gado, karedok, lotek, pecel, and -- this week -- ketoprak.

Ketoprak, not to be confused with the travelling Javanese theatre of the same name, consists of ketupat, noodles, tofu, beansprouts, and (of course) a spicy peanut sauce and a side of prawn crackers.

Second, a kind friend rolled up on Wednesday with a box of cakes:



A great selection, including lemper, those delectable little sticky rice packages that we buy from time to time at the shop by the market, and also lots of new experiences:

-- wajik, which is made of that failproof combo, sticky rice and gula jawa;

-- getuk magelang, which is made of cassava and coconut, and looks like something out of a child's painting; and

-- kue moto kebo, which have a bright red wrapper made of sticky rice flour, and a bean mixture inside.

Third, lunch yesterday at Kedai Kebun introduced me to tumis. My tumis, as well as the morning glory and tempe required in this recipe, had beansprouts and anchovies, and was pleasantly fresh and spicy.

And truly, there is no end to the delicious things you can do with rice, coconut, and palm sugar... At the top of the post we have Kedai Kebun's puding Jawa, a set rice and coconut mixture, coated in a gula Jawa syrup infused with cloves and cinnamon. Hard to beat, especially when accompanied by a good strong kopi Jawa.

Thank heavens for food... Neither body nor soul could survive without it at the moment.