Food is a big part of our lives here.

How better, for example, to round off your day at Parangtritis than with plump young coconuts, pisang goreng, and lumpia out on your own cool little terrace?

How better to redeem a day full of marking than by discovering the pancakes at the Ministry of Coffee? Plump, succulent, American-style pancakes, served with chocolate and banana, or butter and maple syrup -- Saturday night heaven.

How better to enliven an airfares-booking session at the travel agent's in Jalan Prawirotaman than with lunch at ViaVia? I rarely eat European food in Yogya (why would you?), but if you want a really good Caesar salad, preceded by a cool glass of coconut-orange-banana-pineapple-and-date juice, and rounded off with a kopi Jawa, then ViaVia is the place to go.

And our favourite places keep providing delicious new things. Tembi's red rice dish, for example. Red rice is sega (or sego) abang in Javanese. At Tembi it is served like this:

On a little wooden tray, place a big bowl of red rice. Alongside the big bowl, place a little platter with tempe, tofu, and deliciously tender pieces of beef. Add to the tray a little dish of sambal, a few kerupuk, and a little bowl of sayur lodeh. Absolutely delicious. A really wonderful combo of tastes and textures.

Another great combo is the eggplant, sambal, and smoked fish they serve at Gazebo Unik, that nice little place by the stadium. Their food is always tasty, and the smoked fish has just the right degree of chewiness.

Tembi also regularly create new and interesting drinks. Their current promo consists of honey, passionfruit syrup, lime juice, and Sprite, and is great for the hot, hot days we are having at the moment.