Mamamia Pizza

Here is our favorite pizza place:  Mamamia on Jl Pengosekan with a new branch recently opened on Jl Hanoman.

I have not eaten a lot of pizzas in my life to justify but Mamamia probably has the best pizza that I've ever tasted. You may strongly disagree after trying it and that is OK.

Watching a friendly Balinese making pizza

Their pizzas are not expensive, range from USD4.5 toUSD5.5 for the whole pizza and it is usually enough to feed two not very hungry adults or one very hungry adult and one hungry child.  They are quite packed in the evening and that tells you their popularity index. 

Our favoriate so far?  Pizza Maninara(I hope to get this spelling right, if not, it is the shrimp and squid one).

Their delivery is free of charge so another reason to stay home to be a couch potato!

Tamanak Children Playground

If you live in Ubud and looking for a children playground, there is a community project called "Tamanak" in Sayan which worth checking out.

It is not a huge ground but enough for Eron to play the whole afternoon, not wanting to go home.

Balinese children normally do not enjoy the luxury of having a "man made" playground for them.  They climb trees, catch fish, swim in the river, fly kite, ride bicycle and among other "natural" activities.

So this garden is different and fun to them.  They are very excited about it.

It is a donation based project with a great intention of setting up a safe and fun place for children to play and explore.  Here is their website and please support them in making this playground better.

http://www.tamanak.org/

Still in Bali?

"Are you still in Bali and will you move there for good?"

My Singaporean friends have mix feelings for my decision of relocating to Bali.  Some are envious, some are neutral, while others raise their eye brows(pretty high).  It is unlike moving to Canada or Australia, you tell people that you are moving to Bali for your son's future and school etc, you will either get a comment that "your are very adventurous" or "you are crazy".

I have mix feelings too.  We moved there in the beginning of this year with the intention to stay for a while and see how it all goes for us in Bali.  To be honest, I was still looking for some other possible countries to move to.

The whole plan about relocation is really for Eron to have a freer, less stressful childhood and school life.  Singapore educational system certainly is great but it is not what I am out for right now.

Sometimes fate will take you to where it wants you to go, it is totally not up to me to plan or choose.  I am highly driven by my desires and goals and will do anything to get it.  And I usually got it.  Until recently.  I tried very hard to find a place to move to where I truly(at least I thought I was) desire but guess what? The harder I tried, the more things do not show up for me.

My work training brought us to Bali last year.  I brought Eron along with no or little intention to wanting to relocate here. Long story short.  Fate has a mind on its own.  This week we are home in Singapore processing our one year temporary resident permit at the Indonesia Embassy.

Will we live in Bali beyond a year.  Most likely.  We are shipping our belongings to Bali and I am setting up a business there.

Will we live in Bali forever?  May be. 

Do I still have desire to relocate or live somewhere else for a while?  Certainly.

Is Bali attractive?  Yes and it depends on your likings.

Here are a couple of Eron's pictures, he seems to like it in Bali:)

Chef's afternoon's break

Wayan is leaving for Paris!

Wayan, the brother of my landlord is heading to the airport today, leaving for Paris, France.  He has been going there to work at a zoo for a couple of months each year, for many years.

No, he is not a zoo keeper.  He is a woodcarver and he carves animals figures for display at the zoo.

My Balinese family: My landlord's mom, Wayan the brother, Made the landlord, Made's son.

and Deska.

Nyue Kuning is a wood carving village and almost every man can carve.  There are at least 4 men in my Balinese family who are carvers.  However you can not really tell that they are as they do not do that on a daily basis anymore.  They work either as a driver, villa manager or builder. 

A lot of the male Balinese are fine artists(some women too!) and some of them can not survive by selling their arts and crafts pieces, so they do something else. Is that upsetting? Sure. But they will tell you it is what it is, accept it, work around it and make life better.

Balinese live life.  They live the moment, do what they suppose to do, finish the task and call it a day.  Do they complain about lives?  Sure they do.  But again, they always just look at what is presented in front of them, they get the job done and move on to the next.  They seem to be contented at the end of the day.

Coming from a big city where I used to run from one place to another and doing godzillian things at once, my Balinese friends have inspired me to just simply live life.  

Eco Swasti Cottage, Ubud

Eating at Eco Swasti is such a pleasant experience.  From ingredient to preparation to serving, one can tell that the owner has put in a lot of effort and great ideas in pleasing her customers, and her vegetables.

You can literally taste the garden.  The vegetables which are (mostly) straight from her garden are so fresh and crunchy.  I am not a big fan of green leaf veg but even then, I finished everything on my plate.

Napkin holder. At first I thought they were kid's toy.

It is like eating something straight from the garden, being picked by yourself without any third party handling.  I actually feel very happy after the meal and knowing that my body really appreciate the food.

Yes, there are many restaurants which serve organic foods but this one make almost everything from their kitchen.  I was just being shown a bread making machine(not the one you use at home) in their kitchen.  They make all the sauces and breads, use coconut oil to cook their food and free range meat and eggs in their dishes.

Not forgetting to mention about their cleanliness, they have the cleanest kitchen I have never seen in any restaurants and they can easily beat the one at my house!
 
They also have an amazing organic garden with small animals which the children will appreciate.  And their farm again, is very clean and well organised.  Walking in their garden is such a bliss!

It's such a pity though there are not a whole lot of people who come to their restaurant.  I would love to see more people coming to taste real, healthy(I mean, very healthy) food, from someone who truly care about the environment and their customers.

Way to go Swasti, keep up the good work.

Pilates in Ubud, anyone?

Friends have been asking me about what we have been up to.  No posts, no phone calls, no coffee.

OK. We love Bali so much that I decided to set up a Pilates studio and live here for a while.  That is what I have been up to- looking for a place to set up business, getting the KITAS(work permit) done and working on my company website.

So friends stay tune.  If you are looking for a beautiful place to practice your favorite Pilates routine in Ubud, on amazing pieces of equipment, then please look us up in a few months time!

Oh alright, you want to have a quick peek into exactly what I have been secretly boiling:
www.MovementMatters-Bali.com