Bakwan Jagung in The New York Times...

Bakwan Jagung or Corn Fritters are one of my all time favourite Indonesian snacks. They are versatile and can go by themselves as a "between meals snack" or they can form part of a main meal. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see a write up of Indonesian style corn fritters in The New York Times. It was also good to see a recipe attached to the article, and some quotes from an Indonesian Executive Chef, Djoko Supatmono, at the Satay Junction in Manhattan, New York.

I still eat bakwan jagung here in Australia. My wife is an excellent cook, and it helps that bakwan jagung is one of her favourites as well. My preferred accompaniments are sweet soy sauce with chopped chillies as a dipping sauce or sambal mentah (raw sambal - ground up chillies, garlic, pepper), or sambal Bali (I am not a connoisseur on that front, but my mother-in-law had the sambal Bali down pat). We are spoilt for fresh corn in this part of the world, and fresh corn is always the best way to go when making bakwan jagung.

It should not be too long before the Malaysians start trying to claim that they are the inventors of the Bakwan Jagung and that Indonesia stole it from them. Malaysia seems to want to claim all manner of Indonesian things from textiles to music, so food would seemingly not be such a big stretch. If Malaysia does not step forward to make a claim, then Singapore probably will.

Will -- 24 March 2009

I figured it was time I posted a few new picks of the little fella (the last one taken by his Mum on her new mobile phone)...

Will is healthy and growing fast. It is amazing to watch.

Russia -- A Free Press

Russia has not been known for its free press under the previous President, Vladimir Putin, and many have assumed that his anointed successor, Dmitry Medvedev, would be nothing more than a figure head as the real power would now move to the Prime Minister, a position now held by Putin. However, maybe this is not the case as Medvedev has essentially quashed amendments to the libel law which would have made the press in Russia a much less open place than it is now.

It is being reported that the Kremlin is keen to highlight the much more liberal views on matters such as press freedom. Perhaps this is to soften a particularly hard line approach adopted under Putin's Presidency. However, the proof of this will evolve over time as it remains to be seen how influential the former President will be as Prime Minister.

The Russian system of governance is an interesting one in that a "critical" note on a piece of legislation in effect sinks it. I guess this is some kind of veto power (note: I need to learn more about governance in Russia).

Apparently, this issue came about because Mr. Putin wants to dump his wife and run off and marry a 24-year old gymnast (I am guessing for her increased flexibility). Look, Putin would not be the first European leader to dump the wife for a younger, sexy, more flexible new wife. Putin only needs to look as far as France for an example of this, as Nicolas Sarkozy dumped his wife for the former model Carla Bruni.

Currently, the media in Russia can only be shut down for trading in the following news worthy items: state secrets, extremist statements, calls to carry out terrorist acts or statements justifying terrorism.

It would seem though that this is a no win situation for Medvedev as even those likely to benefit from this are sure to be vocal critics that this is nothing more than an exercise in propaganda.