The Mighty Sriracha and the Awesome Nutella

Kalau kalian sering browsing dan ngikutin perkembangan budaya dan lifestyle di US pasti aware sama trend saus Sriracha. Saus pedas asal Thailand ini sendiri katanya jadi salah satu condiment paling populer, everyone loves it and it's everywhere, on top of everything.

Saya awalnya nggak begitu ngikutin trend Sriracha ini karena kayaknya di Indonesia nggak terlalu booming. Rasanya sendiri kan pedes banget gitu ya katanya, mirip-mirip Tabasco, yang juga kurang diminati di sini selain jadi pelengkap makan steak. Jadi waktu tadi belanja ke supermarket dan nggak sengaja liat Sriracha di aisle bagian saus dan kecap, saya lumayan kaget juga. And so I bought it, just to see what's the fuss is all about.

Di US sendiri yang terkenal itu Sriracha yang logonya ayam jago, makanya mereka lebih sering menyebut saus ini "that rooster sauce". Sementara Sriracha yang saya beli memang bukan merk ayam jago, tapi kayaknya rasanya bakal tetep mirip-mirip aja.

Anyway, karena penasaran begitu sampai rumah langsung saya cobain. Dan rasanya? Err... agak mengingatkan saya sama rasa saus sambel colek di ciki French Fries 2000. Mirip saus sambal biasa, tapi dicampur Tabasco Mild, jadinya rada asam terus pedes nyelekit gitu. Yah, overall enak sih, tapi enaknya standar lah. Rasanya itu familiar buat yang udah pernah nyobain Tabasco, jadi ya 'sensasinya' biasa aja. Dan saya makin nggak ngerti kenapa American sangat tergila-gila sama saus ini.

Seriously, Sriracha itu populer banget di US, udah jadi semacam saus wajib dan ajaib yang membuat everything taste better. Mereka drizzled Sriracha practically everywhere. Kadang dituang ke sendok dan langsung dimakan gitu aja macam obat batuk. Ada yang ditambahin ke sandwich, hamburger, pizza, pasta, kentang, popcorn, atau nasi, which is masih normal. Ada juga yang bikin Sriracha Bloody Mary, yang masih lumayan bisa diterima akal sehat since Sriracha punya rasa yang hampir mirip original ingredients-nya Bloody Mary, Worchestershire dan Tabasco.

 But Sriracha Lollipops? Sriracha Cookies? Sriracha Cobbler? Sriracha Ice Cream? SRIRACHA LIPBALM?! Some people even go crazier by creating a Sriracha iPhone Case and Sriracha Boxer Short (including a phrase on it with pun intended).

Food compliment lain yang populer juga di tahun lalu adalah Nutella. Kalo chocolate spread yang ini sih di Indonesia juga terkenal banget, thanks to them being overexposed on Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and all sort of social network sites. Masuk akal sih, karena Nutella ini emang selai cokelat paling enak sejagat raya.

Saya sendiri pertama kali kenal Nutella waktu SMP. Zaman-zamannya Diamond PTC masih keren banget, dulu di sana dijual Nutella yang single-serve packs. Waktu itu Nutella masih belum sepopuler sekarang, dan di supermarket biasanya cuma ada sedikit dan udah jelek gitu karena mungkin udah lama.

via Aimakan

Ini bentuknya mirip jajanan tahun 90an yang saya lupa namanya. Pasta cokelat gitu juga cuma kemasan plastiknya warna hijau dan kalo gak salah ada gambar beruang atau tikusnya gitu. Nutella yang ini sendiri rasanya sama kayak Nutella yang ada sekarang, tapi karena jaman dulu rasanya 'wah' aja bisa ketemu pasta cokelat seenak ini. People, quite understandably, also go crazy with Nutella. From Nutella Cake to Nutella-coated Bacon (ewww).

via Buzzfeed

I've Had Enough

Do you know what sucks? Expectations.
It sucks because it gives you false hope, a picture of an ideal setting that you believe in your mind will come true. And then it actually is not. Your life failed to meet your expectations, and it left you miserable and sad for long.

I've had this high expectations on how my long holiday is going to happen. I was excited for months. I'm going to spend a long time on my hometown, some of my dear friends are back too and I'm really anticipating the meet-ups. I'm like really really excited. I've been spending weeks to find the right time to bought the ticket when it is at its lowest price, I've spend weeks saving up for the gifts, and I bought them excitedly in the middle of a heavy rain. I've been so carefully arranged my arrival so that it would be just right in time for my best' birthday. Not to mention that this might be the last time I came here, since it so likely that I'm going to move out soon. Overall, I am being so overly excited with my trip, I had all these happy plans on my head, some sort of illusion that me going home is something, I don't know, important?

And it went downhill from there.
Everything sucks. Everyone is busy. They have no time, at all. And when they did, they preferred to spent it with others whom are more important. The birthday surprise that I planned so excitedly, failed miserably. It is not the 'happy failed' when the birthday person know beforehand about the surprise, no. It is the kind of fail when the birthday person was not even there to be surprised. It really really sucks, seriously. I had to go by taxi, since my driver is no longer my driver, and it cost a bloody fortune. And I had to wait outside for an hour, alone under the maddeningly bright sun, looking so miserable even the local woman came over because she pitied me. And I practically can't go anywhere here because, like I said earlier, I no longer have a driver. So I had to go by taxi, which is so damn expensive and the driver are often idiots who played a really bad music.

I don't blame anyone, really. I do understand they have their own mandatory agenda that they couldn't simply left behind. I also know that a failed surprise is one of the risk you have to preps yourself when you're trying to give someone a surprise. I understand all that, or at least I'm trying to be understanding. It's just that, it sucks. I've been anticipating this holiday for months, it was my motivation during all those hard months in college and that stressful exam weeks. And when it finally comes around, it failed to meet my expectations.

It sucks, yes. And I think the only sole being who needs to be blamed is my own self, for expecting too much.

But is it really too much to ask for your time, deAr? Is it really too much for you to save a time for me, like I always saved time for you when you're in need?
P.S : I'm leaving on Thursday. I've had enough disappointment.

Holiday?

I'm not having an enjoyable holiday so far. With my dad being sick, everyone that matter being busy, and my exam results being such a f*ckin tease, I just can't sit back, relax, and call it a rest.

And I'm like, 150% sure that I will fail in at least one subject. I practically couldn't answer the final test properly, and I don't think my daily assignments are good enough to cover everything up. This is so frustrating. I can't even imagine how will I explain my failure to my father later on. I mean, he's sick now. And he has this expectation of me for doing good like the size of a mountain it's crazy.

I can't even think properly right now. I don't know. Whatever.

Anxiety

Saya besok ujian akhir. Ujiannya lisan, dan saya benci banget ujian lisan.
Terakhir kali ikut ujian lisan itu sama Steve, guru Bahasa Inggris bule saya di SMA. But it didn't count since ujiannya nggak susah, cuma cerita doang dan Steve itu unyu, nggak mengintimidasi.

Ujian lisan yang beneran menyeramkan itu waktu sama guru Kimia di kelas sepuluh. Ceritanya kuis susulan atau perbaikan nilai saya lupa, yang jelas itu benar-benar pengalaman ujian paling nggak enak dan, well, memalukan.

Saya dulu bego banget Kimia. Jadi waktu dipanggil masuk buat ujian lisan, saya yang waktu itu gugup, merasa bego dan terintimidasi sama gurunya yang mengerikan akhirnya panik sendiri. Begitu dikasih pertanyaan saya nggak bisa jawab karena saya... asma mendadak.

Saya tiba-tiba sesak napas gitu, nggak bisa ngomong. Tapi, saya nggak sadar kalo saya nggak bisa napas. Gurunya bingung gitu terus saya disuruh tenang, jangan panik, dan selama jawab pertanyaan saya dibimbing gitu, mungkin dia kasian karena saya mengenaskan banget.

Begitu keluar ruangan itu rasanya kayak Lebaran bahagianya. Tapi begitu inget tadi sempat dengan noraknya sesak napas karena tegang, the happiness just floated away completely.

And that's the reason why that one scary teacher still remembered me all through high school years. I left quite an impression after all.