Portland 9th Annual Chowder Challenge

Today I did my first chowder tasting ever! And voted for my favorite chowder. Totally important information.

I've been crazy about chowder since the first time I tasted it in the US - it's kind of my favorite of all western soups. So when I saw this even somewhere among my trashy surfing activity, I commited myself to go there and try various kinds of the city's best chowder. So there I was this afternoon: Portland 9th Annual Chowder Challenge!

I don't know if this kind of activity is popular enough in Jakarta or Palembang, but for it's a really nice process to legitimately determine which chowder is "The Best Chowder in the town"! So the idea is, upon paying $10, the committee will serve you 12 sample chowders (2 ouces each) from various bars/restaurants in a numbered tray, you blind-taste all of them, pick which one is your favorite, write it in your ballot, and submit it to the committee. After everyone's done with their ballot, the committee will count the vote (just like in all types of vote counting) and announce the winner. To make it easier to imagine, here are some pictures of my blind-tasting joy:

Here is the rule!

It's also amazing how Portlanders are so enthusiastic with this kind of thing. Portland is a city where everyone's willing to spend 30 minutes or more in a long line to try "what's hip in the town" - and apparently this annual challenge draws many voters each year!

The famous Portland long line

In the entrance, the committee will collect the $10, and then give us an empty tray and the ballot. Unfortunately I did not take the picture of them, but it's not so hard to imagine a tray with a paper divided by lines into 12 squares, each numbered from 1-12. What for? Since it's blind-tasting, so instead of revealing the names of the bars/restaurants cooking each chowder, they give us numbers so we can consider our favorites easily. And the ballot also provides a place to take a note in the back side!

Reception desk?

Volunteers filling the 2 ounces samples and put it in our tray according to their number

Welcome the chowders!

I started with a spoon for each of them, and it was amazing how chowders can really taste different! By tasting little by little and not finishing one at a time, I can go back to particular cup for a more narrow comparison when I need it. I did it repeatedly, each round dropping my least favorites until I end up with only 2 cups, and think carefully which one between the two is my favorite. Some people eventually made a mistake by finishing a cup before tasting all of them, making them can't go back to the other ones when they need to compare. My method eventually drawn attention from other people, some regretting their method and thought I'm a serious taster. I chatted with random people in my table, sharing our opinion and some of them even tell me particular ingredients they notice in each sample. Since my cooking knowledge is super tropical (and my chowder knowledge considerably zero), I enjoy the names they mentioned without really knowing what kind of thing they are.

Ah, and anyway, I finally done with my ballot and pick chowder no. 2 as my favorite and no. 3 as best with beer!

Comment section

This was the place where everyone sit together and share their thoughts on chowders! LOL.

Anyway, they just announced the winner for this year! Wilwood Cafe (no. 3), my pick for "Best with Beer" eventually get the title! But my pick for best chowder of the year did not make it, and the trophy goes to Lompoc Tavern (no. 5) - the one that I throw easily because I had a big chunk of potato instead of clam right there.

So when you visit Portland, don't forget to try 'em!

Cultural Understanding: Of Being Majority and Minority

I have been skeptical with Fulbright's mission to "promote cultural understanding" since the beginning of my involvement in this program. At the beginning, I thought that's just another slogan - as values are different, being that "cultural ambassador" thing will be limited with "introducing," or in other words, you can't do anything more than shallow compromise. I just realized how much "promoting cultural understanding" can mean after seeing my Indonesian Muslim brothers & sisters' reaction on Our Three Winners​. Yes, I'm pointing my fingers to you, brothers and sisters, on your outrage to the recently increasing hostility (or "incidents") to innocent Muslims, or Muslim-related attributes.

As politically incorrect as it sounds, here is my sincere reaction: folks, now you can understand how it feels to be a minority. Now you know how to put yourself in the shoes of those whose voice wasn't heard, whose case reported with heavy media bias, and who can't help but to feel insecure for some nonsense everywhere they go. Now you feel it.

Whoa, don't get mad at me at the first place. Now let's take a mirror.

I see some of you get really annoyed with "double standards" of the western media in reporting those cases, comparing Our Three Winners with Charlie Hebdo and you ask people to shout as loud as they did when whites are the victim and Muslims the villain. Now remember what happens back home. Do you ever notice how our mainstream media doesn't even care about the human rights violations and torture in Papua? How do you think they feel? And did you ever care how those Confucians and non-official religions feel for being "unrecognized" for decades, with the ignorance and acceptance from the majority? Ah, the more important: who were the majority? You! And where were you every time Christian community threatened by those stupid extremist? Do you know some communities struggle so hard to even pray? Ah, media doesn't really care to report that! Why? Maybe because the majority care more about shopping discount or discussing what's the newest MUI prohibition? Don't you think our media back home have done too much injustice to our minority? And did you find yourself shout out loud? Yeah, you, and me, are a part of the creation of "truth" - sacrificing the values not important to us to end up in silence. Like what you're accusing right now to the American media and society.

I see you're shocked with those people who shout on you just because you're veiled, you're feeling less safe wearing religious attribute. Welcome to the life of Chinese minority back home! How do you think it feels to be called "Cina!" "amoy" everytime you go to the market? They can't remove their eyes or skin like you can't remove your veil. And do you know how difficult it is to convince those Chinese mothers to send their children to public schools, even the best public university, just because feeling insecure of their childrens' ethnicity? And why do you think those rich Chinese kids always hanging out at expensive malls or within their community? Yes, it's a fear of discrimination and hostile treatment. If you're accusing Islamophobia, there's an unconscious pribumiphobia among them. How can I say that's unreasonable providing the fact of what harm our irresponsible society have done to them? Many of their daughters have been raped without proper trial. The mass pillage always targeting them. Public officials expect, and ask, bribes from them. Law and regulation has discriminate against them.

And I hear you're saying American laws have failed the Muslim community - that the state couldn't facilitate the peaceful existence of Muslim and guarantee their safety. What would you say about our country? Will your attitude differs when it comes to those incremental discrimination within our own society? Why don't you shout louder to our government, saying they have failed the rest of the society with their failure in controlling extremists back home? Are you now trying to say Indonesian government already tried to control FPI? And so does American government also tried to control that killing! And the fact that government fail to prevent that from happen at the first place does not justify anything!

I hate and I can't accept the religion or race-motivated hostility in any form. No matter what my religion. I understand your madness, but I hope you can take it as a lesson to build a majority who aware of the hurdles faced by minorities. In the global communication era like this, each of our voice might count and reach to the other part of the earth, but too many times majority's voices are shortsighted. And that's why this time, you, as a minority, speak loudly and ask the majority to listen. Now you know how it feels wearing the minority's shoes. The unheard voice, the people who have to accept the majority's truth. 

And that is the deepest cultural understanding that you can get. Cultural understanding on yourself. 

You can make a change. That feeling, that understanding of being minority, is a precious experience. It might be even more precious than all your efforts to spread and promote the justification of whatever the value you believe. Don't forget it when you're home. Don't use yourself to be that bad majority that you think you hate right now. If you used to be one of them, change. You can choose to be the people you accuse right now, or be a wiser person with more sensitivity in facing minority struggle.

Mt. Lascar, Afontogasta, Chile (5,592 masl/18,346 feet)

Even if you hike a lot, never, NEVER underestimate altitude. Mt. Lascar (5,592 masl/18,346 feet) is one of the popular volcano around San Pedro de Atacama, not the highest one, but big and easy enough to attract altitude seeker to hike it. So if you consider to hike it, here some basic info that might help.

View from the top of Mt. Lascar

How long? The tour starts at 5.30 AM and ends at 4.00 PM (normally) - we went back by 5.00 PM. Those 11 hours including 2.5 - 3 hrs (one way) travel by car and 2.5 hrs - 4 hrs climbing up, and 1 - 2 hrs going down, depends on your pace. The worst record is 6 hours for going up (one way), so unless you're really really not fit, you can expect faster than that. We began slowly, and there's a stubborn girl with plenty of health problems but an amazing mentality in our group, so we had frequent stops and waits. For us it took 3 hrs to reach the crater, 30 minutes (or more) of rest at the crater, another 30 - 45 minutes from the crater to the summit, and 30 minutes of rest at the peak. Going down was pretty easy, it took about 1.5 hrs.

Our guide, Freddy, functioned as leader and sweeper

Price & Agency: I booked with Mistica Atacama for 80,000 CLP (approximately US$133), and the tour includes nice breakfast (more than sandwich, coca tea / coffee / juice - that you can actually save for lunch), snacks (fruits and some energy bars), ONE supposedly English speaking guide (not so much in my experience, but it could work if you're so demanding), transfer to and from your hostel by car, basic medical equipment (altitude pills, motion sickness, oxygen - but bring your own tiger balm), mountaineering equipment (they lend me sunglasses, trekking pole, and even provide gloves etc if you request - for free!). My team was 4 people - and here's the trap: since they only have 1 guide, if someone is sick, the whole team has to go down. Someone in my group eventually went down, and upon ensuring our guide that she's okay, and considering we're not that far from the basecamp, she made her way down herself.

The lagoon at our breakfast, Lejia Lagoon?

If you're there, you'll feel smaller than this

The crater before summit

The trail: It's actually doable without guide. The trail is not dangerous and clear enough. You might need to walk slowly at the beginning and not rushing uphill since you need to adjust your breath. The ground are not really solid, the materials are gravel with occassional small-sized rocks, makes it quite difficult to make your next steps uphill. For Indonesian travelers, if you ever hike Mt. Rinjani / Mt. Kerinci, it's probably feels quite similar. It is not really steep until you reach the crater - elevation varies from 25-45 degree, and a bit steeper from the crater to the top. No vegetation at all, so be prepared with the strong wind and hot exposure of the desert's sun.

See how huge it is?

Getting along with the altitude? Yes, it should be an easy hike. Yes, it's less than a day. Yes, it's amazing view. But does the altitude really matter? The answer is YES. First, DON'T try to climb directly if you just came from the sea level, or have not acclimatized to at least 4,000 masl. Spend some days biking around the town (you can try to go to Laguna Cejar, Valle de la Muerte or Valle de la Luna) or take a tour to Laguna Altiplanca or Geyser del Tatio (and make sure you do some physical excercise right there). Second, don't feel weak if you don't go as fast as you use to be. It is perfectly normal. Altitude makes your heart beats faster, makes your lungs do extra effort to get oxygen, and impact your mood and spirit. You can google the normal symtomps so you don't feel bad about yourself. The ability to get along with the altitude varies between people - nausea, faster heart beat, and mild headache are normal. If you're vomiting violently, or having a terrible headache, it might be bad. Mine was perfectly normal until I completed the whole trail (I was even at a pretty nice pace), but upon reaching the car I could feel a strong urge to throw up and my head started to ache a lot. It might be a combination of altitude and sun heat. I pushed myself to get into the car and put tiger balm around my artery, and tried so hard to sleep. After 1 hr of really bad road (yes, the road condition was horrible for the first 1 hr, no wonder, you're in the middle of the desert!), I finally said to my guide that it'd be nice if he allow me to make an effort to puke on the side road. I thrown up the stuffs in my stomach until the very last drop, and I could feel it was filled with the gastric acid. My teammates suffer from a terrible headache as well, but did not throw up so bad. Since I have a bad gastritis, probably that contributes to how my stomach got along with the altitude (it affects everything - from anxiety to madness, so I presume it didn't get along well with the altitude as well, LOL)

You can see the trail clearly!

A gang of vicuna we met on our way back

The view: AMAZING!!! The breakfast took place in a really beautiful lake, with a perfect reflection of the mountains surrounding it. The trail itself expose you to a never ending desert - sea of sands, dunes, and dry mountain - a view like no ordinary places. A good contemplation to reflect on how small you are. Enjoy yourself through these photographs!

[Animal Law Simulation] Eating Soon-to-be-Euthanized Dogs?

It's pretty funny how things you hate the most usually being the thing that you end up paying attention the most. Like my experience with the animal law, the more subject I object, the more productive I write about that matter - even in fact those writings might be rebuttal.

We had an interesting simulation in one of the class: Dog for Livestock Bill debate simulation. Yes, what I mean by simulation was a FAKE bill, fake opponents and sure, fake proponents. I was acting as one of the proponents of this bill, specifically, my role was a dog meat consumer, and during our work we collected some interesting materials. I summed that up in a 5 minutes speech which I'll just post in here, but I recommend you to read some more interesting articles in here. Anyway, here is the fake bill:

And, here is my *evil* but *rationale* speech! ENJOY!

DISCLAIMER: Please bring in mind that this is an argument for a simulation. It does not represent my personal opinion about eating dog meats, and even I do LOVE dog meats, I eliminate health concerns in here since my role (which is fake) was to advocate the bill. Consuming dog meats in the US is highly related to the vaccines and medications received by the dogs, and very possibly unsafe for human consumption.

Let me begin this with one question: What is the most delicious meat that you ever taste? Pork? Beef? Chicken? Turkey? Lamb?

What about meat that is as fatty as pork that it has a little taste of bacon; juicy as beef but inherit the same unique texture as lamb, and capable of warming up your body like wine?

“After eating dog meats, beef seems tasteless” – Mark Wiens, a famous food blogger confessed. What he said has repeatedly been spoken by many people who dared to step outside of their culinary comfort zone and eat dogs.

Source: toughtcatalog.com (2013)

Dog meats are exotic delicacy. And it is exactly the central reason why legalizing abandoned dogs as livestock can be a promising solution of our overarching problem with dogs overpopulation, dogs euthanasia and disposal of euthanized dogs.

There are three reasons why we believe this law is important for Otagon society as a whole, and dog meat consumers in particular: (1) We have enormous problems related to abandoned dogs and their euthanasia, which require an innovative solution; (2) There is an increasing consumer demands over dog meats in Otagon, making dog meats business a promising market – and a solution; (3) The scheme offered in this bill will force dog meats market to ensure dog welfare and hygienic practice.

But before proceeding further, I need to ensure that everyone in here departs from the same page to see the practice of eating dogs with rational, rather than emotional, considerations. Looking at this issue, we tend to react emotionally from our cultural bias. But let us think about this: Is it acceptable for Moslems or Jewish folks pointing their finger to us and saying that we are immoral because we eat pork? And is it justified for Indians to believe that everyone who eat beef is less civilized than them? Then do we really have strong reason, aside from our own cultural bias, to put a social prejudice upon people who is performing his personal dietary choice? This country, since our Declaration of Independence, has put a solid foundation and eventually succeeded in building a society who respects personal choices.

And yet, as a dog-loving society, we have successfully abandoned 6 millions of dogs and sent them to animal shelter; and eventually killed 3-4 millions of them with a method we call humane. It happens every single year. Department of Agriculture’s data shows that even organizations like PETA has euthanized more than 95% of the animals it rescued. And about 2 billion dollars of public money are being spent every year to maintain the shelter operations, the euthanasia, and the disposal of our dear friends’ dead bodies. The disposal itself also troubles the ecology and poses an environmental justice problem to the low-income community. Our problem is not resolved – it evolved.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I mentioned in my second point, the creative solution that we’re looking for is always there. The market demand is growing. Dog meats are considered delicacy in many parts of the world, including China, Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, some parts of Africa, even in Canada, and the list goes on. Top 5 countries of origin of the 17.3 millions of Asian Americans are actually dog-eating countries; and some of these folks brought their dietary culture with them, even influencing Americans to also try this delicacy. Overbrook, a town in Kansas, has been hosting more than 21 annual dog-eating festivals, a perfect example of American-Vietnam acculturation in terms of culinary preferences. As this bill is debated, at least one point of contact of every municipality in Otagon has let me know their support.

But as I mentioned in my third point, the current situation of the emerging dog meat market is terrible – both for the dogs and for the consumers. We might not know – but it’s there. Just like Philadelphia case, Otagon dog butchers using the available legal loophole, behind their closed doors – breeding, raising, and slaughtering dogs. It’s legal to do so, without any standards available, without any provisions to prosecute, without any inspections. I’ve been observing for 15 years how the sanitary standard is lacking, and how the traditional method of killing the dog is far behind our standard of ‘humane’. By having no inspected processor, the consumers lack certainty and information of safety level of the dog meat, posing themselves with the risk of trichinellosis or excessive level of chemicals within the dog’s flesh. By having no inspected processor, we let more dogs beaten to death under the silence of the law. The most suitable answer for this is law and regulation.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’ - Martin Luther King, Jr. said. We, the dog meat consumers, are offering to voluntarily bear the social stigma of eating dog meats so that it can compensate society’s burden caused by America’s excessive abandonment of our lovely friends. Think about it”

Some other interesting sources:

1. Slate, Wok the Dog (2002)
2. Earth Island, Why Environmentalists Should Care about Pet Euthanasia (2012)
3. CNN, The Argument of Eating Dogs (2014)
4. Mark Wiends, What Does Dog and Cats Meats Taste Like (2013)

In the matter of Answering "I Don't Know"

The deeper I know about a matter, the more I realized I have addressed many wrong questions in the past - which has been answered in a really wrong sense. Yap, I'm talking about those questions which sounds smart and challenging that the person who's been asked have no idea that that questions contained serious flaws. And they, in the light of their expertise, will rather pretending to be able to answer that 'wrong questions' than honestly answer 'I have no idea' or 'I must look it up first'.

This is one of the most true example of how many people will answer wrong questions:

"What do you think about the new rules issued by Ministry of Transportation to impose different gas prince for people based on their monthly income?" SMART! Beside the fact that I just made that issue up, the more important flaw is that there is NO Ministry of Transportation in Indonesia. And yet, people keep answering.

It makes me remember of one of the questions addressed by an interviewer during my Fulbright interview back home. When I mentioned how I wanted to learn more about EPA, and when I mentioned some amazing programs EPA administered and how I want to research about possibility of applying that in Indonesia, he asked me:

"Do you know that EPA will be dissolved soon?"

I thought hard if I ever heard of that before, and innocently answered "Really?" with a super dumb face. I decided pretending to know will possibly more risky because I really had no idea whether he's asking a true question or he merely tricked me. Later on after I started my courses in the US, his question made more sense to me. He probably was referring to the war on coal, of which the republicans started highlight more and more EPA's costly programs and policies, and framing EPA as 'killing capitalism'. And it become clear to me that such question is inherently wrong, and it could be really good test on how well a person knows, or pretend to know, EPA. If I were at the state of my knowledge right now, the most possible answer was "I know that Republicans have tried so hard to frame that for years - yet to my knowledge, there is no success effort in dissolving it. EPA has successfully nailed Republican efforts to stay away from US' duty in climate change so far"

Be careful with experts. Sometimes they don't realize that intentional mislead is a big academic sin.