Author Archives for Ellen

Art

It is hard to write an introduction for pages which do not exist yet. Usually these pages of a book are written last, when the contents of the book are known. It is the place where the reader is given an clue of what to expect, the place where acknowledgements are made. Only rarely do i read those pages thoroughly myself. I skip to the contents, the index and the bibliography. You might wanna do the same thing, so i can indulge myself here a little further.

It is hard to write an introduction to pages which do not yet exist. I did set out some guidelines for myself though. I will try to think of these pages as a public diary, a sketchbook. This will give me some freedom, not everything i do needs to be ‘perfect’ and ‘planned’. Ofcourse this is only to help myself, i am a terrible control freak, often prone to a paralysing doubt about what i do and its value. I actually thought i had given up my work for good; i had found a nice job where i feel happy enough, but quite suddenly i felt the need to rethink my old work, which i made when i was at artschool (’86-’91). The idea of combining my old work and the internet breathed new life in it. For a couple of months i was thinking about this new work. The main reason i would like this to be a sketchbook is that i realise i have to start making things. Its been quite some time since i’ve really worked and i know i have to go through the first disasters before i can come up with some quality – i hope. The internet is a nice fluid medium, where pages can appear and disappear in no time.

I am not sure how these pages will develop, i don’t know how frequent the updates will be. It might be less than i anticipate at this moment. Maybe, when you read this somewhere in the future, you will know more than i do now. Maybe than, where there is nothing now, there will be something for you to discover.

This text was published on 1 July 1997 on www.luna.nl/~ellen. In 1999 i moved my website to lfs.nl.

Looking back on my time spend working on lfs.nl, calling it a sketchbook was a good thing. Liberating. I could take breaks, days or weeks long. I could do anything i wanted.

I remember thinking that i would end it, someday. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know when. When i stopped, in 2006, i knew it wasn’t ended yet. The present i made in 2009, To do’s, was an impossible present in which i tried to get back to work. It failed.

In 2014 i simply started again. Making canvas presents. Writing. Making photos. Like i had never stopped. And then, in January 2015, i got the idea of making an about page.

Then the thought came up: this will be the last present.

I knew it. The moment i thought that, i knew it.

It took me a week to write the about page. The perfect ending. Not that what i wrote was all wisdom, hell no. But it fitted the sketchbook idea. It fitted with me, at that time. I had no idea what i was going to do next.

I didn’t know that in two weeks time i would start a blog. On ellenpronk.com. A domain i had registered years before. For which i had made several designs, none worked out. A domain i used for my work. Several subdomains of work for clients. Now, in two weeks, i had made a design and worked out the theme, started with a Blank WordPress Theme.

I knew i would post five updates a week. I loved making the Beauty posts, Food, Rotterdam. In summer i added a few more categories: My story, Songs. And finally Video Clips.

These clips are special to me. I loved how they came from my walks outside. I loved choosing the music for them.

In 1991 i finished art school. My final work were my selfportraits with the text Feel Me Fuck Me Free Me.

I really had no idea why i had made this. I remember having a halfway exhibition at art school with much more modest photos and texts. Comments from other people got me to try to be bolder and more in your face.

In the years after this i had a small assignment, an exhibition in Breda at Lokaal 01. But it wasn’t working. Not for me. I didn’t know what my work was about, why i made it. I was throwing things in the dark.

So when i found the chance to get a job, at a printer, i took it. One weekend of thinking about this and yes, i went for it. At least i was earning my own keep. And learning things. Living regularly, working with other people. We made a cd for Christmas one year, which was great. All songs written by colleagues. All instruments played by colleagues. Wonderful.

After five years i was done with it. I simply couldn’t continue. I stopped. I gave a great party, the Party of a Millennium. And i started a much more quiet job at a small design firm in Rotterdam.

Nine months after that i went to London. I actually got a job through my website. Which was a dream coming true. Well, i hoped it would be. The company went bust after around 6 months. But it also didn’t go that well. There was hardly any work. I was let go before the others. They extended my trial period. I did worry about that a bit. And yes, after two weeks i had the talk. Bye bye.

I got some small jobs in London. After a year or two i was back at the design company in Rotterdam.

I felt i had failed, to be honest.

I had only stopped making things for a couple of years. In 1997 i started making things for online. I didn’t call it art. I was simply enjoying myself. Flash was my first great discovery. I loved it! April 2000 i made Dream, which generated many visitors and responses.

I’m not sure why i stopped making presents in 2006. I had been going on for nine years. I could have stopped it then. I didn’t. I felt empty. No ideas were coming up. I had this to do list in 2009. Some of these to do’s i haven’t even done now. Five years of silence followed.

So here i am, on 14 April 2016.

This website, this blog, i love. The past year, five days a week, i made a post. I publish each post at 6:00 in the morning. This means i do most of the work the day before. I like it. It gives me a bit of time to think, a bit of time to reread, a bit of time to let it settle down. Not all posts are equally good. Like this week, View is a weak one. But that is fine.

So what do i want?

I could go back to work. It is not that bad. I make enough money that way.

But that is not what i want.

I love the walks. Around Rotterdam, on the beach, through the park. I love the talks with people i do not know. I love the smiles, the saying hello.

Right now my life is bare. A lot of time for myself. A lot of time to waste.

What do i want?

I wrote about my choice in life: a public life or a private life.

Then, exactly a year ago, i picked a public life. In my life since then nothing much has changed. Well, a few things have. I don’t have my old drawings anymore. That i actually gave them away is a big thing for me.

I still pick a public life. It is not that i want to become famous. That is more a byproduct. I want to meet people, talk with them, look at them, listen to them. I actually would love to travel a bit more. So far that has been low on my wish list. But i would love to see the world, get to know it a bit better. And talk about that here, on ellenpronk.com. As i already do now, but on a smaller scale.

I feel i am getting ready. A bit more. Not that i am perfectly quiet and still and prepared. It is more that i am less afraid. More curious. It is like, i was never that interested in the outside world before. I was just happy doing my own thing. I can still be like that. But i am more aware of what is going on outside. I’m not always right, but i do like to think and look and speak.

So is this art?

Most of the things i make can not be sold. Most of the things i make can not be owned by a single person. Some could be, i guess, but i will not sell them. So i do have to find a way to make a living, to earn money.

I could be a table lady at De wereld draait door.

I could have an article published in a newspaper.

Those two things have been on my mind this past year. I expect more will come to me soon. Hopefully.

I don’t know if this is art.

My favourite Dutch artist is Katinka Simonse, Tinkebell. She is couragous. Outspoken. Outgoing. Actually, she is all the things i would love to be.

I do need to find my own thing.

Well, i did find the songs and the video clips. I love love to make them. Especially the video clips. Wonderful.

I need to make some steps into the world.

I really really do.

Published on April 15, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: My story

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Carrot cake

Carrot cake is one of my favourite cakes. In the medieval period it was common to use sweet vegetables for desserts. In those days sugar was a rare ingredient. Only in the 18th century sugar became more available.

These days carrot cake is popular. In the United Kingdom it is voted to be the favourite cake of all, in 2011 for the Radio Times. Most likely this revival of carrot cake started in the Second World War with the rationing in the UK.

I used the following recipe from the BBC website for a classic carrot cake.

Ingredients carrot cake

450ml vegetable oil
400g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
550g sugar
5 free-range eggs
½ tsp salt
2½ tsp ground cinnamon
525g carrots, grated
150g shelled walnuts, chopped
currants

Ingredients icing

200g cream cheese
150g caster sugar / powder sugar
100g butter, softened

I did make a mistake and added the sugar to the dry ingredients. When i just reread other recipes, it was more common to add the sugar to the wet ingredients. Other than that, this is simply mixing all the ingredients together, apart from the carrots and the walnuts. These are added when all the other ingredients are thoroughly mixed. The ingredients for the icing are simply mixed too. Start slowly with this, as the powdered sugar wafts up lots.

I baked two cakes with this mixture. A loaf shape and a round cake mix. The loaf i will take to my mum when i go and see her this Friday. I put the icing in a seperate box for her, this will keep the cake fresh for a longer time.

The use of oil and the carrots gives a moist cake. This also means the cake can be preserved for longer times than other cakes. I looked it up: seven days in the fridge, two days at room temperature. In the freezer up to 6 months. But really, who would want to keep it for so long!

All the ingredients for the carrot cake

The dry stuff and the wet stuff

Dry and wet mixed together

I had a slice of the cake while it was still warm. Since i plan to keep the cake for a couple of days in the fridge, i saved the icing separate in a plastic box

Published on April 14, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: Food

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View

Published on April 13, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: Rotterdam

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My day

11 April 21:01
I’ll be updating this post during the day. I’m writing this the evening before. I will also schedule this post to go public tomorrow morning at 6am. As i do every working day. Nothing new there.

Enjoy!

12 April 9:53

Breakfast

A photo posted by Ellen Pronk (@ellenlfs) on Apr 12, 2016 at 12:34am PDT

12:00
Mornings are a slow time for me. I did get out of bed around 7:30, gave the cats some food, went to the toilet. After that i went straight back to bed. I did go my rss feeds, but quickly i put aside my iPad and fell asleep. With Mieke, the little black and white cat, sleeping on the bed.

I got out at 9:15. Boiled an egg, cleaned up the catty litter box. Ate my breakfast. I sat behind the computer and went through facebook and twitter. Nothing much is happening. I read again an article from Trouw about psychologist Zimbardo, ‘Iedereen is een held in opleiding’. I do recognize bits of myself in here: how i walk through the city, looking at other people, trying to say hello or goodday as much as possible. Talk to other people as much as i can. A week ago, when i was looking at the archeologists working at the church, a man walked past and looked as well. We started to talk. He was still fit, looked great for his age, 87. He enjoyed talking. Most people do, it’s rare that i talk. But i did meet a man, also last week, who asked me questions. If i had sisters or brothers. How i felt. We shaked hands. He gave me one euro. I laughed. I wasn’t asking, but he still gave it. I remember the man in the supermarket i started talking to. And the little kiss on the cheek i gave him. I was a bit surprised after that, by myself.

I opened up warcraft. I been playing on a private server, the Rebirth. The past week has been hectic. Another private server, a much larger one, Nostalrius, had to close down Sunday 10 April, since they had a cease-and-desist order from Blizzard. The Rebirth only got a small portion of Nostalrius players, but it still means the population has grown around six times over. When i logged into the game this morning, there were around 250 players on alliance side. Usually, on a weekday morning, there are around ten or twenty players online. Global is filled with chat. There are some griefers back too, but on the whole it’s been a blessing to have so many new people in the game. A breath of fresh air.

I did do a Stockade’s run in a level appropriate run. It used to be so hard to find a group of people wanting to do a dungeon run. Now it’s like a field day. Loving it as long as it lasts.

Going to the market soon. Get some food in the house.

14:32
Ooh man, i got money back from my taxes over 2013. I just opened the letters i got from the tax service. I had to look if i had to pay back or receive. Hard to see. Then i checked my bank and wow! i got it back!

17:41
Right now cooking a officially named Saffron and Broad bean paella. No saffron, no dry sherry. But i did add fennel, a bell pepper, a hot pepper and french beans. Enough for two days. I have blanched the broad beans for a minute or so and removed the skins. They are all fresh and green now waiting for the paella to be finished.

I’m already thinking about tomorrow’s post. No idea! Hmmm. Still enough time.

20:24
Tomorrows post is done!

Turns out today was a really average day. Well, apart from the money i got back from the tax office. That made me really happy. Still does. I still need to be careful, but wow, such an unexpected surprise.

Lets just see how it goes tomorrow. I do want to work on a new video clip. Not sure i have enough clips for it. It is a long song i’m using, 7 or 8 minutes. Not sure i will get it done tomorrow.

I also want to write more on my post about my art background. Started weeks ago. I have thought about it, but nothing definite. I know i could write it in the time i have, but not sure this week it’ll be ready in my mind.

I’m gonna watch a bit more tv now. Nothing too exciting. Snowwhite, with Julia Roberts and Lily Collins is on. At 9pm its Bake off: Creme de la Creme. Not sure which one i’ll be watching. I’m going to bed quite early. Like to anyway.

I hope you will enjoy your evening. Where ever you are.

*kiss*

21:27
I started watching the Snowwhite movie. I had already seen it. It’s a bit.. well, i don’t really like it that much. So i switched to the Bake Off series. Also not my favourite. But, it did get me thinking. Of baking something tomorrow. Something sweet. To treat myself. Yay! Nothing too hard, and something that stay good for a while. A cake! So i did a quick search. A New York cheesecake. Hmmm… too much filling. A lemon cake with icing! That sounds good. A carrot cake. Ooh yummy. With the cream cheese frosting. I might pick one from Joy of Baking. Well, i got tomorrow to pick my recipe.

Carrot cake does sound good. Or chocolate!

I don’t know yet. Tomorrow!

Published on April 12, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: My story

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Laat Me Niet Alleen

Around two weeks ago i started to think of this song, Ne Me Quitte Pas. Written and sung by Jacques Brel. I didn’t know it was written by him, but yes, it was. I didn’t know the Dutch version of this song, i didn’t even know it existed.

I did always enjoy the French version. But my knowledge of French is rather poor, so i didn’t get much further than the title. When i searched for a Dutch version a week ago, and found it, the first times i read it while listening to Jacques Brel himself i was swept away with tears. I also found a version sung by the Dutch singer Liesbeth List, which i do love.

In a 1966 interview, Brel said that “Ne me quitte pas” was not a love song, but rather “a hymn to the cowardice of men”, and the degree to which they were willing to humiliate themselves. He knew, he said, that it would give pleasure to women who assumed it was a love song, and he understood that.

The cowardice of men.

I fell in love several times, when i was young, in my late teens and twenties. Thinking back, i don’t think i ever really fell in love. I mean, i never got to know the men i fell in love with. They all said a clear no to me. Yes, i did ask. It never went beyond an infatuation. I did develop a bit more taste when i got older. But still, a no. Never a yes.

So i don’t know anything about love from my own experience. I have thought about it many times. Dreamed about it. Fantasized about it. I am curious. But also a bit scared. I do like being by myself.

Well, anyway, i do enjoy this song. Especially in Dutch. I do hope you’ll enjoy it too.

Laat Me Niet Alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Toe vergeet de strijd
Toe vergeet de nijd
Laat me niet alleen
En die domme tijd
Vol van misverstand
Ach vergeet hem, want
‘T Was verspilde tijd
Hoe vaak hebben wij
Met een snijdend woord
Ons geluk vermoord
Kom dat is voorbij
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen

Lief, ik zoek voor jou
In ‘t stof van de wegen
De paarlen van regen
De paarlen van dauw
Ik zal al mijn leven
Werken zonder rust
Om jou licht en lust
Goud en goed te geven
Ik sticht een gebied
Waar de liefde troont
Waar de liefde loont
Waar jouw wil geschiedt
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen

Laat me niet alleen
Ik bedenk voor jou
Woorden rood en blauw
Taal voor jou alleen
En met warme mond
Zeggen wij elkaar:
Eens was er een paar
Dat zichzelf weer vond
Ook vertel ik jou
Van een jong vrouw die stierf
Van nostalgie
Hunkerend naar jou
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen

Want uit een vulkaan
Die was uitgeblust
Breekt zich na wat rust
Toch het vuur weer baan
En op oude grond
Ziet men vaak het graan
Heel wat hoger staan
Dan op verse grond
Het wit mint het zwart
Zwakheid mint de kracht
Daglicht mint de nacht
Mijn hart mint jouw hart
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen

Laat me niet alleen
Nee ik huil niet meer
Nee ik spreek niet meer
Want ik wil alleen
Horen hoe je praat
Kijken hoe je lacht
Weten hoe je zacht
Door de kamer gaat
Nee ik vraag niet meer
‘K Wil je schaduw zijn
‘K Wil je voetstap zijn
‘K wil je adem zijn
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen
Laat me niet alleen

Jacques Brel – Laat Me Niet Alleen

Liesbeth List – Laat Me Niet Alleen

Published on April 11, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: Songs

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Black and white

Published on April 8, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: Presents

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La Grande Parade

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Highlights in Painting after 1940
15.12.1984 – 15.4.1985

Organisation exhibition
Edy de Wilde, Karel Schampers, Alexander van Grevenstein, Hendrik Driessen

This is the first ever art exhibition i remember visiting. I was still studying in Delft. A year later i would go to art School in Rotterdam.

I remember being surrounded by red. Who’s afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue by Barnett Newman. The first time i saw Giacometti, Fautrier. The later paintings from Georges Braque were exquisite. It was all new, beautiful, breathtaking to me. I knew Mondriaan, of course. But i had never seen these paintings before.

I found a review from the New York Times: ART: ‘GRANDE PARADE,’ AT THE STEDELIJK, published December 27, 1984. It is set in its time, of course. It is a white male exhibition. I didn’t think about that at all when i visited it.

I bought the catalogue. I am including photos from the pages. Better than looking up the images online. This sets the paintings in their proper surrounding.

These are the painters i picked, who stayed with me. Some grew, others diminished. My taste changed. Of course.

Still, even though the memories are vague, this exhibition has stayed with me. I don’t even remember if i went alone or together with someone else. The only real memory i have is the one from the Barnett Newman painting. Ooh, and Philip Guston. Not that i really liked his work, i didn’t. But that changed over the years!

Published on April 7, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: Beauty, My story

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A happy day again

Today i went to the market. Waiting for the traffic lights, i smiled at a woman. I apologized straight after. “I feel so happy”, i said. She smiled. “I don’t see too well”, she said. “But please be happy!”

I’m paraphrasing. The conversation was in Dutch of course.

I do feel happy today. My mind spins up and out. Last night i woke up around four. I was lying awake for a bit. I turned on the lights. Read some new rss posts on my iPad. Got out of bed and stroked my cats. Went in again. Finally fell asleep.

Did do some bibbly-o-tek work today. Aah, thats what i suddenly realized last night, i never got a backup from the database. I did log in the old hosting. Couldn’t get to the phpMyAdmin page. But luckily there was a backup page where i could get an entire backup of databases and other stuff, so i turned that on. Took a while, around half an hour. I did get the back up. Yay!

So i did spend some time copying a new wordpress setup to my own hosting, setting up the database, copying the images and clips and audio. Most of the links are working now. But i will change the theme. It’s ten years old and showing its age. Not responsive one bit. So yeah. I will also change the flash flv files. That will take a bit longer. And change the gigography page. I always enjoyed the hovers, but that is so ten years ago. I also do need to add all the dates after 2006. Pfff.

Anyway, rambling on a bit. Not a clear day. Still, a happy day!

Published on April 6, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: General

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The referendum

I am Dutch. This Wednesday, 6 April 2016, there is a Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum.

The question: Are you for or against the Approval Act of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine?

I still don’t know what to vote. I will go and vote. I can vote yes. I can vote no. I can vote blank.

I can vote yes
The European Union has many association agreements with countries all over the world. From Albania to Zimbabwe. Why not add Ukraine to this list? A Young Democrats (D66) leaflet i got last Saturday told me this.

This is not about all the other countries the EU has an agreement with.

There are many types of agreements. One other still in negotiation is with the USA, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). I will not get into this one in this post. My first thought is to be against this. I even signed the petition.

This post is about the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement. I didn’t realize that Yanukovych, the then current president of the Ukraine, had refused to sign this agreement. He had presented an alternative, the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. The new chosen president Poroshenko did sign the economic part of the agreement on 27 June 2014. I knew about the revolution in the Ukraine. I knew the president Yanukovych was removed from office. At the time, February 2014, i didn’t realize this was about this Association Agreement. To be honest, politics is not my main interest, some of these events simply pass me by. Still, it is a bit embarrassing to admit this.

The European Union and the (then) new Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the economic part of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement on 27 June 2014,and described this as Ukraine’s “first but most decisive step” towards EU membership.President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said at the signing ceremony: “In Kyiv and elsewhere, people gave their lives for this closer link to the European Union. We will not forget this.”

This forms a big push towards voting yes.

I can vote no
The article about the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement on wikipedia does give quite a lot of attention to the Russian and European fight over the Ukraine. The Ukraine itself is divided in its pull towards either Europe: the west part of the Ukraine, and Russia: the east part of the Ukraine. There is even a war inside the Ukraine itself, with two eastern provinces declaring itself for Russia.

The shooting down of the commercial airplane above the eastern part of the Ukraine, the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, with over half the passengers being Dutch, is a direct result of this war.

The human rights situation in Ukraine is hard for me to judge. Reading the Follow the Money article about this from 1 April 2016 Hoe staat het met de mensenrechten in Oekraïne? (Dutch: What is the state of human rights in Ukraine?) doesn’t bring a lot of hope.

A new law makes it possible to keep people in custody for 30 days. The Ukrainian constitution however states custody can be no longer than 72 hours. The Eastern war brings out the worst in the Ukrainian secret services and the eastern based rebels. Torture, threats, assault and detention are used by both parties.

The Panama Papers opened up Sunday 3 April shows we will need to move with utmost care. We are still at the first stories from these papers. I do hope the politicians and sportsmen mentioned in these papaers will not be able to let these stories disappear from public interest.

What to do?
Writing the above, reading about the agreement, its history in both Ukraine, Europe and Russia, even in its two hours i spend this morning is mind-boggling. I can say this is too much and simply vote blank. What i do realize is the importance of this. Looking at the Ratification table on the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement page shows me a green table. Every country has ratified this agreement. There are two parts with a different colour: the Council of the European Union and the Netherlands. With it advisory referendum.

I will vote no
I read the column by Ewald Engelen for De Groene Amsterdammer, in which he comes to his final no-vote. At the end of this column he writes:

Voor of tegen de kaste – dat is de vraag.
For or against the caste – that is the question.

This is not a doubtless, right from the heart, clear from the start NO.

I do wish Ukraine to grow as a nation. I’m not sure the European rules are right for it in its current condition. I don’t even think the European rules are right for the European countries. I’m not saying leave Ukraine to Russia. But, I do think Europe is going too fast and is too greedy.

I’m not sure about this decision. I have no doubt this agreement will go through, one way or another. My vote, any Dutch vote, will not change this.

But i will vote against this.

Against the current political stream.

Against this world as it unfolds itself in shameless selfishness.

Published on April 5, 2016 at 6:00 by Ellen

Categorised in: World

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Gado gado

Around two weeks ago i made myself nasi goreng with peanut sauce and tofu. Nasi goreng is a very common dish in the Netherlands. Indonesia used to be one of our colonies. We still have many Indonesian restaurants. Conimex is sold here in like forever, or as long as i can remember. Or, as you can read in the linked page (Dutch) Thuis in de Oosterse keuken, available since 1932.

Of course i didn’t use any Conimex in the recipe for my gado gado. I mean, it is so well known, it can’t be good.

Gado gado is a Indonesian salad. You can use all sort of different vegetables. I used broccoli and french beans. Cucumber and coriander for some freshness. One day i had boiled potatoes, the next i cooked some basmati rice. I had fried tofu, the second day marinated them in some ketjap manis.

First i made a peanut sauce. I used different recipes as a starting point. This one from Ottolenghi and one from Rasamalaysia.

I used the following ingredients for the peanut sauce. This gives a sauce for around four people.

4 garlic cloves
1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
2½ tbsp sambal manis
2 small pieces galangal
4 medium shallots
trassi
80ml vegetable oil
½ tbsp salt
90g palm sugar
½ tbsp paprika
2 tbsp thick tamarind water (tamarind paste whisked in water)
225g roasted peanuts, without skins
450ml water
200ml coconut milk

I followed the next steps, basically following Ottolenghi’s steps. I did add the trassi and used the palm sugar insted of normal sugar. In the chinese supermarket the Sambal Olek wasn’t available, i got the Sambal Manis in stead.

Whiz the garlic, lemongrass, sambal, galangal, shallots and trassi in a food processor. Heat up the oil in a saucepan and cook the paste over a low heat for around 40 minutes, stirring regularly.
Mix the salt, sugar and paprika with the tamarind and add this to the cooked paste. Cook for 10 more minutes.
Wiz the peanuts, not too fine, and add them to the cooked paste with the water. Let this simmer for a further 20-25 minutes.
Add the coconut milk and stir. Done!

For the gado gado cook any vegetable you can not eat raw. I had a simple version. I cooked some broccoli and french beans. I cooked some basmati rice and added coriander leaves. I sliced a fourth part of a cucumber. Tofu was fried and afterwards put in some ketjap manis to marinate a bit. The wrong order, i know. Still enjoyed the taste. I didn’t have any eggs. I had eaten two eggs for breakfast, that was enough for me.

I had some kroepoek with the meal. I had bought some of the dried paste you can fry your own kroepoek (krupuk?). Simply heat up some plain vegetable oil and wait till its hot enough for a kroepoek to fry quickly. Afterwards i put the finished kroepoek on some kitchen paper to get most of the oil out of it. Great with the gado gado. I used a vegetarian kroepoek one.

Lovely meal. Especially the peanut sauce!