Indonesia

Wordsmyth 2012 Reading Series: Reading of Forgotten Kingdoms by Randy Baker

Bilingualism and Taco Ockerse

Top 5 Amusing Food-Related Entries From Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

During a recent trip across the pond, I visited the life residence of Samuel Johnson, a charming four-story house-turned-museum in south London. I'd recently read Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, but was fuzzy on his most famous work, the Dictionary of the English Language, pu ... More >>

Google Auto-Complete Answers: Why Are My Pants...

All good questions.​Randomly typing the start to questions into Google launches a whole host of weirdness that changes depending upon the searches people type into the search engine giant. Not only are they often interesting, but down right strange? I've been sampling this phenomenon lately a ... More >>

Top 5 Worst Foods To Take to the Gym

As a self-confessed "gym rat," I have come to appreciate my fellow patrons who exercise good sense, especially with regards to food and drink in the workout areas. There is no explicit rule banning, say, eating limberger cheese, in the aerobic studio but (most) people at my facility understand witho ... More >>

Invasive Black Tiger Shrimp On the Rise in the Gulf of Mexico

Black tiger shrimp are monsters, the kind of creatures that make you think that maybe "jumbo shrimp" isn't such an oxymoron after all. The distinctive black-and-orange-striped shrimp can grow to more than a foot in length and over a pound in weight. And according to the Galveston Daily News, they're ... More >>

Joel Osteen's Reality Show

Some suggestions from us.

Anal Exceus, Shi'tia Alford: More of the Best Names We've Found In Harris County Records

Every now and then, Hair Balls reports the oddest, funniest, and most puzzling names we come across in Harris County official records -- usually but not always the crime reports. As always, a couple of disclaimers are in order. Not all, indeed not necessarily any, of these people were convicted of ... More >>

Texas on Washington

The second benjy's location serves low-key local foods.

All Eyez On Me: Rating The Best/Worst Rock & Rap Sex Tapes (NSFW)

This week, we found out that a sex tape featuring Tupac Shakur exists, made in 1991 just five years before his fatal shooting in Las Vegas. Shakur's estate is the only entity that can release an item with the late rapper's likeness involved, and his mother Afeni Shakur is unlikely to allow a video o ... More >>

Yao Ming and the Fight Against Shark Fin Soup

Will Yao Ming's star power be enough to save an endangered species?​As beloved as Yao Ming is to Houstonians, it's no match for the affection held for him in China. And the former Rockets basketball player is hoping that his high profile in his native country will encourage his fellow countrym ... More >>

Hybrid Theory

Stars in Indonesia, Houston rockers VerseCity hope their new album catches them up at home.

Deep Purple Rises, Repeatedly, From Its Own Hard-Rock Ashes

​Deep Purple Phoenix Rising Eagle Vision, $14.98 DVD, $19.98 DVD/CD, 142 mins. Deep Purple has been through so many different lineups that fans and hard-rock historians often measure then in "marks," abbreviated "Mk." While Purple's Mk II incarnation is the one casual fans remember most and h ... More >>

Build-A-Bar: Batavia Arrack

Batavia Arrack. Not to be confused with other Araks.​I'll come right out and admit that I still haven't fully wrapped my head around Batavia Arrack. I've been trying for a few weeks, and its essential character still eludes me. One night, a sip of the stuff tastes like dark rum mixed with the ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Tempeh

​What is it? Due to my self-imposed hiatus on all things derived from animal products (for Lent), I'm in previously uncharted territory when it comes to cooking and eating. One fateful discovery making my journey much more enjoyable is tempeh, a fermented soybean cake that originated in Indo ... More >>

30 Seconds With Gen, Genitorturers' No. 1 AC/DC Fan

Kym O'Donnell​Rocks Off has been a big fan of the Genitorturers ever since we saw a bumper sticker that read, "My honor student got sodomized at the Genitorturers show!" We sat down with Gen, the lead singer of the long-running industrial band to see what we could learn about her in 30 seconds ... More >>

National Recall Includes Whole Foods-Brand Nutmeg

Ground nutmeg: KILL IT WITH FIRE​Just in time for the Christmas holidays, nutmeg has been recalled. Unlike the seasonally inopportune great canned pumpkin shortage of November 2009, nutmeg will be scarce for at least a little while thanks to a potential salmonella contamination. And trust me o ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Photo by Micah Taylor​If you're a lady who loves lager, there's a new(ish) club in town for you: Texas Girls' Pint Out is a group of hardcore beer nerds and geeks -- labels which they bear proudly -- who also happen to be women. They're in the process of organizing all manner of events for the ... More >>

Sweet Tea & Vodka: Deep Eddy, A Uniquely Texas Spirit

​Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka couldn't be more Texas if it tried. Its namesake is the oldest swimming pool in Texas, on the National Register of Historic Places. The water for Deep Eddy comes from an artesian well in north Texas, and the corn for the vodka -- which is distilled 10 times -- from ... More >>

Ted Dekker: Living With Cannibals, Writing About Serial Killers

You'd write thrillers too, if you'd lived Ted Dekker's life​Armchair psychologists would say that author Ted Dekker writes thrillers because of his background. But it's not as easy as that.Yes, Dekker, the author of The Bride Collector, grew up in Indonesia with his missionary parents and the fami ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: Impressionistic Clarinet Blatter Arrington de Dionyso

www.myspace.com/arringtondedionyso​Now that you've had a chance to familiarize yourself with Old Time Relijun front man and solo aural dissembler extraordinaire Arrington de Dionyso, it's time to see what he's got to say for himself. Rocks Off put the screws to de Dionyso in a late-September email ... More >>

Remarkable Rendang

Don't miss this Chinese restaurant on Bellaire near Highway 6 — just don't order the Chinese food.

Chef Chat: Jonathan Jones of Beaver's

Former chef for Max's Wine Dive and head honcho at Beaver's (2310 Decatur Street), Jonathan Jones is a gastropub's irreverent dream and tweet-a-holic who wants you to "get your tails to the Beaver." How do you feel about being associated with comfort food? I'm fine with being known for grass root ... More >>

Saudi National Charged With Not Telling Feds He Intended To Make A Virtual Prisoner Of His Maid

A citizen of Saudi Arabia has been charged by the feds here for lying to obtain a visa for an employee.What's so bad about that? Well, the lie was that he told visa officials he was bringing the woman over here to be domestic help at $1,300 a month at eight hours a day six days a week, but instead, ... More >>

Jackfruit Season Is Here Again!

Last year, when Saveur editor James Oseland was in town, I took him to Hong Kong City Mall. Oseland lived in Indonesia for a long time, and he was thrilled to see ripe jackfruit on sale. Jackfruit have been cultivated in Asia for more than 6,000 years and are highly prized in Indonesia. Late spring ... More >>

Under the Sea 3D

Web exclusive!

Rambutan: The Hairy Fruit

Rambutan is a tropical fruit native to Indonesia and the Phillipines that we seldom see on the mainland. The name either means "hairy" in Indonesian, or "weird hairy red pods from an alien life form," I forget which. It sure tastes good though. When you cut the hairy pod open there's a white frui ... More >>

James Oseland’s Cradle of Flavor

Rambutan is a tropical fruit native to Indonesia and the Phillipines that we seldom see on the mainland. The name either means "hairy" in Indonesian, or "weird hairy red pods from an alien life form," I forget which. It sure tastes good though. When you cut the hairy pod open there's a white frui ... More >>

Great Gado Gado at Noodle House 88

A nondescript noodle shop on Bellaire is serving some of the best Indonesian food in the U.S.A.

It’s Getting Hot in Here: The Kyoto Protocol, Ten Years Later

A nondescript noodle shop on Bellaire is serving some of the best Indonesian food in the U.S.A.

Kyoto Protocol: The View from Kyoto

Without U.S. participation, the first-ever global-warming treaty was doomed to only partial success. Will Bali be better?

Tough Guys

Full pads, full contact, no slackers allowed

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Full pads, full contact, no slackers allowed

He's Bill, Beeyotch!

A Chappelle's Show token offers some light comedy

Krupuk, Sambal and Heineken

Yanti's Indonesian food takes you back to the plantation

Black Like Me

The Menil Collection gets "Deep"

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

The Menil Collection gets "Deep"

Best Zoo Animal

The Menil Collection gets "Deep"

Letters

The Menil Collection gets "Deep"

Songs of Freedom

Can music free your mind from mental slavery? Depends which Free Radical you ask

Waves of Fascination

Shortwave radio: Where the lunatic fringe lives, breathes and flourishes

Goat Doughnuts Go Global

The Hot Breads franchise serves unique pastries to a worldwide audience

Globalization's McBacklash

Guatemala’s Pollo Campero has American fast-food franchises running scared

At What Price?

Plus: So-So What, Right with Wong, Love Lessons

Best Body Piercing

Taurian Piercing and Metals

The Spy Who Loved Meat

Matahari Restaurant and Bar

News Hostage

Matahari Restaurant and Bar

News of the Weird

Matahari Restaurant and Bar

The Legend

Where the games are good, everybody knows the story of Dwayne Rogers, and everybody wonders: Why is he still an amateur?

Surfing Safari

Bruce Brown goes back to the beach to hang ten, again