Sept 12 is New England Indonesian Festival

One thing I'm really missing after moving to Boston is Indonesian food. I can hardly find an Indonesian restaurant in this city, other than Kaki Lima which pops up every once in a while, but their prix fixe menu is pretty pricey for Indonesian food. If you know any Indonesian restaurant in the area, please let me know!

At least, once a year, I can satisfy my cravings when the New England Indonesian Festival hits town. Organized by PERMIAS Massachusetts (the Indonesian student association), this festival brings in many Indonesian food vendors from the suburbs (who typically only offers catering), from Philadelphia, Washington DC, and others. This year's festival will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2015 at Copley Square.
The vendors will be selling various satay, curry (like rendang!), desserts. I just moved from LA last year so I hadn't been missing Indonesian food for that long, but this year I might have to go all out.

Here are some things you might want to look out for :

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Ladies' Night Deal at Abby Park (Milton, MA)

Mondays are Ladies' First at Abby Park in Milton, where they are offering a 3-course meal for $30 and includes your choice of beer or wine! I thought it was a pretty good deal, with a generous portion of the entree and a good selection of wines and beers on tap. There are 3-5 choices per course, including a vegetarian option.

The appetizer choices include clam chowder, but we decided to be somewhat healthy and opted for the two salads.

Caprese salad (vine ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, crostini, balsamic glaze)

Caesar salad (Romaine salad, garlic croutons, shaved parmesan, creamy Caesar dressing)

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Forma Restaurant: A Cheese Lover's Heaven (Santa Monica, CA)

Do you love cheese? If your answer is yes, then you need to head to the new Forma in Santa Monica right away. "Forma" is what they call a cheese wheel, and this restaurant boasts four different dalla forma pasta preparations, which means that the pasta is finished off in the cheese wheel. Four different pastas, four different cheese wheels.

The dalla forma pasta is not the only cheesy goodness you can get here, though.
Try the Filet Mignon Tartare with avocado, Fresno chile pepper, capers, shallot, parmigiano, grilled bread ($16)

The tartare is topped with freshly shaved raspadura cheese. This is a traditional cheese of Lodi. It's actually a Bella Lodi cheese that's not fully mature, and it's shaved using a special knife that bends, shown below.

The overall effect of the bite of tartare, combined with the avocado, cheese, and grilled bread? Perfect.

Forma also has a cheese bar featuring 36 different cheeses. The best part? You don't have to get a cheese platter, but you can actually order each cheese individually, so you can create your own platter, or just get the one you really want to try.

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