Two o’clock in the afternoon, sunny but gloomy. My lecture of creative writing class asked the students to go out and grab some lunch or brunch. “Yes!!”, I said aloud. “I wanna eat “cilok”, a ball of starch which is chewy with added spices like peanut sauce, ketchup and spicy sauces”, I talked to my friend spontaneously. “Cilok” roundly shaped like a meatball, but has different base ingredients. There are eggs or minced meat in it; because it is made from the starch as the base material “cilok” has chewy taste.
My friend and I decided to go to PUJALE (Pusat Jajanan Lembah) Universitas Gadjah Mada, a place with many food and beverage sellers. We went downstairs from the third floor, pass the Psychology Faculty, and take a shortcut to PUJALE through Philosophy Faculty of Universitas Gadjah Mada.
In addition to the faculty of philosophy is a shortcut, another reason why we chose the path was the atmosphere. Through the faculty of philosophy, the gentle breeze hit our faces which were getting tired after the mid-term exam, the foliage of a large tree shadowing mossy path that we pass. Cool air came with our steps towards PUJALE. We could see the shadow of big trees that shade our way. Walk to the east, we had to cross the road to get to PUJALE which filled with bright colors and a gorgeous banner to attract buyers who are mostly students. The road was quite crowded by buses and motorcycles. We pass through the parking lot in front PUJALE, new students’ parking lot.
The sky became brighter and brighter, the sun rose in the middle of the sky, burned our mind. I thought I had to get a drink, but after eating a “cilok” of course. We walked through the PUJALE, searching “cilok” and other foods, but poor me! The “cilok” seller was on a day off. I was rather disappointed, with a wry face, and no smile. In that time, I felt so thirsty and also hungry. I searched another option. Suddenly a red banner with a colorful picture convinced me, "Es Pisang Ijo". From the picture, I could know that "Es Pisang Ijo" is mouthwatering.
Then, I entered the stall, a middle-age woman with turquoise neatly scarf came to me. She asked me what was I wanted to eat and drink, then she pointed a colorful banner of the menu. This stall named "Warung Tentrem". There were many in menu, such as "Batagor" (fried starch ball, cabbage, potato, and tofu with peanut sauce mix), "dumplings" (boiled starch ball, cabbage, potato, egg, mix and tofu with peanut sauce), "Ice Doger" (fruit salad combine with milk, syrup, and porridge), and "Es Pisang Ijo" (combination of green covered banana, milk, syrup, and porridge sum sum). I chose "Es Pisang Ijo" to eat and drink. I hoped it would cool and made my mind fresh again. My friend and I sat in a wooden chair under a tree. Gentle breeze hit us that were waiting for orders were served. We were joking and talked about a few things, one of our conversations was about the brimming situation in PUJALE by students. We conclude that PUJALE was so crowded because the food and drink prices are quite affordable.
“There it is!”, said Bu Anna who served “Es Pisang Ijo” in my table. The “Es Pisang Ijo” served in a bowl-like glass, with its cute combination color, green, white, yellow banana, and pink. The green color is the banana’s cover color, the yellow is the banana inside it, and the white is ‘sum sum porridge’ made from whole meal and coconut milk. Perfect combinations of color make it tempting to eat. First, I tried the green covered banana, the green melted in my mouth, it tasted so smooth and savory. Then I ate the porridge, the coconut milk of its composition was very rich yet delicious. Suddenly my friend told me to mix the combination, “If you mix that combination with the framboze pink syrup inside it, you will get the real taste of “ES Pisang Ijo”!”, said him. I mixed it, and WOW!! It became really sweet. “ES Pisang Ijo” really made my tongue dance! Curious about the difference in the taste that I experienced, I asked the seller, who named Bu Anna. She said that the secret recipe was on the green cover, green cover was made from wheat flour with natural dyes, pandan. Pandan leaves were blended with coconut milk and sugar to get a unique and yummy combination. She got that the secret recipe from her cousin who lived in Makasar, a city of “Es Pisang Ijo”. Probably I will practice using Bu Anna recipe some day. Hope it will be as tasty as it.
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