Back during the Covid lockdown, A and I began doing weekly travel themed date nights. I needed content to keep The Royal Tour going, and we needed something that would differentiate one day from another. So with my parents (our lockdown pod), we did these once a week. We did more than 30 of them.
Lockdown is well behind us here in 2026, but every so often, my mother will reminisce on how fun the date nights were, and ask if we can do one. We didn’t get to it last year, so we tried to prioritize it for this year. Lo and behold, we made it happen!
And I have to say, I enjoyed it. It’s fun to learn about a place, about a cuisine. It’s fun to watch a film set somewhere interesting. It’s fun to share it with loved ones.
Below is what we did to make our Indonesian date night happen. You can use ours, or do your own. And if you like this and want more ideas, click here for the whole list of all of them.
Indonesia-Themed Date Night
Eat: Satay, Nasi Goreng, and Bingka Telur
Headed back to our familiar roles from the pandemic, I made the main course and A then made everyone forget about it with her dessert. Beginning with satay, it’s probably the best known Indonesian dish. Meat (normally chicken) is given a sauce of coconut milk, peanut, soy, fish sauce or shrimp paste, and brown sugar. I added a bit of Thai red curry paste since I had some, and lime juice.
It was served with nasi goreng, Indonesian fried rice. It’s the simplest thing, seasoned with a sweetened soy sauce and green onions. And it’s apparently always topped with a sunny side up egg.
For dessert, A prepared bingka telur, a cake made from coconut milk and eggs. It puffed up like a huge Yorkshire pudding in the oven before cooling into basically a thick custard pancake. I thought it was divine.
Learn: History of Indonesia
Short animated historical documentaries are awesome, and this one from Mr. History was no exception. It moves quickly, but covers the highlights of a place few of us have learned about, both the modern country and early dynasties. And the colonial stuff between.
Visit: Borobudur
One of the top sights in the country, Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world, I believe. This virtual visit has both ground and aerial cameras one can use to have a really cool view on the amazing structure. Try counting the stupas and Buddhas! You’ll get lost.
Watch: The Year of Living Dangerously
This 1983 film stars Mel Gibson (a very young Mel Gibson before his racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny were known), Sigourney Weaver, and a film-stealing performance by Linda Hunt. It follows an Australian reporter (Gibson) and local photographer (Hunt) in the lead-up to an attempted coup against President Sukarno in Jakarta in 1965. It’s a reasonably good watch, and kept my attention throughout. Of course, the American reporter is the biggest jerk in the film… some things never change. One thing that does change: Gibson’s poor accent.
So that was the basic outline. As I said, it was a fun evening, one worthy of inclusion into the not so short list of travel themed date nights, both during quarantine and after. And it’s a reminder that I don’t need a pandemic to do a cool night like this.
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