Ibunda

I've been speding a lot of time at IJN late last week / weekend. Mak masuk hospital lagi. And again with heart problem.

According to the doctor it is quite amazing that she is ok looking at her previous heart history. She had a couple minor strokes. She has a pacemaker too. Mungkin takdir umur panjang..

She always looked pretty healthy at home. At least as healthy as she can be at her age. But at the hospital she looked so frail. Getting in and out of bed seem so difficult for her. Kalau nak tolong sangat nanti dia kata, mak boleh buat. So we have learned not to fuss over her so much.

It seem like only my adik can 'bully' her (in the good way of course). Even if she said no but if my brother thinks it is best for her then he'll do it. And she'll let him. She said (of my brother), dia tu ketegaq (kami orang utara che' oi..).

Alhamdulillah she's now out of the hospital at my brother's place. But according to him she seem more tired at home than she was at the hospital. But the hospital was so cold. She was under 3 layers of blankets, with socks and sweater before she could sleep. And the water was like ice; her hands and feet felt like ice too after wudhu'.

Like it or not the worst will come, sooner or later. But mak is talking about spending Ramadhan in KL and also menghitung nak beraya di rumah siapa. I suppose that is a good sign.

Prayer is the best (and the only) thing to do at times like this.

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Rejab. Syaaban. Then Ramadhan

Awal Ramadhan this year - 1431 Hijrah, will fall on the 11th August 2010. That means we have about 53 days (from today Fri 18/6/10) to go before the arrival of the holiest month.

Rejab, Syaaban have always reminded me of the forthcoming Ramadhan. My mother would say, ni dah Rejab lepas tu Syaaban, lepas tu puasa dah lah. Dah puasa sunat ke belum? (Kadang2 malu nak mengaku belum pun puasa sunat sebab mak yang dah tua pun dah puasa berhari-hari). Dont get me wrong - of course you can puasa on other days too but fasting in these months will be preparation for the coming Ramadhan, physically and spiritually. Preparing to be strong for Ramadhan with different daily schedule.

To me Rejab dan Syaaban is like foretelling peaceful days coming ahead (although in reality Ramadhan is hectic; let's not mention after office rush in the city). But it still gives me the perception of peace; mungkin jiwa yang tenang. Striving to be better in 'amal and iman & looking forward for the blessed days (and nights).

Ini hanyalah suatu bisikan; andaian bagai angin sepoi-sepoi bahasa membawa berita. That great days are coming. Agar membina semangat demi persediaan menghadapi bulan yang penuh rahmat.

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Strawberries

We had definitely outdid ourselves when we did the strawberry picking in Cameron. Even after giving a lot away there are still loads in the fridge.

But the fruits were safely deep-freezed like those found in the grocery stores. And I've tried new things with the strawberries. First I've made strawberry ice cream; a fave with the kids.

Pardon the photo, I wanted to take new ones only to find out all the ice cream is gone! So this is the best that I have.

I had also wanted to try making strawberry sherbet or sorbet if you prefer.. I thought I was smart, you see - sherbet, sorbet - haha. Simply put I wanted an aiskrim Malaysia à la mode. Siapa tak kenal saya yang kerek (as usual of course I mean kerek as in got character..).

I got my old battered but much loved cook book which I bought when I was at college - yeap, that long ago - to look for a sherbet recipe THEN I found out that ~

sherbet is frozen dessert made of fruit juice, sugar, and water which also contains milk, egg white, or gelatin. The word orginates from the Turkish word sherbet or Persian's sharbat; which brings back fond memories of my childhood days when my mum would make air serbat at eidul-fitr (which is basically sweet, cooling air sirap).

sorbet (French; so do the oh là là here..) is a variation of the sherbet without the milk, egg or gelatine. So it is purely frozen fruit juice, fruits and sugar.

à la mode is when something is according to the prevailing style or fashion (I can almost hear Zana's sigh and Delinn go yeah, yeah here..)

Enough of the text book stuff already! Anyway yes, I made the aiskrim Malaysia à la mode aka sorbet with the rest of the strawberries I had freezed.

And voilà, this is my rendition of the sorbet.

However, sigh - sad to say after much ado about the sorbet - the children still prefer the ice cream over the sorbet. Maybe because err.. they are not French..?

Both recipes at my food blog here.. Enjoy.

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School Break's Here Again

We were at Cameron last weekend. There was an engagement do in Ipoh so we decided to spend a couple of days of school break on the cool hills.

We stayed at Villa Dahlia (again). The place is too convenient. You can get a 2 or 3 bedroom apartments. With a kitchen you can actually cook in. And depending on the unit, you might be lucky enough to get a view of the golf course. You can even do a bargain on the room rate.

We never do much at Cameron although the visit to Sungai Palas tea plantation is always a must. The tea shop is a favorite; with tea and scones of course. And the view of the tea trees on the hills is definitely breathtaking.

The restaurant juts out so you feel like you are on top of the tea plantation when you stand at the edge of the rails.

Beautiful view of the hills.

Nothing beats walking in the mild hills weather for a brotherly comrade.


As usual we've got loads of photos taken..

We took time to visit the bee farm. There's not much to see unlike the farm we visited in Sabah; only square wooden boxes that house the bees..

Yeap, nothing much there..

We also visited a second tea shop, on our way to the Blue Valley. The scones are nicer, but the view isnt as fantastic as the shop at Sungai Palas.

A mug of teh tarik will cost you RM3 each here.

We were on our way for strawberry picking when we saw a farm with a sign that says 'pick your own vege'. We stopped and had a good morning walking around that place, taking photos and picking our vegetables. They have beautiful bushes of rosemary (the biggest rosemary plant I've seen), lavender (I didnt know lavender can grow locally) and sage.

The grape was as sour as vinegar! And picking cabbage and lemons were fun..

I was amazed with this big bush of rosemary.

.. and sage.

And it goes without saying, of course we had to do the strawberry picking (although the vege picking was more fun).

The strawberry ice (ais krim Malaysia perisa strawberry) was so good!

ps - Yesterday my hubby asked if I had updated our visit into the blog. I said not yet. He then said, put a note in your post that nobody should go near the Brinchang pasar malam on a weekend during the school holidays. I said, this is my blog I write what I like (I think he should have his own blog if he wants to say anything, dont you agree?)

But he has a point, the pasar malam created a havoc with traffic on our trip. We were caught in jam for a couple hours or so on our way to check in. The China-man at the reception greeted me cheekily saying, I almost gave away your room - we got so many calls asking for a room. The cheek of him - I called in to tell him I am coming and dont he dare give my room away!

Cameron was so much fun. On our next trip we will look for the waterfalls. And other tea shops. And do more vegetable picking.

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Pet Peeve - Facebook

Was at a function recently. And as everyone greeted each other and catch up on each other's news, I overheard someone said - ye tau, dah baca di Facebook. I thought like, wow..

And then someone was asking if there is any job vacancy anywhere. I said give me your email address. She said tulis kat Facebook lah. Duh..?

The last straw came when someone walked through the door and said, aku dah add kau kat Facebook. I went like what the ..?

Now me, I basically hate crowded places. Like the pasar tani. Or the trains (I gave up on LRT long ago). Or even crowded raya open houses (hate these with a passion..)

And I actually think Facebook is already very crowded. You cant whisper something without the whole world knowing about it (exaggeration intended here). Someone complained her friend had posted old, old, old photos from their school days. She hinted she didnt like it. But unfortunately, nobody cares what she feels. So, there you have it - lihat lah dunia!

Recently someone close to the family passed away. Unfortunately I didnt know. One day later I was asked, hang tak baca kat Facebook ka..? What the hell is wrong with people in this world? And since when do I have to get info like this on Facebook, for goodness sake? I wish I could have done some serious injury to him; but I was in the office - cakap pelan2 pun orang dengar so I cant kill him even softly, with my words..

But blogging is more fun in many ways. More serious in a way. Mature. And I dont have people yapping around me all the time. Long live bloggers!

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Burnt Cookies (Yet So Lovely)

Sure I have burned many, many cookies in my quest for the perfect chocolate chips. But this burnt cookies I love - I copied the whole thing from Zamz's.

When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.

On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school.

I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired... And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"

Life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else.. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults - and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship..

Aww.. Isnt this one of the sweetest things you've read? (photo from thelunacafe.com)

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