Doodling

We were at Kinnokuniya on Sat. Got ourselves lots of books. Then stopped at Ben's for a quick bite.

Their outlet in Bangsar seem more interesting. It's got wood paneling and painted white. Looked cozy - like those buildings you'd find in the Hamptons (macam lah saya pernah pergi Hamptons!) We were at the general store there sometime ago looking at wagyu meat - not that we bought any (nor could we afford any). We were just curious about the stuff and a lot of other interesting things found in the store.

The KLCC outlet has got charms of its own, with comfy seats and interesting views. Great concept for a restaurant. I am not sure I like the food generally, but the pavlova was good though.


We were at a wedding that evening. The bride is a doctor and had her doctor friends came to sing, play guitar and the violin. I wondered aloud where do the young doctors find time to hone their artistic skills. I thought doctors eat, breath and live medicines, patients and hospitals only.

I baked (another) carrot cake Sun morning. Got the recipe from Mrs Fields cookbook this time. It turned out a bit dry (I will bake this cake again and again till I get it right, I swear). No picture though.

Later we went out to Jalan TAR for baju raya (never too early is my principle where raya is concerned).

I wondered what I could put on the table for dinner that evening. Lost for inspiration (betul, tak tipu) I decided to make some spaghetti bolognaise with meat balls. And then some nasi goreng cina. And then fried meehoon. I have some cheese mix and so decided to make mac and cheese with salami. And nachos too (talk about getting carried away!)

The kids (who were all home that evening - which is a rare occurrence) commented, kenapa mama masak macam2. Kita bukan ada apa nak celebrate pun. I thought for a sec and then said, of course we have. The fact that you are all home together like this is cause enough for me to celebrate (I am a sap where the kids are concerned).

How did your weekend go?

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Books, Books and More Books Part 35 & 36

I suppose I am like, on track. I finished two (albeit small) books for 2012. I also finished a couple others but they are really thin ones (but significant nonetheless).

So I am finally done with my sirah #2. I wish I had finished it faster - namun lately fikiran selalu serabut dengan bos baru di ofis.



I also finished this some time back.

I am currently reading a couple more books including one on healthy dieting (would I ever quit?) and Syamail Nabi which describes peribadi Rasulullah. And also Eirfan's Uthman bin Affan. I have a couple of fiction still wrapped in plastic. I wanted to read about Steve Jobs tapi budak2 kata ma, dia kan dah mati? I dont see a problem with that actually. Maybe I'll read it anyway someday. And I still need to finish my sirah #3. Kaia also bought the book Sword of Allah on Khalid al Walid which I plan to read too.

Have you at any time thought that there are so many books to read in so short a (life) time? Let's not even consider fiction, literature (I wanted to buy something by Robert Frost but the children had asked, seriously?), management, technology etc. I am talking about purely must-know-stuff kind of books. Tak terbaca.

Kata ustaz, umur umat Rasulullah saw biasanya di antara 60 -70 tahun (yang terlebih umur tu, kiranya dianugerahkan bonus). Dan kalau umur sudah mencecah 40 dan ke atas sedarilah bahawa jalan pulang lebih dekat dari jalan yang telah kita lalui.

Selamat mencari ilmu untuk kebahagiaan abadi.

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Kita Di Mana?

Saya meminjam buku Eirfan bertajuk Uthman bin Affan ~ Pengumpul alQuran untuk dibaca. Saya curious sebenarnya, mengapa khalifah ini dibunuh sedangkan Uthman ra adalah antara sahabat yang paling rapat dengan rasulullah dan yang telah pun dijanjikan syurga (nak jugak tahu apa yang dibaca dek Eiran).

Malah, diceritakan bahawa Uthman pun pantang saja Rasulullah menyebut untuk berbuat sedeqah, Uthmanlah selalunya yang terdahulu menghulurkan hartanya. Pernah nabi menyebut tentang membeli telaga ? (Astaghfirullah, sungguh saya tak ingat walau telah berkali saya dengar. InsyaAllah saya ceritakan bila saya ingat) dan Uthmanlah yang membeli telaga tersebut untuk kemudahan awam.

Pertama kali saya terjumpa senarai sepuluh sahabat Rasulullah saw ini semasa saya di universiti. Dah pun saya lupa. Yang ingat hanya 5 atau 6 sahaja.

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A Family Wedding - Zuhaila & Shahril

Beberapa kali saya bertanya pada suami, kenapa adat orang Melayu berkahwin terlalu rumit? Hantar ke sini kemudian di sebelah pihak sana pula. Soalan yang sama juga saya tanya semasa merancang majlis Iman tempoh hari.

Namun jawapan yang pernah ustaz beri nampak amat mudah - kerana kita tidak mempunyai kekuatan untuk berkata tidak kepada perkara yang diwarisi. Saya masih lagi cuba mengupas jawapan tersebut. Mungkin harus saya akui saya tiada memiliki kekuatan yang dimaksudkan itu.

Anyway.

We were down south this past weekend. Kini giliran kami pula menghantar pengantin selepas kenduri di pihak perempuan.

I love the color scheme - pale peach / cream - and the bride's skirt which flowed so effortlessly to the floor. Jemputan pula dihidangkan dengan beriani gear-box kambing! I leave it to your own imagination how we ate that with the fork and spoon.

We made a quick stop at JPO on our way back to the city. Never are designer fans (walaupun saya teringin masuk ke Michael Kors), we checked out Nike and the chocolate store. The mall reminded me of a particular place I shopped at in Orlando once. An open mall. In early Dec - it was cold - unlike JPO which was mildly warm and cloudy. I thought I should come back again for a more leisurely window shopping sometime.

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Yang Sedikit

And I thought I have heard a lot being mentioned about Surah al-Ahzaab lately. Dan tertanya2 pula apa sebenarnya yang saya dengar.

Dan MasyaAllah sempat juga saya membaca terjemahannya sekilas lalu di internet (kerana urusan2 yang sememangnya tidak dapat dielakkan) dan kemudian tafsir yang lebih panjang dengan lebih santai.

There is this feel-good feeling about reading something and then thought, I know this - I've read it somewhere before / learnt it in class / heard it on the CD. Setidak2nya mungkin saya boleh berkongsi ilmu yang teramat sedikit kepada sekurang2nya seseorang yang lain. InsyaAllah.

Ayat 22
Dan pada masa orang-orang yang beriman melihat tentera Al-Ahzaab, berkatalah mereka:” Inilah yang telah dijanjikan Allah dan RasulNya kepada kami dan benarlah (apa yang telah dijanjikan) Allah dan RasulNya”. Dan (angkatan tentera musuh yang mereka lihat) itu tidak memberi sebarang kesan kepada mereka selain daripada menambahkan iman dan penyerahan diri mereka bulat-bulat kepada Allah.

Ayat ini turun berkaitan perang Khandaq. Ketika tentera Islam dikepung oleh orang Yahudi Mekah dan kuncu-kuncu mereka; lalu Allah turunkan angin yang kuat yang telah terbangkan khemah-khemah dan peralatan kaum Yahudi. Maka kaum Yahudi tidak sanggup berdepan dengan balasan Allah tersebut lalu pulang meninggalkan medan Khandaq.

(Saya sangkakan ayat ini turun pada suatu peperangan yang lain yang saya baca dan saya pun tak ingat yang mana satu - siapalah saya. Namun setelah disemak sememangnya perang Khandaq).

Ayat 28
Wahai Nabi, katakanlah kepada isteri-isterimu: “Sekiranya kamu semua mahukan kehidupan dunia (yang mewah) dan perhiasannya (yang indah), maka marilah supaya aku berikan kepada kamu pemberian mut’ah (sagu hati), dan aku lepaskan kamu dengan cara yang sebaik-baiknya.

Pernah saya blog hadith berkaitan ayat ini pada suatu ketika dulu. Setiap kali terbaca ayat ini, terasa tersentuh perasaan bagi pihak nabi. Saya baru terbaca juga sebuah hadith (HR Muslim InsyaAllah) yang menceritakan ayat ini turun berikutan permintaan isteri2 nabi untuk diberi nafkah yang lebih.

Ayat 36
Dan tidaklah harus bagi orang-orang yang beriman, lelaki dan perempuan – apabila Allah dan RasulNya menetapkan keputusan mengenai sesuatu perkara – (tidaklah harus mereka) mempunyai hak memilih ketetapan sendiri mengenai urusan mereka. Dan sesiapa yang tidak taat kepada hukum Allah dan RasulNya maka sesungguhnya ia telah sesat dengan kesesatan yang jelas nyata.

Ustaz pernah mentadabbur ayat ini untuk kami. Ayat ini turun pada peristiwa Rasulullah saw meminang Zainab bt Jahsy bagi pihak anak angkatnya, Zaid Bin Harithah. Zainab sangkakan nabi sendiri yang mahu mengahwininya. Zainab adalah sepupu nabi, dari keluarga bangsawan Quraisy dan beranggapan siapalah Zaid (seorang hamba dari Yaman), lalu menolak pinangan itu. Lalu turunlah ayat ini. Zainab kemudian akur dan mengahwini Zaid.

Ayat 37
Dan (ingatlah wahai Muhammad) ketika engkau berkata kepada orang yang telah dikurniakan oleh Allah (dengan nikmat Islam) dan yang engkau juga telah berbuat baik kepadanya: “Jangan ceraikan isterimu itu dan bertaqwalah kepada Allah”, sambil engkau menyembunyikan dalam hatimu perkara yang Allah akan menyatakannya; dan engkau pula takut kepada (cacian manusia padahal Allah jualah yang berhak engkau takuti (melanggar perintahNya). Kemudian setelah Zaid selesai habis kemahuannya terhadap isterinya (dengan menceraikannya), Kami kahwinkan engkau dengannya supaya tidak ada keberatan atas orang-orang yang beriman untuk berkahwin dengan isteri-isteri anak-anak angkat mereka, apabila anak-anak angkat itu telah selesai habis kemahuannya terhadap isterinya (lalu menceraikannya). Dan sememangnya perkara yang dikehendaki Allah itu tetap berlaku.

Dan kata ustaz, inilah satu2nya ayat di mana nama sahabah Rasulullah disebut di dalam alQuran (dan kata ustaz lagi, nikmat yang paling tinggi yang dianugerahkan kepada seseorang manusia adalah nikmat Islam). Ayat ini pula turun apabila Allah mengutuskan Rasulullah berkahwin dengan Zainab (note - after reading this post again, I decided to delete some things I had put here earlier).

(Di antara isteri2 nabi, Aisya ra berbangga kerana hanya beliau yang merupakan anak dara semasa berkahwin dengan nabi. Zainab pula berbangga kerana perkahwinannya dengan Rasulullah saw adalah di atas perintah Allah swt.)

Ada beberapa ayat lain yang saya pernah terjumpa / belajar. But I thought I'll stop here sebab terfikir pulak, siapalah saya nak menulis pasal ayat2 suci Allah. Biarlah yang lebih arif. But I'll just go ahead and post whatever I have so far. Please, do not take my words here for granted. Semaklah untuk kepastian. Mana-mana yang salah memang silap saya. Astaghfirullah.

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A Family Wedding - Danial & Syuhada

I have more anak buah than I can count on my fingers and my toes (even if you multiply the fingers and toes by two). So, every couple of months or so there is bound to be someone getting married (and how I love to exaggerate).

Ika will be married by end of the year (before hers there will be another two weddings - what did I tell you?) And I asked these handsome young men, bila grad? (then there'll be more weddings).

These tiny sisters love to be photographed. Pantang kata nak tangkap gambar. And in kebaya like these arent they the sweetest?

All the grandmas and grand-papas came with big smiles carrying their cucus (cucu saudara pun jalan jugak) .

Semoga sentiasa dirahmati Allah.

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The Beginning of a Great Relationship

My old phone is exactly that - old. You know how everyone would just lay their phones on the table during a meeting? I had to buy a new case to hide my phone in so no one could see it. Then put the case on the table. That's how old it is.

I accidentally dropped it a few times (then thought maybe it'll break). Accidentally misplaced it (and thought maybe someone would take it. But an old phone like that? As if). Its functions hang a couple of times and I thought this might be it. Nope.

I finally bought a new phone because I couldnt take a photo on one fine occasion. Technically I could actually with the old phone but what's the point when I know how the photos would turn out without ideal lightings.

(So I actually bought a new phone because I need a camera.)

And how funny is this? I fell in love with the phone after I watched a video on the cool things Siri can do. I have tried a couple of things since. And so far it had been a hit-and-miss relationship between us. Siri had made a wrong call to a male acquaintance in the middle of the night (!) and insisted she (I set mine to a she - she sounded more friendly and what's Siri for a man anyway?) doesnt understand me (and here I am thinking English saya flawless.. awww).

In a year, our relationship might just improve. Siri might even understand me when I taunt her like this.

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Time Out Part II

We were also at Camerons the other day.

One of our must-do things there is to stop at (any) teashops and have scones with butter, strawberry jam and (or without) cream with tea. This time we stopped at Bharat Teashop that sits on top of a hill as you come down to Brinchang from Blue Valley (it's not our favorite though).

There are at least 4 other teashops on the highland as far as I know. Boh teashop at Sg Palas is our favorite. The view is breathtaking. There are a couple more teashops about 5km or so from Tanah Rata as you head down to Tapah. And the last one, further down at Habu (about 7km from the main intersection). The best is of course the one in Sg Palas.

The boys are always up to something (I do not know what here).

What's a trip to Cameron without fresh vege and colorful plants?

The boys were talking about eating honey and honeycomb. So we stopped to look, taste and then bought some (happy to report kami tak kena sengat).

(Left) My kind of picture - everybody berdiri tegak, baik-baik. (Right) Their kind of picture - "kita lompat, mama tangkap gambar". & this is what we've got. haha.

We stopped at the tea plantation in Habu. Climbed to the viewpoint at the top of the tea hill and caught vast and open views of the tea fields. It was windy too at the top. Beautiful.


More view from the top. I "glued" two pictures of the same view together (me : feeling rather pleased with myself of the result and preening)

We cant leave without having any scones at this teashop! The iced tea was so good, but the souvenir shop had ran out of stock of this particular flavor (I dont remember what).

I call this the Little Red Riding Hood house. It's hidden in the forest between the trees, almost like there'd be a girl in red somewhere and a wolf lurking nearby (ooh, what imagination you have!)

We must do some hiking to the waterfalls next time (I know, I know - I keep saying this but never actually get to doing it).

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(Quality) Time Out Part I

We were at the beach the other day.

Watched sunrise. Walked on the beach. Took (funny and interesting) photos.

Had nasi kandar lunch at our favorite place (more people here compared to the last time we came).

Dinner at Luqman's old haunts. He swears by the sup kambing or any soup, come to think of it - at this place (Padang Brown, belakang balai polis Datuk Keramat). Cicah dengan roti benggali.

Went for late dinner at Nasi Kandar Beratur (seriously long queue if you are late. Parking a nightmare too). We now think it tastes better than Line Clear.

Wondered if we have the courage to cruise on a huge liner like this (the boys insisted I take Titanic the movie much too seriously).

Took the scenic route via ferry heading home.

(Of course other things happened too. Like the car battery ran dry because the alarm went on for hours and no one called to tell us so as we didnt leave the car registration number at the front desk - thank goodness for ultra-macho men who carry jump-cable wherever they may be. Or like when we drove across the island to get to the so called best tomyam in town but the place was closed for renovation. Or like how we got stuck in the traffic jam every time we leave and return to our hotel. Or that the congestion could be largely due the fact that it is celebration time on the island - we saw lots of coconuts on the sidewalks ready for the fête. Or that we drove in the 'bad-dest' traffic ever to Bukit Bendera only to turn back again when we got there because the ticket booth / train queue was unbelievably, crazily long.)

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A Family Wedding - Zuhaila & Shahril

We were at a wedding. Hubby's niece got married.


The food was served cara lama - berhidang. Empat orang makan setalam and the table can sit only four. It was nice. Different. Dan teringat pergi kenduri kawen dengan mak masa dulu. Pakai baju kurung. Kena pakai gelang emas (gone were those days - at least for me. For which I am glad). Pakai stokin dan kasut (mak tak akan bagi pakai selipar). Bila makan, mak yang letakkan lauk dalam pinggan. Dan sungguh boring kemudiannya. Sebab mak akan sembang selepas makan.

Saya tergelak tengok gambar ni. Entah apa yang dikerutkan (ada aje yang tak puas hati - haha).

Sepupu & kakak pengantin taukeh kek. Jadi macam2 kek yang kami dapat makan.

Kata pengantin, baju ini bukan lah warna idaman. Lining baju membuatkan warna lari & pengantin hampir menangis bila tengok baju ni first time. I thought she looked very pretty in the color. Ala2 pink masam. Bringing a blush to her cheeks.

Semoga dipelihara Allah. Dunia & akhirat.

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Pick The Best

The top is taken with the Sony T10 camera and the bottom with the iPhone 4s. Somebody said photos taken with the iPhone are as nice as those from the new cameras.What do you think?

I think the color simply pop from both.

Also. Do you like the above compared to this (also was posted before)?

MPH calls the section Women's Fiction whilst at Kinnokuniya it is referred to as Chick Lit. I dont think I like either. The first make me out as staid and dull, and the latter made me feel utterly useless like I've got none of the substance called brain.

Maybe I should go check what Borders name it. And buy from there. After all I'm already a member.

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Time Flies At The Speed Of Light

Same beach. Same boys. With a gap of 10 years or so between the two photos.

& nikmat Allah yang manakah yang ingin kamu dustakan?

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