Nikmat (yang Tak Terbilang)

We packed everybody for a kelas ustaz di Masjid Assyakirin KLCC the other day.

Times like this I thought, nikmat Allah yang mana yang ingin saya dustakan?

Dan ayat2 ini terlekat di hati bila saya terbaca:

قَالُوا إِنَّا كُنَّا قَبْلُ فِي أَهْلِنَا مُشْفِقِينَ

Mereka berkata: "Sesungguhnya kami dahulu, semasa berada dalam kalangan keluarga kami - selalu merasa cemas takut (daripada berlaku derhaka kepada Allah),
 At-Tur [52:26]

Lalu saya berdoa kami akan berasa begini sentiasa.

Dan sebahagian dari ayat ini:

...."Wahai Tuhanku, ilhamkanlah daku supaya tetap bersyukur akan nikmatmu yang engkau kurniakan kepadaku dan kepada ibu bapaku, dan supaya aku tetap mengerjakan amal soleh yang Engkau redai; dan jadikanlah sifat-sifat kebaikan meresap masuk ke dalam jiwa zuriat keturunanku. Sesungguhnya aku bertaubat kepadamu, dan sesungguhnya aku dari orang-orang Islam (yang tunduk patuh kepadamu)".
Al-Ahqaf [46:15]

Ameen.

Selamat mencari jalan pulang yang penuh berkat dan rahmat.

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A Family Wedding - Shazwan & Hartina

We were back in Taiping the other weekend. Shazwan, nephew, got married.

 

 The pengantin looked gorgeous in red and green. Cantik sangat color contrast. Pandai dia orang cari baju. Dan saya sangat suka laksa dan cendol that were served - sedap! A local favorite.

This gambar made me laughed. Ayah Cu looked like he just discovered that Ika's baby yang putih melepak (one of our many cucu sedara) just did a dirty job on him (which actually the baby did not).

Old memories. Humble beginnings. The house where I grew up in.

 As usual we stayed at Flemingtion that faces the Lake Gardens. Their lake facing room are always a sell-out. We enjoyed long morning coffee watching locals run and exercise at the park (kami tengok je!)

 Tak sah balik Taiping tak tangkap gambar pokok2 ni kat Lake Gardens.

 My old school. It is located at the end of town at the foot of the Maxwell Hills. Years ago we would would walk to the Lake Gardens to have class picnics (dont that sound fun? Somehow that reminds me of the Sound of Music although I dont know why!) Look at the sky - it is always that full of clouds every time in Taiping.

And there was plenty of fruits!

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Let's Share

I have a sister whom we call Kak Aji occasionally. She sends us all the good stuff and motivations like none other. Here are some of the latest ones that we've got.

 

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It Is Almost Year End Already!

Hi darlings. How are you? I've been very, very busy thus the silence despite best intentions to have the blog updated always (sometimes the thought of why bother? came to mind too..)

What are your year end plans? I've got none actually. We've got another family wedding coming up. I thought I will bake a turkey - just for the fun of it. I'll be working most days till Jan anyway.

We were at Picknik the other day (at last!) - the place is small but the food was quite enjoyable. The carbonara was good and the brownies are out of this world. But stay away from the risotto (my thoughts were, surely risotto tastes better than this!) And if you have any intention of catching a glimpse of the "leng chai" chef  at all you should go in the evenings. That is when he is around. If you are familiar with Ben's at Publika, Picknik is sort of like behind Ben's in the Solaris building, one floor down. I recommend the place.

I also found a collection of decent tudungs at ClosetHeart. They did a sale at the office the other day but their shop is in Subang Jaya. Their selendang are long and wide - tidak lah kecik / jarang / licin or any other silly tudung issues like that. Their tudung Syria are comfy too. The material is firm enough to stretch and yet not limpy. They have quite a range of pretty blouses also if you are into that.Thank you Aeda for recommending. & I recommend their stuff to you too.

And I am not a devotee of The Voice. But I came across this last night. She came this close to the late diva herself (after all who doesnt love the song or Whitney?) I was amazed. According to coach Adam they only rehearsed the song once. And if you do not know yet, Tesanne won.

If you are vacation-ing, have fun. If you are workng, you'll have fun too. The roads - and the office - will be almost empty. Have a good year end.

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A Family Wedding - Dira&Imran Part3

(Sesungguhnye adat orang Melayu kawen renyah. Memang renyah).

Namun alhamdulillah we never had any tiga-hari-tiga-malam kind of kenduri in the family. Dan insyaaAllah tidak akan ada hendaknya.

Kami pergi hantar pengantin last weekend. The hosts had kindly invited us for dinner on the eve of the kenduri. The food was delish, bertemakan makanan arab (and I thought I must learn how to cook lamb!) The pengantin wore gorgeous purple wedding suits. And I love the simple yet sweet pelamin (tak berserabut). It rained all afternoon and evening that day.

It dawned bright and clear (oops, silap) I mean cloudy, windy and raining the next morning (tengok je lah gambar awan tu - typical day in the east coast during thanksgiving weekend - haha - I suppose). Kata Imran, besarnya ombak and look at the sea - it is raining heavily there. I thought, is that how you tell it'll rain on land?

Nevertheless it cleared somewhat by noon bila kami sampai di rumah pengantin lelaki.. The pengantin looked gorgeous in blue. Agaknye dah nama pun pengantin, pakai apa pun nampak cantik saja. Tapi saya rasa pengantin ni exceptionally so.

And that was that. Alhamdulillah everything went fine. Kesian mak-bapak pengantin pening, susah hati, risau dan sentiasa berharap dan berdoa agar semua majlis-majlis berjalan lancar.

Later we went to the beach. The waves were high and looked choppy. I thought it looked like the waves on BigSur at some point (chewwah - macam pernah sampai!) Betul - sebab you can see the mist that rise to the beach from the sea spray. It looked beautiful.

Kata Fatin, mesti pergi makan keropok di Bukit Tok Beng di Seberang Takir. And we did. I like the big wood burner that they use to boil the keropok. I have never seen this. Kalau tak silap ada 10 periuk besar kat atas tu. We laughed at the automatic number system in place. Kata budak2 macam masuk ke bank. Memang la ramai orang.

We also went to Gong Badak area (and saw project stadium yang roboh along the way. Engineer kata macam mana boleh roboh..) Kata Fatin lagi, mesti pergi makan ikan celup tepung di Warung Pok Nong. We did. But they didnt open until 3pm and we were already on our way home. So we headed out to Marang. We stopped at the place where we once bought the out-of-this-world apam balik (budak2 ingat lagi sampai sekarang) but there was no apam balik anymore there. What a shame.

We stopped at Kuala Kemaman. Our favorite place for sata, otak2 and lekor. Lekor was bad. But sata has always been the best. Tapi dah terlalu ramai orang dan the place do not seem so quaint anymore. Dulu gerai kecik je bawah pokok; like a place where the locals would also go. Now semua kereta plate W and B and J. I didnt enjoy it as much as previous times we were there. We need to find a more quiet place.

We stopped at Teluk Mak Nik aka Monica Bay. Monica Bay? I mean, seriously? (I might be in BigSur after all..)

It was a good trip. I think I will revisit the whole stretch again with a (good) camera; free and easy the next time. I need to pukul gambar like this.

We will have a free Sunday this week. There will be another family wedding next weekend in Pekan. Shazwan, nephew, will be married. The weekend after that in Taiping. Then it'll be another rest weekend. After that Jean, niece, will be getting married pulak. But in KL je for both bride and groom kenduri. Which is rather a blessing. But you know what the big question is - ada baju ka? Nanti masuk gambar baju sama je..

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