(Another) Wedding In The Family

And it was a good day to get married. It wasn’t too hot . Or raining. Or within the days where EVRYBODY getting married. We got to my sister’s place in Bangi very early. She was most adamant about that. Above, that's the tepak sirih (orang utara kawen mesti ada tepak).


The pelamin was not decorated with real flowers; but looked amazing nonetheless. Sweet. Tak payah nak habiskan duit beli bunga hidup yang inevitably akan layu pun.


Eirfan was one of the bunga manggar boys. Again. I am sure deep in his heart he had asked, why oh why? But he's already an expert at this. His motto is the faster you walk, the quicker the whole thing would be over (or so he hoped) ..

It was a beautiful wedding. Pretty. Like the bride and groom. Unfortunately the camera ran out of battery when the bunga manggar starts leading out the rombongan pengantin dan kompang dipalu.. so no photo of the happy couple (memang sah bukan jurugambar yang bertauliah).

She is the pretty (Ika; niece) bridesmaid.

Kakak-kakakku sibuk di dapur..

There is something about this photo that I like..

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Amar Makruf Nahi Mungkar

1.
Abu Zar al-Ghifari ra (**)berkata : Telah berkata Abu Bakar as Shiddiq ra : "Ya Rasulullah, adakah jihad selain memerangi kaum musyrikin?" Rasulullah saw menjawab, "Sesungguhnya Allah punya pejuang di muka bumi lebih utama dari para syuhada. Mereka hidup diberi rezeki, dimuliakan Allah dan para malaikat langit menghias Syurga untuk mereka. Abu Bakar bertanya, "Siapakah mereka?" Rasulullah saw menjawab, "Orang yang memerintahkan kebaikan melarang kemungkaran serta suka dan benci kerana Allah. Demi zat yang diriku dalam kekuasaanNya, seseorang hamba (yang berada) dalam bilik di atas bilik-bilik pasa syuhada. Tiap bilik ada tiga ratus pintu dari yakut dan zamrud hijau dan di atas tiap pintu ada nur. Tiap lelaki dari mereka dikahwinkan dengan tiga ratus bidadari yang bermata indah (..)"

2.
Telah tersebut dalam khabar bahawa Allah berfirman, "Hai Musa, adakah engkau telah beramal untukKu?" Musa berkata, "Ya Tuhanku, aku telah solat, puasa, besedeqah kerana Engkau. Aku telah bersujud dan memujiMu. Aku telah membaca kitab dan aku mengingatiMu." Allah berfirman, "Hai Musa, ada pun solat alasan bagimu, puasa Syurga untukmu, sedeqah itu naungan untukmu, tasbih itu pohon di Syurga untukmu, membaca kitabKu juga bidadari dan mahligai untukmu, bahkan zikir pun adalah nur untukmu. Maka amal yang mana untukKu?" Kata Musa, "Ya Tuhanku, tunjukkanku amal yang aku perbuat untukMu!" Allah berkata, "Hai Musa, adakah engkau telah mencintai waliKu dan memusuhi musuhKu?" Kemudian tahulah Musa as bahawa amal yang paling utama adalah menyintai Allah dan benci pada musuh Allah kerana Allah.

3.
Telah berkata Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah ra, "Aku bertanya. Ya Rasulullah, siapakah syuhada paling mulia di sisi Allah?" Rasulullah saw bersabda, "Lelaki yang pergi kepada raja yang zalim lalu menyuruhnya membuat kebaikan dan melarangnya dari kemungkaran kemudian raja itu membunuhnya. Jika ia tidak mati maka Qalam tidak kering mencatitkannya setelah itu sepanjang hidupnya."


~ Mukashafah al Qulub


** Kata ustaz, sebelum memeluk Islam Abu Zar adalah seorang penyamun yang kejam. Tapi selepas mendapat hidayah menjadi sahabat Rasulullah. Reminds me of pepatah orang putih, a leopard never changes its spots. I think anyone can change. Dengan iman yang benar.

ps - I also googled Abu Zar and found out his name is listed in Wiki. Which makes me wonder what / who else are on Wiki.

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A Morning At The Forests

And it is the new year. Any new resolutions? Unfortunately for this year I have none; only those that I carry over from prior year - yes, those same old stuff (so let's move along, nothing interesting there).

My end of year was quiet. After we flew kites (below) we head over to FRIM. Living in the city for more than 20 years and didnt ever see the light of that place, I thought it is time to change things. After all, if famous people held their receptions there then there must be something good about the place..

We went for a family wedding in Malim Nawar (that's close to Ipoh, if you are wondering) and then up the hills to Cameron (which turned out to be rather chilly at the end of the year). And someone had gotten asthmatic attacks while we were there and so we visited the emergency ward at the local hospital also. Twice!

We painted parts of the house and did more baking (so what else is new?) And went to a few more weddings. Friends getting married, remarry. We also celebrated the boys' birthday at a Moroccan restaurant in the city.

For now these are the photos at FRIM. The place turned out to be a hot attraction with the locals; already open as early as 530am for joggers. Cyclists of any age are many with those walking and picnicking and having events too.

We had a picnic on a big boulder with the view of this waterfall.

The bridge/jungle look like they are a part of some spooky movie. The boys ran across the river straight into the depth of the jungle dalam sekelip mata, leaving us behind. They found a pond somewhere at the top of the hill and had a dip in the COLD water.

It was a good morning to work out some muscles.

We stopped at the tea house and had some tea with lempeng kelapa in the nearby gazebo. The food was outrageously expensive but the ambience more than made up for it. We found a papan congkak and the boys brushed up on old forgotten skills. The wakaf was filled with sweet smelling white gardenia (my mom calls that bunga cina).

Everyone took turn posing with the bunga cina (Iman was the culprit). They were sporting. Looked kinda silly, funny (and yet endearing).

It was a good morning to burn some calories. To spend time with the family. To create memories.

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We Played Kites

Coming back from a break away from the office, the question asked would definitely be pergi mana? My answer this time is, nowhere. The children are working, it is the year-end after all and Iman, as usual would be working evenings and weekends. Ilyas has recently moved job so no leave there for him.

And we have always planned our year-end holiday for early in the year anyway. No pressure then, although it is not the school holidays. Eirfan doesnt mind it as much as I do, co-incidently..

My do-nothing, tak-pergi-mana time was spent at home doing everything and nothing (you may interpret that as you will). One thing for sure, the kitchen was definitely well-used. We made cakes and cakes and cupcakes (nak kata banyak nye buat cake compared to other days; tapi tak banyak pun in actual fact - yang jadi dan yang tak jadi..), we baked lasagna, tried a new baked chicken recipe.

We also tried a local Trengganu gulai ikan aya recipe which we followed from a 'gerenti jadi' buku masak that I got for RM5 (it was a gift to my hubby who loves nasi dagang with a passion - cheapskate, I know). I'll show some pictures (with the other recipes) later. For now I'll share the chocolate cake topped with chocolate ganache that we made.


We went for a picnic and mandi air terjun. We shopped. We walked. We did the garden; and cut our pokok jejawi which neighbors called cantik and likened our lawn to the tropics garden because of its green-ness. If we sit on our porch, the tree can hide the fact that we spy anyone passing by our front gates (ps you Cronies, or maybe spying on Zarina - haha). But it was too big already. The roots have gone all over the pond. Takut nanti pond pun crack.

And we played kite at Kepong. It was fun. Maybe we'll go play kites again. And get even bigger kites. Something like those that the pros play.

The kites come in many shapes and sizes. We had two, one of them is the bat (I'd love to get the one with the princesses - but Eirfan would surely make a case out of it). Our bat (in the photo at the very top) could almost look like the batman emblem (except that it is a bit fat, come to think of it).

We also flew a fish. It went up high but came down quickly when the wind stopped.

The guy above looked like he's a pro. His kite has got 4 strings and there is this 'zinggg' in the air when his kite cut into the wind. I gaped and just had to take photos (dia buat donno, maintain macho gitu..).

And you cant believe the number of people playing kites here in the afternoons. But the wind is good and the field is vast.

Nothing beats an afternoon in the open space - made even better when you have a kite or two, to fly.

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Something Serious This Time

Sesungguhnya Allah menciptakan Neraka berpintu tujuh.

"Ia ada tujuh buah pintu." Surah Al Hijr Ayat 44

Jibril as datang kepada Rasulullah saw (lalu Rasulullah saw bertanya,) "Wahai Jibril terangkan kepada ku tentang neraka dan panasnya". Lalu Jibril berkata, "Sesungguhnya Allah menciptakan neraka dan Dia nyalakannya seribu tahun sehingga merah. Lalu dinyalakan lagi seribu tahun sehingga memutih. Dia nyalakan lagi seribu tahun sehingga menjadi hitam. Hitam pekat dan gelap. (...)

Kemudian Nabi saw bertanya lagi kepada Jibril, "Wahai Jibril ceritakan kepadaku tentang pintu-pintu Jahanam (...)". Jelas Jibril, "Dari satu pintu ke pintu lain memakan waktu perjalanan tujuh puluh tahun. Tiap pintu lebih panas daripada pintu sebelahnya berlipat tujuh puluh kali."

Kemudian Rasulullah bertanya tentang penduduk pintu-pintu itu. Maka Jibril menjawab, "Pintu terbawah, di sanalah tempat orang-orang munafik. Namanya Hawiyah (...) Pintu kedua tempat orang-orang musyrik. Namanya Jahim. Pintu ketiga tempat orang As Shabiun (orang-orang yang menukar agamanya). Namanya Saqar.

Pintu keempat tempat Iblis dan pengikutnya daripada golongan orang Majusi. Namanya Ladha. Pintu kelima tempat orang-orang Yahudi namanya Huthamah. Pintu keenam adalah tempat orang-orang Nasrani namanya Sair.

Kemudian, Jibril terdiam. Maka Rasulullah saw segera bertanya lagi, "Mengapa engkau tidak menceritakan penduduk pintu ketujuh?" Lalu Jibril menjawab, "Wahai Muhammad, janganlah engkau bertanya aku tentang itu." "Ceritakanlah kepadaku" desak Nabi saw. Kemudian Jibril berkata, "Di situlah tempat orang-orang sombong dari umatmu yang mati sebelum bertaubat."(...)

Lalu Nabi menangis keras sekali.

~Mukashafah Al Qulub

Selawat & salam kepada junjungan besar Nabi Muhammad saw.

Picture above gotten from here.

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Charts You'd Never Think Of

I wanted to put up some other stuff but somehow my enthusiasm for them has somewhat ebbed.

If I learn one thing (and one thing only) from blogging, then it has got to be that writers are right - you've got to get your story on paper (or equivalent..) when you feel it. Otherwise it'll be gone and you will lose that moment. With nothing write. Well you can write, but it wont come from the heart. And it'll show.

So since I am having no heart for my own stories I'll share these with you.

I dont do facebook..

I dont really watch CSI. But I agree with the chart.

Yeap.

Zana might just try this on her cat(s).

I've got my fair share of the question.

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Getting Old (er) Part II - As We Age

I like this info that I've gotten via email from Aton. It puts the important things in a simple manner without the cliches attached.

In a crunch, take your Bs for mental alertness. B12 for your heart. Use UV sunglasses and have enough ACEs for your eyes. Do weight exercises for bone density and to prevent muscle loss. Use sunscreen to protect skin. Read more below.

Choose health.

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Getting Old (er) Part I

So I am on a three-day medical leave. The bones are weary. The shoulders achy. The back tired. Knees buckling. And I was popping pills again.

I went to see the orthopaedic surgeon again (who is the most nicest doctor), who said the ailment is due to wear and tear. Over-used muscles. And who am I to argue with the specialist?

But secretly I also like translate it as penyakit orang tua (only the doctor's too nice to say it like that in my face). Let's be pragmatic about it.

And now my mom's words of caution came back to me. She had said, simpan sama tenaga tu untuk tua besok.. And if you havent discovered it yet, let me tell you that mothers are always right.

So today the doctor jabbed me in the tendons at the side of the kness. He said those muscles are all bunched and swollen (no wonder I had developed a nightly ritual of minyak gamat on the legs. Now I know why). I seriously didnt think I need any jabs actually, I thought those are normal sakit urat. How naive am I about health?

My back, shoulders and neck are old stories to the doctor. We had xrays and scans and mri's done on that during my last visit early in the year (come to think of it I should be grateful for small mercies - I havent been to the specialist for almost a year after all).

The funny thing is, I felt worse once I am home and took the medication prescribed. And lay down to rest like the doctor said I should. How's that? I am thinking that maybe after the consultation it finally hit home that this is more serious than I originally thought it was.

Earlier, as the doctor wrote notes in my personal file, I mused loudly to him and the nurse. I said, I think it is time to re-learn about yourself and your habits. What your body can take. How much you can do. When to stop. He said yes, you have to adjust with age (like I said, it is penyakit orang tua).

And all in all, in the mean time I am appreciating my boss more as there is no call / text messages from him about work or due dates although I know (through the grapevine) that he was asking about things; but only from people who are actually in the office.

ps - I hope to write some more about getting older. Soon. Thus the title.

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Busy, Indulgent (Words That Could Never Go Hand In Hand)

Hello darlings. Yes I know, it has been almost two weeks since the last update.

I've been busy - challenging myself. Every time I show myself up to the new day, I want to be certain that I will be significant that day. That I will prove a point whatever that point is. That I will be relevant. That I have achieved my goal come evening. It is not easy. Sometimes the day becomes long as you keep stretching yourself. A few times I failed, because I failed to connect with whatever I wanted to achieve. But enough said.

On other days I took things easy. I have also been idle and indulged myself in frivolous stuff (I like that word. Frivolous).

Still, at other times days could be so urgh.. bitchy I suppose. Nothing goes right. You are so aggravated (or equally aggravating? Maybe). Anything and everything infuriates you. You can feel there's a storm brewing somewhere but cant name the reasons why.

You think you might change your clothes. Your hair. Your FACE (?!!). And man, for sure you are getting nowhere **.

OTHER than that I've been seriously busy (mostly in the kitchen). We had loads of cookies made for Eidul Adha orders. I half finished my current beading project. Will show the photos once that is ready. For now I have photos of older beading stuffs I had made.

And I tried the new Briani & Ayam Goreng Rempah recipe I had gotten some time back. It tastes good, but much better when cooked by my sister.. (I'll never win any competition with my sisters, that's for sure). The children like anything other than nasi putih, which too often showed up at our table anyway. And the chicken is fried with lots of spicy 'debris' (orang Kedah panggil serdak, or maybe I should spell that 'seghdak').

And I tried the granola recipe that I found (it was seriously yum) . Follow through the recipe, but you can turn it into bars - or not (make sure they dont stick together too much and you'd have delish healthy home made cereal). The kids love the bars but I prefer the loose version with milk for breakfast. It's full of oats and nuts and fruits. And of goodness. The next time I make this maybe I'll omit the sugar altogether.

I also did the chicken and mushroom party pies that I said I would. And yes they turned out almost as nice as the ones I bought. Practice would surely make them perfect. Recipe of this later when I have photos to go along.

And I made popiah goreng too, with lots extra in the freezer. It's filled with vege and chicken, cooked chinese style. I'll share that with you another time too (I feel like I am overloading this post already. And I hate information overloads anyways).

And it is already well into ZulHijjah. Next week is going to be short; with Eidul Adha on Wed. Selamat beribadah. As usual we will have the qurban done here. With superb sup gearbox and tulang for lunch with the neighbors. I'll share pictures too on that.

** If you dont already know, this is taken from Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The dark actually (that's the part of being indulgent and frivolous). And while on the subject, let me leave you with Bono's / U2's One video. Frivolous.. and yet not.

Have a blessed eidul adha wherever you may be reading this from.

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Books, Books And More Books Part 24

Would 'reading' a recipe book be considered as reading? I did go through all the recipes on all the pages from the front cover to the back. I even read what's written on the insides of the cover.

That's how I know that zucchini (what we always see in the States) is also called courgette (what I always see in Jamie At Home - he's British after all.) For a time I've wondered whatever is a courgette. I think they are somewhat between the labu and the timun family. Anyway. This is what zucchini and a zucchini flower look like and you can actually fry the flowers like you would any tempura (I am imagining the maybe we can do the same with the bunga labu..)

And I also found out what a microplane is. No darlings, it is not a tiny airplane.. It is actually a grater or a zester (for you to grate the zest of a lemon, orange etc); alaf baru. Like so.

See? I learned something from the recipe book after all. And oh yeah, the book contains recipes - obviously - of dreamy pies and tartlets and muffins and quiches that I always dreamed of making. Let's hope I not continue to only dream of making them all.. I think as a start I will try the chicken and mushroom party pies (sounds delish, dont you think? Entah dah masak nanti jadi apa.. muah-ha-ha..)

And talking about food somehow reminded me of a request I had for the brownies recipe I have always make. It's yummy and gooey and has a whopping amount of calories I suppose; but so irresistable. I've been making this for years; for birthdays and school parties, canteen days and raya. Trust me, it is that easy.

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