A Family Makan2

Izni, niece, got engaged the other day. I am sure the pretty pelamin was done by Fatin (she also did the pelamin for Iman's and Ilyas' wedding; and we pass her number around in the family). I always like her color scheme and style.

After makan2 there was the clown show for the kids - it was hmm, siapa punya birthday also, I think Dina - cucu sedara. Not only were the kids excited..

..even the elders pun tercengang! (maklumlah kami kecik dulu mana ada clown datang rumah..)

Haha.. when the clown asked warna apa lagi ada - we said kelabu tahi anjing! Clown pun terstun sekejap. I dont think he understood; it didnt seem like Bahasa Melayu is his first language.

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Have the Greatest Weekend

Hi darlings. Yeay, it is the weekend after all. I thought it wouldnt ever get here (yes, it was that kind of gloomy, depressed, temperamental moodiness).

For a while it seemed like it is going to be a disaster kind of weekend. Earlier, words like avenge and revenge came to mind. And pig (as only true male chauvinists could be). And thoughts like if we were children I'd box his ears and if I were a man I'd punch his nose (till broke). Kesabaran yang (amat, amat) dicabar.

Teringat cerita ustaz tentang orang kafir yang mencabar syariat Islam and after all that was said, sorry is the only word offered. And we are expected to be gentlemen enough to take that feeble peace offering. Terbakar dibuatnya. 

Wow. Right - the weekend (I will not let some rude, arrogant, obnoxious clown ruin that).

I have such elaborate plans this long weekend. We have aqiqah cucu sedara tomorrow in Bangi. I was tasked to make my (world famous! - konon) wajik for that. Mom is in town; so we are going to Cheras for a visit. I plan to get to Publika; I've got to visit Ben's. I saw their store on tv and it looked gorgeous. I plan to make small bundt cakes (actually I dont even have the right tins yet). And croissants. I've been trying to bake these since forever. We are also going to Rawang; somebody's going for hajj. I am clearing stuff upstairs (we are putting in some new wardrobe so lots of stuff has got to go). And I need to get some mending done (eg Me:Eirfan! Kenapa kocek kemeja sekolah ni koyak? He:Kawan tarik. Heh-he.. I thought he must have had fun then sebab boleh ketawa lagi dah sampai rumah pun so what's a torn pocket right?)

You have a great weekend too whatever your plans may be.

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Do You Know Where You Are Going To?

I thought this is rather befitting presently.

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Life

Hello darlings. How are you? I've been depressed, demotivated, bored, frustrated, uninspired, weary.. Yeah that about sums it up (in other words, hasnt life been just plain peachy?) I have  been skipping the medicines and visits to the doctor and the therapy, that could have been the reason for the moodiness now that I've come to think about it (I need to put the blame on something).

Ini tahun saya ke 50. I celebrated that many-th  birthday recently. The kids promised to take me out for a nice meal but we didnt get to do it. Ada saja sebab kami tak pergi - tak de mood, dont feel like eating out, dont know where to go (although Italiannies looked interesting for a while), tak cukup korum etc etc.

I like being 50. It feels like a privilege; the right to enjoy certain immunities I think. Whoever said getting old sucks? It is rather liberating in fact - do what you want, say what you like, thinking you've been there done that and thank god you've made it through and those phases have passed you by.

Wrinkles, you say? I think they add character - lined faces and crow-feet eyes could tell you a lot of stories.

So as part of the whole process I am thinking about a revamp of the blog. The issues are different, interests changed, new goals blah blah. Bottom line is I think I've written here long enough. Nak cerita pasal lain pulak lah. Maybe. We'll see.Who knows.      

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Raya Gooey Cookies, NOT

When the children were small, Sesame Street was seriously popular and with it Elmo, Big Bird and the Cookie Monster. That was how we picked up the chocolate chip cookies. And taulah orang putih tak abis2 dengan choc chip cookies dia. Through the years I've tried (and thrown out) many choc chip recipes.

And chocolate chip cookies is one of the things we make a lot of at raya. But these are for sale; the children are seriously jemu with my version (they've eaten the same cookies since they were at kindergarten!) Apa orang kata - chauvinist - of their mum's cookies, tapi kalau baru keluar dari oven panas2 tu abis jugak lah biskut tu. We frequently get our choc chip cookies from Zam, whose mum made the most gooey choc chip cookies I've ever eaten. Seriously.

This raya I tried to make similar gooey cookies. But failed. Yet again. Guna lah resipi apa pun. The kids said, mama pakai choc chips yang salah. So I tried other brands this time. Tak gooey jugak.

All the 'branded' chips we tried -

If you have / know a recipe that will yield that ooey, gooey texture, tell me about it, ok? I wanted to share a quite decent recipe that I got; tapi tak jumpa link pulak. But maybe we can try this.

ps - coincidently the Cookie Monster constantly peep in at the top right corner of my laptop as I work.

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My Raya

This is my raya story with pictures -

Kami bagi duit raya sebelum berbuka on the 29th Ramadan. Kata Iman, bagi hadiah bulan Ramadan lebih afdhal.. (and I did give out duit raya to anak sedaras and cucus after all, albeit the old notes and some in old sampul raya)

They played bunga api di padang belakang (dah besar2 pun takut kena marah dengan makcik-pakcik sebelah rumah..)

We prepared the raya feast sikit2 days earlier; malas nak berebut2 last minute. And pre-ordered the ketupat & some of the rendang. Unfortunately gambar makanan takde; only the set table. But we had lemang, ketupat palas dan nasi impit. Kuah kacang dan lodeh. Sambal sotong. Kari ayam. Rendang tok dan rendang pedas ayam. Rendang tok was made by hubs from a recipe he got from my brother-in-law (!) But as usual when he cooks, kami yang kena kerah tenaga.. (you know the joke that when a man cooks habis periuk belanga keluar dan dapur pun kena cuci fr ceiling to floor? I can vouch that it is true)

As usual, gambar raya yang skema di rumah. I was rather disheartened this raya for no particular reason (even lagu raya Amy Mastura and M Nasir, my fave, cant bring out that special raya feel) and told everybody, tahun ni you can choose whatever you want to wear. Semua baju dah digosok dalam almari. Pakai je lah yang mana nak. Takde tema2, penat mama nak kelola. Kami pakai baju indah, tapi bukan baju baru.. tahun ni.

The newly weds. The bachelors. And the not so newly weds.

 

Resipi baru yang saya kutip tahun ni.. (macam2 resipi mintak saban tahun, buat tidak jugak pun..) You can try this, it is delicious.

We went back to see the mums but I seriously forgot to take any photos. Sesungguhnya lupa sebab sibuk sangat melayan tetamu. Hope you had the nicest raya.

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Salam Eid Fithri

Hi darlings. InsyaaAllah this past Ramadan has been most blessed for you. At least seorang atau dua? yang beritahu sedih sebab dah hujung Ramadan. MasyaaAllah. Personally I have mixed feelings about my own Ramadan.

Anyway. I've been meaning to do this post for the past couple of days; but I have been very, very  busy (ayat biasa saya). This is amalan2 sunnah pada aidil fitri yang saya terbaca -

1. Bertakbir

2. Mandi di pagi raya- Ali bin Abi Talib ra pernah ditanya tentang mandi; apakah perlu mandi setiap hari? Maka beliau menjawab tidak perlu. Namun yang perlu mandi adalah pada hari Jumaat, hari Arafah, hari eid al-Adha dan hari eid al-Fithri.

3. Memakai pakainan yang indah (jangan silap sangka - bukan pakaian baru. Mahupun langsir baru, atau sofa baru etc etc)

4. Berjalan kaki menuju ke tempat solat eid

5. Mengikut jalan yang berbeza ketika pergi dan pulang dari solat

6. Bergembira di hari raya

Dan. One thing that I'd like to emphasis: Para ulama melihat kesungguhan Nabi saw di dalam mengajurkan para sahabat ra untuk mengerjakan solat eid sebagai bukti kewajipannya. Malah Rasulullah saw sendiri tidak pernah gagal untuk mengerjakan solat tersebut. Baginda memerintahkan para wanita yang sedang haid untuk turut serta menghadirkan diri di musholla hanya untuk menyaksikan upacara solat eid tersebut -

Kami telah diperintahkan (oleh Nabi saw) untuk keluar, maka kami memerintahkan wanita2 yg sedang haid, para gadis dan wanita2 pingitan untuk keluar. Ibnu 'Aun berkata : "atau wanita2 pingitan" dan wanita2 yang haid diperintahkan (Nabi saw) agar menyaksikan jamaah kaum muslimin dan dakwah mereka serta menjauhi tempat solat.

Musholla - kawasan lapang - Nabi sembahayang eid di musholla (tempat terbuka), bukan di masjid. Coincidently we once did our eid prayer di padang. It felt weird at the time. But looking back it was something special and I wouldnt want to miss it.

Baca dengan lanjut di blog ini. I like the whole written subject; it makes perfect sense dengan nas-nas yang berkaitan. Saya amat2 recommend.

Selamat hari raya to you. Semoga diberkati dan dirahmati Allah sentiasa. Save driving if you are travelling. And save the eating if you are dieting!

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Jom Drama Kejap

Have you seen this samsung ad - Wind Chimes In A Bakery? It is awesome.

You can start with the Episod 1 below.

For now it runs through Ep 4 only. Unfortunately the next episode will only be available August 8th (believe it or not I typed these same sentences on my newer HP laptop and this is what is shown on the sceen - Y64 can start w5th the e*5s6d 1 here. F6r n6w 5t r4ns thr64gh e* 3. nf6rt4nate3y the next 6ne w533 6n3y be ava53ab3e A4g4st 8th. - definitely wysiwyg NOT. I need to fix my keyboard again. Next time get a DELL you guys at DLCM..)

Anyway. The go-live dates for the rest of the episodes are here - (lama lagi nak tunggu finale tu)
Ep 5 : 8 August, Thur (malam raya doh, I s'pose they'll launch it at mid-nite?)
Ep 6 : 16 Aug, Fri
Ep 7 : 22 Aug, Thur
Ep 8 : 30 Aug, Fri

So enjoy the videos; this is definitely a drama Malaysia ala Korea in so many ways. The boy is cute, the girl is sweet and it is a love story after all - what more could you ask for? (but.. I dont do drama Korea - ayat biasa saya. Or drama Msia come to think of it. Maybe this is an exception. We'll see).

ps - Aton, have your daughters watched this? Awak tu kalau tengok jangan nangis pulak! But anyhow I am rather certain that you will..

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Thoughts About.. Nothing

I love how the orang putih can be so warm and encouraging sometimes. But I equally hate it when they are outright vocal and being blunt about things.While at other times I am cynical; I think they may be pretentious - I was reading a lovely post when this comes to mind.

And I wish we can enjoy the various seasons of the year. Then we dont have to make up excuses for having seasonal salads, summer movies or even the types of shoes that we wear (I am loving the images of summer fruits and colors).

And I love reading Zana's posts. There is always something interesting in all that she writes. I love the one about cats - ours roll on the floor and show us tummies too. And I suspect Sushi did give me a kiss once or twice! That's priceless I suppose coming from me (who claims to not like cats).

Help, I think I am assailed with bouts of melancholy. And I think I have too much time on my hand and I am over-scrutinizing things I should not have noticed in the first place (I am already on my eid leave; let's hope there'll be no emergencies in the office. The cookies are done and delivered. I will do last minute shopping tomorrow. Sleep on Tue. And cook a bit more - a lot? - on Wed. You take care, darlings).

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A Green Ramadan & Syawal

Hi Darlings,

Raya is just around the corner (and so is the end Ramadan..) I got the following message from Iman, which I like (I am a fan of the green initiatives after all - I think I should close up my afternoon-sun-facing-window with a wall instead..) And coincidently I couldnt get my money changed appropriately for duit raya (does that entitle me to not give any duit raya this year then, I wonder?) Not that I tried very hard to get it changed in the first place, if I were honest.

Also, did you watch this year's TM raya ad on tv? I think it is the best raya ad yet - the message this year is bersederhana dalam meraikan hari raya.

Selamat menyambut hari raya. Dan selamat mencari rahmat di hari2 akhir Ramadan ini.  

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