Saya ingin menyeru pak² Imam sekalian..

..supaye len kali bile nak angkat takbir, bace kuat skit bleh tak?

Dua malam lepas, seperti biase sy ke surau Taman Sempadan untuk solat Isya berjemaah dan diteruskan dengan tarawikh. Awal² lagi kami telah diberitahu kemungkinan terdapatnye imam jemputan, tak kisah la.. sy suke je bile tukar² imam. Dulu sy suke ke surau Taman Pekaka (mase tu bleh ke takmo solat di surau taman sendiri wpun surau tu tak sampai 50 tapak kalki pun dari umah?) sbb imam²nye sentiasa bertukar dan yang menariknye, kebanyakkannye adelah pelajar² asing USM. Ohh, sungguh seronok mendengar 'laguan' pembacaan ayat² suci alQuran dari negare² berlainan..

Ehh, dah lari topik la pulak..

Semasa solat Isya, di rakaat ketige semase imam tidak lagi membace AlFatihah dengan kuat, kami di belakang dgn khusyuknye mengikuti beliau (khusyuk ke, Ayu? Yakin? Heheh..). Apabile beliau mengangkat takbir untuk rukuk, sy pun rukuk lah dan..

..sgt terkejut bile mendapati hanye sy dan akak di sebelah sy sahaje yg rukuk di sepanjang saf kami. Jem!! Trus ilang khusyuk sbb sy dah konpius, btul ke sy dgr imam angkat takbir tadi?

Actually, sy jugak terpanik seketika dan terase muke sy merah kembali. Nasib baik tak terdetik kat hati sy mase tu (skrg ni baru terdetik) yg ini adelah satu lagi sbb makcik² disini takkan mau jadikkan sy menantu diorg.. tp seryes, panik ok!

Kemudian.. 'Samiallahulimanhamidah'..

..dan berpusu² la makcik² di kiri kanan kami rukuk sementara kami berdua bgn semula.

Ok..
1. Nmpk sgt la sy dah tak khusyuk kat sini kan
2. Sy tak gelak ye
3. Sy rase lega sbb sy tak salah dgr.. aci ke?

Dan sy tak salah kan mereke sbb sbnrnye imam tu bace sangaaaaaaatt perlahan, ok! Hampir tak dgr so sbb tu sy rase makcik² tu sumer konpius, tatau nak rukuk ke tak..

Aishhh la en Pak Imam, kami dibelakang tabir make toloooooong la bace kuat skit ye len kali.. sian kami ni..

Tgk kuih pun buleh nostalgic~

Yesterday me and Arep did our usual 'penjelajahan bazaar Ramadhan'. This time we went to the one in Nibong Tebal. Truthfully, I never knew there was one in Nibong Tebal. It was in front of Yawata and was really small, about 20 stalls only.. no, scratch that, tak sampai 20 pun rasenye..

..and they have this really nice roti kirai with yummy curry. Definitely nak pegi lagi ☺

Anyway, at one of the stalls, I saw this..

Kuih sagu. Yeah, I know, ape la yg unique sgt ngan kuih sagu tu kan.. but it kinda reminded me of someone we lost 7 Syawals ago.

When I was doing my industrial training (LI), I stayed with my late grandfather since the company I was attached to was doing a bridge across the Sg Perak and right in Kuala Kangsar. He was already quite elderly then, around 80 I think.. ke lebih lagi ye?

My daily routine was to wake up for Subuh and get ready. Then I'd go to the kitchen to make Tok's kopi kampung (what us kids called the strong coffee that is NOT instant like Nescafe), a whole flask of it. I'd take it with a fresh cup and some breakfast to his room before going for my LI. Then wehn I came back in the afternnon, I'd usually buy some kuih or banana fritters for our tea I'll then rest before getting ready for Maghrib and dinner. Sometimes Tok would come down but most of the time he'd stay in his room since he wasn't really that strong anymore. After dinner I'd talk with him a bit before he reitred and I'd watch tv till I was sleepy.

On weekends was a different matter. I'd have some time on my hands and would do most of the cooking (mcm la terre kan, bodo² je buleh la..)

One day, I came with this idea to make some kuih sagu. I liked that kuih when I was smaller and since the theory of making it seemed so simple, I decided to make some. My cousin watched me do it (budak laki kan) and we were excited of the outcome since I never really made any traditional kuih before..

When it was ready, I cut it up and rolled it into some coconut and immediately served it to Tok.. and I didn't even taste it since I was still full from lunch. Tok finished it and asked for more while telling me it was, "Sedap!"

I was really happy and gave him more. It was only late in the afternoon when I finally tasted it and OMG! Was I soooooo embarassed!

You see, my family doesn't really take much sugar even when we were smaller (thus the reason my housemate called me 'kedekut gula') so when making it, I thought I had used A LOT of sugar. I repeat, A LOT! But it turned out, my kuih sagu was tasteless.. didn't have even a hint of sweetness!

Malunye Tuhan je yg tau and when Tok asked for more that night, I cringed when I asked him, "Tawar ek sy buat, Tok?"

He smiled at me and told me he never tasted anything more delicious than mine and proceeded to finish it all up..

Demi cucu dia yg tak pandai masak itu..

Alamak.. tetibe rase nak nangis. I miss him soooo much. When we came back from UK, he used to talk to us in English, maybe he was afraid we'd forgotten how to talk in Malay la kot.. and he still cut my chicken/meat/fish into small pieces and arranged them around my plate when I was already in primary school. He was always interested in what I WANTED to do insteadof asking me to do what he wants me to do and he always asked my opinion on the suppliments he took, even though he knew I was studying engineering NOT medicine.

He was so proud of me when I graduated and when I showed him the pictures of my convo, he asked a lot of questions. When I stayed with him, he used to ask about what I did and never judged me on my answers. When I didn't have any money during my stay there, he gave me some and made sure I had enough everyday, even gave me more for 'just in case'

I remember when me and my cousin, abg Sher were scolded by him haha.. Served us right as we were in our late teens already by then and still dok main tak senonoh. Know what we did? I'd go take my wudhu and my cousin would touch me just to batalkan. Then I'd do it to him too and we'd end up laughing so much until we heard a voice say, "Kome dah beso!" Opsss.. terdiam trus kitorg and tak berani dah main² camtu depan dia.

What I regret the most was the last time I went back before he moved on, I didn't salam him. This was because I had planned to go back to early but since all my aunties were home, I didn't realize we were talking way up to 11pm. Then kelam kabut la I wanted to go home and I didn't salam him since I thought he was already asleep and also because I know he would be worried about me if he knew I was doing an hour-and-half trip alone at night. The next news I got was from Mama who told me Tok was being strange a few day later. He was asking for Chendol kat Lembah and he finished it and asked for more, when before this, he couldn't even finish a pack.

He left us as I was on the way rushing back to Kuala Kangsar and I didn't get to say goodbye :(

I stayed beside him through the night reciting the Quran and the next day, ALL OF HIS GRANDSONs (except one!) bathed him. It was a beautiful sight and even the men from the masjid wept. They didn't have to do a thing except guide my brothers and male cousins on the proper way to bathea and kafan him. I'm sure Tok was happy too..

I really miss him a lot, especially now in Ramadhan. I hope that he is surrounded by Allah blessing always.. Al Fatihah!

Sgt malu, ok! Damn my bladder

(Please excuse the tak senonoh picture that was Googled heheh..)

This Ramadhan is the first Ramadhan which I don't have class throughout the month, sgt suke ok! The first week we still had classes as usual, thus the 'syahdu bukak pose sensorg dlm kete' status on my FB last week, but until a week after raya, we are free.. yes!

(Thought sedikit risau la kan sbb gaji pun tak dpt la sebulan klau dah takde kelas.. aiseh!)

Anyway, for years I've only been able to go for tarawikh on Sundays je since I usually have classes every night, this year I was looking forward to tarawikh every night. So on Sunday, check! Monday pun check! Then Tuesday tak pegi coz I went for iftar at kak Zura's and she did a birthday celebration for her twins gak so I tarawikh alone kat umah je after that..

..which made yesterday cam over skit semangat nak pegi la kan!

I made sure I didn't eat much during iftar as to make sure tak la ketat perut nak solat kan hehe.. then since the musolla was just a few meters from my house, I went about a minute or two before azan. As usual, sampai surau wat ala² dara sunti pemalu (Okay, tipu! Ni sbb segan tak kenal sape kat surau tu je pun kan =p) waiting for the azan la sume kan.

Then just as I finished my solat sunat, I felt this urge to pee. But not the REALLY need to pee nye la.. just the feeling you get when you know you wanna pee. I looked at the watch and thought, "Takpe je ni nak tahan sejam.."

But then, as the minutes went by, the feeling intensified dgn sgt cepat, parallel with pertambahan orang di surau itu. Dah la I was in the first saf, dah mule rase uncomfy dah ni but still pujuk ati, ok kot.

When the imam started to Iqamah my bladder was starting to buat hal. I look behind me and saw the saf behind me was already full. Dah malu dah rase nak kelaur tetibe kan celah² orang time dah nak solat sgt so I told my bladder to behave..

..but of course la it refused!

Arrrgghhhhh...

Then tak tahan, as the imam was reciting Fatihah (the womans saf dah ramai start solat while us in the front saf still ade yg dok betulkan saf lagi), I couldn't stand it anymore. Luckily the mak cik beside me hadn't started her solat yet so I aksed her wher the toilet was, grabbed my keys and practically ran outta the musolla..

..and I COULDN'T FIND THE TOILET!

Adoiii.. ape lagi, berlari balik rumah la pulak kaaaaaaannn.. sheeshhh!

Terserempak la pulak ngan my neighbour a few houses yg agak la alim kan, makin malu plak rasenye. Ntah ape dia pk seeing me in my telekung. bkn going towards the surau but away from the musolla and back home.. adessss!

After doing what I had to do, tetibe malu la pulak kan nak balik ke surau.. sekaligus terase sorg lagi makcik pun mesti rase, "Tak leh buat menantu ah budak ni" (The first being the makcik I talked about in my FB status)

Maka sekali lagi lah sy solat di rumah..

*sigh*

Barang² free hehe..

This is a lapuk entry which I just wanna do to while the time away sementara tunggu time meeting :D

A few days ago, I got a small parcel.. just in time for Ramamdhan.. you guys can get these freebies too by registering at www.nestle.com.my/dearnestle

Then 2 days later got my free CD hehe.. suke ok! Dah lame tak menang CD² nih (saje je kan suke brg free)

Awang plak, coming back from Sarawak bought me this..

..ngan alasan,"Aritu mase kat Sedim sy prasan kipas kak Ayu dah patah so sy carikkan yg same ngan yg dah patah tu buat ganti" Auwwwww, so sweet!

And from abg Azahar plak..

Cakes from Sarawak. The traditional Hati Pari tu yg paling bes. From what was told to us when we went to Sarawak last year, Hati Pari takes hours to prepare and rasenye sgt sedap k.. Just don't overeat la, kang muak. Actually sy pesan bende ni dari dia tp untuk berkat Ramadhan kot, dia kasik je.. thanx abg Azahar ☺

And from Yee plak..

..I use as a table runner at home sememtara nak basuh table runner yg gune skrg. Dia kate buat ganti the missing shawl yg dia penah kasik dulu.. alahaiiii Yee, tak yah pun takpe. Dah la bukan salah dia pun shawl tu ilang, it was lost in this room when we went out tp Yee insisit jugak nak ganti.. wahhh, baiknye adikku ini.

So to all, thanx!! :)

How's my 1st try?

A quick entry since I'm supposed to be teaching Prof Meor's son in 3 minutes..

My friend here, Fisya asked me to do something for her 2nd anniversary. A tale-themed cupcake set using fondant. Pasal dari zaman berchenta saaaaampai la dah ade anak sumer ni and pk punye pk, this was what I came up with..

Ni tambah paper tags, saje gatal wanna see how it looks like (takde beze pun 2 gambo tu kan hahah..)

So whaddya think?

Pasta in da house! ♥

A few months ago, my student Aminah gave me some choc cheese cake her mum had made.. yummy! However, everytime I wanted to give back her container, she never came (and I isi ngan bende beli kedai je coz malu tak pandai masak cam mak dia). But seeing that its nearly Ramadhan and since I won't have any classes with her for the whole month, I decided to pakse her to come (didn't have to actually coz suddenly her school didn't have any activities that night haha..) and make something.

Rummaging through my kitchen cabinets and fridge, I was suprised to notice I HAd the ingredients to make one of my fav dishes.. well, excluding the tomato puree which I was sure was sold in the nearby store so I decided to make it..

..until I realized I dodn't buy the tomato puree yet haha.. aperaaa Ayu! And would you believe, they only had the small can.. and only ONE was sold that day.. adesss! Rosak recipe ku.. and to add insult, I FORGOT to put some salt in the meat, sabo je lah.

Tp ku gagahi jua and the end result wasn't that bad la kot. Takde la sampai tak leh nak telan kannnn.. so what did I make?

Tadaaa..

Ye la.. baked pasta je pun. Wanted to use the usual macaroni tp at my home cume ade spirals and malas gile nak gi cari coz the macaroni sold at the nearby store was this brand yg sy tak kenal, thus, sy tak mo cube la kan.

Sempat la dibungkuskan untuk Aminah and my usual 'rakan bertukar juadah'. Then took a bit for myself and the rest here..

..kasik kat jiran! Diorg tu sedap aje wpun the meat takde garam kan =p

Sy ade beg baru~~

Okay la, its not the RM1000++ type of bag, nor is it in the hundreds.. my guess is its not even RM10 haha.. but its the thought that counts kan hehe..

When I was in form 2 (which is like millions of years ago la kan time dinosaur pun dok atas bumi lagi), the first time I went for an 'outing', I bought this bag from Popular. It was just a small bag bg CAP (Consumers Association Penang<-- btoi ka?) promoting the usage of reusable bags instead of plastic bag. Then, there were no reusable shopping bags like the ones we find in Jusco nowadays, this bag was made from cotton (?).

I used this bag for my telekung from then right till now (see, the bag is now older than me when I first bought this bag) and I really loved it. I dunno why, maybe the sentimental value of it being my first purchase for the first time I went out with friends or something but I REALLY used this bag.

Now the past few years, my friends keep telling me to buy another bag. Why?

See.. haha.. and here's a close up of the handles, sgt reput ok! Its literally hanging by a thread there.. and still I use it! Tatau la sbb sentimental value ka or sbb malas nak cari another bag haha..

Anyway, last month, the staff in our school went for a trip to Bandung and one of my friends bought me some cloth for baju kurung (the kind you can find merate² over there) and something else..

At first I thought it was a pencil box but I was puzzled on how hard it was for me to open it and stuff my stationary there. That was when Rashid came in and had the laugh of his life at me hahah..

Ohhh.. bag rupenye hahah.. malu ok!

So guess what I'm using it for? Since the person who gave it to me also suggested it (huh.. nape sumer org tak suke beg telekung lame sy?), I'm now using this as my new bag telekung :)

My old bag? Ade je kat umah.. thinking of framing it up sbg membalas jase <-- mati la sentimental gila! Well, at least (bak kate Yun), takkan ade karangan 'Saya sebuah beg telekung' from it kaaaannn =p

What came from my oven..

A few days ago.. scratch that.. last Monday, I decided to bake yet another cake. I had leftover tinned pineapples and peaches from my previous cakes so I decided to make a one with a mixture of both of these just to finish it of before it rots in my fridge and since a staff here complained that he never gets any of my cakes (mcm la sedap sgt kaaannn haha..), I decided to give them to the akak² and adik² technician.

I dunno what came over my oven but apprantly it now takes less time for me to bake a cake. But me being me, thought it was business as usual in the baking department so even when I smelt something burning (some of the fruit syrup had dripped on my 'oven floor', I thought it was the sugar in the syrup burning), I didn't bother to check. It was only when my heart told me something wasn't right that I went to my oven and of course la melompat trying to save my cake..

Haishhh..

This is what I get for ignoring the smells!

Luckily only the top part was burnt so I just had to cut it of. My cake turned out a bit short, but luckily, it was still good.. Alhamdulillah!

On a more positive note, the leftover peaches I talked about earlier came from this cake.. tadaaaa!

It was more or less like the pineapple upside down only this time with peaches. Just wanted to see which one came out nicer. I've got a 50-50 response with some prefering the pudding-ey texture of the peach topping, while others prefer the crunchy pineapple top.. oh well!