October babies

Auntie tau, it is a little late to give tribute to October babies. Auntie started this entry a few days ago but because the internet connection at auntie's office have been extremely slow, auntie gave up the entry. I'm blogging from home today so hopefully this will get through. Problem with blogging from home is that I'm limited with pictures coz most of auntie's photo collection is stored in my computer at the office.

Anyways, two people in auntie's life are October babies. One is mamachupan, who also blogs. Her 38th birthday was on the 3rd October this year. However, since our gang members were all dispersing to our individual kampungs for the raya, we could not celebrate exactly on her birthday. We did it a few days before raya in her house. So, despite celebrating her own birthday, she had to cook and clean up for us. We also did a 'kuih raya baking session' that night and had clean good fun (unlike another post-raya party we had, which is less than 'CLEAN fun', but that's another story). After raya we also present mamachupan with a cake (Samantha, I still owe you for that!) and hopefully she enjoyed it with her small household. Sempena her birthday auntie nak wish mamachupan all the best for the coming years and thank you for being a really, really good friend to auntie (other badaks don't be jealous, same goes to you guys too!)

The other birthday girl was born on the 28th October, 37 years ago. She's Mommy, auntie's non-blogging-but- facebooking younger sister. Amongst auntie's adik beradik, she and bro1 belongs to the batch that got married first, in the early 1990's (about 8 months' gap between bro1's wedding and hers). The other three only got married about a decade later, all within a year or so between us. So, mommy and bro1 is the provider of kiddies to auntie, sleepyhead and bro2 for the moment, until all of us get our own. But of course the kiddies will remain auntie's 'first' children because auntie has had the honour of tukar lampin and feeding each one on of them.


Eh, this entry is supposed to be about Mommy and her birthday. Sorry for the 'detour' about the kiddies.

Auntie could not find latest picture of mommy so, auntie post recycled picture of mommy's previous birthday.

Mommy is a high-flying economist in a prestigious financial institution in the country. Masa kecik dulu Mommy was a small baby because she had a kind of ailment when she was a few days old. But alhamdulillah, she got over it eventually and thrived into adulthood. Walaupun badan mommy kecik, dia berani. When we were little, walaupun auntie badan besaq, auntie takut tengok citer JAWS so mommy selalu kena assign tunggu auntie mandi dekat depan pintu toilet sebab auntie takut JAWS akan keluar dari kolah bilik air tu.

Mommy is a long-time listener and critic/ commentator to all auntie's problems. She's frank and direct like Aki, but auntie appreciate this coz we need this to put our problems into perspectives and who best to do it than your own siblings who knew you since you were in tiny knickers. Mommy is very loving but some time very garang mom to Shasha and Ichkin. She is still trying to provide a brother or two for the two girls to balance out the female dominance in the family so auntie doa she will be successful soon. Auntie still believes that even if there are a few more boys in the family, the female clan will still rule coz we are a sensible lot, pro-active and always deliver what we set out to do. Important traits in leadership.

Anyways, auntie wishes Mommy a happiest birthday this year and many more ahead. Auntie and sleepyhead are 'cooking up' birthday present ideas and hopefully Mommy will like it. Auntie will be over in KL this coming weekend and hopefully we can do something nice together.

Lotsa luvs!

Ikan o ikan 2

Ini adalah gambar ikan patin yg belum dimasak. Auntie curi ni dari satu blog Indon. Turns out that Indon people also know Patin and i think especially people from around Riau (from auntie's quick reading). Depa masak cara soupy dish jugak but more like pindang/ singgang.

Auntie masih geram kerana camera auntie masih kong and sudah banyak event interesting tak dapat di-snap temasuklah snapshot of patin menggelepar semasa dipotong hidup2 di pasar. Walau pun kemungkinan besar auntie akan dapat camera baru free (jenis 'free- when- you- subscribe- annually-to-our-magazine'), tapi tak tau la bila dapat and auntie sungguh tempted untuk pi beli camera "Genius" 5MP berharga RM98.00 di Courts Mammoth kerana weekend ni auntie ada sungguh banyak activity yg memerlukan camera. Auntie takkan pi beli Canon or Nikon lagi sehingga la auntie's camera-vendor tu mengaku camera auntie yg rosak tu boleh dibaiki dengan harga yg less dari arm and leg.

And buat masa ni auntie takkan habiskan RM2000 to buy a mobile phone that has up to 5MP camera (apa2 jenis la) and all sorts of organising facilities (besides ability to wirelessly contact people), walaupun auntie sungguhlah tempted to do it and damn the consequences to auntie's live-savings, not to mention pocket. Of course the camera phone would be mighty convenience for 'semi-rajin' blogger like auntie. Tapi, takpe la. Auntie tunggula camera free from National Geographic tu.

Anyway, sebenarnya auntie blogs today to give out auntie's ikan patin masak tempoyak recipe kepada kawan2 kerana ada la pulak orang mintak. So, here it is:

Ikan patin (2 small or 1.5 big ones)
5 biji bawang merah (kalau nak aunthentic, takyah boh ni)
10-15 biji cili padi (according to you heat tolerance/ preference)
2 inci kunyit hidup (kalau kunyit to gemuk, pendekkan la sikit- you know what i mean)
2 batang serai
3-4 tangkai daun kesum
2 senduk tempoyak (kalau suka kuah pekat and lebih rasa tempoyak put more)
timun kecik or timun biasa (potong2) - ni ikut suka, kalau tamau boh pun takpe
Asam keping (kalau tempoyak kurang masam)
1 cawan air

Bagi auntie, Tempoyak yang best ialah masa dia baru nak masam and still ada manis and masin sikit lagi.

Tumbuk or blend bawang merah, cili padi and kunyit hidup. Masuk dalam periuk with air. Panaskan. Bila panas tapi belum mendidih, masuk timun. Tunggu sat, pastu masuk ikan, serai yg diketuk and daun kesum. Them masuk tempoyak. Rasa. Kalau perlu masuk asam keping. Didihkan. Jangan lama sangat coz patin cepat hancur and tak juicy.

Sungguh sempoi tapi soooo worth all the agony watching the patin being butchered (hehehehe!)

So, sesiapa yg takde issue dengan ikan patin TESCO, boleh pi cuba weekend ni. Kalau nak tunggu beli ikan patin temerloh mungkin la you all tak sempat merasa masakan ni in your lifetime.

Intan, lauk ni boleh juga dicuba dengan ikan jelawat kot. Or maybe ikan siakap la kalau susah nak dapat ikan seangkatan dengan patin and jelawat.

Tati, kalau kebetulan I balik kampung and you bercuti di Kuantan, jom kita sama2 pi pasar tani, pick the swimming Patin (albeit dalam tong and bukan sungai), watch the butchering process and then I will cook one up for you. How's that for a plan for a future getogether?

PS1: Petang ni auntie nak cuba satu pasta concoction for dinner. Kalau cun, nanti auntie share recipe. Kalau tak cun, maybe auntie tak blog for a few days.

PS2: To Mommy and Mushu, auntie is coming your way next weekend (31st Oct got meeting in KL). There may be a surprise brownie or two for Mushu. Tengok lah, kalau auntie sempat. Kalau tak we can always plan for a baking session at Mommy's.

PS3: To badaks, AH maybe akan buat his long-awaited mee goreng for our 'do' this Sunday. Dia punya therapist mungkin mendapat portion yg special tapi org yg selalu cocok perut dia, mungkin dapat makan mee ayam jek. Walau bagaimanapun, auntie nak gerenti, kalau AH goreng mee kicap bodoh pun auntie rasa cun, so mee ayam is nothing to complain about. Itu pandangan auntie la, yg ada kemungkinan agak bias gitu.

HAVE A GOOD LONG WEEKEND, EVERYONE!

Ikan o ikan

Auntie baru jek on de phone with kawan auntie mamachupan lamenting how we don't have enough hours in a day to finish out work, tup, tup, auntie decide to blog plak. So, mencapai impian apex university has to take a back seat sekejap le (dan hopefully the unversity will can the idea of the VSS-like employment options for unproductive lecturers).

Sebab auntie need someone to blame for this unproductivity, auntie nak blame Ms Hart, auntie's friend, kerana memberi komen dalam auntie's last entry and tanya pasai lauk ikan yg auntie kata auntie nak masak. Hehehe.

Inilah lauk ikan tu:


Chop! Gambar tu bukan gambar sebenar lauk yg auntie masak tapi telah dicedok dari satu website. Oleh kerana camera auntie dah kong and camera AH terlalu canggih utk buat immediate download to blog, auntie kena pinjam gambar orang lain. Mintak maap la kepada tuan punya gambar yg auntie tak kenal. At least auntie boleh tolong promote ikan patin temerloh (link dia guna these words) and alas meja kaler-kaler dia.

Ikan patin masak tempoyak ialah makanan kegemaran masa kini ahli keluarga Hj Endut (kecuali Hj Endut sendiri) dan juga ahli keluarga AH. Masa kecik2 dulu we all jarang makan lauk ni. Our meals consisted mostly of nasi, ikan goreng, telur goreng dadar (ada citer interesting pasai pergaduhan auntie and satu ustaz pasai apa org putih panggil telur dadar, tapi tu nanti auntie bubuh dlm entry lain), ikan singgang or ayam goreng (on a good day). On weekends we may get to eat Wan's now famous nasi minyak and korma ayam. Tapi, as we grow older and mix and marry with people from other places, our palate has grown a bit and become a bit sophisticated. And we are sometimes introduced by our friends and spouses to lauk yg sepatutnya we all dah kenal coz our home state is famous for it. This is the case with ikan patin. Somehow, over the last few years, masak tempoyak ikan patin becomes the 'in-thing' for us. Maybe it can be attributed to Umi Ina coz auntie remembers that dia rajin masak ikan patin ni bila balik Kuantan or when we go to her house and also because her mom is a constant supplier of very good tempoyak to the family.

Satu masa dulu, TESCO and other supermarkets pun began to stock up on ikan patin so auntie pun venture into cooking ikan patin masak tempoyak for AH and family. It was a hit with everyone and we all pun become regular customers of TESCO's very cheap ikan patin. Of course, not as delicious as freshly caught ikan patin of orang asli or even the sangkar ones we got in markets in Kuantan but beggars can't be choosers. Tapi, pada satu hari ada org beli Harian Metro and ada news kata ikan patin from a kolam in Perak (sorry, org Perak) diragui kebersihannya kerana food yg diberi kepada ikan patin tu berasal dari Ms Piggy's family members. Whether dari segi hukum dia halal ke tak, tu auntie blom pi tanya mana2 ustaz la lagi tapi, we all decided not to have our dose of ikan patin from TESCO lagi coz bila auntie tanya org kat TESCO ikan patin mai mana, dia kata "Ipoh".

As a result, agak lama jugak la auntie and AH tak makan ikan patin. Bila we all balik Kuantan baru2 ni, we decided to buy ikan patin ala2 ori kat market utk bawak balik Penang. In fact, we managed to buy ikan yg hidup lagi and the fish monger actually 'sembelih' ikan tu depan we all. Masa dia slice ikan tu pun, the head and tails were still flapping. Sounds gross, but like Anthony Bourdain, we feel a kind of satisfaction thinking we'll be eating something this fresh. Kekekeke. We packed the fish (without washing to ensure freshness) into plastic bags and freeze it at Wan's home before taking it with us to Penang. Bila sampai Penang, terus, masuk freezer lagi. That's as fresh as we can get la, before cooking it for the Penang parents.

On Saturday last week, ikan telah selamat dimasak dan di enjoy. AH's dad puji masakan auntie walaupung auntie rasa lauk tu sedap because of the fresh ikan. Anyways, auntie takyah bagi resipi la coz auntie sure semua pelawat blog auntie tau macam mana nak masak tempoyak ikan ni. Cuma, walaupun Wan kata, authentically, masakan ni nak tak leh bubuh bawang (coz org ulu Pahang dulu2 takde/ or susah access to bawang), tapi auntie masuk gak sikit bawang and auntie rasa jadi lagi cun. So, what if auntie's dish is not authentic? The enjoyment is authentic, what?

Auntie ingat next time nak cuba ikan patin masak steam plak coz auntie pernah makan this dish in one conference in a hotel and tasted sooo delicious.

Oh, perut ku yg lapar (auntie puasa hari ni), sudah berkrok-krok mengingatkan lauk ni!!!!

PS: Hari tu mamachupan kata dia masak ikan jelawat masak lemak cili api. Auntie nak try to convince AH that ikan jelawat from TESCO is ok so that we can try this.

Have a nice day everyone!

Marang Kerapu

Seperti biasa, title entry auntie takde kena mengena dengan apa yg auntie nak tulis. Kecuali bunyi-nya ie macam "merapu", which is what auntie is going to do in this entry. Auntie decided to blog today coz psychomama aka mamachupan dah tegur bila nak update blog ni. Oleh kerana auntie juga adalah pem-blog kepada beberapa blog yg lain, sudah lama auntie tak update blog ni. Actually blog-blog yg lain tu pun tak update jugak. Pendek kata, auntie bukan lah macam mamachupan yg amat diligent meng-update blog. Lagipun, mamachupan always has something interesting and thoughtful to write about. And kebanyakan benda yg mamachupan tulis tu auntie pun setuju so, kira dia dah tulis untuk both of us la tu...hehehehe.

Anyways, mula2 auntie nak wish everyone Eid Mubarak dan semoga Ramadhan yg lepas lebih memberi kita keberkatan dalam hidup. Azam auntie nak ganti puasa at least seminggu lepas raya tapi nampaknya belum fulfil coz lepas raya jek tak leh puasa. Pastu ada bermacam hal yg menghalang (read: menggoda auntie supaya postpone puasa) seperti travelling ke Tg Malim (utk bagi talk dan makan kuepau) and then a surprise balik kampung (and pergi kedai koboi and makan nasi dagang, ikan patin and laksa, not all at once, of course) and then party raya kat opis and then kursus plak tu (kununnya takut penat otak and badan). Insya Allah, auntie akan puasa next week. Sleepyhead dengar khabar dah raya 6 pun. Aki and Wan pun dah raya 6 and maybe akan raya 6 buat kali kedua this weekend.

Ada satu berita mengejutkan dan menyedihkan dalam keluarga auntie minggu ni. Abah kepada Che Ja, sis-in-law auntie, passed away suddenly Thursday night. He was 54. Al-fatihah kita sedekahkan and semoga Che Ja, Che Ding and family Che Ja tabah menghadapi dugaan ini.

News like this just makes us think how fleeting life is. And also how much more important to appreciate our families while they are with us. On a more personal level, news like this makes auntie return to auntie's internal dilemma about doing my 5-months sabbatical overseas. Although the idea of exploring new knowledge and intellectual network overseas is highly tempting (especially because auntie jugak org yg suka travel), auntie keeps thinking what happen if auntie couldn't be there when auntie's families and friends are suddenly taken ill or if their time is up. At least if auntie do sabbatical in Malaysia, travelling time to get to them is manageable. Lagi pun auntie rasa 5-months is a long time to lose precious moments spent with family and loved ones. Auntie kesian gak ngan AH coz dia dah lah selalu kena tinggal bila auntie gi meeting domestically. Kalau auntie spend 5-months oversea, we will be putting on hold for quite a substantial period, things we can be planning for the future of our married-life, which kalau ikut average life-span of Malaysians, mungkin sudah tinggal tak berapa lama lagi. So now, auntie rasa deep down auntie secretly prays tak dapat offer pi UK for the course yg auntie applied tu, so that auntie don't have to make decision to go or not to go.

On that depressing note, auntie nak tunjuk gambar work-in-progress auntie's new bathroom, yg setengah orang kata agak cun. Now the bathroom is almost complete and looks much better than the picture. Here goes:


The apartment is almost ready tapi kalau ikut Murphy's Law Malaysia benda2 kecik yg akan selalu lambat siap. Sigh!

Have a good weekend everyone. Hopefully hari ni auntie berasa rajin untuk masak satu lauk ikan yg best. Babai.