auntidasthots

BONDA

2011-12-07T19:31:00.000+08:00

(Mengingati Mak, Halimah bt Habibah yang pergi menemui Ilahi pada 2 Muharram 1433/ 28 November 2011)

Apakah yang boleh dikhabarkan kepada insan-insan

bila perginya bonda tersayang

menghembuskan nafas di akhir kali

sedang mereka tiada di sisi

Adakah kata-kata yang memadai

mengubat luka dan kesal di hati

selain memujuk diri

segalanya ketentuan Ilahi

sejak azali

Apakah yang boleh dibisikkan kepada kekasih bonda

yang teruntun jiwanya kehilangan sebuah cinta

hanya ungkapan bersabar tetapi menangislah, ayahanda

Rasulullah yang kehilangan Khadijah Baginda

jua sugul buat seketika

Maka kita tidak terkecuali

daripada rasa lara ini

Apakah yang boleh kita ingati tentang bonda

Terlalu banyak bolehkah dihitung

Awal hayat kita dikandung

Setiap takat usia kita dilindung

walau sekadar melalui doa kepada yang Agung

Bolehkah kita lupakan bonda

Sedangkan dalam darah daging ini mengalir susu ibu

Setiap alunan lunakmu pengubat hati sendu

Setiap pujukanmu mendinginkan kalbu

Setiap kata bonda menjadi pandu

Bolehkah kami hidup tanpamu

Setiap detik dan ketika mengenangmu

Bila dilanda sangsi mencarimu

Bila bahagia ingin kongsi tawamu

Bila hati duka rindukan doamu

Tidak kira ketika, ingin terus bersamamu

Bonda,

Dengarkah suara hati kami ini

Memohon sentiasa pada Yang Satu

agar perjalanan bonda ke Hari Penentu

Allah permudahkan tanpa halangan

Terimalah janji kami

Usah gusar tentang kekasih hati di sini

selagi hayatnya di bumi

kami akan memberi bakti

agar tenang hidupnya walau tanpamu di sisi

Bonda,

Terimalah rasa yang terbuku di hati

Kami mohon ampun dari hujung rambut ke hujung kaki

Tiada makna hidup kami

tanpa restumu mengiringi

dan bonda,

walaupun berakhir masa kita bersama di duniawi

doa kami sentiasa di hati

agar kita bertemu lagi di alam yang abadi.

Al-Fatihah.

5-6 December 2011/ 9-10 Muharram 1433

Birthday Baking

2011-03-12T23:55:00.003+08:00

Hey, it's Auntida's birthday today. Thank you for all the kind wishes from family and friends. Auntie's best wishes was from Wan this morning. Although Wan was a bit hesitant and shy to wish Auntie, Auntie appreciate her effort. Both Wan and Aki were not used to wishing their children or anyone else Happy Birthday but Auntie suppose our enthusiasm and 'make-a-fuss' attitude each time their birthdays or anniversaries came must have rubbed off on them somehow. Since one or two yrs ago, Aki had started sms-ing his children during their birthdays. Wan is a bit of a late-bloomer. Last year she wished Auntie when Aki called to wish (tumpang sekaki la tu :) ). This yr she was bolder. But she made Auntie's day.

Today is also Ogabang's Mak's birthday. Her 75th. So Ogabang belanja Auntie and Mak dia biryani Hameediyah (tapau), which lasted until dinner.

Anyways, the best way to celebrate a birthday, in Auntie's opinion, is probably just to rest and do nothing or do whatever comes to mind during the day. So, Auntie decided to just stay in, watch "Hantu Kak Limah Pulang ke Rumah" (earlier part was entertaining but half way through Auntie lost the plot) and after dinner, do some baking. Here's Auntie's baking results:

'Half' scones. Auntie rolled the pastry a little bit thin, so it turned out to be only one side of a scone.

Butter cookies. Look horrible but yummy!

Good night, everyone. May Allah bless us all.

Kiddies through the years

2011-01-04T23:05:00.002+08:00

Auntida loves all Auntida's kiddies and most of them are somewhat attached to Auntida since very young. Auntie was not around them much when Along/ Ya and Aiman were babies and toddlers and their are not so manja with Auntie, but Auntida was always aware of their development. Kakak aka Shasha and Jijin used to be very partial to Auntida but as they grow, children have their own things and they may find it less needful for an 'Auntie' figure. Auntie is sure they still all have very affectionate feelings towards Auntie.

Auntie first saw Shasha when she was about 3 weeks old. Auntie remembered driving back to KL bringing Mommy and Shasha with Wan and Aki after Mommy's berpantang stay at Wan's. The first 2 years of Shasha's life, Auntie visited her often in KL so she was close to Auntie. When she could talk, Auntie remembered Mommy telling Auntie that whenever Auntie had gone back from her home to Penang she would keep asking "Auntie mana, Ma, Auntie" [Shasha liked to repeat words like that when she was two]. When Shasha was about 5, Auntie went to visit her in St Louis, USA [she went with Mommy and Daddy when she was about 2 1/2. Mommy was doing her PhD]. Shasha was elated Auntie could spend Raya with her. We had a really good time together and Shasha was so sad when Auntie had to leave. But both Shasha and Qin [and Ajmal too] do not like goodbyes so they would be stern-looking and devil-may-care when they had to say goodbye.

Jijin also went overseas when she was about 2 [Ayah went to study]. A yr and half later when she came back, she was about 4yrs old. Jijin also became close to Auntie. Actually, masa Jijin lahir, Auntie was staying overnight at Ayah & Umi's house coz Auntie had work around KL. At around midnight, Umi finished grading her students' papers and went up to bed. Barely an hour later, Ayah kejut Auntie to follow them to the hospital coz Umi's water just broke. Within 3 hours of reaching the hospital, Umi gave birth to Jijin. After Jijin balik from UK, Jijin was the youngest kiddies for some time. Jijin came back from UK a few months before Auntie kenal Uncle Z. When Auntie started dating Uncle Z and told him Auntie ada niece nama "Jijin", Uncle Z kata "Ha? Niece you nama Jin?" Pokak badak betui! Actually, Umi & Ayah first called Jijin "Reen" or "Shakireen" tapi Jijin sendiri yg bahasakan diri dia Jijin, so lekat sampai sekarang. Before Auntida got married, Jijin was very close to Auntida and selalu nak tidur ngan Auntida bila jumpa. Lepas Auntida's wedding, Jijin would intermittently came into Auntida's bedroom, looked at Uncle Z and asked "Auntida kawin ke?" Then she would ran out of the room. She looked so amazed :). Auntie rasa she actually wanted to come sleep with Auntie tapi ada satu 'makhluk' besar lain kat sebelah Auntie, mana nak muat katil! Jijin is a very generous and thoughtful person. She would always save up school money to give as presents to siblings on birthdays. She would make cards for them and include RM1 or RM2 as present. One Raya, she gave duit raya RM2 each to Wan and Aki.

At the moment, Ajmal pun very manja ngan Auntie. Bila Auntida datang rumah mesti nak tunjuk and cerita apa dia buat. Ajmal is so keletah and tak pelat. For example, he would say his name properly: "A-je-mal". Masa Auntida visit Ajmal kat Kuala hari tu when he finally saw Auntie arriving, dia komplen "Jauh sangat ke rumah Auntida ni, lambat sangat sampai". And then dia tanya "Rumah Auntida hotel ke?" Both Qin and Ajmal thought that Auntida & Uncle Z live in a hotel. For Qin because whenever Auntie was in KL, Auntie selalu stay in a hotel and she would come and visit. Kadang-kadang Uncle Z was also in the hotel room with Auntie. Ajmal came to Auntie's apartment in Penang. Since dia tak biasa tengok orang duduk dalam rumah tinggi except in hotel, he must have thought rumah Auntie tu hotel.

The most manja of all kiddies, with Auntie, is, of course, Qin. And Qin is very expressive about her feelings. She constantly tells Auntie she loves Auntie. Qin is generally a happy person. She is rarely in a bad mood kecuali bila lapar, panas & mengantuk [sounds familiar?]. She has a positive outlook on things and is a good diplomat [Wan selalu puji Qin for her physically affectionate nature- "Cucu Wan yg sorang ni pandai betul ambil hati Wan. Selalu cium Wan...tak payah suruh"]. She would say to Mommy, "Mommy, your a very good cook...but Auntida makes the best cupcakes!" Masa Qin was about 7 or 8 months old and came to visit Auntida in Penang, Mommy, Daddy and Auntida had to leave Qin and Kakak with Uncle Z for a few hours to run some errands. Qin loved to sit on Uncle Z's tummy and when Qin merengek and Uncle Z tatau nak buat apa, dia letak Qin in the closet [no danger was caused to kids or animals in this stunt, I assure you]. Qin terus senyap and gelak. Qin suka closet rupanya :). Qin simply loves to bake with Auntida. She's proudly nominated herself as "Mommy's & Auntida's handy helper". In kindie, teacher commended Qin for being 'diplomatic' and 'having leadership quality'.

All of Auntie's kiddies are quite musical and artistic. Ya, Aiman & Shasha are all interested in musical instruments and are learning to play the piano, guitar and violin. Jijin used to like to sing and dance and she is also the resident voice-over expert coz she was 'hired' by Uncle Z to 'star' in one of Uncle Z's video productions for a client. Jijin's first job. Qin definitely loves stage performance and had been an enthusiastic participant in kindie's concerts doing the Jai-ho and Mamamia. Ajmal? Well, Ajmal just loves Ultramen and can act the hero movements like a pro :).

All kiddies are growing so fast before Auntie's eyes. Along, Aiman and Sha are taking important exams this year. Jijin is std 4. Ajmal does not want to go to kiddie's school yet. But he has some time. It is Qin's second day of school today. Yesterday was her first. The night before she had to go to school for the first time, Auntida called her to wish good luck and to wish that she would enjoy school. She didn't sound too enthusiastic about it but was not unhappy either. It's like she was taking it in her stride like everything else. Yesterday, Qin called Auntie a few times but Auntie's phone was out of battery and Auntie was out in Tesco. She called home and Uncle Z picked up. Uncle Z said she sounded so excited to talk to Auntida but when Uncle Z said Auntida was not home yet, she sounded so disappointed. When Auntie called back, Qin was already asleep. Mommy said she wanted to tell Auntie how everything went alright in school and that there was an ice-cream man right in front of her school (Qin simply loves food!). Today also we missed each other on the phone again. She told Mommy that Auntida would have been real proud of her coz she fared quite well in school today. Mommy taught her how to buy food at the canteen. The pick-up and drop-off from-school-by-hired-car trial run also went quite well. Tomorrow Qin will be on her own. Mommy will probably be dropping by only in the afternoon to see if pick up from school is ok.

In a few days, Qin will be an old hand at Yr One schooling. Before long, Ajmal will be totting a hefty Ben 10 school bag to a first day at 'real' school. In a matter of years, Along, Aiman & Shasha will be in college/ uni. Jijin will be taking their place, living the life of a teenager. In a decade or so, Auntie may get nieces/nephews in-laws and four or five yrs after that grand-kiddies. Such is life. If Allah deems it, Auntie may yet get a baby of my own, natural or otherwise, after all kiddies grow up. Or other kiddies from Mommy, Acik Din or Mushu [Ayah & Umi maybe dah tutup kedai]. Whatever it is, Auntie's love for all present six kiddies will surely remain. They will always have special places in Auntie's heart. They have coloured Auntie's life for the past 16 or so years and will continue to do so for the rest of Auntie's life. Auntie is forever grateful to Allah for their presence and to their parents for unconditionally sharing them with Auntie. May Allah continue to bless them with his Rahmah and Rahim. Amin.

OK, that's the end of reminiscing. Here are some pics of kids over the years, in some-but-not-strict chronological order [pics are mostly of younger kiddies coz older kiddies pics are mostly non-digitalised yet:

Qin in November 2004- a few days old

Shasha, Along/ Ya & Aiman. Can't remember how Shasha and Ya got to have 'twin' dresses. Aiman is 2 weeks younger than Shasha. At the moment, Shasha is the only family member that Aiman has added as his FB friend.

Qin 3 months and 2 days old. This is why Kakak aka Shasha used to call her Chubs.

Qin, just before a year old. She had lost her chubbiness but regained it later.

Qin on her first birthday. Pakai topi yg Kakak & Auntida made for her. From Kakak's sarung bantal punya kain perca. Shasha was into sewing at the time.

Ajmal, 2006. A few weeks old.

Dah bulat.

Ajmal with Uncle Zach. About a year old kot.

Qin with Cat Juice.

Ajmal yg nakal. "I'm gonna get ya!"

Qin in Mommy's closet. When she was a few months old, Uncle Z put her in our closet and she liked it.

Qin and Auntida. [Uncle Joe kat belakang]

Ustazah Aryssa Rizqin.

Qin and Shasha. Studio photo in the St Louis.

Jijin in baju kurung sewn by Auntie.

Qin, posing.

Qin and Mommy. Qin in one of her not-so-sunny mood. Sebab panas!

Ajmal. Concentrating.

Ajmal. Concentrating again.

Qin in May, last year.

Kakak, Auntie & Qin, celebrating Kakak's 14th birthday.

Qin, 6 yrs, 1 month and 17 days old. At school, this morning. Silent reading session, 15 minutes before class start.

Good night, my lovelies. Sweet dreams.

Auntida's 2010

2010-12-31T22:11:00.009+08:00

It has been a very busy 2010 for Auntida. A lot of travel. Perhaps the most number of research field work that Auntie had ever done in the past 15 yrs as a postgrad student and an academic. Also, probably the most number of international people that Auntie have ever met. Some new possessions. Some new responsibilities. Some family crises. Many good family moments. Some growing up done. Some immaturity remains. Perhaps lesser number of conflicts with Ogabang (who's counting?). Still the same amount of 'conflict' [if any] with friends. A few impatient moments. Perhaps, generally, an increased tolerance of people. Alhamdulillah, definitely a general increase in rezeki, monetary or otherwise. Some rezeki being taken away, perhaps as a lesson from Allah about gratitude.

These are some pics to illustrate some events in Auntida's 2010 life:

JANUARY

On the last day before the year of 2010, Auntida and 3 gang Badak did our much-missed ritual of exchanging cheap gifts. The rule was each gift must not be over RM10 [tak silap] but we didn't put a limit on number of gifts. These were some gifts yg Auntida dapat. Utk melindungi identity gang badak yg berpakaian kurang presentable semasa exchange gifts ni, gambar2 gifts yg lain tidak dapat ditunjuk.

We also took advantage of the new year long weekend to do makan-makan di samping menyambut birthday Ogabang, which fell on 5th Jan. The birthday boy holding his cake, a gift from kakak2, adik2 and anak2 Badak.

Auntie also had the chance to be part of the celebration of Pak Long Ami's birthday [19th Jan] when Auntie had to work in KL. We celebrated it at Mommy's on the 16th Jan

In late January 2010, we acquired a new asset. After a 2yr stint of single-car ownership, we decided a second car is no longer a luxury but a necessity to avoid familial/ couple conflict :). Some of the important reasons include that Auntie was given added responsibilities at work and need to travel to meetings, Ogabang need to take his mom to hospital appointments which would sometimes coincide with Auntie's meeting schedules and Auntie sometimes need to stay back late at the office while Ogabang may need to go buy early dinner for himself and for his parents. But the real reason is probably so that we can go home to Kuantan in greater comfort and so that Ogabang could angkut balik barang2 from Kedai Cowboy!

We still love Ms Red very much. This has been Auntie's ride from January 2010 onwards, even at one point to use to go for field work to Kuantan.

FEBRUARY

Sunrise at Summerset Rompin

In February, Auntie was on field work trip to Rompin with mamachupan and Samantha. We also brought our families and extended families with us so that the work could be coupled with fun. One of the best moments in Rompin was this sunrise gazing with friends.

MARCH

March is of course, Auntida's birthday month. Office gals bought Auntie this cake. Auntie had various celebrations with friends and family after that.

March was also the month for Ajmal's birthday [3rd March]:

APRIL

In April, Auntie had an office retreat in Langkawi. Only had work pics except this one, which is a view from the hotel room. Ogabang tagged along because he was involved partially in the work.

April 12 and 30 were Jijin's and Shasha's birthday but we celebrated them during Auntie's visit to KL in early May:

Jijin, Auntie & Umi

Auntie & Shasha

MAY

Aiman's birthday was on 16th May

The highlight of May was the Tok Bibah's clan family day on the 29th of May. Here are some pics:

The Family Day was in memory of our beloved Tok Bibah who passed away on the 21st of May 2003. It was an inaugural family day and is agreed to be repeated, perhaps, every 2 or 3 yrs in the future.

The cake ordered by Umi from her friend. It turned out her friend was also Auntie's recently (2010) acquainted friend.

Mommy introducing the Halimah/ Endut sub-clan by reading pantun penned by Auntida.

The Red sub-clan. Nothing to do with the group in Malaysia's northern neighbour.

The sub-clan official pic.

JUN

Auntie's first overseas trip for the year was to Seoul, Korea, for work. Auntie was there for 5 days:

First lunch in Korea

We were definitely very well fed by our Korean colleagues.

Shopping, near our hotel. Auntie like the statue at the back.

In June also, Mommy and family came for a weekend at Auntie's place. In our excitement, we forgot to take pictures except for this:

Qin and her toys on Auntie's floor.

JULY

July saw one of Auntie's dream travel destination: Australia. Simply because it was relatively near but Auntie had not had a chance to visit. Auntie attended 2 conferences in Melbourne. Auntie was there for a total of 2weeks including 3 nights in Tasmania. Auntie went with mamachupan. For the first week, another colleague and mamachupan's sister also joined us.

First dinner out in Melbourne...

At this Afghan place.

This was one serving. Worth all the $16.00.

Our hotel was 5 minutes walk to the famous Victoria Market. We love it!

Our mode of transport for 2 weeks

During the weekend between two conferences, 3 of us rented a car and took a trip along the Great Ocean Road. This is one breathtaking scenery along the way.

We stopped for lunch at a fish n chips shop. Yum! Yum!

Because of unexpectedly lengthy detour, we arrived at the famous 12 apostle almost at dusk, so light was fading. But through the naked eyes, the view was still breathtaking.

One of the cake shops at St Kilda

Auntie's favourite cookies at the conferences. The Anzac cookies.

The last four days of time in Australia was spent in Tasmania with Auntie's new-found friend Farid. She is a close friend of mamachupan. Thank you Farid and family for the marvelous and gracious hospitality. Tak terbalas. Auntie did not have many pics of Tassie because Auntie's camera ran out of batteries. Also we were too busy eating to take pics :). But a few views of Launceston, Tassie. We also drove to Hobart for a day trip. These pics were taken on the way to Hobart.

AUGUST & SEPTEMBER

August and September were the Ramadhan and Syawal months. Auntie went home to Kuantan for Raya and brought Wan & Aki back to Penang after Raya. Two days before Raya Wan had a small operation on her foot and Auntie persuaded her to be looked after by Auntie in Penang.

An example of berbuka dish. We decided to eat simply for Ramadhan 2010.

Auntie's Raya baking project. The signature chocolate cake...

And chocolate chip cookies.

Auntie's 'kerastangan' Raya cookie jars.

Aki & Wan with new friends Uncle Johar & Mummy

End of September, Pak Long Ami buat kenduri for his impending Haj trip. So it was agreed that Auntie would take Wan & Aki back to KL. Tapi ada special order for the cookies pulak. All those bottles went to KL.

Together with this carrot cake, which was gone so quickly, everyone said he/she did not have enough of it.

Auntie's students also organised a Raya do so Auntie baked this Congo bars to bring to the event.

Auntie's students and colleagues.

August was also Along's, Maksu's and Acik Din's birthday but Auntie didn't have pics of birthday celebrations.

OCTOBER

Auntie resumed travel in October. This time to Singapore and Yogyakarta. Auntie only has pics of Yogya:

Nasi padang in Yogya

NOVEMBER

Auntie spent first few days of November in Langkawi for a writing retreat.

We stayed at a resort with this kind of accommodation.

Auntie also bought Red Lady Luna in November.

18th November was Qin's 6th birthday but Auntie could not celebrate with Qin. What Auntie managed was to see Qin before her birthday and decorate a cake with her. We also spent the day swimming and having dinner together. Auntie thought about the cake after seeing Auntie's friend's doll cake projects on her FB. Thank you, Atty, for inspiring me [you can click on her name to go to her blog, which displays pretty kiddies cake pictures]. But Auntie did not bake the cake from scratch. Auntie use shop-bought cakes and just shape and ice them:

The icing of the cake, in progress.

Auntie didn't have pics of the complete cake.

During dinner. Just the 2 of us.

DECEMBER

Auntie had a little accident in early December.

So, Auntie had quite an eventful 2010 but generally Auntie is grateful to Allah for all His rahmah and rezeki. Auntie prays for more.

What's left to do is to welcome 2011 and may Allah continue to bless us all.

Good 'night' everyone!

Kalau Allah nak 'tarik balik', sekelip mata sahaja

2010-12-26T01:36:00.000+08:00

Nampaknya Auntida is in a very good mood for blogging. 3 entries in about a week! It's the end year. Auntie is feeling a bit restive so thinks it's time to do some updates. Next week uni semester starts so it looks like Auntie's 'new' year will start a week early. Rasanya, 2011 will be a race very much like the last 360 days or so. So, Auntie better takes these last few days of relatively slow pace to update blog. Maybe lepas ni another half year will pass before another entry.

Anyway, Auntie wants to talk about the entry title. Auntie dok reflect how lucky Auntie's life had been in the last 41 years or so. Allah has been kind to Auntie. Walaupun ada ups and downs in Auntie's life tapi mostly Auntie could handle. There are many heartaches in Auntie's adult life also tapi Allah bagi kekuatan utk take them in my stride and for that I'm forever grateful. Also, there are more good fortunes than grievances yg Allah has given to Auntie and Auntie pray that Allah will only test me with things that I can face, Insya Allah.

As Auntie said, most grievances that Auntie had faced were perhaps too small in consequences to gripe about. Cumanya kadang-kadang kita alpa dan lupa that nikmat yang Allah beri tu, kalau Allah nak ambik/ tarik balik sekejap je boleh terjadi. Contohnya, the smallest of accident can happen and may change things in our life even as small as giving us a little scar on part of the body. Itu kira Allah dah ambik sikit lah nikmat kita. Iaitu nikmat kesempurnaan rupa paras dan tubuh badan. This is what happened to Auntie about two weeks ago. While frying something for dinner, the thong yang Auntie guna, yang ada spring-like thingy tu, telah berjentat (faham tak perkataan ni?) dan quite a lot of the hot oil splashed on Auntie's hand and chest. Luckily Auntie had clothes on that covered my chest (2 layers including 'pakaian kecik'), so the chest was not really hurt. Tapi Auntie punya left hand was splashed with quite a lot of oil. Nasib baik Ogabang ingat satu petua to sapu mayonnaise over it and Auntida rasa that helped a bit. Tak lah teruk sangat tapi cacatlah sikit tangat Auntie yg gomuk dan montok ini. So, as Auntida said, kalau Allah nak tarik nikmat (anggota badan yg halus mulus- perasan!), sekelip mata sahaja dia boleh (kun fayakun). Nothing can stop perkara tu. So, kita sentiasa kena beringat dan jangan take things for granted. Sentiasa baca Bismillah bila buat kerja dan berhati-hati. Tapi, bila accident dah jadi, redha sahajalah dan berusaha utk pulihkan keadaan.

Okaylah, enough reflection. Now the pics of the aftermath of the accident and its development:

About 20 minutes after incident. Slathered in mayonnaise. Slow sign of redness.

No sign of injury yet but ada tingly, pedih-pedih feeling.

2nd day. Starting to blister, so Auntie pergi jumpa doktor and doktor pricked the blisters. Given a round of antibiotics and antiseptic cream.

After a few days. No further blister but skin started to pucker and darken.

No pain already but started to get itchy and skin dried up a bit.

After 2 weeks. Some skin peeled off and patches remained on hand. Sangat gatal. The last time Auntie kena burn, it was like 3 years before the burnt patch actually became invisible.

Anyway, Auntida bersyukur nothing more serious than this happened. Auntie can live with this patch but Auntie sure thinks it's mighty difficult to live without the use of a hand. And may Allah jauhkan daripada segala kemalangan dan kesusahan di masa hadapan. Amin.

Auntie dan kasut

2010-12-23T14:26:00.000+08:00

Auntie has things about shoes. Auntie selalu tergoda dengan kasut. Masa study kat UK, kedai kasut ialah di antara kedai utama kunjungan Auntie walaupun takde plan nak beli [as in no real need]. Tapi pasti terbeli sbb kedai kasut sentiasa ada sale.

In Malaysia pun Auntie suka beli kasut jugak. Masalah Auntie ialah, Auntie susah nak jumpa kasut yg comfy for my feet in Malaysia. And Auntie always has problems with new shoes yg mesti akan cause me blisters. Tried to bubuh lilin before wearing tapi sekejap je dia ok pastu blister jugak. Tapi most kasut yg Auntie beli in Malaysia after dah buruk sikit memang akan jadi comfy. The process of getting them 'old' tu yg sakit. Also kaki Auntie kembang kat depan so fitting selalu susah jugak. Kat UK ada banyak wide-fitting shoes. Auntie does not necessary go for expensive shoes although many people told me that if you spend a good sum of money on a comfortable pair of shoes, it will go a long way and in the long run it will be more economical. Auntie tau. Tapi the urge (belum jadi obsession, ya) to buy, walaupun tak perlu, defeats this economics a bit coz kalau beli kasut mahal dan banyak pasang, still duit akan habis. Auntie allows myself this one indulgence sebab Auntie is not normally spendthrift [ye ke?]

Anyway, dua tiga hari lepas, Auntie selongkar office Auntie (yg also moonlights as my store) and found pairs of never-worn or harldly-worn shoes I bought when I was studying kat UK dulu. Other than the heels yg dah relai, they are still in good condition. Auntie sent them for repair hari tu and now that are good to go (walking, that is). They may be a bit outdated in the fashion department but tak kisahlah.

Here are their pics:

All of these shoes Auntie beli between 1994 & 98, so they are more than a decade old. But they still look good kan?

Yang ni Auntie beli because it looked like my dream shoe to be put on the hantaran tray bila Auntie kawin. Masa tu takde boyfriend/ suiter 'setabuk' pun lagi. Cuma dreaming je. Tapi Auntie fikir that bila dah jumpa calon suami, Auntie akan mintak dia reimburse balik the cost of the shoes to Auntie and then dia mesti hadiahkan kasut ni as Auntie punya hantaran. Scheming tak? Hahaha.

4 or 5 years lepas beli dan dah balik Malaysia, Auntie was still single but was still hoping, so kasut terus disimpan dgn lovingly nye dalam kotak :) End of 2003, jumpa Ogabang and early 2004 tunang, so dalam hati kata "Finally, my shoes will be on a tray!" Tapi, masa plan nak kawin tu Ogabang kata dia ada pantang larang membeli kasut utk orang yg dia sayang coz dalam family dia ada belief bahawa we should not hadiahkan org yg kita sayang with shoes, sharp objects or handkerchiefs. Tak tau mai mana belief macam ni tapi because he was adamant and because kan masa tu tengah tunang, so takutlah jugak nak langgar pantang larang orang tua macam ni. After kawin dah tak kisah siapa beli kasut siapa. So, nasib kasut ini ialah dia terus dok dalam kotak and since lepas kawin Auntie dok berpindah-pindah rumah for the first few years, kasut ni terus dok dalam 'storage' and somehow the box was carried to my office and stowed into a cabinet and forgotten. Tengoklah, dah kurang kilat sikit tapi still looks strong and wearable.

Ni kasut yg Auntie beli from M&S sebab it looks so comfy. Bila pakai memang comfy. This shoes was stored in a box in rumah Wan in Kuantan for many, many years. From time to time Auntie remembered it but never got round to unpack the big box of Auntie's 'treasures' yg dok kat attic rumah lama Wan tu (now dah jadi rumah Acik Din).

Auntie 'unearth' it two or three years ago with the white shoes below and brought them back to Penang. But they remain in other boxes in the office until a few days ago. Hope to find occasions to wear them soon.

My dream wedding shoes. Auntie beli kat Selfridges, tak silap. For GBP10. It's 'seconds' coz ada a bit discolouration on one pair. But Auntie tak kisah.

So, as I said, the shoes was a planned wedding shoes. A wedding that didn't come until nearly 10 years later. So, together with the red shoes, it was shunned and intermittently forgotten :D. Until la a few days before Auntie punya wedding when I frantically went looking for it. Masaelahnya, when I scoured the attic and opened the boxes, somehow I could not find the shoes! Auntie was so heartbroken. Betul-betul tak jumpa walaupun semua kotak dah diselongkar. So, dengan hati yg sungguh luka, Auntie terpaksa pi beli kasut emergency for the wedding [yang sekarang Auntie dah store kat mana tak tau]. For some time after the wedding, Auntie still teringat kat kasut ni tapi memang bila cari lagi tak jumpa juga sampailah 2 or 3 year ago when Auntie was looking for something else in Wan's/ Cik Din's attic, Auntie suddenly found it in the big box together with the red shoes [Auntie rasa dah beberapa kali tengok dalam big box tu tapi missed them]. Nak tunggu 10th anniversary takut kasut ni akan relai pulak, so kena cari another ocassion to wear it also.

Oh, Auntie ada one more shoes to show:

This is a leather boots that Auntie used to wear in London. Still looks good kan? Because it was bought a few months before Auntie balik Malaysia. Sekarang ni it's a bit tight for me because kaki Auntie kat depan dah kembang sikit (sikit je ke?). Kalau Along aka Ya sudi, Auntie ingat nak bagi kat Along. Boleh Along pakai pi trekking kat mana-mana :D

Eye-witness aka step-by-step account of Ogabang's mee kicap sotong

2010-12-22T13:45:00.000+08:00

Auntie tau it's been ages since Auntie blogs but that little thing called FB had again lured Auntie away from penning mundane thots in this space. For that Auntie regrets and will try harder to improve blogging consistency.

What Auntie will do is to take FB updates and turn it into materials for blogging. Semalam Auntie updated on FB that Ogabang intended to cook dinner. Mee goreng kicap sotong. Later on after that, Auntie also posted the proof of the pudding, so-to-speak. So, Auntie reproduces the pics here:

The mee goreng minutes from the kuali

Auntie had to stop Ogabang from scooping this onto his plate for the pic.

Close-up to proof the existence of sotong

The garnishes.

In Ogabang's book it's a almost sin not to have garnishes with mee goreng. So, Auntie selalu being given 'the look' for refusing the asam limau on mine. In Auntie's opinion, things that should be eaten with a dish should have all gone into the kuali with it. They have no business waiting outside :).

For Auntie's friend Zura who'd like to know how Ogabang concocted the mee goreng above, now Auntie nak give step-by-step account, as Auntie saw Ogabang made it yesterday. Auntie is sure Zura is highly capable of coming up with the same if not better superlicious dish. But here goes anyway:

Ingredients yang Auntie nampak:

Yellow noodles, washed (1 bungkus medium, probably can serve 4 tummies) [Ogabang is very fussy about the noodles. Would only buy from tried and tested vendor. Kalau tersilap beli, will never here the end of it]

Sotong, sliced (yg Auntie kena cuci: 3 big ones, dengan janggut sekali)

Fish cakes, also sliced (optional, according to Auntie but a must according to Ogabang)

5 shallots, sliced finely

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

[Kalau auntie, akan boh chopped ginger as well but Ogabang left it out]

[PS: Ogabang never cooks with electronically blended shallots and garlic. He prefers them chopped. Nasib baik semalam dia tak suruh Auntie chop coz Auntie had a very smart retort already prepared]

2 sudu besaq ground chillies/ cili boh

2 sudu besaq sugar

3 types of kicap (kicap mee, kicap manis and tah apa tah satu lagi, but there were 3 bottles on kitchen top last night)

Dissolve asam jawa in half cup of water (amount of asam jawa kena agak sendiri coz Auntie pi tengok tv sat masa Ogabang prepare this)

garam secukup rasa

tomatoes, sliced kasar-kasar

sawi, chopped kasar-kasar

taugeh [ikut suka]

Cara-cara membuatnya:

1. Heat wok and oil. Tumis bawang merah & putih until fragrant. Add blended chillies. Tumis lagi. [Sambil tumis, sambil komplen coz tumisan dok terpercik kat pakaian]

2. Add sugar to tumisan. Kacau sampai dissolve.

3. Add fish cakes. continue cooking.

4. Add air asam jawa, then the kicaps. Season with salt and more sugar if needed.

5. Add sotong and kacau.

6. Add tomatoes and kacau.

7. Add noodles and kacau [memang a lot of kacau- ing. For Ogabang, termasuklah kena kacau oleh bini masa dia dok kacau mee]

8. Add sawi and stir.

9. At the very last minute, add tauge so they will still be crunchy bila angkat.

Serve with/ without the garnishes but always with LURVVVVVVV!

Selamat mencuba!

[Kalau tamau cuba, tapi mau makan, mai rumah kami. Kalau Ogabang in a good mood, maybe you'll get a plate. Kalau tak you'll just have to make do with Auntie's version of the mee goreng, yg akan ditunjukkan di lain siaran. The jury is still out there on siapa punya lagi best].

Hidup mesti baking

2010-08-31T01:00:00.000+08:00

Sejak beberapa Ramadhan yang lepas, minggu seperti ini ialah minggu Auntie akan mula menggatal nak baking pelbagai jenis cookies. Semua cookies yg Auntie bake mempunyai rupa yg tak semenggah. Mesti senget-benget dan herot-petot. Walau bagaimanapun, ada beberapa cookies yg diakui oleh adik beradik Auntie (kecuali jika mereka berselindung di sebalik pujian) sebagai mempunyai rasa yg sedap. Kalau Auntie pergi rumah Qin, Qin sure akan sibuk ajak Auntie bake cookies or cupcakes. This year, Mommy pun has started baking projects with Qin coz Mommy tak larat nak dengar Qin punya pertanyaan bila Auntie nak pi KL lagi to start baking.

Auntie's favorite cookies are chocolate chips' cookies and cookies with nuts or grains. Choc chips are constant baking projects but nutty cookies may come in many, many forms, which Auntie would experiment. Last year Auntie baked almond cookies. Sedap tapi, as usual, nothing to look at. This year Auntie discovered the Anzac cookies while attending conferences in Melbourne (will do an entry on this soon, hopefully). Tried to bake them and was successful, so for sure this will be a constant in the near future. Auntie brought back some macadamia and pecan nuts from Tasmania (while on the trip to Melbourne), so Auntie's been trying a recipes to use them. This morning Auntie tried once recipe but the taste didn't turn out to be that great. Just so, so. Then this evening tried another recipe with walnuts. Can be improved. The problem is with recipes (in Malaysia, usually) that used ingredients with a view to making the cookies last for keeping, thus, the results are usually crispy and dry cookies. The recipes would normally call for icing sugar, milk powder and corn flour. In Auntie's opinion, cookies are best when they are made with just (real) butter, plain flour, castor sugar (white or brown) and eggs. And vanilla essence (or real vanilla pods, if you have the luxury). Variations should only be in the form of taste-themes eg add almond essence for almond cookies, nuts for nutty cookies, or add oatmeal or dessicated coconut for grainy taste. With these basic ingredients and with the Malaysian heat, cookie doughs don't normally turn out to be too great as per envisioned by the recipes (esp if recipes are taken from international websites), so we have to improvise somehow. In Auntie's experience, it is always best to refrigerate cookie dough after making them and before forming them into cookie shapes/ baking, for at least 20 minutes. Take a little out to form the cookies and to bake them. While they are baking, keep them remaining dough back into the fridge until needed to be used.

Auntie will also bake some cakes, hopefully by using the vanilla pod that Auntie bought in Tassie (if they are still usable).

Here are some pics of bakings that Auntie had not yet blogged about:

Nutty cookies: walnuts, pecans and macademias. But adding the chocolate was not the best choice. Would have been better if plain butter with nuts.

From oven

Cooling. Auntie baked this after sahur so didn't get to taste them until after berbuka. So-so.

Another 'nutty' attempt: Walnut tart. Pastry a bit bland and sweet (follow recipe, which uses icing sugar. Should have used a cheese pastry recipe. Would have been much more sedap)

Rupa yg herot-petot

Filling is not too bad. Chopped walnuts and butter-sugar mixture.

The most successful cookie-baking attempts so far. The Anzac cookies.

Ogabang has been having these for sahur in the past week. So, auntie bake new batches yesterday.

Auntie's best-tasting butter cake so far. With real vanilla pod for flavour.

Carrot cake

Carrot cake 'dressed' for Boss' Birthday lunch.

HAPPY BAKING, MY DEARS!

Work and play

2010-08-09T00:20:00.000+08:00

This weekend Auntie is in the mood for updating blog. There are a few events in Auntie's life that are worth blogging about since January this year. One of them is work since especially this year, work has taken a big chunk of Auntie's life. Tapi before Auntie talks about Auntie's work, Auntie nak mention a sad news. One of Auntie's friends passed away Monday two weeks ago (26 July 2010). On that Monday morning Auntie received a msg fr Kak Nor, that Dr. Suhaimi Shahnon passed away at the Selayang Hospital. When Auntie got the news Auntie was preparing to travel to KL for work and, in between, to join Mommy and Pak Long Ami take Aki and Wan to IJN for check up. So, Auntie tak sempat nak call K Nor to ask for further cerita. To this day pun Auntie has not find the right time to talk to Kak Nor but hopefully soon. As some people may have guessed, Suhaimi is the son of National Literary Laureate Shahnon Ahmad. He was an Associate Professor at the School of Management and the Deputy Director at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies at Auntie's uni. Auntie mula kenal Suhaimi, his wife, Kak Fadzillah and their 3 girls around the year 1998/99 through Kak Nor. They are kind, humble people and were very easy to be friends with. In the last few years, kami jarang jumpa except during common meetings at the uni or kadang2 terserempak kat makan places. Their first born, Izni, used to be quite close dengan Auntie and was peramah. Bila dah besar, dia malu-malu sikit, like teenagers normally are. Auntie also know Cikgu Shahnon personally coz Auntie helped him with some translation work for his book a few years ago.

Suhaimi had been diabetic for a few years but Auntie rasa dia ada a few other complications in the last year or so. He was admitted to Selayang Hospital some time ago due to these problems. Suhaimi is probably only about 4 or 5 yrs older than Auntie. It is very sad to lose a friend at such a relatively young age. Al Fatihah atas pemergian Suhaimi and Auntie doa semoga Kak Fadzillah dan anak2 diberikan kekuatan oleh Allah untuk menghadapi dugaan ini. In 2006, we lost arwah Bob, another of Auntie's and Ogabang's friend and colleague and a good friend of Suhaimi's and Kak Nor's, too. Bob also had some complications which were quite similar to Suhaimi and Bob was 46 when he passed away. Bob, even when he was already ill, had gamely agreed to represent Ogabang as ketua rombongan meminang Auntie in 2004. He knew Auntie's parents because his parent-in-law's home is near Aki and Wan's. He lead the rombongan meminang armed with a few rangkap pantun and took Tokki De who represented Auntie's side with an amount of surprise. Auntie had only good memories about Suhaimi and Bob, two kind, gentle souls and is grateful to have known them. May Allah tempatkan mereka di tempat tertinggi di sisi Nya. Amin.

Auntie was actually going to blog about work when Auntie was reminded about Suhaimi. So, anyway, this year had been way too busy on the work front for Auntie. Much of Auntie's fieldwork for various research started late last year and continue well into this year. One of Auntie's most enjoyable fieldwork is the interview with young people who were participants of the National Service. We had to go to a few places for the interview in the span of 6 months or so but one of the most memorable one is in Rompin because Auntie got to 'balik kampung' (Rompin is Auntie's birthplace) and had some quality time with family members (Aki, Wan, Pak Long Ami and family) and 'extended family members' who were Samantha and "RA" and mamachupan and family. The latter two are Auntie's co-researchers. And in this trip, Ogabang came along so we got some couple time although we also had a really big fight about some really stupid things (but we kissed and made up after a few hours, of course!). Pada masa yg sama, Ogabang managed to get some work done with his project of the time by recruiting our first 'child labour' in the form of Jijin, who were hired to be a voice over for Ogabang's video project. The video turned out to be very well received. When we get the permission from the 'client' Auntie will put it on the blog, Insya Allah.

Some pictures of the Rompin trip:

Ogabang, the designated driver. Masih happy.

Masih calm. But the lidah is a sign for a storm to come!

Precious cargo no.1

Precious cargo no.2. Aki said to Ogabang: "Ogabang ni drive macam Aingah la (our eccentric uncle)".

Sudah mula tensi. (Gambar tensi not worth taking).

Some nice kampung view- somewhere after Pekan

Nenasi beach

Jalan yg meningkatkan tensi Ogabang especially bila ada lori (selekoh maut di hujung tu).

First night dinner. Only the udang galah were memorable (according to pemakan2 udang).

Did Auntie mention Pak Long and family decided to come along? The rest of the clan couldn't.

Ogabang's nasi goreng and udang galah. RM60 or 65 sekilo.

Relaxed Wan & Aki

Auntie & Ogabang during peaceful times

Umi penggemar udang. Go for it, Umi!

Pak Long yg kena pau Wan's celebrex selepas makan udang galah. But sure rugi kalau miss kan? Sbb dia tukang bayar. Tenkiu, Pak Long kerana menyokong projek penyelidikan kerajaan Mesia.

Siapa punya leftover, ni? Definitely not Auntie's! (Auntie non-pemakan udang)

The adults after dinner. Ogabang dok baca doa lepas makan ke?

The kids after dinner. "Bila nak balik ni?"

The researchers with the camp facilitators. Thank you, ladies!

Ajmal, kept from boredom with Auntie's phone-TV while Jijin practiced the voice-over.

Pantai Rompin (lupa nama glamour dia): tempat Wan & Aki bercanda dolu-dolu.

Pak Long and Umi membuat cubaan bercanda tapi ada 'handbag' aka Ajmal.

Para penyelidik dan pembantu penyelidik sesudah subuh.

Adakah penyelidikan paranormal part of the deal?

The beautiful sunrise

Sunrise 2

Sunrise 3. After that batteries in Auntie's camera went kong-ed.

Food in Rompin (other than udang galah and lokan) is nothing to 'blog home' about but all in all, the trip had been very successful research mission and bonding times.

Good night, all!

6 yrs today

2010-08-07T22:10:00.000+08:00

Kepada 2-3 kerat adik-beradik & kengkawan auntie yg kadang2 terpanggil nak visit blog ni lagi dgn harapan auntie akan update, tenkiu. Penantian u all berbaloi akhirnya. Hehehe.

No, it's not 6 yrs since auntie last update blog. It is actually Auntie's and Ogabang's 6th anniversary today. According to kalendar omputih. Kalendar Islam, tatau. Mungkin more. Auntie ingat nak ajak Ogabang go out for meals kat Eastin ke, kat TGIF ke (Ogabang's fav utk meal options yg lebih dari RM10.00 per serving) or ok la, kalau dia teringin and nak jugak...Hameediyah! But it turned out his Mak is not too well so we took her to clinic first and by the time habis kat clinic, not much options available for food that will serve both our hunger and Mak's yg perlukan soft food. So, after hantar Mak balik, we went to Tesco to get one of her favourite moi (bubur nasi) kat Tesco. Since we had not been to the Jelutong Tesco for some time, we didn't realise that the food court was under renovation so the other option is to get bubur ayam Pakcik Donald for orang sakit. But we didn't feel like getting anything for ourselves fr Pakcik Donald and Ogabang felt like ayam goreng Pakcik Uban so we had to content with a late brekkie/ early lunch at Pakcik Uban.

We had been staying in Brown Garden since Auntie's last trip. In the afternoon we packed and went home to Golf View. Kat Golf View ada org not in good mood so auntie dah ready utk work up a temper kalau Ogabang continue with the dark mood. Nasib baik takde letupan2 yg terlalu kuat. By dinner time, everyone's calmed and Auntie made our fav pasta with some sausages fr Tassie (another entry sat lagi). After dinner and maghrib, sorang dok hujung sana, and sorang hujung sini. Apa lagi, mengadap FB (and in Auntie's case, blog today). The total sum of our 6th annniversary (tak termasuk adegan yg mungkin berlaku 2.5 jam lagi... wei, don't be dirty minded, adegan yg dimaksudkan ialah basuh pinggan yg belum basuh lepas dinner sbb malas, tukar bedsheets, basuh baju and maybe annoy Ogabang supaya dia tak boleh tidur sebelum Auntie habis kerja2 tu).

Here are some defining moments six years ago:

Aki 'giving Auntie away' (with much relief!)

Auntie dok tunggu, in case Tok Imam buat chauvinistic remarks. Sure auntie akan keluar dan bagi lecture kat dia :). BTW, make-up by Abg/ Kak Rusli.

Sarung cincin. Nasib baik cincin muat lagi after a month from date of purchase coz we had so many meals out before wedding.

Happy Ogabang coz perut agak kenyang and bilik ada aircond

Padan muka kena cium

Wedding cake- no grand cake-cutting. With kids and family only.

Pelamin bidang terjun coz we didn't want to bersanding at first. Auntie was half persuaded a few days before wedding but didn't fancy any of the 'shop' ones. So Mak Lili came up with this. Thank you, Mak Lili, my bidang terjun wedding planner.

Ogabang didn't know he had to sit and take pictures on this pelamin. Kena paksa ngan new mum-in-law. Padan muka! And he refused to put his shoes on in the house coz he had used the shoes outside. We didn't have spare shoes for him. Suka hati kau la, Labu...

When the going gets tough, the tough goes shopping!

2010-01-24T22:36:00.000+08:00

Alhamdulillah, things start a little bit more prosperously for Auntie and Ogabang this year compare to last year. Not that last year was a bad year. On the contrary. However, beginning this year and at least for the next 3 yrs, Auntie has been given a little bit more responsibility in the workplace than before. In terms of work, this means much more time spent at the office and away from Ogabang but there is also that tiny bit of reward for us to enjoy some things life has to offer. In a moderate manner, of course.

So, since Thursday until yesterday, Auntie and Ogabang thought that we should spend some time surveying and making decisions about an item that we have been contemplating getting for some time. However, as always with Ogabang and hot weather, busy traffic and empty stomach, shopping trips would bound to be a laborious venture (as opposed to an adventure). Our shopping outing for the 'item' was amicable for the first 2 days but things got explosive yesterday and required the two of us to do a lot of cooling off. But luckily, by late last night, we managed to re-establish some semblance of peace and as a reward for ourselves for not killing one another, we thought that we should indulge in these items:

HIS

HERS

HIS N HERS

Hehe. These are things we got ourselves today. No, it was not an impulse thing. Both our mobile phones are at least 4 yrs old and we've been thinking about a change but had been putting it off. But Ogabang's dad have been thinking about getting a basic phone for himself to use when he needs to make the trip to the hospital for Ogabang's mum. So, we thought that we could give him one of our phones (since they are truly basic) and buy ourselves new ones. Actually, Ogabang was supposed to give his to his dad and buy himself a new one, but tak kan Auntie tengok je kan? Mesti la auntie nak phone baru jugak. We decided on something modestly priced and we saw a good offer in Giant's pamphlet for some 'branded' phones. So, we went to Giant to look at the deal but the service people in Giant was quite rude and dismissive so we decided we will shop elsewehere. And before we left Giant we gave a piece of our mind to the Assistant Manager. Auntie hopes he does something about the complaint or else they will lose another customer. This was not the first time Auntie encounter s service like this in Giant.

So, after that unfortunate start to a 'shopping spree', we thought we'd go and find out if our other more favoured hypermarket have anything to offer. In TESCO we found something that suits our needs and is a better deal than Giant. So, big loss to Giant! Anyway, our purchases are not exactly back-breaking spending. Auntie's kiddies may have phones that are far more expensive than what we bought. But at least Auntie could now store more than 200 contacts in Auntie's phone!

And the item that triggers this spending? We may be making that ultimate new year purchase very, very soon. Here it is:

Both Auntie and Ogabang are pretty easily pleased. So, those Malaysian-made phones and car are enough to make the beginning of our new year that bit more pleasant. Thank you Allah for Your bounty. And thank you our mums and dads, siblings and friends for their boundless doa for our success and prosperity. Amin.

101 wishes to Big Bro

2010-01-19T23:04:00.001+08:00

Auntie is still on the theme of number of blog entries. This is aunties 101st entry and today is the 42nd Birthday of Auntie's Big Bro aka Ayah aka Paklong Ami. Auntie wishes him the happiest of birthdays and may Allah grant him many many more birthdays and all his wishes. Big Bro had a check in at IJN last year due to unsatisfactory result of a routine medical check up. It gave all a bit of scare but the angiogram result showed nothing to worry about for the moment. But it's a good thing that he went for the check. Auntie has not gone for full medical check up for some time now although auntie checks blood pressure and blood sugar every chance auntie gets (ie if auntie sees doctor for the sniffles auntie would ask doctor to check). Auntie will do it soon, Insya Allah. Paklong Ami also plans to go to Makkah for haj this year with Umi Ina. Auntie was invited to join them but since Uncle Ogabang expressed that it would be nice if he could go with Auntie but he is not ready yet (especially physically), being the good partner that auntie is, auntie thought maybe auntie will wait for Ogabang. Lagipun, auntie has just been given a big responsibility in the workplace starting this year auntie feels that maybe auntie should not take the long leave for haj this year. Auntie prays auntie and Ogabang will be able to realise our dreams of going for haj soon after Ayah and Umi will have realised theirs.

Auntie remembers Wan always telling that Ayah/ Paklong was born on the 19th day of the Syawal month in 1968. So, he was a sort of a Raya baby. Ayah is actually the second-born but since our eldest brother was stillborn, Ayah became the eldest for us. As an adult auntie's Big Bro is a mild-mannered person but as a child he liked to pull pranks. Kak Zemah and the rest of the siblings were his 'victims' so we were always running after him screaming and trying to give him back for all the pranks. Auntie especially la coz the other two (before Mushu) were a bit younger and were mostly up to their own devices.

Ayah/ Paklong loves the guitar and Wan or Aki bought him his first kapok, I think, after he finished his form 3 SRP. Now he is reliving his guitar interests vicariously through Aiman who is being sent to guitar school. So, hopefully, when we have our big family day soon, Paklong, Acik Din, Ogabang and Aiman will be able to put up a show to remember. Of course, auntie will be the penyebok and assume the lead singer role. All the cousins will prolly pack their bags and go home.

In any case, not to make this entry into a really long one, auntie wish Big Bro/ Ayah/ Pak Long the happiest day today and again, may Allah bless him with long, healthy and prosperous life. We had an almost impromptu celebration for him when auntie was in KL at Mommy's place last weekend and here are some pics:

Birthday boy, Umi and kiddies

Birthday boy body double aka Ajmal the little terror. Cake was brought by Mushu and Uncle Joe.

Birthday boy and family + 1 (Qin is attached to Jijin so she has to be in)

The clan minus Uncle Joe (cameraman), Ogabang, Acik Din, CikJa, Aki and Wan.

The clan as above, minus Aiman, plus Uncle Joe

The food. At mommy's request, there was a third repeat of the roasted chickens (percik and original). This time they turned out much, much better.

There was also Auntie's famous sotong goreng tepung (hehehe)

There were only breast parts leftovers the next morning, which auntie used to make sandwich and Qin said: "Auntida, is this 'roti auntida' number 2?

In case you're wondering, this is "Roti Auntida No.1":

100th post and a day for Ogabang

2010-01-05T22:41:00.003+08:00

Auntie said Auntie is keeping the 100th post for a very special day. It is today the 5th of January. It is AH's birthday and Auntie would like to officially change AH's pseudonym to OGABANG. Most of auntie's clan members and friends already know what this new name means but for 1 or 2 persons who still read auntie's blog but not in the loop, Ogabang is a derivation from OGAWA+ ABANG. This is because Abg Hensem (AH) is currently, when he is not too cranky, auntie's version of the Ogawa massage machine.

Ogabang is 43 today though he looks like a 430 yr old Santa Clause. Auntie loves him all the same. He was already an 'old model' when auntie got to know him so auntie tak nampak sangat la the difference in him between now and 5 yrs ago except for the widespread white hair and girth. That's probably one of the advantages of marrying when you are a bit more mature in life. You can't complain about your spouse's appearance because you can't really compare dengan time dia muda belia dulu. You accept him, warts and all, physical wise. Of course kalau perangai macam boil on the butt, tak boleh accept la. Luckily Ogabang is far from being a boil. A small acne on the cheek sometimes, maybe (sbb whiney bila lapar, panas and mengantuk) but most of the time Ogabang is a pleasant, thoughtful and considerate person.

We celebrated Ogabang's birthday with friends on New Year night, when we have the planned badak party. We surprised him because he thought we were going to surprise one of the kiddies with a birthday party. So when we started singing Happy Birthday, Ogabang sang along and said Ehsan's name and tekojut bila tengok kiddies nyanyi for uncle Ogabang pulak. Anyways, most pics at the party was from Samantha's camera, so here they are as auntie 'curi' from Samantha's fb:

Birthday cake for Ogabang- dibawa oleh Nyonya and gang- Chocolate Indulgence

Birthday cake tinggal setengah

Ogabang tak peduli pun kat cupcakes auntie coz he said he didn't fancy all the banana and carrots in them. He only likes plain butter cake. Nanti berjanggut dulu la baru dapat bang...Eh, memang dah ada janggut dah kan?

The birthday boy on new year

And here are a few of pics of Ogabang in various stunts pre-birthday:

Goofing around

Ogabang's weekly date is the Mamak Mee who serves this plate of Mee Mamak

Happy when Auntie can join him

After the date, Ogabang happy, Mamak lagi happy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY DEAR NGOK NGEK!

marathon posts to new year9- 99 posts to end 2009

2009-12-31T23:59:00.001+08:00

Auntie has decided that auntie will end with the 99th post only since auntie will keep the 100th post for a very,very special date. Happy New Year, everyone!

marathon posts to new year8- new year, new title, same old responsibilities

2009-12-31T23:58:00.000+08:00

Auntie has been doing the job of a person that should have the title TP at auntie's centre. When the centre was first established, auntie was in fact the TP but later on the position had to be 'frozen' because there were some technical arguments that a centre like auntie's place of work is not entitled to a TP, only a P. In the last two years, however, the centre has progressed by leaps and bounds and the P has been arguing to the uni governance to reinstate the position of TP. After relentless 'pestering' and evidence of centre's viability the powers that be has now granted the P's request. So, in about 5 minutes time, auntie will again be officially appointed as the TP, with modest fringe benefits. Auntie had been happy doing the work for the centre but this icing on the cake gives that much more motivation. Congratulations also to badak Samantha for being appointed TD, also enforceable in about 5 minutes time.

marathon posts to new year7- the shortest conversation with qin

2009-12-31T23:50:00.000+08:00

Auntie called Qin on Sunday night just to say high and to ask if she missed Mommy and Daddy much. Qin said: "Qin duduk-duduk je tengok TV ni la auntie Ida. Qin tak mau cakap nanti Qin miss show on TV..."

Oo, Ok.

marathon posts to new year6- sleepless in trondheim

2009-12-31T23:44:00.000+08:00

Auntie travelled to Trondheim, Norway in June this year for a conference. It was the height of summer (about 24celcius) and night time was only about 2 hours. So, loads of sleepless nights for the 4 days auntie was there. But the city was beautiful and people were very friendly and auntie met a Malaysian family, Shariman and Fazila and theirkids. Shariman is finishing PhD in engineering. Here are some pics:

[auntie will post pics later coz it's taking too long to download and auntie nak kejar 100 entries b4 end of 2009 nih! Sorry.]

marathon posts to new year5- of deadly snakes, sabit kepala and 'katak din'

2009-12-31T23:17:00.000+08:00

Mentang-mentang nak kejar 100 entries b4 end of yr, tajuk entry pun macam merapu jek. Actually ada makna dlm tajuk tu. And it can be connected to this picture:

Auntie tak ingat whether auntie dah boh gambar ni in this blog before. Tapi seingat auntie, auntie belum lagi cerita pasai growing up in Bukit Goh. So, kalau dah pernah tengok pic ni pun takpe. Let me tell some stories related to it. Gambar ni was scanned and uploaded in Acik Din's FB some time ago and auntie telah make a copy for myself. The original pic is supposed to still be in the old album at Wan and Aki's place kot. Can you guess which one is auntie? Deductive reasoning la kan? Eldest girl? So must be the comel one standing in between "Awang Kulup" and "Awang Gedek" (Gedek is pronounced like a sengal person). These are the kinds of the many manja names Wan attached to her kids when we were little. Mommy is the little toddler sitting and playing with that horrendously unidentified object on the floor. And Wan's manja name for Mommy is "Mek Towwek" (also pronounced in a sengal way). Auntie takde manja name coz auntie lahir2 je dah garang and no one would dare to give manja names. HAHAHA!

This picture is taken on one raya day in what used to be our abode in a still godforsaken place (no offence to people from this place!) called Bukit Goh. Bukit Goh is an oil palm estate about 30 kilometres or so from Kuantan. Since Wan was a school teacher, she got to teach in all sorts of places and we will normally have to live somewhere near where she had to teach. Most of the time we stayed in Kuantan because Wan got to teach much nearer to town. But early in our childhood, one of the first place auntie could remember living is Bukit Goh. I think we stayed there, in what was designated as teachers' quarters, for 2 yrs, when auntie was between 2-4 yrs old. In this pic auntie must was prolly 3 going on 4 coz Mommy was prolly about 1. Check out the legs. Tak tau la ni posing film star mana yg we dok emulate ni.

Kat Bukit Goh ni auntie first go to school. Sekolah tadika. Auntie ingat cikgu dia nama Zaimah kot, sama nama dengan Kak Zemah. Yg pergi sekolah is Pak Long Ami and Auntie only coz Acik Din and Mommy were too young. Of course Mushu is way from being conceived. Time ni kalau gi sekolah auntie refused to wear dresses like a girl. Always pakai shorts and shirts and sometimes topi cowboy (with toy guns lagi on a belt). In this pic ni kena paksa la pakai baju kurung. In 2 or 3 hours sure dah bogel and pakai panties jek coz panas. The only time auntie pakai dress to school is bila kena ambik gambar. Auntie remembered having to do it once. Baju dia made of nylon kat dalam and the outer part is like lacy-lacy gitu. Cream coloured. And kena pakai proper shoes and socks lagi. So tak happy. And auntie also remember kalau balik sekolah our baju mesti akan jadi merah coz on the way home from school we walked (pergi Aki hantar) on the tanah merah (only kind of road available en route). And sometimes bila nampak pakcik tukang kebun yg pelik sikit (auntie tak ingat whether because dia ada some disabilities ke or because dia garang) the elder kids would jerit "sabit kepala!!!" (ie tukang kebun tu nak kerja dia sabit kepala little kids la kununnya), we all akan lari lintang pukang takut leaving trails of red dust behind us. Hence the red tint on the clothes as well.

Acik Din (and sometimes, little Mommy) who are left to their own devices (but under strict supervision of Kak Zemah) would also come up with hair-raising activities. The oil palm plantation was of course teemed with snakes of all kind but we would normally not encounter them in the home area. Tapi Acik Din managed to one day. Acik Din was fond of collecting frogs (there were a lot of those). Sometimes Kak Zemah would open an old kettle in the bathroom and frogs would 'fly' out from it. And bila Acik Din nampak dia kata "Eh, jgn buang, katak Din ni!" Auntie tak ingat sangat how the stories go but I think one day when Acik Din was playing with his kataks, a deadly snake came by. Acik Din being curious, wanted to touch the head of the snake and the snake was already 'standing'. Luckily a Pakcik came and rescued him.

We hardly remember things that happened in Bukit Goh but the stories were frequently retold to us by Wan and Aki, each time with slightly different versions, so auntie could not vouch for their accuracy but auntie can definitely recall there was the deadly snake, there was a pakcik whom we thought would 'sabit' our kepala and there was a kettle-full of "Katak Din" in the bathroom.

marathon posts to new year4- good people at work

2009-12-31T13:32:00.000+08:00

Auntie nak tunjuk gambar the a few of the good people at the office who have made auntie's work throughout the year (and since 4 or 5 yrs or so ago) much more successful and meaningful. Thank you, guys!

In purple is Ija, the 'office admin boss'. All institutional rules and procedures are at the tips of her fingers. Next to me on the other side is Dr Hamimadona, a good friend and unofficial university songbird. Beside her is Marina, a long-serving staff who was a pioneer of the centre. She was there at the inception of the centre and has served under at least 4 Directors.

The front-most on both sides are Husna (in green) and Shila. Husna is the IT officer in our centre and is married to a former staff, EJ. She has delivered a baby girl and is now on maternity leave. Shila is the Director's PA but also doubled up many other things at the office. This is the nature of the work of the staff at the office. And they are very selfless at it. Kudos to them. This work environment may also have come from our general approach to managing the centre. At the risk of sounding too complimentary of the boss, Auntie thinks the current Director has managed somehow to create an ambiance of friendly professionalism at the office. Staff are close-knit but highly professional.

Ariffin, one of the latest addition to the office 'family' recently got married. Here are some pictures of the wedding.

Auntie and Ariffin on his wedding. His newly-wed bride was in the changing room, changing for next photo session.

It takes a man (especially in Malaysia) who is secure with himself to be able to work in an institution teemed with women and headed by strong, intelligent women. So far, Ariffin has proved he could do it very well.

Wan Teng, one of two new academic staff members. WT hails from Melaka.

Auntie would find any excuse to bake. Here are some brownie slices (topped with butter cream and almonds) as a gift for Ariffin and bride.

Card designed by AH.

Many other staff members equally contributed to the success of the centre. Auntie don't have their pictures. May they continue to feel at home at the centre and work with a sense of partnership rather than merely fulfilling job specifications.

marathon posts to new year3- shasha's khatam quran

2009-12-31T12:57:00.000+08:00

20th November was Shasha's Khatam Quran. Families up to 3 generations attended the khatam and kenduri after that at Majid Al-Ghufran Taman Tun. Shasha requested ancient Greek headgear to be worn for head cover during khatam. Mommy had to comb Jln TAR looking for suitable substitutes that satisfied Shasha. The preparation was akin to a small akad nikah but Auntie was very happy to help. Auntie remembered auntie's khatam in 1978. Auntie and Pak Long Ami were the 'graduates'. Actually masa auntie khatam tu auntie was a few pages short of actually completing the Quran but the ceremony had to take place since Pak Long Ami was to be 'slaughtered' (hehehe) after that. It was the school holidays. So, Aki and Wan decided that since Auntie memang terra baca Quran (hehehe, perasan!), auntie for sure could complete the few pages on my own without any further help. Lagipun, masa auntie belajar Quran ngan ustazah tu pun, most of the time auntie baca sendiri jek and dia dengar while ajar-ing the other kids. No malice intended on the ustazah but auntie sometimes felf very unhappy maca pi mengaji coz kena baca sorang2 and did not get proper instruction. Part-part yg ustazah tak dengar maybe salah baca ke, mana la tau. Sometimes when auntie came early to mengaji in the hope that ustazah would give me attention, she would be bz doing other things like making breakfast for her children, lipat kain or other things in the kitchen. dia suruh auntie baca sendiri gak in the lounge while she listened from the kitchen. Auntie rasa auntie pandai baca Quran sbb before Aki and Wan sent to the Ustazah, Wan taught us to mengaji. Wan had been an effective teacher, rotan and cubitan notwithstanding (autie remember sometimes menangis teresak2 kena cubit sbb lambat nak dok mengaji or mengaji sambil lewa). Which is why she is still very successful with all her 'murid tua' now. Uncle AH also had bad experience with Ustazah mengaji. And since he was a bit Quranic-dyslexic (hehehe), and did not have help before that like auntie had with Wan and Aki, he only ended up hafal- ing the quran and not really understanding the tajwid etc. So, to parents out there, kalau kita confident dgn our own ability to mengaji, baik ajar sendiri anak2 kita and at our children's own pace. Kalau no choice, make sure kita check up jugak on the children's mengaji lessons. And auntie harap these days takde lagi la ustaz or ustazah yg buat perkara tak semenggah spt auntie sebut tadi. Tak berkat tau kerja camtu!

Anyways, masa auntie khatam, auntie pakai kurung songket kepunyaan Wan. Songket tu Wan pakai masa wedding dia 13 yrs before. Auntie was barely able to get into the kurung so Wan had to unpick a bit. That shows how slim Wan was at 29 yrs old. Anak2 dia (at least Auntie la) hampeh! After the khatam, the songket went back to the closet. Nanti auntie nak tanya Wan ada lagi tak.

Shasha was all decked in purple for her khatam. The mosque is a modern one that utilise most areas as Islamic centre and not just purely for sembahyang. Auntie remembered a colleague who about 15 yrs ago proposed to study for his PhD the utilisation of mosque in such a way to emulate such use during the Rasulullah's Madinah's governance. Whatever happens to that proposed study. But in any case, Malaysian Muslims are very slow to take this kind of progressive stance and are still bickering about what sort of carpets to use for new mosques and whether women should pray upstairs or downstairs (which is also another issue that has not taken into account many sociological considerations).

Ok lah. This entry is getting way to long. (Macam mana auntie nak achieve 100 entries before end of the year ni?). Let's look at pictures:

Shasha practicing

Moral support from Mommy

Qin is supposed to be the kipas girl but after 20 minutes of sitting still, all thoughts of giving kakak moral support goes down the drain, especially because cousins faris' and maisara's company was so enticing.

Bunga telur courtesy of Mak Uda. The telur is homemade telur pindang.

Shasha was so nervous and practiced diligently. She did great. Despite traces of American accent!

Qin was about to flee the scene.

Preliminary speech by Daddy. A rare sight.

Tokki De (second from left), Wan Cik Ne (not in pic) and Tok Ayah Zie came all the way from Kuantan and Temerloh respectively. Wan was so elated. Tok Chu and family couldn't make it coz they had to attend another function. Beside Daddy is Shasha's Ustaz who could have been seen regularly on TV when they show the Raya takbir this year. Ustaz did a one-to-one Quran teaching for Shasha. Now Ustaz is teaching Qin and Qin's friend Aleesha. Qin once asked Mommy: "Is Rasulullah a pirate?" An aghast Mommy asked back: "Why do you say that, Qin?". Qin: "Ustaz said he's a Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow is a pirate, Mommy". So, ustaz kena review sikit syllabus for contemporary five year olds, ya?

CONGRATULATIONS, SHASHA. YOU DID A SPLENDID JOB. And may Quran continue to become your companion in its essence and spirit.

marathon posts to new year2- uncle joe's birthday

2009-12-31T02:33:00.002+08:00

On 20th May this year Uncle Joe celebrated his 32nd birthday. Mudanya! Uncle Joe is a year older than Mushu. When Mushu was born Auntie was 9 yrs old. Auntie contributed towards Mushu's diaper change when she was a baby and also cleaning what's need cleaning when a toddler poo-ed when Mushu was a toddler. But this post was supposed to be about Uncle Joe's birthday, so Happy (Belated Now!) Birthday, Joe! Coincidentally (Not Really!) 20th May was also Uncle Joe's and Mushu's anniversary. 4 yrs this year. Auntie was down in Shah Alam on the date and was able to join the siblings in celebrating the events. No pictures of the couple was taken but only of food served. Here they are:

Good intention

Bad addition

So susah to upload gambar. Ada a couple lagi of the food served tapi since it takes too much time, Auntie leave you guys with the two only.

marathon posts to new year1- qin the 5yrold sweet miss

2009-12-31T01:13:00.000+08:00

Auntie's last entry was auntie's 90th post for this blog and it was posted a day before the 2nd birthday of auntie's blog. It doesn't mean a thing but saja je auntie nak mention. Auntie teringin jugak nak mencapai 100 entries so what auntie is going to do is to try post 10 entries before the year ends. Caranya ialah dgn menyorot some of 2009 events and happennings yg auntie did not get the chance to blog abt before. These entries will be full of pictures, so be warned! Entries will not follow chronological order of events.

First 'review-post' is about little Qin's birthday. Qin was five on the 18th of November this year. We didn't have special birthday party for Qin this year but the celebration coincided with Kakak's aka Shasha's khatam Quran (this event coming up in next post). Qin is auntie's fifth 'baby'/ kiddie after Along (Ya), Aiman, Shasha & Jijin. Ajmal is the sixth. Each of them has a special place in auntie's heart. And each of them is special in their quirks and perangai and the way they relate to auntie.

Qin and Mommy

Qin the fashion model

Qin was born in St Louis, Missouri while Mommy was finishing her PhD. Mommy is a planner, so she planned to conceive Qin just a year before she expected to graduate with her doctoral degree. By this time Kakak was already about 7 or 8 yrs old. Auntie got married while Mommy was about 6 months pregnant with Qin. Mommy actually planned to come back home to Malaysia for auntie's wedding but about 3 months into her pregnancy, she was bedridden due to bleeding (auntie tak ingat apa medical condition dia) so the plan didn't materialise. But Mommy safely and quite easily delivered Qin 3 months after auntie's wedding. Mommy got her PhD early 2005 and came back to Malaysia with a doctoral degree and a new baby. Qin actually attended Mommy's graduation day at the uni and was admired for her dark, bushy hair. When Qin came back home to Malaysia, she was just in time for Mushu's wedding and it was decided that Qin's 'cukur rambut' kenduri will be done during the wedding as well.

Qin, the baker

Qin and Kakak decorating cupcakes

Qin is a friendly baby and toddler. She just gravitated towards auntie easily. And even when time separates us (ie when auntie could not come down to KL to visit too often), Qin would call auntie just to say hello (by either pestering mommy or kakak to do it for her). Mommy must have taught her auntie's speed dial now coz she sometimes would call auntie without mommy's knowledge. Qin is an amicable, diplomatic toddler. She would say something like "Mommy, you cook nice, but i just lurvvvv auntie ida's cupcakes..." or some stuff like that (according to Mommy). But Qin would also say things like "Mommy, auntie Ida could not have baked the cakes without me. She needed me to beat the eggs." Such self-confidence!

Qin likes to talk on the phone with Uncle Zach coz uncle Zach 'has' Alvin the cat who would speak to Qin when Qin called Uncle Zach. Qin also admired Uncle Zach for his knowledge about fish (coz Qin had Lola the gold fish- auntie wondered what happened to Lola now). One day, Mommy tanya Qin after Qin keep calling Auntie Ida: "Qin call auntie Ida because Auntie Ida fish doctor ke?". Qin laughed and said: "Mommy ni kelakar lah. Bukan auntie Ida la.. Uncle Zach...[yg fish doctor]!" There are many more such conversations with Qin.

Qin and Auntie (in one of auntie's favorite moments with Qin)

Oklah, remembering Qin's birthday, Auntie wishes her the best of being a five-yr-old. May Qin grow up to be as good-natured as she is now, as intelligent and as talented. May Qin also be a conscientous Muslimah and world citizen. May Allah protect her from life's hardships but make her emphatetic to hardships of others. May Qin continue to give joy to family and friends around her. Amin.

Dawn of another year

2009-12-27T19:16:00.000+08:00

Auntie realises auntie's blog entry has been sporadic in the last year or so. Tomorrow will be exactly 2 years since auntie decided to respond to sleepyhead's tag by starting a blog. When auntie started, auntie was undecided whether the blog should be purely personal and family-related or would include more serious 'semi-critical' ponderings (like comments on general happenings in the country or in the world, taking into account auntie's knowledge about them through auntie's profession). But auntie thinks what has transpired has been more of the former and very little of the latter but auntie is happy for how the blog has developed. The more serious stuff auntie will keep for more professional avenues rather than the blog. Let this blog be for purely mundane but meaningful journal of life closer to home.

One of auntie's secret hopes through the blog is also that it provides a kind of 'memory' for auntie's family and friends about things and events that went on in our lives. This is, hopefully, especially for auntie's younger 'kiddies'. When they are a bit older, they may just go through the archives of this blog (hopefully these will be available for many, many yrs to come) to 'revisit' some of the moments they went through with family members that they might not remember as children.

Let's look at what has gone on in auntie's life since the last entry. There was the most fleeting period of despair earlier this month but just as it came so fleetingly, so was the swiftness with which it was gone. It may have come about from many stressful factors at work and a sense of inability to control auntie's surroundings at that particular moment. But with some good sleep, auntie was able to see things differently in the morning.

Post-raya (aidilftri) had been extremely busy months for auntie. Many travels, way too many meetings and preparation of copious paperwork at work. But there were many good things as well, professional-wise. Research work is going reasonably well, some work has been accepted for publication and auntie managed to contribute constructively to community advocacy. But more importantly, auntie sensed friendships are getting tighter and family ties are getting closer. Times with badak gang continued to be meaningful but it was also time when new friendships are established (mostly through FB) and much older friendships were rekindled (auntie was surprised by e-mails from very good friends from primary school). Family get-togethers were more frequent and better-planned. There were some very sad events like dearest people being taken away from us and some scares like Aki and Wan's more frequent 'visits' to hospitals and dear brother being admitted into IJN but Alhamdulillah, things are uneventful, in general.

To end 2009, more get-togethers were and are being planned. The latest was Wan and Aki's and the siblings visit to Penang during the Awwal Muharram long weekend break. Let the pictures speak for the fun had (pictures courtesy of sleepyhead from her FB- pandai tak auntie curi?):

Percik and black pepper roasters on a bed of potato galletes. Slightly undercooked by Pak Long Ami's standard so back into the oven they go for another 20 minutes

These are stuffed 'original' roasters. Ingredients by auntie. assembled by mushu aka maksu aka sleepyhead

One roaster chicken for a correct guest of what's in there!

The 'too little' coleslaw. Auntie didn't have time to grate more of the veges and didn't think many people would be interested in this dish.

The entertainment was provided by the LOS BONCITOS (also name coined by sleepyhead):

The 2 bonchitos tuning the guitars while the third playing paparazzi for a moment. The senior paparazzi is at the back.

Bonchito 2 (in white): "I need a smoke!"

Bonchito 1(in greyish green): "Wait la, i look for song we have breath to sing"

Bonchito 3 (in black): "This chord i nocet learn one..."

(Senior paparazzi is soooo dedicated)

The picture has to be taken this way. You wouldn't one to see their front view!

Laa, baru nak belajar ke?

The next day auntie played tourist guide:

Little and big kiddies enjoyed their trip to P.Ramlee's house.

Cucu and Aki- the duo-paparazzi

Lunch at Pen Mutiara. As you can see auntie was not dressed for a lunch out. So jongos!

So-so food at Pen Mutiara but ambiance was good. The clan was not into fish head so we got fish curry instead. Auntie rasa sotong goreng tepung auntie lagi cun kot...

Auntie hopes the holidays have been most restive for at least the two happy couples:

HAPPY COUPLE NUMBER 1

HAPPY COUPLE NUMBER 2

BUT THIS HAPPY COUPLE HAVE BEEN VERY, VERY HAPPY TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HOST AND ACCOMMODATE THE HAPPY COUPLES AND THE REST OF THE CLAN:

It's a pity Mommy, Daddy, Shasha and Qin could not join us. Mommy and Daddy were preparing for Umrah trip on the 24th December till 5th January (Selamat beribadat dan mendapat umrah yg mabrur!). SO, LET'S DO THIS PENANG SOJOURN AGAIN NEXT YEAR, PLEASE.

A moment of quiet despair

2009-12-10T22:50:00.000+08:00

Some times you just want to go far away from everyone and be really, really alone. The feeling may go away in 5 minutes or an hour but it pulls you down into a quiet despair.

Bismillahillazi laa yadhurru ma'asmihi syai'un fil ardhi walaa fissama'i wahuwasaami'ul 'alim.

Of birthdays, illnesses and funerals

2009-10-02T21:04:00.000+08:00

Auntie is blogging from a KFC in PJ coz auntie is attending an advocacy workshop with women of all backgrounds a few of which, Insya Allah, will be auntie's research respondents. And because of research, auntie kena give up weekends with AH to source out for potential respondents. But it is also to create real change to women's lives yg being discriminated against in many aspects of their lives so, Insya Allah auntie's research bukan academic exercise semata-mata tetapi juga fi sabilillah dalam erti kata yg lebih meluas.

Apa kena-mengena KFC dgn advocacy workshop? Like this. Oleh kerana ahli akademik cannot afford to be luxurious and sometimes have to be cheapskate, auntie kena do a 2-in-1, dinner and getting free access to internet. Since both of hotel's dinner and internet use cost a bomb (a manifold more than auntie's per diem), auntie pun decide to berjalan 10 minute ke luar hotel dan berblogging dan fb-ing from KFC. Masalah KFC ialah diorang sengaja tak buat electric outlet (auntie dah cari merata2 takde) so auntie kena try to update blog ni dlm masa 2 jam yg auntie's battery allows (al-maklumlah, 1st generation netbook punya battery life sungguh lah hampeh).

Tapi auntie bukan nak update about auntie's working weekend. Sebenarnya, auntie nak sorot sedikit peristiwa yg berlaku beberapa bulan yg lepas since auntie dah jarang update blog. Many happy and sad occurences mendatangi (chewah!) hidup auntie semasa auntie tak berblogging. Birthdays are, of course, inevitable. Auntie's parents and a few friends were taken ill and sadly, sadly people auntie were closed to passed away.

Let's start with illnesses first. Both Auntie's and AH's parents are not well elderlies but Wan's and Aki's health seems to be experiencing more dramatic change. Wan's weak heart condition has been recurring more frequently in the last few months and just before puasa Wan was hospitalised. It gave all of us quite a bit of scare, tapi, alhamdulillah, no untoward incident happen. Cuma, very, very difficult to ensure Wan does not over exert herself. Similar concern of course goes also to Aki's situation. Aki has experienced a kind of slipped disc and auntie noticed his mobility is slowly becoming hampered (he gets tired easily and when he resort to praying sitting down you can really gauge his pain). Wan has had mobility problems for some years now. Auntie noticed the reduction in mobility in both parents are having quite a psychological toll on them although they may not have expressed it as such. What we think is best for Wan and Aki in terms of providing the best care for them and what we can achieve taking into account various circumstances are not quite reconcilable at the moment. Hopefully, something feasible can be found soon.

Other than the parents' ill-health, a few of the people auntie knows had also had close encounters with hospitals. In June, mamachupan was admitted due a problem with a short-lived pregnancy. But Auntie thinks the end result is probably best for mamachupan despite it being a little sad. Very recently, auntie's friend and colleague was admitted for a gall stone removal. Her situation is a bit risky but alhamdulillah, the operation went well and hopefully she is recuperating well. Being single, for her, perhaps there is some challenges in getting a good home care after the hospital stint but auntie hopes she has sufficient support from her family. Actually, this issue is true even for people who are not single because even if you are married and/ or have children, it does not guarantee that you will be looked after when you are temporarily/ permanently incapacitated. And even if you are single, if you have enough really, really good relatives and friends, you may turn out to be one very lucky person when these things happen. Contohnya, kawan2 auntie si samantha and nyonya tu mungkin akan dok di rumah org2 tua vogue bila pencen nanti tetapi mereka sure happy coz ada kawan2 yg jauh lebih muda (kakakaka!) seperti auntie and AH yg for sure akan visit mereka utk bergossip, bring them panadol soluble and sambil menyorok2 dari nurses [hopefully masa ni dah ramai nurses lelaki yg ala2 cung-melecung dan bukan pok yam], menyuakan (bukan suap, ye!) mereka nasi minyak hameediah. As for auntie and AH, kalau auntie turn out to be childless sampai tua, hopefully adalah di antara kiddies yg akan rajin jengok2 we all sambil tolong bawak- and suap, ice-cream. Such is life.

Samantha and mamachupan during the latter's stint at the hospital

Saddest events were few but were still deeply felt. Just before puasa, on a Thursday evening, Kak Zaimah, our very close cousin in Trengganu, passed away, possibly due to heart problem. She was 58, I think. Kak Zemah, as we called her, was not only a cousin but also pseudo-second-mother to all of Auntie's adik-beradik. She came to live with Wan and Aki since she was 16, to help Wan and Aki looked after us. She was especially close to Acik Din and Auntie believes her passing was especially felt by him, and it was also at a time very near his birthday. Some of Auntie's memories of Kak Zemah were of mundane things but very nostalgic and meaningful. Kak Zemah loves to watch dramas on TV and one of her favourite prgrms was a 60's drama series "The Coronet Blue". Yg auntie ingat cerita tu ada hero yg ala-ala hensem. Tapi hujung pangkal cerita langsung auntie tak tau/ ingat. Satu lagi Kak Zemah suka sangat 'Peyton Place'. This drama series auntie rasa many people are familiar with, starred Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow. These prgms were all shown very late at night. It was a time for K Zemah to wind down after a hard day's work looking after us. Also K Zemah's favourite past time is to go to the salon bila Wan bagi dia duit at the end of the month. She would come home with different hairstyles and sometimes us cruel kids would tease her, macam Syarifah Aini lah, macam org tu lah, org ni lah...K Zemah was a special person because she has a kind of 'gift'. But this gift was also the bane of her existence because she would sometimes be taken ill as a result. Auntie thinks she remained single because she felt no partner would be able to deal with the 'gift'. K Zemah was a a strong, independent woman. She was not shy to express her opinions to anyone who would listen and she is highly intelligent despite not having gone to school after Std 6. She was very compassionate and patience with us but firm where it matters. She was a good listener to all our childhood grievances but would not hesitate to tell us of when we were wrong.

Kak Zemah ceased to live with us when most of us started to go away for schools. She went back to live with her mother and worked as a cook in a restaurant in Trengganu. Auntie some times regret not keeping in touch with her more often when we got older. The last time Auntie remembered meeting K Zemah was perhaps during Acik Din's wedding. The year before, K Zemah actually hired a taxi from Kuala Trengganu to Kuantan just to see Auntie got married to AH. She was only able to stay for 4 hours before she had to take the taxi back again to KT. Auntie don't even remember if Auntie took the trouble to pay for her taxi. If Auntie didn't, Auntie should have. In any case, we will all miss Kak Zemah. Semoga Allah tempatkan dia di tempat tertinggi di sisinya. Al-fatihah.

The only picture auntie has of Kak Zemah (in pink tudung)

More recently, a few days before Aidil Fitri, Samantha, Auntie's badak friend lost Bapak, her beloved father. Samantha's family has the habit of 'adopting' all of her friends so Bapak was also 'Bapak' to us. Auntie had met Bapak in person only a few times but he was a very kind, jovial person so it was easy to be close to him. He was an intelligent, open person so our conversations were always stimulating. Bapak came down with a stroke five years ago and a few months ago was diagnose with pancreatic cancer. Bapak is an example of an academic who was able to apply his theories into practice and benefit the community. Partially disillusioned with the environment of his former workplace, he built Bakaugruv, a training centre originally dedicated to the promotion of academic excellence combined with grounded human values in young children. Now the centre also extensively offers training in other areas. In memory of Bapak, here are some photos of Bakaugruv training centre, which Auntie had the opportunity to visit only recently:

Rumah Bapak

Titi ke laut

Mud bath for the feet (cuba teka kaki siapa).

Jumpa lagi di lain siaran.

Wassalam.

Ramadhan dan Aidilfitri

2009-09-29T00:48:00.000+08:00

Salam Aidilfitri everyone! Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

Pejam-celik dah habis 1 Syawal. Auntie rasa cepat sangat Raya tahun ni berlalu. Everythings seems to be moving so fast these days. Cuma Auntie je yg moving slower and slower. Seperti yg sekerat-dua kerat org yg baca blog auntie ni dah tau, dan seperti kebiasaannya, Auntie beraya with Wan, Aki and the siblings ++, with or without AH. Tahun ni in Kuantan without AH coz AH kena raya kat Penang menemankan family dia yg juga tak berapa kerat tu. Takpalah. Ni memang deal Auntie ngan AH. Since Auntie is in Penang the rest of a year, Aidilfitri Auntie mesti spend with Aki and Wan, selagi depa ada. Tak kiralah kat mana, Kuantan or KL.

Pak Long Ami and family were the first to arrive in Kuantan on Thursday afternoon. Auntie arrived at close to midnight. Auntie left Penang at 5.30pm but transit was 4 hours. So, auntie had to berbuka at airport. (tak puasa actually tapi tak makan apa2 whole day so macam posa la jugak). Mommy and entourage arrived 11pm on Friday and Mushu and Uncle Joe after sahur on Saturday. Cik Din and Cik Ja left for Jengka after Friday berbuka .So, on Friday and Saturday, tak cukup korum jugak for berbuka. But meja still penuh. Common dish for berbuka for both Friday and Saturday was auntie's sotong goreng tepung. Crispy tapi lommbutt!

Seperti biasa raya kat Kuantan menu utama pagi raya ialah nasi minyak and korma ayam Wan. Tapi this year, Wan is mostly the supervisor and Auntie and siblings the executors. Korma is cooked by Pak Long Ami and Uncle Joe on the secondary porch, with Wan supervising from the side door. Nasi is cooked very early on raya morning in two batches. First batch Wan cooked and Auntie assistant pengangkat periuk. Second batch Auntie do all. Semua makanan, Alhamdulillah, rasanya sama sedap berbanding dimasak oleh original chef. That shows how strict the chef was supervising us! Additional dishes from Wan's kitchen are Umi Ina's rendang and Auntie's satay goreng. Wan also ordered rendang, kuah kacang and ketupat from Wan Cik Ne.

Kids really liked the korma. On raya night, Jijin and Qin makan roti cicah kuah korma at midnight, even. Qin finished 3 slices of bread before Auntie realised and put a stop to it. Of course, Mommy and Daddy dah tidor la so takde garang supervisors and Qin terlepas dari restriction of no heavy meal after 10pm. (tapi sebenaqnya Daddy yg hidang kuah and roti tu kat dia, pastu daddy pi tidur dgn assumption Qin akan makan satu slice roti je). Shasha also suka roti cicah kuah korma. Of course the adults would not have it except with the yumilicious rice.

And seperti raya2 yg lepas, Auntie tidak lupa membawa balik biskut raya herot petot Auntie. 4 types this year plus two types of cakes. Berikut adalah gambar2 penyediaan biskut raya:

Ini adalah 'assistant pastry chef' baru Auntie. Hehehe!

Biskut gingerbread permintaan AH

Tapi bila dah siap dia tak mau makan. Keras and tak sedap, katanya. Kalau bukan bulan puasa harus Auntie buat adegan batu belah batu bertangkup! Tapi Wan suka kuih ni.

"Assistant pastry chef" lagi. Nampak tak perlatan pastry bergantung di dinding? Kalau AH tak build further storage spaces utk Auntie haruslah peralatan tu kekal di dinding.

Dan lagi... busy at work. Kertas putih adalah resipi yg sekarang sudah ada banyak butter and egg stains.

Yang ni AH suka sampai tamau share. Oat'n'chocchip cookies.

Herot petot highest order but taste yumilicious to high heaven. Aiman and Jijin liked them very much.

Trying a new recipe: Almond crispy cookies. Auntie's favourite this year in terms of taste and ease of recipe.

Almond crisps in different shapes

Golden churned butter cake.

Sekerat bawak balik Kuantan and sekerat lagi tinggal kat Brown Garden.

Oh, terlupa. One more cookies. Samprit ala Auntie. AH and family suka ni...

Tapi since auntie dah separuh pengsan buat kuih selama 2 malam berturut2, auntie cuma managed to bake 2 small containers of these cookies. It was the last baking project before balik raya.

Auntie's signature choc cake.Nothing to look at but believe me, as it aged, it became moister and moister...

But the cake will only last 3 days unless refrigerated. Kalau auntie boh chocolate toppings it will only last a few hours...because nothing will be left!

Di samping bercuti 2 hari utk buat kuih raya, Auntie kena jugak masak for berbuka (remember, our Ramadhan theme was home-cooked food?). So, on one of the nights, auntie buat nasi lemak with these dishes:

Sotong goreng kunyit with Thai/ Malaysian basil.

Sambal tumis kerang. Now has become AH's favourite. So, dia kena cuci and rebus kerang.

Spiced fried chicken

The nasi lemak. Also becoming AH's favourite now tapi Auntie kena ration. Tak larat and tak healthy.

Utk menunjukkan ke-domestic goddess-an auntie, auntie also managed to make sambal ikan ala Pahang and tembosa/ temosa (also makanan org Pahang). Ini adalah pengaruh Mommy yg telah berjaya juga buat temosa during posa month dengan menggunakan resipi ajaran sesat auntie. Nasib baik dia confirm dulu dgn Wan before making.

Sambal ikan cencaru (inti temosa). Sambal ikan ni kalau campur dengan daun2 spt pegaga, selasih etc yg diracik akan jadi kerabu ala pantai timur.

Temosa equals to karipap except for the inti. The inti is the sambal ikan above. The only karipap Auntie knew growing up is temosa. Bila dah merantau jauh baru kenal karipap and selalu tertanya2 kenapa kat Seremban or KL takde karipap inti sambal ikan.

Gambar diambil di atas katil coz temosa digoreng pada pukul 12 tengah malam and AH tamau keluar makan kat meja. Tapi nak makan temosa panas2. Ada sebab tak auntie panggil dia Baby Besaq?

Remaining temosa were frozen and eaten for berbuka next day. At the dining table this time!

Itulah food diary auntie in the last days of Ramadhan. Semoga Allah berkatkan semua makanan ini dan ampunkan dosa Auntie sepanjang bulan mulia dan selepasnya.Rasanya tidak cukup beribadat di bulan Ramadhan ni dan berazam to do better next Ramadhan, Insya Allah.

Wassalam.

Long live and prosper

2009-08-28T22:12:00.003+08:00

Selamat berpuasa everyone. One week today and semoga kita semua telah berjaya mengerjakan ibadah puasa dengan penuh khusyu' & tawaddhu'.

Tema berbuka puasa in Auntie's household this year is 'homecooked', at least as much as possible. So in the last four days Auntie and AH telah berjaya makan masakan di rumah, sama ada Auntie masak or mak AH masak. Mostly Mak la. And ada la satu malam AH goreng mee and kueteow. Monday we had nasi lemak sambal tumis kerang and ikan goreng (Auntie cooked and semua orang- ie 3 kerat org dlm rumah- kata cun melecun), then nasi daging, then after that nasi and various lauk. Today Auntie masak sambal tumis mussles (kupang?). Also, auntie buat cubaan memasak lompat tikam. Ini kuih yg femes kat Pantai Timur. Auntie teruja nak buat kuih coz tengok sleepyhead yg jugak rajin buat kuih and siap masuk gambar FB lagi. Tapi sadly, lompat tikam was a flop. Lembik and kurang masak. That teaches me not to cook just before going to office. Asyik dok teringat publication project yg tak siap lagi, langsung kantoi! Tapi Auntie's ketayap on Wednesday was a hit so all is not lost. Masakan auntie semua tak sempat ambik gambaq dah masuk perut AH. Next time will make sure camera in the kitchen masa masak.

BTW, on Sunday, auntie and Qin buat kuih buah melaka for mommy and the rest in the family in Taman Tun. Auntie bawak balik sikit for AH and AH just luvvv Qin's kuih yg kecik molek and banyak inti (ie gula). So, AH pun called Qin to puji and thank her and this is what she said, "Nanti Qin ajar Auntida buat kuih macam Qin buat for Uncle AH, OK?". LAWAN TAUKE NAMPAKNYA!

Hari ni tengah masak Auntie dengar Ustaz dlm TV kata: "Puasa ni bukan saja mengajar kita supaya menahan diri daripada makan dan minum tetapi juga daripada keinginan utk membeli/ memiliki benda2 yg kita tak perlu seperti TV besar dan handphone mahal...."

Tapi, utk buat kuih raya tahun ni Auntie PERLU benda ni:

Kenwood KM 262 Prospero

HAVE A GOOD MERDEKA WEEKEND EVERYONE!

A RETURN

2009-08-21T09:30:00.002+08:00

Gempak tak entry Auntie? Auntie sekarang berada di sebuah kedai kopi (yg tidak akan dinamakan kot2 la ada peminat serbu nanti) waiting for Sleepyhead aka Mushu habis mesyuarat supaya auntie boleh balik rumah dia. Esok Auntie ada field work di sebuah kem ~~tahanan~~ latihan anak-anak muda negara.

Anyways, before Auntie update lebih lanjut hidup auntie yg blogless selama 2-3 bulan yg lepas ni, auntie nak ucapkan Selamat bertemu kembali la kepada sekerat-dua kerat kengkawan yg masih rajin try-try visit blog auntie ni utk tengok update walaupun depa semua cuma sepelaung-penyanyi-opera saja (ada tema ni!) dari diri auntie setiap hari. Ok, mungkin la ada kengkawan/ kaum kerabat yg dok dua-tiga pelaung jauhnya yg visit jugak blog Auntie dari semasa ke semasa. Auntie ucapkan terima kasih dan sorry morry kerana tak update. Auntie terpanggil utk update ni coz Auntie tengok tetiba blog Sleepyhead yg jauh lebih berkapang drpd blog Auntie tu di-update. Ini satu challenge ni. Walaupun update Sleepyhead tu ada udang galah thermidore di sebalik big, shiny stone!

Of course, a thousand things happened since the last time auntie updated. Auntie’s sabbatical leave came and went, auntie’s annual training for NAM countries’ participants was also successfully completed, many of auntie’s friends and relatives celebrated getting older and wiser, a few of us celebrated our anniversaries (of various types relationships), one or two of us acquired new family members (or were trying to), we make our annual prayers (the special ones, but we do the prayers for them everyday, anyway, I think) for our dearlies departed and sadly, sadly, a few people we know left us for a better place di sisi Ilahi.

Ok, auntie will do a sort of countdown of events since auntie last blogged.

Family gathering in May

One of the reasons Auntie could not attend the 4-zero reunion other than because of work commitments (see last entry) was also because of planned family meeting in Kuantan right after Auntie’s training in KL in early May. Some pictures of family gathering:

Family meeting preceeded by Aiman’s Qatam Quran

Ajmal, the resident event photographer

Auntie and AH sharing rare couple-moments (J, ye ke?) in Kuantan. Muka auntie sungguh jongos (AH akan angguk vigorously). Actually, ada satu lagi couple kat situ…

Eh, baru 4 tahun, sudah ala2 boring? Hehe, kidding! Of course, they are always lovey-dovey….except when they are competing for food!

Ok, itu saja dulu. Auntie akan recall events lain and put up pictures.

Selamat Berpuasa, everyone.

Kisah sekolah

2009-05-16T21:14:00.003+08:00

Auntie supposes today is a good day as any to start updating auntie's blog again after over a month of hiatus. As usual, been busy doing this and doing that. In the mean time, many events came and went without auntie able to 'report' them on blog. Of course, auntie's main excuse was the lack of workable camera for auntie to put pictures with words but now auntie got meself a nice carry-in-handbag camera, so hopefully, auntie boleh update blog more regularly, presumably to the delight of friends and family yg still dok baca blog ni.

1st event auntie nak report (although auntie didn't have own pictures of it) was the 4zero reunion celebrating of auntie's school friends. This reunion is to celebrate our batch reaching the age of 40 this year and still feeling fourteen. Sadly,auntie did not get to attend the reunion in Pullman Resort Putrajaya coz auntie was conducting a training in KL and then auntie went home to Kuantan for a family event (so more past-event entries to come!). The picture above was the cool design that the gang had come up with to signify the celebration. It was also the design on the sexy apron that everyone got for door gifts (auntie will post pictures of auntie's apron later).

Tapi, walaupun auntie tak pergi, auntie telah berjaya mengirim sebuah puisi sebagai dedikasi kepada kawan2. Auntie pernah dikenali disekolah sebagai penulis puisi yg agak kompeten si sekolah dulu (chewah) so tak heranlah mengapa madam presiden kepada AJK penganjuran yg dikenali sebagai PGK (Pompuan Gila Kuasa)telah meminta auntie menulis sajak utk event tersebut. Thanks, Tatee for the request. If was my great pleasure.

Sajak auntie dibaca oleh soft-spoken, calm and collected Shahnaz,now a teacher in Kedah. Tajuk sajak is "Cerita Kita 2". Cerita Kita 1 was presented in our reunion in 2006. So, here goes:

CERITA KITA 2

Kawan-kawan,
Kita ketemu lagi,
Bukan hanya di jasad dan mata,
Tapi jua di hati nurani,
Persahabatan kita ini tidak mengenal jurang fizikal
Kerana ia tertambat jauh di sudut kalbu yang suci.

Kawan-kawan,
Pernahkah kita terfikir saat dulu,
Bertemu dalam sunti,
Usia manusiawi belum kenal kendiri,
Tapi kita sudah perlu mengerti,
Tanpa ibu ayah bersama di sisi,
Kita sesama mengisi kekuatan mencari hala
Cabaran hidup remaja

Kawanku,
Kita bersama seperlapan usia,
Kita bersaudara sehayat yang ada,
Empat belas, empat puluh, hanya angka,
Sahabat sezaman di hati sentiasa.

Duhai sahabat sezaman,
Kita bertemu berpandang mata, berlapang dada,
Yang tiada bersama, dalam ingatan kita tetap serupa,
Yang pergi tak kembali, usah dilupa walau seketika,
Al-Fatihah usah lekang di bibir untuknya.

Marilah dalam pertemuan ini kita panjatkan,
Syukur yang tawaddhu’ kepada Ilahi,
Kerana dengan kehendak-Nya jua kita bertemu lagi kali ini,
Dan marilah pohon doa pada Yang Esa,
Hari ini penuh makna bahagia
Dan biar berkumpul kita saat ini
Bukan untuk akhir kali.

SEMPENA HARI GURU, AUNTIE NAK UCAPKAN SELAMAT HARI GURU KEPADA SEMUA GURU YG PERNAH AJAR AUNTIE. YG AUNTIE MASIH INGAT TERMASUKLAH DI SEKOLAH RENDAH: PN KAMARIAH SULONG, CIK AMINAH TAIB, MS LOW OWN THYE, MRS FONG, CIK CHE SU, USTAZ-TAK-INGAT-NAMA-TAPI-TELAH-TRAIN-AUNTIE-UTK-MUSABAQAH, MS YAP-GURUBESAR, PN FARIDAH, USTAZAH ZALEKHA, PN SABIHAH; DI SEKOLAH MENENGAH TERMASUKLAH PN SAODAH, CIK NASRIAH HJ MAGHRIBI(PRINCIPAL), PN NAEMAH, MR TAN JHI SENG, MS VICKY, USTAZAH FATIMAH, USTAZAH ZABEDAH, UST MUHAMMAD, PN RUSNAWI (the only teacher yg pernah marah auntie- hehe, good student la kunun), MS NANA TILAKA, MR TILAKA (brother of Ms Tilaka), MS LOH, PN ALAWIYAH (ramai lagi auntie ingat muka tapi tak ingat nama); KAT UNIS: JOANNA SHAPLAND, JG MERILLS, JOHN SUTCLIFFE, SHIELA TILLY, MS LILY (tak ingat surname), MICHAEL ANDERSON, JANE CONNORS, IAN EDGE, ANDREW HARDING. MANY-MANY MORE NAMES YG AUNTIE TAK INCLUDE COZ AUNTIE TAK INGAT NAMA TAPI AUNTIE INGAT ORANG-ORANGNYA.

ANYWAY, THE GREATEST TEACHER'S DAY AUNTIE NAK WISH IS TO THE BEST TEACHER IN THE FAMILY: CIKGU HALIMAH HJ AHMAD. AUNTIE ALSO WISHES HER A WARMEST BELATED MOTHER'S DAY.

Auntie sudah ada ini...

2009-05-16T21:10:00.001+08:00

So, soon, auntie akan gumbira to blog again.

Tenkiu.

Misused and Abused- THE REAL THING

2009-04-08T19:13:00.006+08:00

Sebagai selingan kerana auntie tengah busy prepare for auntie's training on violence against women, here's a brief way to introduce the issue (pls go to the url and watch the animation):

facetheissue

Also, auntie was pleasantly surprised with a feedback from a participant in last year's training. Her tribute to the training is here

Misused and Abused

2009-03-31T10:16:00.002+08:00

Tajuk entry ni takde kena mengena dengan wanita2 yg auntie bantu dalam kerja amal auntie. Au contraire (betul ke ejaan ni?), it refers to AH's feelings about being married to auntie. This is evidence in this phone conversation:

Kringg! Kringg!

Mamachupan: Hello.

AH: Mamachupan, can I talk to you now?

Mamachupan: Yes, apa dia AH?

AH: Ni, I nak mengadu pasai bini I ni.

Mamachupan: Kenapa?

AH: Tadi dia balik rumah, duduk atas katil pastu k-r-k hidung dia dan membuat cubaan memegang I dengan tangan dia yg bekas t-h- hidung tu. Bila I tanya dia, sape ajar buat benda camni ni, dia kata MAMACHUPAN! Pastu dia cabar I suruh call you to verify. Hidup I sungguh lah stress sekarang.

Mamachupan: Kekekekeke (auntie tak dengar exactly apa mamachupan cakap). Of course I tak suruh dia buat tu.

AH: Memang la I tau. Tapi sbb dia cabar I, I kena call la you jugak. Macam ni singkatlah hidup I. Asyik kena seksa dengan bini. Dah lah I dok stress dengan krisis negara dan dunia. Pastu kena deal pulak ngan bini yg samseng. Semuanya nak menjawab.

Mamachupan: Tu la, AH. Sape suruh pi kawin ngan pompuan yg cerdik pandai! (Hehehe. Ni auntie agak jek apa mamachupan kata).

Auntie kata:
Bang, ni phone no teledera: 1 800 88 3040.

What were you up to when the lights were out?

2009-03-28T23:36:00.007+08:00

Auntie thinks most people auntie knows managed to observe the 'let's turn the lights off for an hour' call tonight as part of the Earth Hour Campaign. Although there are a few people who are skeptical about the campaign eg questioning about how fleeting this observation is and whether it could significantly contributed to saving the earth if people then forget about it and continue their merry way with wasting energy. Auntie agrees with this argument to a certain extent. Hopefully people don't just take this earth hour call as a sort of fun and game only or worse, just to clear their conscience for all possible wastage they have committed. Let's hope this is a beginning or a continuous effort in our strive to help reduce the world's wastage and to guard our earth against impending destruction due to mindless usage and wastage.

Well, anyway, how did you observe earth hour? Auntie and AH decided (well, mostly auntie decided and AH gamely followed) that we should turn all the lights in the bedroom off as well as the TV and computers. But we did have the air-cond on coz both of us would have been suffocated without it (you would understand this if you ever had the privilege of seeing out room (but not likely in the near future). At the moment we do not have control over the rest of the house because we have the title-owners living with us (AH's parents, of course). But AHs's mom thought that the lights off was a government injunction, so she had followed through with it while asking to be excused (from no one in particular) from switching the alley and toilet lights because she may need to use the loo in that hour or so. AH's Tok Umi called at 7.00pm today to remind us about the lights-off, which, auntie suspects, what gave the idea to Mak that this is something that all government-fearing citizens must do. In any case, Tok Umi might have thought the same thing, which is why she promptly called all persons on her phone list to remind them about the lights off. You must also know that Tok Umi has not been able to see for a few decades now, so lights off may not really mean any change to her world but we must admire her diligence and consciousness about these things.

So, what did you do to while away the dark hour? Auntie knows of at least one person who blogs. Tak aci! Computer still emits lights! (Hehe, AH did put on the torch light from time to time to suluh auntie, just in case we crushed each other on the bed- no dirty thoughts, you folks!). Also, AH keeps whining why we have to do this while other people do not seem to be observing it (because we could still see lights coming into our room from outside). Why only now he wants to do what other people do, auntie wants to ask?!

Anyway, while the lights are out, auntie was thinking of this song (or part of it):

Close the window
Calm the light
And it will be alright
No need to bother now
Let it out
Let it all begin
Learn how to pretend

Romantic je bunyi nya. But of course nothing of the sort happens for us. Other things that DID NOT happen with us during the lights out are:

1. Baby making. Hehehe. At our age, and with our dispositions, we don't think we can attempt this in an hour. Too much pressure. Kalau nak tau, our mukaddimamah ie AH having to 'risik2' and auntie having to decide whether to agree to the act may take half of that hour. (Ok, sape tak nak dengar or imagine tak tentu arah or nak termuntah, sila switch ke blog mamachupan, or better still, blog shasha yg berkapang tu)

2. A quickie? (Hehe. Same as above).

3. Talked about our life plans. We ended up mostly talking about politics (and mostly about how it sucks).

4. Make plans about what to cook tomorrow. Although we did come to an agreement that we may have breakfast at Pak Wan's in the morning.

5. Sleep. No, despite a lack of passionately romantic activities, we did do our version of romancing the spouse. Bini urut laki, laki urut bini.

Shall we attempt another lights off next Saturday? Definitely, maybe!

Good night, everyone. May Allah bless you with His wisdom and peace in times of darkness.

The Upper Hand

2009-03-27T23:11:00.007+08:00

Most of the time AH could stand auntie's many antiques (according to him!). But at times, auntie thinks certain things auntie does drive him up the wall...

...such that it may have triggered this conversation:

Bini: Bang, kenapa kalau abang nak kata 'pisang' abang mesti tunjuk tangan camtu, takleh ke tunjuk jari camni jek [PS: pisang is a euphemism, ok?]

Laki: Boleh tak kalau tak question setiap statement/ benda yg abang buat?

Bini: Kenapa pulak tak boleh, bang? Kan kalau macam weird je, mesti la bini boleh tegur?

Laki: Tu, tu, tengok tu! Ada jek nak jawab. Nanti abang jatuh mati, pun mesti 'auntida' [bukan nama sebenar] akan tanya, " eh, kenapa ni bang? Kenapa abg baring atas lantai ni? Abg mati ke?" Eee geramnya, aku! Kalau tanya macam tu, abang akan bangun semula dari mati dan cekik 'auntida' [bukan nama sebenar]!

Bini: [ketawa tak makan saman]

Most of the time, though, we have good, peaceful times like these...

Of course, AH prefers if auntie drives and he sits back and enjoys.

This is our family potrait. All chummy. It may all be a facade!

Night, night. May Allah bless you and yours.

20 minutes to four-zero

2009-03-11T23:41:00.002+08:00

By the time auntie log in the blog and write the title entry, it's 18 minutes to four-zero. Well, not exactly coz auntie vaguely remembered the numbers 8.50 p.m. on auntie's birth cert, so technically, it is still about 16 hours to four-zero (in this economically declining climate, you want to stretch what you can, kan?).

So, what are auntie's last thoughts and wishes while still being 30-something? Let me see...

1) If with God's blessing auntie get to live beyond 8.50pm tomorrow, auntie thank Almighty Allah for his rahmah. Even if auntie didn't, auntie still have the same prayers.

2) Auntie's thoughts are with Auntie's friend Rosmaria, who did not get to be with the rest of auntie's school batchmates celebrating our 40th year, Insya Allah. Maria passed on May last year. Alfatihah.

3) Auntie hope in the last 30 plus years of auntie's lives auntie had not caused hurt to people around auntie. But that's not realistic. Of course, auntie have hurt people. And auntie seek forgiveness for that. Auntie hope auntie would do better in the next 40 years or so.

4) Auntie hope auntie will be a more patient person as auntie gets to be 40 (so auntie still have 7 minutes to be impatient!)

5) Auntie pray that Allah continues to grant auntie good health, wealth (not only material-wise) and wisdom (which is sometimes solely lacking)

(5 minutes to go ni...)

6) Auntie prays aunties parents live to see many more birthdays of their children and grandchildren

7) Auntie prays that if Allah grants auntie and AH long life, we will not be a burden to anyone.

8) Auntie prays for peace on earth.

9) Auntie wishes thank you to AH and aunties families and friends for what they have meant to auntie in the last 30 odd years. Looking forward to more meaningful lives together.

10) Thank you Allah.

Amin Amin Ya Rabbal 'Alamin.

Wassalam

12.00 am, 12 March 2009

Women and men celebrating women for humankind

2009-03-10T19:16:00.007+08:00

Ok, ok, title entry auntie ni a bit garbled, but as auntie is prone to say, there is method to the madness of anything auntie might say even when madness itself can be the method (more garbles, garbles).

Anyways, in this entry auntie nak cerita tentang keistimewaan bulan March. First, of course, there are many birthdays of loved ones in March (hehehehe plus someone really, really close to this blog, hint! hint!). The advent of March hari tu was Shills aka Badak President's birthday. Prezzie nanti dulu ya Shills (got one..., don't worry, although abang hensem dah boikot lu punya besday kerana menuduh lelaki suci bersekongkol dengan Casper mengacau rumah auntie, lu better say sorry to him!).

Then, 3rd of March was Ajmal-cutie-pie's besday. Ajmal yg semakin berisi dan keletah (pics in bro1's blog). Auntie was lucky enough to be in KL when Ajmal had his party. Ajmal was all excited masa maksu and auntie sampai rumah and dia dok sebut "Ada cake!!!!" Sekuat hati. Tapi bila time nak ambik gambar and nyanyi happy besday Ajmal malu pulak and menyorok bawah meja. Like Shasha, Ajmal also hates goodbyes, so bila auntie nak say goodbye, dia lari pi nyorok pulak. Anyways, hope Ajmal knows that it is always 'au revoir' with auntie and never goodbye!

Of a more global importance, March also is the month to celebrate the International Women's Day (IWD). 8th March to be exact. This year is the first time that Malaysia celebrates the International Women's Day because in the past it has always decided to celebrate only the national women's day which falls on the 25th August (after some significant event of some political party). Well, better late than never auntie would say. So, hopefully, Malaysia will continue to celebrate this day the same date as the rest of the world so that takde la rasa macam passe jek when we celebrate it in August. This year's IWD theme is Women and men uniting to end violence against women and girls. In auntie's university, the theme is modified a bit to be "Sharing the caring: Towards a sustainable future". Both these themes are close to auntie's heart because auntie's research and voluntary work is about the issue of violence against women and girls and how to eradicate it. Auntie has been working on this issue since 1993 (starting with auntie's postgrad studies) but things are not getting any better. Every year in the last 10 years about 3000 women are being abused by their husbands in the homes in Malaysia. In auntie's research work, auntie have seen reports about all forms of abuse that might be unimaginable to many of us. But these experiences are real and grievous. Auntie had also come across cases of young girls been sexually abused by family members and people they trust. Sometimes this abuse last until their adulthood when they were able to seek help independently. Auntie prays that children close to auntie had not had to go through all this. More importantly auntie prays earnestly also that none of auntie's loved ones and those close to auntie are perpetrators of these heinous crimes. Women and girls also face violence in the public sphere. Women are being sexually harassed in their workplace and young women and girls in their places of education. Women and girls are constant victims of harassment and rape in public places. Rapes of women and girls also occur in the homes either independently or as part of the commission of other crimes (like buglary and break-ins). In auntie's favourite quote 'the risk factor [of being victim of violence] is being female'. It goes without saying that the majority of the perpetrators of violence against women/ girls are men. And take it from auntie (so that you guys do not have to go read all the literature about this issue), one of the main reasons for this is because women is seen as the weaker sex, not deserving of respect and thus easy victims of an expression of power by men. Which is why, we must change society's perception about this. As mamachupan wrote, we must teach our children that both women and men are deserving of the same dignity and respect to prosper as human beings. When boys respect their sisters [in more sense than just biological] as equals, they will grow up to treat them as fellow human beings and will not think that the female sex deserve to be violated if they don't conform to their perceived roles. So, auntie hopes that everyone who reads this blog can see the IWD as pertinent to all of us from now on (if they had not already been) and not think it as just a Western-based idea that has no relevance to our lives.

OK, enough serious thoughts.

Now to the remaining event in March. Of course you know what's coming! Yes, there is no.1 and no.2 in it and it will come in a day or two. Pada awalnya auntie nak buat cool dan see whether AH will remember. Tapi auntie tak tahan la so kena jugak tanya if he remembers. Nasib baik ingat. Kalau tak harus auntie terus pi meeting 2-3 minggu kat KL and tak balik. Anyways, auntie dah beritau AH auntie's wish list, so kalau ada yang need ideas (hehehehehe, perasan ni!), tolong la bercalling-calling ngan AH yek?

Happy IWD everyone. Semoga Allah mengurniakan kesejahteraan kepada kita semua dan melimpahkan kita dengan sifat-Nya yang kasih mengasihani sesama umat manusia. Wassalam.

'Friends' from parallel universe and 25-random-things

2009-02-08T23:15:00.010+08:00

Shills, kawan auntie dok tanya pasai 'kawan from the parallel universe' yg auntie mention in yesterday's entry. Kepada yg highly sceptical about twilight zone issues, probably nothing la. Auntie ni adalah 50% sceptic dan 50% opened to the possibility. Kalau ada yg still tak paham, camni...

At the moment, auntie and AH have not fully lived in out new nest. We would go to the apartment almost everyday, do this and that, and before sunset, would go back to our current abode. So, a bit like getaway nest la, so far. In fact, auntie has only spent one night there to date. With Sleepyhead and Uncle Joe. AH pulak belum pernah bermalam. Every time it's time to leave the apartment auntie and AH would make sure that all lights and electrical items are switched off. Ada kadang-kadang bila we came back in the morning, the hall light near the front door was on and auntie always thought that perhaps auntie memang lupa tutup despite out diligent reminders to ourselves. The last time before Thursday, however, both of us were very sure we switched off all lights because dah a few times we thought we terlupa. Tengok2, on Thursday morning, not only was the hall lights yg ON but also the wall light and the air vent fan in the master bathroom. So, possible answers to this puzzle:

Auntie and AH memang hopeless punya pelupa (my skeptic side will accept this for now)

We have human visitors who have access to our nest. We totally dismissed this because we just changed all three front entrances locks and no one has the keys accept auntie and AH. No sign of forced entries on the entrances. All other windows and doors throughout the apartment were also locked. Nothing is missing.

We have non-human but earthly real visitors (like birds or cicak) that can switch on lights and electrical items. We also dismissed this because the only animals we have found so far are birds perched on the railings of the balcony.

There is an automatic timer/ sensor placed somewhere (without our knowledge) where the lights would be on when we open the front door. This is scientific and believable if we could find the timer/ sensor.

We have friends from the parallel universe. Now, get it?

So far auntie's non-sceptic 50% is mulling over this. The apartments on both sides of our nest were empty for some time. The one on one side is now lived in. The other is still empty. Our apartment used to be empty for some months. Some people would say these are fertile grounds for the 'friends' to come a-visiting or a-passing. Kalau betul, auntie berdoa jika betul telahan ini, bahawa 'kawan2' itu 'lalu' sahaja dan selepas tengok kawasan itu kepunyaan auntie, dia/ mereka akan beredar ke tempat lain dan tidak bertandang lagi.

Tetapi, auntie lebih berharap bahawa option yg pertama di atas ialah explanation yg sebenarnya.

OK, let's leave cerita 'friends' ni and talk about something more mundane. Shills juga telah tag auntie in Facebook with this '25 random things' thingy. Auntie thought it would be interesting to re-post auntie's response to the tag in this blog as well. So here goes:

*****************************

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. (To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.) Here are mine:

1. I'm known in the family to be the most 'garang' person. My husband sometimes calls me 'samseng'. Can't really understand why.

2. Although my parents think I am a quiet person, my husband sometimes wish I would shut up.

3. I have intolerance (it's a physiological thing, not because I'm a bigot!) towards prawns and crabs and their families. For the prawns, I think it's God's punishment for taking my sister's share of 'udang goreng kunyit' when we were young. The crab issue is still a mystery to me.

4. When I was about nine, I once threatened to hit a 20plus yr-old man with a batang paip for calling me 'debab' (he always lalu depan my rumah masa I tunggu bas to go to school). I would have done the same thing all over again at 39. So, this may explain random thing no.1.

5. On a related topic, I have been catcalled with 'gemuk' in Madinah (by the Arabs!). Being in Tanah Suci, I managed to refrain from injuring anyone.

6. I sometimes regret being too serious with my students. But only sometimes :).

7. I once thought Hail Amir was handsome. And wished he would marry Uji Rashid (my idea of a grown up woman at that time). You must forgive a child who was brought up on A. Ramlee's lullabies.

8. I have NOT given up the fight to be svelte and sleek. I'm just taking a break to strategise best ways to fight the bulge.

9. My husband thinks I desire jewelry but I would be happy with just a KENWOOD chef (or its equivalent) mixer.

10. I am more polite when speaking and thinking in English (hahaha, ala2 Sharifah Amani, ni!)

11. I once was asked to translate the controversial book "Shit' into English (by the author's son, no less) and I completed it but the manuscript was never collected because the project just died down.

12. Saya pernah berlakon dalam rancangan radio "Manis-manis garam" anchored by Mustaza Maah (another media personality yg ala2 hensem in a young girl's eyes in the mid-1980s). RTM bagi check RM30 for the stint. Good money at the time.

13. I don't like pets but I have been known to nurse cats and birds in distress to good health (and earn brownie points with my animal-loving niece, Shasha).

14. I wish I am kinder and more tolerant towards people and things around me.

15. If we got separated in the supermarkets and my husband wants to find me, he will just listen for sounds of things being dropped (eg, in household or canned items sections). The culprit would likely be me.

16. My badak friends (to my non-badak friends, this is a group I belong too) find it funny that I like to speak (or sing at karaoke) with my arms constantly akimbo and my chest forward (I already told them why, them of small-almost-non-existent-

br--sts!).

17. People who has the pleasure of sharing a sleeping area with me would sometimes find themselves black and blue in the morning. I do a lot of fighting in my sleep (especially against ghosts).

18. Baking and sewing are my idea of therapy even though I will never (or even desire to) reach professional standards for either.

19. When I was studying and living in Sheffield, UK, I once witnessed an electric shop being broken into from my bedroom window (which was about 5 meters from the shop) at 3.00 in the morning. Nobody came to get statements from me, though.

20. I think all babies are beautiful.

21. I think all reptiles (including human-born pseudo-reptiles) are UGGGLYYYY!

22. I like both being single and being married. I think I'm a reasonable authority on being single because I live the life for a sufficient number of years. I am now 'building a databank' on being married.

23. I wish my nieces and nephews (including pseudo-ones) could stay babies forever so that they don't have to face adult hardships (especially in the seemingly more uncertain world now).

24. I fancy myself a musical person but many events and feedback have proven otherwise.

25. I got to become an academic (and journeyed into postgraduate studies) more or less by accident. I thought I would surely fail if I continued with my professional certification studies so was looking for an easier option. Foolishly, I thought pursuing PhD is that option. I thank God everyday for making my choice a correct one.

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Most kith and kin dlm blog roll auntie telah di-tag melalui FB. But they are welcomed to include their responses to the tags in their blogs. Auntie jugak mau tag kengkawan blogger yg setahu auntie takde FB iaitu Ms Hart dan Nyonya Segamat. And also Shasha (whenever mommy allows to blog. Nampaknya blog Shasha pun dah berkapang). Sudi-sudikanlah.

Auntie orang dapur

2009-02-06T17:57:00.022+08:00

Apa khabar everyone?

Memang nampaknya blog auntie ni macam agak2 berkapang. And auntie notice sleepyhead dah mintak auntie update (walaupong blog dia lebih berkapang dari auntie's). Tetiba blog bro1 pulak yg agak rancak, 2-3 entry bulan ni. Blog mamachupan toksah citer la. Memang dia seorang yg diligent dan when she has set blogging as her routine activity, you can guarantee that she'll have consistent entry everyday. And thank God for small blessings!

Blog badak happy tu nampaknya kureng sket active semenjak-dua menjak ni. Apa da itu President and and Vice President. Kalau puang2 dok buak entry, manakang kuncu2 mu nok tulih jugok. Especially puang yg takdok official blog sendiri tuh! Tulungla tulih. Blog badak alter-ego masih adalah puisi2 yg menyayat hati. Keep it up badak poets!

Blog kawan auntie kat negara Hang Li Po tu pun ala2 slow jugak (oo auntie better wish dia: Happy Birthday, TATI! Her birthday is in two days, tapi just in case auntie tak blog on the 8th.). Samala jugak ke-slow-an blog kawan auntie sorang lagi tu, la petite maman de les enfants. (haha, practice french auntie yg berkarat)

Well, actually-nya memang auntie baru terpikir nak update pastu nampak pulak sleepyhead nye comment tu, so walaupong AH dah dok tepon2 suruh balik rumah (sambil singgah kedai adik mami beli roti), auntie lengah2 la sekejap so auntie could at least start a word or two of entries.

OK...auntie kena balik dah ni coz looks like everyone's gone from the office and since semenjak-dua menjak ni auntie selalu perasan macam ada 'kawan-kawan' from parallel universe jek kat opis ni, baiklah auntie balik. Auntie akan sambung bila sampai rumah dan selesai bagi makan ahli keluarga auntie yg sorang tu. Babai!

Welcome back everyone! Auntie kat rumah ni and baru free dari distractions (spt makan, membersihkan diri and tengok Perak crisis on TV) to continue the entry. Untuk kengkawan dan sedara mara yg curious tentang kehidupan seorang 'guru' yg on sabbatical ni, auntie nak bagi tau, TIDAK ADA APA2 YG BERBEZA kecuali auntie boleh la balik Kuantan tengok Wan and Aki pada tarikh yg convenient ngan auntie tanpa perlu menjuggle kelas and auntie tak perlu beri justification kenapa auntie tak hadir sesuatu mesyuarat di opis (dan depa pun akan mintak maap berbanyak kalau terpaksa panggil auntie mai mesyuarat). Selain drpd itu, auntie rasa sama busy, sama running around catching up with deadlines. Oleh kerana auntie bersabbatical di opis, org2 di opis dan students yg buat assignments berkaitan dgn bidang auntie (they are not my students, though) masih menganggap auntie available for walk-in consultation during office hours walaupun auntie dah letak kat pintu (OUT, 'I'M BUSY, PLS COME AGAIN ANOTHER TIME).

On the Chinese New Year week auntie managed to balik Kuantan just to spend time with Wan and Aki but sans AH. AH's mom was not well, so he has to stay behind. But auntie had good relaxing time with both parents, even though Aki's rants and raves about everything and nothing in particular could possibly drive saints to the brink. Auntie understands that Aki is venting his frustration about his pain because of the prolapsed disc he's suffering. So, everything does not seems right to him. Tapi, of course yg kesian is also Wan. Imagine Wan having to withstand this for weeks on end. Tapi auntie thinks somehow Wan had found a way to shut things out, so she seems alright and not too stressed out. Cuma auntie a bit worried about the eating habit of both parents. Aki thinks he's gained weight because he has not been moving too much (he's walking less because of the pain), so he's refusing to eat. Wan is trying to whet his appetite by cooking santan-laden fish and meats. But Aki still won't eat (he only wants vegetable soup for lunch and dinner). Wan doesn't want the food to go to waste, so she would try to finish the food (even after it is in the fridge for a few days). So, Wan's blood sugar is on the high side now. And Wan sometimes forgets to take her medication, which is real bad for diabetics. So, donno la. Anyway, auntie is going back to Kuantan again on the 25th this month to take Wan for her hospital appointment.

To auntie's adik beradik, we may not have forgotten but perhaps we had not been too enthusiastic about wishing Wan and Aki Happy 44th Anniversary on the 25th Jan hari tu. It was the day auntie arrived in Kuantan. Auntie was busy with arranging for auntie's kitchen cabinet that auntie forgot to buy any present for them. Tapi auntie ada la wish them in passing. Pastu Cik Din and Cik Ja ada la tanya depa dapat tak anniversary present. Of course, nampaknya takde. So, sis and bros, adakah plan utk do a belated celebration or get a collective belated present? Hari tu, Wan ada kata dia mau pinggan bujur (oblong) so that kalau dia masak ikan bawal masak merah tu dia boleh boh ikan tu sekor2 kat dalam pinggan. Tak perlu la potong ikan coz pinggan tak muat. We went looking for it in Giant (auntie took Wan strolling on her chair) but could not find any. So, kalau sape2 ada ternampak pinggan sedemikian rupa dan rasa nak bagi present kat Wan, amatlah auntie alu-alukan. Auntie pon akan be on the lookout for them. Tapi kalau sorang dah beli, tolong la msg kat yg lain coz tak yah la bagi 5 bijik (or 10 bijik kalau decided to beli a pair) pinggan tu kat Wan. Sapa la nak makan 5 ekor ikan bawal masak merah sekali hidang?

O, auntie juga memohon sesapa yg ada details about the proposed family fund for family holiday yg dengar khabarnya dibincangkan di satu family holiday di Awana Kijal itu, supaya tolong story kat auntie so that auntie boleh buat plan berapa banyak auntie punya food allowance harus auntie potong so that auntie boleh membuat contribution ke fund itu. Auntie rela berdiet (memang perlu pun!) utk pergi bersukaria bersama kaum kerabat. Lagipun, kalau auntie dapat potong food allowance itu, Insya Allah, auntie akan fit better into auntie's swimsuit semasa berenang di kolam ketika family holiday nanti. Kali ini auntie akan pakai swimsuit menutup aurat seperti sleepyhead kerana auntie sudah tobat menyamar sebagai pompuan German.

OK, now let's go into the topic in the title of this entry. Selepas menunggu lebih daripada enam bulan, auntie finally mendapat a kitchen to call my own. No thanks to A Seng yg telah run away with auntie's first dream of having a kitchen. But thanks to Mat yg more or less berjaya fulfil auntie's dream of having a nice, cozy kitchen. Mat sedikit sebanyak menaikkan semula kepercayaan auntie kepada contractor bumiputera kerana dia adalah agak professional dlm kerjanya. Walaupun ada la benda2 auntie tak puas hati seperti tak tau nak vacuum habuk kayu lepas pasang cabinet (walaupun AH dah sua vacuum cleaner), hisap rokok (walau sekejap) dlm spanking new home auntie dan mebiarkan stafnya membuat kerja atas meja makan tempered glass auntie. Hampir gugur jantung auntie! And terlupa nak jerit dan mengamuk kerana terlalu terkojut. Nasib baik meja kaca murahan ku masih intact. Kalau tidak harus ku taram muka budak beng--g itu dengan screw driver letrik AH.

Oh, and colour yg diberi oleh Mat adalah sedikit lari dari kaler sample yg diberi dan sepatutnya ada 'texture' tapi hampeh (penting you know, if i buy texture, i want to have texture!) tetapi auntie sudah capek (ie, penat, ini sbb baru tengok citer Indonesia pagi tadi) nak bergaduh ngan kontraktor. In any case, the resulting work is reasonably OK by auntie. Auntie tak lah ecstatic, tapi satisfied la.

So, inilah phoenix yg arose from auntie's ashes of a kitchen.

Impian AH utk memiliki dapur ala2 gerai char kuew teow utk menggoreng mee-nya nampaknya tak kesampaian coz no more space in the kitchen. Unless he can turn this two-burner hobs into doing the job for him.

Using all available space. Now I don't have to use TOYOGO anymore to keep my baking items. Getting the fridge into the kitchen required the front door to be unhinged first. So, this fridge is not going anywhere for a loooooong time!

Mat is quite ingenious in his ideas. See the little steel holes in on the cabinet door on the right? AH wanted a space where we can keep short term leftovers (ie food yg tak habis in one go but can be revisited throughout the day) without putting them in the fridge (and having to reheat them each time to eat). AH ori idea is to have that jaring like gerobok lauk lama2 tu, tapi Mat came with this eyelets on the door idea. And we like!

More swing-up frosted glass door options. Auntie is also happy with the hanging dish drainer.

Wet section of the kitchen, as in tempat boleh berkenjah.

Ample dish-washing space (and CSI tap).

This wall-hanging kitchen tidy thingy auntie bought many2 years ago through catalogue shopping in UK. Auntie thought auntie would never get to use it. In fact, the plastic pun was already kusam but with a little bit of help from 'sun of a gun' cleaner, it looks good as new.

More view of psedo- gerobok lauk.

Long-awaited oven, now installed. Not the most ideal place for auntie (coz will have to do a lot of squatting down) but will have to do. At the moment still not connected coz we need to get the electrician to hook it up (it's complicated!). Hopefully, soon, so auntie can be baking-mad!

What remains now is for Auntie and AH to gradually move to our penultimate nest. But not before we do some negotiation with 'friends' from the parallel universe.... (will elaborate in another entry, this one is getting a tad too long).

GOOD NIGHT, MY LOVELIES!

Birthday food, after the fact

2009-01-08T14:42:00.017+08:00

Ini adalah gambar makanan yg dihidangkan masa birthday AH. Tapi gambar diambil lepas birthday event coz lupa bawak turun camera ke dapur. The pictures are taken on National Geographic subscription FREE camera. Camera yg sungguh basic dan takde apa2 butang utk adjust shot. Takde flash pun (or maybe inbuilt and auntie tak tau). Sungguh seksa nak ambik gambar. Bila la Canon Powershot auntie boleh dibaiki. Sigh!

BLACK PEPPER LAMB PIES

Rupa is 3/10 (10 ratu semalaya and 1 ratu bukit setongkol) tapi rasa adalah 10/10 according to AH (well, maybe 9/10 la, coz dia kata all is perfect except kalau lagi ada more gravy in the inti is better)

Auntie use flaky pastry. Pastry recipe is from Anna Olsen with some modification. It goes like this:

Ingredients:
150g butter
165g cream cheese
(Auntie discovered Australian Tatura cream cheese in tesco. Cheaper than Kraft but more genuine and yummier)
2 cups all-purpose flour (tepung gandum la tu!) (minus a few tbsp kalau mau flakier)

Method (easy-peasy lemon squezy):
Since pastry dough is a bit delicate and tak tahan panas, better do this at night. Kalau you have the luxury of air-cond kitchen can do any time la. Bila auntie dok rumah baru, harus auntie akan buat dough in the living room coz got air cond. Anyways, caranya ialah:

Butter and cream cheese at room temperature ie about 3 hours after taking them out of the fridge. Don't be tempted to nuke them in the microwave from the fridge. Cream them until semi-fluffy. Then just add flour gradually (maybe in 3 or 4 batches) and stir. Then use hands to incorporate into pastry dough. Make sure hand is not too warm so maybe go and put hands in ice or fridge for a few minutes (kidding!). Should incorporate lightly. Jangan uli macam roti. As long as dia dan jadi big ball cukup. Kalau too oily (coz tangan panas), masuk dalam fridge sat before mixing again. Kalau lembik sangat add a sprinkle of flour. Roll lightly sampai bentuk square yg tebal. Wrap in cling film and simpan dalam fridge for at least 1 hour. Overnight also can.

After taken out from fridge, roll more thinly, fold down 3rd of top part and fold up 3rd of bottom part. Then roll again. Divide lagi in third macam tadi and roll thinly again. Use big-size cookie cutter (if you are that sophisticated a baker) or big bottle cap or mug or glass or whatever round shape you can find to tekap the dough. The dough for bottem of pie should be slightly bigger than for the top. Line the dough onto foil pie dish or whatever bekas you are using. Auntie uses the smallish foil pie dish. Kalau nak buat big pies, can use the bigger pie pan/ dish. Bubuh inti and tutup ngan top dough tu. Brush with egg/ milk. Bake in 150C oven for about 20-30 minutes .

Last two pies with extra filling. Yg tak semenggah tu adalah last kopek nye dough so kena tampal2.

The lamb filling:
2 ketul leg of lamb chops (or mana2 parts yg lembut), diced or sliced thinly
1-2 onion (ikut suka), chopped
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
5 or more button mushrooms (fresh or canned), sliced
(auntie got to use fresh coz tesco got sale that day)
2 bay leaves, fresh or dried (if dried, keromotkan dia sikit)
1 tsp Italian spices (ikut suka)
3 tsp or more (ikut suka) gound black pepper
a few tbsp berry juice (any one, ribena also can)
some worcestershire sauce
some salt
1tbsp flour plus 1/4 cup water (mixed)
olive oil

Method:
Sear the lamb pieces in a bit of olive oil (ie bubuh sikit olive oil dalam kuali, api tinggi, then masukkan lamb, kacau cepat2, half-cooked tapi luar dia macam masak, then angkat and put aside).
Add a bit more olive oil to the pan, then saute onions, carrot and celery. Add in bay leaves. Add the lamb. Add the mushrooms. Then season with the spices, pepper, sauce, juice and salt. Last sekali pour in flour-water mixture and kacau. Kalau nak lagi banyak kuah, tambah air.

BLUEBERRY CAKE/PIE WITH TRIMMINGS

Ini bukan part of birthday deal tapi telah menjadi AH punya desert since New Year. Recipe dimodify from Nigella Lawson's.

Blueberry pie slices served with sliced bananas and ice-cream. Tengoklah pinggan yg sungguh classic. Kat rumah Wan pun ada pinggan ni dulu.
Blueberry pie recipe (easy- no electric mixer required):
250g butter, melted
3/4 cup or less sugar (3/4 cup to dah rasa cam manis sangat)
4-5 eggs
(kalau tesco size A eggs use 5, if you can get bigger size A eggs from other producers, use 4)
2 cups self-raising flour + 1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
(If using plain flour, add 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp s.b. to the flour)
1tsp vanilla essence
1 jar blueberry jam/ filling (auntie use stefi jam, made in germany)
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
Beat egg and sugar (using hand-whisk only la). Add vanilla essence and salt. Pour in slighly-cooled melted butter. Beat. Add in flour gradually and mix well.

Pour jam content into bowl. Add 2 tbsp hot water and stir (jam will still be thick but more spreadeable)

Use round medium pie dish. This recipe will make 2 medium pies (kalau nak buat muffins pun boleh auntie thinks). Fill dish halfway with cake mixture. Spread jam over the cake mixture. Then top the jam with cake mixture (up to 3/4 of pie dish). Bake in 175C oven for 20-30 minutes or until cooked.

One batch of Auntie's pie keras sikit coz Auntie ter-guna bread flour. Like most dishes auntie makes, rupa tak lawa, tapi rasa selalunya OK. A picture of the whole pie (photoshopped) can be seen here.

For New Year party Auntie served with canned (aerosol) cream. Tapi AH suka jugak tambah ice-cream and pisang.

This is the full-caloried serving. Who cares!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AH!

2009-01-05T17:02:00.007+08:00

No, no. This is not turning into a kinky blog. Auntie saje je boh gambar birthday cake yg AH probably secretly wished for! Hehehe. Well, he may also wish that he woke up on his birthday and saw Auntie in the image of this particular cake, but sorry honey, you will have to wait 100 years, perhaps, when Auntie dies and goes to heaven and Auntie could get to have any kind of body Auntie wishes for (so, darling, tunggu la Auntie kat luar pintu masuk syurga tu yek? Nanti kita dating-dating- [private joke!]).

Anyways, as the entry title indicates, it's AH birthday. He's 42 today. But 12 in spirit and temperament. Which is why Auntie will not lose the tag Baby Besaq that Auntie gave him just yet. Auntie's present for AH is to bake him some black pepper lamb pies (kalau jadik nice, recipe will be shared later), buy him 3 choices of Ayamas chicken, make a nice ala-Mexican dinner from the chicken and some tortilla bread and perhaps for dessert feed him the 4-day old blueberry cake (that auntie bake for badak's new year party) with whip-cream topping. All of these are still in the planning and preparation stage and after blogging this afternoon Auntie will go home and try to execute them. Nasib baik Auntie on sabbatical leave and can do all this on a working day without too much of a hassle.

Will try to take pictures of the 'birthday proceedings' and post them later.

As a tribute to AH (selain dari lagu "Dua Insan" yg auntie post previously), auntie nak list 10 things Auntie love enough about AH to continue celebrating his birthday with him till the next 50 years of more if God allows us:

1) His comic ability. Despite Auntie's external demeanour (yg semua org kata garang!), auntie adalah org yg suka kepada sense of humour and auntie finds AH emit just the right kind of humour at the right time to ensure Auntie's life is filled with laughter.

2) His considerate-ness. Walaupun AH will always think of his own comfort when doing things, he also never forgets other persons' comfort. He puts other people's comfort at the same level or higher than his own.

3) His serenades. Yes, setiap malam, AH akan serenade Auntie dengan lagu2 buatan sendiri. Walaupun Auntie buat-buat benci sebenarnya Auntie suka. This is where the ilham for the "Dua Insan" lyric versi Shrek comes from.

4) His cluelessness. AH is clueless about most things that has numbers so that's why Auntie controls the purse. Which suits auntie jes fine. Kekekeke.

5) His massage-friendly hands. AH is the best masseuse for Auntie tapi dia MALAS! Atau pon sesi massage selalu hanya 2 min dan tangan dia mula nak buat benda lain...(yg ala2 X-rated!)

6) His food-tasting expertise. Semenjak kawin, auntie ada ready-on-hand food-taster. Tapi susah Auntie nak tipu ingredients coz sekelumit kurang butter pun AH boleh rasa. Walau bagaimanapong, AH akan merajuk kalau tetiba Auntie bake because gang badak nak buat party and dia cuma jadi tukang rasa jek.

7) His affinity to kids of all ages. Auntie just lurv how AH genuinely loves children. So, may our doa for one of our own dimakbulkan Allah soon.

8) His understanding of Auntie's world and quirks. ie, auntie's passion for professional work, volunteer work, badak friends, sudoku, berangan, do big-job lama2.

9) His gender-sensitivity and sense of fairness. He has proved this to Auntie time and again in both our personal and professional lives.

10) His unconditional love for Auntie. And Auntie thank Allah boundlessly for this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY DARLING!

A New Dawn (Insya Allah)

2008-12-31T16:07:00.012+08:00

Tajuk entry auntie ni bunyinya ala ala tajuk buku2 Mills and Boon yang auntie suka baca masa masa muda-muda dulu. Pada kawan2 and adik beradik auntie dan juga AH yg kurang arif pasai buku ni, ia adalah buku cintan-cintun omputih. Kat situ lah phrase "tall, dark and handsome" dan sewaktu dengannya boleh kita jumpa in almost every other page. It described the hero la, of course, not the heroine (kalau describe the heroine, parah la).

So, buku2 ni suka dibaca oleh young nubile girls sambil2 bermimpi depa akan dapat partner macam dalam buku tu. Tapi auntie tak pernah terpikir macam tu pun. Auntie baca buku2 tu untuk upgrade auntie punya English jek sambil dok imagine tempat2 yg auntie akan pergi bila study kat England nanti (nasib baik dapat pergi UK to study). Of course, the reality is jauh panggang dari api. I never get to stay even in a cosy, self-contained London flat macam pompuan2 dalam buku tu. In fact kena duduk bilik sewa dalam rumah buruk kepunyaan second generation migrants of UK. And sometimes kena ikat perut (walau pun tak jugak kurus) kerana cost of living yg tinggil. In any case, auntie memang tak dapat 'tall, dark and handsome' for life partner. Instead auntie dapat 'medium-height, tubby, fair but ala ala hensem la jugak', which suits auntie jes fine coz auntie rasa auntie lebih sesuai hidup dalam shrek kingdom daripada posh, fine-dining lifestyles sold in the books.

Contoh buku Mills and Boon zaman sekarang.

Eh, panjang pulak auntie merapu pasai benda yg tidak berkaitan dengan tujuan sebenar auntie buat entry ni.

Actually, 'a new dawn' tu of course refers to the new years that we are celebrating. And also, the first birthday of auntie's blog. Auntie baru notice that on the 28th December baru2 ni, blog auntie setahun umurnya. The date just passed me by and auntie terlupa nak blog on that day. No hal la coz auntie tak la sentimental with the date. Lagipun blog ni bukanlah menambah apa-apa kepada kesejahteraan dunia, so no need to celebrate with cakes ke cupcakes ke yg ada tulis 'happy 1st birthday, blog'. Blog ni is only an outlet for auntie to cerita-ceriti kehidupan auntie with adik-beradik and kengkawan yg jauh dan dekat coz kadang-kadang even when we chatted on the phone or during meals together for hours, we still manage to forget to share certain things in our lives. And sharing is so therapeutic kan?

Auntie baca one article in the papers recently that 'blogging' is actually passe now ie old fashioned already (read also this and this) [hehe auntie nak show-off ni coz baru tahu linking]. Ramai org yg started their blogs a few years ago are rarely updating them now because there are newer avenues for self-expression on the web, namely facebook dan benda2 sewaktu dgnnya. Auntie ada facebook jugak tapi auntie feels blog is still my preferred domain to catch up with friends. When people posted in their facebook what they are currently doing eg "Minah Karan is...thinking how to avoid electric shot to her hair", it sounds so pretentious and showy. Dalam blog, we normally update our lives with more honesty and deeper thoughts. So, auntie thinks I will continue blogging for at least another year.

Ok, on to new years. On the 29th Dec we celebrated the dawn of a new Hijrah year and tomorrow, Insya Allah, we will see the light of 2009. Other than thanking Allah for keeping auntie alive and to continue with auntie's reasonably good life, auntie does not normally have specific aspirations for the new years, either of them. Sebenarnya auntie berazam baru setiap hari dan tak tunggu any special date. Sama ada azam tu dipenuhi atau tidak tu cerita lain la kan? Tiap-tiap hari sebelum tidur auntie berazam untuk bangun awal, buat sembahyang sunat sepertiga malam dan sembahyang subuh on time. Tapi, masih lagi many times Subuh gajah mammoth. Tiap-tiap pagi auntie bangun dan berazam untuk menjadi orang yg tenang, sabar dan lemah lembut. Tapi bila naik jek kereta nak pi kerja pagi-pagi auntie akan jumpa pelbagai wallies on the road yg membuatkan all my good intentions go down the drain. Tiap2 minggu auntie pi kelas dan berazam utk amat bersabar dgn students auntie bila mereka sambil lewa jek buat preparation for tutorial presentation tetapi, half way through their presentation, auntie's blood pressure is already shot to the roof dan berasa ingin menjadi singa pompuan. Tiap2 waktu sebelum auntie nak pi buat transaction dengan pelbagai manusia, auntie berazam utk menjadi seorang pompuan yg paling berhemah tetapi bila terpaksa deal ngan various service people yg macam siut, auntie terus jadi pompuan paling rude dlm dunia.

So, pendek kata, auntie mesti ulang balik azam-azam auntie tu setiap hari untuk setahun lagi akan datang supaya tidak begitu ramai org akan terbunuh tahun 2009 ini. Tapi kalau tahun ini students auntie juga berazam menjadi org yg lebih resourceful dan diligent, kalau the service people juga berazam menjadi lebih responsible, responsive dan polite dan kalau pemandu2 Malaysia juga berazam menjadi manusia biasa (dan bukan manusia bengong), harus azam2 auntie tu akan dipenuhi, Insya Allah.

On a more serious note, 2008 has been quite colourful for auntie and auntie has achieved many things professionally and personally. Auntie managed to secure a few research grants, complete a few materials for publication, continue more strategically with USM's campaign against sexual harassment on campus and obtained more postgraduate students. Auntie also went to Mekah for umrah for the first time (major achievement, not only because Auntie get to see rumah Allah, but also because auntie got to help Wan and Aki to go about with their ibadah too), got myself and AH an apartment, baked a few trays of brownies for kith and kin, did qurban in Cambodia, paid some overdue zakat and helped a friend or two in times of need (at least, I think I've helped!). Towards the end of the year, there were a few downturns for auntie. Auntie thinks auntie did badly in the stupid PTK and there were a few glitches with our apartment renovation. But as Auntie tells myself, Allah yg menentukan rezeki kita semua. Let the dissapointment and glitches be lessons. Maybe auntie alpa sikit dalam ibadah auntie. Maybe too much of a good thing is bad for auntie. So, takpa lah. Auntie terima dugaan Allah.

And there is much to look forward to in 2009. Our 'new' nest. Starting a new couple-routine there. Hopefully, being successful in getting a baby or two (maybe not more than one in the same year, unless twins). My sabbatical. Yes, I start tomorrow. For the next 5 months auntie does not have to teach or attend official meetings (unless I want to). Just have to concentrate on my research and publication and catch up on readings. Do more bonding things with self-confessed-deprived-husband AH, like go to Sushi King at 2.30pm on a working day and catch a movie on couple seats (we must take two of the couple seats, not one) at the cinema (rather than just watching Astro movies on the bed). Take Wan and Aki to come live with auntie and AH for a few weeks (if they can last that long away from their groupies) and pamper them to bits. Try my new oven. Learn to bake bread like Mamachupan's Mr Baker.

Pendek kata, rejuvenate! With some caution of course.

So, Awwal Muharram Mubarak and Happy New Year, my lovelies jubblies!

Dedicated to AH

2008-12-18T15:17:00.005+08:00

Tetiba lagu M.Nasir (duet with Yusnizar Hoessein) terngiang-ngiang kat telinga auntie. Tapi auntie 'dengar' different lyric. Here it is:

____________________________

DUA INSAN (VERSI ’SHREK’)

Bila kau kenyang ku gembira

Bila kau lapar ku rasa issshhhh

Bagai abang rindu mee mamak

Ku rindu pada nasi dagang emak

Mana saja abang landing

Ku kan tetap ikut baring
Walaupun bantal ku jauh
Namun perutmu ada ku tak jatuh

Chorus:

Bila saja barangan menimpa
Kerna cinta ada kau marah kejap ja
Hanya dikau dan tiny room kita

Membuat hidupku bagai dalam kereta

Biar misai berganti misai
Biar hensem-mu bertambah
Telah kukatakan padamu oh abang
Hanya ’badak outing’ dapat memisahkan

Jika kau tanya Dr Akbar

How can we get baby or two

Nanti jawabnya pada kita
Weight loss programme complete dulu

Ku persembahkan pada abang

Pasta olio kurang pedas
Kau terima sambil komplen
tapi habis juga sebesen

Chorus:

Bila saja kuhabiskan pizza

Kerna cinta ada kau tahan sahaja

Hanya dikau dan kamera
Membuat hidupku bagai takda pun takpa

Dua insan sedang bercinta
Dua insan berjanji setia
Telah kukatakan padamu oh abang

Hanya lauk udang dapat memisahkan

_______________________________

PS1: Yesterday and today have not been too kind to auntie but Allah sahaja tempat berserah dan Dia sahaja menentukan rezeki auntie, not some kind of half-baked professors.

PS2: Auntie had nice outing with AH today although orang sebelah menyebelah we all mungkin terjojol mata tengok satu couple yg share TWO half-chickens right before their eyes. (Tak habis pun, kena tapau one half. Tu la tamak and ordering while famished).

HAVE A GOOD COUNTDOWN TO END OF YEAR EVERYONE!

Something fishy - again!

2008-11-22T21:30:00.018+08:00

Hi everyone! All three of you that is still diligently reading auntie's blog (well maybe the other 7 visit from time to time, so that's quite a few of everyone) because there must be more interesting thing to do like finding out what your friends are up to on facebook. Hehehe.

Anyway, something fishy today at auntie's is the second cookout of ikan patin yang masih berbaki from auntie's last trip back to Kuantan (auntie blogged about the first cookout a few entries ago). And sorry, the gambar is still not the genuine article since you guys know about auntie's kong camera. And auntie did not have my phone in the kitchen to take even a substandard picture. So, auntie 'pinjam' this picture from the website of Puspanita SPA. Thank you tuanpunya gambaq and sorry tak mintak permission directly. Walau bagaimanapong, auntie punya ikan patin hari ni ada iras2 yg ni. Yum! Yum!

Auntie hope satu hari nanti auntie dapat cook this for kengkawan especially gang badak and kawan auntie kat Melaka tu (yg bersedia meredah tasik cini nak pi makan ikan patin kat kuantan- now ni ada highway dah tati, so you are spared the wet adventure! Hehe). Sorry la kengkawan, cukup2 untuk keluarga AH je and parents AH so love this dish which is why auntie make sure they could eat it a few times while the patin stock last. They have been discussing if they want to open up to the possibility of eating tesco's patin again. You know la senior citizen, a bit particular about this. They need authoritative people to tell them it is ok. (those authoritative people do not include auntie and AH la).

Anyways, together with that patin, auntie also prepared sotong goreng tepung for dinner. So far, adik beradik auntie macam suka je sotong goreng tepung auntie so auntie rasa this is one of my signature dishes la jugak in the family. Kalau sesape nak try, ie. if you don't already have a tried-and-tested recipe, this is how auntie does it:

10 ekor sotong (medium sized, cleaned and cut into ringed pieces, cut the heads into two)
4 sudu besaq tepung gandum
2 sudu besaq tepung jagung
(mommy kata, kalau add 1 tbsp tepung beras to the whole mixture ok jugak)
1 egg white (it's ok to use whole egg but kena increase flours measurement a bit coz yolk makes the batter less crispy, i think)
seasoning (suka hati- other than garam auntie bubuh a little bit of pepper and kunyit to the sotong)
minyak to goreng

Add egg white and a sprinkle (about 1 tbsp) of the flour mixture to sotong and mix well. Refrigerate this for some time (so best is to prepare the sotong about half hour before cooking then pop it in the fridge). If you don't have time, no need to refrigerate. Cuma auntie rasa kalau refrigerate, it will make the sotong crispier. Don't know the science of it, but when auntie tried a few times, they gave better results. When ready to goreng, put flour mixture with seasoning (easy on the seasoning if you already seasoned the sotong) in a plastic container with lid. Add a few pieces of sotong to flour mixture. Cover the container and shake to flour-coat the sotong. Shake off excess flour and place sotong on plate before frying. Put just enough oil to cover about 10 pieces of sotong at a time. The oil will burn quickly because of the semi- loose flour coating so no point to have too much oil at a time and it won't do the sotong any good if we fry too many at a time. Fry and voila! Sotong goreng tepung ala Auntida!

That's it. Happy trying!

On another fishy note, something not quite kosher is going on with Auntie's tukang rumah, A Seng. He has not been coming to continue work with our renovation for a few weeks now and we can't get hold of him on the phone. His tools and paraphernalia is still in the apartment but he's MIA. Auntie and AH dah mintak tolong Pak Mat, a good neighbour who introduced us to A Seng to go to his house. No one there, so Pak Mat went to A Seng's dad's place. The dad said A Seng has got another job somewhere and had not even been visiting him when he was ill. But he assured Pak Mat, A Seng is still around. So..., we need a plan. In terms of physical money, if A Seng has abandoned us, we may not have lost that much since most of the work had been done. If auntie can live without downlights in the bathrooms and wall-hanging cabinets in the kitchen for a few weeks, auntie could have moved in. Tapi auntie teramat geram kerana A Seng did this to us despite us cutting a lot of slack for him. Tadi auntie jumpa seorang pakcik neighbour dan dia kata, "kita ingat orang lain honest macam kita in our dealings, so over and over again we get conned". Well, pakcik, thank you for that thoughtful insights! Perhaps auntie already know that lesson like a week into the renovation when Abg Sahak buat hal tu?

Our take on A Seng is that dia sedang diburu Along (the loan-shark kind), which explains the MIA bit. What we want to clear is, if he is going to finish the job, give us the ballpark time. We all takut nanti we all cari orang lain tetiba dia mai balik and kata he has all the intention of finishing his work. In any case, AH akan tulis surat cinta pada A Seng (hopefully with Hokkien translation since A Seng is rudimentary in his Malay and perhaps buta hurup in English- he only ever said 'jubin' for tiles and 'sinki' for sink- who said 'sinki' nowadays?) to panggil mai bincang by the end of this month. After that we have to get a new tukang to keep our life going. Auntie has a more evil plans like hiring thugs to go beat the c--p out of him when they can find him (hopefully auntie get thugs who can find people la). Tapi of course AH being the mild manner rounder version of Clark Kent talked auntie out of this. So auntie is going to do one less evil thing. Auntie nak pi letak notice merata Brown Garden and gelugor about A Seng's uselessness so that orang tak ambik dia lagi. Tapi AH takleh tau plan auntie ni. Nanti dia buat cubaan to dissuade auntie lagi. However, both AH and auntie agree we shall go make police report (walaupun we have to be creative about which section of the Penal Code this should be, lawyers out there, help me) and also complaints to whatever tribunal we can find. Halfway through the renovation, auntie wrote a lengthy contract for A Seng to sign (without discussion or explanation, just force him to sign) but AH kata it would be unfair to force him to sign kalau A Seng don't even understand the word 'agreement' in the contract. True. Because in contract law, such contract may fail. Tapi, in any case, kalau pun A Seng sign contract knowing full well its implication, and he decided to lari, there is still not much we can do about it coz kalau dia takdak duit, there will be no question of taking him to court pun. Rugi duit sendiri jek. In the end, we realise that houseowners in Malaysia do not have much protection against this kind of contractor's slacks. Cuma we all bersyukur, the possible monetary loss is beareable compared to various stories of friends and acquaintances we've heard. Cuma it knocked our plan out about moving in by 2 months, which is a great bother.

Anyways, untuk menghibur hati auntie, auntie nak letak some pictures of the apartment to date. Auntie ambik gambar guna auntie punya rustic phone camera so not so good. Here goes:

The 'famous' bathroom. All design ideas are AH's. Yang tak siap is ceiling with downlights.

More of bathroom

Auntie's favourite sinki

Check out the tap items and tempat tonyoh kain!

Kitchen top (A seng owed us the missing doors and wall- hanging cabinets). The tap is retractable, like the one used by CSIs to bathe the dead bodies. Hehe.

Auntie's rustic looking laminated wood-flooring. The person yg deliver fridge to our house said, "Lantai belum cat ka?". Nasib baik sudah kenai lama. Kalau tak harus kena ketuk ngan kotak fridge. O, auntie lupa nak ambik gambaq fridge. Fridge ni is so big, nak masuk dalam rumah sampai kena unhinge pintu depan. Kalau AH merajuk dia boleh tidur dalam fridge. No need to go outside and sleep in the boxes. Nanti next time auntie put pictures.

More of flooring and sofa. At the background, AH admiring his office.

Lagi lantai. So far masih berkilat.

AH in the office. There will be some kind of screen later between the office table and sofas so that AH tak kacau auntie tengok TV.

Esok auntie kena pi Ipoh for some work.

This has been a long entry, maybe enough to last a few weeks.

Good night everyone!

QIN IS FOUR!!

2008-11-19T10:57:00.008+08:00

Auntie was in an important meeting whole day yesterday and the day before and did not have time to wish a little someone Happy Birthday! So here goes today: HAPPY BIRTHDAY QIN!!!!

Qin with Kakak

Qin with one of beloved 'princesses'

Qin turned four yesterday. Two weeks ago Auntie saw Qin and took the pictures above. What does being four mean to Qin? Auntie nak tag Mommy to answer this question from her perspective as Qin's taskmaster but sometime pushover. Mommy doesn't blog but she can use auntie's blog to do this. So, mommy, when you are ready to give the answers, call me to get the PW.

From what auntie sees of Qin, at four, outwardly she doesn't seem to be into studious stuff (which is a blessing because I think many four year-olds in Malaysia have are already been pushed into academic excellence at the tender age) but surprisingly, she is quite competent in the reading, counting and writing stuff at kindy as evident from some test results she brought home. Still, thank God her kindy does not overly emphasise on these kind of tests for their four year-olds.

Auntie thinks Qin may have developed some leadership qualities because kids at school appear to converge around her and think her opinions and decisions (about play, of course) matter. She is a bit bossy with Kakak so auntie thinks she needs to be 'polished' a bit about this (teehee). She is a warm and pleasant toddler although tends to be initially very shy with new people or people she seldom see (except Auntie, of course). But when she's comfortable with an adult, she is very open about expressing her feelings. She has no qualms about saying "I love you" to Aki and Wan, which sometimes made the grandparents (who can be quite abashed about these things) silently blushed, I think. When she misses auntie, she would on her own dial auntie's number (Mommy has got auntie's number on speed dial and she knows this) just to talk and tell auntie about her day.

She can identify various emotions of adults around her. She said: "Mommy, Uncle AH tu kelakar la..." when she realised that Uncle AH was pulling a fast one on her on the phone. Qin observes detail things around her. She asks questions that baffles her like: "Mommy, kenapa Auntie Ida call Uncle AH 'abang'? Kan daddy yang "abang" [to Mommy])?"

In short, Qin is a generally well-rounded person for a four-year-old and Auntie would not have her any other way.

HAPPY FOUR, SAYANG!

Shasha and Aiman

2008-11-14T11:31:00.014+08:00

The cheery boy on the left is Aiman and the seemingly subdued girl in red in the middle is Shasha (Auntie needs to explain this because Auntie is imagining that there are more than 10 people reading my blog and the 11th or so person don't know about Auntie's family). They are two of Auntie's kiddies. By 'kiddies' means they are the 'little' (not so now as they grow) extensions of Auntie even if they do not come from Auntie's womb. They are auntie's first children even if auntie and AH may get little ones of our own in the future, Godwilling.

Anyways, today's entry is about Shasha and Aiman. They are cousins. Aiman's dad is Auntie's old bro (can see his blog in my blogroll) and Shasha's mom is Mommy, Auntie's non-blogging -but-FBing sister. Aiman is second amongst his siblings (Along/ Ya, Jijin and Ajmal) and Shasha is elder sister to Qin.

Yesterday was a great day for Aiman and Shasha and a serendipitous start to their long school holidays. They have done very well in their UPSR. What should make their success a more prideful moment for their parents and family, in auntie's view, is the fact that they have gained this success not at the expense of their enjoyment of their childhood. Auntie have observed that many children are so pressured to be academically excellent (within a very narrow Malaysian-education context), that sometimes they become deficient socially and in their personal developmental wellbeing (mamachupan, betul ke pyscho-language ni, ke psycho-babble je?). Auntie observes both Aiman and Shasha have deep interests and excel in non-academic things also. They generally know what they like and don't like and they can express themselves pretty well. Most importantly, they are comfortable expressing their thoughts and anxieties to their respective parents and close relatives. Auntie rasa these are things that are important in children. Their academic achievements are then a bonus and auntie hopes the adults around them don't expect these to be the be all and end all of their young lives.

OK, enough serious pondering. CONGRATULATIONS Aiman and Shasha. Many more exams to come but Auntie is sure you both will take them in your strides. For Aiman, don't sweat the Science grade. Auntie tak terror science pun boleh jadi doktor. Tapi of course la auntie boleh treat ill birds and cats jek (tu pun illegally). Kalau treat manusia sakit, harus manusia tu jadi tak sakit tapi...mati! Kekeke. In any case, auntie tak rasa Man nak jadi doktor kan? Ada banyak lagi profession yg lebih interesting, kan, kan? On the other hand, maybe Man is too smart for primary school sciences. Nanti kat secondary school and university maybe more interesting sciences to learn and you'll excel.

OK, to all Auntie's kiddies and pseudo-kiddies, enjoy the long school holidays. Looking forward to kiddies' Penang trip (hopefully jadi!).

Lotsaluv,
-Auntida-

PS: The other two people in the pic are Along/ Ya and Uncle Joe. This was taken during a treasure hunt game (for duit raya), an emerging family tradition on raya morning.

Slapped with a summon

2008-11-02T22:45:00.015+08:00

No, no. Auntie did not break any traffic rules. It is the marriage rule that auntie has broken. Our (auntie's and AH) marriage rule, to be precise. AH adalah orang yg mempunyai phobia kepada semua benda tajam termasuklah gunting. Jika gunting itu diletak merata-rata seperti di atas katil. Masa awal2 kahwin dulu, AH pernah mendapatkan khidmat marriage counsellor aka mamachupan, utk mengadu hal auntie's carelessness with auntie's sewing items seperti gunting dan jarum. Nampaknya kejadian berulang dan kali ini AH tamau negotiate lagi. Dia terus keluar polis report buatan sendiri. This is a copy of the report (Hopefully you can click on the picture and get to see a full sized version):

(sorry, after a week or so of it being on the internet, auntie has take out the pic so that our 'sacred agreement' cannot be used for immoral purposes by irresponsible people- teehee)

Please excuse the semak-ness of auntie's katil. The photo evidence was taken before any attempt to kemas the katil coz AH nak make sure the evidence was not tainted in any way. All the messiness is, of course, AH's doing (kekeke, another couple-issue).

And I had to sign this document, you know.

Oklah, darling. Promise tak buat lagi....until the next time! KAKAKAKAKAKA.

October babies

2008-10-28T13:46:00.015+08:00

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

2008-10-24T14:02:00.007+08:00

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

2008-10-22T15:12:00.004+08:00

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

2008-10-18T10:01:00.007+08:00

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.

au revoir but not audieu, che' badak debab! (and a tribute to che' paa, too)

2008-09-23T10:31:00.007+08:00

Auntie is having to say goodbye to auntie's trusted friend, Che' Badak Debab aka CBD. Auntie's friendship with CBD began after the loss of another trusted friend. Auntie had Che' Paa, who was old but never cranky and took auntie everywhere auntie wanted without any complaints. Once in a while Che' Paa required attention but auntie was willing to indulge Che Paa since what makes him happy will ensure that auntie can go wherever auntie wants. Che Paa was even nice enough to take auntie across the bridge one day so that auntie could get auntie's coveted Japanese mini-couches (auntie is low-maintenanced and easily pleased, kan?). Although auntie mula2nya apprehensive jugak if Che Paa's octogenerial bones could allow him to do this. Tapi selamat, alhamdulillah.

Well, satu masa, Sleepyhead was staying with auntie while deciding what to do with her life (it's one of those 'waiting-for-something-good-to-come-my-way' periods). Satu hari, Sleepyhead got news that she was called for an interview for something good. So, auntie asked Che Paa to take us to the bus station so that Sleepyhead could go to KL to attend her interview. There was no sign that Che Paa was in pain, but on the way home to get Sleepyhead's things to go to the bus station, right smack dab in the middle of a four-way junction, Che Paa went into a coma. Auntie tried to revive him, to no avail so auntie had to call the paramedics in. First, auntie had to leave him at the side of the road, then auntie called for help from friends to get Sleepyhead on the bus (she missed the original bus and had to take another one). Then auntie went home, sans Che Paa. He was taken by the paramedics to their centre where they tried to revive Che Paa. Alhamdulillah, he was revived but since Auntie couldn't go through such trauma again in Auntie's life, Auntie had to let Che Paa go. But first Auntie let Che Paa bunk in with Auntie's friend, Badak Pres, who was mulling if she would want to take in Che Paa as her friend for good. But during that time, Auntie also advertise for alternative homes for Che Paa. One person answered Auntie's advert, and so Auntie happily but also sadly let Che Paa go live with that person. That was the last Auntie saw of Che Paa although a few years ago Auntie heard from someone that Che Paa was still alive and kicking and running around a paddy field somewhere in Kodiang.

After auntie had let Che Paa go, auntie had to find a new friend. Actually, at that point auntie wasn't ready for a new friend. Auntie had Che Paa pun out of necessity coz auntie tak larat la gi everywhere without a friend. At that time auntie had to slog to finish auntie's PhD thesis so Che Paa was a necessity especially since auntie had to stay back in the office all by the loneself. Kalau ada apa2, a friend such as Che Paa, although old, will be useful. So, after Che Paa was gone, auntie's daddy said auntie should get a new friend. This time it should be one that is young and fresh out of the oven, so to speak. OK la, auntie said. Tolong get me one from Kuantan, so that auntie takyah pikir nak kawan camne. Tapi auntie bagi certain criteria la. Doesn't have to be too beautiful and high-maintenance. As long as could accompany auntie wherever auntie went. Auntie's daddy was not very happy with Auntie's criteria because he thought auntie should just take the plunge and invest in a more popular kind of friend but auntie insisted. So, auntie was introduced to CBD.

Although CBD was a fresh, young friend, the first time auntie took her home she had some problems so auntie had to send her back where she came from for a while to get better. But she was OK after that and came to live with auntie in Penang. She became auntie's companion for seven years. Before auntie married AH, she was a most reliable friend to auntie (not discounting auntie's badak friends, of course!). Auntie's badak friends was also happy to be with CBD when she took us to go shopping, to lunch and dinner and also, many times for long distance travel to KL. Auntie just got to know that Badak VP think auntie is dangerous when with CBD, so each time she came with us on travels she was keeping her fingers cross that there won't be an accident. But that goes to prove how reliable CBD is. No accident ever happened when auntie's with her except that one time when auntie stopped to get a friend for lunch and someone came and bang into CBD and gave her a gash. But that was the other person's fault and she had to pay for CBD's medical bill and cosmetic surgery.

CBD was also auntie's companion on travels to Kuantan until AH 'forbids' (hahaha, of course it's only because auntie allows him to 'forbid' me anything!) auntie from taking CBD anywhere further than the Penang Island and mainland. In her last days with auntie, CBD only accompanied auntie from home to office and occasionally from office/ home to shopping places. She's quite pampered in a sense, so she's quite fit for her age although she got scars here and there because sometimes she had to be left unshaded and some wallies with itchy hands or jealous minds would scratch her.

This year CBD reached her adulthood and this year auntie no longer needs a constant companion like CBD since a few things in auntie's life are changing. Since auntie got married, AH and auntie also acquired another friend, Mr PFX, mostly to accompany AH. Although PFX is a family friend, auntie didn't feel similar bonding with PFX as with CBD, maybe because PFX normally goes places with AH.

As auntie mentioned, this year we decided that we only need one companion and since PFX is a newer friend, we are keeping him and letting CBD go, uhuks. So, with heavy heart, auntie has sent CBD back to Kuantan so that Auntie's bro could help look for another home for her. It has been seven memorable years with CBD and auntie prays that she gets as much as, it not more love, from her new home. Auntie hoped auntie has looked after her well and she can continue to be people's companion for many years to come. Auntie will be probably be seeing her around in Kuantan or somewhere near Kuantan but she will never be taking auntie anywhere again.

SO, AU REVOIR CHE' BADAK DEBAB! HAVE A NICE LIFE...

PS: ...AND COME CLOSER MR PFX, WE WILL BE SPENDING MORE TIME TOGETHER NOW!

PS2: CBD= CBD3291; CHE PAA = PAA1881; PFX = PFX6958

Do you really know the person you marry....?

2008-09-07T20:45:00.007+08:00

Jeng! Jeng! Jeng! Me-na-pe (ini adalah cara seorang cikgu auntie kat sekolah dulu cakap mengapa) auntie buat tajuk entry so suspen-syen ni? No, auntie did not have a big fight with AH. In fact, the first week of fasting month have been the most peaceful of all the times we've had semenjak kahwin. No whacking out one another at all. And Godwilling, this will keep for a few more weeks. And although it is the time of the month for auntie, so far it has passed without auntie feeling like cekik-ing AH or other people at all.

Anyways, auntie buat entry ni coz AH tak bagi auntie buat entry pasai apa auntie masak for AH for berbuka today. I don't know where he got this silly notion that auntie will only cook for him when auntie feels like "entry-ing" the dishes into auntie's blog. Silly, silly man...!

AH kata, kalau auntie so much as try to mention the name of the dishes auntie cooked for him today, he will do unmentionable things to auntie. So, since auntie tamau kena geletek sampai tergolek, auntie terpaksa la refrain. TAPI, auntie ada cerita yg lebih interesting for the entry. Yg pasti, cerita ini pelakon utamanya adalah..kahkahkah..AH. Like this...

One fine day masa we were driving back from tesco (or somewhere else, not important), we passed the building of the Regional Centre for the teaching of Science and Mathematics or RECSAM for short. This is actually a centre where Sci and Math teachers go for courses etc. But that is also not important for this story. But what is more important is the word RECSAM pasted out on the concrete wall of the gate to the building AND this revelation:

AH: Yang, tau tak between 1979 and 1995 there was something wrong with the sign RECSAM?

Auntie: (thinking that i'm in for an interesting history lesson of Penang) Ye, ke, Ling? Apa dia?

AH: For a long time huruf C dia senget. Tahun 1995 baru la diorang betulkan.

Auntie: Oooooo (thinking if I should make comments about how inefficient the local government is in repairing government buildings)

Long pause. Then...

AH: Yang...., tau tak siapa yg bagi senget huruf 'C' tu?

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!

Kalau ko cakap macam tu, ko ingat aku akan ingat sape yg buat?

Auntie: ABANG KE???????????????? LA HAULA WALA QUWWATA ILLA BILLAH....

AH: (tersipu2), Alah, abang baru darjah 6 masa tu..

Macam ni citernya. One fine day in 1979, AH and his classmates kena pi buat apa tah kat RECSAM, pastu masa nak balik tu depa kena tunggu bas depan gate. My curious other half ni pegang2 lah huruf RECSAM kat concrete wall tu, tetiba poop! hurup 'C' tu tercabut. Dia terai la letak balik and tersangkut la balik tapi tak sempat nak bagi straight, bas dah datang, so dia kena naik bas. Semenjak hari tu sehingga la tahun 1995 when the sign was repaired, AH was internally tortured each time dia lalu depan the building and saw the senget C.

And he only tells me this after four years of marriage. I wonder how many more secrets he has. Hmmph...

Talking about being in standard 6, auntie nak wish Shasha and Aiman, and any other kids yg auntie kenal and will be taking UPSR tomorrow, a very, very BEST OF LUCK in their exams. For Shasha and Aiman, semoga all the prayers, air yassin, air zamzam and sembahyang hajat from mommy, daddy, umi, ayah and all your uncles and aunties give you strength and peace of mind to go through the exam. Also, semoga dapat juga menumpang keberkatan Ramadhan. Look at the bright side, by this time next week, a big weight will be taken off your shoulders and you'll have a blissful raya ahead. Insya Allah.

BTW, the dishes that auntie cooked for AH and auntie is not supposed to mention in this blog sounds like 'poppy' combined with the short form of auntie's niece, Along's name. The other dish is a seafood cooked with makanan kegemaran kawan baik auntie, Ms Badak President. Ia juga adalah masakan yg ala-ala suka dimasak oleh sorang lagi kawan auntie, Badak3 aka Ms Nyonya.

Selamat berbuka untuk esok.

Babai and Wassalam.

Two births and a funeral

2008-08-26T13:22:00.003+08:00

Within the last week or so, auntie's group of former secondary schoolmates have experienced both joy and deep sorrow. Our joyful celebration is with regard to the births of two babies to two gals in our group, Tatee and Nora (the more vertically challenged of the two 'Noras' in our group. Hehe). Auntie wishes them the best of times with the new family members and may both moms and babies continue to be healthy. CONGRATULATIONS!!

A day after Tatee's boy's birth was announced, we received the very sad news that Maria's (our tall, but now ONLY Maria) dear mom has passed on due to cancer. Her cancer was discovered just a few months ago and from what auntie can gather from Maria's various postings, she and her family have been rigorously seeking and undergoing treatment. Maria is another person in our group who shared a nickname with one other person in the batch. But the other Maria (Rosmaria) 'returned' to Rahmatullah in May this year (auntie posted an entry about this). It was actually almost at the same time when we heard about the living Maria's mom and her cancer. From what I can gather from her postings in the group e-mail, Maria is very close with her mom. Arwah and her dad must have been her strongest anchors especially with giving emotional and other support to her as a single mom. And the loss must be devastating to her especially in times when Maria's health is also undergoing some problems. Auntie prays that Maria and her small close-knit family is able to gather strengths from each other to go through this. Berat mata memandang, berat lagi bahu yang memikul. Semoga Allah tempatkan arwah di tempat yg terbaik di sisi-Nya. Amin & Al-Fatihah.

1, 2, 3...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU....!!!!!

2008-08-19T14:40:00.001+08:00

Auntie adalah busy...catching up with work backlogs and chasing contractors (di samping having nightmares about whether or not renovation akan siap seperti yg diingini). Minggu ni auntie "cuti penyelidikan" (yes, jangan jeles, academics ada this privelege. We may not be able to afford luxury holidays to Hong Kong or even Langkawi, but we have "cuti penyelidikan", you know!)

Walau bagaimanapun, auntie is taking time out from thinking about research just to wish these loved ones happy, happy besday:

1 August 197_
Auntie's closet-intellectual bro (of course referring to the guy in white. The pompuan in black is his other half). This bro may look blur and scruffy but there's a very literate and artsy person inside. Turned out masa kecik dulu dia suka 'curi' baca story books auntie. Sebab tu sekarang dia seorang scholar in Ingrish walaupong jarang2 boleh dengar dia kecek bahasa ongputih. Selamak Hari Jadi, Deng!

4th August 199_

Along aka Ya, is auntie's niece yg sulung. Masa kecik Along suka tengok rancangan kanak2 yg ada jingle A-L-O-N-G tu tapi dia sebut ALOM! When she was about 5, dia pi sekolah tadika Islam and bila auntie tanya dia cikgu nama apa, dia kata "Mak Limah". "OK, " auntie kata, "cikgu sorang lagi tu nama apa?". Dia kata, "semua cikgu nama Mak Limah". Biar betul. Ropanya cikgu kat sekolah tu dipanggil "Mu'alimmah" (maksudnya cikgu la tu), so semua la dipanggil 'mu'alimmah'. Begitu ropanya. Anways, Along aspire to be a linguist and since tadika lagi dia dah belajar Mandarin. And dia suka jahit-menjahit seperti auntie. Semoga Along mencapai cita2nya. Happy Besday, Along!

9 August 196_

Ms Nyonya aka Noya, one of auntie's badak soulmates. Dia mengajaq bebudak unibersiti di ceruk nun. Kat unibersiti dia tu, kalau silap sepak bola, harus masuk negara Siam. Noya adalah badak paling bersopan dalam gang kami. Dia jugak badak yg mempunyai standard kekemasan dan kebersihan rumah dan alam sekeliling yg paling tinggi. Dan pernah membuat antara sambal tumis tersedap, menurut AH (badak lain jgn jeles. Yg betulnya, AH tak pernah rasa sambai tumih orang lain). Lagi satu, kami masih menunggu laksa johor lu, noya. Baik lu jamu kami sebelum AH bagi title best laksa johor to sleepyhead (yg tak kurang hebatnya). Selamat Panjang (dan lebar) Umur, Noya! Semoga wa dapat melawat lu di Segamat many-many years in de future bila kita semua sudah tidak layak renew licence memandu dan cucu-cucu (termasuk cucu2 sedara dan cucu2 angkat/ pseudo) kita yg terpaksa bawak tok2 depa pi reunion dan makan laksa johor & ikan patin Sg Segamat.

16 August 198_

Last Saturday was Sleepyhead's besday yg ke 30. Kepada sesiapa yg blom tahu (hehe, auntie berangan ada strangers yg baca blog ni), Sleepyhead adalah adik bongsu auntie. Dia adalah 'sebutir diri' (ini favorite phrase Wan) ropa Wan aka mak auntie. Kekadang Sleepyhead rasa sedikit depress sebab auntie, mommy and our two brothers are splitting images (in one way or another) of our papa aka Aki. So, bila kengkawan Sleepyhead jumpa kakak2 and abang dia, depa mesti kata "eeeek lain nye....!(as in you don't look like sisters, except in the 'badak'ness department)".

And while the rest of us call Aki "Bak", Sleepyhead choose to call him "Abah". So only two persons call Aki Abah ie Sleepyhead and her other half (of course, dia kena paksa call Aki Abah la, tu show solidarity ngan bini dia). Anyways, Sleepyhead thought teaching adults is a noble profession for a former best student of her degree programme, so she gave up a career in one of the MMC's companies in Cyberjaya (which may or may not had given her a jump start to more lucrative professions, we would never know, would we?) and pursued a teaching career at a recently-controversial-priveleged (nuff said!) public institute of higher learning. Auntie had seen Sleepyhead in action, so auntie thinks Sleepyhead is a fairly dedicated and patient teacher. If she just worries less about other people's achievements and continues to compete with herself, auntie thinks Sleepyhead has a lot to offer the acedeme.

One more thing, Auntie has a confession to make to Sleepyhead. Masa Sleepyhead berumur 5 tahun, Auntie telah 'curi' seekor (ada banyak ekor lagi) udang goreng yang Wan simpan untuk Sleepyhead kerana Auntie baru balik dari asrama dan lamaaaaa dah tak makan udang goreng. Itulah permulaan allergy auntie kepada udang. So, auntie rasa, untuk cure auntie dari udang allergy ini, auntie kena belanja Sleepyhead berapa banyak udang goreng yg dia sanggup makan at one sitting. What say you Sleepyhead? Birthday gifts of fried, juicy prawns (OK, OK, Joe can join la). Hehehe. BTW, Sleepyhead was with auntie yesterday and this morning tapi auntie tak sempat lagi offer this 'birthday gifts'. In fact, last night Sleepyhead yg belanja auntie seafood. Ok, dik, nanti kita bincang. And Happy Prosperous 30th Birthday.

LOVE U LOADS, BESDAY GALS AND BOY!!!!

Auntie adalah geram...

2008-08-13T15:36:00.003+08:00

...kerana diva-diva contractor auntie cannot stand one another!

We make the conscious decision to contract one person for the renovation and another person for the electricals. The reason being it is probably easier to amend mistakes with renovation than with electricals. In any case electricals have more safety issues than tiling or painting walls. So we need trusted electrical person and we know one already who has been doing the job for AH's family for many many years. We decided not to give it to A Seng although he can do electricals because we just got to know him and good references we got about him are only about tiling, plumbing etc. So, we hired Abg S for electricals.

From day 1, when we introduced Abg S to A Seng dia dah ada attitude towards A Seng. Pastu, masa he was supposed to start working, he didn't so A Seng lost valuable five days of construction work because he could not continue with the walls until Abg S finished with his wiring. Nasib baik he didnt' push for extra cost. Kalau tak harus auntie mengamuk and pi tumbuk Abg S, long friendship with AH's family notwithstanding. We heard a lot of unfavourable stories about Malay contractors and I thought Abg S could prove these stories wrong but of course he has not.

Last week, bila A Seng dah plaster and paint walls, Abg S pi tebuk lubang nak buat wire without consulting us. A Seng mengamuk. Bila we confront Abg S, dia mintak maaf and say he would do up the wall on his cost (but of course at the risk of our walls being ugly because jadi tak consistent ngan A Seng nye work). He also promised that he would finish the work in a few days. So A Seng left him alone and did not continue with his part of the work. Tapi dia tak datang habiskan kerja tu. Masa A Seng was due to come and continue work, tetiba dia mai plak and start nak tebuk dinding lagi and masa paint tengah basah plak tu. So they both almost had a blow up and sape yg kena settle sume ni? This accommodating client la. A Seng was so angry coz Abg S made racist remarks during the battle of words. Auntie rasa mau ketuk kapla dia ngan tukul besaq masa tu jugak. Memang la A Seng pun diva jugak coz sikit-sikit mengadu kat we all, tapi dalam hal ni, Abg S tu supposed to be family friend and he should know la not to cause problems and he jeopardised our project. Auntie memang takkan maafkan walaupun sekarang dia kata dia akan take responsibility for all kerapah yang dia buat. So, in the end, walaupun AH pun rasa mau sepak dua2 contractors dia terpaksa pi pujuk so that depa tak fight lagi. Kalau tak, tak siap apartment auntie.

Auntie sungguhlah geram....

Hey, I'm no RICE

2008-07-28T21:35:00.002+08:00

Heard at Mommy's:

Mommy:
Qin you're such a brave girl...

Qin:
"Brave" tu apa, Mommy?

Mommy:
"Brave" tu maksudnya berani.

Qin:
Eiiii, Mommy, Qin bukan nasi la...!

Everyone was guessing what brought this about. Rupanya Qin ingat Mommy kata dia Nasi Biryani, makanan kegemaran Qin.

To Shasha and Qin. Auntie had a great weekend with you guys. With Mommy and Mushu too, of course. Too bad Auntie didn't get to see the other kiddies too. Not enough time to visit la.

Best of luck to Shasha and Aiman for their UPSR trials. Auntie is going to be the bad 'parent' and say, don't get stressed out over it, there are more to life than the UPSR and you'll have loads more exams to go through so, many more 'trials' before you get to be like Mommy or Daddy or Umi or Ayah (if you want to, that is, coz you can also be like Auntie Ida or Mushu, kekekeke). But that's only because Auntie knows both Shasha and Aiman are going to be serious and do their bests whether it's exam or having fun. So, whatever you're facing this year, enjoy being twelve, you guys, and never forget how wonderful it is!

Lotsa luv,
Auntie

Hoping for a Phoenix's Rising

2008-07-24T18:10:00.006+08:00

Auntie berdoa bakawali angkat bangkit dari abu-abu ini...

Amin....

Pagi yg stress

2008-07-23T16:37:00.003+08:00

Auntie suppose to sambung 'summer stories' auntie tapi takda masa nak duduk and 'design' picture collage to be included so, nanti dulu lah.

Tajuk entry ni looks more suitable to be included in geng badak's blog (punching idiots) tapi since dia ada happy ending, auntie masuk dalam blog santai auntie ni lah. Semalam a seng tepon suruh pi rumah check on his masterpiece in the bathroom. Utk yg tertinggal (coz citer a seng mostly di-relate secara offline) a seng adalah our gem of a contractor after lama menunggu raymond lembut menjawab telefon we all yg sampai sudah dia tak respon. Tapi mendapat a seng adalah prolly berganda2 lebih baik dari raymond yg mungkin akan ada perangai diva. A seng adalah contractor sempoi tapi penuh dedikasi dan profesionalism, traits yg susah kita nak jumpa terutama dalam diri2 politikusmengong kita pada hari ini.

So, anyway a seng telah telepon AH semalam and kata "boss aa, lu panggil lu punya bini kasi dia tengok itu toilet. Wa sudah naik itu jubin (nampaknya a seng pun tau proper word for tiles in BM!). Wa pikir cantik ooo..lu mai tengok" dengan penuh excitednya. Auntie pon pergilah ngan AH ke rumah utk checkout a seng's art work. Memang cantik and tiada cacat celanya walaupong auntie rasa warna tiles tu sedikit gelap bila dah dipasang. Tapi since bathroom's decision telah didelegate kpd AH, and dia suka gelap, auntie tak kisah sangat la.

This morning, auntie bangun tetiba ada satu light bulb moment gitu. Tapi bukan about new ideas. Instead auntie teringat, semalam kita kata cantik tu, betui ka a seng pasang the correct tiles, coz there are two colour schemes (chewah!). Lighter tiles for the walls and darker tiles for the walls. Masaelahnya dua2 tiles ni effect dia macam gua (AH's choices) so susah sikit nak beza. Auntie sudah risau. Auntie tamau la walls kaler gelap and floor kaler terang. Sure la the other way round kan? kan? So, auntie sudah bingkas bangun and paksa AH tepon a seng masa tu jugak. Kalau dia sudah buat mistake one bathroom, takpe la (since sure hassle giler nak undo tiling) tapi the other bathroom MUST NOT have mistake! Malangnya a seng tak jawab phone. AH kata subuh sepihi ni a seng baru bangun genyeh2 mata nak pi pancuq mana dia mau jawab phone. Tak senang duduk auntie.. dah lah ada kelas ni. So camne? Auntie takut a seng terus pi rumah and continue with the other bathroom project.

To cut de story short, auntie telah tepon office to tell students their esteemed teacher will be half an hour late because auntie is unavoidably detained (phrase 'unavoidably detained' ni pertama kali auntie jumpa ialah masa auntie baca Mills and Boons masa form one ke form two dulu. Nampaknya sekarang menjadi phrase yg amat berguna dalam dunia profession auntie :) ), then auntie telah quickly drove over to the house. Rupanya a seng belum sampai tapi 2 workers dia dah ada kat situ. Nak kata depa terkojut tengok auntie subuh sepihi is probably an understatement. Tapi being well-trained by a seng, depa telah menjawab segala pertanyaan auntie dgn penuh sabaq.

"Betui aa ini tiles yg terang punya aaa?"
"Betui boss"
"Ambik dua2 wa mau tengok"
"Ok boss.... tengok betui punya..ini satu cream punya, lagi satu melah oo (he means stony orange)"
"Kenapa wa nampak gelap aa?"
"Boss, ini hari hujan la, tingkap ada satu, lampu tadak bukak, memang gelap sikit..."
"Ok, ok, saya mau make sure saje, nanti silap, you kena tukaq"
'Tadak silap la boss..."

Ok, at least lu panggil wa boss and not "kakak". So, then auntie drove to work happily. Which is good for the students coz kalau auntie stress, sudah barang tentu ada yg kena balun...