Dawn of another year

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

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

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

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

 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

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.