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.

Kisah sekolah

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...

So, soon, auntie akan gumbira to blog again.

Tenkiu.

Misused and Abused- THE REAL THING

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

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.