Wow!! It has been over 2 months since I last updated this page. Teruk betul... If ever this blog applies KPI (key performance index) score, I'll surely fail. Silap-silap yearly assessment less than 85% thus no annual increment. Nak naik pangkat pun susah. If la kan...:P
Lots of things to write, lots of things to tell but so limited time, or rather malas and tak kuasa sebenarnya. Now, since I have a few minutes to spare, I'd better write a few lines.
Tomorrow, the UPSR results will be announced and my eldest is one of the candidates who is waiting anxiously for the results. And of course, I'm one of the mothers yang tak senang duduk jugak.
This situation reminds me of the time when I was waiting for my SRP and SPM results years ago. I remembered how determined I was to be the first person in the family to know my results. Sendiri punya results kan, so I'm entitled to know first. And I remembered how pissed I was when I found out that either my father or my sister called the school to find out about my results BEFORE ME. Gila bengang masa tu. Siap merajuk-rajuk, berkurung dalam bilik. Serious, ntah hape-hape. Buruk perangai betul.
And now, having my own kid, I think I finally understand my father's action. The anxiety for your own child, the worry over your own child, the fierce feeling trying to protect your own child from bad news and the eagerness to share the good news with your own child... all mixed into one. Those are the butterflies that I have in my stomach right now.
Mudah-mudahan it's good news tomorrow. Even if it's not, I'm still proud to have a daughter like my Syakila Nor Alia... (tiba-tiba rasa nak nangis...isk..isk...isk...)
Seronoknya berhari raya
Pulang ke pangkuan keluarga
Di desa nun jauh di sana
Tapi hampeh, ni highway ke apa?
Dah jadi slow-way dah gayanya
Kalau tak memotong, ikut kiri la!!
Bangun tidur di pagi raya
Tak sabar nak pakai baju raya
Digayakan pulak dengan henbeg raya
Tapi keluar je bilik mulut ternganga
Ramai dah tunggu giliran bilik air rupanya
Kak Long, Kak De, Kak Cik semua ada
Ayam dan daging dibuat rendang
Sedap dimakan bersama lemang
Tak boleh miss ketupat dengan kuah kacang
Dah sebulan berlapar, sekarang makan kenyang-kenyang
Tapi kut ye pun, bawak-bawakla bertenang
Bila perut meragam, kan dah terlentang
Cantik berseri di pagi raya
Tudung matching pelbagai gaya
Merah, ungu, kuning, hijau muda
Kus semangat, tengok baju kotor anak yang lima
Menggunung macam Gunung Fujiyama
Mujur panas terik, kering jugak semua
Berakhirlah sudah cuti raya
Meredah lagi highway yang jam gila
Pulang semula ke kotaraya
Tapi raya tetap raya
Jamuan ofis, di sini sana
Raya sebulan tak cukup gamaknya
Open house tu, open house ni
Tak pergi kang tuan rumah kecik hati
Walaupun dah pergi 3 rumah tadi
Anak-anak seronok tidak terperi
Melihat duit raya yang diberi
Nak simpan ke nak beli MP3?
Ziarah menziarahi kaum keluarga
Sahabat handai sanak saudara
Diucapkan Selamat Hari Raya
Salam dihulur maaf dipinta
Blues Hari Raya sekadar suka-suka
Macam tak de kerja lain pulak ya...
Pic of my kids on 1st raya. Bila buat pantun ni, teringat diorang sebab diorang suka sangat dialog pantun Jarjit dalam cerita Upin Ipin. And they will always create their own pantun which usually starts with 'Dua tiga kucing berlari'. And sometimes I chipped in:
'Dua tiga kucing berlari
Cepat pergi mandi!'
Degil yang amat time suruh pegi mandi....
Ramadhan dah makin sampai ke penghujung. Mudah-mudahan ibadah seperti solat terawih masih diteruskan sehingga malam terakhir (reminder to myself sebab selalu sangat tak tercapai).
Bercakap tentang solat terawih ni, pernah dengar satu ceramah ni, 2-3 tahun yang lepas. Ustaz tu kata terawih bermaksud berehat-rehat. Maksudnya, boleh laksanakan dua rakaat, kemudian berehat, then sambung lagi 2 rakaat dan seterusnya.
From my reading (yang tak berapa luas ni), it is so-called berehat-rehat sebab di zaman Rasulullah SAW dulu, baginda mengerjakan solat terawih dua atau empat rakaat dan kemudian berehat sebentar untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan sahabat baginda.
Konsep yang sama boleh digunapakai, lebih-lebih lagi di hujung Ramadhan ni. Sambil bakar biskut raya, solat dua rakaat, berhenti rehat kejap, tengok biskut dah masak belum, sambung balik solat dua rakaat. Sambil pasang langsir raya, solat dua rakaat, berhenti rehat kejap, pasang pulak langsir kat tingkap dapur, sambung balik solat dua rakaat. Sambil jahit bling bling kat baju raya, solat dua rakaat, berhenti kejap, jahit pulak bling-bling kat lengan baju belah kanan, sambung balik solat dua rakaat. Sambil tengok Grey's Anatomy kat channel 711, solat dua rakaat masa iklan, berhenti kejap, tengok balik McDreamy buat clinical trial on Alzheimer patients, sambung balik solat dua rakaat.....errr...NOT!!! Terus tak khusyuk solat terawih dok ingat McDreamy, McSteamy dgn Avery yang macho itu. ;)
Anyhow, I have been applying konsep berehat-rehat dalam mengerjakan solat terawih. Not that I have to consult or give advice to anyone like the Prophet, but as a mother to a baby, kejap-kejap nak menyusu. And as a mother to a 4-y-o kid, sekejap nak susu, sekejap BO (atau dalam bahasa kasarnya, nak gi jamban). And as a mother to 3 school-goer kids, sekejap kena leraikan diorang bergaduh, sekejap ada yang nak tanya pasal homework.
Thus, there's no excuse whatsoever to not perform solat terawih. Islam itu mudah. Tepuk dada tanya iman la kot...(reminder untuk diri sendiri jugak). Lastly, sempena Syawal yang akan tiba, jari disusun maaf dipohon, andai ada terkasar bahasa, tersilap bicara dan terguris perasaan. Mudah-mudahan dipertemukan lagi dengan Ramadhan yang akan datang, insyaAllah.
1. Open your internet browser
2. Search for song lyric
3. Copy the lyric
4. Write it nicely on a piece of A4 paper
5. Decorate the paper with ribbon
6. Sell it to your school-mates
That's what my daughter did. She sell it for 10 cents, 20 cents if the paper is decorated with ribbon. Songs that are high on demand: Aishiteru and Cinta Muka Buku. (I myself have never heard these songs until my daughters view it on youtube).
I'm amazed that my daughter came up with this idea. And what even more amazing is that ada pulak orang nak beli tu....considering her handwriting yang ber'seni' itu...:)
p/s To date: dia baru je jual sekeping. Ada 2 orders lagi tapi dia belum sempat buat. Ha ha... baru 2 order, dah tak menang tangan..;)
Two of my love ones celebrate their birthday in August. My eldest daughter, Syakila, and my dearest hubby. As usual, we celebrated by dining out.
Syakila's birthday at Riverstone Ecoresort.
The place is located in Sungai Tua, along the road to Ulu Yam, within the green beauty of nature. Definitely not Celcom territory, because no signal at all on my phone...:(
The restaurant is quite big and can accommodate more than 100 patrons. The resort also offers camping facilities, recreational activities and seminar/training packages.
The restaurant is quite big and can accommodate more than 100 patrons. The resort also offers camping facilities, recreational activities and seminar/training packages.
We had the Ramadhan buffet. RM40 per adult, RM20 per child.
Some of the menu.
Asam pedas
Pecal
Nasi ambeng set
This was what I had: white rice, some daging masak semur, pecal, some kerabu, ayam panggang, ayam masak kicap and the tempe dish. Plus the sagu gula melaka dessert. I passed the asam pedas and patin masak tempoyak.
I had a taste of laksa.
Some of the cakes on the menu.
ABC pun ada.
The drinks.
The drinks.
Overall, the food is quite good. My kids suka. Syahidah had a few rounds of ayam masak kicap. And Syahirah love the curry puffs. Having dinner very close to nature might have something to do with their appetite.
Praying room is available but one has to go up a flight of stairs to get there. So, a bit inconvenient for people with knee problems like my mother-in-law. Luckily, our house is not that far so we managed to rush back for Maghrib prayer.
For hubby's birthday, we made reservations at de Templer. Have to pay RM50 upfront, in case of no-show.
Located near Taman Melati, this place offers Muslim Chinese cuisine.
Complimentary dishes: dates and this crispy and crunchy fish. Very nice, macam keropok. And not salty at all.
We ordered tom yam (medium size)
Buttered prawn (small size)
Boxing chicken (small)
Sweet sour sea bass
Alhamdulillah, the food was nice. The kids makan bersungguh-sungguh. Syahidah even said that she wants to have her birthday dinner there too. Well, that's about 7 more months to go.
My kids can be considered choosy eaters. They dislike vege. If I were to fry noodles or rice, they would ask for no vege. I have been trying to persuade them to try and eat the vege, and failed. I used to say, eat your vege, so that you will have a smooth skin. Well, it worked for a while. Then they started doubting, tak licin pun kulit...? Mana nak licin, baru sekali dua makan...:P
There were other times when they would ask, sedap tak mak? when they saw me eating something they have never tasted before. Instead of answering them, I said, try la, baru tau sedap ke tak. So they tried. And sometimes they like it, sometimes not.
So, over the years, they have developed liking for lots of foods. Recently, they had a taste of otak-otak. And they love it. Siap berebut-rebut. During this Ramadhan, they would be able to put their taste buds into practice. Bazaar Ramadhan pun sejengkal je dari rumah. Macam-macam ada so boleh try makan macam-macam.
This 'belum cuba belum tau' concept can also be applied to everyday task. I have a staff in the office who is supposed to head a unit in the department. The staff was reluctant to accept the task. Reasons: not sure how to do it, afraid will be blamed if anything goes wrong, age factor - better let the younger ones do the task (more skills, more knowledgable). Well, no one is born with all the skills and know everything. You just need to go for it and learn along the way, even if it involve making mistakes. And who says being old put a standstill to gaining new knowledge? Belum cuba belum tau...
Going back to 'trying the food' story, I should pull myself together and go try some sushi! Errr.... Berani ke...?? :)
Ever since I saw pics of apam polka dot that people uploaded in FB, I have been intrigued and teringin nak buat. So, I surfed the net for its recipe. Most sites displayed the same recipe so credit to all the sites that posted a recipe that works.
Here's the recipe:
275 gm wheat flour.
I translated this to 3 cups of flour. Sebab tak kuasa nak keluarkan weighing scale dari dalam almari setiap kali nak buat. The cup which I used is this Claytan cup. So, may not be the same size as your cup.
220 gm castor sugar.
Using the same cup, it's 11/4 cup.
180 ml fresh milk.
If you don't have a measuring cup, you can always use your child's feeding bottle or drinking cup. That's what I did.
3 eggs.
The sites that I refer to mentioned that the eggs should be the one chilled in the fridge. The reason? I have no idea. Follow je la.
The sites that I refer to mentioned that the eggs should be the one chilled in the fridge. The reason? I have no idea. Follow je la.
3 teaspoons of baking powder.
1 tablespoon of ovalette.
Few drops of vanilla essence.
Filling.
These are my options. Nutella for filling eh? My kids love anything chocolatey.
Food colouring.
Ikut suka nak kaler apa.
Here's how to do the apam:
Mix flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, ovalette, milk and vanila essence in a bowl using a mixer, at maximum speed, until fluffy.
Divide the batter into few portions (number of portions depend on the number of colours you have).
Add in a few drops of colour in the batter.
These are the colours that I have. Nice eh... Feels like in an art class.
Using a piping bag, pipe the batter into paper cups/mould until half full.
Since I don't have piping bag, I use these plastic bags nipped at one corner.
But if things got too messy, just spoon the batter into the paper cups/mould.
Put in the filling and pipe in the batter until full.
Then do the dots. Since my hand-made plastic bags-cum piping bag were a little bit out of control, I resorted to the use of syringe instead.
Finally, steam for 10-15 minutes.
Note:
The choice of what color to use for the apam and its dots is entirely up to you.
And of course, not necessarily dots. I saw pictures of apams with smiley faces and names written on them.
I still need to look for the perfect filling. The Nutella sank to the bottom instead of staying put in the middle of the apam.
Some sites that I refer to gave these tips: When steaming the apam, use medium heat. Or else the apam will crack and ternganga. I have a few yang ternganga macam tu. Sungguh tak comel. And also wrap the cover of the steamer with cloth to prevent the evaporated water to drip back onto the apam.
Here's the end product. In terms of looks, hodoh la jugak. Ha ha... But in terms of taste, not bad. The kids love it. Dah bawak pergi sekolah and their friends like it. Dah siap pesan suruh buat lagi...
Update 7 May 2012:
I have since improve on the techniques. I used paper cups and acuan kuih lompang. Put the paper cups in the acuan and piped the batter inside. Then steam. Better looking. :)
