Raya Aidil Fitri 2013

Raya dah seminggu berlalu tapi baru ni sempat nak update blog. Seperti biasa, kita tepek-tepek gambar ajelah ye. Tak banyak cerita pun raya kali ni. Puasa pun ala kadar je, tak delah nak bermewah-mewah atau meriah-meriah. Lagipun pertengahan puasa haritu, bapak mertua masuk hospital dan melalui pembedahan. So, tak bolehlah nak joli lebih-lebih raya ni. Balik kampung pun 2 hari je. 

Sorrylah ramai sedara mara tak sempat nak jumpa raya kali ni. Insya Allah kalau ada yang buat open house, bolehlah kita beraya bersama-sama. ;) 

Semua kelam kabut nak pergi sembahyang raya sebab terbangun lambat.

Seperti biasa, kanak-kanak riang ni semua bangun lambat pada pagi raya. Lepas tu masing-masing berebut bilik air, nak mandi (padahal mandi kambing aje pun). Tahun ni Wazif dengan Shawqi kena belajar ikat sampin sendiri sebab sampin kanak-kanak (size kecik yang ada hook tu) dah tak padan. Kena pakai adult size.

Di depan masjid lama Kg. Kerayong. 

Lepas solat sunat Aidil Fitri di masjid lama Kg. Kerayong, kami pun posing-posing lebih kurang sebelum menziarah kubur arwah apak, uwan dan embong Jamilah. Dulu aku punya akad nikah buat kat masjid lama ni lah. Walaupun sekarang dah ada masjid Bandar Bera yang besar dan lawa, masjid lama ni tetap tak dilupa.

Family photo pada hari raya di rumah Pak Andak

Ini aje satu-satunya family photo yang sempat diambil sepanjang raya ni. Itupun masing-masing dah mula selekeh. Sampin ke mana, songkok ke mana.

Family saya tak ramai perempuan

Ini antara perempuan-perempuan dalam family. Majoriti dalam family ni adalah lelaki. Kami setakat AJK basuh pinggan je.

Dengan Farhana. Dah 16 tahun anak dara ni.

Farhana ni lahir beberapa hari sebelum pemergian arwah Uwan ke rahmatullah. Ana dah 16 tahun, maka dah 16 tahun jugalah arwah Uwan meninggalkan kami. Itu bermakna dah 17 tahun arwah Apak pergi menemui Ilahi.

Zarif is obsessed with the game Minion Rush. Dia belum tengok Despicable Me 2.

Sepanjang raya, Zarif tak jalan-jalan sangat pun sebab dia busy main Minion Rush dekat iPad. Semalam pergi Empire, tiba-tiba ternampak poster besar ni dekat depan salah satu kedai yang tengah renovate. Zarif pun, apa lagi. Cepat-cepat dia pergi posing kat depan tu (siap dengan sound effect dia cakap bahasa Minion).

Selamat Hari Guru 2012

Received these pictures in my mailbox a few weeks ago. Made me think of the teachers I've known and their teaching style. Selamat Hari Guru to all my teachers. 

Penyapu tu memang multipurpose, cikgu...

Tiada ruler, bangku berguna. Syabas cikgu.

Takde sesiku besar, dustpan pun jadik...

Cikgu yang paling prihatin, kelemumur anak murid pun dia nak monitor.

Cikgu pernah masuk kelab Tarian Mak Yong ke? Baek punya tonggek.

Ini bukan Ricky Martin!

Of 2010 Raya, Zarif kekudisan and our 10th anniversary...

Pictures first, stories later sebab makcik rushing nak kena pegi Giant nih... hehehehe...

Family photo taken on 3rd Raya before we started journey back to Bera.

Candid Photo taken on 1st Raya after Aidilfitri prayers.

The children monkeying around at Busu's place on the 2nd Raya

Zarif's chin kena kudis

Zarif's chin improved a lot after seeing Dr Ali @ SDMC

Our 10th wedding anniversary celebration @ Figs & Olive (translated: At-tiini wazzaituuun)

Transformed into a 25 y.o again...

On Sunday we went to OU to watch Transformers 2 and later had my birthday dinner at Chillis.
I didn't set any expectation before the show but it was quite annoying when we had to wait for more than 40 minutes for the movie to start. Reason being, GSC ran out of projector. WTF. Don't they have a few spares and I mean spares that are in good condition, lah. The viewers, especially children were getting restless and my poor lower back started to ache. Although I had my back support on but the wait was so boring, I was yawning uncontrollably.
When the movie started, I was thinking of my comfortable bed at home. So, there goes 70% of my focus. The first 10 minutes was fast paced and needed a lot of concentration to identify each Autobot and Decepticon.
Sitting next to Shawqi was another major distraction. He was briefing me on every character. I think during the next Transformers movie, I'd rather sit next to Michael Bay and get the full narration.

This is Shawqi's Transformers figurine collection. L-R: Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Breakaway, Megatron and Sideways in robot mode.

I told him to transform all 5 and it took him less than 2 minutes!! L-R: Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Breakaway, Megatron and Sideways (the handsome Audi R8 that went kaput/terbelah dua in Shanghai) in vehicle mode.

(Just wondering, when was it that Megatron transfromed to a tank during the movie? I didn't notice, lah... hmmmmm...).

After 2.5 hours of mental/physical torture having to sit in the cinema, we went to Chilli's for dinner. I ordered my usual, beef fajitas.

I went to the Ladies numerous times. The boys had to kill time and posed next to this pay phone just outside the toilet.

Wazif ordered 2 sets of kid's meal at Chilli's during dinner, finished them off and immediately fell asleep after he finished his drinks.

Since Wazif was asleep. So, Shawqi and me had the Molten Choc cake all to ourselves. Yummmmmm.... I'm 25 again and enjoying life while I can.... thank you.

Entri Hari Bapa 2009

Hari ini Hari Bapa. Aku tak buat apa-apa sebab bapa aku sudah tiada. Ingatkan nak masuk pertandingan menulis Entri Hari Bapa tapi rupa-rupanya tarikh tutup pernyertaan adalah pada 15 Jun 2009. Mengapalah aku asyik tertinggal keretapi?

Hari kelmarin aku cuma pegi beli coklat sekotak, bungkus cantik-cantik dan lepas tu, suruh Waz1f dengan Shawq1 tulis kad untuk bapa diorang. Diorang konon buat surprise lah. Masa bapa diorang balik dari pasar malam, diorang bagilah bungkusan coklat tu. Pagi ni diorang yang bersungguh-sungguh menjamu selera dengan coklat tu. Aku sempat rasa sebijik aje tadi.

Kalau arwah bapa aku hidup lagi, tahun ni dia akan berumur 78 tahun (sebab dalam IC kata dia lahir tahun 1931). Itupun tarikh lahir sebenarnya tak dapat dipastikan. Aku dilahirkan ketika bapa aku berusia 43 tahun manakala emak aku 34. Kiranya aku ni benih hujung-hujung lah. Mungkin sebab itu selalu ada personality conflict. Bapa dengan mak aku tak pernah jangka aku akan dilahirkan seorang perempuan sebab 5 orang anak mereka sebelum aku semuanya lelaki. Masa aku kecik aku selalu rasa nak jadi lelaki sebab jadi budak perempuan tak best langsung.
Pakai seluar jeans hari-hari tak boleh, gelak kuat-kuat tak boleh, melepak depan TV duduk terkangkang tak boleh, nak pegi main bola dengan budak-budak lelaki petang-petang tak boleh. Banyak betullah pantang larang kalau dilahirkan jadi budak perempuan ni.

Nasib baiklah zaman aku kecik, budak perempuan dah boleh tengok TV, pegi sekolah dan baca buku. Kalau aku lahir zaman Jahiliah mungkin aku akan jadi ketua Pejuang Pemberontak Wanita yang sangat brutal.

Berbalik kepada cerita arwah bapa aku (ni kan entri Hari Bapa, yang aku membebel pasal aku punya kisah masa kecik tu kira sengaja melencong jauh le.. hehehe). Aku panggil arwah bapa aku Apak. Jangan tanya asal-usulnya panggilan itu, akupun tak pasti. Tapi kawan-kawan aku lagi confuse sebab aku panggil mak aku Mummy. Cuba bayangkan, duduk kat kampung, sekolah kat kampung tapi panggil mak, Mummy. Teruk jugaklah kena kutuk zaman-zaman sekolah rendah dulu, tapi aku tetap maintain macho.

Apak aku garang boleh tahan. Bila mood dia baik, dia memang ramah dan gelak huha-huha. Tapi bila angin dia datang, eloklah baca Bismillah dan bagi salam baik-baik sebelum nak cakap apa-apa dengan dia. Aku yang perempuan ni pun pernah kena tampar dengan dia. Aku tak ingatlah apa ceritanya, masa tu aku kecik lagi.

Masa aku dalam darjah 2 Apak pernah tanya aku nak hadiah apa-apa tak sebab masa tu aku periksa dapat Nombor 1. Aku cakap nak basikal sebab kawan-kawan lain semua ada basikal. Tapi mummy dengan apak aku tak bagi. Diorang bimbang aku akan terlebih sosial kalau ada basikal. Budak perempuan yang rebellious dan sosial memang tak sesuai diberikan basikal. Pada masa yang sama, apak aku tanya abang aku nak apa sebab dia pun dapat keputusan periksa yang cemerlang. Abang aku cakap dia nak Drawing Block. Dalam hati aku, 'Cheh, lukih pun tak reti, nak drawing block konon....' Pada keesokan harinya, kami dua-dua orang mendapat drawing block. Padan muka aku, hahahahaha.

Masa aku lepas Penilaian Darjah Lima, apak bagi aku surprise gift sebab dapat keputusan semua A. Masa tu apak dengan abang aku yang No. 2 pegi beli kat Triang. Hadiah tu besar!!! Kotak dia berbalut dengan kertas bunga-bunga warna merah. Apak nak bagi hadiah tu kat aku masa hari ucapan dekat sekolah. Dalam pada menunggu hari ucapan, maka hadiah tu diletakkan di rumah dekat meja aku selalu buat homework. Aku cuba-cuba jugak nak intai apa benda yang ada dalam kotak tu, tapi kotaknya tebal, tak boleh nak siat sikit pun.

Semasa hari ucapan dan penyampaian hadiah, apak aku datang pakai slack, kemeja, kot dan bawak briefcase. Aku cuak gila. Tahun tu memang apak pengetua PIBG kat sekolah, aku tau memang dia akan bagi ucapan. Tapi, apa hal lah nak kena pasang badan sampai macam tu sekali, kan? Bila tiba giliran apak bagi ucapan, aku sorok-sorok tutup telinga sebab aku takut dia nak buat lakonan sebabak filem P. Ramlee, kalau tak pun dia nak buat lawak Aziz Sattar. Lepas dia mula berucap lebih kurang 2 minit, aku dengar kawan-kawan aku gelak sakan. Aku pun turunkan tangan dan baru sibuk tanya orang sebelah apa dah jadi. Kawan kat sebelah aku cakap ,'Best lah ayah kau. Kelakar betul. Macam ni lah kalau nak bagi ucapan menarik.'

Sampai hari ni aku tak pasti apa yang apak buat sepanjang 2 minit tu. Tapi, bila aku dah tak tutup telinga, dia bercerita dan bagi nasihat supaya jangan mudah terpedaya dengan manusia yang luarannya nampak mengkagumkan tapi sebenarnya auta semata. Lepas tu ada lagilah apak aku cerita pasal keyakinan diri. Bila habis berucap, semua kawan-kawan akupun tepuk tangan dengan meriahnya.

Sewaktu sessi penyampaian hadiah, apak sendiri yang sampaikan hadiah besar tu kepada aku. Bila aku bawak hadiah tu keluar, kawan-kawan akupun kerumun nak tengok apa kat dalam kotak tu. Maka, akupun buka beramai-ramai. Semua orang suspen, akupun suspen jugak. Kawan-kawan aku semua teka mesti mini-compo sebab zaman tu breakdance dengan mini-compo tengah popular. Tekaan semua orang meleset sebab sebenarnya apak aku bagi hadiah mesin taip jenama Brothers. Hehehehe... sebab hadiah itulah lepas tu akupun belajar menaip dengan apak aku.

Masa aku kat STF apak aku tak pernah datang melawat kecuali masa nak jemput aku balik lepas SPM. Tapi masa aku tunggu keputusan SRP, dia pernah cabar aku. Dia kata kalau aku dapat semua A1, nanti dia nak hadiahkan komputer. Bila result dah keluar, alhamdulillah memang semua subjek aku dapat A1, tapi apak senyap je. Sampai habis tingkatan 4 pun dia senyap jugak. Jadi bila aku dah balik rumah lepas SPM, akupun cubalah ingatkan dia pasal cabaran dia tu. Tiga hari tiga malam jugak apak cuba nak mengingatkan betulke dia pernah bagi cabaran macam tu. Lepas dah ingat balik, maka apak dan kawannya pun membawa aku ke kedai komputer terdekat masa tu di Mentakab untuk membeli sebuah komputer peribadi.

Oleh kerana zaman tu Windows tak menapak lagi di Malaysia, maka aku menggunakan PC yang berasaskan DOS sahaja. Mouse pun tak ada, maka terpaksalah aku menghafal semua short-cut key yang ada.

Setelah membuang masa beberapa bulan di kampung selepas SPM, aku pun melanjutkan pelajaran ke UPM. Semasa bulan pertama di kampus, memang siksa sebab kolej kediaman dengan Fakulti Kejuruteraan tu rupanya jauh ya rabbi. Kalau ada kelas pukul 8, pukul 7.30 dah kena mula menapak dari kolej. Kalau ada subjek ladang pulak, lagi haru. Ladang mula pukul 2 petang, lepas solat Zuhur dah kena keluar, singgah kat stor ladang untuk ambil cangkul, cakar, penggali dan sebagainya. Lepas tu kena jalan kaki lagi 20 minit untuk sampai ke batas tanaman masing-masing.

Oleh kerana akupun tak larat nak menunjuk macho, maka satu hari aku telefon apak. Hajat di hati aku nak cuba mintak sesuatu yang aku pernah minta sepuluh tahun sebelumnya sebab kali ini aku ada alasan yang lebih kukuh. Masa telefon apak, aku cakap pelan-pelan nak mintak basikal sebijik. Kalau boleh mountain bike lah, sebab aku nak kena pegi kuliah dan ladang. Masa tu apak macam sporting je bunyinya, dia sangat memahami kesukaran aku hendak bergerak sekitar kampus. Selang seminggu kemudian, tiba-tiba abang aku datang menghantar sebuah motor kapchai baru kepada aku. Wow! Akupun buat-buat terkejut besar depan kawan-kawan. Aku dah agak dah, apak takkan belikan aku basikal punya. Perempuan rebellious yang suka bersosial memang tak sesuai bawak basikal, kan?

Sebenarnya ada banyak lagi kisah-kisah kenangan dengan apak aku yang aku masih ingat, tapi tak larat nak tulis di sini. Kalau aku tulis, 15 hari 15 malam korang kena baca. Entri tahun ni banyak yang berkaitan dengan material sahaja supaya korang dapat membayangkan betapa materialistiknya aku ni.... hihihi. Kenangan yang lain tu aku simpan untuk tahun depan - lebih ilmiah dan penuh unsur-unsur keinsafan mungkin.

Apak aku meninggal semasa aku masih di UPM buat Bach. Of Engineering, tahun 3. Masa tu cuti semester, maka aku ada bersama dan menyaksikan apak menghembuskan nafas yang terakhir. Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat kepada roh apak aku. Al Fatihah.

It’s International Women’s Day and I’m getting discounts everywhere…

During the whole month of March, many stores are offering really good discounts to women like me (who took all the trouble filling up their membership forms). I am surely going to be doing a lot of shopping this month. In a way, I’m going to help a few businesses bounce back despite the economic slowdown. There’s no strong enough reason for us to stop shopping especially when the things we usually buy are necessities. Bags, slippers, sandals, pumps, cosmetics, perfume, clothes, accessories – they are all our basic daily needs besides food and coffee.

The fact that I’m going to freeze my gym membership until early 2010 means I’ll have extra $$ every month to be spent. What great news to all tokey kedai!

Ever since the media started feeding us with scary news on the world going into recession and many people are losing their jobs, how many people have told you to stop shopping and start saving? I hope I am the first person to tell you to continue shopping as usual. No, we’re not a bunch of inconsiderate, stupid, selfish bimbos. This is one way of helping to ensure that many more people can keep their jobs.

Why the people in manufacturing industry lose jobs? Because there is now less demand for goods such as electrical appliances.
Why the people in automotive industry lose jobs? Because many people decided not to buy cars because they’re afraid they’ll not be able to repay the monthly installment.

It’s not that these people (read: us) all have ran short of money. Everybody just decided to set aside a lot more than usual – in Fix Deposits maybe? And how is FD going to help turn the current economic situation around? I don’t know, I’m not a subject matter expert.

All I know is that if I continue to buy blouses from this shop I frequent since 1999, the makcik-makcik and kakak-kakak working in the factories can keep their jobs and bring back enough food for their children.

So, continue on shopping my dear friends – women of the world. Create the demand. If you decided to buy more trust fund units and shares today there’s no guarantee you can get short term returns. It might take 10 years – that’s if the world economy recovers at an impossible speed. (All the financial experts reading this blog please contest this. I was just making a wild guess).

To all the husbands, boyfriends and fathers out there please encourage the ladies in the house to spend as usual. It won’t do you any harm. It might help you keep your current jobs.

Asal Raya je aku demam, asal aku demam aje time Raya.

Okay, tell me what's the point of going back to work so early after raya? I bet most of my colleagues are now busy updating each other on their balik kampung stories or at least how they got stuck on the Karak highway for 5 hours. How much work can be done right after a long celebration? Usually some would start, but none completed. There'll be just too much distraction. People would come to our cubicle offering raya cookies, serunding, invitation to open houses and then we would end up chit chatting for 20 minutes only to realize that it's already time for lunch.
My point is, don't bother going back to work on the first week after raya - continue celebrating or hibernating in your nests.


If you're done gossiping with the girl from the next cubicle, here's my raya picture taken in front of our Bandar Kinrara house right after the Raya prayer. My baju was made for my niece's wedding that took place in August. Since I was so lazy to go and buy another baju, I just wore this one - macam baju kumpulan Berzanji je kan?

Baju Melayu Johor yang dibeli kat Angsana aritu. Shawqi will always ask for Baju Melayu Johor because the collar is more comfortable. But the seluar didn't make it until the end of the day sebab sudah terkoyak kat lutut after tersagat kat tanah when he fell at one of the relatives' houses kat kampung.

Isy.... pagi raya pun kena jugak check eBay. Kang kalau ada Jersey lawa-lawa kang, kalau tak bid melepas pulaaaak.

Anak orang Melaka kat atas tangga Melaka di negeri Melaka. Now Wazif shapes his 'remos' like an awning. Jangan sentuh 'remos' dia, nanti dia marah....

My Kebaya Raya. Putih tuuu..... macam tak percaya pandai pakai baju putih. Wazif in his baju askar.

I realized I would be down with fever during raya whenever I attempted to prepare the juadah and lauk pauk on Raya eve. Maybe there's just too much heat absorbed by the body during the cooking or by just simply being in the kitchen.

Daging lembu Australia masak rendang style Nyonya Mansoor. I didn't go to the Pasar Borong sebab malas nak bangun pagi-pagi.

Sambal udang petai style Masak-masak Rumah Sewa. Actually one of my housemates in Seri Serdang taught me how to cook this a long, long time ago.

Sambal kacang style orang Bera. Less sugar, less salt, extra chilli boh.

Masak Lodeh ala Nyonya Mansoor. However, not suitable for vegetarian sebab ada tumis udang kering.

All the Nyonya Mansoor recipes were from my MIL. Dia kan dulu duduk Singapore. So, all her cooking are either Singaporean or Malaccan style - super creamy, super hot and super deliciousssss... yummm...

To my friends who are having open houses this weekend, have fun OK... I'll not be able to attend as I'll be in JB and Kulai during the weekend - ada wedding. But if you're having your open house in JB on Saturday, please invite me... hehehehe... (muka tak malu sungguh...)

Cannot watch CSI NY, so I blog

My ASTRO decoder has gone out of order (although they rhyme, this is not a poem!) and I can’t watch CSI NY tonight. *Sigh*. Thank god I have a laptop and Streamyx at home. I’ve been spending my quality time browsing the pictures Spena uploaded to Facebook. The pictures are 17 years old, mostly taken during our final year in STF. 17 years ago and in the absence of 20kg of body weight, I almost couldn’t recognize my own face in the photos.

Can somebody tell me to start thanking god for whatever I have now before I started wanting to look younger and thinner? As a typical (read: normal) girl, I was not happy with my body back then. I always thought my legs were not slender enough, my hair was not smooth enough and my waistline was not small enough. Now, 17 years later when I look at those photos, I start to think why was I not happy to be looking like that? Living in that body? I know I was just being human but sometimes I just wish that there’s a magic mirror in the bedroom that will flash an image of what I’d become in 20 years’ time so that I will always celebrate whatever I am now.

I’ve been told by friends many times to just be happy and enjoy life. Stop worrying about things that are beyond my control (hello! Body weight and fitness level can be controlled, lah!) Anyway, they’re right. Whenever I think back of the things that kept me awake at night some 10 years ago, I just laugh at myself. They seemed so silly. Why was I worried sick about the shape of my thighs and spent a lot of my money buying slimming creams? If I spent that money at karaoke joints, life would have been much happier. If you’re curious, the slimming creams didn’t work; they left a temporary burning sensation and then became oily after 2 hours.

Better still, I should have spent the money to buy a swimming suit and hire an instructor 10 years ago. If I were to start swimming back then, I must have been able to lose the 20kg. Furthermore, there was an Olympic size swimming pool at the apartment I was staying. As Ah Beng’s saying goes, ‘Talk oso no use one…..’

It’s not really regret. It’s just one of those moments when you have so many ‘What-ifs’ in your head.

I haven’t really thought about this until recently when I started learning how to swim from my hubby and friends at the office. Remember my appointment with the gynae in early May? She asked me to lose about 4kg. After swimming twice a week for about a month, I have actually lost that 4kg! Oh man, this is much better than working out at the gym. I lost those kilos without even changing my eating pattern. If I did my Maths correctly, I could shed 24kg in a year. Wow! No wonder the ‘What-ifs’ are flooding my head.

Okay, now for some inspirational pictures. I am going to set my mind to focus on changing from this:

Back to this:

Having said that, I'm still thankful and grateful for what I have now; it's just that the voices in my head are playing a lot of tricks on me these days.

V for Vanidah Imran

After my birthdate was analyzed by one of the artificial intelligence of Facebook applications, the result was:

You are multi-talented, and which you believe grow only by sharing with others. Most people would be jealous of your clever intellect, but you're just too close to peoples' hearts to bring about jealousy. Creative and original, you're usually thinking of bleeding edge ideas. Witty and quick thinking, you have difficulty finding new challenges.

Tararaaaaaaaaa…. The bleeding edge idea I’m bringing to you in conjunction with the Lovers’ Day this year is…….

…to bring your loved ones to Gloria Jeans, Subang Parade for a romantic (and considerably cheap) coffee session on Valentine’s day afternoon (so that you can do better things that night rather than having to sit through a 12 course candle lit dinner at some fancy and damn expensive restaurant). Why GJ @ Subang Parade? Because they’re having a buy one free one promotion and their cookies and biscotti are really cheap. Souvenir shops with reasonable price are nearby, so you can come earlier to grab a last minute V-day gift to make sure that special someone won’t pout throughout what’s supposed to be the most romantic coffee session in the history of that relationship.

I know you must have been tired with the whole RM200-for-6stalksofredroses-followed-by-a-wallet-torturing-outing idea. With the rising inflation rate and fluctuating KLCI index (damn, why was I not born as a financial advisor so that I could elaborate on this?), let’s be clever enough not to overspend on things that are over-commercialized.

If that special someone is on the same page with you and me, then you’re safe. In case… juuuuuuust in case she started to show signs that the coffee session is so far from her idea of a Lovers’ day celebration (I had to assume that special someone is a female because I think men don’t give a sh*t about all this Valentine thingy), then you should start ‘selling the future’ to her.

Selling the future doesn’t mean asking her to marry you, lah. Although proposing over coffee session at Gloria Jeans is not a bad idea after all. What I mean is you should start pushing the ideas of other interesting things you’d be doing together on days other than Valentine’s Day; this coming weekend for example. If you were to go for a spa treat this weekend it would be a lot of fun and still be a lot cheaper than paying for the supposedly very romantic dinner at a 5 star hotel on Valentine’s night, right. Get the idea?

If this one doesn’t work and you’re desperate, then maybe you should give her a slight hint that you’re almost ready for a big commitment or preparing to bring the relationship to the next level(I know, very dirty trick, but you have to survive Valentine’s Day, right?)
The basic idea is, if you don’t bring diamonds, there better be some good news for her to hear.

As for me, I’d rather be listening to my favorite CD than having to endure an expensive 12-course dinner. By the way, there’s a restaurant at Damansara Cineleisure that’s having an anti-Valentine celebration-for singles only.



Me, my friends, my hubby, my hubby's friends, the kids, the kids' friends and a few of my ex-collegues were feasting on these carrot cupcakes with cream cheese topping on V-day. Makcik bake ni pukul 11 malam!!! Hahahaha. Tak celebrate Valentine konon! Then spent a good 1 1/2 hours bitching with Marina during lunch. Pastu, our lunch dapat discount 20% pulak tu.....! Hish... memang taknak celebrate Valentine pun, tapi .... benda-benda yang over-commercialized ni kengkadang menguntungkan consumer gak. Hmmmm... walaupun harga tepung naik, Makcik tetap akan bake and bake and bake....

Balik kampung lagi

This year, it was the first time I went back to kampong twice for Raya. The first time was on the Raya eve, and then the second time was on last Friday night – to attend my cousin’s wedding. Our late fathers were brothers. Although our fathers were always in disagreement about almost everything (her father was a fanatic PAS member, while my late father didn’t have any political stand – well, actually he never told us which party he chose during election), we, the cousins remain quite close to each other. We paid each other visits during Raya, engagements and weddings.

My family played host for the groom’s family who came all the way from Muar, Johor. I was supposed to go back on Friday afternoon to help out with some food preparation but was unable to.

So, on Thursday night I baked (again) another chocolate cake and a carrot cake (I found the recipe in this month’s Aniqah magazine – it was damn sweeeeeet. So, Mz Hayam if you’re reading this, I desperately need to experiment on your recipe because I know it’s much better, heh).

This time my mom was almost impressed with my ‘kindness’ and ‘rajinness’. Yeah, if you’ve known me for 33 years, you’ll know that this is SO not me. I know, my mom still remembers me as the young girl who burnt her pot and made a rock-hard cookie some 20 years ago. Come to think about those years, I realized I have come a long way – in cooking and doing other house chores. Let’s just say I’m the lazy tomboy who has finally turned into a woman. Hehe.

The wedding was like any kampong weddings, the kampong people prepared the dishes earlier that Saturday morning. The gulai kerbau, sambal and sayur umbut were ready by 9a.m before the family members headed to the surau for the ‘akad nikah’ ceremony.



My cousin looked fabulous in her ‘nikah’ attire. She’s about 30 but doesn’t even look 27.



Her groom is younger and I thought he looked only 24 y.o that day.



I never knew my cousin supports Holland football team. Look at the color of her choice!



The ‘ayam golek’ served during 'makan beradap' was simply delicious, I tell you. Tak sempat nak masuk dalam gambar, sebab dah licin.



Meanwhile, in the midst of preparing Raya food and the baking chaos, I accidentally injured myself. This scar will always remind me of the year when I started baking again, eh?



Since the mommy was 'badly' injured, the children had to help wash her car, lah. Hahaha. They were enjoying every minute of it. Ini bukan kes penderaan or buruh paksa, ok.

The Raya: 2007

Oleh kerana Mak aku memang peminat setia kek coklat, maka malam sebelum balik kampung haritu aku dengan Wazif (merangkap Quality Assurer) berkobar-kobar mencuba resipi yang Spena bagi tu. Oleh kerana oven aku yang cenonit dan cake tin aku yang bulat tu, maka sejam lebih aku menunggu kek tu masak. Wazif pun dah naik fed-up asyik kena cucuk kek dengan tooth-pick. QA aku ni memang prihatin, scale akupun dia tolong callibrate. Nasib baik aku perasan, sempat re-callibrate... kalau tak, selamat dah terlebih gula.

Maka kek coklat yang tersangatlah delicious itu aku bawaklah balik ke kampung.

Nak dijadikan cerita, akak ipar aku semuanya terlebih busy dari biasa bulan puasa lepas. Sorang tu dok meniaga kuih-muih berbuka puasa, lagi sorang tu ada baby umur 3 bulan. Lagi sorang pulak aku tak pasti busy dengan apa, tapi setahu aku dia busy lah. Mak aku pulak cedera sebab tiga bulan lepas dia terjatuh kat market sampai patah bahu. Jadi, persiapan raya semuanya agak terabai.

Bila aku sampai aje kat kampung, akak ipar aku yang No. 1 dah siap masak rendang daging. Rendang ayamnya pulak, masak lepas maghrib (aku le yang kena jadi tukang kacaunya). Bila aku keluarkan kek yang aku bawak tu, semua orang gila punya seronok sebab diorang semua tak sempat nak buat kek.

Hari Raya tahun ni memang terlebih hectic sebab ramai gila orang datang beraya rumah mak aku. Aku sempat pegi ziarah kubur arwah Uwan dengan arwah ayah aku je, rumah sedara mara tak sempat nak jenguk pun.

Majoriti orang yang datang rumah mak aku ni aku tak kenal sebab diorang tu kengkawan abang-abang dan akak-akak ipar aku. Sedara mara pun ramai. Kebanyakan orang yang datang ni tak kenal aku jugak sebab aku kalau balik kampung pun setakat sehari dua je. Kalau sedara mara kenduri pun selalu tak sempat pegi. Bila raya macam ni, tak sempat jugak nak berkenalan dan berborak-borak sebab aku asyik kat dapur; buat sirap, basuh cawan, buat sirap, basuh cawan. Sirap pun dah bosan tengok aku. Aku pun dah muak tengok cawan.

Apa-apa hal, orang-orang yang datang tu semua suka kek coklat yang aku bawak balik. Asyik-asyik kena refill balang. Akak ipar aku yang No. 3 dok puji-puji jugak kek aku sambil bagi hint suruh aku buat lagi. Heheheheh, pandaile kau.

Paling best pada petang Raya kedua tu tiba-tiba ada terjengul 4 muka yang sangatle aku kenal. Tapi sungguh tak sangka diorang datang beraya kat rumah aku. Dua orang pompuan tu ialah Kak Fid dan Zarin, housemate aku masa kat UPM dulu. Husbands diorang pulak, facultymate aku dulu. Every raya diorang ni memang akan lalu jalan depan rumah aku tu bila nak balik kampung. Masing-masing anak dah besar-besar belaka. Paling kelakar bila salah sorang kawan aku ni buat remark: 'Kak Dayang ni badan tak naik lah. Macam dulu jugak.'
Hello Zarin, aku rasa dah tiba waktunya kau pegi jumpa doktor mata. Hahahahaha.

Memang tak puas raya kat kampung aku 2 hari aje, kalau 2 minggu mesti lagi best, kan?

Kids and Raya

I'm still recuperating (from the Raya madness). Here are some pics from Raya@Kampung in Bera. Stories will be posted soon.