Quick updates

Cik Tutor missed the cats so much. Kerol took their photos just for her.

Kuning



Putih

Celak a.k.a CK
Nia
The look that said it all.
Souvenier from melbourne. Aman anticipating his dad's reaction.
Thank you kerol for the pictures. Study hard and make us proud.

Niat Ikhlas

Good cook, happy marriage? Wallahualam.

When I got married about 30 years ago, I only cook to avoid starvation. I cook simple dishes such as fried chicken, soup and stir-fry veges. En suami taught me how to cook spaghetti with sardines. Alhamdulillah we survived.

Why? I studied in boarding school all through form 1 to Lower 6. When I went home during the school holidays, I only spent my time sleeping and watching TV.

When my family grew bigger, I polished my skills in cooking. I bought many cookbooks but they were not a great help. I befriended the late mak cik Sofi and she would gave me recipes whenever I complimented the dishes that she cooked. Ayam merah, daging hitam, ayam coklat are among my family favourites. My good friend, Puan Muhaini taught me how to cook Chicken rice and 'mee kari'. Another good friend of mine, who is from Terengganu , taught me how to cook nasi kerabu and baulu kukus. She uses natural colouring from the flowers to colour the rice. Other friends taught me nasi dagang, ikan tiga rasa, ayam tandoori and the list goes on and on.

My late in-laws were really the ones who sincerely taught me how to be a good cook. They would ask me to peel the onions, garlic and prepare all the ingredients needed. Then they would ask me to stir while they throw the ingredients inside the pot! See, I only became a good cook after I had 2 children!

Well not all cookbooks are lousy. I used Chef Wan's step by step recipe when I baked my first pizza. The chocolate cake that I served azhar's friends during hari raya is from a booklet published by TESCO and everybody just loved it.

Learning is a lifelong process. Do not hesitate to ask for the recipes whenever you come across a lovely dish. To all the good cooks that happen to read my blog, share your secrets with us. You'll never know that you are doing good deeds to others , strengthening family ties through the recipes that you shared.

Well, if you happen to marry someone who is not keen to cook, then be patient. Praise her when there is a slight improvement. Give her encouragement. Praise her on her effort. InsyaAllah, she'll be a good cook someday.

Bye-bye Year 6

Alhamdulillah the exam is almost over. I am glad that the students did quite well. At least in the subject that I taught them. I taught Mathematics to two Year 6 classes. 6 Hud and 6 Adam. Before Hari Raya, I invited my students to come over to my house to study Maths. At first only 3 students responded. After Hari Raya, a group of students from Year 6 Hud came and I helped them to correct their maths mistakes. Since, it was still Hari Raya, I served them nasi lemak and the usual kuih raya. When I went through the students' paper 1 just now, I was quite surprised that 6 Hud fared better in the exams. At the beginning of the year, they were the underdog!
So the moral of the story, we can get good results if we are close to our students, being informal to them once in a while, but the respect is still there.

Aman is away at the moment, visiting his sister in Armidale. Kerol is going back to Jordan on 28th Sept. If all goes well, we might be busy cooking, baking and packing goodies for Kerol. He came home with a really huge suitcase, with souveniers for everybody. He even brought home air zamzam, dates and sweet delicacies from Jordan! It is appropriate that we fill his suitcase with something in return.

This year, the hari raya was a memorable one. There was a steady flow of visitors and I was really happy that they informed me beforehand. Then I could prepare some home-cooked food for them.

It was quite funny that one day Azhar told me this.
"Mak, kawan azhar nak chocolate cake. Dia sanggup bayar."

"Suruh dia buat sendiri, resepi kat blog mak,( Actually I don't mean it , so I said) Just joking, nanti kita buat sama-sama."

May be tonight I'll bake the cake. Gotta go now.

Alhamdulillah

The guests have gone home. With the help of kerol and Aman, I was able to entertain my ex-students who called on me. Alhamdulillah everybody was having a good time. Azhar also brought along his classmates.

I am glad that all my students are successful in their studies. One of them secured a good job in a gas and oil company and she is only 22 years old! The others are still studying. When I taught them English in primary school long time ago, I made it a habit, to ask each individual students, their personal particulars; their names, parents' occupations, hobbies and their ambitions. It seems their dreams have come true. They are going to be dentist, engineers, lecturer,doctors , teacher and chef . The would-be chef told us that most head chefs in five star hotels are foreigners and they usually use wine to add flavour to their dishes !

One of the favourite food that they ate is chocolate cake. You can make it in a jiffy. Here is the recipe :

Ingredients (A):
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup fresh milk
1 cup oil / melted butter
1 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup condensed milk

Ingredients (B):
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
1 tsp baking powder

Ingredients (c)
3 eggs

Chocolate frosting:
250g cooking chocolate
1 tabspoon butter
150ml double cream

Method :
i) Heat ingredients A in a saucepan until sugar dissolve. Cool the mixture.

ii) Beat eggs until white and fluffy. Add to (i)

iii) Sift flour, soda and baking powder. Add to the above mixture.

iv) Pour into lined and greased baking tin. Steam for 1 hour. Lined with aluminium foil .

v) Use double boiler method to melt the chocolate for the frosting.

16th September

Aman's 22nd birthday. Hari Malaysia and holidays again.

There will be extra class for year 6 from 8 until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. Then, in the afternoon my ex-students and Aman's friends will visit me. I haven't decided what to cook for them yet.

Kerol bought a book titled 'You Can Be the Happiest Woman in the World' by Dr 'A'id al-Qarni and translated by Huda Khattab. I would like to share these with you....

The Keys to Victory

The key to glory : Obedience to Allah and His Messenger (s.a.w)
The key to provision : Striving hard whilst praying for forgiveness and fearing
Allah, the Exalted
The key to Paradise : Tawhid
The key to faith : Pondering the signs and creation of Allah
The key to righteousness : Sincerity
The key to spiritual life : Studying the Quran, beseeching Allah in the hours before dawn and giving up sin
The key to knowledge : Asking the right questions and listening attentively
The key to victory : Patience
The key to success : Piety (fearing Allah)
The key to getting more : Gratitude
The key to longing for the Hereafter : Disinterest in worldly gains.
The key to a response : Doa (supplication)

Raya 2010

To all my sisters, brother, children, nephews and nieces....


Even though you were born in Ipoh, Kluang, Portsmouth, Melaka,Bandar Baru Bangi, Bukit Mertajam,Kuala Lumpur, your root is here, in a serene little kampung, away from the hustle bustle of the city. That's why, every year, whether you like it or not, the trip to Kampung Lasah which is about 15 km from Sungei Siput, is a must. Alhamdulillah everybody looked forward to visit Mak We (my father's sister) who live with his youngest son and his family. We would bring along several chickens, a packet of rice and thosai for breakfast. Mum cooked the thosai and I prepared chicken curry.

When we were young, we spent our long school holidays in the village.We became 'orang kampung' for a while ; waiting patiently for the durians in the dusun, bathing in the little stream beside the house, playing pondok-pondok and sometimes helping the elders to grind coffee beans.

The village is neglected now. Most of my cousins' children are successful in their studies and staying in the big cities. Hari Raya is the only time when we meet and get to know each other.

En Doktor managed to get 3 days off and drove home after Hari Raya prayer.






Clearly, Ayah was the happiest person on that day.


Lunch was served. As usual we had Mak We's speciality , ' Ayam kerabu'.

Aman and Amir.

Imam Muda Daniel. He was elected to be the imam for 3 days during last Ramadan.



My nephew Mohamad and his father, Azman . En Azman is going to Durban , South Africa in October.


Grilling chicken by the riverside.

Waiting for the chicken to cook!

Selamat Bercuti.

Sekolah sudah mula bercuti. Saya dan anak-anak masih berada di Desa Perwira. Anak-anak gembira bersolat terawih di Masjid Jalan Diary. Aman pula rajin mengikuti program Qiam yang dianjurkan oleh masjid di 10 malam terakhir Ramadhan. Lagi pun beberapa orang murid Tahun 6 ada menyatakan hasrat untuk datang ke rumah minggu hadapan. Bukan untuk beraya tapi untuk buat latihan Matematik. Maklumlah peperiksaan UPSR sudah semakin hampir.

Seronok berinteraksi dengan budak-budak kecil yang bersih dari dosa dan noda. Satu hari, ketika melintasi blok Tahun 1 menuju ke kelas Tahun 6, sekumpulan murid Tahun 1 berlari-lari anak menuju ke arah saya. Kerisauan jelas kelihatan di wajah mereka.
'Muallimah!' seorang daripada mereka berbicara.
'Kalau menangis batal tak puasa kita?'

'Tidak,' jawab saya sambil cuba menahan gelak.

Murid-murid ini juga boleh tahan pintarnya. Ketika menggantikan guru yang sedang cuti sakit, seorang murid Tahun 1 mengadu kawannya suka sorokkan alat tulisnya. Jadi saya pun mulalah memberi ceramah sempena bulan Ramadhan. Saya tegaskan kepada mereka bahawa di bulan Ramadhan semua orang jadi baik sebab syaitan telah diikat. Belum sempat saya sambung ceramah saya, mereka beramai-ramai kata,
'Tapi nafsu ada lagikan Muallimah!'
Memang kenyataan itu tidak dapat di sangkal. Di bulan yang barakah ini, kejadian pecah rumah, ragut, dan perbuatan jenayah lain semakin menjadi-jadi. Setiap individu bertanggungjawab untuk memastikan diri mereka bersih daripada anasir yang dibenci oleh Allah.

Perlu berehat sebentar sebelum memulakan tugas di dapur. InsyaAllah bertemu kembali.

One World

Adakah segala yang berlaku kebelakangan ini, di bulan Ramadhan yang barakah ,merupakan satu ujian dari Allah yang Maha Esa?
Ujian untuk menguji sejauh mana keimanan dan kesabaran kita. Kita dihimpit dengan berbagai masalah di dalam negara dan juga dengan negara jiran. Umum tahu, melakukan kebaikan (amar maaruf) sangat mudah tetapi untuk mencegah kemungkaran (nahi munkar) memerlukan iman yang sejati.

'Do unto others what you want people to do unto you'