Have you eaten....rice?

Too much watching channel 703 is good, you'll get a lot of ideas when you cook. You can even memorise the recipes from all over the world. So when it is time to prepare lunch or dinner you already have something in mind.

I have no difficulty in preparing those dashing dishes.For lunch I usually cook gulai ikan ( my husben's all time favourite ), vegetable and one other side dish.If I don't cook curry I will replace it with asam tumis which I have to match with masak toyu ( to lessen the heat from the chillies ).

So one might ask, where are the dishes you learn by heart from channel 707? The answer is, oh, today and forever I cook my regular dish first, later ( indifinitely ) I will prepare medium rare steak,kidney and beans pie or lasagna covered with mozarella cheese.As for now and forever , there's dalca, masak lemak cili api, kerutuk daging,sambal tumis udang atau sotong kering,ayam masak merah...and the list goes on...to be taken care first.

In Malaysia rice is staple food, we have to eat rice at least once a day.As mothers we can train our children to take less of rice and to accept other type of carb as our meal such as bread,mee, mihun, laksa, capati etc. But as for husbands, it is a bit difficult to change because they are so used to their old eating habit.

A friend of mine told me about a man who was sick and couldn't eat rice ( in Makkah during Hajj time ).His mother was very sad,she said her son did't eat at all. He only ate bread about 4 to 5 peices! To her that was not right, he won't be strong enough to do ibadah!

Cakap siang pandang-pandang............................

I ada baca blog Husin Lempoyang, bertajuk Bahasa Melayu Bahasa Antarabangsa. Cerita ini ada beberapa siri, ada juga yang menggelikan hati. Ia mengingatkan saya tentang penggunaan Bahasa Melayu di peringkat antarabangsa, bila cakap siang pandang-pandang, cakap malam dengar-dengar, kalu tidak bulih malu.

In 1990 me and Habibti were at The Karachi Airport ( transit from Cairo ), at about 4 o'clock in the morning. Suddenly she told me someone was staring at us, so when I looked towards that person I realised he was really staring at us. We were very angry with him, we started firing him with all the £#*@?words in the vocab ( of course he couldn't hear because he sat quite far from us ) until we ran out of ammunations.

Suddenly, one guy from behind me said --Lu Mulayu ka? Surprised, I said yes and I'm from Malaysia ( forever proud to be Malaysian even though my face turned multi coloured, first white, then red ,then blue ,then black! I felt embarrassed sebab baru aje lepas cakap tak berinsuran..)

So I asked him, you boleh cakap Melayu ke? Ya, saya duduk Brunei sudah sapluh taun , sudah balik cuti Karachi 10 hari( he told me the other 3 guys beside him were his uncle and cousins ) ooo..... I turned to Habibti telling that those 4 guys behind us can speak MULAYU! I panic the manic they might understand what we were saying. Habibti tried to console me ,saying that since we kecek Kelate, they might not understand.

Jadi bila dah buleh malu lagu tu, we had to shift place, and felt quite relieved because we didn't have to see them again. When we boarded the plane we were very happy to lose them. As we sat comfortably we saw those 4 boarded the same plane as us.And they sat next to our seats. Kena buat muka selambe sambil mengenang-ngenangkan kelancangan mulut memaki orang macam tak hengat punye!

Like a fish out of water

I was caught in a catch 22 situation when the person who was walking in the same line as me ( at a wedding reception ) gave a nasty comment loudly saying the person in front of us was like a tree ( because she wore baju kurung and tudung from the same material,of green in colour with flowers and leaves prints).The said person turned towards me! But I'm not guilty as charged!

In another majlis akad nikah one lady was giving a running commentary about the majlis without ever realising that family members of the host would be there during the ceremony. This made some of us red faced and we didn't know how to stop her. So it made us feeling bad throughout the ocassion.

Have you ever felt like a fish out of water? Well, for example you are invited to a majlis where you don't know anybody except for the host, and the host was nowhere to be seen because she was busy.I tried to be pleasant to the person sitting next to me ,but apparently they are busy chatting with their common friends sitting next to them!

How about in a majlis when everybody wears baju Melayu and you are the only one who's wearing baju batik. Or in a majlis which is not so glamourous like penyampaian hadiah sukan or melawat anak yatim, you turn up in a fully beaded dress?

Once I got angry with a person I knew for quite a short while,we attended the same seminar, stayed in the same room for a few days,but when we met again the next year she didn't remember me.I couldn't forgive her and I couldn't except it when she said she couldn't remember me. I even boasted I will remember anybody I know and there's no way I could forget anyone.

In 1995 when I was at the Kuantan Airport with my daughter ,there came a lady of my age who smiled and talked to me, I couldn't remember her at all and I asked for her name. I couldn't recall her or the name until she repeated many times . At this point she gave up on me and turned away, at that moment I suddenly remembered her. I called her but she just ignored me. Limah, wherever you are or if you happened to stumble on my blog, PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU, I JUST WENT BLANK!!! ( we were 4th collegian way back in 1973,74 and did our dip ed the same year! ).

Me and My Habibti

I came from pantai timur, but I don't quite like beaches because it is very hot and sticky during daytime . Since I am very familiar with the beach my visit to the beach was always short and fleeting.So when Habibti Dr Fatma invited us for a picnic ( way back in 1980's )I was not so enthusiastic.And she suggested that it would be after 5. Well, it must be interesting!And definitely it is not hot and sticky.

So I brought something to eat ,she did too, plus her famous muhalabayya and gahwa.It was about 6.30 in the evening and people started leaving the beach batch by batch. We laid out our mat and spread our bekal and started eating bit by bit .As the day grew darker the wind became stronger.By seven the sky at the other end of the sea was getting red and and later it disappeared. And the stars started twinkling.This whole scenery has changed me about picnic at the beach.

The guys went for maghrib prayer in the mosque nearby, both of us prayed at the beach. She taught me how to use cador for praying. And she taught me how to perform ibadah without hassle.She taught me by example, like she is always with wudhu' and cukup time terus sembahyang , be it in the place of her tafsir Quran or anywhere else .Of course those days we Malays were very strict about pakaian dan tempat sembahyang,must be at proper places like masjid or surau and properly attired ( if we not in our own houses ).

Alhamdulillah these days suraus are everywhere,in shoppping complexes, hotels , along the highways, petrol stations and others. So you can shop( window shopping ) until you drop in KLCC for example without worrying about dah masuk waktu dah.........

Clogged arteries.

Just came back from IJN, visiting my cousin who is 72 yrs old.Last year he fainted after mowing his lawn. After the angiogram the doctor found out he has 3 blocked arteries, so he is waiting to be operated upon anytime now.

He told us the angio is a simple process and he can even see his arteries on the screen. And he's very confident about the bypass, not like before ,he was scared out of his wit when he knew there's something wrong with his jantung.

When the nurse sent him milo without sugar ( tea time ) he complained to me , bakpe takdak gula ni, tawar semacam. I told him --minum aje, lama-lama biasalah tu! And he told me morning they give sugar, evening they don't.

I brought mee rebus for Ros who takes turn to look after the father.And one extra in case Abang Husin wants to taste.He said he prefers mee kari ( which is real thick like he used to eat ).Ros said his father loves super lemak food.And he couldn't live without cigarettes, but since he was suspected with sakit jantung,his wife and his children banned him from smoking ( they tried many times before but fell on deaf ears or worst, got scolded by him ).

When I commented he looked healthy, he said he is not in pain,no chest pain, no fever, he can eat normally.He said maybe his arteries are not hardened yet,maybe it is just like the clog in the sink, the water can still pass through.Otherwise he would be fainting all the time.He said his bypass will be like building new highways beside the old road.

I'm happy to see him with high spirit , may his bypass be successful and he can leave happily many more years to come.
Amin.Ros, you are really anak yang solehah, semoga mendapat kebaikan di dunia dan akhirat.Amin!

3 in 1 The Sequel

After being diagnosed as 3 in 1, I was so menggelabah and followed the dietician's advice on my food intake. I have to accept the fact that I'm stucked with hypertension, high cholesterol and DM and so determined to keep the reading as low as possible.

Finally after one year of taking coversil 4 mg once a day, lovastatin 20 mg once at night and (sadly )metformin 500 mg twice a day, my recent blood test showed a very positive reading. I was very happy when the doctor told me my sugar level is 5.6 ,cholesterol level 5.8 and bp 138/75.

She encouraged me to keep on doing what I do ie, take my medicine religiously, change my eating habit and do some exercise. She further encouraged me by saying there are people who got off the medicine hook when they can really look after themselves.She gave one good advice that really opened my eyes ---- you put 10 ringgit petrol in your tank, you should spend the 10 ringgit. Go for exercises or if you are not the outdoor type , just place your stationary bicycle in front of your tv and cycle while you are watching your favourite programme.

I think doctors should explain to patients properly so they can get the message clearly.Not just write the prescriptions and dismiss you. A few years back I did went for blood test and my cholesterol reading was quite high.The doctor just told me to watch my diet. Even though I was 50 at that time, I was so ignorant of the effect of high chol.Until one day my classmate Dr Omar told me ' Kak, you sekarang tengah duduk atas pucuk kelapa , you kena jaga makan betul-betul kalau tak nanti dapat stroke! '( he explained to me about the good food and bad food , I just took it easy.. elehh,dah tau dah fasal makanan tu!)

Many years later when I really got pening-pening and the doctor at Tangling Clinic put me on blood test only then I face the truth. Don't play-play, you are on medications now!.. Untuk memanjangkan jangka hayat ( Ya, Allah nak mati dah ke? Ampunkan dosaku ya Allah, ya Rabbi,ya Karim, ya..... )

Ramai juga antara kita yang makan tak pantang dan tak makan saman,buang ubat hospital dan makan ubat ramuan sendiri!

Siblings Rivalry continues......

After Tanjung Karang we moved to KB. In KB my last two children enrolled in tadika Kemas which was near our house.When the elder brother went to school ( std 1 ),we sent our youngest daughter to kelas hafazan Quran.But later we had to pull her out from the class,when one day she came home shivering and terrified.She told me, she was very frightened when one of the boys was scolded by the ustazah and made him stand outside the class.

So, we got another ustazah to teach al Quran at home and this was when the rivalry continued. After a while the sister excelled in reciting of the Quran thus she moved to the next surah, ahead of the brother. After a while the brother got jealous,so every time she moved to a new surah , he would be angry with her , pushed her, hid her muqaddam and so on until Ida our helper told me about the incident.So I had to tell the ustazah to let the two read the same surah and move to the next surah together.

Later when we moved to Alor Setar,they were enrolled in the same school, both of them went to Sekolah Rendah Taman Uda.For extra knowledge I registered them in a drawing class. When they finished the first drawing and the colouring, they brought their work home. The sister proudly showed me her work while the brother stashed his drawing somewhere. When I praised the sister he got jealous and quickly showed me his half coloured drawing, but I praised him all the same. But he knew the sister did better than him, that made him really geram.

When they were bigger they started to have friends of their own. The brother had many friends and they were very active. He was never at home during weekends.Early morning he went to school to play tennis with his friends, about 11 o'clock all of them would cycle to town to swim in the public pool. He came back for lunch and then went to Kedah Kelab ( Just behind our house )to play tennis for the second session, after that all of them jumped in the pool until very late in the evening. During the school holidays he would be in sawah padi somewhere, tangkap ikan sepat.His skin became very dark as compared to the others in the family.

Every evening( weekdays ) the brother played football with the Indian boys team in Alor Semadom which is in front our house in Jalan Sultanah.One day I saw one of the Indian boys on the football field who wore the same t-shirt as my son , so I told the two sisters about it and they laughed at me saying..... mak..tu Hishamlah mak..bukan anak India!

As a girl the sister was homely. She joined the school choir and was busy with the practice and ocassionally performed in school functions. She had one close friend ( classmate )who would come to the house and they spent a lot of time together,playing games and practicing their flutes.Sometimes the brother would butt in just to annoy the two girls.

When we were in Kuching both of them were already in lower secondary and 3 years later we moved to KL. At this stage they did not quarrel much,but ocassionally he would tell me that her sister was a bit ' gelenya' . One day when they were in the car with me I asked my daughter....your brother told me you are gelenya,is it true? And then I turned to the brother,....now you tell me betul-betul how gelenya is your sister? Both of them didn't say anything.

The brother went to SM Sains Muar for one month and when he came back,he had changed a lot. Maybe when he was away he missed home so much especially the little sister. By then, my first daughter was already in college and the eldest brother was away, that made both of them became very close.Apparently they forgot why they were quarelling all these while.....

Salah terjah!

Have you ever been mistreated by the sales person in departments store? I was once in Alor Setar some 15 years ago.I bought a few things costed about 150 ringgit, and was queing up to pay.The guy in front of me got a nice paper bag with the store's logo but when come my turn she just stuffed my things in a plastic bag . I was quite furious so I asked her how come that man got a nice bag I don't? Because he bought a lot....so how much is a lot? ...more than 80 ringgit. Please check my bill, how much it is? She then pulled a long face and shoved the pretty bag to me.

Some shop assistant are clever to say like this product is expensive, if you want there's the cheaper version ( tipu version? ).Some really look at you up and down when you visit certain outlets. Another friend who went to buy a designer handbag but being scoffed at and belittled by the assistant until she got so mad and insisted on seeing the store manager.( Agaknya dia pakai selipar Jepun hari tu! )



There was this instance, I accompanied my friend to a high class jewellery shop, I was dressed up in full baju kurung and my friend came from outstation wearing something like seluar apek . The assistant was following me until I jadi lemas and told her right away ,don't follow me, I'm not buying, she is! Instantly she went hand and foot after my friend. ( ini kes sudah salah terjah! )

Sometimes you can really become exasperated when shopping in the hypermarket,like if you are looking for something in certain departments and asked for assistance, you will get a blank stare.In hypermarkets the assistants can get away with it because their superiors are nowhere to be seen!

Pelbagai jenis bacaan AlQuran!

Tahun 70an dulu ramai qari dari Afrika dan negara-negara Arab lainnya datang ke Malaysia untuk mengambil bahagian dalam musabaqah al Quran setiap bulan puasa. Mereka datang dengan bacaan yang berbagai dan tidak sama dengan bacaan orang Malaysia. Ramai yang kehairanan, ada yang mentertawakan mereka dan ada yang mengatakan bacaan mereka itu salah.Setelah tahun 80an barulah bacaan semua qari diselaraskan iaitu mengikut bacaan qiraat Hafs an 'Asim.


Sesungguhnya ramai daripada kita tidak terdedah dengan ilmu qiraat. Ilmu qiraat telah pun berkembang luas di zaman Rasulullah s.a.w. dan di zaman selepasnya.Yang lain dari bacaan Rasulullah hukumnya haram membacanya walaupun betul dan tepat qiraat tersebut dalam kaedah bahasa Arab.Hukum mempelajari ilmu qiraat ini adalah fardu kifayah.



Terdapat 10 imam qiraat atau dikenali sebagai Qiraat Asyara.Setiap imam ini ada 2 orang perawi yang diakui dengan ini ada dua puluh jenis bacaan yang berbeza-beza mengikut tempat masing-masing. Antara imam -imam itu ialah Imam Nafi' dan dua orang perawinya iaitu Qolun dan Warsy, Imam A'sim dan perawinya ialah ialah Syu'bah dan Hafs ( qiraat riwayat Hafs ialah yang dibaca orang Malaysia ).Orang-orang Islam di Sudan membacaQuran qiraat riwayat Abu Amru, sementara negara Morocco dan Libya pula membaca dengan Qiraat riwayat Warsy.

Ustaz Mohd Rahim Jusoh ( pengarang buku Pengenalan Ilmu Qiraat, kitab Usul Qiraat Nafi' Al Madani serta Usul Qiraat Ibnu Kathir dan Abu Amru ) adalah pensyarah bahagian Qiraat dan Tajwid di UIA , dan kelas-kelas qiraat ini telah dibuka untuk orang awam. Pada awalnya kelas ini tidak dapat diteruskan kerana ramai yang syahid di tengah jalan, tetapi kini kelas telah pun bertambah apabila ramai yang telah terdedah dengan ilmu qiraat.



Sesungguh begitu luas ilmu Allah, bersyukurlah mendapat ilmu yang bermanfaat walaupun sedikit.