Mee Bandung Tulang

Muna and Amat gave me this mee bandung paste when I last visited them in Muar last year. They also gave me rempah soto paste which was already cooked for the guys. They liked its spicy soup. So, since Ikram was home for his semester break and the paste was idling in the fridge ... why not I cooked it and gave the staff at Noor's shop a Friday treat? Usually Friday I brought for them food. Just a small Friday khenduri. Fried mee or instant curry puff fried for them or black pepper macaroni or ... just fruits...or McDonalds. In fact if I did not prepare something for them due to time constraint, I usually gave them some money for food. It's nothing much but it meant a lot for the working staff.

The mee bandung paste - it had Mak's name on it !!!!

As usual, I improvised and modified. I cooked with some onions and chilli paste to make it spicier. Then I added the beef stock, ginger and sliced fresh tomatoes. When it had come to a boil, I added the paste. I put in the eggs first one by one. After it was done, I took out the eggs. After that I added in sup bunjut ADABI, celery stalks, the pre-cooked till tender tulang, salt and sugar to taste. Finally I added in the prawns. Hmmm ... the smell of dried prawns from the paste was very appetizing. ... :-)p

I blanched some sawi and yellow mee. I took all the garnishings and put the gravy in a container. Thus, I packed the mee and its garnishing individually so that it would be easier for the staff to eat it when they were free.

All it needs is the gravy ... yummy ... ;-))

It had been some time since I cooked for these people. Last holidays I hardly stayed long in Alor Setar since I was up and down to KL. During Christmas, we had Noor's mother and family but they stayed in Kangar so it was the two of us going up and down Kangar for the week they were here. Besides, the boys were all at their respective universities.

Alhamdulillah. Thank you Allah. For the strength and patience and the ability to still cook and feed others. InsyaAllah ... I will continue to do so if this is the only thing I am good at ... ha..ha.. ha.. :-D))p

What is Love?

How would you define love? To every age, love is perceived with a different meaning. I am not talking about material love but deep, unselfish love. Compassion and empathy. Not sympathy. Love where one puts the other person of utmost priority to the extent of pushing one's own feelings, wants or needs. Unselfish love. sacrificial love. At our age, what is love? Do you think the quotes below say everything about it?

An unconditional love. A love of giving. A love of letting go  .... remember when we were young and we believe that love conquers all? We believe that loving is letting go???

When we love somebody we do not expect the same level of feelings from that person concerned. We pray for him/her. We hope for the best and we always want them to feel happy and loved. We have no expectations and thus, we are able to feel happy for that person who actually matters a lot to us. Yet, we do not want to hold on believing and hoping that one day, that person will come back to us. It is enough that we do the loving .... or is it?

Love is defined according to one's own experiences, background, the amount of hurts and broken promises, the much loved heart and the fulfilled wishes. Yet, at the end of the day, all we need is for someone to love us for who we are. Accept us with our faults and imperfections. Finally all that we ever need is to know someone loves us .... whether near or far and always prays and wishes us the best in life ....

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hoessini

Over the holidays I managed to catch up with the books that I had bought but just could not read or completed reading it. Thus, the trip to KK was a good time to complete "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hoessini. The others had gone snorkelling and swimming, thus, I was relegated as 'bag watcher' and kept my mother in-law company. While she dozed off on the beach, I continued reading my book. Of course, once I got started, it was difficult to put it down. Hence, the remaining days saw me catching up with the story.

I cried. For Baba and Ali. For Amir and Hassan. I got upset with the two boys. I got angry with Hassan's mishaps. I smiled at Suraya's and Amir's courtship. I was elated with their marriage. I was so carried away with the story. Finally, I was happy when Amir finally managed to redeem himself for whatever he had done to Hassan. This helped to expunge his guilt deeply buried in his soul all his growing up years. I was so engrossed and deep into the story. I may be physically be with them but my mind and heart were with the story of Amir and Hassan. It was a captivating and heart-rending story of the two boys whose lives were intertwined and tied in such a complicated yet easy manner. Due to social status, divided by caste and beliefs ... they are apart but very near. Their love-hate relationship and master-servant status created a close bond yet that very close feelings finally pushed them far apart from each other until Amir committed the reason for them to be torn apart not only by district but country. It was set in an Afghanistan before the war with Russia and the the Taliban rule. Yes, I enjoyed this book. Now, I cannot wait to get my hands on his new book - "And the Mountains Echoed".

I am not doing a book review. You can always review the book from the thousands of websites in the internet. The book has been turned into a movie yet I just cannot watch it and has the soul of the book dispersed in the world of visualization. I am always like this. I get so absorbed and engrossed in the book that touched my soul and mind that I hug the story deep within me. I refuse to let go. I always feel so down after I completed a good book. It is like losing your best friend. It is not always that I find a good book or it is because I seldom read this genre anymore.

At the end of the day, one just has to let go and move on to the next book. Just as in reality...pick yourself up, brush the dust off your back, take a deep breath, smile and slowly but surely move on ....  there are still many books to be read - partly thanks to the boys' book vouchers ... :-)))p

2014 - Grace Me With Patience And Tolerance

I needed a change. Professionally, I am in a limbo where nothing seems to change. The administrators were afraid of upsetting the status quo, ruffling feathers or making any changes. I am getting stagnant and feeling dissatisfied with myself and my job. Yet, Allah had deemed it fit to retain me here instead of facing any change. I guess He knows better than me on what suits me best. Oh well...as usual, what I used to say to my sons... make the best of the situation.

I like the resolutions stated by the Star writer, Soo Ewe Jin. I had done a few of it but not on a consistent basis. I have no resolutions and neither do I bother to make any resolutions. I just plod through whatever life entails. Neither do I plan or make plans. I think in that sense, I am quite complacent about life and just take it as it comes to me. I may fall but I try to rise again. I may be up in the sky but there will always be people to pull me back to reality. I may be forgetful but some others will remind me. I may be astray in my path yet there will some good samaritans who will lead me back to the right one. So, what is there to complain about life? Just this little predicament and discontent? "Maka nikmat Allah manakah yang kamu dustakan?" 

"If you have nothing to say, don't say nothing at all"  -  meaning do say something else but nice. Or better still, just smile and try to get out of the situation. Sometimes what we say goes a long way to raise up the other person's self-esteem and make him/her felt good with himself/herself.

"Pay someone's bill"  -  whether it is someone known to us or unknown. I tried to do this whenever I was in a queue at a restaurant or market or shops where when I saw the person in front fumbling for small change or digging into their pockets to make up the amount. It made me feel good that I had done a good deed for the day. Life usually pays you back. Once I was having dinner out with Noor at a restaurant and I went to settle the bill. I saw my regular butcher at the market having dinner with his family at the next table. Since I always get my meat from him, we became "friends" I had the intention to give him a treat and paid his bill at the counter. When I wanted to pay up, the cashier said that our bill had already been settled by him. Graciously and quietly. MasyAllah. SubhanAllah. He just smiled and raised his hands. I went up to his table to thank him. It gave one a nice feeling ... so, I hope to keep on doing this. InsyaAllah.

"Make a promise to spend time with someone and keep it"  -  I had done this but sometimes we could only plan. Usually every year I will make the effort to keep up with some meaningful friends so that we still retain the bond of friendship. Usually too, these few special friends will also make themselves available. There were times when I was in KL and I just called to meet up spontaneously. If they were free, they obliged. Otherwise, it was not meant to be at that moment of time. This year it was not possible to keep the promised rendezvous due to unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully, this year we will all be able to meet up. Even though we keep in touch through media and social means, it is always nice to meet face to face, hug each other tight and talk non-stop about everything and nothing.... :-))

"Say thanks to the forgotten people"  -  this had been done by my mother when she was alive. She always made sure of an angpow packet and a goodie bag for the garbage collectors. She was always very polite and thanked everyone who had done something for her - the nurses, doctors when she was hospitalised. I tried to emulate this. When I was hospitalised, I thanked every personnel from the cleaners to the reception for the care shown and given to me. I always tried to thank and show appreciation for the people who cleaned up our office, helped with the workload ... my colleagues in the exam unit and I would always prepare a Hari Raya hamper/goodie bags with angpow packets for their children every year. One of us would make sure we got the number of children of each of them correct !!  :-D)) May we be allowed to continue doing this and more ...

Well, these are some of the resolutions I will keep and try to make it better. InsyaAllah. No matter what life brings, there is always a lesson to be learned from it. To better oneself. Not to hold grudges. Not to bear hatred. Just smile. Take a deep breath, smile and be grateful that we can still see the lighter side of it. Grateful that even with a heavy heart with what life brings, I am still allowed to still do and give my best. Thus, to all page reviewers, thank you for dropping by my blog. Hopefully you have enjoyed reading it as much as I had enjoyed writing it with much love and care. My apologies if I have offended anyone. Have a peaceful, happy year and  may all of us be blessed. Aamiin.