Friends for life!

Photo: credit to Jo Jin Yu

Photo courtesy of Jo Jin Yu

 

Life is best celebrated with friends. 

Being away from family and friends back home, newfounds friends here add so much zingss to your everyday life. 

Besides my daily routine: cooking, reading and just enjoy being at home, I embrace these lovely friendship with these ladies. 

Food brings us together and I can vouch that everybody goes home every time with full stomach and a big grin on their faces. 

It doesn't matter what menu, whose home it is, every time we are together,  IS  a good time. 

Alhamdulillah for these lovelies.

The last photo is by Madam AmyBoss. 

Thank you very much my dear friends for capturing the moments of --.. eh, only of the foods?  where's the picture of Us?  😂🤭😅

Rendang Daging it is!

 So we went to Talh@n restaurant in Gul Z@m@n yesterday evening. 

It was my first time to this place, eventhough it is only 7 minutes drives from our apartment building. 

But then, all the other places are only 5-10 minutes drives from our apartment. 

We are in the city after all. 

After dinner, we went to buy a few kilos of meat at Serb3t. 

On Friday, I plan to send over Beef Rendang to the "office guys". 

I'd like to think that I have successfully persuaded the other ladies to masak and send over Nasi Putih, Telur Dadar or Sayur as part of the office's Lunch galore.

One sweet lady said she is going to prepare brownies for them, too. Ah, marvelous!

I am happy  when people enjoy food I prepared.

I may not be the best cook, but I can cook the best I can. 

Besides Rendang, I can't help thinking that I want to make Cinnamon Rolls and or Mexican Bun, too!

How long has it been?

 Coming back here after 12 years? 

It feels like coming home to your childhood home.

 Familiar, yet peculiar. 

My entries were all about my boys -toddlers as they were, 

our conversations through moments we shared. 

Now my home is an empty-nest, and there's this sort of emptiness hanging around. 

Lutfil is now 17yo, Hafiz 18yo and Umar is already a fine young man at the age of 20yo. Alhamdulillah

Of course the parents are no longer young themselves. 😃

Alhamdulillah for all that Allah has bestowed upon us.

We are currently a "LDR " family unit.

Kids are in Malaysia whereas the parents are somewhere

 in a country, in Central Asia.

It is not easy and it is definitely tiring, emotionally I would say. 

So much had happened within this 12 years. 

I have recently lost another brother. 

Yesterday was one year since the passing of my other brother.

Life has not been the same since. 

Their passing somehow took away some parts of me with them.

Each of them played vital role in shaping my character and help defining my values. 

Oh, and I also lost my dear sister- in law whom I regard as my own sister and mentor.

They have gone.

They left  us but their memories didn't.

Memories will always stay where they are, in the heart. 

I am still blessed with my own family unit. 

We are thousands kilometres apart, but trust me, the mother's tazkirah and leteran is as real as if I am beside them. 😅

I make new friends, but still thinking of my friends I have back there in Msia.

I cook a lot more here, often trying out new recipes of bingka labu and soon other kuih, to kill time.

I try to masak-masak lauk and nasi and invite friends over to the house. I love deep conversations, so I only prefer small quorum. 

I do also send over nasi and lauk for the "office guys" so they could have a taste of home. Kesian jugak to those yang lama tak balik, esp yang on single status tu kan .

I continue ngaji with my ustazah, Alhamdulillah.

I hope to add one more skills while I am still here. 

I hope to add more cerita and updates for my readers, as well as memoirs for my kids juga. 

I pen -off dulu.

see you soon! 

and this is what they said..

Well, just now, I was about to do something really bizarre with the rough skin under my toes ( ok, gross!).
Seeing that my 3 heroes surrounded me, with Hafiz closing his eyes AND covering them with his finger. (ngeri sangat lah tu konon!). Lutfil and Umar seemed a bit calmer and waited...
"No, don't do that! You are going to die..!" Hafiz said out very loudly. Worried..
"What happened after I die?", I asked.
"Emm..you are going to see the dentist?!", he said, unsure. It was more like a question than a statement :-D
"No, we solat first", Umar added,  dengan berhikmah sekali. ( I guessed he meant 'solat jenazah'.)
Lutfil melopong..

PS: I wonder if we follow the sequence, it then becomes: solat jenazah and then see the dentist, next? ;-)

No-butter Moist Chocolate Cake Recipe. Kacang Je! Peanuts!!

Do you have the chocolate cake recipe that you can always, always make that instant ; the moments your little ones screaming for some good, yummy, chocolaty cake? Last night , Hafiz was a bit gloomy, ( he always have world-problems to solve) and Lutfil was not helping with his babbling that made Hafiz thinks that the world is really a NOT good place to live in . Hafiz wouldn't eat anything and you could see that he was really cross! I was thinking all day yesterday to make the butter-cream cheesecake for today's Halaqah.
Knowing that the moment I pull-out my magic mixer will get the kids excited, I resorted to make THEIR chocolate cake first. I knew THAT would make Hafiz happy. Oh boy! Happy he was. He was delighted.


He was so pleased that he eventually ate all 3 roti jala and kuah kari that everybody had left for him.!! My magic worked.


He finished his roti jala very quickly, and was already besides me in less than 5 minutes after that.
"Do you need help, Mommy?". "Yup, I sure do! Thanks Hafiz for being very helpful". He helped me pouring the oil, sugar into the mixer, throwing the egg shells into the trashcan,  and help me holding the sieve for me. We prepared the ingredients in less than 10 minutes or so, and after that is baking time which usually take around one hour @ 160 degC , using MY oven here. We have a bit problems with the oven here. It is never at the temperature as indicated, and I can never get the other knob to turn at the exact baking method I wanted it to be. The cake turn out good. Although it doesn't use butter and other fancy ingredients, it always produce the kind of chocolate cake I like. It doesn't require that powerful arm to rise the egg or sugar and butter, etc. A simple mixing and a light whisk will do. It is the simplest recipe I know for chocolate cake.


Oh, by the way, this recipe was given to me by Zira, a petite lady I knew in Block B, Riyadh. That's before we moved to the current complex. Zira left in February 2008.
Here's the recipe:


Zira's Moist Chocolate Cake Recipe.

Ingredients A : (mix and sieve)

2 Cups flour ( all-purpose)

1 Cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon soda bicarbonate

1 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients B (stir to mix)

1 Cup oil ( corn, sunflower,whatever; I use cooking oil)

2 eggs

2 Cup sugar ( I always reduce to 1 1/2 Cups)

1 can of evaporated milk. ( I use full-cream milk, abt 400 - 450ml)

Method:

Ingredients A mixed and sieved in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, stir Ingredients B so they mix well.

Pour A into B. Stir to mix. No need to use that powerful mixer. The mixture is quite light and can be easily mixed with a big spoon or a hand whisk. Grease a 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 baking tray (or use baking sheet),

My oven needs a lot of monitoring and I need to bake more than 60 minutes for a good 150-160degC  . But that's MY oven! Normal oven can be set to 160-170degC fo 60-70 minutes. Or do the normal "inspection". Insert a knife/fork ( eh?!) or tooth-pick , it comes out clean if the cake is ready.

There goes my "kacang je" recipe. Peanuts!!

(If I can do it, YOU can do it!)

Lutfil Oh Lutfil

In the bus going to school this morning:
Lutfil: But Mommy, I want you to come with me to the school.
Ibunya ni: Yelah, I am going to school with you lah ni..
Lutfil: But I want you to stay.
Ibunya ni: How can I stay with you at school. I am already big (jawapan sempoi je lah kan)
Lutfil: Noo, you are not biggg...you are MEDIUM...( !!?? apa punya jawapan ni..??!!)


hahaha..but of course he managed to make me laugh ..

Visit to the Late Dafullah's house

This morning, my friends and I went to see the late Dafullah's family. His house is somewhere in Mayo, about 30 minutes drive from the complex. The paved road made it easier to reach the neighbourhood which is also not too far from the main road. His family is staying with his parents, since he lost his job in August 2011. I was told that he was renting a house somewhere for SDG (sudanese pound)150 per month. I wonder how much left he had for his family after the rental paid?! 

Just one of the houses in the neighbourhood.

There were other people in the house when we arrived there; his brothers and sisters, and their children.
His wife (Habsah) looked very devastated, and his mother was wailing, and calling out his name a few times.
It was very touching when we saw his small children. They all resemble him very much. His 3 boys are Muhammad (7 yo), Muhanad (5 yo), and Abu Saufi (1.2yo).  His wife looked very young, and to think that she has to endure such a difficult life when her husband died, and she has 3 children to support..*sigh*..poor Habsah. His family live next to his parents house. Here, it is so typical for a house without a roof, there's no need for cemented/tiled floor, too. It is very arid here, so the dry climate makes it possible for them to have a roof-less and floor-less house. No or very little rain , and the hot weather; so I guess it suits them well.
But now it is winter, I wonder how they cover themselves and their children from the chill at night? It can get very cold at night, and in the morning, too. I hope the long-sleeved clothes and a few blankets given may warm them a little bit. I also noticed that his parents' house next-door has a proper roof. Perhaps that's where they stay if it rains?!? May Allah has mercy on them.

We were accompanied by Saha, a lady from the Country Office who is a local and was also our translator that morning. Some new informations gained :

1. Dafullah was al-Hafiz, MasyaAllah..
2. He was working on the ground floor, when a cement container hit his shoulder and ripped his chest,
    tearing his heart. He died on the spot.
3. Due to the condition of the body, doctors didn't let his wife to see it.
4. He called his wife in the afternoon, saying that he passed some amount of money through a friend for his
   wife. But he won't be back that afternoon, because the site was far from home. Instead, he will be back  
   that night, and he promised to bring his sick wife to the clinic that night when he comes back. He never   
   made it, as we all know..
5. When he was working in the complex, he also did other jobs after the working hours in the 
    complex.
6. He was supposed to report duty in the complex. The new management finaly called back some of the
    previous workers from the former company. He just had to finish a few more days in the site, before 
    coming back to the complex.
7. He was paid SDG20 daily for the work in the construction site. That's about USD7.50 per day :(

We passed her some amount of money collected amongst our community members, and some of us also brought biscuits, cakes, drinks, and gently used clothes for the wife and the children.

 Muhammad, Dafullah's eldest son (7yo)

 The hostesses and their guests. The guy in jalabiya is Dafullah's father and his mom is the one in black/white stting down, next to the lady in green. All the other ladies sitting on the mat are Dafullah's sisters. 

 Seen here is Dafullah's brother, Mustapha (looking to his right) and Hameed, a general worker in the complex who is also Dafullah's friend.

The entrance gate to Dafullah's parents house.

Habsah, the late Dafullah's wife.

We had the opportunity to talk to his brother Mustapha, who despite hasn't finished his high school education, speaks very good english. One lady member added, "American slang lagi" :-)
Apparently, he loves reading and reads a lot! He also used to attend seminars and workshop for creative writings, English courses offered by some institution around Khartoum, and he is inspired to be a good writer himself. That also explains why Dafullah's English was also good ,despite him being a general worker. If you remember well, I also mentioned that he speaks a bit of Bahasa Malaysia , too! I guess, if you are a learned person, it really shows. Perhaps, Dafullah himself is someone who likes to learn. There are people who let lessons of their life pass them by and do nothing. There are people like Dafullah and his brother who learn from things happening around them, take every chances to grasp knowledge and let experiences enrich their lives.
I hope his children would be like their Dad and Uncle Mustapha. I hope their wisdoms are passed along in the family. I alsohpe whtever small contribution we made that day would help them in whatever ways possible. I pray that Allah makes it easier for them to live their life and that Allah guides them ( and us) always. May Allah bless us all.