Breaking fast at the M'sian High Commission

Assalam my fellow blogger  friends (wherever you are)! How was your weekend?? I hope it was as awesome as mine!!! Well, I was actually down with a slight fever n runny nose on Friday, but I felt a OK during the evening. Anyway, that Friday, we had Bukber (Buka Bersama) with our fellow M'sians. It was organized by our Kedutaan Besar Malaysia in Jkt. I was excited to go 'coz the main reason was the FOOD & at the same time to meet the rest of M'sians in Jakarta. I had longed for M'sian food & delicacies especially during the time of Ramadhan & Allah has actually answered my 'doa' coz during the day, I mentioned to my husband that I was craving for kuih onde2 gula melaka,kuih seri muka, kuih koci for buka puasa & that's when he told me that the M'sian High Commision's office had invited us for the break-fast! woohooo... alhamdulillahhh... rezqi for us on that day!! And all those delicacies I've mentioned, they had most of it except for the Onde2 gula melaka.. :)

Just to point out some 'flaws' as we arrived at the High Commission (HC). Since I am a first-timer or 'newby' in  Jkt amongst the rest of the M'sians, obviously I don't know anyone there & felt kind of left out. Luckily my husband was accompanying me & he introduced me to some of his male acquaintances. I tried to be friendly by starting a casual chat with some of the ladies there (which I assumed are the HC M'sian staff), well, it didn't turn out that well, it's as though I'm talking in 'Alien language'. Tanya sepatah, jwb sepatah, until I got fed-up, I just walked away-politely.  And when you smile at them, it's as though they'll get infected with diseases if they return the smile.. Haih... So, I proceeded on in chilling at the lobby while reading my BBM. Okey, to cut things short, it actually took an Indonesian staff whose working for our M'sian HC to at least be friendly & making me feel welcome! Haih, sabar je lah.. At that time, cakap dlm hati, I think it's either our people are too snobbish or plain ignorant!  You already know that you have a get-together/function, should have at least assign 1-2 staff to 'welcome' the guests. Just because no Ministers came for the do, buat 'dek' je lah. Typical scenario lah! It's a bit frustrating that we are lacking of these warmth, good gestures. This is 1 thing that I like about the Indonesian people - their hospitality & their warmth!!  No matter what, they will make u feel welcome wherever you are even if you are a stranger as they are a friendly lot! I rase our MOFA kena kasi extra course on hospitality & attitude course to those people that's been assigned overseas. It's really embarrassing lah coz you represent our country, Malaysia, & with that kind of attitude, it would be shameful!!

So, anyway, in the end, that night turned out quite well lah, as my husband had introduced me to 1 his friend's wife & we chatted throughout the night after terawih & she was kind enough to introduce me to some of the ladies that she knows there. She even invited us for a buka puasa session with some of the 'high -end' fellow M'sians the next day but I couldn't make it as I was really down with a fever, flu & a bad sore throat!! Perhaps will meet them for Aidilfitri, insya allah.. :)

xoxo

My 'charcoal-ed' chicken

The title speaks for itself. Muahahahaha... I guess it's not all the time we're lucky in the kitchen or in our cooking. Accidents do happen. I don't know what went wrong today, usually I'm really careful in the kitchen & also in my cooking.

At first, I've accidently cut my finger while chopping the carrots. Ouch!! Clumsy me! Tu lah, berangan lagi!  And then, my supposedly fried chicken, turned barbecue -charcoal & burnt chicken!!! O-M-Goodness!!! Perhaps the oil was either too hot, or I've closed the pan far too long in order to allow the chicken to fry by itself!! Silly me! Well, I've managed to salvaged what's left of the chicken! My husband saw it & he just grinned!! He didn't even say or comment anything!!! ahahahahahaha... In the end, I had to throw the chicken away 'coz it looked & tasted horrible!!! Nasib baik la it's only 2 ketul, or else, rugi & syg lahh... I never like to see food go to waste lah... Haishhh, looks like it's just not our rezqi to eat chicken today & had opted to tapau some Padang dishes for iftar..

Muahahaha, my 'literally' burnt chicken!!

toodles!!

Happy B'day Darling

Last Saturday was my husband's 41st birthday!!! I had planned a surprise for him few days before his b'day tho! Muahahahaha... And syukur alhamdulillah, all my surprises go as planned. Of course, I had the assistance of other party in making the surprise worked.

Firstly, it was his b'day gift. I will keep mum about what his gift was but I know he has longed for it quite a while. I have kept his gift for almost a month actually! Luckily, he didn't  find my secret hiding place for his gift. Phew!  hahahahah... 


Secondly, his b'day cake -or, more of a pie. I had our friend baked  it for us since she's in this pie making business. Something different instead of a cake, right?  It is called a Klappertart pie. (pls see picture below) It's actually an Indonesian delicacy baked with coconut feelings inside with a bit of custard and a sprinkle of cinnamon,almonds & raisins. It was my first time tasting it & it's really, really, delicious!!

So, while we waited for our buka puasa time, my husband has been constantly asking me where to go out for dinner as he is feeling 'hungry' ?? hahahah... (Makan jerr dia ingat tau!!)  He had no idea that I had secretly, planned with a few of our close friends for a buka puasa get -together & off to dinner after our prayers. Yep, he was really excited like a little kid when they popped into our place! :D  So, we shoot off for dinner at his choice of place where the specialty is sup kambing betawi. ( I can't recall the name of the area tho). I don't eat mutton but I only had a taste of the soup, and to my surprise, it was really nice as I couldn't feel the taste of the mutton unlike the rest of the sup kambings that I've tried before.

After makan2, we all chilled out & it actually made my husband's day... :D ..

The Birthday Klappertart Pie 

Happy B'day my love!

xoxo

Terawih & My purple slippers.. :D

Last night, it was a night to remember!.. :D  Me & hubby went to the mosque for our Terawih prayers. We went to the main mosque at our area instead of a Musholla that we normally go a few nights ago. As I was so curious on how the mosque look like and also how do they perform their Terawih, I kind of pestered my husband to do our prayers at that mosque. And so we did! As we went inside, I was so excited as they were many people, so bersemangat lah nak solat, kan.. It reminded me of the masjid that I normally go in PJ Kawasan Melayu.

So anyway, we did our Isya' then they had a short ceramah/tazkirah Ramadhan just after our solat Isya' before we proceed with the terawih prayers. It was something different to us as normally we will just do the Terawih straight after Isya'. The tazkirah/ceramah was almost half an hour or so. And the Terawih was only 8 rakaat + 3 witir. I noticed this is how they practiced it & usually the Imam will recite some verses of ayat Quran during the prayers.

Over here, the ladies in the mosque are actually quite open to just simply take off their Telekung or Mukenah.Why I say so is because as I was observing the surroundings, during the tazkirah, most of them have started to fidget & feeling uneasy,  the ladies simply took out their telekung & at a 'relax' mode.Some were wearing their pjyamas & t-shirts underneath their telekung. The barriers that they put to separate the men & women wasn't full enough to cover the ladies' section. So, go figure lah. :D Apparently, my husband said it's normal as over here they are not as strict as the mosques we go in M'sia where we have to be covered up as we enter the mosque. Here, the ladies could wear short skirts,shirts & not even wearing a head skarf to enter the mosque to perform their solat. Once dah masuk masjid they ambil wuduk, they just wear their telekung and no one is judgemental abt it. Yang penting they solat when azan berkumandang.

As we have finished our prayers, my slippers were found missing. Haiyaaa... Just not my rezqi lah. So, nevermind lah, halal je lah.. Rezqi org lain...  Thankfully, my husband gave me his slippers for me to use, whilst he walked bare-footed back home. hehehehe... berkorban apa shj utk isteri. Pahala byk tu Allah kasikan? But as we walked, ada la jugak ngomelan2 suamiku...hahahahha...  Well, I said to him, slipper kat umah tu byk, so ambil je lah yg mana 1 perkenan... hehehe..

xoxo..

Ramadhan Kareem di Perantauan

It's the 2nd day of Ramadhan but it is my 1st time spending Ramadhan as a wife & far far away from the family!!! uwaaaaaaaaa.... :(  What I missed most is the happening of bazaar Ramadhan in PJ. The food like ayam percik,murtabak,nasi kerabu, soto ayam, laksam and the list goes on ...... Well, over here they do have some sort of bazaar Ramadhan BUT it's not that happening like the ones in PJ. Also, I'm sceptical on how hygienic the food that they sell here especially yg tepi2 jln tu.. urrghhhh!! tak nak sakit perut nanti! So, me & hubby opted to just buy the kue2 manis and bakwan + gorengan and sos buah. Itu pon, we pick n choose the kedai.  Kalau nak buka puasa kat luar, we rather go to a real restaurant. Else, I'll do the cooking. I feel a lot secure that way & more hygienic. :D

We did our Terawih prayers last nite, at a Musholla near our place. Fyi, there are 2 mosques & 1 musholla at our area here.. They are about 5 mins walking distance from each other. However, the Musholla that we prayed at, was of Mahamadiyah's. No wonder mase solat trawih tu, there was a slight difference then how we normally practice especially in between after 2 rakaat, there was no selawat, more of like reciting a short surah. So it got me a bit confused but yakin shj apa yg kita buat tu.

Over here, they have the Mahamadiyah followers, Nadhatul Ulama (NU) followers & there's some more in which I couldn't remember the name. Apparently when I asked 1 of the ustaz here, he said sini para2 ulama mereka don't reach to a consensus and they are followers of many mazhabs, not just Shafie. Sebab tu kat sini, puasa pon ada 3 different days i.e. Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Some said boleh puasa on Thursday, or Friday & those on Saturday are the followers of NU and Pemerintah. So nanti sini raya pon ada 3 different days lah.. Confused?? Yes, me too. I over heard a conversation last nite at a mosque, this makcik was asking another friend of hers, kapan kamu mulai puasa? Oh, saya hari Jumat. :D

I guess in M'sia we mostly follow 1 mazhab & that is Shafie. I reckon,that's why we din't face much problem in reaching a consensus, unlike here which is a bit the 'fening' lah..Well, they have approx. 240million ppl in Indonesia, how do you reach a consensus to that??? Sedangkan di M'sia, we have approx. 27million ppl pon kdg2 tu masih lagi berbalah sesama sendiri kan???

xoxo.

My dear husband

All the while in my previous blog postings, I have written a lot about what's happening in my life.. It's all about Me, myself & I.. Now that I'm married, just wanna share a bit about my beloved husband & how we actually met.

I remembered back in the year 2008, somewhere in September, we became colleagues. It was his first day at work & he was seated next to me. My first impression of him, was.... well, not much of a fancy! hahahahah... But we chatted a while & introduced ourselves. The thing that I could remembered about him that was quite hilarious, was, his way of typing at the keyboard!!! I call it type 'cara patuk ayam' coz he only typed with his 2 fore fingers whereas we normally type using all our 10 fingers!!! LOL!! As days went by, months passed by, we became close friends. Since I din't have a car back then & he lived in Shah Alam & I lived in PJ, he was my ride to & fro the office!! Well, at first, I was more of like 'using' him coz I need a ride home, but after awhile we became really close like a Bff (bestfriend's forever) kinda thing. We share our stories, we frequently hang out together, even after working hours. Until 1 day, I felt that he was clinging on to me too much until I got sooooooo rimas of him tailing my back where ever I go in the office!!! Arrghhh!!! I felt he was a pest, despite all the free rides' home I got from him, I started to feel a bit annoyed already!! hahahahahaha.... And he too, like to annoy me & irritate me & disturb me a lot while at work.. So he really got me on my nerves!!!

However, our colleagues started to notice that the reason he acted the way he did was because he wanted my attention!!Oh, I denied whatever they were thinking at first coz to me it was nothing. Just his plain annoyance act towards me, that's all!! hahahahahahha... I sometimes felt a mixture of hatred/menyampah/meluat towards him... But in the end, entah macam mana we became a couple!!! LOL!!! Ironice huh?? I actually saw the other good side of him despite of his loud-mouth & strong vocal character.. I learnt his perangai, started to accept it bit by bit & honestly, I actually began missing him when he was not in the office. Tu lah the 'org2 tua' always said, jgn benci org tu sgt, nanti jadi syg kat org tu. I guess they were right, huh??  In the end, we were an item and alhamdulillah, after about 2 and half years of courting, we got married earlier this year in February & now am loving him the way he is. We learnt about each other's flaws & try to patch whatever kekurangan we have. Well, nobody is perfect... I, too, have my flaws..He too, has changed to the better & I hope it will last forever. & ever....Amiinnnn....

xoxo

Friends & Frienemies

These 2 words do make a lot of difference. I looked up at the yahoo search dictionary for the meaning of these words & of course, we're already familiar with the word Friends but there is actually a definition to the word Frenemies.  a) blurred friendship, b) fake friends you have for selfish purposes. c) friends you know who don't really like you & you don't like them either.  All the while I thought it was just a 'slang' we normally use & it's meaningless. :D As for the meaning of Friends, a) person who one knows, like & trust, b)a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty; c) a person with whom you are acquainted with.

We do come across these kind of people, be it Friends or Frenemies, in our lives, one way or another. They are around you & it's funny sometimes when you thought you knew who your real friends are but you actually have missed the signs that says, they aren't  really your Friends but they are your Frenemies! Speaking through some current & past experiences, I couldn't agree more. I guess I am too naive,gullible and 'blur' to see all the bad signs 'coz I am the kind of person that actually look at the good side of people. It may sound corky & unbelievable, but that's the truth! I remembered 1 of my girl friends whom I knew since my Uni days used to tell me, kau tu selalu sgt tgk org tu baik jer, sampai benda tak elok dia buat pon kau masih tak boleh nampak. Well, to me nothing wrong with that, right? Selalu bersangka baik pada seseorg. itu. That's what our Ustaz always tells us. I have this belief that seburuk2 org. itu masih ada kebaikannya & sebaik2 org itu, masih ada keburukannya. It's the Ying & Yang in each of us. Nobody's perfect!!!

To me, senang jer, if you don't fancy that particular person, you can just ignore or stay away from them as far as possible & pray that you won't bump into them anywhere in the world!!!! muahahahahahahha ...Life is short!!  It's not easy to find friends that would be with you during your hard times & downfalls but friends for fun & pleasure, you will definitely have plenty of them lingering around you all the time!!!

Anyway, I am thankful I have a hands' full of friends whom I can trust. I guess as I grow older & mature, I now know how to screen my real friends. :) BUT , if my toes have been stepped on purpose, or my back have been stabbed, then I'm sorry, you've lost my trust FOREVER!!!!

xoxo