The joy of patch work is ..

.... in the nostalgia. This bed spread was made in the 90's using pieces of fabrics left over from uniforms, curtains, dresses, baju kedah and pillow cases. It has outlasted most of the original pieces which had become washed out, torn, or given away. The oldest patches are the two pieces from my maxi I wore in 1989.

Every now and then, I would look at these patches and try to remember what project or whose baju they were taken from.

Big squares are easy to work with. Work on four squares to make one big square; and soon you'd find yourself with one giant spread. Repair is also easy as if one of the squares is ripped, you can replace with another, newer square.

Hope this one will survive a long time and become an heirloom for the next generation.

Yesteryear's jottings - Final Part

8-7-1992 

Angah dan Ad-din balik ke Penang malam ini selepas 2.1/2 minggu di sini. Ad-din sekarang 1 tahun 1 bulan, dah reti bahasa walaupun tak pandai cakap lagi. Bila cakap Umi dia nak balik Penang sorang-sorang dan tinggalkan dia di KL, dia menangis sampai bawak mengigau malam-malam.

Monday 28-9-1992

Mohamad Mujahid Hadi was born on Monday @12.40 noon.

Tuesday 29-9-1992

Almost the whole of Peninsular blacked out between 4 to 24 hours.

Ahad 28-2-1993

Hari keenam berpuasa. Azri sudah mula mengerjakan ibadat solat. Dia puasa penuh setakat ini, walaupun "nak pengsan" katanya di sekolah. Kalau tak tahan dia mandi atau basahkan muka. Semalam dia cabut gigi susunya yang pertama.

13-3-1994

Raya Aidilfitri. Abah beli TV. Ad-din, Mujahid and Aufa came to celebrate with us. Aufa is 3.1/2 mths old, already weighing 8 kilos. Mujahid dah pandai panggil Long, Chu and Nek. Abang Deen is mature beyond his 2.3/4 years. Mujahid caused the table fan to tumble down the stairs and broke the blade. Abg Deen repeatedly reminded his parents to replace the fan, and Mujahid not to play with it again.

~ THE END ~

Yesteryear's jottings - Part 4

Wednesday, 2-10-91

Azri says he wants to sell his "art" to his friends for RM0.30/pc. No one has done this at this school. What inspires him to venture into business or makes him think his works are any good, I have no idea. Personally, I can't see his friends buying his works because their pocket money on the average is less than 30 sen per day. And his subject matter is always robots!

I fear he'd be disappointed as I feel surely no one will buy his works. At the same time I feel glad that he has confidence in his talent and wants to profit from it.

Baru-baru ni Ayie sakit dan Doktor Kassim kata dia hampir dapat lelah. Jadi sekarang dia mandi air suam. Tapi pasal aiskrim, tak boleh dihalang.

Perangainya di peringkat ini, cepat panas baran. Suka manja-manja especially tengah orang tengok tv, dia pun tanya bukan-bukan. Nags me to buy him or bring him back paper from the office for drawing. Suka pukul balik kalau kena pukul and add some. Linda pula suka menyakat, memang kena pukul balik dengan Ayie. He will strike everyone in the family, except Abah.

Monday, 14-10-91

Ad-din is coming this weekend to stay with us for three weeks because his Umi is sitting for exams. We all look forward to this arrival.

P/S: Sometime in Sept. '91, I went with Azri to confirm his enrolment in SRK BTR. He and I only. When we reached the gate, Azri refused to step out of the car saying that it was not his school. So I asked him the direction to "his school" and followed it. We ended up at Jalan Jaya and on its right hand side was the SRK BTR football field. I said, "Ayie, itu kan sekolah BTR juga?". He said' "Mana Ayie tahu, sekolah nilah yang Ayie biasa tengok bila naik bas Cik Yam!"

Yesteryear's jottings Part 3

Monday 12-8-91

My Megavalve is no longer "the new and beautiful". During our visit to JB, some maniac scratched in the word "VIP" on the bonnet.

Azli is in Ipoh preparing to go to Wales at the end of August. Azhar is in UUM. He went there on 1-7-91.

Yesterday, Azri went on a tadika tour to Taman Burung, Rusa, Pusat Islam and Masjid Negara. When he came back, he was very moody and authoritative! Nowadays, if he is angry, he would talk in high pitch falsetto.

Friday, 30-8-91

Ali and Suki (Sarawakian friend) and six other USM students flew to UK by MH4 @10.55pm last night. Everyone, including Ad-din and Paman sent him off at the airport.

Ad-din sekarang berumur 2 bulan lebih, sudah comel dan putih. Dia belum lagi "mahu" dengan saya, walaupun kadang-kadang mahu juga respond.

Yesteryear's jottings Part 2

Tuesday, 21-5-91

Azri dah pandai naik basikal roda dua two weeks already selepas belajar sendiri. Puaslah kami ajar dia, akhirnya belajar sendiri baru dapat. Gigi depan dia yang dah rongak tu mulai goyang. Tak lama lagi tumbuhlah gigi baru. Pada usia 5 tahun 10 bulan, dia dah boleh baca fairly well.


Ali sedang bercuti sambil tunggu jawapan dapat pergi overseas ke tidak. Kawan-kawannya yang gagal telahpun dipanggil oleh USM untuk teruskan pengajian di USM, tapi Ali tidak. Minta-minta dia berjaya. Dia juga dah dapat lesen memandu. Sekejap je belajar dah dapat.Lebih baik belajar dengan orang lain dari kakak sendiri.

Azhar sedang kerja di Kentucky Fried Chicken sebelah Pertama Complex. Dia pun tengah tunggu result masuk U local ataupun overseas.

Thursday, 13-6-91

Two special events I want to record here. I guess I start with the soccer match because it happened earlier. Last night, I went with Ali and Ahar to watch England vs Malaysia (Dunhill Invitational) match at Stadium Merdeka. My first live soccer match ever! I am full of exhilaration I can't describe. But it is there in my heart to this minute and will be here many more days before it stops.

Secondly, this morning, Angah gave birth to my first nephew. The first one in the family. Mak, Alan are going to Penang tonight, and I'll be on leave to look after the house.

Friday, 28-6-91

My nephew's name is Mohd Rijaludeen or Ad-din for short. He is 16 days old today. He is quite adorable. Can't tell at the moment whether he's going to be dark or fair. It doesn't matter actually, only that his Walid, according to his Umi is a bit concerned about it. He is staying with us now. Already knows how to hold the bottle and stare at us.

Ahar is preparing for his registration at UUM. Neckties and all.

Yesteryear's jottings Part 1

Monday 28th. August,  1990

It rained for a while just now, a blessing for KL; at least it brought down some of the particles in the air that are creating the haze...believed to have been caused by the bush fire in Australia.

Today's assignment is to check and update the cost and quantity of Sports Stock for July closing printout. Yee-ga tengah bengang buat fake stock check for items still appearing in the listing whereas there is nil stock.

Wednesday 13th September, 1990

Malam ini kenduri arwah datuk Bulat 7 hari. Semalam Alan dapat lesen kereta.

Saturday 22nd September, 1990

My Meg came or rather was collected from the EON SHowroom in Taman Taynton on 18-9-90. Quite nerve-wrecking to drive it the first few days. Now I think I have conquered my fears and become the master of ngoh ge chaw.

Saturday, 27th Oct, 1990

Pagi ini sekolah agama Linda buat khatam Quran. Buatkan nasi kunyit dan sepaha bunga telur, tapi goyang-goyang, tak kukuh!

Saturday, 9th March 1991



Azhar has got his SPM results which were out on 5-3-91. He got 12 agg. Quite a feat! Tak sangka jugalah, tapi dia frust tentang Englishnya. Cita-cita nak pergi Jepun, jumpa Aminahnya agaknya. Si Azri pulak berangan nak pergi Jepun dengan abangnya. Semalam dia kata nak pergi tapi tak dapat cuti. Hari ini hari Sabtu, dia kata tak ada duit pulak.

Azri is very cute and entertaining and he knows how to crack jokes already.

Extension

Barack Obama's tenure as the chief of U.S of A got extended by another four years. Four years ago I blogged about his historic feat (pls search it if you care; am too lazy to backlink it). Thus, Michele gets another four years to dress-up in designer clothes while Barack gets the country back in shape.

Impressions on Bunohan

Initially I was turned off by the title of this movie. Bunohan conjurs the image of merciless and indiscriminate killings. In the movie, Bunohan is the name of a place in Kelantan.

But I can't ignore it after nominations for prestigious awards came pouring in. So I watched it.
Suffice to say I was delighted with the movie. It is one GREAT movie.
So you know it is not one that makes money at the cinema.
Sad but it's the reality with Malaysian audience.

Notes:

1. I thought I knew my Kelantanese; but I had to rely on the subtitles to understand the dialogue.

2. After watching the movie, I searched for the making of Bunohan video to understand the movie better. Then I watched the movie for the second time to pick up the scenes and nuances that I have missed.

3. I have new respect for the cast, particularly; Namron and Zahiril Adzim whom I just saw  as Javanese in the movie "Parit Jawa". And Pekin Ibrahim who is very evil in this one, a far cry from his previous role in "Aku Kau dan Dia". And the actor who plays Jolok effortlessly.

4. The movie trailer is misleading. Watch the movie. It's available online.

Pictures courtesy Gua.com.my.

Zahiril Adzim (centre in shorts) as Adil, uglified as the tomoi wrestler.
The character in the middle background is evil incarnate. One fine actor whose name I cannot recall.

Wan Hanafisu as Pok Eng, the patriach.

Pekin Ibrahim as Bakar, greedy school teacher and SOB. 

Faizal Hussein as Ilham, the assassin. He has only one outfit throughout the movie, so you can imagine how stinky he smells.

Supermodel Tengku Azura's character is one that ties the story. Her scenes are brief but powerful. 

Kindergarten Capital

I never dreamt that I'd get to see this picture again. This is the class of 1970, Kindergarten Capital in Jalan Gurney, Kuala Lumpur.  It resurfaced in my life thanks to boy #2 whom I met 2 years ago on Facebook. We must have been friends, because he remembers me even forty years later. Funny that I don't remember him at all. I remember boy #3 though. His name is Dorian. He's memorable not just because I had a crush on him, but also of his name -- we used to call him Durian! I also remember girl #4 because she was the prettiest. Just look at her! At age six, she was already sitting like a lady. Should you wonder, girl #1 is yours truly.

The woman on the left of the picture was our class teacher. She's tall and very pretty. Later in life when I saw Dodo Cheng, I was always reminded of my kindy teacher. The other lady standing on the right was the principal. I remember we were told to dress up for this special day in our pretty clothes rather than in our daily uniform, which if my memory is correct was a combination of maroon and white.

I went to the school because my grand uncle was the school bus driver, and at that time my family was staying in Jalan Jelatek, which was very close to Tok Bulat's house in Keramat Dalam. Two years later, my sister Angah also enrolled in this kindy. (She also had a special boy named Ian!). When my family moved further to Ampang/Ulu Kelang, my parents decided to enroll my other siblings to the kindy nearer to home. Thus ended our romance with Kindergarten Capital.

MashaAllah, amazingly the pre-school is still there. I will try to update this page with its latest photo.

Nasi Serai

This recipe was demonstrated to us by my friend Dr Zana in her kitchen. The ingredients were revealed as below (except the chicken cube which was my own addition) minus the jampi serapah.

5 cups Basmathi rice

Serai aka lemongrass

6 cups water

For tumisan:
6 stalks of lemongrass, slightly bruised
2 tbsp ghee
cinnamon,star anise, cardamon and cloves
1" fresh ginger, ground

Seasoning:
salt
1 chicken cube (optional)

I have tried the recipe on two occassions, and both times, the rice was well received, Alhamdulillah. Best served warm with chicken/beef rendang and some vegetable pickles.

Miskin

Kami tak sedarpun kami miskin, kawan Embak bercerita tentang kehidupannya membesar di Perak pada suatu hari semasa kami makan tengahari bersama-sama. Topik kami hari itu ialah tentang makanan semasa kecil yang sekarang susah nak dapat dan kawan Embak ini menyebut Sambal Tahi Minyak. Embak teruja sebab tak ramai tahu masakan ini. Katanya, menjadi tugasnya dan adik-adik pergi ke kedai meminta tempurung kelapa yang telah diparut dari peruncit. Setiba di rumah, isi yang masih tersisa dikeruk dari tempurung dan dijerang untuk mendapatkan tahi minyak. Dan hasilnya akan dibuat hidangan yang istimewa oleh ibu kawan saya.

Bila hujung minggu, kawan saya dan adik-adiknya akan ke kedai roti meminta kerak/kulit roti untuk dicicah dengan kuah kari yang mereka minta dari mamak roti canai.Melopong saya mendengarnya. Saya ingat kehidupan saya dahulu susah, tetapi kehidupannya lebih dhaif. Tetapi, bak kata kawan saya, semasa tu dia tak perasan pun dia miskin.

Teringat Embak pada kata-kata seorang pemuda yang kami kanak-kanak panggil Uncle Rajoo yang datang dari Petaling Jaya ke flat kami di Ampang/Ulu Kelang di tahun 70-an dulu. Dia mengajar tuisyen di flat kami kerana ingin membantu anak-anak di sana yang serba kekurangan, "makan nasipun berlaukkan kicap sahaja", katanya. Secepat kilat Embak terimbas Uncle Rajoo yang sebelum itu melintasi unit kami dan kebetulan ketika itu emak sedang menyuapkan adik saya nasi dengan ikan goreng dan kicap. Pasti dia merujuk pada gambaran itu. Embak berkata dalam hati, hei, lauk tu sangat sedaplah. Embak tak pasti samada kami betul-betul kekurangan ataupun itu resipi yang mudah untuk emak memasaknya. Yang Embak tahu, kami adik beradik sangat suka pada lauk itu, lebih-lebih lagi kalau ikan goreng panas. Itulah dia, apa yang kita lihat, interpretasinya berbeda-beda.

Berbalik kepada kawan Embak tadi. Kesimpulan yang dia pelajari dari kehidupan silamnya, dan Embak bersetuju, ialah apabila kita melihat kehidupan orang, janganlah kita ter'over' feel. Orang yang kita rasa malang mungkin tak merasa semalang mana dan tidak mahu dikasihani. Masalahnya, kawan Embak ni cakap je begitu tapi dia lah yang cepat kesian jika ada orang meminta bantuan.

DKUM - Taktik Licik Syaitan

DKUM - Dari kelas Ustaz Moaz, Yayasan Ta'lim

Banyak ayat dalam al Quran yang menceritakan ikrar syaitan untuk menyesatkan manusia; antaranya Al-A'raf 16-17 yang mahfumnya, (Iblis) menjawab, "Kerana Engkau telah menyesatkan aku, pasti aku akan selalu menghalangi mereka dari jalanMu yang lurus, kemudian pasti aku akan mendatangi mereka dari depan, dari belakang, dari kanan dan dari kiri mereka. Dan Engkau tidak akan mendapati kebanyakan mereka bersyukur".

Ustaz Moaz telah memetik 5 cara yang dilakukan oleh syaitan untuk menyesatkan manusia (tapi Embak lupa nak catit nama kitab atau penulisnya).

1. Mengajak ke kufur.
2. Menghasut untuk melakukan pembaharuan dalam agama (bid'ah).
3. Mengajak manusia melakukan dosa-dosa besar.
4. Mengajak manusia melakukan dosa-dosa kecil.
5. Mengajak manusia melakukan perkara-perkara yang halal sehingga membuang masa.

Ada je taktik yang digunakan untuk menyesatkan. InshaAllah yang nombor 1-3 ramai yang tak buat. Tap kebanyakan kita mungkin di kategori 4 dan 5.

Kalau golongan yang tak buat dosa besar, syaitan akan hasut untuk memandang remeh dosa-dosa kecil. Alah, si polan tu lagi teruk dari aku! Kalau manusia itu baik, tak buat dosa kecil sekalipun, syaitan akan menyusup dengan mendorong kepada sesuatu hobi atau aktiviti sehingga kita lalai dan terabai ibadat.

Contohnya, dok online berjam-jam. Main game tak henti-henti. Tengok bola tengah malam sampai miss solat subuh. Layan anak-anak kat mall berjam-jam sampai tak sempat solat. Obses bela kucing sehingga berhabisan untuk masuk pertandingan dsb.

So, peringatan untuk diri ini, janganlah terperangkap, dan segeralah bertaubat. Dan mohonlah pertolongan Allah pagi dan petang dengan membaca surah Kursi, surah An Nas dan al Falaq, dan Isti'azah (A u zu billahiminasy syaitanirrajim).

Incredible Woman Part Deux

Remember the story of Incredible Woman I wrote in 2006? Here's the latest update. But it's not a happy one, I'm afraid.

Since last time, after the episode of her husband's love affair,  he suffered a heart attack. During his illness, he returned to the fold of their home in Melaka and the wife nursed him back to health. After his recovery, he returned to Kuala Lumpur and they resumed the old weekend marriage routine. For a while after that, the woman's Leukemia returned and she stayed under the radar of her alumni friends until her health improved.

Recently, she came back to her alumni FB group (of which my sister belongs to) to report that in the month of Shawal, she sensed that something was not right with her husband so she and her three daughters came to KL to check on him. What they saw in the living room of her husband's house floored them. There were trays of hantaran as the husband was preparing his own wedding! Distraught, she poured her troubles to her old friends past one midnight. By the next day, relieved but remorseful, she removed all her posts but my sister had managed to read all of them, hence this update.

Poor lady. I pray that she exercise utmost patience on this trial. And may she win it and be rewarded with Jannah, InshaAllah, Amin.