Gulai Atau Masak Lemak?

Dibesarkan di Kedah dan sehingga kini masih tinggal di Kedah, gulai bagi saya adalah kari melayu. Kari melayu ni selalunya agak light sikit dan lebih berlemak tetapi kurang berempah dan sememangnya agak berbeza dengan kari mamak atau indian curry yang pekat dan kaya dengan rasa rempah dan agak masam kadangkala disebabkan pengunaan yogurt.

Tetapi selepas berkahwin dengan DH, orang Perak, baru lah tahu yang Gulai di Perak merujuk kepada kuah lemak cili padi. Kalau di Kedah dipanggil Masak Lemak ( tak pasti pula sama ke tak dengan Masak Lemak Cili Padi versi Negeri Sembilan) tetapi masak lemak di Kedah boleh pakai sebarang cili dan diletak bawang dan serai dikisar sekali dengan cili. Tetapi Gulai di Perak bukanlah macam kari, looks like masak lemak cuma serainya dititik (bruised) dan bahan kisaran hanyalah cilipadi dan bawang.

Pening kan.. kalau tak faham tak apa :D

Anyway, ni resepi dari En. Mat Gebu. Terima Kasih for the recipe. Resepi from HERE. Memang menjadi sedap.

 Saya masak kan untuk DH, dan dia cakap sedappppp sangat sebab pedas dan my DH suka pedas. Saya juga gunakan kunyit hidup jadi wangi nya gulai saya ni jadinya..

Personally saya tak berapa suka ayam masak lemak ni atau gulai ni. Tapi sebab DH suka saya usaha juga belajar. But next time kalau buat saya rasa bahagian drumstick dan thighs lebih sedap dimasak cara ini berbanding bahagian dada ayam.

wrong place at the wrong time and at the wrong situation

Assalamualaikum.

Sangat berdukacita semalam. I was totally in bad mood last night. Tak main candy crush, no bedtime reading as usual. Tidur berbantal air mata, bangun pagi mata sembab!!

None of us are wrong. We are totally in wrong place, at the wrong time and wrong situation. Jadi mangsa keadaan. Raya Qurban ni most likely both of us have to celebrate it apart from each other. 

Nak buat macam mana, redha je lah. DH dah commited dgn Qurban prep yang dia kena tolong at his family house. Myself dah tied dgn working schedule yang gila gila punya gila! Cuti raya pun sehari. Hari raya hari tu lah cutinya. Esoknya kena kerja! of that I had asked DH to balik beraya disini je lah, but he said he already committed to do all the qurban ceremony preparation. Tak ada orang lain yang boleh buat. Period.

Ye lah sebab sebelum ni I pun dah cakap mmg nak raya kat sana. Nak buat macam mana, planning manusia ni tak boleh kira punya, kita bukan sesiapa, pandai merancang, yang Maha Menentukan DIA.  Apa pun tetap bersyukur seadanya. Allah sebaik baik perancang. Pasti ada hikmah.

Kalu tension, food is the best therapy. Ni buat last friday. Tengok balik pun dah boleh ease the pain hehehe

Hmmmmmmmm... nasib baik lah raya haji... Tengah merancang percutian year end ni, semoga Allah permudahkan untuk spend time with DH

This loneliness

Ya Allah, help me get rid this loneliness and tell me that our love can go the distance...

Me waiting my adik to finish his trial exam then only i can meet DH (u know i kan supir hantar budak sekolah aka guru tuition tak bertauliah aka penceramah bebas tentang kesedaran study last minute ni hehe)..

That means this merdeka break i just have to spend my day off at home saja lah.. Adoi memikirkan keboringan tu lah rasa waktu lama sangat berjalan... I wish i can go to work on this merdeka day huwaaaaaaa!

On 31st tu ada kenduri Pak Ngah DH kat Batu Gajah, kena fikir jugak, nak pergi atau tak pergi...... hmmm... kalau ke kenduri Pak Ngah on Saturday, boleh bertolak dari Thursday lepas ambil Irfan, then boleh sampai Ipoh Khamis malam Jumaat tu, dan jumpa DH :D

Ada 2 hari extra nak bermanja :D

Anyway, kena fikir dulu, bilanya nak do the grocery shopping, beli ikan sayur tu semua utk bekalan rumah while me away from home.. then baru boleh balik jumpa DH dengan senang...

Macam ni lah pengorbanan kena jaga family, and at the same time, jaga my hati yang kacau bilau ni...

This loneliness is totally consuming me... Ya Allah..

Raya 2013

Selamat Hari Raya! So how was your raya? my raya  biasa biasa sahaja. This year is my turn to celebrate raya at my hometown. But I think, DH's hometown is more fun because DH had such a big and family and I enjoy being surrounded by his big family. Semuanya baik baik and they really accept me for who i am, alhamdulillah. Back to office after long holiday. But, still in raya mood so I keep eating all the junks from raya hamper at my office.. let see if i managed to put few kilos on scale for this raya hahaha! Anyway am really motivated to back on track hmmm dont know where and when to start, but will try my best ;)

My mom made ketupat palas, this time punya raya, buat banyak sikit for keluarga mentua.. ;)

Ada juga buat mee rebus dan rendang ayam, tapi tak sempat nak bergambar ;D

I drag myself to the kicthen malam raya pertama to cook Serunding Ikan. I dont really like beef or chicken Serunding.  I personally think that ketupat palas and serunding ikan is a perfect combo. I dont remember when my last time I had this serunding and ketupat palas, i think when i was kid at neighbour's house, punyalah sedap dan sangat serasi rasa ketupat yg lemak dgn serunding ikan tu. I pernah suruh my mom buatkan, tapi maybe dia pun tak pernah buat serunding, maka jenuh jugak la tunggu hehehe.. Dah besar ni buat sendiri lah senang.  Last 2 days before raya, I took the trouble to understand the recipe, punya la baca ulang ulang sampai faham. And the result wasn't bad at all (at least for a beginner). Slightly burnt sebab tertidur masa depan tv, nasib baik DH ada temankan I buat the serunding 3am in the morning dia yang tolong kacaukan dan basuh segala periuk dan pinggan sementara I took a nap kat couch ;D

Pagi Raya Ke Dua, mom cook nasi tomato ;)

I always love fresh flower. So petang raya eve tu sempat juga beli kat kedai india walaupun jalan jammed teruk. Ye lah kalau DH ada kita jadi co-pilot je peduli apa kan :D. Tak perlu banyak, dapat satu pasu pun dan cukup to add fresh twist kat living room tu ;)

This is our family potrait Alhamdulillah... yang 2 orang tu silap dapat memo in advance tahun depan punya raya theme. Tu yang jadi unggu tu :D. Dah masuk dalam gambar, siap cakap lagi, yang 2 org tu anak tiri mak kahkahkahkah!

 I'm from a small family. So we just celebrate the raya within our little home with mom and all of my siblings. And then just visited some of my beloved dad siblings. Managed to get nice shots of family portrait. I think that was just good enough hehehe..

We really crazy about turquoise theme this year.. DH even bought Nike T-shirt in turquoise color hee hee so cute....

On second raya, while mom and the rest of my siblings are welcoming their friends come over, DH and I heading to Ipoh and continue the celebration with DH family ;)

How a husband's friends can break a marriage

Occay, the title a little bit cliché right? hehehe.. I think by now, I’m old enough to learn that marriage is not always a bed of roses. There are ups and downs. There's not always about sunshine and rainbow. There will be storms and thunders too heheh..  Marriage is a responsibility from day one!

Totally understand a guy need some time with the boys, futsal, fishing whatever just to shoot the breeze. That kind of needs that can't be met by a wife ( hello i pun suka mancing tau, tang futsal tu maybe mengah sikit :D)

I'm still in the learning stage of becoming a perfect wife.  Jika dapat disamakan dengan proses pembesaran baby, yours truly is at the crawling part lah kot... ;D

I hate to say this. I jealous of my husband friends. Straight from my heart ni hahaha..

Bukan cemburu apa, my husband's friends semuanya lelaki :p.. so no point lah I nak jeles yang bukan bukan. But I really envy the time they always had with my husband. You know, that kind of bonding, the football game at mamak, the teh tarik happy hour, the futsal game, badminton etc etc.. something which I always miss because we are living apart. At first I thought maybe in this PJJ (long distance) marriage, this is the challenge i have to face. Tapi eventually its really eating me inside out. The worse is, I started to hate all of his friends. Sigh.

The moment I call him late nite, just to say how much I miss him, and just to mengadu how was my day.. he said, his friends is outside the house, he had to entertain them... :-|

The moment I saw a romantic movie on air and I wish that we could watch the movie together, so I text him Syg lets watch this movie together, and he replied, on boat, fishing. arghhhh tak ke bengang

I feel that I'm such a bad bad bad person, jeles dan marah kat kawan dia yang tak bersalah tu, (really ke tak bersalah?) Explanation kat bawah.

I dont know who to blame. Myself? yg terlalu nak perhatian, of coz la perempuan kan, mesti drama queen sikit. I think as a wife, I deserve my husband attention anyway I want hahahah tamak gila. But I ada dengar ustaz cakap di ceramah, bagi perhatian kepada isteri tu salah satu kewajipan suami melunaskan nafkah batin. You know batin ni bukan nye hal hal dalam bilik je, but something like melibatkan perasaan, dan jiwa. Err betulke ni?

Or.. it could be My husband yang tak boleh nak bezakan yang mana yg lebih penting his marriage or friends? I think he is more to tak nak kecik kan hati kawan.. ye lah kecikkan hati bini awak ni tak pe kan :-/

Or it could be his friends yang tak faham faham ke that this guy really needs to spend his time with his wife.. I dont ask much. Bukannya 24 hours nak bergayut kat telefon tu, dulu dulu boleh lah kan masa zaman cintan cintun :D. Just a short call, or just when I'am at his place, he is 100% belongs to me (tamak lagi :D). Most of his friends tak kahwin lagi, maybe sebab tu diorang tak "faham-faham"

It's become worst, kadang kadang when I ke ipoh, dah nampak ada kereta bini kat depan rumah kawan you, jgn lah tunjuk muka kan, buat buat je lah  u turn rumah you balik, ni tak, nakbagi salam nak jumpa my husband.. end up I was all alone kat bilik sampai pukul 2 pagi. esoknya my husband nak kerja, apa satu projek pun tak jadi :p hehe..

When I come to think about it, it could be possibly to my impatience. Sabar tu sabar, but I had enough. Dulu sebelum kahwin, I can tolerate, ye lah belum jadi suami takkan nak control ( eh I bukan queen control tau)

Whatever it is, DH is the best husband, he is the one who is always support and stand by me when I'm down. Friends who always bullied me (yeah I like being bullied by him heheheh). He is wonderfully patient man, who is ready to disregard my imperfections just to love me more. There are times when I feel so guilty because I can't stick with as much patience as he has for me.

I constantly remind myself that I'm blessed to have such a wonderful husband.

Its just that sometimes, I need a friend too just like he needs his friends. The time when hormones gone haywire, is the time when I need him the most... betul tak tipu. Ada orang kata kalau perempuan hormon tak betul jgn dekat dekat. Tapi kalau I lagi jauh lagi nak marah hehe..

Poor husband, kena dealing dgn isteri dia yg macam ni hehehe..

So guys, do you agree with me that our husband's friends can break the marriage? Or at least jeopardize the relationship? I think, It could.

Kepada abang-abang yang belum kahwin, tolong lah faham situasi kawan-kawan anda yang sudah berkahwin. Tak payah la nak ajak pergi memancing every weekend, lepak kat mamak malam malam macam zaman sebelum kahwin dulu. Nanti korang kahwin korang akan tau rasa dalam dilema nak jaga hati isteri atau nak jaga hati kawan, nanti tak ikut kawan digelar kena queen control pula atau TB (takut bini). Huh!

Ni entry bukan marah, tapi NASIHAT :D

Marriage is a long journey. Marriage is a lot of hard works too

May Allah fill our homes and heart with Tranquility, Love and Mercy...

Buka Puasa with DH

As Salam...

Husband is here. Still here, malam ni baru balik ke Ipoh. Husband is very busy lately. Sejak tukar kerja (which of course la for a better pay) he don't even have time for himself, apa lagi kat isteri dia ni... and i know he always find a way to make time for me, but its ok,  a small sacrifice you've got to make for a slightly bright future....;)

Anyway, bulan puasa i dont cook much. Excited on the first day je, second day, balik kerja terus tertidor atas sofa, sedar-sedar dah azan berbuka :D

Tapi husband balik kan, mestilah cuba masak something for him. Nasiblah dia balik on Thursday, my halfday hari tu, and then Friday, which is my week end. Today hopefully can go home early at 3.30pm.

Talking about long distance marriage ni banyak pengorbanan perlu di buat. Dari segi masa, emosi dan perasaan. I think so far i have dedicated my 100% to make this thing works. Yes! you sleep with tears almost every nite, you pray everyday, hopes in the mercy of Allah to give me the strength, give us the rezeki to stay together under one roof. And we never lose hope of Allah's mercy... Allah knows what is best for us so why should we complain. We always want sunshine but He knows there must be rain..
So whenever we're down and whenever we feel that everything is going wrong
It is just Allah's way to make our spirit strong… Allah is the best Planner,He knows what will be the best for us..

Wanna share my cooking for my darling husband, simple one, but dia cakap sedap sedap tu kira ok lah kan :D

We had chicken rice for our first buka puasa together this year... ;). The chilli sauce i made was super sedap. But the chicken was a bit overcooked :D

Bubur pulut hitam  plus masterchef plating ;P

The second day, we had Daging goreng kunyit. I used fresh kunyit, blended together with 1 tbs chilli, halia, bawang besar, dan garlic.

And Sambal Hati yang sedap sangat ;)

Anyway, today's menu is sotong and fish.. Tak tau lah nak masak apa... maybe Sotong Paprik kot :D

How I met you....

The title's a bit of a cliche right? but it explains all..

August 2002
First time you call my number, you just keep quite. I thought you are a psychopath.  We then realized that both our best friends who matchmaking us by exchange our phone number. Then we start flirted and fooled around through phones and sms! hahah.. We exchange photos through mail,love letters and we've met couple times.

16th Feb 2003
That was the first time you said, I love you inside one souvenir shop under Heart Shaped lights in Alor Setar. 2 days after valentine (that time we dont know that its haram to celebrate valentine's day haha!).. That souvenir shop filled with valentine's day merchandise like Heart Shaped lights  hanging everywhere. What a romantic place to say I love You!! haha.. It was not what I expected. I nearly chocked. Of course I want you so much, but that time, I was so scared of the commitment and the risk, that what if, if we were broke up, my heart must be tormented and torn apart. What if I broke your heart, I'd lose you as my good friends. How to deal with that. How to love you, I dont know how to love you. We both don't have the experience . I was so scared that I didn't reply you.  Back at college, I still can believe,  hardly pinch myself because I must be dreaming haha.. Soon I realized that you are the one for me, the perfect tall, dark and handsome boy. The time when I was so down and thought no one care about me,  and you silently care. When we were sitting close to each other and I thought my heart was the only thing that beat fast, your secretly did. when I thought I was ugly and should disappear, you thought I was the prettiest and would always want to see me. All of that happened when I thought badly of myself, you was actually around for me.

And the rest is history :)

After 9 years dating, we entered a commitment. :)

Thanks Allah for great journey, for the great man whom I admire and respect. He is kind, thoughtful and loving friend and Husband. I'm truly blessed.
There's ups and downs, through the good and the bad, Still love the way he talk, and he still love the way I get mad hahaha!!

Lesson I've learnt along the way is that being in love is not always a bed of roses. In every relationship, there are ups and downs. It is not always perfect and conflict-free. We are not living in fairy tale world.

We have to face the reality, there will be fights and arguments  We take the risk and we learn to minimize the risk. . It doesn't matter how long you've been alone, how long you've hoped, or how long you've waited. There’s no such thing as perfect love story. Heartaches will always be a part of loving, but remember.. though not perfect.. if that love is meant for you, it will stick with you till the end. No matter how tough it gets, no matter how long. Far from perfect; but real. And there is no perfect relationship. Bullshit will come up when you least expect it. Jealousy will come out of nowhere. At times you will feel replaced and at times you will feel like giving up. Just don't go that far. Don't give up. You'll argue, and you won't talk for days, but nobody says it has to be over.

To DH, we've been through all the good times and hard times, and I hope our love and passion will lasts forever till Jannah.. And may we be blessed with Soleh & Solehah kids.. Praying (and working) hard everyday! And together, Allah's grace, we will continue our journey forward.. :)

Happy 10th years anniversary!

Saturday Blues

Why Saturday Blues? kerana minggu  saya bermula hari Sabtu. Cuti adalah separuh hari pada setiap Khamis, dan Jumaat adalah cuti minggu bagi saya yang berkerja di Kedah. Boleh saja kan ikut other states punya cuti memandang kan saya disektor swasta. Tetapi my management (tauke cina) diorang agak "old school" dari segi menentukan cuti minggu. Semuanya diwarisi dari generasi ke generasi maka agak susah bagi mereka nak buat perubahan besar. 

Saturday blues bukanlah malas nak kerja, tapi lebih kepada what if husband balik Kedah, or what if kalau this week balik ke Ipoh. Susah kan, sebab my DH tu weekend dia Saturday/Sunday. The worse part in PJJ marriage is that the even the weekend pun tak sama. Sigh.

On top of that, DH early said that he will be very busy this Feb. So no chance to meet him at all. So waste 3 days my Chinese New Year holidays (T___T)

Harap March akan cepat menjelma. Dh cakap nak pergi bercuti (again :D). Cant wait!!

Miles apart....

Life seems happy and OK recently Alhamdulillah.. 

DH came back last week, I was up to the challenge being “temporary” full-time housewife when Darling Husband was here. The top priority is his. It’s not easy for us to spend time together, so whatever time we had, it’s a blessing and we cherish the moment together.

It been almost 10 months since we tied the knot, living as wife to my DH, he is my everything. 10 months and he still manages to give me butterflies everyday. The good thing about being separated is we both get excited each time we are going to meet.. Living apart, separated by the states and the 4 hours drive, we are still happy. It’s not so bad when I came to think about this long distance marriage. In our case to be specific, we still can run to each other when things get crazy (working problem runaway (always).. we still can pack and go! Imagine that some couple suffer the living apart separated by the oceans and continents, where it’s not an easy thing to fly to their partner frequently.. its costly and time consuming, All this can lead to frustration and maybe one of the factor that contributes to marriage failure..

I consider myself lucky, Perak and Kedah isn’t far, it’s just that sometimes both of us were too busy, that we don’t even have time even for ourselves. But I believe being apart from the one that you love doesn't make we love our partner any less, we love them more...

Distance never separates two hearts that really care, for our memories span the miles and in seconds we are there. Whenever I start feeling and I miss DH , I remind myself how lucky I am to have someone so special to miss...

I still hope one day, I’ll be able to be together with DH. Pray very hard. I dream of having a country house one day, like a little cottage, English theme and the kitchen facing the backyard, its where we both have our breakfast every morning.

"We may not always get what we want, but surely we will get what we deserve"

-  Horton, Doug

Dreaming…. Ahhh…