New Friends and New Places (uncovered)

Assalamualaikum and hyee.
Sollu alan nabi😊

Last Saturday I went to stay at my new friend house. Yes. A very brand new fresh friend, Ummi and Hanifah. Haha. But the one where her house I stayed at was Ummi. Ummi and Hanifah already friends. But I'm not the third wheel guys. We met at MRA another volunteering for orang asli. Both Ummi and Hanifah had joined many of MRA programmes and I just started to be in the big family. It was my third time with them. This time we went to Kampung Bawong in Sungai Siput. The night before I stayed at Kak Ida's mother's house. Kak Ida was the first I felt kinship to. She is friendly and talkative. Wihout her (and her daughter) I think I would have a difficult time communicating and socializing with the people.haha.

Let's get back to Ummi and Hanifah.

I was surprised to know that we share almost same story (in my instagram). I consider myself a late comer in the field of volunteerism and works like helping the poor, improve the society, change the policy etc etc. So do them. And all three of us had funny moment finding the right platform and finally found the one that suit our heart most. Haha. Because of this, we became close on the first day we knew each other and Ummi took us to see the beautiful historical city of Ipoh (Hanifah is from Taiping. I mean she is working in Taiping but both are from Kelantan).

Since I don't have much time because I already made a promise with my sister, we just went to New Hollywood for breakfast and Ipoh Heritage Trail where Plan B is located. It is near Masjid Negeri and only 5 minutes from my maklong house😒.

I had Roti Telur and White Coffee. The bread was good but a little too plain. I like how the egg was halfly cooked but there is no taste that can awake me. The white coffee was soooo good if it was not too sugary. I like the bitter taste because I always think coffee should be more bitter than sweet. There was another food but I can't recall the name😅. It was like 'keropok' but with filling inside it. Ummi said the skin actually made from pig but to make it halal they used meat instead so I ate comfortably😁 and it was deliciouss. Maybe you can try New Hollywood but for me I'll go when there is not too many people and not crowded which means impossible😔😂

Ipoh Heritage Trail is beautiful place to have photoshoot so we do early maternity photoshoot haha. There were many shops where tourist can buy souvenir but I was in tight budget so I just looked around but seriously I love the handcrafted purse bag keyholder and any handcrafted material aghhh..they were so nice to see and hold but once broken considered sold (sound familiar tak😜). I also wanted to see the tea house. A place where you can know all about tea. But you need to book place first and wait for your turn. We came so late that waiting might make us see the moonlight first😌 so we just went away but I wish to go again someday.

At 12.30 we slowly walk our way from the place and I was an hour  late to see my sisters (we promise to meet a 12). Although I made a notice that I will be a little late they still gave me a monster face. Maybe because I used the word little😂🏃

Come to Ipoh guys. It's a good place. I always like a place like Ipoh. A city but not so busy with historical characteristic. Yeah, I'm traditional and born wih that nature. Vintage and old is my all time favourite. I still like kebaya and baju kedah😇 tetibee

P/s: Lets meet again Ummi and Hanifah. Had so much fun with you😘

Royal Masak Merah

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh and hyee
Sollu alan nabi :)

I'm not so into cooking but that does not mean I can't cook. Although I'm not a pro in kitchen, I do pretty well in cooking or at least my foods are palatable (well... to my tongue haha).

When it comes to preparing meal, I always make it simple and nice. Reasons are...
1) Cooking is time consuming and I don't find cooking worth giving hours to. Haha. When I was a student, I meticulously count the second and spent less time on cooking. At first, I cooked once a day which is dinner and in later months of my studying time, I cooked once for a week long foods (I kept them in freezer so they last longer).

2) I was (yes was) a busy person. Shorten the making food time is a must because you can give more time to meeting😪😴 *joke*

3) I'm not so into cooking. Told ya😝

As I mentioned, I can cook lot of things, try new recipe or even create my own recipe😎 and I have slightly high confidence to present it. However, of all kind of 'lauk' I seriously don't (might as well use didn't) know how to make 'masak merah'. It is my primary weakness in cooking therefore I as much as possible avoid this type of why-you-taste-like-no-others (negative way) all the time I need to cook.

So, to be expected, I haven't cooked 'masak merah' for ages and I don't feel bad at all. Haha. Howeverrr...tadaaa

As of today, I asked my mak what should I do with the sardines that already cleaned by tok (tok perempuan so that no one confuse here). And I was like whattt... when mak asked to fry them and make some 'masak merah'. It was war inside my heart 'ah sudahlaa aku tak reti...' but I still obediently went to kitchen to prepare for the ingredients. Tok was still in the kitchen which increase my wary more.

As I finished 'menumis' the onions, garlics and blended chillies, I pour some tamarind juice to decrease the hotness and spice intensity. Looking at the color and thickness of the sauce, I had instinct that this time it will be good so I prayed (at time like this you should never forget god) for the 'masak merah' to turn well even if this mean first and last time. Suddenly tok said 'patut letak last sekali (tamarind juice) bila dah masak cili tu'. Yeahh, there stoop down all my esteem😔

And tadaa... finalized the 'masak merah' with three fried sardines to give some taste.

We don't eat together (nevertheless we stay together😇. When this trend (trend pun boleh ye) started is a question for me even tok wonder why we didn't eat together anymore. Probably because all the people in the house is working at different times too. However during long holiday we do eat 'berjemaah') and I usually eat at the end of the day so I don't know the fate of my 'masak merah'.

Later on at night, while renovating my blog and felt hungry, I went to kitchen to get some snack but ended up eating a plate of rice😒😪 while mak and tok was watching the television there.

'Sedap kamu punya masak merah. Esok boleh buat lagi naa'.

I was awed kejap with the comment (by tok ok thats mean something because she is senior in masak merah haha) but couldn't hide feeling amazed with myself haha think I can serve the royal (ok overr) and suddenly remembered what I prayed that afternoon then 'menyesal' eh why did I prayed it to be first and last now I got request how mehh😅. Now on, I need to change my prayers. God is forgiven😊

So that is the story of my 'masak merah' after years. I got the hand huh😎

A movement of heart by aunty

Assalamualaikum w.r.w.b
Sollu alan nabiy

Last Sunday, my aunt asked me "don't you want to go there helping them?" (referring to Rohingya) while we were watching a documentary about the current issue. That question had left me deep in thought. 

It indeed had been my dream all long and that dream still alive in my mind and heart. And that is also a reason I delayed going into marriage. Hikhik. I feel like something is undone. I hope if I were to marry someone one day, he is super supportive and a real #creativeforce. I remember watching a news about muslims in Kosovo where they were denied a place and chased out of the country (and I actually can remember it clearly). I was around 5 years back then and I couldn't understand it when my mom said they were driven away from their own country. How was it possible. I just couldn't brain it with my 5 year old logic mind.  Why must one be banished from one's country?

At the same time, there was (is) also problem in Palestine. Now you know how long Palestine had been an issue. 

Although the 'volunteer' feeling did not appear right away, I always wanted to help those people until my secondary school years, I wish to go to Palestine to offer help eventhough I did not know how. 

And now, I already know the mean I can help but I could not raise my hand just yet. I realize that volunteerism is good but no volunteer is good without knowledge (and experience). I read 'Menghayati Kerja Sukarela' written by Azizan Bahari and that book did taught me a lot about the field of volunteerism. I admit that I feel stupid, so helpless and such a loser but I'm quick at consoling myself that even improving myself is not a bad thing. I'm fully aware that reaching the top at fastest speed is good but continue climbing (even slowly) is no lesser. I admit that sometime I became envious with few friends who can go anywhere freely but I'm sure being here and do good to ordinary people is also 'pahala'.

Picture credit to: Google and owner

I will be there. I will be where my mind had been. I will be where I dream to be. It's just matter of time and I'm working on it. 

Pray for me, aunt :')

'So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it' 

Al-Zalzalah 99:7