A Song... of June 2009...

....it's good not to be forgotten....yet

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Saya dah balik)))))) Hehe, seronok jerit-jerit bagai! Ye, saya baru jer balik dari Ipoh. Seminggu disana, dari selepas seminggu adik saya dan familinya ke Tanah Suci sampai ler dia selamat pulang hari Khamis yang baru lalu. Yang bestnya, boleh patah balik ke Penang bersama kakak and famili dia. Bawa derang makan-makan, jalan-jalan...bawa adik lelaki yang juga join kami malam tu ke hotelnya di Gurney Drive sebelum pulang bermalam dirumah sendiri. Dan yang paling best jugak, tak sempat berbual dengan hubby... masa kami sampai, dia dah tidur...bila dah pagi dia ke pejabat. Hmmm....

Penat betul sesampai tadi. Tak sempat rasanya nak update entry on fathers' day ni. Siang tadi ada juga remind adikberadik, anak-anak buah dan juga MyC, "Today is not only Father's Day but also arwah atuk's birthday..."  Dan, sebelum saya nanes...saya sign off dulu, but not without wishing all fathers out there, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! 

Tempan In My Mind

When I was young, I knew my kampong is not really my kampong because my late grandmother did not live there. It was a kampong I only got to visit during school holidays, and attending weddings, where the people I knew were relatives - immediate and distant alike, minus my grandmother. My grandmother had lived in towns from the day I was born!  My mother left this kampong too when she got married and moved around a lot from one town to another. Those days we stayed in two of my aunts', a great-uncle's and a great-aunt's houses whenever we were back. We could put up a night at any of these houses. It was fun! Breakfast in one house, lunch and dinner in an another. With or without a grandmother, the good old days of 'balik kampong' still lingers in my memories.

The kampong is Kota Tampan Air or simply Tempan to all of us. Tempan has changed a lot in the name of progress. The new highway built across my kampong has somewhat wiped out the history of  the houses of my aunts and great-aunt that once stood there. Only a good part of land and houses belong to an uncle (mom's cousin) and a nanny were saved from being reclaimed. Visits to Tempan have been rare now. But, if we do go back it is only because we miss so many things Tempan has to offer...

the jetty at the lake fronting my great-aunt's house...

The river behind opah Nah's house...the much loved place

for us every time we get back

Pic: my cousin Dr Azlan with wife and daughter...

(ya ampun, Shu, Che Lan...kak Lili desperate takde gambo Sg Tempan!)

Hmm...teringat berkelah kat sini...with the 'nasi taruh atas' for everyone. Humble gulai lemak *kemahang with siput sedut, ikan tenggalan bakar, and dollops of sambal tempoyak over steaming hot rice...   For seconds, we had to run back to the house and refilled!

Lata Kekabu, situated upstream from Sg. Tempan

(Pic: courtesy of cousin Zam)
A brother lost his spectacles while diving here!

Tasik Raban, just before reaching Tempan...

a sight to behold!

And the road that leads to Tempan and another favourite place, Lenggong....

If you happened to be here, perhaps en route to Grik, why don't you pull over at this rustic kampong of mine. And while you there why not savour our signature dish for lunch...

 Gulai tempoyak ikan jelawat....yummy!
 

Attending a second cousin's wedding in Kuala Kangsar earlier today, has prompted me to write this entry as I saw many relatives who had lived in Tempan before. Most of them have made Kuala Lumpur their home now.



 *Note: kemahang is a kind of wild taro stem, adik beradik keladi...using only the white parts or sulur for cooking.

Of School Holidays and Glorious Food!

Ahh...dah dua jam mengadap laptop ni! I feel guilty with this pleasure I have. I look around me... mmm...the house is spic and span... so, I shouldn't feel bad at all. (ayat nak menyedapkan hati!!)  But everything is so still here. This house, I mean. It's just so, so unispired...or, is it me...being so listless?  Anyway....

Anyway, my already chaos activity has been chaotic even more. With the school's out, I am still chasing after MyC for breakfast, (and she hated it when I treat her like a six-year old!) and sending her to school...YES, you read it right, folks, she is at school, sitting for her exams during holidays due to this!  Today is her last paper and like yesterday, she is staying back for her club's project that has been approved by the sponsor. I cannot go anywhere lest she will call at any time to pick her up. Also every morning after I have dropped her at school, I go to the market to get my daily fish supply, but alas, it has been three days still there aren't many fish this time around because of this sudden 'ombak besar', the fish-mongers told me... yeah, it has been raining heavily these days.
And, in the evenings, there is her tuition classes to send her to. To sum it all, I've been on the road everyday, at rush hours, for that matter. It really got me all worked up.  If it's not for my constant tasbih and zikirs, while driving, I guess I would have broke down and cried.  But that's me... I mean, to cry over nothing! Geez, I'm scared sometimes...

But there is always one thing that helps motivate me to look forward for a rewarding day. What else, if it is not the food I cook! Hikhik!!!  Yesterday for instance, I craved for laksa. Well, I can always buy one as Penang and laksa are synonymous! Then again, nothing beats the home-made laksa....

 yummy...laksa for lunch and anytime!

Later in the evening, I terlebih rajin.... so I cooked dinner. I invited Umai to join us. She loves rendang pedas kerang so much...

Rendang pedas kerang....

This morning, as I go about my chores and re-heating the rendang to make it a bit drier, I just realised I had been cooking rendang for the past two weeks... 

Rendang Dinding... specially made and packed 

for my little sister who is now in Mekah with her family

performing the Umrah

The other week, I made rendang tok for our kenduri in Ipoh....

Rendang tok... just before drying it up a bit!

Hmm...every time I talk about food, I'm sure I can see myself smiling from ear to ear. Good thing I am a small eater!  

As I'm writing this, I feel funny suddenly. Well, every time the hubby asks me how was my day, I always say the same thing, "never been better, yang!", "good, good, good!" and all the positive responses!

Oh ye, CS... seperti yang you pernah minta, dibawah ni I selitkan gambar pinggan mangkuk Mikasa yang akan ada sale lagi next month...hehe... Tapikan tapi... gambar kat bawah ni cuma terambil bersama our brunch spread some time ago...So, perhatikan yang dalam cabinet tu aje!  And also mangkuk yang I hidangkan rendang kerang dalam gambar atas tu!

 :-)

Tell Me!

Drops Of Jupiter - beautifully penned and sung by Pat Monahan of TRAIN

DROPS OF JUPITERS

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey

She acts like summer and walks like rain

 Reminds me that there's time to change, hey, hey

Since the return from her stay on the moon

She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey

Tell me did you sail across the sun

Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated

Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star

One without a permanent scar

And then you missed me

while you were looking for yourself out there

Now that she's back from that soul vacation

Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey

She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo

Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol Jane

Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land

Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet

Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day

And head back to the milky way

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind

Was it everything you wanted to find

And then you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken

your best friend always sticking up for you

even when I know you're wrong

Can you imagine no first dance,

freeze dried romance five-hour phone conversation

The best soy latte that you ever had . . . and...me

Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet

Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day

And head back toward the milky way

 

Of Rantings, Birthday and the Weekend That Was

Oh, it is June already! So, I've been busy. So, I was in Ipoh....been doing things I usually did like all the kenduris we had there. Mind you, if it wasn't the feast, the routine at my mother's would be the same. The key word here is B U S Y.  Now that I'm home sweet home again, I. AM. TOTALLY. EXHAUSTED! I feel like sleeping and  sleeping and sleeping but.... like words to write away, sleeps too evade me. :-(

There are many things that bog me down lately. One being my daughter's blog that was 'stalked' by people obviously were looking for ME. MyC was upset. She has been me asking a lot of 'whys'... I told her to be nice even if your pride has been bruised. After all it is only a blog. (hmm...I don't think they're stalkers... hikhik...they're ain't heavy, they're my bestfriends!)

Enough of my ramblings. 

Today, 1st June, is my sister's birthday. Selamat Hari Jadi, kak Lina!

Cikgu and her daughter, Nadiah

And here are some photos from our simple kenduri in Ipoh recently...

Dua pasang pengantin...Miera & Bashir, Athirah (my cousin's daughter) & Anwar...

Athirah & Anwar who were married on 8th May 2010

Pengantin with opah, wancu, and some cousins...

Ateh? Ateh kat dapur time ni...hihik! ;p