COMING OF AGE

Adik turned 10 on February 19th and Abang became 12 on March 5th. As usual, we do not make a fuss over birthdays. Sometimes we even forget about them altogether.

However, this year, Mama happened to remember ( actually, I always remember..) and wished or, more accurately, made a special do’a for both of you. Adik requested a home-made chocolate cake and to please bake it in a bundt tin. Abang, ever the thoughtful one, gave Mama a choice, either a cheesecake or a fruit cake, whichever is easier for Mama. ( Mama translate it to what ingredients do I have in my pantry).

It was weeks later before the cakes materialised. Better late than never kan!!

Here they are…..drool!

(Abang's fruit cake that he brought to school to share with friends)

(Adik's chocolate cake baked in bundt tin becouse she loves to see the topping running dow n the grooves...)

With 12th birthday, come the long-awaited IC. Abang was so excited by it. A few of his friends have already own one and been showing them off at school. Abang couldnt wait to have his….

Seeing how excited you were, Abah and me, took advantage of it……hehe..sorry ye Bang…we told you how you must now be more responsible and be a grown up in general…..otherwise, the JPN might deem you are not quite ready to own an IC and refuse to let you have one!!

We started with your waking up in the morning, as in responding to the alarm instead of sleeping through it nonchalantly!!! Abah stressed on the importance of going to the mosque for all 5 prayers regardless wether Abah is around or not. Mama stressed on less manja/merajuk/long face dan apa2 yg sewaktu dengannya.

So, I'm happy to report now that we dont have to wake you up in the mornings anymore!!! Soon as the alarm went-off at 5.30 am, Abang is all rise and shine!! By the time the mu’azzein calls the azan, Abang is all ready in school uniforms and goes to the mosque either walking or cycling, depending on the mood of that particular day.

Hehehe…it works!!! Err…cannot say the same about the manja part…he still need 3 good night kissing sessions before bed…..one right after ta’alem, another one coming out of toilet and teeth-brushing and last one, Mama and Abah have to go kiss him in his bedroom!! Either that or he’ll come knocking on our door…..deny him of that, a long face will greet us in the morning!

Abang now goes to the mosque for all 5 prayers, with Abah and alone if Abah is not home. Abah got him a kind of torch light that you wear on your head . So, Abang shines in the dark….literally. May Allah shines your way in the akhirah as He has promised to for those who frequents the mosque even in the dark.

Alhamdulillah….so much improvement in other areas too. Abang has taken full responsibilities on making sure all windows are shut by six pm. and taking out the garbage, both to the compost heap and to the big bin outside.

As for Adik, you are doing extremely fine with keeping your room spick and span. I am so please about this!! We got her a set of cute pink broom and dustpan ( YES,everything must be PINK) and hang it behind her bedroom door and she’s been using it every morning before going off to school. Well done Adik!!

And Adik has taken up the task of clearing up the table after every meal and has been doing it remarkably well. All these however, cannot surpass the happiness she brought us when she declared that she’s now going to be a full time hijabi……Alhamdulillah!! Now we see Adik putting on a tudung everytime she goes out of the house….

All things well and good…..but I cant help noticing something that never were there before…..and they’re bothering me!!

Abang used to be clueless about why girls kept throwing glances at him, kirim salam via Adik, sending to him small gifts every so often etc. Nowadays, he smiles sheepishly everytime one particular girl passes in front of him/us and blushes too!! Oh, how he blushes!!

Out of a heap of gifts he gets from girls on his birthday, ( it came from year 4,5 and 6 girls!!) he seems to like the one from that girl so much. Hemm…very disturbing indeed!! And, oh, dont let me start on the girls…they are so daring nowadays!! The girl from year 4 sent her gift, a story book, with the inscription, ‘untuk lelaki pujaan ku !!!

Adik pulak….keeps noticing her physical body changes and secretly wishing ( I just know!) that she’ll have her menstruation soon!!

If it is up to me, I want both of you to stay young forever….be my babies always…..

But,….I guess the time has come for me to start telling you about birds and bees…more seriously. I’ve been telling you bits of it every now and then, but now is the time to be open and all.

I am so worried about this. Working with the shelter home, make me more aware of this matter. Seeing three 13-year-old gave birth has changed me. I am now more committed than ever to do the work of da’awah. I have come to realise that what is happening to our society now is actually a bala from The Almighty. Every one of us has to do the work of amr maaruf nahi mungkar. It is the neglecting of it that has brought out this calamity that we are facing now. It really is not enough for us to just keep an eye on our own family and turn a blind eye on our neighbours, friends and society as a whole.

O Allah, give us strength to do this noble work and please, please choose all of us to be Your da’ie......

AN ORGANIC FIELD DAY

This is another no-brainer filler post…..

Well, I dont mean to brag, but I do keep to my new year resolution to feed my family more natural food and be kinder to environment as a whole.

On the days that I felt extra conscious on these issues, I went shopping for groceries with carefully drawn shopping lists. And it made for shorter shopping times!! Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

I went to Pasar Tani and bought produce from all those makciks who grow their own veges on small scale in their backyards. And I bought wild freshwater fish, not the farmed ones. Organically reared ducks too.

I brought a shopping-cart with me and put the groceries directly into it, refusing plastic bags wherever possible and get either grateful or guilty reactions from the makciks. They would thank me for saving their plastic bags and/or offer me something else to make up for it. So I end up with some free veges. See, it helps to be kind to the environment. We got rewarded instantly!!

I brought the ‘green bag’ when I go shopping in the supermarket for those stuff that I couldnt get at the farmer’s market. Crammed it full to the brim with wholewheat pasta,wholemeal pitta, tempeh wrapped in banana leaves, freshmilk and some other organic produce. I actually hate it that I have to go to tesco to get them as other supermarkets in KB do not stock these items. (I am now actually boycotting tesco for not responding to my emails complaining of something despite their promise to reply all emails within two weeks!!)

And here are what I cooked on one of the weekends that I felt particularly environmental friendly and health conscious and extra rajin……

Stir-fried organic soybean sprouts.....

Braised organic duck breast...yummy!!

.

the works......

We also got grilled wild catfish and acar pisang benggala that I bought ready-made from one of the makciks at the farmer’s market. And, as I am crazy about veges, I made another dish of pucuk paku goreng with extra chilly that I end up eating alone as nobody else could tolerate the hotness of it….

Well, we dont usually eat many dishes in one meal but as I said, it was one of those weekends…and it doesnt happen very often. I feel obliged to cook something extra on weekends that we are actually home ( quite rare too) after feeding all of you simple meals throughout the week. We eat mostly pasta and pitta dipped in either fish curry or beef/lamb stew that I usually made in huge quantities and freeze and ration it out throughout the weeks.

And I did go an extra mile and actually cooked/baked organic dessert….an achievement indeed for me!!

Abah’s all time favourite, lepat pisang.......(as he has been hinting many times before that I cooked too much western kuehs that he doesnt dig!!)

Yes, the flour is inorganic, I know….but everything else is…bananas from our backyard of course!

Bingka Ubi Kayu....(Ok, I didnt make this one on the same day...the fact must be accurate, ada auditor baca this blog maa...wink* to youknowwhoyouare)

It smelled Oh so good!! It’s my first time actually….

….( this one is almost hundred percent organic. I used grated tapioca wildly growing in our orchard, extract colour and fragrance from pandan leaves and a bit of coconut milk…well, got to use a bit of inorganic sugar for some sweetness.)
I think this is the most natural food I ever cooked!

That’s all….hope it satisfies you Adik…I posted my entry for April!! Stop bothering me now!!