ADIK...

Adik's name began with the capital A followed by a D, thus makes hers the first in her class roll-call. Somehow, there's no one named Abdullah or Abdul something in her class. Not only that, she seems to be the oldest too, being born in February. Weird, no one was born in January in her class...Well, its not a big class to begin with, being a private school and all.

Anyway, it boils down to Adik becomes the first to own an IC  in her peer group. And  believe you me , THE CARD is a BIG deal for a bunch of  12-year-old....

So, exactly on her birthday, which fell on  a school day, Adik nagged us to take her to the JPN, telling us that her school allows parents to take their children out during school hours for that purpose. Abah said to wait for a few days, until he is free to bring Adik. But, as we know, Abah's free time is about next to never....

To cut the story short, it was Mama who finally braved the rain to go to the JPN during the weekend so as to avoid parking problem and the queues...Its a good thing that the JPN opens on the weekends albeit for the first half of the day only.

It was an interesting day at JPN....first of all, we were allowed to drive through the gate and parked in front of the  Federal Building  itself...the guards being friendly since it was raining cats and dogs I guess, and its Friday anyway, meaning  only a small staff were at work, so there were lots and lots of parking space for the take. The lady who took Adik's picture was even friendlier as in offering to take another shot after noticing that Adik has dimples when she chatted  with Adik. So Adik sat on the chair again and smiled 'deeply' so that the dimples showed, haha!! All in all, Adik ended up with a very nice IC photo, a very far cry from Mama's first black and white ( yes, I'm THAT ancient!)12-year-old  IC photo.

So Adik, you are now officially an adult...as well as a 'baligh' teenager. Thus said, I think there are  a lot of things that are not 'blogable' about you anymore. What with respecting your privacy and more importantly, being a muslim girl, its not proper for you to be too exposed to the world.(as if the world is reading this!!)

And in September you'll be sitting for UPSR which you think is the most important exam ever!! Please forgive us for always trying to play it down when you were so agitated about it. We just want you to take it easy...we do understand how you feel to see all your friends attending tuition classes everywhere and you are not. But, really, you DONT need them. Abang didnt attend any during his time because he didnt want to miss solat with jamaat and look how Allah elevates his status now. He has memorised  10 juzuks of the Holy Qur'an  beautifully in such a short time. 

We do understand though, being ambitious, how frustrated you are over the fact that your school doesnt have aggressive revision program that normal schools carry out to ensure that their kids get all 'A's.  And knowing how private schools like yours do traditionally gets marked down....

  Your school  has never been aggressive in achieving academic excellence , preferring a holistically well developed child instead, which is why we chose it in the first place.

So Adik, fret not..all 'A's or no 'A's,wouldnt change the way we look at you. We are just happy now that nowadays you are more mindful of your wudhu' and solats, reciting daily surahs and  doing other 'amals more consistently as well as readily attending weekly taa'lim without any fuss.
As for housework, I cant be any happier now. You made up the beds exactly or even better than I do, able to cook simple meals and tidying up the house is almost a second nature to you now. 
Alhamdulillahi llazii bini'matihii tatimmu ssolihaat....

And Adik, we love you soooo much!! 

THE GARDENING MAMA

In continuing  with the effort to eat more healthily and be greener, I started, or rather, expanded our kitchen garden. The garden was already there since day one. Abah and me  planted the basic need of  Malay kitchen supplies the like of galangal,lemongrass, turmeric,pandan, various  kinds of lime,the beautiful edible torch ginger (bunga kantan), curry leaves and chives soon as we moved in. And a variety of ulams that we sow or just grow by themselves.I love the fact that I could just open our back door and cut/dig/pluck whatever amount I need for the dish I was making.

The chives has a special story on its own. I must tell you here lest I forget. It was originally planted by your late grandmother, Nik Noriah Nik Mahmood, loooong ago. When Mak Uda and family had their first home in Dato Keramat, Tok brought a clump from Kota Bharu and planted it there. Mak Uda has since moved to a few houses before settling at their current 3-storey abode in Subang Alam. The chives always moved with her. And I took it from her house (when she was living in USJ I think), because I like chives and because of the memories...Never have I look at  or use the chives without not remembering the woman who had affected my life in BIG ways...I really wish you two could have met her. Oh, now it has bring tears to my eyes....

But, I digress.

So, I consulted Maktok whom as you know, always have vegetables growing around her house. She makes it looks effortless to grow anything, be it veges or flowers. She came over accompanying Tok Ayah  on his scheduled follow-up at the hospital and give me valuable pointers. She said I need raised beds and showed me how to do it. Well, Maktok is 30 years older than me but errr...I am a bit ashamed to admit that she fares a lot better than me at hoeing. It left me breathless after a few swings...(left me wondering how could it be when I could easily work the treadmill for 30 minutes covering 3km quite breezily) So I stopped her and said I would continue later. 

Okay, another confession..I of course, asked our gardener to finish it ...and he thoughtfully made 4 rows of them raised beds. I could only fill 2 of them and asked the Pakcik to fill another two with tapioca as all of us are crazy over tapioca shoots.

Soon, beautiful plants just sprouted and I started calling myself a farmer,hehe... Cool mornings and evenings are now spent sowing seeds and hoeing weeds. 

The red okra that turn white upon steaming,much to my disappointment

The beginning of an angled loofah

Red amaranth that we shared with ulats

The beans that refuse to climb

I made organic pesticide using garlic,chilli , onions and soap and tobacco too...The internet is extremely useful here.You could choose any recipe that works for the pest in your garden.. I tried out quite a few before I hit the right ones. I found many helpful  gardening blogs too and I especially love this one.

 Abah is very helpful and full of support...Adik shows slight interest..hemm..and Abang, when he was home for the holidays enjoys eating all those veges including those he never likes before. He said they are tasty because Mama grows them...biasa lah anak lelaki I,pandai ambik ati!!

Then, I discover  garbage enzyme.

And I am experimenting on it too.

Freshly made...

One month later..

Cant wait to use and see the result...Please pray that it will work and we will soon harvest better produce...

WHEN WORDS DONT COME EASY...

Oh the chubbiness...

...just scanned some old photos and they came pouring in. Abang were 2+ and Adik were 3 months old...I had to bite my own hands on a daily basis to stop myself from biting you two...Seriously, both of you looked good enough I could eat you!!...and oh, the heavenly smell! I SOOO miss that. Abah swears that he could still detect some of those smell on you two even today...I somehow, fail to do that. (Told you, my olfactory system is super efficient especially in detecting bad odour....)

Perhentian Island 2003

To the beach, to the beach...
That was always the theme for our holidays of yesteryears. There were tons of our beach photos...but I just love this one best. We couldnt fish you two out of the water, so, the milk bottle had to go in to 'refuel' Adik....

My most favourite photo ever

Late Spring 2002. I just loved  the way the neighbours's nasturtium flowed over  to our side of  wooden fence.....

First bus ride

We just got back from Sydney and realised that you two have been on planes, trains , boats and every other single moving vehicle except bus! The perfect opportunity came when the Paediatric Department chose Trengganu as the location of that year's Family Day and a bus was made available for it. Abah followed on his car as  he guessed it correctly that both  of you wanted the car ride on the way back.

The must-do activity in hotel rooms

Jumping on beds....the highly sought-after activity that was totally banned at home. I figured out that most hotels have better, sturdy beds than ours, so I let you two jumps your heart out on them whenever we were in one. Okay, okay...I was a bad mother then, but this uncivilised manner was stopped when  you reach school age though.

Our months-old garden 

The making of a bully....

And it continues....

Abah was always trying to introduce traditional games to you...so when he found an 'upeh pinang' lying on a roadside, he took it home and showed you how to have fun on it...Adik enjoyed the ride (and bossing Abang around,as usual!) so much, and Abang , being Abang, obligingly and lovingly pulled and pulled...until the upeh torn.

The 'colgate' moment...

 I just realised that none of you has ever had 'rongak' days...your milk-teeth would only fall off when the permanent one was already in place ready to take over.Hemm, now does it not prove that I have done a good job taking care of your dental hygiene??  YES!!

Another favourite...

Read-aloud session

Abang began to take over the reading-aloud sessions as soon as he got the grasp on reading...oh, how relieved I was!! Adik couldnt get enough of  it and I couldnt cope...Thanks Abang!

Schools First Day

2004 Adik started at Kid's Excel and Abang started at SRI Al-Qari. Abah and me were not really keen on letting Adik start that early ( we still believe best early education starts at home), but Adik, you were very insistent...partly because you wanted to be like Abang, attending school. We were hoping you would be bored after a couple of months, but no such luck. You loved it to bits and still loves school until this very day.....


Oh for the memories....

ON BEING ENVIROMENTALIST........

So, its already 2011......and the talk of going green is everywhere. Caught some people by surprise too when they were denied the usual  free plastic bags in the stores nationwide on the new years's day itself. Not us though, Alhamdulillah, as we have started carrying our own reusable bags in both cars since last year. And early this year I have started putting some tupperwares too in the carboots for tapau purposes.

I took a green quiz ( yes, I do those kinds of things when I am  bored) and was told I am only fairly green..huhu..compared to these people that is. But to our close relatives and friends who visit our home regularly, I am the Green Woman...
They learn to put  waste in the designated receptacles to avoid listening to my little speeches of biological and non biological waste, bla,bla,bla....
Some do made fun of me over this..but, being utterly a good sport as always (ehem), I took them  all in  stride. 
Just recently, Tok Ayah Pa was hospitalised for heart ischemia and your uncles and aunties all balik kampung and  camped at our place. When they were gone and we tidied up the house, as usual, we discovered the few things  left behind. Adik, as usual,is very good at pointing out which stuff belongs to whom. So, amongst the things we gathered, there was this eerr... a tired-looking, well-used  nursing bra...and Adik guessed the owner. So, we called her and asked, she screamed and we laughed . And then, without missing a beat, she said; 

" Sis, dont bother keeping it , just toss it in your compost heap. That's my contribution towards your green effort". 

HAHA!!

Okay, so I'm not green enough, and will try to improve...but not to the extent of calling myself a greener or greenist... I think it is funny and kind of taking things a bit too far.  I would never bake  egg shells, blend  and feed them to the animals. I would rather just crush and throw them onto my inproper compost heap. ( yes, you gotta crush them, otherwise it'll be ages before they breakdown.) We dont want to consume more energy in the name of recycling, do we? And we definitely dont want to incur more cost in the names of going green. Some people even thought recycling is counter productive. 

So, I say, we do things in moderation, shall we?

We, as a family has agreed to be green in a practical and as natural a way as possible. And talking about natural, nothing can beat this;

meat wrapped in its own omentum, okra fresh from garden and  milk straight from the cow's udder.

In India, we noticed that people are naturally environmentally friendly. In wet markets,no plastic was used at all.Maybe out of poverty...but I saw many  ingenious ways of doing things that we simply dont do here. Wrapping meat in its own omentum( some kind of membrane) is a novelty to me. Though Adik said, she felt geli... 


And look at this bowl....

cleverly made out dried leaves

As they used two layers of them,post-eating, Adik put the outer dry layer on her head as hat!

 

Back home,we have  started using more of the induction cooker since learning that it is the most energy-efficient way to cook. By focusing  heat only on the pan  as it heats up via an electromagnetic field, it is able to cut down cooking time by 1/3.


And we shop nearer to home now to save energy needed to fuel the car and cut down pollution too. It helps a lot that the particular  mall provides oxo-biodegradable plastic bags for those err...green ignoramus.

We try to eat more fresh sardines (ikan selayang ya anak-anak). Apparently, environmentalists all over the world give this humble fish a super green rating due to the fact that  they are very sustainable species and are fished in environmentally friendly ways. Mature sardines  are able to spawn between 6 to 40 times a year, thus making them  able to rebound from overfishing. As a bonus, fresh sardine is rich in antioxidant and omega 3 fatty acid. As for their small soft bones, they are rich in bone-building calcium. Excellent source of vitamin B12 and D  as well as selenium too. And yes, protein of course...

Meanwhile, Abah's take on going green  is by practising more sunnahs in our daily life. Eating with fingers instead of using cutleries save on  water and dishwashing liquid. Ditto by eating together in one large plate . And having a simple meal while at that.  Use miswaak instead of toothbrush...no plastic is used  and totally biodegradable.( which reminds me to put a miswaak in my handbag to be used during ablutions on the go..psst, its one of my 1432H resolutions) And oh! the benefits of using miswaak...it needs an entry of its own. Luckily I found this site, so, go check it out....

And just so you know, Grey, as a member of our family, does her part too in this so-called green effort . How? By doing away with the litter tray and does her 'business' in the backyard... Good on you Grey!!

Caught in action!!

THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE.

We just got back from India after spending more than a week there, in Belgaum, Karnataka to be exact. And it turned out to be an experience of a lifetime for Adik...and a pleasant surprise for me.


I went  expecting the worse...Truth is, I have been to these parts of the world before and eerr...its not quite  my kind of things I would say. I was in fact, quite reluctant to go ...and, Adik, naturally sided with me. ( hehe...I am always a big influence to my kids, good or bad). Abah had to resort to some persuasive methods to make us agreed to go .
And then, Adik said, if we were going, she wanted the Indian train experience....and I dreaded it more!!  I read and read and read on Indian train over the net...And since I have had a preconceived idea about it, my mind played tricks on me and I saw only bad things!!!


So....
We touched down at Bengaluru airport and Adik was excited to find a man holding a board saying, ''Welcome Dr S and family....'' haha!! The airport was as good as ours and when we stepped out, the temperature was a nice 23C.I was like, 'oookay... this is nice'. Then, we hopped on the waiting car and listened to Abah chatting amicably with Mr Tajee. We wondered at how Abah could possibly understood him...Yes, he was speaking English , but we could only decipher less than 30 percent of what he was saying!!


A few minutes into the journey, as we were nearing the Bangalore town proper, we, or rather, I, had the scare of my life!! Needless to say, the rest of the journey was spent with closed eyes and constant prayer!! Driving on Indian roads are certainly not for the frail-hearted!! And oh, sounding horn IS a way of life here and a horn sound  could mean lots of things here...

you are a rude driver if you dont honk.....

We were taken to dinner at a hotel en route to the guesthouse, which turned out to be a newly and tastefully decorated serviced apartment and we were the first  to use it...As for the dinner, it  was awesome.

post-meal,they always give a bowl of warm water with a piece of lime for hand-washing n some spices combination for breath freshener

fancy pan cone wrapped in edible silver paper

 Adik got fascinated with a pan(sireh) stall in front of the hotel. It was amazing to see everybody including young and hip-looking youngsters just stopped, took a pan, popped it into their mouth and chewed away.

 The two 'servants' in the guesthouse wouldnt even let me put my drinking glass in the sink! By this time, I have started to like it here....And adik said,"Mama, its not bad at all..." in an accusing tone!

high-quality linen with low-low price!!

The next morning, we were taken to Commercial Street where I have to pinch myself to realise that I havent die and go to cotton's heaven!! Not to mention saree's....

Adik choosing materials for her salwar kameez

Evening came and off we went to the ''dreaded'' train station....but lo and behold! It was so clean that people actually sit in the open arena in small groups having a picnic while waiting for their trains. And no offensive smell whatsoever. The train was on time and we soon settled into our AC sleeper carriage. Again I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was so comfortable...Thick fluffy blankets, pillows and crisp white linen were handed in brown packets,freshly laundered. The journey from Bangalore to Belgaum where the university we were heading to located, took 12 hours. Adik said she felt like sleeping in a buai and was lullabied to sleep immediately and drawing the curtain, I soon followed suit. Abah woke us up for Fajr prayer and again I was so relieved to see that the  latrine was actually clean with no foul smell emitting at all. I had actually restrained myself earlier to avoid visiting it. All in all, I would say, Indian train beat ours.


Concerned friends have reminded us not to eat from street vendors and the likes, but we are a bunch of happy people by the time morning came and the sellers came aboard crying "garam chai, idlii,vada,pakora....!!" 

a standard breakfast fare of 1 idlii + 1 vada

 the bowls holding pakoras n sambar made from dried leaves...

We threw caution to the wind and enjoyed our breakfast while feasting our eyes on the views of  the ever changing landscapes.We especially love those fields full of purplish blooms of sugarcane plants.


Around 9 in the morning we reached Belgaum and after disposing our things at the dean's residence, we were chauffeured  to another round of shopping spree. Everything was cheap, cheap, cheap....We even made a suit of a salwar kameez each and the tailor charged us less than RM10 for one suit!!


The next day, Abah started working and as the good Prof left for Malaysia during the night,  we have the house to ourselves. Waited upon by not one but three servants!!(they actually made us uncomfortable with their self-imposed inferior behaviour). Read here.  Adik and Mama took looong walk every morning to burn out those calories from all those lovely foods we consumed. 
 Abah walked to the office too despite having the driver. The campus is nice, with lots of old shady trees and very clean.

 We also walked to the alleys of small shops and bought veges sold at the roadsides.It was like in the old 60s Malay movies. They still use the old scales to weigh stuff.

And of course we did not miss the chance to experience the auto riding.
 

Adik enjoyed the ride, not me though..its too dusty n scary!!

Everyone in the university was very nice to us. The honourable director himself came to see us and took the trouble to make sure our stay was thoroughly enjoyable.He insisted that we took  a guided tour to the historical Goa. 

Inside Goan Museum

@ the Goan beach with Dr Reshma

The two tourist guides were none other than the lovely Dr Vidhya and Dr Reshma. I gained lots of knowledge talking to them.And they spoiled Adik with attention and gifts!!

We are glad we went....Alhamdulillah. We asked from Allah and He made everything easy and nice for us. We were spared from bad experience others have had.

If there is any regret at all, it is due to the fact that Abang couldnt be with us. But never mind Abang, InsyaAllah, you will be travelling the world as a dai'é of Allah very soon.

In his quest to be fair to both of you, all the expenses spent on Adik for any holidays, Abah would put the same amount in Abang's account.
So, at the moment, Adik maybe richer in experience than you Abang....but you are richer in RM!!

OUCH!!

Yes folks, its me, Grey...  and last week, I was in  pain.

It was my right front leg....it hurt so much when I moved. I'm better now, thus able to write this account of my once-a-year sickness. See, I got sick around this time too last year. (Hemm, thats a thought...based on the amount of attention lavished on me, I should make it a yearly event!)

Unlike humans (err..a woman in particular), we cats are very good at hiding pain,but there's no fooling that lady! Mama noticed my limping straight-away. I tried to tell her that it's no big deal but she wouldnt listen to any of it. She wanted to run to the vet immediately. Abah stopped her, saying,"let us wait for two three days, it may be nothing"...As she very much wants to be one isteri solehah, she reluctantly agreed. But, literally on the third day, ( and I was still limping and had a slight fever by then) a visit to the vet was on the top of her to-do list of the day.

The vet  did a thorough check-up and declared that I'm a healthy 6-year-old cat with a body score of 3 year-old . Do you hear that, I am officially an awet muda cat, seriously!!!

The limping was nothing serious, it might just be a traumatic injury following my misjudging a distance and fall not so gracefully on the feet as usual. So said the vet.

But my Mama wasnt buying it!! She tried to put forward her theory but the vet was  in a hurry to finish as he was going out to  to do a housecall or barncall or whatever a vet does...He calmly assured Mama that everything was okay, gave me an injection for the fever, recommended a tasty high energy dietary supplement ( I like!!!)  and left.

You see, in those three days of observing  and fussing over me and worrying and crying and doing solat hajat, ( if you think Mama is over-reacting, you should see Adik...she was expecting the worse.

She even wrote an entry in her blog implying that I might die...oh, how could you Adik!) , Mama had also been doing her housewifey research on the net . And she came to the conclusion that I have all the symptoms of Feline Osteoarthritis.

She observed that my limping was worse upon arising from rest.  I didnt move very much, let alone jump, and had obvious pain when walking. I just stay put  either  on Mama's or Adik's beds, curling at their feet at nights and leaned against the pillows on the days, gravitating towards the warm spots. I wouldnt eat at all. (but they carried me to the bowl and pleaded with me to eat.) I neither poo nor pee on those three days. And Mama said, I had some sort of personality changes...whatever she means by it.

Mama tried to emphatise with me. She put herself in my shoes (not that I'm wearing any, and even if I do, our sizes would vastly differ), and said she could actually feel the pain. Such a drama mama she is!! She thought that as our age are approximately the same ( when you convert the cat years to human years that is. I could tell Mama's age directly here but Mama would ban me from this blog forever....yes, she's a bit vain..please forgive her, she cannot help it, being a Libran), we'd be having common ailments.

My Mama, you see, suffers from plantar fasciitis. ( yes, go google it now!)  She brushed aside the suggestions that her insistence on wearing unsuitable footwear read high-heels and her err..excess weight are the main contributing factors. She instead, is convinced that her  alternate day brisk-walking on the treadmill is the main cause, made worse by her small feet  and reluctantly admits that her age too, might has something to do with it. 

Now, she thoughts we share the same attributes..my constant sprinting here and there, my small feet (seriously Mama, have you ever seen cats with large feet?), my age and my eerr... rotund body, which I totally disagree . For the umpteenth time, I state, I AM NOT overweight!

Even if I am, it is a universal truth that FAT CATS ARE BEAUTIFUL. Unfortunately though, the same cannot be said to human. Umm, I'm so sorry you are not a cat Mama....

No, that's not the real colour of my eyes!! Mama really is a bad photographer!

Anyway....

My point here is, Mama IS wrong. I dont suffer from osteoarthritis. I'm still too young to get it. Deal with it Mama!!! Even if our age are in the same bracket, I am much healthier than you are, due to my healthy eating, exercising lots more than you and stress-free life I am blessed with. Scratch your plan for my weight loss or exercise regimes. You, on the other hand, SERIOUSLY need them....

Okay folks...before you think that I am cruel to Mama and sound a bit smug, I must tell you that I really do appreciate Mama's efforts ( however misguided it was) and I'm showing it...So much so, that I have broken quite a few of my feline principles so far.

I have become the opposite of aloof cat I was before.

Nowadays, I'm a sweeter cat. I let them rub my abdomen, which they are crazy about. 

Please note that not everybody is welcome.....

(The rubbing/scratching area used to be limited to neck and head areas only .) I've started licking Mama's  and Adik's hands and feet daily to show my affection. ( Abah, though, is not priviliged to this affectionate behaviour as he doesnt deserve it. He didnt do any solat hajat for my speedy recovery) I let all of them carry me for as long as they like,( I'm doing away with the 5 minutes time frame) without me struggling hard to wrench myself free from their suffocating embraces. (Abah is included here as he did give me some massages and enquired after me everyday during those limping days.) 

Okay, I think thats enough to quench the longing someone has for my writing....(*wink to Miss Cat expert in Wangsa Maju)

I'm gonna have my beauty sleep now.... I'll have a short nap in Mama's wardrobe,the coziest spot in the whole universe. Since recovering, they've been spoiling me rotten. Mama,  happily lets me in whenever I want to, which she totally prohibits before (mental note: must get sick more often)

InsyaAllah, starting tomorrow, I'll have some peace and quiet for one week. Abang is arriving tomorrow and all attention will shift to him. I'm not complaining though...these people are too much sometimes!

Till we meet again...enjoy your weekend and Selamat Berkorban. Dont forget to fast on the Days of Tarwiyah and 'Arafaah ie 8th and 9th of Dzulhijjah.

Sign,

Dr.M.Grey 

 

LAMB PILAU

Abah was in a place where halaal lambs are plentiful and quite cheap. His host, one Uncle Prof KJ , kept making lamb soup as it is ( I suspect) about the only cooking method he knows!! After a few days, Abah decided its time to show-off his skill in the kitchen... (as well as wanting to escape eating another meal of lamb soup!!).

So, in one of Abah's frequent calls,skypes and emails,( cant remember which one as he did all these every so often) he asked for the recipe for lamb pilau. So, I wrote down the recipe and emailed it to him.

At the same time, I was pondering on what to write for October entry...and beginning to regret my promising Adik and Abang to post at least one entry per month. I cant go back on my words now.

Suddenly, it struck me! I could just copy/paste  this recipe for my October entry... Hemmh, what a relief! But then, as I have editted last month's entry to include a recipe, this blog will look like a cooking blog with two consecutives entries on recipes...takpe la ya, Abang, Adik...Mama memang takde idea ni!

So, here goes;

LAMB PILAU

Ingredients

Lamb (obviously!)

Onions (thinly sliced; quantity- gram to gram with lamb)

Basmathi rice (get the best u can)

Skinned and chopped ripen tomatoes (use the canned ones or failing to get it, scald the fresh ones in boiling water, the skin will come off quite easily)

Coriander seeds  (lightly crush in lesung batu, does Abg Din has it?)

Black peppercorn (ditto)

A piece of cinnamon bark

A couple of black cardamom (if using the white ones, tambah skit)

Green chillies (cut up)

Ginger (lightly pound)

Cilantro (its daun ketumbar ya laling,lots of them, roughly chop)

Salt and water ( water and rice quantity must be in equal ratio)

Cooking oil

How to go about it:

Heat up the oil, add onions. Let it fried until very brown. Just one degree away from burnt state. (This is important, as it will give the colour to the dish, we dont want a pale pilau,okay)

Add some water. Cover for a minute to sweat out the colour and sweetness from the onions. Add lamb. Put the lid back on until u see the meat has absorbed the brown colour of the onions.Add tomatoes and garlic, cover for 5 min.

Add all dry spices and salt, cover and let it simmer until the lamb is tender. Add ginger, chillies and cilantro, turn off heat and let it be at least for a couple of hours ( this is optional, just to let the meat absorbs the spices etc. U cud just go to nx process)

My style is; roughly one hour before serving, add more water to the pot ( remember to take away the amount u already added). Bring it to boil and add washed and drained basmathi. Cook till the rice is fluffy.

Serve with salad,pappadom and raita.

Good luck and dont burn down KJ's kitchen...hehe. Let me know how it turn out ya!

****************************************************************

That's about it....

But, rummaging through the pictures file, I found these;

the spiced pappadom that both of you dont really like...always preferring the plain ones.

salad of diced tomatoes,cucumber and shredded iceberg lettuce. Dressed with homemade vinaigrette. (3 parts olive oil to 1 part of malt vinegar,salt and pepper)

When I cook large portion like this, I will finish them off in the oven  ( after most of liquid has evaporated) to avoid burning at the bottom

the raita which you guys loooove. (Just plain yoghurt with mint sauce or chopped cilantro. Salt and sugar to taste.)

Looks like I have a proper entry after all!!( Now, wont you say your Mama IS clever, kids?)

Come to think of it, I wish both of you will master cooking this dish as it has always been the dish that I'll cook for any Da'awah Jamaat that happen to come to our mosque, especially for those from the foreign countries. And they always appreciate it so much and end up  making special do'a for us, Alhamdulillah...and all masturat jamaats that  came to our house were subjected to eating this too... and the session of recipe-taking (after the program end) was always inevitable!

I would like it very much that you two shall continue feeding the jamaats even when Abah and me are not around anymore....

p/s

after all the effort I made to write the email most explicitly, Abah called and said, "payoh weh, tak jadi la buat..". hemmm, why am I not surprise! ( and this is despite the fact that he was always hands-on whenever I cooked a large portion)