Kahfi & Mak Kahfi

had a wonderful surprise this morning when i logged on to my facebook. my sister syida tagged me in a picture of kahfi, placed next to a little girl who looked so familiar.


..me!

serupa tak?

Bohemia Crystal From Him!

mr. khairul can't keep a surprise. especially from his wife.

since in libya he was excited to tell me about his anniversary present to me, and yet wanting it to be a surprise. (that's why he sucks at keeping a surprise. nak surprise orang tapi tak sabar pulak nak bagitau hihi!) when he told me it's 'something he wouldn't buy in a million years', my guesses range from kinky lingerie to persian carpets to pearls on a ring!

and then i think it's probably one of those fancy english tea-cups with little roses on them.

he said i was getting warmer.


when he came back, i saw this. bohemia crystal. happy anniversary. open it!


dengan rakusnya membukak packaging. hihi.


well hello!

it's a set of heavy, 'carved-on' crystal glasses, from bohemia, czech. just like how batik is now synonymous to indonesia, and the best jade from hong kong; bohemia crystal is the pride of the czech republic.

bohemia was a part of the former czechoslovakia, now known as the czech republic, and was famous for its beautiful and colorful glass, with its excellent cut and engraving.

bohemia crystal is a decorative glass made in bohemia since the 13th century. oldest archaeology excavations of glass-making sites date to around 1250 and are located in the lusatian mountains of northern bohemia...the history of bohemian glass started with the abundant natural resources found in the countryside.

~ wikipedia

oh, but this was really a surprise - another box of bohemia crystal!

* * *

...and another!


honey, i'm not like most women who collects victorian porcelain tea-cups or fancy crystal or shining silverwares - but this is a really special treat for an ordinary girl like me, who collects tisu papers and still keeps her 1999 x-files comic book in a plastic casing!

thank you for making me feel super-special! a really wonderful anniversary surprise!

* * *

did we have a fancy anniversary meal?

since i haven't had mandi rice since i started pantang - which is waaaaaay too long for a mandi-freak like me - i suggested simply going for a mandi lunch at - where else - our favorite mandi restaurant, al-tawasol.

i feel at ease here because since we're eating in an arabian 'tent', it's very easy for us to put kazim down on the sofa cushions, and for me to breastfeed him anytime. it's also comfy for khaleef and kahfi to roll around and provide just the perfect privacy for us as a family with young kids.

then mr. khairul thought about a fancy anniversary dinner - okay.

however, by 8pm all the THREE kay boys were out. K.O. zzz. kapoot. since it's easier to just let the boys sleep instead of going out for dinner, i cooked one of mr. khairul's favorite - mee goreng mamak, syigim style!


...and that was our anniversary celebration.

all our three babies khaleef, kahfi and kazim dozed off - sprawling on the comforter spread in front of the tv. mr. khairul in nothing but his bermudas. me in my pajamas. sitting opposite each other, enjoying a home-cooked meal. mee goreng mamak, with iced ribena. at home.

we both laughed at the simplicity of it all, and agreed it was just as good.

* * *

5 years, huh? happy anniversary, honey.

Award for Supermoms

am i missing something, or was there a note saying that may is month of awards? because i've been getting more than usual!

this one is from AA, or asmahani, with the sweetest dedications to all the bloggers she feels worthy of the sunshine award. thanks asmahani for the nice words! i'm humbled!

..and it's my favorite flower! i LOVE african daisies! big, huge african daisies!


and i got this award back, after giving it away just few weeks ago. this one is from lina. thanks lina - keep the lurve coming my way!

* * *

okeh. time for my personal award yet again!

after my 'gorgon blogger award', i was thinking of a more mommy-friendly (and less scary hihi) award so tada ~ supermom award!

smelly poopy diapers? milk emergency? cookies and ice-cream breaks? endless supply of hugs and kisses? supermoms to the rescue!


if you're a mom with a kid or more, trying to juggle between work and home, with husband to care, screaming kiddos to feed and a house to tend to - you're a supermom! yes - YOU! don't be so modest! we have the toughest, most challenging job in the world - and the fun-est!

so i award this 'supermom blog badge' for all these supermoms, so that you may spread it to other supermoms in the blogosphere!

1. kak arin (besan ku hahaha)
   
2. fauziah (makes best roti canai i've ever tasted - update, please!)
   
3. kak linda (tak blog, but this mom of twins deserves an award!)
   
4. fairus (mom of 2 girls - sorang slim, sorang debok!)
   
5. fida (super-baker-mom!)
   
6. ica (6-year wait and then out came 2 lovely girls!)
   
7. nadiah (nebraska mom)
   
8. azma (abu dhabi mom)
   
9. dbalkis (sharing her space!)
   
10. nadnye (keloncot mom hihi)
    
11. izan (mom of FOUR boys ~ respect!)
    
12. kak nur (ex-kiwi mom)
    
13. catlina (doc cat-mom)
    
14. hanz (natural parent)
    
15. jiji (spunky mom)
    
16. kak ros @ little mama (she blogs, she sews, she takes photos - super momblogger!)
    
17. lina (mom of a boy-girl pair)
    
18. diana (pasta mom)
    
19. asmahani (an engineer mom-of 3!)
    
20. ...and to all moms-to-be, future moms and moms-at-heart!
    

if i were to have 3 superpowers as a supermom, i would like :

• super speed - sometimes kazim only dozes off for 15 minutes before he wakes up and started crying again! so imagine getting so much done - fixing lunch, sidai kain, vacuum the carpet AND lots more house chores - within that 15 minutes!
• stop time - you can imagine why! if i can stop time, i could catch some zzzs while i freeze the boys, or when they're going berserk across the hall and into the kitchen - it could be a super-useful power to have!
• ability to fly - so that i can just fly my boys to and from school! hihi.
  

* * *

as usual, i don't go around telling these moms that they've got an award here. so when they singgah my blog, they will have a sweet surprise, i hope!

Selasa-Selasa Bersama Morrie

okay, fine - ketinggalan already, huh! been a bestseller for sooo long and only now i find interest to read it. in truth, when i first found out what the book was about, i didn't care much to read it.

tuesdays with morrie - 'an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson'. that's the book's tagline.

life's lesson? pfft. i was sceptical. what's new? i just don't like this kind of theme in books that gives you words of wisdom on how to live your life. forgive and forget. mean what you say and say what you mean. hope is frail but the hardest to kill. live life to the fullest. when one door closes, another opens. never give up. think positive. love conquers all.

i've heard it all before. too often.

we've read these magic phrases a thousand times. there's nothing new. they all say the same thing. i know i have to live life to the fullest. i know that hugging a friend today may do me good. i know that money isn't everything (though it can certainly buy a LOT of things).

that's why i greatly despise the 'chicken soup for the soul' series (sorry to the fans!). it's too sickeningly sweet and bordering on pretentious. i guess eventually the writers have to cook up stories just to meet deadlines - that's how bad it was.

but woah-hey! read 'tuesdays with morrie', and you'll get hot, thick chicken soup with homemade croutons, together with corn and carrots. wholewheat bread and a bowl of salad on the side. yum.

it IS about life's lesson. but with *life*!


this book doesn't try too hard to be anything but positively endearing.

a guy, mitch. successful, but drowns himself in work, work, work. then he found out about his dying college professor, morrie. mitch then took time to visit morrie every tuesday for the final 'course' - no textbook, but taught through experience - simply lessons in life.

the story basically revolves around inspirational conversations between the student and teacher; mitch and morrie. morrie in his positive spirit in spite of his crippling disease, while mitch sits in admiration, listening to his favorite professor.

towards the final chapter, i kept carrying the book here and there without really reading it. i almost didn't want to finish it, because i know if i keep reading, morrie will die.

however, funnily enough, i didn't cry when i read about morrie's eventual death.

i cried when he talked about seeking forgiveness. i cried when morrie listens to mitch's wife's singing, and i cried reading about morrie organizing his own 'pre-funeral'! but not when he finally dies - why?

because like mitch the student, even us readers are made to prepare for morrie's death throughout the many examples of how positive morrie is accepting his dying state. to be so close to death, and yet embracing life as never before.

a must-read. oh, dump that chicken soup book, and grab this one, please!

* * *

before reading 'tuesdays with morrie', i had actually read this book sometime last year, written by the same author.

'the five people you meet in heaven' belonged to my sister syida. again, i'm not a fan as i have a feel of the 'kind' of story this writer writes. however,

• the book was just lying around the house,
• it's not that thick,
• it IS after all, a bestseller so i wanna see what's all the fuss about,
  
• AND i was bored -

so i gave it a go.

well, you and i both couldn't possibly imagine what heaven would be like.

so, taking this book metaphorically, it's about reflecting on your life - if you can name FIVE people that has affected you, and affected by you, even after you die - who would it be?

now if you started thinking ONLY about people closest to you, or important to you like your parents, or husband or bestfriend, this book will tell you that ANYONE in your life could have an effect on you, or you might have effect on them. and it doesn't always have to be a positive experience.

the makcik nasi lemak who had always been the place you get your breakfast, so that you may start your day strong and tummy-full ready to face the day -

or a few coins that you give to a beggar was used by him to buy soap, so that he can start amik upah cuci kereta, which eventually earned him more coins to feed his family, as well to continue to wash cars for a living. so to him, you're one of the 5 people who affected his life!

can you think of YOUR 5 now?

* * *

mitch albom writes in short, simple sentences. smooth flow of words and so easy to digest. highly recommended if you want a light reading. although i enjoy the colorful descriptive writings of stephen king, and the funny, cyptic style of terry pratchett - albom's easy-going style is a pleasant change of pace.

pick up a copy today if you're in the mood to have a good cry...

Manggis Dubai

i don't really like manggis (mangosteen). but today i'm writing about manggis because i saw this at waitrose dubai marina, and it's aed15.50 a packet. lebih kurang rm15.50 jugak.

i think there's only 10 bijik inside. 15.50 dirham.

okay, i'm not a manggis expert, but i'm sure you can get way more manggis with rm15.50 back in malaysia, right? i read somewhere that in kelantan you can get sekilo manggis for as low as 80 cents!

sekilo dah berapa manggis kan!


the morale of the story : buy, eat and enjoy local fruits when you're in malaysia.

hihi. hey, though i dislike manggis, i do love other local fruits. my favorite fruit happens to be banana! and yes, my boys share the love, hihi. other than banana, i also like mango and rambutan!

in fact, there was a mango tree right outside my old house in ipoh, where us sisters used to climb and make 'tree house' out of newspaper and cardboard boxes!

i don't like tembikai or betik because i think they're 'messy' fruits (go figure). and i also don't like langsat and ciku coz they taste funny. haha.

yah yah picky, picky!

parts of a manggis

anyways, though i don't really fancy manggis, i'll share what i found out through the magic of googling :

• it has no connection with mango!
• to open up the fruit, you have to twist or press the fruit until it breaks apart
• each manggis contains a type of “flower” at the bottom of the fruit, indicating the number of segments/slices the fruit contains
• while durian is 'king of fruit', manggis is said to be the 'queen of fruit'
• the manggis dark purple skin contains coloring/getah which is difficult to clean off if it stains your clothes
  
• manggis has cooling effect - so you often see durian and manggis sold side by side, because durian is heaty - so you can neutralize the effect of heatiness by eating the cool manggis
  

i found packets of rambutan too. sedih betul tengok. it's just that it looks so NOT fresh; with lebam-lebam and blackish.

also, because back in mr. khairul's kampung, there's a whole orchard of rambutan! there would be a LOT, and i mean a LOT of rambutan everywhere you look - up in the tree, or down on the grass, even up the steps leading to the house! click here for the entry i wrote about the glorious red rambutan invasion!

there's so many that mr. khairul's mom would make jars of rambutan jam. really!

so, when i see a small bunch of rambutan sold in packets like this, i feel really blessed that i could just go balik kampung soon, and eat rambutan as much as i want to, whenever i want to. just a petik away!

Cucu Sharifuddin's Club

this is the coolest club to be in - no entrance fee needed, lifetime complimentary meals and snacks at atuk's house in ipoh, endless indoor and outdoor activities which include occasional sleepovers at atuk's place, and a lot of ice-cream time.

kelab cucu-cucu haji sharifuddin!

abah is an extremely strict and firm dad while we were growing up, but to these club-members, he is simply atuk - the coolest dude ever.


this is haji sharifuddin. he's not tun sharifuddin, or tan sri sharifuddin, but has a more noble title. he's a datuk. a grandfather.

abah has 5 daughters - 3 of them married, and another 2 are so NOT single. hihi. they're simply known as syimee, syigim, syima, syida and azi. or yong, yang, ngah, err...syida and azi.

abah has 3 sons-in-law - mamat, khairul and din. coincidentally all of them have typical malay male names, kan? hihi.

abah has 9 grandchildren. NINE - and here they are!

* * *

muhammad haiqal syahid bin mohd hussin
membership number : 0101

the taiko. the abang. the eldest bro. the president of the club. smart and responsible. boleh diharap. politician in the making. the only cucu that mak took care of. so lucky!

* * *

muhammad haqeem syukran bin mohd hussin
membership number : 0102

cheeky and loud, with a big heart and even bigger grin. vice president of the club. looks like a male version of his mama when she was little. sebijik. has an interghesting way of prghonouncing the letter 'r'. listen to believe it.

* * *

khaleef bin khairul
membership number : 0201

nick-named 'the funny boy' by atuk. clown of the club. enjoys singing disney songs loudly. loves bread, pasta and fast cars.

* * *

suffiya syafeeqah binti mohd mahayuddin
membership number : 0301

the first female club-member. when comfortable, can be extremely chatty. otherwise, very suspicious of strangers. also known as cuya. enjoys science stuff just like lab-rats mom and dad.

* * *

nur aisyah husna binti mohd hussin
membership number : 0103

the first girl in her family. has a pokok kelapa hairstyle. will get to know her more when this writer comes home.

* * *

kahfi bin khairul
membership number : 0202

first club-member born overseas, in dubai. crazy about bananas. probably thinks his younger bro is a cat. or a cute hamster. has a weird fixation for noses.

* * *

marissa marha binti mohd mahayuddin
membership number : 0302

has the upin-ipin hairstyle. the last time this writer saw her, she was just 2-day old. waiting to get to know her better soon.

* * *

kazim bin khairul
membership number : 0203

his name means 'peace-maker'. second club-member born overseas, in dubai. enjoys listening to his brother singing 'itsy bitsy spider'.

* * *

muhammad adam harris bin mohd hussin
membership number : 0104

latest addition to the club. one week old. can't wait to get to know him better soon.

* * *

now who wouldn't be proud having these little kiddos as grandchildren? you're the luckiest atuk ever, abah!

A Little Note of Thought & Thanks

a note of thought:

hari tu dalam kereta, mak khairul duduk kat depan dengan khairul, aku duduk belakang dengan budak-budak. tiba-tiba tengah bersembang khairul cium tangan mak dia. saje-saje. comel kan? aku terus nangis senyap-senyap kat belakang. pertama, sebab terharu tengok betapa anak sayangkan maknya. kedua, teringat terus kat mak aku.

mak, rindu kat mak.

mak, rindu nak cium tangan mak.

baper hari lepas tu pulak mak bestfren aku call dari malaysia ni! terharu sungguh. tima kasih, makcik! ingat jugak makcik kat syigim ye. tiba-tiba tengah bersembang makcik mention yang dia masih lagi teringat - malam yg mak aku meninggal tu, aku sebenarnya tidur rumah makcik tu saje nak temankan dia sebab bestfren aku masa tu blaja kat oversea, jadi mak dia sorang-sorang je kat umah.

makcik citer pun dengan nada sebak.

aku pun pujuk cakap kat makcik, "takpe makcik, malam tu memang mak izin pegi tido umah makcik. dah siap-siap cium tangan mak."

pasal aku pun cium tangan mak cuma bila nak klua je. seblom naik bas kat medan gopeng nak balik kl. seblom klua pegi mall. pagi-pagi sblom pegi keja. mesti cium tangan mak. kalo aku tak klua nak pegi tido rumah makcik hari tu, takde la aku rasa hangat tangan mak.

jadi, malam tu nak ditakdirkan Allah, aku klua nak gi tido rumah besfren aku tu, nak temankan mak dia. jadi aku cium tangan mak sblom klua. kalo aku tak klua ke rumah dia, mesti malam terakhir mak, aku masuk tido je without cium tangan mak kan?

jadi, Allah tu Maha Mengetahui. semua yang berlaku ade hikmahnya.

* * *

okeh, takmo sedih-sedih.

* * *

a note of thanks:

tapi, sebenarnya sedih jugak, pasal bantuan dari malaysia dah pulang! hihi.

dah seminggu mak mr. khairul balik malaysia, meninggalkan anak sulungnya cuba meneruskan penghidupan dengan isteri dan anak-anak keciknya!

opah yan bersama cucu terbarunya

terima kasih tak terhingga kepada mak mertua :

• masakkan lauk pantang yang sedap-sedap dan panas-panas
• bakarkan tungku, rebuskan daun-daun untuk mandi, bancuhkan kapur + limau untuk bengkung
  
• sabar melayan karenah mengade-ngade manja si khaleef dan kahfi, termasuk la bapak budak-budak tu sekali!
  
• tiap pagi bawakkan kazim naik atas ke rooftop poolside untuk jemur dia bawah matahari
  
• ironkan semua baju-baju kemeja keja khairul
• mengorbankan waktu berjalan-jalan untuk duk rumah je menjaga cucu dan menantu yg tengah pantang - khairul tak sempat bawak berjalan pun (pasal dia banyak travel sini sana masa tu) dan bawak mak dia makan luar best-best pun cuma hari terakhir
  

dan banyak lagi yang tak tersebut di sini. TERIMA KASIH!

* * *

siapa yang masih punya mak, genggam erat tangannya.

rasala kulit kering mak yang bertahun-tahun jaga makan pakai kita. ciumlah tangan kasar mak yang kerja keras membesarkan kita. jiwailah sentuhan lembut mak yang saban waktu tenangkan kita.

sebab kita tak tahu sampai bila kita boleh rasa sentuhan itu.