a special day, out of those 365 days in a year; the 24th day of the 6th month – i was born.
little syigim
at the time of writing, it’s already half past midnight in malaysia. well, i may be 32 in my home country but i’m still 31 in dubai ok! hihi.
counting the hours till my birthday. yay.
dubai is a haven for kain. you want the latest, the affordables, the loveliest – dubai is the place to be, especially the area called ‘naif’. in fact before i got married, abah brought me and my sisters to dubai to buy cloths to make baju for my engagement and wedding.
one interesting shop in the midst of it all is phulwani, arguably THE most popular textile shop among malaysians.
how popular? you can see ‘selamat datang’ pasted on its entrance door. there are even pictures of malay wedding couples, as well as malaysian artistes on its walls. if you look closely under the glass on the table, you will see hundreds of business cards of malaysian government officers, airline crew or just another malaysian dropping by.
the friendly and helpful staff can speak bahasa malaysia very well, and are knowledgeable in malaysia kain pricing. masuk kedai tu, memang rasa macam kat kedai kain malaysia!
me like a kid in a candy store
phulwani is relatively big, but has narrow spaces. you’ll find yourself walking into L spaces when you’re in the shop.
upon entering, you’ll see a line of cloths for men’s suits and shirts first, before being greeted by a wondrous colorful selection of kain of all types and origin. i bought one korean silk myself. hihi.
there’s a whole section of a plain cloths selection to make men’s baju melayu, and another section just for laces. when i said i wanted to make kebaya, the staff was quick to suggest lace as a favorite choice to make kebaya, but i don’t want THAT kind of kebaya. lace-lace ni tak payah lah.
i’m going for simple but bright this year!
since phulwani is such a hit with malaysians, it’s not surprising to bump into my fellow countrymen here. while we were there, we met mr. khairul’s fellow biker dude sham who’s ordering a few baju melayu here; we also ran into bro hassanal, wife hazleen and their two boys – also browsing cloths for baju raya. two other malay couples were also looking for materials when we were about to leave.
really, most of their customers are malaysians!
me and hazleen going gaga over the many choices of kain
so what colors are you guys planning for baju raya theme this year?
my family? maybe dark brown. could be red. perhaps cream. or even dark green. haha. the thing is, these are the colors of the stripes, or leaf or flowers or the background of my baju kurung and kebaya this year. since it’s so easy to pick up a baju melayu, the boys will just follow MY colors, whatever it might be in the end.
…the perks of being the ONLY girl in the family…
so who picks the baju raya in YOUR family? selalunya the wife kan hihi. my mak used to just sew the baju raya for her 5 girls when we were younger. too bad i’m not as talented!
also, we’ve got a chinese tailor back in ipoh – and boy, we’ve been sending kain to her since forever. the chinese lady once said, (when she had to re-measured us after giving birth) that she has sewn our baju kurung when we were small, then teen, then married and now even as mothers. gile lama kitorang tempah baju kat ahso tu!
well, i bought a few kain at phulwani that day, with the help of mr. khairul. i love MOST of the kain design there, so i let mr. khairul pick and choose some kain that he likes to see on me. lagi bagus bila suami suka kain yang kita pilih kan?
we can of course just buy the kain, but i chose to let their in-house tailor make my baju kurung. he came to take my measurement. i could come back next few weeks to pick it up, and alter it there and then should there be any correction to the cutting.
this is my first time making baju kurang and kebaya with an old indian man! and he’s foreign! let’s see how well he does…
i guess i don’t need to give you the exact location of phulwani since it’s so popular already – but here’s a few pointers just in case. it’s situated in the area opposite the naif police station, surrounded by a few abaya shops. we parked in the dark building right in front – congested, low-ceiling, a claustrophonic-nightmare – but hey, this is the only choice we’ve got!
if you’re travelling without kiddos, you’re better off taking a cab. no parking hassle! also, come in the evening as it’s getting hotter in dubai right now so you’ll be shopping more comfortable after dark!
have fun!
happy father’s day to my super abah, tuan haji sharifuddin shoib, my sons’ captain bapak mr khairul, and my father in law bapak tuan haji anwar khalid.
like father like son
khaleef
one thing i despise when we’re out for movies, is mr. khairul’s irritating habit of picking and choosing the most caramel-coated popcorn he could find in the big popcorn bucket. hmmph! he would shake and stir and rummage through the bucket until he finds a few golden ones, sticky with too much caramel – leaving the rest of us with white ones! well, khaleef has an exact similar habit. he would do the exact same thing when we buy a bucket of popcorn.
good. now you have to berebut with your eldest son!
kahfi
kahfi has the most sepet eyes among my 3 boys. the wider he smiles, the lesser you see of his eyes. in his best smiles, you usually won’t be able to see his eyes at all – they would only be two crumpled lines sliding upwards. he got that smile from his bapak.
sigh, i fell in love with that smile, mr. khairul. and now you’ve got one heckuva competition from your second born!
kazim
kazim eats everything, and anything. well, tolak batu, kayu and benda-benda haram lah kan. from cheeseburgers to spicy nasi goreng tomyam. from orange juice to hot japanese green tea. he inherited his father’s adventurous foodie title.
so the next time you eat weird stuff like sweet pengat sotong or the bitter lebanese stuffed grape leaves; you’ll have someone crazy enough to share the taste!
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happy father’s day, abah. jasa yang tak mungkin terbalas.
my sister syida compiled these cool pictures of my abah walking up and down vietnam on their recent travels there. my two younger sisters went with abah and umi. she always does have a creative eye on things when it comes to photography. she doesn’t even need those big huge bulky cameras…
this compilation was taken from her awesome tumblr. check it out, click here!
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something light and easy for father’s day. enjoy.
Over the centuries fathers have given their children plenty of good advice; here are some examples which you find quite amusing.
yes, nasi kandar has finally arrived in dubai!
i’m married to a penang boy, who’s naturally, a nasi kandaq-freak. everytime we’re back to malaysia, penang is definitely in the must-visit list. imagine going the rest of the year without his fix? but not any more with city moon’s new offerings – nasi kandar dishes and lauk every friday!
jom!
city moon is situated in karama, very near the indonesian restaurant, betawi. (click here for my review on betawi) the premise is rather small, able to fit only 4-5 tables of 3 people each. however, it’s clean and presentable, while the staff are courteous and always ready to wait on you. oh, and they can speak reasonably good bahasa malaysia too! coolness!
rase la sekejap macam makan kat restoran mamak malaysia!
we’ve heard about this place having nasi kandar every friday, but that day was our first time. i expected a decent crowd, or at least a long line of hungry malaysians melepas rindu for their beloved nasi kandar after friday prayers, but the place was empty except one table of three. and only after we’ve taken our food came 3-4 more people.
oh well, good for us then!
a small counter at the end of the restaurant housed all the lauk; and they’re all delightfully familiar. there’s the must-have ayam goreng (fried chicken), the mandatory kari kepala ikan (fish head curry), there’s the unmistakable sight of ayam madu, kurma ayam, daging merah and acar timun; plus a host of other tantalizing curries.
all the usual dishes that accompanies a nice hot steamed white rice.
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i must say that the plate above was way too neat to be a plate of a penang nasi-kandaq freak boy! there seemed to be too little curry visible, and the edges of the plate was too clean! haha.
the lauk was delicious; ayam goreng was spiced well, and the meat was very tender – but by mr. khairul’s verdict, the steamed rice was poorly made. too hard. spoiled the whole experience.
the vegetable dish of lady’s finger was particularly tasty. i ageed. sedap, lembut, cukup rasa!
i opted for nasi tomato, because i simply LOVE nasi tomato! and when the server asked, “nasi putih? nasi tomato ade---“ i immediately jumped into the sentence, “..nasi tomato ade?! ok nasi tomato!” hihi. of course i partnered it with ayam madu (honey chicken) on the side – because i don’t like my rice to be too soggy with the amount of gravy that i don’t need – yes, my system!
when i ate a spoonful, i thought to myself – city moon must have a problem with their rice cooker! because my rice was a bit on the hard side too! it’s not THAT hard that it’s inedible, but i wish it could be softer and fluffier.
the ayam madu was delicious – sweet savoury, all in the right amount. the acar timun was not bad at all. though i wish the rice would be softer, i basically had a decent meal of a dish that i love. it’s all good!
all in all, the nasi tomato wasn’t up to my mark, but i would go again to try other lauk. maybe kurma or their nasi lemak the next time around?
by the way, i think it’s named ‘city moon’ because it originally wanted the name ‘si timun’ kot? hihi. lagi catchy kan?
in a rare, long eclipse, the moon will turn into a glowing red ball, tonight. it is the century’s longest total lunar eclipse – 3 hours and 40 minutes.
i love looking at the sky. the fluff of the clouds, the velvety night sky. i LOVE looking at the moon and the stars, especially on a clear night where the moon is so visibly huge, round and glowing. i will be in awe, and i will not be able to keep my eyes away from the moon. as a child, it always fascinates me that the moon ‘follows’ my abah’s car! hihi.
also, on a clear night, i will never miss looking for the orion’s belt constellation of stars. amazing. simply beautiful and amazing. a string of 3 stars that are forever constant and aligned together. Allahuakbar.
so this lunar eclipse thing is something interesting that i will look into!
a lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind the earth so that the earth blocks the sun's rays from striking the moon. this can occur only when the sun, earth, and moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the earth in the middle. hence, there is always a full moon the night of a lunar eclipse.
in UAE (united arab emirates) the moon will start turning grey at 9:23pm when it will enter the penumbra (the early shadow of the earth). the earth's core shadow called umbra will start covering the moon exactly an hour later at 10:23pm.
the shadow will completely cover the moon at 11:22pm. the eclipse will end at 1:03am UAE time after a whopping three hours and 40 minutes. it will be visible almost everywhere in the world except north america.
we learned this in school, but i honestly have forgotten! all the umbras and penumbras! it’s good to polish up. i’ll impress khaleef later. hihi.
read this. wow. and imagine you’re flying off into space, and looking at earth during the lunar eclipse!
What makes the eclipsed moon turn red? The answer lies inside Earth's shadow:
Our planet casts a long shadow. It starts on the ground--Step outside at night. You're in Earth's shadow. Think about it!--and it stretches almost a million miles into space, far enough to reach the moon.
Suppose you had a personal spaceship. Here's your mission: Tonight, at midnight, blast off and fly down the middle of Earth's shadow. Keep going until you're about 200,000 miles above Earth, almost to the moon. Now turn around and look down. The view from your cockpit window is Earth's nightside, the dark half of our planet opposite the sun. But it's not completely dark! All around Earth's limb, the atmosphere glows red.
What you're seeing is every sunrise and sunset on Earth--all at once. This ring of light shines into Earth's shadow, breaking the utter darkness you might expect to find there. Turn off the cockpit lights. There's a lovely red glow.
source : nasa.
this picture describes how it would look like if you were standing on the moon, looking at earth during a lunar eclipse. woah.
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in Islam, there should be no superstition associated with the eclipse. muslims offer prayer at the time of the eclipse.
apakah hukum solat sunat gerhana?
hukumnya adalah sunat muakkadah atau pun sunat yang digalakkan.
ini berdasarkan daripada hadis yang diriwayatkan oleh Imam Muslim yang bermakna, Rasulullah SAW bersabda : sesungguhnya matahari dan bulan merupakan dua tanda daripada tanda-tanda (kebesaran) Allah, tidak berlaku gerhana pada kedua-duanya kerana kematiaan seseorang dan tidak pula kerana kelahirannya. maka apabila kamu melihat perkara itu maka sembahyanglah dan berdoalah sehingga kembali terang (hilang gerhana) apa dengan kamu.
lafaz niat solat sunat gerhana bulan
أُصَلِّى سُنَّةَ الخُسُوفِ رَكْعَتَينِ للهِ تَعَالَى
ertinya : “sahaja aku solat sunat gerhana bulan dua rakaat kerana Allah Taala.”
cara dilakukan solat gerhana :
i. solat gerhana dilakukan sekurang-kurangnya 2 rakaat seperti solat sunat biasa. ia adalah yang sekurang-kurangnya. yang akmalnya dilakukan dengan dua kali ruku’ dan 2 kali qiyam, pada tiap-tiap satu rakaat dengan tidak dipanjangkan bacaan pada kedua-dua rakaat.
ii. yang terlebih akmal ialah dengan 2 rakaat, dengan 2 ruku dan qiyam bagi tiap-tiap satu rakaat dengan dipanjangkan bacaan pada kedua-dua rakaat.
bila boleh dilakukan? waktunya bermula ketika berlakunya gerhana dan berakhir dengan hilangnya gerhana tersebut dan keadaan menjadi seperti sedia kala.
untuk lebih lanjut, klik sini. takpun korang tengok video ni, penerangan dari ustaz rasul dahri tentang solat sunat gerhana ni. ade lagi 3 clip, korang bole sambung je la kat youtube ok. hihi.
Allah knows best.
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the next lunar eclipse with this length will only occur in 2141. so grab this chance to witness this rare phenomena.
(*images taken from wikipedia & google)
future corporate leader? linguist? engineer? scientist? doctor? ustaz? banker? system analyst? film maker? chef? dentist? prime minister perhaps?
congratulations my son, on your graduation to year ONE. *clap clap, pompoms in the air*
*takkan dapat ni je?
you like crab? you like it fresh? you like it well marinated, salty spiced? you like it dry fried? head on to ‘calicut paragon’ in karama for the best dry fry crab you will ever taste, and a host of other kerala dishes too.
*kerala is one of the states in india
the one we went is in karama, opposite lulu center and in the same row as another popular indian restaurant. the restaurant is spacious, well-lit and despite the slight berkuap and strong curry smell; it’s fairly comfy to bring a family of 3 young boys and a stroller.
as usual, most indian and arab restaurants in dubai will have a designated closed section or an entirely different floor just for family. this is one of the best features of a restaurant in dubai. nak makan pun selesa, anak bising pun tak kacau orang sebelah.
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‘spinach delight’
whatever dish you have in mind to order at ‘calicut paragon’, i highly recommend that you start with this green dish called ‘spinach delight’. don’t let the simplicity fool you, this appetizer is mighty delicious. just imagine a tempura spinach – indian style!
it’s fried to the crisp, crunchy to the taste, and when you dip it in the homemade chilli, fantastic! i told mr. khairul we could go back here JUST to have this plate of ‘spinach delight’ for minum petang!
dry fry crab
..and this is the dish that we came here for. if you’re a crab-fan, don’t miss trying this dry fry crab when you’re at ‘calicut paragon’.
it’s marinated to perfection, and spiced well. the bits of crumbs on the plate floor adds to the appeal of this dish. mr. khairul was disturbingly quiet the entire time as he ravaged through the delicious dry fry crab. literally tak toleh kiri kanan!
i only get to taste one bite! but that’s just because i’m no fan of this side-walking creature of the sea. i’ll let the real crab-freak finish this one!
the crab cracker : to break the crab shell
the dish below is grilled hamour if i’m not mistaken – and i have to admit, that ONLY after having this delicious meal that i discovered that hamour is on the verge of extinction!
oh no, i’ve actually eaten an endangered sea-creature! they’re endangered because it is the most popular marine dish in the nation, and it’s been fished out many times more that its sustainable level. also, despite government’s effort to save the hamour, the markets in dubai are still selling baby hamour…
it’s SO delicious – the marination, the very soft texture of the fish that melts in your mouth… – but we have to stop eating them! hmm, if the marination is part of what makes the fish taste so yummy, i’m sure it’ll work with other fish, right?
what do we eat all the yummy lauk with? a plate of ghee rice! i love the idea of cooking rice with ghee because i know how good it taste, but i don’t like raisins in rice. besides being a hassle (i have to pick up every single one and put them aside) it also gives my rice a sickeningly sweet taste.
to some people, the raisins might be the ‘life’ of the rice since it adds sweetness to the rice. but for me, no-no. me no likey. i like the taste of the rice, but the raisins are in my way of enjoying it fully!
ghee rice
the accompaniments : this white yoghurt dip with cut up tomatoes, cucumber and onion is great with popadom (the crunchy snack). mr. khairul doesn’t fancy it, but i do!
khaleef LOVES mandi rice, but he doesn’t like biryani rice or this ghee rice. so we ordered apam for the boys. the chicken curry that came along was fine, nicely thick and a little spicy, but the apam could be more crunchier along the sides.
for a much, much much BETTER apam, i suggest you go to ‘appa kadai’ instead. they’re the king of apams! read my review on ‘appa kadai’ here.
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drinks wise, i always, always go for normal mineral water ‘room temperature’ haha. on rare occasion i would order juice or pepsi, but 90 percent of the time, it’s simply mineral water for me.
for mr. khairul, it’s chai. or tea. or teh tarik. here in ‘calicut paragon’, its tea is called ‘biryani chai’. hmm? biryani? tea? dengar nama pun macam berlemak je minuman ni! mr. khairul absolutely loved it. one of the best chai around town.
maybe you can enjoy this tall glass of hot biryani chai, while munching the ‘spanish delight’ dipped in homemade chilli sauce. yum.
