When the husband dominates the TV..

Salam,

As I'm writing this post,my dear husband is watching 'Match of the day' on the TV.. as we didn't subscribe the sports channel, he would catch up with the results of football games later on at night time.. luckily they have the 'Match of the day' - they show highlights of every game including all goals.. he would sleep late to watch the program.. sometimes he fall asleep on the couch.. he is a big fan of Man Utd.. so whenever there's a match oh his fav team, he'll get excited.. football is like the second wife to him!

Actually his interest is not only in football.. he loves sports as a whole.. rugby, ashes/cricket, swimming, tennis, even darts (which I never knew there are big tournaments for that!).. you name it, he knows them all (well, probably not all but most of them anyway).. when we watch 'Question of sports', he usually knows a lot of the answers.. I must say I've learned a lot about sports from him.. the game, the rules, the players.. I think he is getting tired of answering my questions on sports.. especially if he is trying to concentrate on a game.. what else can I do.. I can't just stare at the TV watching a game without knowing anything about the game, can I??;)

Tonight is the final game of the snooker tournament.. so you can guess what are we watching now (Match of the day has just finished).. I haven't got a clue about snooker before.. now I'm starting to know the game.. and they actually make snooker fun to watch.. the players have their own personality (I like to watch their different reactions, it can be very funny sometimes), and they showed interesting clips to watch.. and of course, a lot of input from my dear hubby makes a lot of difference.. now I know what 147 means in snooker!;)

I'm impressed on how much guys know about sport.. me and my sisters are regularly become the victims of bullies by my husband and my brother in laws because of our lack of knowledge in sports.. when they all watched a game together, and we popped out a question about the game, they actually gave us a made up answer! and we ended up being laughed at! hmph.. ;)

The snooker game has just finished.. Ding won!!

Addiction..

Salam,

Silence has been quite apparent lately.. I really don't have anything interesting to write.. but my dear husband kept asking me when will I write in this blog again..

So,today I'll write about my current addiction.. I'm now an addict! opss.. nothing serious.. I'm addicted to baking.. If I'm bored, I'll bake.. If I crave for cake, I'll bake.. If my husband ask for a cake, I'll bake.. my hands are itching to bake again.. I've made 2 cakes this week.. 3 cakes last week.. not included the 8 cakes I made in the previous weeks.. I'm trying to get out of my addiction.. I would have probably bake more cakes this week but I'm running out of flour & eggs in my kitchen.. and I'm restraining myself from buying any more supply in the near future.. I need a baking rehab!

The source of my addiction!

We bought this beautiful Kenwood Chef Premier last month.. I broke my previous mixer when I was trying to make pau.. my husband has been asking for kaya pau.. so while he was at work, I tried making the pau.. but my mixer broke down in the process.. then I planned on using my hand mixer but it 'blew' right after I turned it on! with both of the mixers broken, I kneaded the pau manually ie using my hand! it was a hard work (luckily I managed to get good results ie good pau!).. when my husband came back form work,he found me in a bad mood and the mixers were in the bin! being an understanding and a loving husband, he offered to buy me a new mixer..;) thank you abg!! and a few weeks later, he bought me a Kenwood hand mixer too:) my friends have suggested either Kenwood or Kitchenaid brand for mixers.. to be honest I've never heard of Kitchenaid before.. but it is actually a popular brand.. they're pricey (twice the price of Kenwood mixers) but they're surely beautiful and strong.. and I heard they're hard to find in Malaysia.. but as I'm not a professional baker nor going to be one, I figured the Kenwood mixer is more than enough for me.. popular brand and the price was reasonable (we got 80euro off for the mixer).. I must say I love my new mixer very much!

Well,to be honest the Kenwood mixer didn't come for free.. it was actually a trade - my hubby bought me the mixer,I bought him the Xbox..;) his xbox broke down a few months ago.. as Christmas sale has already begun, we figured it is the best time to buy the things we wanted.. he has been eyeing on the FIFA10 game for a while.. we were planning to buy Xbox 360 and the FIFA10 game only.. but there were special offers for Xbox.. the price of the Xbox with the FIFA10 game was the same as buying Xbox elite 360 plus 3 games (including the FIFA10) and an extra console.. so I got him the Xbox elite instead.. and of course it makes him happy.. he spends most of his time at home playing the Xbox game.. he can spend hours on the game.. and when he is trying to concentrate on his game, I'm banned from going near him coz I like to distract him.. hehe.. but of course, I still do it..;)

The source of his addiction!

Although he is addicted to his FIFA game and I'm addicted to baking, we still spend some time together.. well, we're addicted to each other as well;D.. he will check on me if I'm out of his sight, and so do I.. people have said to us that we're like playful children in the house.. yes, we do get crazy sometimes.. and I love it!:) it keeps us young and happy,I guess..;)

I better stop now.. till we meet again in the next post, InsyaAllah..

Eidul Adha..

Salam..

I'm hoping it's not too late to wish everyone Eid Mubarak! this Eid has been quite a busy Eid for me.. my dear hubby is working in the night shift this week (12midnight-8am weekdays & 8pm-8am in the weekend).. hence his sleep pattern has gone haywire! poor him..

Because of that,I made the Eid preparations myself.. for the Eid day, I made a moist choc cake, dahlia cookies & pasembor.. as usual, we had our raya potluck session at K.Riza's house.. :) this time, we have invited almost all Malaysian families here in Limerick to join us.. the last time that I saw many of them was last Eidul Fitri.. we had great time catching up with each other.. I was the last to leave her house at 11 pm that nite!

The next day I 'fainted' as if I was working the night shift;p hehe.. we were planning to go to Asyik's & K.Lin's open house in Nenagh.. but we woke up late & K.Riza invited us over for lunch.. so, we went over to her house again!

Yesterday, Fairuz & his family including his parents came over.. as we have been to K riza's house twice, we suggested to have potluck lunch at my house this time.. I made simple chicken rice, dahlia cookies (again.. the ones I made before has finished) and a marble cheese choc cake as requested by Asma' not a long time ago.. my dear hubby also asked for a cake to celebrate his Specialist Reg's birthday.. so I made a cream cheese buttercake too.. I've made 8 cakes in less than 2 weeks!! a zebra cake, 3 x layered cakes (kek lapis), marble cheesecake, moist choc cake, marble cheese choc cake and cream cheese buttercake (don't worry, we just had a slice or two of each cake.. the rest were given away;)..) I think that's enough for now.. will let my mixer rest for a while;) anyway, our lunch went well.. thanks to K.Riza & Ustaz Wan for the unbelievably delicious nasi impit with sayur lodeh & to K.Yana for the yummylicious kuah kacang!! alhamdulillah.. our Eid has been quite happening;)

***

Our Eid has been extra special this year.. my hubby's little sister (who is definitely not little anymore;p) has passed her final exams! Alhamdulillah.. well,of course the news was not so surprising for us as we always knew she would made it.. what makes it extra special is that she has been invited for a prize giving ceremony.. she herself has no idea of what prize or why she was chosen and apparently the university has been secretive of what prize she will be receiving.. I'm sure they're trying to make it a surprise! We're so happy for her.. we're very sorry that we can't be there..

CONGRATULATIONS DR INTAN SAFFURA!
WE'RE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!
LOVE YOU!

***

In this last part of this entry, I'll be focusing on an issue that has been quite concerning recently especially just before this Eid.. It was about the Eid prayer, whether it is sunat or wajib.. apparently there was an online kuliyyah about this issue and somehow people got the impression and made the conclusion that Eid prayer is wajib from the kuliyyah.. I was quite surprised when I heard about this issue.. after reading on these 2 articles, I can't resist myself from writing on this issue..

This is a link in which I read about this issue..
Solat Aidilfitri & AidilAdha

And another post written by Ustaz Irfan..
Adakah ijma ulamak solat eid itu wajib

As a person with not as much knowledge as they have, I'm just presenting the two articles on this issue.. I like the approach & explanations by Ustaz Irfan.. the 2 conclusions that he made are very valid points.. of course discussing about mazhab is definitely out of my league.. I'm still trying to learn myself.. somehow I got the feeling that more people are towards 'holding on to hadiths sahih' regardless of what mazhab they are following.. I'm not saying that it's wrong.. even nowadays we sometimes adapt the practise of other mazhab in certain things.. of course all mazhab are acceptable.. and of course Al-Quran and Hadiths are the two sources we always need to refer to on any issues.. what I'm worried is for most people who has not so much knowledge about hadiths (like me).. we can't just find any sahih hadith and hold on to it (especially when we're not experts in interpreting hadiths) without knowing that there maybe another hadith that is sahih as well but have different approach to the same issue.. then we will start saying one party is right and one party is not.. Alhamdulillah we had the 4 great Imams who had provide us with their teachings.. they have studied Islamic knowledge extensively and has made life as a muslim much easier for us.. of course there are issues that are called khilaf between the mazhabs.. but as Ustaz Irfan said, khilaf issues should be debated as khilaf issues.. it is better to present these issues from the point of view of the 4 mazhabs rather than black and white as if one mazhab is wrong and the other is right.. I hope we all can be rational in this issue.. and I pray may Allah guide us in every step we take.. we, as muslims definitely have to broaden our knowledge in Islam.. just need to be careful in our steps.. Wallahua'lam..

Till we meet again in the next post,insyaAllah..

Life Goes On

Salam..

As you may have noticed, Ina has been the one updating this blog since my last entry sometime in September.. Indeed, much has happened since then.. In fact, much were of great significance that they mark dates and book memories..

Since my own last entry, we had an almost-three-week break in Malaysia, which in that period there, I bought myself a digital SLR camera.. A D90 more specifically.. Of course, within that three weeks as well, I lost the lens hood of the camera! Silly me.. But, it was a bargain and I enjoyed my new toy more every day..

While back there as well, we spent time in Pangkor Island with my family, in Ulu Yam with Ina's family.. To be honest, I never saw Ina's dad having so much fun in the river.. It was almost as if there was nothing bothering him.. Maybe I am wrong, but that was what I saw that day..

Within that break as well, I had made it clear that I wanted to spend some time with my grand-dad.. I had a twinge that Tok had gone down so much since I saw him last year.. He was not as energetic, his memory was bad.. But he still rode his motorcycle daily.. Indeed, I had a bad feeling..

I was not far off.. Tok died in Ipoh Hospital on 7th of November.. Needless to say, I was already back in Limerick, working.. I received a phone call from mom on Saturday 6th, telling me that Tok was very unwell.. He had been suffering with fever and abdominal pain since Wednesday/Thursday.. Pakcik Fakhri brought him to hospital and within the next 12 hours, he declined rapidly.. Mom had told me that all had agreed that he was for conservative treatment only.. He died the next day.. And I received the phone call 30 minutes into my 12-hour-long Saturday shift.. (I thank Rachel and Jason who gave me some time off that day to gather myself)

Last weekend, I received a call from Donald Grant, an old friend of Tok's.. He was Tok's boss at the time British was in Tanah Melayu, some time in 1940's.. They had quite some experience together - Tok leading his boss running away from the Japanese was the story that pops up every time! Also, Mr Grant's son, Roger, was born in Batu Gajah and my grandma had looked after him for a while as a baby..

May he rest in peace, among the people of Jannah..

Ina also had a new toy - a mega mixer! Yup, the one I call 'Transformers'.. It is a Kenwood mixer but has multiple attachment outputs that you can actually attach different other things.. Of course, each attachment is sold separately, like Transformers' gadgets! Hehe..

Well.. I have babbled a lot this time.. I should stop.. Till later..

Salam..

Life is a rollercoaster..

Salam,

Sometimes I wonder what's life going to bring to me in the future.. or what will I bring to my life.. where will I be in 5, 10 or 15 years time.. sometimes there are to many of 'what if' questions.. is it a good thing? probably.. sometimes..

We may be too scared to face the truth.. to face the future.. we may have so many doubts in taking each step.. but I guess in the end, we need to have a little faith.. stay brave & strong and take every challenge coming at you.. and believe that He has the very best plan laid for you..

We may not get everything that we wanted.. we may lose the very best thing that we owned.. we may not reached our goals.. we may be tested in every step we take.. should we stopped? should we continue? should we take a break & take time to ponder upon ourselves? there is no definite answer.. when we need some signal or a little direction,we have Him to ask to..

What if we want something so much.. just one thing.. and we keep asking again & again for it.. and without this one thing,we just can't go on.. should we stop asking? should we passed on and forget about it.. what if we can't? what if there is no way that our wish can be granted?

"Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower,"

"Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire!"

Al-Fatihah..

Salam,

Yesterday we were given a very sad news.. Tok (my dear hubby's grandfather) has passed away.. He was sick on Friday and was admitted to the hospital.. and my inlaws decided that he was for supportive care only, given his age and overall fitness.. they were told to be prepared for the worse.. and on Saturday,he passed away...

When I got the news from Erin, Shaz has just left for work.. I tried to call him but at the same time my mother in law was actually on the phone, delivering the news to him.. and then he called me back and there was sadness in his voice.. he told me that mum (my MIL) has told him.. and I don't know what else to say to him other than asking him,'are you ok?'.. and he replied, 'I don't know'.. and there was a long pause.. I wish I was there with him when he got the news.. I wish I could find the right words but my mind just went blank.. he was trying hard to calm himself and so was I..

Tok has played a big role in my hubby's life.. I would say I didn't get to spend much time with Tok.. in fact, I just met him for a few times.. but I've heard a lot of stories about him from my dear hubby (and from my MIL & SIL as well).. all the happy & funny stories.. and from the way he told the stories, I knew that Tok is part of his happiness.. and of course part of his life & his memory since childhood..

Last picture with arwah.. taken a few weeks ago..

I remember the story that he told me, which happened when he was in the boarding school.. Tok went visiting him when he was in MCKK.. Tok came by the gate (not the front gate) and ask one of the schoolboys to find my hubby.. and when he arrived, Tok threw a durian over the gate for him! Tok would asked my MIL about my hubby every now and then.. he would cook his ever famous & delicious lamb curry every time we went back to visit him.. I know for sure that Tok loves his grandchildren very much.. my dear hubby also told me about how Tok would make sure that his grandchildren have their dinner.. there were times that he would dragged them and sat them beside him and he would feed them himself.. one of the funny things that Shaz could not forget was that Tok liked to watch the tamil news, a long time ago.. Shaz was merely a boy at that time, and with his cousins,they would sat in front of the TV to watch cartoons.. but as soon as the Tamil news started,Tok would switched the channel.. and nobody could switched the channel back.. ;)

Tok has been a very independent man.. He would do anything he wanted in his own way.. he was a strict man.. his 'best friend' - his motorcycle.. countless times people offered him a ride but his choice would almost always be his own ride.. even until just recently, he still ride his motorcycle, at the age of over 80.. he was the treasurer for the death khairat in the kampung for 23 years.. he has been close with the people & the mosque.. for 23 years, he did his work efficiently..

we'll miss you..

I love to hear stories of his youth.. When he was young, he used to work with a British man, Tuan Grant, who became a close friend of his.. he used to work as a 'pongkah pola' (fan curve puller)- I think!.. and that was the era of the communists.. If I was not mistaken, his work have a lot to do with taking care of the estate/forest.. whenever he went into the forest with Tuan Grant, there was always the danger of being attacked by the communists.. he remembered Tuan Grant very well.. when we went to see him last month, he did again tell us some story about Tuan Grant..

I'll miss his story & I'll miss the sight of him.. sitting on his favourite chair in front of the TV.. doing his own things.. no matter how hectic it was around him, with kids screaming, running or jumping, or when we were chit chatting like crazy, he would stay relaxed in his chair.. like nothing could bother him.. he didn't say much, he made a few remarks sometimes.. a few small cit chats.. but his presence that was important.. and I guess the house will never be the same without him..

I'm glad that we had the chance to visit him last month.. when we were paying a visit to Opah's grave, he showed us some empty spaces nearby and said that he would like to be buried in the same graveyard.. as if he knew that his time was near..

We all will miss him.. he will stay dear to our hearts.. we were told that he passed away peacefully.. with no difficulty.. and so many people turned up for his funeral.. alhamdulillah.. it gives us some peace in our hearts.. in this midst of grieving, everyone is still trying to cope.. the sadness will surely stay but hopefully it'll heal with time.. we will keep him in our hearts and remember him in our prayers, insyaAllah.. he has raised his children and his grandchildren very well.. he has done lots of good deeds throughout his life..

'O Allah! Forgive our living and our dead, those of us who are present and
those who are absent, our young and our old, our males and our females,
those of us who are present, and those who are absent. O Allah!
Whomsoever among us You keep alive, make him to live in Islam, and
whomsoever You cause to die, let him die in faith. O Allah! Do not deprive
us of our reward for (supplicating for) him, and cause us not to go astray'

I'm probably not the best person to write about Tok.. what I've written here is just a small part of his life.. and I'm sorry if what I wrote is wrong or not accurate..

Home sweet home..

Salam..

Oh God, today is the last day of October & I suddenly realised that we haven't post anything this month.. the reason is that were in Malaysia from 6-24th of this month.. it was actually kind-of-a last minute plan.. at first we thought that we're not going back to Malaysia at all this year given that we have other plans made up.. but of course plans changed.. and we bought our tickets last month..

Luckily my dear hubby managed to changed his annual leave.. Alhamdulillah.. (adding another week to October, so we had nearly 3 weeks of holidays.. yeay!!).. we had planned our 3 weeks carefully to make sure that we would spent quality time with our family..

We left Ireland on the 5th October,departing from Cork.. my hubby finished work at 8am that morning and our flight was at 4.30pm on the same day.. (we were desperately want to maximise our time in Malaysia;p)..

Alhamdulillah our journey was uneventful.. we had a few ours of transit in Heathrow.. we were so tired - my dear hubby was up all night working the 12hours shift and I spent the night packing our stuffs and cleaning up the entire house.. it was a big relief when we sat in the MAS airplane.. with the 'Selamat datang' greetings by the flight attendants and raya song played in the flight,my heart was shouting "Malaysia,here I come!!".. how I miss home so much!!

We arrived an hour ahead of our schedule.. and I must say that the pilot was a very good pilot.. for the take off and landing,we didn't feel a thing!.. thanks Mr Pilot! ;)

We definitely had a blast back home!! there are so many things happened.. and I'll keep it short here.. the first weekend we had an open house at my home in Kundang.. and guess who did the cooking? my father!! (owh,i forgot to mention that my mum is still in mecca..).. he prepared the undeniably delicious beef curry to go along with the lemang and beef soup (sup tulang!!) for the bihun soup.. my eldest sister also came home over the weekend.. it was like a very busy nursery,with all of my nieces & nephews fighting with one another,nearly non-stop.. hehe.. but I guess it would be so quiet and gloomy without them!!

2 of my aunts came all the way from Perlis to spend some time with us.. they brought so much food ie pekasam & fresh fishes.. and they've cooked so much dishes (all were yummylicious) plus the traditional kuih as well.. thanks very much mak tam,mak njang & pak tam!! I was planning to bring them for a short getaway at a resort but unfortunately syamil had a fever.. plus the timing wasn't very good.. so we went to a picnic instead.. I can't remember when was the last time I went swimming (or rather bathing) in a river.. the water was ice cold! it was so much fun.. the next day we went for shopping at Nilai 3.. I didn't buy anything but just to accompany my aunts & uncle..

the second weekend, we went back to my hubby's side.. we spent a night in Batu Gajah, one night in Pangkor Island and a night in Taiping.. pangkor beach was really beautiful.. it was clean and the water was clear.. we stayed in coral bay resort.. and that night we had seafood dishes at a ikan bakar stall just outside the hotel.. the next day we left pangkor at noon and headed to taiping.. that night,we went to night safari at zoo taiping.. later on,we had our dinner at Doli kuey tiew goreng.. it was kind of funny of how we tried to find the restaurant.. it used to be a small stall.. but now it has become a fairly big restaurant.. they only serve 6 types of dishes but the restaurant was full!! and when we arrived there, there were on 2 types of dishes left.. wow,they really make a good business!! I was so amazed of how successful they've become.. in the restaurant,the put the pictures of their old small stall.. and now it has become a lovely restaurant..

the next day we went to the Maxwell Hill.. we went up to nearly the top of the hill in a jeep.. the drivers are well trained.. 93 corners with some sharp corners and small steep road.. i was quite afraid of the height- going down was more frightening than going up.. it was more than 1000++m over the sea level.. but the scenery, Subhanallah.. it was breathtaking.. beautiful & calming... love it!!

apart from the weekends, we also had dinner at acik Hisham's house & a BBQ dinner at acik nuar's house.. acik Yan said she hosted the BBQ specially to celebrate us.. thanks very much!! we also hosted an open house in Seremban for the TKCians.. we didn't expect that nearly half of the school would come over for the open house.. but understandable as they're students.. reminds me of my students years in a boarding school - almost always hungry..;p

There's so much more that I wanted to write.. probably at some other time.. will try my best to update my blog regularly.. insyaAllah we'll meet again in the next post..:)