Saturday, August 27, 2011

23rd, 24th, 25th Ramadhan

I was not able to update my iftar's photos for the past 3 days...I didn't know why but I was so sleepy and tired after Iftar, today I am ok..maybe it's because the school holidays has started and 'raya' mood is in the air...but today we decided not to cook today and had 'Nasi Kerabu' from Ramadhan Bazaar. 
Here are the pictures from the previous iftar...

On 23rd Ramadhan, we had crab curry...


... and spinach with chilli


On 24th Ramadhan, we had ikan tenggiri masak asam... I'm not sure what do we call this in English hahaha


On 25th Ramadhan, we had nasi lemak with sambal goreng kacang and sambal tumis udang


FYI...I cooked this one :)

Well, I also received a bad news just now...Mr.B's 9 months old cousin has passed away today at Penang General Hospital because of brain hemorrhage. Innalillahiwainnailaihirajiun...Three weeks ago, my family and I went to visit him at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and it was so sad to see his condition undergoing life support treatment. At that time, he was suspected to have brain tumor. I really hope the family will be strong on the passing, just a few days before Eidul-Ftri. Insyaallah..tomorrow morning, my family and I are going to pay our final respect to the boy at Pulau Mertajam.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

22nd Ramadhan

We had chicken today...Mr.B prepared a scrumptious dish...yummeh!

chicken cashew nuts


While I prepared this...this was my first attempt...Mr.B said it was good...alhamdulillah
chicken pot pie

I'll make it again...insyaallah

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Ramadhan is leaving us

Oh my...Ramadhan is leaving us...we have about 9 more days to perform our fast and tarawih...I feel so sad...but I'm thankful to Allah for giving me a blessed and meaningful 20days of Ramadhan...alhamdulillah thank you Allah...

I couldn't update my blog yesterday as I was busy marking the Trial PMR paper...I've finished marking just now...yeay...yes! I could celebrate Eid ul-ftr peacefully then...but I'm not satisfied with my students' performances...their results are quite disappointing...I got to do something with them before the school holidays next week...

Ok...enuf with work! Let's talk about food...Yesterday, Mr.B decided to cook fish...(this is because Aqeel loves fish)that's why today, Mr.B went to Pak Tam's stall at Tikam Batu (his uncle is a fishmonger at Tikam Batu) to buy more fish. Our freezer now is full, I think it will last until Eid ul-fitr.

ikan tiga rasa

I made choc chip muffin, as requested by Aqeel, actually he requested two days ago but I managed to make for him yesterday...

choc chip muffin
I used Nigella Lawson' recipe...you can go to this link for the recipe ; Nigella Feast


Today...Mr.B made fish curry....fish lagi...but sedap!

fish head curry / kari kepala ikan

for Aqeel...Mr.B added spanish mackerel (ikan tenggiri) in the curry...he finished a bowl of rice today...alhamdulillah



Friday, August 19, 2011

kambing lagi

We had lamb again! I'm not really a fan though...I'll get sick sometimes after eating lamb like getting headache or tummy discomfort...but I still ate it today, cannot eat much la ... 
I couldn't finish the big portion of lamb together with the extra side dishes...

   grilled lamb with cold potato salad , macaroni n cheese


While Mr.B was grilling the lamb, I prepared the cold potato salad...this is also my sis's fav dish... betul tak Lurve?
and very easy to make too

cold potato salad

Ingredients :
5 medium sized potatoes, boiled until just tender (add  a pinch of salt)
1 medium sized onion, diced
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fruit salad dressing
1 teaspoon black pepper

Cut the potatoes into bite-size pieces, then mix the rest of the ingredients until evenly coated, chill the potato salad in the fridge


And here's what I made for my kids...
 mixed macaroni with chicken soup

So, these were our iftar menu on the 18th of Ramadhan. 
Have a great day peeps!


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Nuzul Quran


I am not working today. It's a public holiday in Penang for Nuzul Quran. Early this morning, around 8 a.m., I went out to clean the compound with the help from my girl and another little helper, an eager one indeed hehe...


presenting, Charlie...my lil' helper...he is named after Charlie Caplin, as you can see, he has patches on the lower part of his nose that resembles Chaplin's moustache. He is about two months old and is the only kitten alive at the moment (from 7 kittens that didn't survive).  He was abandoned by his mother, which I'm still figuring why...because, she is still around just that Charlie cannot be near her. In the end, Charlie is adopted by Fifi, that brown cat in the picture.


what on earth are you doing? I wonder why he is so fascinated with the plastic bag...



having breakfast from leftover sahur




take a look at the clean compound...no more dried leaves....I'm so happy!





my dragon fruit plant...I'm so surprise to see it is still standing...I wonder will it survive?


Today...for iftar...I prepared 'asam pedas ikan merah' 


I followed the recipe from TryMasak
but I made some changes to a few of the ingredients for example, I decided to cook ikan merah,  I used only 1 liter of water instead of 2 liters, and only one tomato. I also added more asam keping, salt and sugar. 

I made this one too...

kerabu jantung pisang

do you know that, I took a longer time to prepare this kerabu than cooking the asam pedas! 

I have to cook the jantung pisang for about 15 minutes, then prepare the ingredients such as

3 onions, chopped
10 birdeye chilies, chopped
1 bunga kantan, chopped
1 tsp of kerisik
1/2 of jantung pisang, chopped
some dried anchovies,advisable to cook without oil and pound well
2 tbs tamarind juice
some salt and sugar

combine all together and your kerabu is ready! 

baba n nyonya

On the 16th of Ramadhan, Mr.B decided to cook something different. After watching a cooking show on tv, here's what he prepared. 

ayam berempah baba dan nyonya


While I only did this hehehe...

There was no pressure preparing it as the salad was from a 'Ready To Eat' one. It was a combination of Caesar Salad and Italian Rocket Salad. I combined them both because I liked the patterns of the leaves from different types of salad and they also looked so tempting. Actually, they tasted better when combined as I could use the roasted Croutons from the Caesar salad and the fresh Balsamic dressing from the Italian Rocket Salad. As you can see, there were no baby tomatoes.  I used all of them for my chicken spaghetti bolognese the other day hehehe...

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Ocean Catch

Yesterday,on the 15th of Ramadhan, we had fish for iftar. 
Mr.B decided to make 'ikan pari bakar' or can we call it grilled skate wings or BBQ stingray hehehe...I told him I was thinking of cooking 'daging masak hitam' but we didn't have any beef in the freezer. So, ikan pari lah...

the stingrays were grilled on banana leaf with a mixture of lemon juice, kaffir lime juice ( limau purut ) olive oil, ginger, black pepper, turmeric leaves (daun kunyit) and lemongrass (serai)


When you have 'ikan pari bakar' you must have the air asam ,the gravy! It's a must. This was prepared by me. Mr.B loved my air asam :) It's a simple one to make; we need 

20 birdeye chilies (cili padi), chopped
2 medium sized onions, chopped
2 tablespoon dried shrimp paste ( belacan
2 tablespoon tamarind juice ( asam jawa )

mix all together and there you go...it's ready to be eaten with ikan pari bakar



the fried mackerels were for Aqeel... He had two bowls of rice with these! I was so surprised to see he ate so much rice and fish. Alhamdulillah...at least he had extra energy and wouldn't be tired fasting the next day.  

Monday, August 15, 2011

Gambaran hari kiamat


I read this article last week, while I was invigilating the Trial Exam in form 3 Arif. Today I came across the same article again and thanks to Aisyah for sharing this article in her blog. I would like to post this too.


 Selepas Malaikat Israfil meniup sangkakala (bentuknya seperti tanduk besar) yang memekakkan telinga, seluruh makhluk mati kecuali Izrail & beberapa malaikat yang lain. Selepas itu, Izrail pun mencabut nyawa malaikat yang tinggal dan akhirnya nyawanya sendiri.
✐ Selepas semua makhluk mati, Tuhan pun berfirman mafhumnya “Kepunyaan siapakah kerajaan hari ini?” Tiada siapa yang menjawab. Lalu Dia sendiri menjawab dengan keagunganNya “Kepunyaan Allah Yang Maha Esa lagi Maha Perkasa.” Ini menunjukkan kebesaran & keagunganNya sebagai Tuhan yg Maha Kuasa lagi Maha Kekal Hidup, tidak mati.
✐ Selepas 40 tahun, Malaikat Israfil a.s. dihidupkan, seterusnya meniup sangkakala untuk kali ke-2, lantas seluruh makhluk hidup semula di atas bumi putih, berupa padang Mahsyar (umpama padang Arafah) yang rata tidak berbukit atau bulat seperti bumi.
✐ Sekelian manusia hidup melalui benih anak Adam yg disebut “Ajbuz Zanbi” yang berada di hujung tulang belakang mereka. Hiduplah manusia umpama anak pokok yang kembang membesar dari biji benih.
✐ Semua manusia dan jin dibangkitkan dalam keadaan telanjang dan hina. Mereka tidak rasa malu kerana pada ketika itu hati mereka sangat takut dan bimbang tentang nasib & masa depan yang akan mereka hadapi kelak.
✐ Lalu datanglah api yang berterbangan dengan bunyi seperti guruh yang menghalau manusia, jin dan binatang ke tempat perhimpunan besar. Bergeraklah mereka menggunakan tunggangan (bagi yang banyak amal), berjalan kaki (bagi yang kurang amalan) dan berjalan dengan muka (bagi yang banyak dosa). Ketika itu, ibu akan lupakan anak, suami akan lupakan isteri, setiap manusia sibuk memikirkan nasib mereka.
✐ Setelah semua makhluk dikumpulkan, matahari dan bulan dihapuskan cahayanya, lalu mereka tinggal dalam kegelapan tanpa cahaya. Berlakulah huru-hara yang amat dahsyat.
✐ Tiba-tiba langit yang tebal pecah dengan bunyi yang dahsyat, lalu turunlah malaikat sambil bertasbih kepada Allah SWT. Seluruh makhluk terkejut melihat saiz malaikat yang besar dan suaranya yang menakutkan.
✐ Kemudian matahari muncul semula dengan kepanasan yang berganda. Hingga dirasakan seakan-akan matahari berada sejengkal dari atas kepala mereka. Ulama berkata jika matahari naik di bumi seperti keadaannya naik dihari Kiamat nescaya seluruh bumi terbakar, bukit-bukau hancur dan sungai menjadi kering. Lalu mereka rasai kepanasan dan bermandikan peluh sehingga peluh mereka menjadi lautan. Timbul atau tenggelam mereka bergantung pada amalan masing-masing. Keadaan mereka berlanjutan sehingga 1000 tahun.
✐ Terdapat satu telaga kepunyaan Nabi Muhammad SAW bernama Al-Kausar yang mengandungi air yang hanya dapat diminum oleh orang mukmin sahaja. Orang bukan mukmin akan dihalau oleh malaikat yang menjaganya. Jika diminum airnya tidak akan haus selama-lamanya. Kolam ini berbentuk segi empat tepat sebesar satu bulan perjalanan. Bau air kolam ini lebih harum dari kasturi, warnanya lebih putih dari susu dan rasanya lebih sejuk dari embun. Ia mempunyai saluran yang mengalir dari syurga.
✐ Semua makhluk berada bawah cahaya matahari yang terik kecuali 7 golongan yang mendapat teduhan dari Arasy. Mereka ialah:
ⅰ- Pemimpin yang adil.
ⅱ- Orang muda yang taat kepada perintah Allah.
ⅲ- Lelaki yang terikat hatinya dengan masjid.
ⅳ- Dua orang yang bertemu kerana Allah dan berpisah kerana Allah.
ⅴ- Lelaki yang diajak oleh wanita berzina, tetapi dia menolak dengan berkata “Aku takut pada Allah”.
ⅵ- Lelaki yg bersedekah dengan bersembunyi (tidak diketahui orang ramai).
ⅶ- Lelaki yang suka bersendirian mengingati Allah lalu mengalir air matanya kerana takutkan Allah.
✐ Oleh kerana tersangat lama menunggu di padang mahsyar, semua manusia tidak tahu berbuat apa melainkan mereka yang beriman, kemudian mereka terdengar suara “pergilah berjumpa dengan para Nabi”. Maka mereka pun pergi mencari para Nabi. Pertama sekali kumpulan manusia ini berjumpa dengan Nabi Adam tetapi usaha mereka gagal kerana Nabi Adam a.s menyatakan beliau juga ada melakukan kesalahan dengan Allah SWT. Maka kumpulan besar itu kemudiannya berjumpa Nabi Nuh a.s., Nabi Ibrahim a.s., Nabi Musa a.s., Nabi Isa a.s. (semuanya memberikan sebab seperti Nabi Adam a.s.) dan akhirnya mereka berjumpa Rasullullah SAW. Jarak masa antara satu nabi dengan yang lain adalah 1000 tahun perjalanan.
✐ Lalu berdoalah baginda Nabi Muhammad SAW ke hadrat Allah SWT. Lalu diperkenankan doa baginda.
✐ Selepas itu, terdengar bunyi pukulan gendang yang kuat hingga menakutkan hati semua makhluk kerana mereka sangka azab akan turun. Lalu terbelah langit, turunlah arasy Tuhan yang dipikul oleh 8 orang malaikat yang sangat besar (besarnya sejarak perjalanan 20 ribu tahun) sambil bertasbih dengan suara yang amat kuat sehingga ‘Arasy itu tiba dibumi.
✐ ‘Arasy ialah jisim nurani yang amat besar berbentuk kubah (bumbung bulat) yang mempunyai 4 batang tiang yang sentiasa dipikul oleh 4 orang malaikat yang besar dan gagah. Dalam bahasa mudah ia seumpama istana yang mempunyai seribu bilik yang menempatkan jutaan malaikat di dalamnya. Ia dilingkungi embun yang menghijab cahayanya yang sangat kuat.
✐ Kursi iaitu jisim nurani yang terletak di hadapan Arasy yang dipikul oleh 4 orang malaikat yang sangat besar. Saiz kursi lebih kecil dari ‘Arasy umpama cincin ditengah padang . Dalam bahasa mudah ia umpama singgahsana yang terletak dihadapan istana.
✐ Seluruh makhluk pun menundukkan kepala kerana takut. Lalu dimulakan timbangan amal. Ketika itu berterbanganlah kitab amalan masing-masing turun dari bawah Arasy menuju ke leher pemiliknya tanpa silap dan tergantunglah ia sehingga mereka dipanggil untuk dihisab. Kitab amalan ini telah ditulis oleh malaikat Hafazhah / Raqib & ‘Atid / Kiraman Katibin.
✐ Manusia beratur dalam saf mengikut Nabi dan pemimpin masing- masing. Orang kafir & munafik beratur bersama pemimpin mereka yang zalim. Setiap pengikut ada tanda mereka tersendiri untuk dibezakan.
✐ Umat yang pertama kali dihisab adalah umat Nabi Muhammad SAW, dan amalan yang pertama kali dihisab adalah solat. Sedangkan hukum yang pertama kali diputuskan adalah perkara pertumpahan darah.
✐ Apabila tiba giliran seseorang hendak dihisab amalannya, malaikat akan mencabut kitab mereka lalu diserahkan, lalu pemiliknya mengambil dengan tangan kanan bagi orang mukmin dan dengan tangan kiri jika orang bukan mukmin.
✐ Semua makhluk akan dihisab amalan mereka menggunakan satu Neraca Timbangan. Saiznya amat besar, mempunyai satu tiang yang mempunyai lidah dan 2 daun. Daun yang bercahaya untuk menimbang pahala dan yang gelap untuk menimbang dosa.
✐ Acara ini disaksikan oleh Nabi Muhammad SAW dan para imam 4 mazhab untuk menyaksikan pengikut masing-masing dihisab.
✐ Perkara pertama yang diminta ialah Islam. Jika dia bukan Islam, maka seluruh amalan baiknya tidak ditimbang bahkan amalan buruk tetap akan ditimbang.
✐ Ketika dihisab, mulut manusia akan dipateri, tangan akan berkata- kata, kaki akan menjadi saksi. Tiada dolak-dalih dan hujah tipuan. Semua akan di adili oleh Allah Ta’ala dengan Maha Bijaksana.
✐ Setelah amalan ditimbang, mahkamah Mahsyar dibuka kepada orang ramai untuk menuntut hak masing-masing dari makhluk yang sedang dibicara sehinggalah seluruh makhluk berpuas hati dan dibenarkannya menyeberangi titian sirat.
✐ Syafaat Nabi Muhammad SAW di akhirat :
ⅰ- Meringankan penderitaan makhluk di Padang Mahsyar dengan mempercepatkan hisab.
ⅱ- Memasukkan manusia ke dalam syurga tanpa hisab.
ⅲ- Mengeluarkan manusia yang mempunyai iman sebesar zarah dari neraka.
(Semua syafaat ini tertakluk kepada keizinan Allah SWT.)
✐ Para nabi dan rasul serta golongan khawas juga diberikan izin oleh Tuhan untuk memberi syafaat kepada para pengikut mereka. Mereka ini berjumlah 70 000. Setiap seorang dari mereka akan mensyafaatkan 70 000 orang yang lain.
✐ Setelah berjaya dihisab, manusia akan mula berjalan menuju syurga melintasi jambatan sirat. Siratul Mustaqim ialah jambatan (titian) yang terbentang dibawahnya neraka. Lebar jambatan ini adalah seperti sehelai rambut yang dibelah tujuh dan ia lebih tajam dari mata pedang. Bagi orang mukmin ia akan dilebarkan dan dimudahkan menyeberanginya.
✐ Fudhail bin Iyadh berkata perjalanan di Sirat memakan masa 15000 tahun. 5000 tahun menaik, 5000 tahun mendatar dan 5000 tahun menurun. Ada makhluk yang melintasinya seperti kilat, seperti angin, menunggang binatang korban dan berjalan kaki. Ada yang tidak dapat melepasinya disebabkan api neraka sentiasa menarik kaki mereka, lalu mereka jatuh ke dalamnya.
✐ Para malaikat berdiri di kanan dan kiri sirat mengawasi setiap makhluk yang lalu. Setiap 1000 orang yang meniti sirat, hanya seorang sahaja yang Berjaya melepasinya. 999 orang akan terjatuh ke dalam neraka.
Rujukan: Kitab Aqidatun Najin karangan Syeikh Zainal Abidin Muhammad Al- Fathani. Pustaka Nasional Singapura 2004.
☞ Jika sekiranya kalian ingin mengumpul saham akhirat, sampaikanlah ilmu ini kepada sahabat² yang lain. Sepertimana sabda Rasulullah SAW: ❝ Sampaikanlah pesananku walaupun satu ayat. ❞ Sesungguhnya apabila matinya seseorang anak Adam itu, hanya 3 perkara yang akan dibawanya bersama :
① Sedekah/amal jariahnya.
② Doa anak²nya yang soleh.
③ Ilmu yang bermanfaat yang disampaikannya kepada orang lain

Italian cravings...

Wow...it's been two weeks of Ramadhan...alhamdulillah Aqeel is still fasting. And today, my boy requested to eat spaghetti, well, this is how he described to me, "Mommy, can I have spaghetti with the sauce and chicken for bukak puasa? You must make with chicken, I don't want with beef,o.k. mommy."
Mr.B was not around so I prepared the food for iftar today.























Chicken Spaghetti Bolognese

here's the recipe I would like to share :)

Ingredients :

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tomatoes, cut into 4
1 can Heinz Tomato Soup
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon chili paste
1 cube chicken stock
250g angle hair spaghetti
500g chicken mince/chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic,stir often until browned. Then, add chili paste, saute` until fragrant or in 'Malay' until 'pecah minyak'. Add chicken mince and cook for 8 minutes.

2. Add tomato soup, chicken stock, basil, parsley and oregano. Stir well and mixture comes to boil. Then, add tomatoes,salt and sugar, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Cook pasta in a large pan of boiling water for about 8 minutes,add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of oil, drain and serve pasta topped with bolognese sauce. (3-4 servings)


Sunday, August 14, 2011

10th, 11th, 12th, 13th ....


Been busy with work lately so I couldn't update my blog. Here are the pictures from the previous iftar.

day 10






















grilled lamb and vege omelette
I love the omelette, filled with salad, onions and cheese

day 11






















chicken kurma
my kids' favourite























tomato rice plus dates
























air asam
a mixture of tomatoes, onions, shrimp paste, chillies and tamarind juice


day 12






















fried chicken 
with yesterday left over tomato rice

day 13






















gulai ikan masin 
the ikan masin (salted fish) couldn't be seen because of the thick gravy, Mr.B loves thick curry























bread & butter puding 
for dessert
I made this one....the rest of the food were prepared by Mr.B

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

work...work...work

Due to time constraint,I couldn't update my iftar meals. I've been busy with school work. I even had to stay up late at night to finish my 'homework'. Well, what else can I say...as a teacher,my work is mostly about teaching besides marking books or test papers as well as clerical work like report writing and handling curricular activities. Apart from that,we also have to key in marks on-line which is recently launched by the Ministry of Education. It is also something to do with the NKRA's objective; to improve the education system. Click theSTARonline to read an article about the NKRA.


Ok...enough with that...here are the pictures of the food...


iftar day 7

As my mother-in-law, sis-in-law and her husband were in da' house, we had a big 'buka puasa'.
ketam masak lemak prepared by Mr.B

kangkung ikan masin prepared by Mr.B


these were bought from the Ramadhan Bazaar
 
gado-gado


nasi ulam


the gravy for nasi ulam


popiah goreng


bubur lambuk from Teluk Air Tawar mosque


iftar day 8
tenggiri masak lemak cili padi prepared by me :) and my favourite dish too!


iftar day 9
 ayam masak kicap prepared by Mr.B




Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Ramadhan Bazaar

On the 6th day of Ramadhan, Mr.B decided not to cook. After visiting a relative and a friend at the Penang General Hospital (a heart breaking story that I will tell later), we went to the Ramadhan Bazaar at Queen Street Penang. It was at 3p.m. I could not stand the heat. I could feel my body was burning by the afternoon sun. But who can resist the Ramadhan Bazaar during this time of the month right. Here are some colourful pictures that I would like to share.