Happy Friday!

MasyaaAllah it is almost the weekend already.

Surah al-An'Am, Ayat 32

Dan tidak (dinamakan) kehidupan dunia melainkan permainan yang sia-sia dan hiburan yang melalaikan: dan demi sesungguhnya negeri akhirat itu lebih baik bagi orang-orang yang bertaqwa. Oleh itu, tidakkah kamu mahu berfikir?

Surah Hud, Ayat 23

Sesungguhnya orang-orang yang beriman dan mengerjakan amal yang soleh, serta tunduk taat menunaikan ibadat kepada Tuhan mereka dengan khusyuk, mereka itulah ahli Syurga, mereka kekal di dalamnya. 

Have the most meaningful Friday.





~ Selamat mencari jalan untuk keberkatan abadi

Happy Weekend!

Yeay, it is Friday! It has been a very packed week.

What are your plans? We are baking sample cookies for Christmas orders! Or for any occasions, for that matter (weddings, birthdays, aqiqahs, etc etc. Just give me or Iman a call). We will attend a wedding too. And I still have beading projects that need completing and the Ar-Raheequl Makhtum to finish.

That's about it I suppose.

I am sharing photos of activities from other weekends -- barbequing! (please bear with me)

This is Ilyas at the gas bbq set. Hubs bought this particular model because - quote, nak bbq dengan arang lambat and takes too much time/effort. Yang ni senang & cepat.

This is the next bbq set we have. Hubs bought this because the gas set was too simple to use. Quote, tak ada challenge; tak ada thrill (I personally translate it as not manly enough).

This is the third bbq set we have. Hubs bought this even before he started using the second one. He bought this because -- quote, yang bulat tu kecik sangat -- yang tu kalau nak smoke boleh la..

(Me : Speechless)

Our friends thought we are the ultimate, extreme bbq fans (and I suppose they are rather correct, come to think of it. Otherwise we wouldnt have three of these things out on our front porch).

That was like a few months back. So last weekend I said to the man, if you are not using the small set you should sell it on mudah.com or somewhere. He said yes I am going to use it. When said I? Tomorrow was the comeback.

So that was sort of how we got to finally use the set last weekend.

And, these are some of the stuff we had cooked on the fire (gas and charcoal). I think the ones done on the charcoal taste much better.

And if anyone would like to have a bbq, please just invite yourselves over (but do give us advanced notice). We can have anything from sirloin to salmon, chicken and sausages and anything in between including prawns, calamari, kerang and burgers. There can be potatoes, corn and pineapples on the side.

We have got them all (please take me seriously!)

And if you are looking for a bbq set yourself, try finding it at Ace. The bigger outlets will be your best bet. Maybe at IPC or Publika. High end bbq sets at Bangsar Village and IPC look like real killers too (if you are willing to depart that much cash for them). Happy bbq-ing.






~ xoxo

Sujood

Al-An'Aam; Ayat 162

Katakanlah: "Sesungguhnya sembahyangku dan ibadatku, hidupku dan matiku, hanyalah untuk Allah Tuhan yang memelihara dan mentadbirkan sekalian alam".

And my favorite related photo.

Semoga di bawah lindungan Illahi sepanjang hayat, InsyaaAllah.






~ xoxo

She is Sara

Isnt she cute?

Semoga di bawah lindungan Allah sepanjang hayat, InsyaaAllah.





~ xoxo

Happy Days

So after a 5-day break, Monday will be here again tomorrow. And I thought yeay, bring it on. It has been a very fruitful, calm and quiet long weekend.

We had a girls' day out and visited Jakel which has a sale till end of the month. Apparently they are moving out to their multi-storey "the biggest fabric mall in the world" along Jalan Munshi Abdullah. We were late; and Ilyas texted Zuf, bila nak balik? Kata Zuf, with a gleeful laugh, saya ada lesen besar harini sebab kluar dengan mama.. and we bought lots of stuff; including some fabrics especially for arbaya.

I made a pair of cute bantal for Sara (kata Iman Sara's name ended with an h. But for some reason I prefer it without) which took me ages! Sebab tak cekap kan.. But I thought they turned out sweet; pastel colors with frilly shams and lace edges - fit for a girl.

And I did this too for my kurung.

Although I got only one of the sleeves done so far. This is hard work; no joking. And it gave me bad shoulders because I was hunching over the kurung and an eye sore due to the small-ness of the beads (and the threading was rather a nightmare also).

I also put this on the selendang.

This is also work in progress. I am thinking I should put more daisies along the edge. This is too tiny on its own on the selendang. I am calling this Mid-night Daisies (tiba2 plak ada nama..) I also cut up some fabrics for selendangs. Turned out I was super-creative this week apparently.

Nevertheless I wasnt too involved in the kitchen. I was a minimalist there (if I can call it that). Everything was ultra-simple. Meehoon goreng, kuayteow, nasi bungkus and mamak take-aways.

And this was breakfast; toast with butter and jam.

There's a story with the jam (as usual there is always a story to go with everything) - I bought this particular strawberry jam because it is made in Scotland. It is called Mrs Bridges. Given that I love anything Scottish, I took this home. You'll never guess what I said when I first tasted it.. I said, sedapnye jam  ni - macam jam strawberry Cameron Highlands! haha. Jadi kalau ada sesiapa yang sampai ke Cameron Highlands, do get me a couple bottles of the locally made jem strawberi yang dijual di pejabat FAMA.

And I love the plate too; it reminds me of some exotic Moroccan wares. I got that at Parkson's the other day (they do carry some interesting stuff).

And I also did some reading; and found heart-wrenching riwayats of sahabat bersama Rasulullah saw. The book is called Ar-Raheequl Makhtum; translated as The Sealed Nectar. Buku sirah Rasulullah. Ustaz Anzar shared the title; on line pun ada kata ustaz . Tapi saya lebih gemar memegang buku instead of the iPad. Kata ustaz this is one of the best buku sirah yang ada. I bought this when we were last in Madinah; at the book store in front of Masjid Nabi. I was surprised when my sister said she finished the book in 1998! (speechless in fact..) Nevertheless, I'll share some of what I read with you next time.

Have a productive week ahead, darlings!




~ xoxo

Life Snippets

I only have photos to share this time..

 We were at Shahrin Low's in BA the other day. The food was so-so; although the children had good stories to tell from their last time there.. I still prefer Chan Abdullah. But the teh halia is out of this world. You can see finely sliced ginger in the glass. It tasted like pure ginger juice with refreshing aroma. I thought it was super-duper interesting; and as usual when we have something extra-ordinary, our comments were "we must make this at home!"

I love creepers. All kinds. This time I took some of this morning glory twines home. I think I will revamp the plants in the garden (yang mana kangkang kera pun lebih besar..) Or maybe I can put up a small pergola at the back windows and have this grow there.

There is a funny story behind this photo - we were at the mall; a first time with Sara. And we couldnt get the stroller to open (hampeh). So this friendly mat salleh family stopped to help us out. We pulled and pushed and pressed and clasped and unclasped everything we can lay our hands on. Nothing worked. We were all perspiring in the end and yet the stroller remained tightly clamped like a clam (of course). In the end hubs said thanks let us try sort this out. Mat Salleh tu pulak yang siap sorry, sorry bagai. We took the stroller inside the mall and tried again; and voilà it opened like magic. Mencabar kesabaran..

 I did this while I was with mum the other day. I have in fact transferred this same design (it look like a merak inspiration come to think of it) to my kurung; but unfortunately I do not have a photo yet. I'll post that when I've got the image.

I'm sure he rather hates it that I put his photo here. But then why wouldnt I when he dons a stetson like that? He was on his way to the company outing themed "wild, wild west" (or something like that I think..)

And yeay; today is Fri as far as I am concerned (the weekend came early this week). The company has enforced a one company leave and we will be closed till Sun. Isnt that wonderful? I've got loads planned. You have a good weekend too!






~ xoxo

Sesekali Bila Membaca..

Hello Darlings,

How are you? I have been busy. Been sick. Have been better, in fact.

How was your Aidhil Adha? Alhamdulillah we were lucky to find a kampung orang asli in the outskirts of PUJ to do our qurban there. The people were newly converts and this is the first time ever that they are doing the qurban (not that you cant do your qurban anywhere you choose to).  

And I have been reading (a bit). Pernah ustaz bertanya, boleh ke commit to maybe 200 pages of reading per day? I could never do that on a weekend, let alone a week day.

Nevertheless ~ I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I have read it in its original textt. 

Al-Quran diturunkan secara beransur-ansur selama 22 tahun 2 bulan dan 22 hari.

Dan diwahyukan dengan cara samada malaikat Jibrail memasukkan wahyu itu ke dalam hati Rasullullah saw ataupun di ucapkan oleh Malaikat Jibrail semasa menjelma sebagai seorang lelaki maupun di dalam rupanya yang sebenar.

Adakala wahyu datang kepada Rasulullah saw seperti gemerincingnya loceng. Cara ini yang dirasakan amat berat oleh Nabi saw sehingga kadang2 keningnya berpancaran keringat meskipun turunnya wahyu itu di musim yang dingin teramat. Kadang2 unta beliau terpaksa berhenti dan duduk kerana merasa sangat berat bila wahyu itu turun ketika beliau mengenderai unta. Diriwayatkan oleh Zaid b Tsabit : ”Aku adalah penulis wahyu Rasulullah. Aku lihat Rasulullah ketika turunnya wahyu itu seakan2 diserang demam yang keras dan keringatnya bercucuran seperti permata. Kemudian setelah selesai turunnya wahyu barulah beliau kembali seperti biasa.”

Adapun pertengahan alQuran itu adalah di surah 18 Surah al-Kahfi ayat 19 (pada lafaz walyatalathhaf).

Al-Quran telah dibukukan di masa Khalifah Usman b Affan. Sebelum itu al-Quran di tulis di atas batu, kulit binatang, pelepah tamar, tulang, dan apa2 saja.

Dan Rasulullah saw menerangkan bagaimana ayat2 itu mesti disusun dalam sesuatu surah. Ertinya Nabi diterangkan tertib urut ayat2 itu. Dan Nabi juga mengadakan peraturan; iaitu ayat al-Quran sahaja yang boleh ditulis. Hadith dan pelajaran yang lain dilarang dituliskan, agar al-Quran itu terpelihara dan tidak dicampur-adukkan dengan yang lain yang juga didengar dari mulut Nabi sendiri.

Yang terbanyak menuliskan al-Quran adalah Zaid b Tsabit dan Mu’awiyah. Yang lain2nya termasuk Ali b Abi Thalib, Usman b Affan dan Ubay b Kaab.

Kerana ramai sahabat yang menghafal al-Quran wafat dan khuatirnya hilang lebih ramai penghafal al-Quran, Umar al-Khattab mencadangkan al-Quran ditulis (kebetulan ustaz bercerita pada tahun 93H terlalu ramai yang menghafal al-Quran telah meninggal dunia) pada Saidina Abu Bakar. Pada mulanya Saidina Abu Bakar (yang menjadi khalifah pada masa itu) agak keberatan (kerana bukanlah ia suatu sunnah Nabi saw) tetapi selepas itu beliau bersetuju. Zaid b Tsabit di pertanggungjawabkan menulis seluruh al-Quran. Kata Zaid : “Demi Allah, ini adalah satu tugas yang amat berat bagiku. Seandaimya aku diperintahkan untuk memindahkan sebuah bukit, maka hal itu tidaklah lebih berat bagi ku daripada mengumpulkan al-Quran yang engkau perintahkan itu”.

Dengan demikianlah al-Quran sepenuhnya telah ditulis oleh Zaid b Tsabit dalam lembaran2 dan diikatnya dengan benang, tersusun mengikut urutan ayat2 seperti yang telah ditetapkan oleh Nabi saw dan kemudiannya diserahkan kepada Saidina Abu Bakar. Al-Quran ini disimpan oleh Saidina Abu Bakar sehingga beliau wafat dan kemudiannya telah dipindahkan ke rumah Saidina Umar al-Khattab. Sesudah Umar wafat al-Quran itu disimpan pula oleh puteri beliau Hafsah, isteri Rasulullah sampai masa pengumpulan dan penyusunan al-Quran di masa Usman b Affan.

Semasa pemerintahan Usman b Affan ugama Uslam tersebar luas. Dengan itu juga banyak lembaran2 al-Quran ditulis dan dirujuk lalu timbul jugalah kekeliruan yang berkaitan. 

Lalu Saidina Usman meminta semula al-Quran asal dari Hafsah dan memerintahkan ia disalin semula dan dibukukan al-Quran itu. Al-Quran yang dibukukan ini dipanggil Mushaf. Sebanyak 5 salinan yang dibuat dan telah dihantar ke Makkah, Syria, Kufah dan Basrah agar al-Quran itu juga disalin di sana untuk seluruh umat Islam di merata tempat. Manakala salinan kelima disimpan di Madinah. 

Kemudian Saidina Usman  memerintahkan agar lembaran2 al-Quran yang lain2 yang telah ditulis terdahulu dari itu dimusnahkan.

Maka dari Mushaf yang ditulis di zaman Saidina Usman itulah umat muslimin di seluruh dunia menyalin al-Quran itu.



Sesungguhnya al-Quran itu dapat menjadi syafaat di hari yang tiada hari2 lain yang sepertinya. Selamat menempuh jalan pulang yang baraqah.  

(seperti biasa, sila semak semula semua fakta yang dibaca..) 





~ xoxo

Bonda

And I am posting this from CJ again.

This is a slow week for me. Sitting at home with mum, just making sure she knows someone is at her side. Although I do get some office work done. Bukan macam sesetengah orang; nak angio-kan orang macamana kalau kat kampung.. (a remark khas untuk adik saya)

Cooking. Reading. Watching a lot of tv. Taking things really slow.

The kampung road to Taiping (walaupun dah lebih moden dari dulu). Beyond those hills is the Maxwell Hill. As usual it is covered with clouds.

Pasar Taiping (it is in an old building. Sejak kecil inilah rupa pasar nya. And I like. According to my sister there were plans to demolish the market tapi dibantah oleh penduduk tempatan. As it should be!) Tak riuh macam dulu. Mungkin sebab dah banyak supermarket everywhere - and come to think of it I have never looked up at the ceiling before.

Balik kampung sekali ni saya jelajah semua pasar - pasar lama, pasar kota, pasar Simpang dan pasar di Matang! Saya fikir yang paling bagus pasar kota.

Bonda. Dah dua hari hujan. She feels the cold every morning. Pakai sweater, socks, selimut tapi masih lagi sejuk. Hari ni siap letak tungku bawah kaki.

Semoga dirahmati dan dilindungi Allah hingga abadi InsyaaAllah.






~ Ameen

Baby Photos Part 6 (The Parents)

(Technically they are not babies, but nevertheless will always timelessly remain a baby anyway.)

Kawan kami post gambar comel ini di telegram recently (we dont even have this photo in fact - what would we do without social media?) These are Iman & Ilyas taken close to thirty or so years ago (and where have all the years gone?)

Bila teringat cerita lama selalunya terasa sebak (dont you?) Hubs would always change the topic to less "bumpy" subjects when we get too far down memory lanes and Iman would always say, cepat cerita pasal lain.. (this would be one of those occasions, I'd say).

Semoga dilindungi dan dirahmati Allah sehingga abadi.





~ Ameen

Salam Jumaat

Muqaddimah ~
Pagi tadi saya "terjumpa" video tentang tanda2 kebesaran yang Esa and felt compelled to post something tentang yang baik2 dan yang terbaik.





Kadang-kala membaca tiada tergerak hati untuk berfikir tentang apa yang dilihat. Namun ada ketika yang dibaca itu amat terpahat di hati ~

Surah Ali Imran (14 ~ 17)

Dihiaskan (dan dijadikan indah) kepada manusia: kesukaan kepada benda-benda yang diingini nafsu, iaitu perempuan-perempuan dan anak-pinak; harta benda yang banyak bertimbun-timbun, dari emas dan perak; kuda peliharaan yang bertanda lagi terlatih; dan binatang-binatang ternak serta kebun-kebun tanaman. Semuanya itu ialah kesenangan hidup di dunia. Dan (ingatlah), pada sisi Allah ada tempat kembali yang sebaik-baiknya (iaitu Syurga).

Katakanlah (wahai Muhammad): "Mahukah supaya aku khabarkan kepada kamu akan yang lebih baik daripada semuanya itu? Iaitu bagi orang-orang yang bertaqwa disediakan di sisi Tuhan mereka beberapa Syurga, yang mengalir di bawahnya sungai-sungai, mereka kekal di dalamnya. Disediakan juga pasangan-pasangan/ isteri-isteri yang suci bersih, serta (beroleh pula) keredaan dari Allah". Dan (ingatlah), Allah sentiasa Melihat akan hamba-hambaNya;

(Iaitu) orang-orang yang berdoa dengan berkata: "Wahai Tuhan kami! Sesungguhnya kami telah beriman, oleh itu, ampunkanlah dosa-dosa kami dan peliharalah kami dari azab neraka";

(Dan juga) orang-orang yang sabar (dalam menjunjung perintah Allah), dan orang-orang yang benar (perkataan dan hatinya), dan orang-orang yang sentiasa taat (akan perintah Allah), dan orang-orang yang membelanjakan hartanya (pada jalan Allah), dan orang-orang yang beristighfar (memohon ampun) pada waktu sahur.



Selamat berusaha untuk yang abadi. Semoga sentiasa di dalam rahmat Allah.






~ Ameen

Pizza-licious (Talk About Being Inspired!)

So I came back from Tim's Teapot Terrace thinking I must make (even) better lasagna. Learn how to make a decent chicken pie and a killer quiche.

And ended up making pizza instead today.. (there was co-incidently, this great show on pizza on AFC today).

Anyway. I blew the dust off my Jaime's Naked Chef cookbook and rolled up my sleeves for the dough. According to the recipe you must knead the dough for 5 mins. That might not be long if you are watching tv or on the phone, but 5 mins of kneading is one serious workout. Dah letih baru teringat my KMix actually has a hook that can knead dough for me (humpfh!) I will use that next time.

These days I only use plum tomatoes in my sauce. They make a whole world of difference, trust me.

I said, you look like you've got some muscles, please can you punch down the dough for me (the second time around)?

See how beautiful the dough look? I was pretty impressed myself.

And I have to have lots of mushroom on my pizza.

And olives for hubs (I seriously need to learn to love olives). Why oh why didnt I get those pitted ones?)

And anything with tomatoes has got to have fresh basil (from the garden - not that I have a garden come to think of it) on it these days.

Voilà! (But. Pssst - you can tell I have a problem with the oven from the uneven color of the baked cheese)

Anak2 kata sedap (I put lots and lots of cheese, salami and pineapple for them, mesti lah sedap). Personally I dont think I can serve this to any guests yet.

So no recipe at this point. Nanti saya pandai then I will share.

So what's your inspiration these days?





~ xoxo