MR. HUSBAND

 

You know I wouldn't trade you for anything else in this world, don't you?

WEEKEND BERHANTU

We (Mr. Husband and I) reached another milestone in our “mini project” over the weekend. The walls are all lighted now! :D This coming weekend will be another session.

Apart from that, weekend was good. Watched Pocong 2 and Jangan Pandang Belakang. For a start I have one thing to say; JPB was disappointing. It was slow to begin with and the lead female actress (I forgot her name!) was utterly out of place, out of sync compared to the more experienced Piere Andre. She failed to play the twin’s sister role effectively and convincingly. Lakonannya langsung takda gaya orang yang baru kehilangan saudara kembar!! Sungguh tidak memberangsangkan! Her expressions were so out-of-place, her speech was monotonous and her movements were awkward! She’s definitely a “SPOIL FACTOR” in JPB.

The depiction of hantu was pathetic. It lost its chill factor prematurely (and this is coming from a very penakut person!). At some point, it looked like one of the characters in the epic Ramayana and Sita Dewi.

I don’t think we need to go to great lengths when portraying the hantu physically on screen. Some of the scarier moments in JPB didn’t involve any hantu appearing on screen at all! There were moments when the lead character’s opah was found talking to an invisible friend. These were scary moments and it made the hair at the back of my neck stood up! Rusminah Sidek played her role with the versatility and flair she’s known to have. She gave some light touches to the movie and cleverly manipulated the audience sentiment.

The finale was rather abrupt. At the end of the movie, we found ourselves asking, “is that it?” What a disappointment…

Pocong 2 was ok. I hate to say this, but it was better than JPB. The directing was good, especially the photography. The shots were maximized to create suspense and the hantu only appeared swiftly each time. It was not great but it got me jumping a lot more than JPB did.

Mr. Husband said I am terrible at watching horror movies. I make too much noise and most of the time; I hide behind his back or have the pillow to cover my face.

I say “No comment” to that. Nyeh!

SYUKUR

I was slightly under the weather yesterday. Took the day off and lazed around at home. Mr. Husband is so convinced that something is cooking. Hhhmm…I don’t know. I want to wait for a bit more before I start toasting. I swear to god! Mr. husband seems to know my body better than I do these days. We’ll see how it goes. If ada rezeki, Insyaallah…

Moving on to another matter, I had a meeting yesterday evening with the directors of this particular organization. We were discussing my package before they issue the letter of offer. I have mixed feeling about the job. Especially when you put a ridiculous expected increment on your salary and they just say they’re willing to pay. Hang on, hang on!! But there’s a “BUT”. After all, there’s no such thing as free lunch these days. Quoting the director, “We do not mind paying the price on the tag if we think it’s worth the money and the job scope justifies it. But you have to bear in mind that when we pay you that much, we expect as much. Long working hours and we OWN you totally during working hours.”

Macam itu pun ada ka?? I mean it’s almost like selling my soul to the devil…LITERALLY! Ideally, I am looking for a comfortable job; one which does not require long hours and one that allows me to go home early almost everyday and one that does not require weekend-in-the-office. My priorities have changed over the years. My career is important, but so does becoming a good wife and mother. I want to strike a balance. Funny how I was so obsessed about making money and now, all I want is a comfortable, wholesome life. I realize I don’t need big cars or house to make me happy (I’m not saying I’ll say “NO” if I was given one). My version of happiness does not require truckloads of money these days.

I want to be a better person. I’ve made many mistakes before and I have no regrets. To err is human…yes. But I’ll be damned if I ever make the same mistakes again. I pray for His forgiveness. I pray for His guidance. I thank Him for His generosity and compassion. I am indeed truly blessed. This humble servant knows she’s been given another shot at making things right and she intends to do just that.

I am nothing but an iota in His great universe.

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I was craving for banana split. I had been craving for it for the last three days. I thought it would go away, but it kept coming to me, rather, it had been sticking to my head. So, after one big bowl of Yong Tau Foo at the food court of the mall next to my office, I started to look for my banana split. The one in my head was somewhat similar to the one served in KFC yonks ago! They had vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice-creams with sliced banana on each side of a longish bowl that looked like a sampan. They also sprinkled chopped peanuts. And yes, don’t forget the much-sought-after cherry on top! Suffice to say, with that image in my head, I started searching. First, I went to ice cream kiosks. They had all the flavours but, they can’t do it the way I wanted it. It’s either in a cup or cone. Then I headed to KFC. Nope they didn’t have it. What’s wrong with these people? It’s banana split for god’s sake!!! How can you live without banana split? I almost gave up when I remembered Haagen daz. Yes! They had one on the second floor.

Gandalf once said. “Show me the meaning of haste”. I bet I showed everyone at the mall what it meant today. When I got to Haagen daz, my eyes started scanning the specialty sundaes and there it was, B-A-N-A-N-A S-P-L-I-T! Yaay!!! Wait! What? RM24 for it??? You kidding me?

I came to my decision very swiftly. “It’s going to be money well spent”, I said to myself. Plus I was already salivating by just looking at the picture. Confidently, I asked for banana split. The girl then asked point blankly, “What flavours?” I was like, “Hey! Banana split’s supposed to have vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavours. So why do you have to ask what flavour I want?”

“Well sorry ma’am, you can only have two scoops”, she answered.

TWO FREAKING SCOOPS I tell you!!! I wanted all three flavours! It’s not fair to ask me to choose. I was beginning to feel like a small kid when I told myself to snap out of it. Ok, choose I must. And after careful consideration, I chose vanilla and strawberry (only because Mr. Husband had bought one whole chocolate brownies last week). Another darn thing; they served my banana split in a cup. Ah well…at that point I was beyond complaining. I just wanted my ice cream.

Got my ice cream and saw an empty seat some where nearby. Sat down and not long after that, a middle-age lady decided to join me. I was relishing my ice cream and in no mood to make small talks. She kept looking at me and smiled. The thing is; she’s smiling while looking at me and not smiling at me. What’s up with that?

Anyway, glad to say I got my banana split albeit the missing chocolate flavour. Burrppp… Alhamdulillah.

SOMEONE TURNS 12!

Today is my youngest brother’s birthday. Adik turns 12! Adik is very special to me and the rest of my family. The day he arrived, I was home for summer holiday. I took care of him for the whole three months. He brought joy to all of us. We had always wanted a new sibling, so you can imagine the attention he was getting the moment he arrived. I bathed and fed him, changed his diapers, put him to sleep. There were many pictures of him as a toddler. I keep a few of my favourites; Adik in a pail, naked and laughing. The other was of him with frangipani on each side of his ears and my favourite (much to his dismay nowadays!) was of him smiling on my bed after I put on some eye shadow, pink blusher and mascara onto his face!

When Adik was younger, I would turn to him for some ego booster. As far as he’s concerned, his kaklong is the prettiest, the smartest the nicest and everything la! There was a time, while we were watching a Hindi movie, he suddenly turned around and said the actress looked like me. MWAHAHAHA!!! Adik thinks Kajol looks like me!!! The kaklong, of course, became very perasan for a bit.

Adik loves football and he supports Liverpool. It helps the fact that my other brother, Pi and Mr. husband are ardent Liverpool fans as well. I know Adik’s favourite player is Steven Gerrard. Once I asked him about a Chelsea player. He said he didn’t know much because “If he’s not playing for Liverpool, then he’s not important.” Hahaha! O-K…

I can be quite a stern Kaklong or appears to be stern. Most of the time, this kaklong cuma acah-acah marah aje. Nowadays, mak’s standard line when Adik is pulling one of his pranks is “Mak hantar duduk dengan kaklong, baru Adik tau!” He hates it when mak says that, though I think it’s more because he’s mommy’s boy and cannot live without mak rather than anything else. Nevertheless, his face would be the first one I see at the door to greet me whenever I’m home. He would sms when Liverpool is about to play or when he wants to know whether I’ll be going home anytime soon.

I love my Adik to bits. I love all my adik-adik for that matter.


Happy birthday Adik.

KITCHEN GODDESS

It’s Monday again. Back to work and the usual running around. Mr. husband is still recovering from his fever. His body balance is all screwed up according to him. Both his nose and ears are blocked. He was still in la-la land when I left for work this morning. My poor baby…

Married life is great. Our crib is still a work in progress. The fact that management disallows renovation work to be done on weekend is a bit @#$%*d up since it means we have to juggle our working hours to get things done on weekdays. It’s inevitable that one of us (most probably moi) would’ve to take some days off of work to ensure the completion of our little project. My kitchen, my temple is still an imaginary space in my head but not for long, I hope.

I’m one of those people who truly believe that at the heart of each home…is the kitchen. And as my friends and husband know it, I utilize my kitchen. I love cooking. It’s a habit I inherit from dearest mak. Growing up, I remember it was almost compulsory for me to be in the kitchen if mak was there. The only time my lack of presence in the kitchen was excused and she would not scream my name in full (she only did that when she’s angry!) was if she knew I was doing my schoolwork.

Those time spent in the kitchen was priceless. I observed the process, the flow, the system that she’s created within her small kingdom. Mak is BIG on having everything home made, I mean almost everything; we ground our own chilli paste, fried and ground the coconut to make kerisek for our rendang, opor daging and pajeri nenas, fermented durian to perfection for our supply of tempoyak. And for all the glorious kuih-muih, artificial favouring was a no-no. It means having abundance of pandan leaves (which is the main flavouring and colouring agent for most of kuih-muih Melayu) planted in our backyard. Another important ingredient in her cooking is gula kabung. She usually gets her supply from one of our relatives in Terengganu. She said low quality gula Melaka, usually made from the sap of nipah or coconut, has the burnt taste and the sweetness is very sharp, unlike gula kabung. I have to say, until today, I only use gula kabung and nothing else. I usually replenish my supply by pinching mak’s :D

Mak seldom cooked western food. The fact that Abah was one big fan of rice didn’t help the matter either. Most of my rendezvous with western food came much later in life. I found a strong liking for Italian and Mediterranean food in general. The food is zesty and bursting with flavours. I remember the little Italian café off Regent Street in London that served heavenly home made tomato soup. “Italian style”, said the owner. His margarita pizza was one of the best I’ve ever tasted.

Apart from the usual lunch and dinner, tea time was the most exciting. I would wait anxiously for mak to take out the ingredients from her gerobok after lunch; it’s an indication of what’s in store for tea. I love bubur and pengat and mak made all sorts; bubur jagung, bubur pulut hitam, bubur kacang, pengat pisang, pengat nangka, pisang sira. And how can I ever forget the gooey sago served with her custard-santan sauce and lompat tikam? Another is her signature sekaya keledek. During fasting month, desserts like puteri mandi, tepung bunga, asam gumpal would make their appearances in mak’s kitchen.

Unfortunately, most of the kuihs are hard to find these days. It got me thinking; maybe I should start compiling all the recipes from mak. I hope to serve my family and perhaps impart the recipes to my own kids, Insyaallah. I remember the joy I got by the sheer aroma of mak’s cooking reaching my nostrils and teasing my senses and the excitement in everyone’s face when we’re all seated at the dining table waiting to savour the delicious kuih. Will I be able to do the same to my family? Will my kids love my cooking as much as I love mak’s? In mak’s eyes, I am nothing but a novice when it comes to culinary skills. I can never match her standard and I am resigned to that fact. I think even if I am the master chef of the world, when we’re in the kitchen together, Mak still rules. I don’t mind it one bit. She can rule for as long as she wants to.

Yes, the tiramisu at “The Mango Tree” is delicious and the cakes and pies at Delicious, Marmalade and Alexis are just so delectable. But asam gumpal, tepung bunga and the like still reign supreme on my taste bud list. Nak buat macam mana? Budak kampong…