Cerita-cerita Zainur

Yesss! It's Wednesday!
Two more days to go before a long weekend. This Friday and next Monday is a public holiday for Good Friday and Easter day. I'm not celebrating those days but I enjoy public holidays. Owhh come on, who doesn't rite?

But too bad, habibi has to go to work! So, I guess I just spend my time baking perhaps? or keep on practicing a few songs with my keyboards. I haven't play my keyboards in quite some time since I'm super busy with lab works and baking. Hehehe..... Last week when I tried to play, I keep on forgetting the keys (music) of a few songs that I used to play before. And too bad, I lost my music sheet too.

FYI, I'm not a good keyboard player. It's just a part of my hobbies and interest. I always had a dream of playing some musical instruments like piano, keyboard and guitar. And I love doing things that related to arts such as panting, sketching, poetic, scrap booking, decorating, photography, fashion (though I'm suck at it!) and lots more.


Sometimes I'm wondering, how on earth la I'm stuck in engineering world while my hearts always love arts. Nak kata family influence rasanya tidak kot sebab they're all in medical and health fields. So, probably this is what we call destiny. And whatever it is I'm still glad and enjoy what I am doing. In fact, I'm not a real engineer pun. I'm more to a researcher and also a teacher. And as far as I concern, teaching is an art too.

Happy Monday everyone!

We are already in April! How time really flies? Starting from 1 April, the daylight saving already end. Daylight Saving Time is the practice of advancing clocks one hour during the summer months of the year. Now, it is getting into winter, so the time is back to normal with 2 hours time different from Malaysia. Yeay! So last Sunday we got 1 hour extra for sleep. Kiranya pukul 2 pagi untuk 2 jam! Kalau Summer dulu. dari jam 1 pagi terus lompat 3 pagi! You guys confuse ker? I used to get confuse too and it's still confusing me. Hehehe... So, I just follow whatever people around me say so. Cepatkan jam, I cepatkan. Kalau disuruh lewatkan I pun lewatkan.



And apart of that the prayer schedule also change. Contoh kalau sebelum ni Zohor jam 1 lebih now jam 12 lebih dah masuk waktu. Asar pun dah jadi awal sejam which is at 3pm plus plus. Yang best tuh tak isya' masuk awal isitu pada 7 plus plus berbanding summer dulu yang hampir jam 10pm!

Ada good and bad juga lah. The good thing is since isya' masuk awal jadi boleh lah saya tidur awal. Hehe... Cuaca pun dah start dingin, kalau summer boleh cecah sampai 40 degree celcius! Mujur tahun ni tak panas mana. Paling panas pun sehari dua aje itu pun dalam 30 degrees. Most of the time it's cloudy and raining. Tu yang sampai banjir kat certain part of OZ. Walaupun I'm not a fan of cold weather tapi rindu juga nak main toboggan atas snow. Hihihi...

And part yang paling tak suka bila mendekati musim sejuk ialah waktu siang yang singkat. Nak pi berjalan pun rasa tak seronok. Kejap je dah gelap. Waktu solat pun dekat-dekat aje especially zohor and asar. So I have to aware of that supaya tak terleka. Tak pasal-pasal terlepas waktu kan.

Apa pun sekarang masih lagi autumn. Suhu pun tak lah sejuk sangat dalam 21-25 degrees jer. So, tak pakai coat pun ok lagi. Rasa macam dah adapt pula dengan cuaca dingin. Dulu masa opismate saya pasang aircond below 23 degrees pun I dah kesejukan. Now, boleh rasa panas lagi. hehe... Tapi, kalau suhu dah below 20 degrees and windy haruslah pakai jaket kot. Maka, haruslah buka beg dan keluarkan semula stok-stok baju winter manakala stok-stok baju summer pula akan masuk beg!

Apa pun, saya akan nikmati setiap detik waktu ni tak kiralah musim sejuk ke panas ke but I just hope it'll be sunny day everyday as my mood quickly change when it's rainy.

It has been a week since my last update kan? Phewww...I'm super duper busy. SV has came back from CNY holiday and banyaklah yang ditanya pasal my research progress sepanjang pemergiannya. But, sigh I do feel yang I tak perform banyak. Sepanjang ketiadaannya banyak kali I feel stuck and lost but I have no where to go to. Now, that he's back boleh lah I tanya itu ini and get myself back on track.

Last week juga habibi tak sihat- flu dan demam. Boleh tahan panas juga suhu badannya. Jadi kelam kabut lah saya buat itu ini secara solo. Rumah pun tunggang langgang. Memang serious tak menang tangan. Mana dengan penat dan tension buat kerja lab. Balik kena masak dan mengemas sedikit sebanyak yang termampu dan haruslah layan baby besar yang banyak ragam tu. Huhu... Habibi kalau sakit memang terlebih manjanya sampai saya yang manja ni hilang tempat bermanja. Jadi geram dibuatnya...hihihi... Sudahlah wakil Uni nak visit kami lagi walhal hari tu baru aje turun visit tapi di Melbourne lah. Tapi, mujur juga kali ini mereka sendiri nak turun ke Gong ni. Kalau nak suruh ke Sydney leceh la juga dalam keadaan habibi yang tak berapa sihat tu.

Hari ni sengaja pergi Uni lewat sedikit. Yerla awal minggu ni jam 7.30am sudah bekejaran ke Uni. Jam 8am harus start lab dan berakhir jam 8am hari seterusnya. I feel so restless. Jadi hari ni I bagi half day for myself. Haha boleh tak gitu? Mampus kalau SV tau ni. Ni semua semata-mata nak update blog and to let others know that I'm still alive. So, people I'm alive okay! Cuma tak dapat lah nak cerita bagai, next time okay! I promise. Till then, take care everyone and have a wonderful week! Aja-aja fighting!

A fun activity to do together with your love ones! Tapi, kalau ada anak kecil ni jangan harap lah ya. Susah sedikit. Yang ni pun ambil masa hampir seminggu baru siap sepenuhnya. 1000 pieces. Yerlah nak mengadap 24 jam kalau, tak jadi kerja namanya. Bila tengah tunggu kek dalam oven masak atau lauk mendidih atas dapur, saya buat sedikit-sedikit. Sebelum pergi Uni buat sedikit. Yang lain pulun time hujung minggu. Seriously, bila dah buat jadi addicted pula. Selagi tak siap tak lena tidur. Now dah boleh tidur lena. Haha-

Walaupun ni aktiviti bersama tapi 90% adalah atas kejayaan saya! Haha- Sila jangan marah cik abang dan sila akui saja kehebatan isterimu ini. Haha- Mesti bengang dia baca nanti...

Lucu rasanya bila suatu hari menerima sms dari habibi. Dulu masa bertunang dia rajin sms waktu-waktu time rehat tanya khabar, sudah makan atau belum atau menyatakan nada-nada kerinduan. Tapi, setelah bernikah rasanya jarang atau tidak pernah lagi menghantar sms especially jika hari bekerja dan time bekerja atau di tempat kerja. Segala kerinduan dan kecintaan dicurahkan secara 'live' bila bertemu di rumah. Hanya perkara yang penting saja, baru akan sms misalnya, "abang dekat wollies, nak pesan apa-apa tak?".

Tapi, bila habibi hantar sms pada suatu hari, saya jadi suka, lucu dan terharu. Hehehe... Bukan sms nada cinta pun atau pun rindu tapi.....


Maka, sebab itulah saya jarang berblogging akhir ni. Sibuk sangat mem'baking' di dapur. Selama saya hidup, belum pernah lagi masak beria. Bila datang Ausie ni lah saya betul-betul masak dan membuat aneka kuih dan kek. Kalau di Malaysia, tunjuk sana, tunjuk sini aje. Secara tak langsung saya rasa ada perubahan sedikit lah dalam skill memasak. Hehe... Dari tak pandai now pelan-pelan sudah tahu serba serbi. Alhamdulillah, ada baiknya juga Allah beri saya peluang sambung belajar di luar negara. Selain dari, mendalamkan ilmu dalam bidang kejuruteraan alam sekitar, saya juga turut belajar banyak perkara lain. Thank you Allah.

Berikut adalah hasil saya sejak kebelakangan ini. Rupa tak cantik tapi rasa sedap. InsyaAllah from time to time akan improve lagi. Nanti balik Malaysia, I boleh buka business bakery. Amacam okay tak? hehe....

Layan~


Actually ada lagi yang I buat iaitu apple cake and banana cake. Tapi, tak ambil gambar pula. Apple cake tu memang sedap. Rasanya macam nak buat lagi. Tapi banana cake tu kurang kick. I got the recipe from my friend. I think sebab I meassure flour dengan sukatan cup yang betul walhal dia punya cup merujuk kepada cawan kopi. Jadi keras lah sedikit. Will try again later. InsyaAllah. Untuk blueberry cheese tu dah 3 kali buat. Yang gambar kat atas tu masa first time buat. Pastry dia nampak macam tebal sedikit. Tapi, sekarang I dah boleh agak berapa banyak doh untuk tempek dalam satu acuan and I even have tried to do it in smaller size which is cute and yummy.

Apa pun, yang penting diri sendiri. I think everyone can cooks cuma antara mahu atau tidak saja. Kalau saya yang tak pandai masak ni boleh buat tentu uols yang expert kat luar sana ni jauh lebih pandai kan? Tapi, sokongan dari suami juga penting. Kerana itu yang akan buat kita nak masak lagi dan lagi. Kalau I masak husband tak makan or tak suka, mestilah I tak nak masak lagi kan? hehe... So para suami semua jom bagi sokongan pada isteri-isteri anda. Nanti perut anda juga yang kenyang!

What a hectic week..and most probably definitely it will continue right up into next Friday- before Christmas eve. Seriously, penat sangat. Lenguh badan dan sendi.

Imagine 4.30 am dah kena bangun for Subuh prayer. Yep, musim summer ni days are longer than nights. Before 4.00 am dah masuk subuh and Isya' prayer pun dah lewat sangat. Dekat jam 10 pm baru masuk Isya'. Penat rasa nak tunggu masuk Isya' tu. Kadang-kadang mata dah layu sangat. Tambahan pula, this week and next week I bertungkus lumus buat lab. Sebab nanti Christmas eve, Uni close. So we're not advice to do any lab works especially me yang deal dengan variety of nasty chemicals. Yerla semua orang cuti even security and guard pun cuti. So anything happen, on your own risk. Jadi sebab itulah I bepulun sakan nak buat. Sudahlah membrane yang I try to produce tu susah sangat nak menjadi walaupun the method is so simple. It takes 24 hours untuk complete the process. Kalau jadi alhamdulillah, kalau tak jadi memang lelah! Itu baru first step of my research. I have to produce lots of membranes with different composition and polymers. Later, I have to test the capabilities of these membranes in extracting heavy metals. Lastly, I have to measure their stability and reproducibility for commercialize purpose. Itu cuma major objectives aje belum masuk scopes yang lebih detail. Rasa macam tak cukup pula 3 years to complete everything. But still, I'm trying hard not to extent. Oh Allah, please help me to go through this journey and complete it within 3 years only... Tak sabar nak balik Malaysia!

Nanti cuti X'mas tak tahulah nak buat apa. Mungkin lepak-lepak kat rumah aje kot. Nak jalan-jalan baru jer lepas balik dari Melbourne. Kereta pula buat hal. Ongkos lagi. Jadi kena tunggu tahun depan. Apa pun I tetap excited untuk bercuti and looking forward for boxing day. Yeah! massive saleMacam kat Malaysia sekarang tengah Year End Sale kan? But I bet, mesti tak boleh challange boxing day! Hehehe...Poyo aje~

Apa pun cuti X'mas ni I plan untuk:
1. Baking. Either cakes or bread or both! (Tamak kau)
2. Layan novel (Novel-novel 50sen yang beli kat garage sale dah tinggi menggunung!)
3. Watch Suria di Cordoba (terpengaruh dengan TCC) and layan korean dramas.. Hihihi
4. Shopping, shopping, shopping
5. Bloging of course!
6. Last but not least, prepare for the proposal presentation! (Asyik bertangguh aje date nya. Sampai hilang dah debaran di dada)

Oklah, hopefully semua yang tersenarai itu dapat dilaksanakan. Caiyok everyone!

First of all alhamdulillah. Praise to Allah swt. Even though I have been sick for the entire week but I still manage to prepare myself for the presentation...and Alhamdulillah the proposal review presentation went well. Alhamdulillah.... Even though I present dengan suara yang serak-serak basah and sexy but I managed to handle it very well especially during Q&A session.

Tipulah if I tak berdebar. Kalau present dalam Malay I think I enjoy jer. Tapi, nak meluahkan idea dalam bahasa kedua which is not our mother tongue language, it's very difficult for me. If kat Malaysia, kalau I can't explain it in English mesti tersasul 2,3 words in Malay masih acceptable and boleh difahami. Tetapi di sini, menjadi satu-satunya melayu tunggal dalam my research group sudah tentu ia mustahil. Mati kutu macam mana pun you still have to explain it in English. Hehehe...Tak kiralah if you have to draw or do some actions ker so that your audience yang prof and Dr itu akan faham... But I'm glad, it doesn't happen that way. So, now I just have to prepare myself for the real proposal defense which will be in next month, insyaAllah...

Few days tak blog memang sangat rindu. Terasa kusam aje hidup! Sebab tu terus tukar background blog. Heheh... Kasi nampak happening and ceria. Lagi pun sekarang kan musim spring. I love spring cuma I tak suka weather kat sini yang kadang-kadang terlampau extreme especially bila nak bertukar musim. Mostly orang melayu kat sini mesti demam, batuk, selsema dan seangkatan dengannya. Haishhh.... Kalau kat Malaysia sakit sikit jumpa doktor boleh dapat ubat and antibiotik. But here it's totally different. Nak jumpa doktor harus buat appointment. Kalau setakat demam and batuk biasa tak payah jumpa lah. Sebab doktor-doktor ni hanya akan advice kita suruh rest, drink a lot of water, bla..bla...bla... Antibiotik? Nope! Unless, dah 3,4,5 orang doktor you dah jumpa. And semua ubat harus lah dibeli sendiri kat farmasi!. Tapi, jumpa doktor dan consultation dia yang 'kita pun tahu sendiri' tetap harus dibayar! Dan orang macam aku yang penakut nak jumpa doktor ni sejak dari duduk Malaysia sampai ke sini semakinlah tak mahu jumpa doktor. So, berdoa sajalah dengan harapan tidak ada apa-apa sakit yang serius. Kalau setakat sakit-sakit biasa memang saya bertahan and rawat sendiri.

Untuk kawan-kawan yang species penakut jumpa doktor macam saya atau pun tersangatlah sibuk sampai tak ada masa boleh lah cuba kaedah rawatan ini. Kalau badan anda tetiba rasa lenguh terutama di kawasan sendi, pening kepala, lemah tubuh atau panas badan itu mungkin petanda nak demam. Biasanya aku suruh partner pegang tapak kaki. Kalau tapak kaki sejuk confirm demam. Untuk orang demam biasanya doktor advice to drink plenty of water. Aku memang jarang ambil panadol or paracetamol. Mungkin sebab dari dulu tak suka makan ubat juga takut nak telan ubat. Haha. Sebab setiap kali percubaan nak telan selalunya ubat tak lepas kerongkong lalu tersembur keluar atau paling sopan pun air dalam mulut habis ditelan tetapi tinggallah ubat yang mulanya tak ada rasa akhirnya menjadi pahit yang amat! [Ini sejarah kenapa aku tak suka makan ubat!]. Lagipun kajian menunjukkan ubat-ubat ini yang sememangnya dadah ini sebenarnya tidaklah elok untuk kesihatan masa panjang. And aku sendiri tak mahu hidup bergantung dengan ubat. Pening sedikit panadol. Sakit datang bulan panadol. Nanti kalau aku betul-betul sakit tentu aku perlukan dos yang lebih tinggi dari biasa sebab badan aku dah lali dengan panadol. Itu pendapat aku saja. Aku bukan doktor!

Berbalik pada rawatan sakit, sebenarnya aku kembali kepada sunnah Nabi SAW. Di mana baginda Nabi SAW mengamalkan madu dan habatus sauda. Ini memang baik untuk kesihatan. Dulu zaman study degree and master aku sering juga mengamalkan. Lepas tu stop sebab kawan yang tukang edar dah pulang ke kampung. Memang dulu jarang-jarang sakit. Demam setahun sekali pun payah. Kalau demam tu biasa sehari. Mungkin sebab banyak dosa. Sakit itu kan penghapus dosa kecil! Heh So sekarang aku nak start balik. Lagipun madu kat sini murah! Cuma stok habatus sauda tak tau mana nak dapat.

Alhamdulillah dengan izinNya, batuk aku dah semakin berkurangan. Suara dah semakin tinggi volume tapi tahap kemerduan tidak pasti. Hehe... Selain itu untuk mengelakkan partner dari terjangkit aku guna Glen 20 spray disinfectant. Bagus penyembur ni buat mati kuman dalam udara. Yelah aku asyik bersin dan batuk saja. Melepaskan bakteria ke udara. Jadi, potensi untuk menjangkitkan individu lain yang tinggal serumah adalah tinggi. Lebih-lebih lagi teman sebilik, sekatil dan sebantal! Ooppss...

Sebenarnya banyak khasiat madu dan habatus sauda ni. Kalau tak masakan tertulis dalam Al-Quran! Cuma tak dapat aku nak jelaskan semua pada hari ini sebabnya rasa macam dah terlebih membebel pula. Hehe... Walhal kerja aku bertimbun tu nak kena siapkan. Al maklumlah dah berapa hari off. Oklah bunyi penulisan aku ni pun dah lain macam dah. I better stop now. Free nanti aku nak tulis lagi. There're lot of things in my mind now and I can't wait to express it all!

As Salam...

It's been a while since my last update. Been real busy. Hehe.. Al maklumlah my SV is back already so tak dapatlah kawan nak relax-relax sambil menonton Stanza Cinta lagi! SV pun sudah berwasiat sebelum beliau berlepas ke Germany lagi untuk melihat yang proposal phd ini siap sepenuhnya.... *sigh*

At first, masa my SV itu mula bercuti I had promise myself yang I akan settle dan buat semuanya within 2 weeks saja so that another 1 week tu boleh enjoy sakan. Tapi itulah perancangan manusia yang tidak berdisiplin macam saya. Haha.... 2 weeks enjoy and 1 week before he come back baru nak start buat. Masa tu dah start panic dan masa tu juga lah sakan membuatnya....

But still, I don't blame myself. Why? Haha... sebab I have try my best untuk focus pada awalnya but still the idea tak datang. Tulis proposal ni bukan macam tulis blog where you can simply write what you feel, what you do, what you like or what you hate. Tapi, you have to come out with new idea or innovation on what you want to do, why you purposely want to do that... You must do a lot of readings and research as well. Sometimes kita terpaksa menyelami bidang dan kepakaran yang lain. Macam saya, asalnya bidang environmental engineering but now I have to study chemistry, polymer, mathematical modeling and etc.

I wrote this not because I wanted to show off yang I'm studying phd somewhere in overseas or what so ever. I just wanted to share my thoughts with other people macam mana live as phd student and at the same time as wife and maybe in the future as a mother. Siapa yang baca my blog sejak dari saya single tentu tahu bahawa dulu I'm a jobless person! Start from nothing hinggalah sampai ke hari ini semuanya pinjaman dariNya. Alhamdulillah. Syukur!

Berbalik tentang proposal tu, ilham datang dengan banyaknya di penghujung waktu. Makin banyak yang tulis makin menjadi-jadi pula ideanya. Sampai tak menang kepala, kaki dan tangan. Haishh.... Mujurlah ada suami yang memahami dan banyak membantu. Bukan membantu menaip tapi bantu memasak, mengemas rumah, membasuh, melipat dsb itu sudah cukup menyenangkan hati para isteri.

Suami selalu cakap yang saya suka kerja last minute. Kalau dulu mama akan kata, "Hahh nak terber*k baru nak gali lubang!" Mungkin ada benarnya juga tapi sama sekali itu bukan kehendak saya. Tapi, saya rasa yang saya bekerja dengan lebih baik di bawah tekanan. Hasil kerja itu yang lebih baik tapi kesihatan dan emosi sendiri sangatlah tidak baik. Sangat stress ya kawan-kawan. Sampai tidur malam pun boleh mimpi dan mengigau hal kerja. I try my best untuk berubah and tukar my mind set. Hopefully lepas ni no more last minute work!

The best part is SV puas hati. Alhamdulillah! Puji. Dan yang paling tak tahan hujung bulan ni kena present depan group members and next month will be my proposal defense. Part ni lah yang buat saya kejut perut dan kejang semua urat saraf. Haihh.... Maka akan bertambah-tambah lah segala pimples di wajah ku ini....

Setelah selesai mengadu hal di atas, kini baru lah saya sedar saya sepatutnya menulis tentang percutian saya di Canberra baru-baru ini. Tunggu entry itu di lain hari.

Pesanan untuk ASNA CUTE. Baju baby sudah dibeli. Nanti akak kasi upload gambar asna pilih okay!

Chow!

I'm emotionally unstable. Makan nasi pun tak lalu even though lapar sangat. Even spicy and sambal cooking which always been good appetizer to me failed to do so. I don't know if this has something to do with hormane exchange or what so ever but I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with pregnancy. 99.9% sure!!! Itulah... dalam previous entry punya berlawak nak kenakan orang kan sekali masin mulut Chekgu.....hadoiii.... Bukan tak mahu pregnant tapi setiap hari terpaksa hirup udara kimia yang toksik saya pun jadi pening inikan pula kalau ada baby yang di kandung. That's another different story to tell.... *sigh*

Anyway, today I wanna share my little experience in organizing a so called open house for Raya celebration. Actually if I have a choice I don't want to do 'open house'. There are many reason behind it and one of the most BIGGEST reason ever is "Mak tak pandai masak nak!!!" *dush*

Okaylah fine, setakat masak untuk 2-4 perut tu boleh lah. Tak adalah sampai tak reti sangat. Kata orang takat nak isi perut yang lapar. I PASS! But, to cook for 25-30 adult people not including kids is something that I never did before! Not even imagine it once! *gosh* Do I have choice?

Since most of the seniors here already opened their house including my bestie so they'll keep asking me bila pula nak open house. Haishhh... Memang myself ada niat nak jamu beberapa orang senior especially those yang dah banyak tolong us masa we first arrived dulu tapi bukanlah nak jamu sampai berpuluh-puluh kelapa kepala okay!

Tapi sampai bila mak boleh mengelak nak? Lambat laun rumah mak tetap akan mereka serbu sama ada mak ready atau tak. Maka al kisahnya terpaksa lah mak open house juga...

So, me and habibi discuss waktu terbaik untuk open house ni. We're suppose to do it in weekends tapi banyak weekends yang full dengan activities and last-last we chose Friday night which is on 23 September from 7pm till tetamu rasa nak blah... Haaa... And we planned to cook Nasi tomato with beef tagine prune, ayam masak merah and salad as main dishes while dadih and puding jagung as dessert. And believe it or not I have never cooked ayam masak merah yang sedap before this. Usually kalau masak, most of the times akan sangat pedas sampai husband yang tahan pedas pun tak boleh nak telan! Haha.... walhal I dah ikut resepi yang baik which I google from internet lah. So we blamed the cili kering! Sebab even I used small amount of cili pon the red colour pudar tapi the taste is super hot! So cili yang salah bukan salah saya yang tak expert nih. Yeay!

So what happen next?

On Thursday evening we went to shop for the groceries. Then after isya we started to prepare the ingredients. Habibi helped me a lot in the kitchen. In fact habibi lah yang tolong siang daging 2 kilos and ayam 3 kilos. We fried the chicken that night and cooked dadih as well. Around 2 am baru tidur maaa. And the next morning we get up early. I do the cooking while he do the house cleaning. Everything went okay... so far... sampailah time masak nasi tomato.

Jeng jeng jeng!

Masak tu we masak 8 cups each untuk 2 periuk nasi elektrik. Periuk nasi pon terpaksa pinjam bestie because mine punya muat 6 cups aje! Kat sini problem bermula apabila periuk nasi tersebut asyik menendang aje. Nasi belum totally masak tapi the periuk dah off cooking. At first I wasn't panic at all because normally after I kacau-kacau and korek-korek the nasi dia akan okay and the periuk will continue cooking. But this time around, every 5 minutes dia akan off. Aaarrrrghhhhh...

I was panic and blur don't know what to do. Tanya habibi yang confirm tak pandai masak dari I ni lagilah tak membantu. We keep adding water into the pot. We thought air yang kurang. Bertambah tensi bila dua-dua pot jadi gitu. Habibi pon dah panic. Apa taknaya lagi 2 jam lebih tetamu nak datang. Wakaka... Lauk siap nasi mentah? Oh no!!!!!Kalau kat Malaysia mesti I dah kelam kabut keluar beli kat restoren aje! Haha- Poor me~

The funniest part is tetiba I rasa nak balik Malaysia! Not because of my phd thingy tapi... Mak tak dapat tahan malu nak andai kata 2 tahun lagi duduk sini orang kata open house mak makan nasi mentah! Alahaiii.....

Di pendekkan cerita I siap 'bercakar-cakar' dengan habibi sebab dua-dua pun dah panik and tak sangup tanggung malu! Last-last suruh habibi called kawan yang we all pinjam periuk ni. Konon tanya awat periuk hang asyik menendang aje. BTW, my bestie tu husband dia a great cook. Open house lepas pun husband dia yang masak. Wallaa kelas gitew...

So her husband cakap angkat periuk nasi tu letak atas api dapur yang kecil. But before that, balut periuk tu dengan aluminium foil supaya tak keluar wap. Masak dalam 20 minit insyaAllah okay! So we all follow aje lah and alhamdulillah salah satu periuk tu nasi tomatonya masak elok while the other one yang we all asyik tambah air tu agak lembik sedikit but still boleh di makan!

Maka dengan itu selamat lah Mak dari kena balik Malaysia sebab malu... Kah kah kah...

What ever it is alhamdulillah we manage to organize it well. Ayam masak merah Mak yang selalu tak menjadi pun habis licin sampai ada yang tak sempat merasa. Tak tahulah sedap ke tidak janji licin I senang hati uols! And my tagine pula dapat pujian dari mat saleh. Katanya sedap! I'm glad! And there are a few things that I learned and InsyaAllah next year will be even better and I proud of myself sebab at last I dapat juga membuktikan yang wanita tak berapa pandai masak ni still boleh masak sendiri untuk jamu 30 orang makan tak payah pakai catering macam dekat Malaysia uols.... *cehh berlagak taik kucing!*


psst: Penggunaan kata 'Mak' adalah merujuk kepada penulis manakala 'Nak' kepada pembaca budiman...

It's Monday blues again...haiyyahhh... Nobody loves Monday rite? I used to look forward for this day but not anymore since it becomes a day with Mr Supa @ supervisor heh! Anyway, let's just forget that for a moment. Today, I would like to share my experience and two cents knowledge on how to cook in less than 45 mins? Woww... it may sounds impossible especially to those who are not 'yet' expert in cooking. Just like me!

Mari kita buka sedikit rahsia! Honestly, saya memang tak reti masak! But that is not the reason you can't get married, of course! Haha.. All you have to do is to know and learn the basic skill of cooking! Masa first time belajar masak dulu I take approximately 1 hour 30 minutes to cook rice with 2 dishes. Owhh.. sila la gelak kan saya! Seriously I'm not that expert! I always do thing step by step. But now since I'm able to do multi-tasking I can cook less than a hour. Sometimes within 30 mins aje! Acehh...gila riak! Siap lah kalau habibi baca statement ini. Haha..

So what's the secret? There's no secret at all. It's just a few tips and skills...

Fisrt, if you plan to cook chicken/fish/meat, you need to defrost them first unless yours are fresh from market. Usually on Monday, saya akan balik lewat. Time berbuka adalah jam 5++. So akan kelam kabut lah nak memasak and what so ever. So before I go to collage, I will take out the chicken out from the freezer. So by the time nak memasak, ayamnya sudah lembut dan mudah untuk dipotong and dikerat-kerat. But if you have microwave, than you can use it to defrost. In my case, I don't have a microwave (pity me!). But watch out ladies, jangan defrost sekali dengan plastik-plastik unless that plastik or tupperwares are microwave safe!

Secondly, get things ready. This will include the kitchen utensils and the cooking ingredients. Imagine kalau periuk belanga you tak berbasuh, you will take extra time to clean it first before you can use it unless you have a lot of others pots and pans. That is totally different case. But me, I have 2-3 pieces only. So haruslah I basuh siap-siap before going to collage. But if, I have lots of pans pun I tak suka tengok dirty pans bertimbun-timbun memenuhi ruang dapur, nanti terus hilang selera nak masak! Especially kalau dapur rumah kecil! As for cooking ingredients I takda lah nak sediakan satu persatu macam rancangan memasak pula. Tapi if you have stock bawang yang dah dihiris, cili yang dah siap di'blend' and etc it will make things easier. Trust me!

Luckily in OZ, the people here just love cooking and make things simpler and easier. For example they have their spices all ready in a bottle tube. All you have to do just picit-picit jer masuk dalam periuk. You just name it lemongrass (serai), garlic (bawang putih), ginger (halia) and a lot others. Takda la macam kat Malaysia nak kena kupas kulit bawang, blend sendiri, ketuk-ketuk batang serai and what-so-ever lah. Haha... this part memang I like it very much. It really help busy woman like me... Acheh! macam la busy sangat kan!

Another tips is you have to be multi tasking! Masa tengah tumis bawang tu sambil-sambil tu potong la sayur ker or tanak nasi. Tapi watch out jangan sampai hangit pula kuali uols! Tapi, kat sini sayur pun ada yang dah siap potong. Sangatlah senang! Ada duit beli saja. But for me, I don't need it. Semua benda nak mudah aje mana boleh nanti your skill memasak hilang pula!

Last but least, try to make it simple. If you have limited time janganlah berangan nak masak lavish dishes. From my observation, mat saleh ni dia biasa combine aje sayur dalam apa jua masakan. Meaning that, kalau masak sup ayam janganlah letak ayam semata-mata tapi you can add potatoes, carrots, cabbage flowers (bunga kubis), celery and others yang relevant lah. So, in just one dish you have all the diet balance. But if you have free time like weekends ker baru lah try recipe yang boleh kecur air liur.

All this tips is just for a beginner like me. To those yang dah expert tuh mesti awal-awal lagi dah close page ni. But if any of you have others tips please share it here. You are the most welcome. It might be useful to others and me.

Okay, I think that's enough. Next time I will share more. So girls, if you rasa tak tahu masak, don't be sad because I'm just one of them. But, as day goes by you will master it and be like a masterchef!

psst: Owh did I mention to you guys that most of the tv's programs here are all about cooking?

Cheers!

Aloha! It has been a while since my last update. I have been really busy. I just started my first lab work last week which is on the 2nd day of Ramadhan. At the same time, I still need to complete my first proposal & my weekly progress report as usual. So, it's kind of hectic..

Apa taknya, balik aje dari Uni kelam kabut nak memasak untuk berbuka lagi. Tambahan pula sekarang musim sejuk so waktu berpuasa singkat. FYI, NSW is 2 hours earlier than Malaysia. Around 3pm waktu Malaysia we all dah berbuka puasa. And by 6pm waktu Malaysia we all selesai berterawih. Cepatkan? Usually after Iftar mata dah start mengantuk..after terawih memang terus rebah dalam lamunan mimpi. Then around 4 am dah bangun and start the day..... (edisi bebelan!)

Enough of those babbling!

Ramadhan in overseas are no different than Ramadhan in Malaysia. Except for the shorter time period of fasting compared to Malaysia. But that will depends on the season. Lucky we, it's winter so our days are the shortest and the nights are the longest! But if Ramadhan appeared in Summer, it's the other way around. However, in overseas we don't have PARAM (which is known as pasar ramadhan). So it's fair and square. But as for me, I don't really enjoy going to PARAM because the place is usually crowded with people and I hate being in crowded places. Furthermore, I don't thing so all the foods there are yummies even though they look tempting with different shapes and colours but normally the taste are the same and some are awful (This is according to my experience and no offense on others!). Some of the unethical sellers even 'recycled' back their unfinished 'lauk' that they sold the day before. And some of them biar aje their foods terdedah sana sini. Dengan lalat, batuk, bersin, manusia can you just imagine how many bacterias are there and what if we termakan?? And again, I have no offense on any buyers or sellers. I just express my feelings based on my experience or probably I'm just too hygienic? Even my family prefer the home cook. Normally we just buy soya itu pun not so often. But if you are a fan of PARAM than I suggest you go and buy earlier masa stall baru buka and go to the stalls yang clean and covered their foods. That way, will reduced the possibility of buying contaminated food.

Owhh...I'm babbling again!

Anyways, we have an Islamic community here. There are quite a numbered of Muslim people especially those from Arab countries and we also have a mosque nearby. So normally we perform isya prayer and terawih at the mosque. They do have iftar everyday but, we prefer to break the fast at home. Sometimes I feel homesick and I miss breaking fast with my family members. But the feeling of homesickness disappeared when someone (Malaysian community) host an Iftar event. Everyone will bring their own foods and drinks and we share among us. We break the fast and pray together. It makes me feel close like one big happy family.


Whatever it is, I'm glad that Allah has granted me another opportunity to experience this holy-month. This time around with my beloved habibi. Hopefully, I can make the best of it as I'm not sure if I'm lucky enough to be in the next Ramadhan.

And in this opportunity I would like to ask for forgiveness if I ever hurt any of you through my writing. I'm just a normal human with lots of khilaf. I wish Ramadhan al Mubarak to all of you and may Allah increase our Iman and accept our good deeds. Ameen.

Today's weather is so cold even though it's bright and sunny day. I can't feel the heat and I'm shivering to death as I walk to the nearest bus stop. The temperature is expected to be at 8-10 oC. I know this is just the beginning of winter. The temperature may drop to almost zero. Who knows?How I wish I'm at Malaysia right now even though lately people keep complaining how hot the weather is like. But I like hot, well not too hot maybe...but not this cold! gggrrrrrrrr.....

I'm glad that I didn't choose places like Europe or Russia to further my study. If not I'm gonna be 'death by the snow'! Do you know that before it's snowing the temperature drop? So it becomes freaking cold. But as snow falls, the temperature stabilize and become warmer. Actually, snowing does not cause the warmth but the relative warmth cause the snow! (Haha- You may want to check that info again!).

Even though I like warmth weather but, I'm still dreaming of playing in the snow like skiing, snowboarding or at least building up a snowman. Hehehe... Therefore, by the end of this July, we are planning to go to Snowy Mountain with some friends. My habibi keep teasing me about this since I am very prone to cold. Yeah sikit punya sejuk pun I dah menggigil tahap giga. And everytime I'm shivering, he will cover me with 2 pieces of blankets and hug me tightly so that I'll become warmer. I'm so bless to be his wife and the fact that we're already married. So to all single ladies out there (especially to those yang sudah berpacaran) cepat-cepatlah menikah and stay away from zina. Feel the sweetness of married life.

Here, are some of the pictures of Snowy mountains that I captured from goggle. If you want to know more about snowy mountains, wait until I blog about it or just simply click this website.