"Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day, drinking iced tea and visiting with her mother. As they talked about life, about marriage, about the responsibilities of life and the obligations of adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance upon her daughter..
'Don't forget your sisters,' she advised, swirling the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. 'They'll be more important as you get older. No matter how much you love your husband, no matter how much you love the children you may have, you are still going to need sisters. Remember to go places with them now and then; do things with them..'
'Remember that 'sisters' means ALL the women... your girlfriends, your daughters, and all your other women relatives too.. 'You'll need other women. Women always do.'
What a funny piece of advice!' the young woman thought. Haven't I just gotten married? Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a married woman, for goodness sake! A grownup! Surely my husband and the family we may start will be all I need to make my life worthwhile!'
But she listened to her mother. She kept contact with her sisters and made more women friends each year. As the years tumbled by, one after another, she gradually came to understand that her mother really knew what she was talking about. As time and nature work their changes and their mysteries upon a woman, sisters are the mainstays of her life.
After more than 50 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned:
THIS SAYS IT ALL:
Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.
BUT.........
Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girl friend is never farther away than needing her can reach.
When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end..
Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you...Or come in and carry you out.
Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters,-in-law, Mothers, Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family: all bless our life!
The world wouldn't be the same without women, and neither would I. When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other..
Every day, we need each other still. Pass this on to all the women who help make your life meaningful.
I just did. Short and very sweet:
There are more than twenty angels in this world. Ten are peacefully sleeping on clouds. Nine are playing. And one is reading this post at this moment. :)
I dedicated this post to all my sisters out there ( I know of no brothers that read my blog :P )
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Baking 101 : Chocolate Soufflé
This is one of the things that I was determined to try for this year and I made it!! yeay!! :e
The recipe taken from here but I modified to how much I need, also the technical parts are taken from some other recipes that I have seen.
Here goes: I used measurement in RED
Chocolate Soufflé
Ingredients (serves 6) (2)
• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (80 gm)
• 100g butter, chopped (40 gm)
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (1/4 cup)
• 5 eggs, at room temperature, separated (2 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour (¾ tbsp)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (3/4 tbsp)
• 1/4 cup caster sugar (2 tbsp)
• thickened cream and icing sugar mixture, to serve
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Grease 3 pieces of 2cm deep, 3.5cm (diameter) ramekin with butter on the side to the brim and sprinkle some castor sugar to the sides.
3. Combine chocolate and butter in a metal bowl, melt the mixture via double boiler method. Stir every minute with a metal spoon, until almost melted. Stir until smooth. Stir in brown sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
4. Beat egg yolks with a fork to combine. Stir into chocolate mixture. Sift flour and cocoa together over chocolate mixture. Stir to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until thick and glossy.
5. Add 1 tablespoon eggwhite to chocolate mixture. Mix well. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold in remaining eggwhite. Spoon mixture into prepared ramekin (at least ¾ full) . Bake for 15 minutes or until the batter has risen from the brim.
6. Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm with cream. (I did not... :D just dig in!!)
One might ask, what is the toughest part in making a soufflé? My answer would be, getting the ramekin!! I was searching high and low in KL but could not find any. I tried IKEA, the Curve (OU je tak sempat). Last week after Spanish class I drop by MV and tried Carrefour, nope, none that I can see. Then I tried Jusco, voila...there's the whole bunch of it :) And I settled for the small ones, 3.5 cm diameter ramekin. There is a smaller one but I guess any souffle made in that size would invites anger due to chocolate deficiency... :r
So next challenge is getting the soft peak. I did not own any type of mixer apart from what Allah has given me (my two hands.... :O ) So I was beating my life away to get the egg whites to form the soft peak, and this is how it turns out.
Next, after gently (ohh..saya memang bersopan santun waktu tu) folding in the eggwhites to the chocolate sauce, what else, baking time :f I was pacing back and forth in front of the oven to see how much it has risen.
Its finally done!! To be honest, I have never tasted soufflé before anywhere, so I would not know how to compare. I guess for chocolatey taste, yes, it was good because it was not sweet. But for the texture am not so sure, seemes like I overbake the soufflé. The next day I consulted my boss (yes, he's a pastry chef), he mentioned a good soufflé by mat salleh's definition should be runny and saucy on the inside...aahhh...now I know. So I guess next time, I should reduce the baking time to 13 minutes? ;)
 |
| High rise soufflé :) |
Here goes: I used measurement in RED
Chocolate Soufflé
Ingredients (serves 6) (2)
• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (80 gm)
• 100g butter, chopped (40 gm)
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (1/4 cup)
• 5 eggs, at room temperature, separated (2 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour (¾ tbsp)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (3/4 tbsp)
• 1/4 cup caster sugar (2 tbsp)
• thickened cream and icing sugar mixture, to serve
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Grease 3 pieces of 2cm deep, 3.5cm (diameter) ramekin with butter on the side to the brim and sprinkle some castor sugar to the sides.
3. Combine chocolate and butter in a metal bowl, melt the mixture via double boiler method. Stir every minute with a metal spoon, until almost melted. Stir until smooth. Stir in brown sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
4. Beat egg yolks with a fork to combine. Stir into chocolate mixture. Sift flour and cocoa together over chocolate mixture. Stir to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until thick and glossy.
5. Add 1 tablespoon eggwhite to chocolate mixture. Mix well. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold in remaining eggwhite. Spoon mixture into prepared ramekin (at least ¾ full) . Bake for 15 minutes or until the batter has risen from the brim.
6. Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm with cream. (I did not... :D just dig in!!)
One might ask, what is the toughest part in making a soufflé? My answer would be, getting the ramekin!! I was searching high and low in KL but could not find any. I tried IKEA, the Curve (OU je tak sempat). Last week after Spanish class I drop by MV and tried Carrefour, nope, none that I can see. Then I tried Jusco, voila...there's the whole bunch of it :) And I settled for the small ones, 3.5 cm diameter ramekin. There is a smaller one but I guess any souffle made in that size would invites anger due to chocolate deficiency... :r
So next challenge is getting the soft peak. I did not own any type of mixer apart from what Allah has given me (my two hands.... :O ) So I was beating my life away to get the egg whites to form the soft peak, and this is how it turns out.
 |
| Nampak tak the two peaks? |
 |
| Naik lagi dan lagi.... |
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Laskar Pelangi
I am a huge educational movie fan-big time!! I found out about this movie from a colleague, and he even gave me the soft copy to watch. Somehow, I could not watched it and lost the soft copy. I found one seller on FB that sold the DVD, but till today no feedback. So last week when I saw the promo clips that it is going to be played in Astro for Maulidur Rasul, I was ecstatic :D I started telling people and asking them to watch. I really trusted this guy's word, so much so I was becoming the walking advert for the movie. I even called all my sis short before 9pm last night to remind them again.
Not sure whether it is made of true story, but I love it anyway. Its about a Sekolah Agama and its 10 students. The school is the oldest in Belitong, Sumatera which at that time was on the verge of being torn down due to the fact people no longer send their kids to these kind of school. The teachers (only 2 of them) were given the condition, they must have at least 10 students at the beginning of the year, else, school will be closed.
Come registration day, the first student that came is Lintang, a fisherman's son. The father could have easily asked Lintang to go out to the sea with him but he sent Lintang to school instead. Lintang had such a journey going to school, he have to cycle, not sure how far, and he would have to pass by an area where there is crocodile living, he would have to wait for the crocodile to pass. On rainy days, he would stop under some trees for shade and continue the journey when it permits, and yet he is always the first one that reached the school. The only time that he was late when the crocodile lingers on the road longer than it should have, then Lintang would have to wait longer too.
The rest of the classmates, they have their own story as well. Basically the movie is about providing education, irregardless of their social status, where learning is not only gauge by numbers and marks on test paper, but what the children learnt in actual fact. Their learning is so open, one day they were late for class because they were carried away while watching rainbow. Cikgu Muslimah went and look for them and upon finding them, she called out, "Laskar pelangi......ayuh, masuk kelas...!!!" So that's how the troops were named.
However not all of them had a happy ending. Lintang the genius of the class have to take care of his family after the father passed away. He did not have a chance to make it out of Belitong for a better life. Ikal, his sidekick who was telling this story in flashback were among that still able to chase his dream. The story of these kids are funny, hilarious and also moving at the same time. I love it to the core :) It teaches us the concept of 'bersyukur', we may thought we had a tough life, but somehow in some parts of the world, kids have to fight for their right to education.
A life motto worth to keep comes from Cikgu Harfan : Hiduplah untuk memberi sebanyak-banyaknya, bukan menerima sebanyak-banyaknya...
Last but not least, the movie soundtrack, by Nidji - Laskar Pelangi
Mimpi adalah kunci
Untuk kita menakhlukkan dunia
Berlarilah tanpa lelah
Sampai engkau meraihnya
Laskar pelangi
Tak kan terikat waktu
Bebaskan mimpimu di angkasa
Warnai bintang di jiwa
Menarilah dan terus tertawa
Walau dunia tak seindah surga
Bersyukurlah pada Yang Kuasa
Cinta kita di dunia
Selamanya…
Cinta kepada hidup
Memberikan senyuman abadi
Walau hidup kadang tak adil
Tapi cinta lengkapi kita
Laskar pelangi
Tak kan terikat waktu
Jangan berhenti mewarnai
Jutaan mimpi di bumi
Menarilah dan terus tertawa
Walau dunia tak seindah surga
Bersyukurlah pada Yang Kuasa
Cinta kita di dunia
Menarilah dan terus tertawa
Walau dunia tak seindah surga
Bersyukurlah pada Yang Kuasa
Cinta kita di dunia
Selamanya
Selamanya
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tentang Do'a
I forwarded an email to friends about how sweet it is to be a Muslim women. Out of the 24 sweetness, only 4 that is applicable to single women like me. The rest focus on married and pregnant women. A friend replied and wish that she will be included to the pregnant ones. Its not wrong for her to wish that, she is already married, and its normal for married women to hope get pregnant. And it is almost natural for people to start asking others to pray for them.
This is where it starts to get a little bit uneasy, at least for me. As a Muslim, we believe in the power of do'a and we also believe that Allah is the most Gracious and without a doubt put faith in Him to grant all of our wishes here, when we are still alive and kicking. How many times that it crossess our heart to put a specific do'a for our friends? Asking for something for our family would be a norm, but still we tend to overlook that sometimes. I mean how long can we last sitting down after prayer to finally finish asking for all the wishes for all the things that we want in the world? How many of us did actually spend more than 5 minutes on the sejadah after we said the final salam? And even if we do stayed for 10 minutes max, have we asked all that we wanted to ask in the first place? Have we covered EVERYBODY that we care for?
Time aside, with all the things that is going on in our lives, do we really have room to pray for other people apart from family? And do we consistently asked for the same thing day in day out? Istiqamah is the key if we want our prayers to be answered, but we also tend to overlooked that.
We prayed the most during the time that we felt like it is really needed. I used to pray for a friend after each and every prayer, because at that time this person was going through a bad break up, and I was afraid that this person would do something stupid, but after all the dust had settled, I totally forgot about this person. Now I hardly thought of this person anymore, what does that make me?
I still believe and my faith is not shaken when it come to do'a. For me, I need to step up in the sense of remembering the persons that I should send my do'a to, and istiqamah. Sometimes I thought about making a list and read it after each prayer, but I am scared that it would become a routine that I loose the essence of it already. But I guess it all comes down to niat, and insyaAllah, being a humble servant to Him, deep down even if we did not utter the words through our lips, He'll know best.
For now, saya do'akan agar semua umat Islam diberi kesejahteraan hidup, kemenangan di dunia dan di akhirat, sentiasa di dalam lindunganNya dan tidak tersesat dari jalan kebenaranNya. Amin....
For sharing :)
This is where it starts to get a little bit uneasy, at least for me. As a Muslim, we believe in the power of do'a and we also believe that Allah is the most Gracious and without a doubt put faith in Him to grant all of our wishes here, when we are still alive and kicking. How many times that it crossess our heart to put a specific do'a for our friends? Asking for something for our family would be a norm, but still we tend to overlook that sometimes. I mean how long can we last sitting down after prayer to finally finish asking for all the wishes for all the things that we want in the world? How many of us did actually spend more than 5 minutes on the sejadah after we said the final salam? And even if we do stayed for 10 minutes max, have we asked all that we wanted to ask in the first place? Have we covered EVERYBODY that we care for?
Time aside, with all the things that is going on in our lives, do we really have room to pray for other people apart from family? And do we consistently asked for the same thing day in day out? Istiqamah is the key if we want our prayers to be answered, but we also tend to overlooked that.
We prayed the most during the time that we felt like it is really needed. I used to pray for a friend after each and every prayer, because at that time this person was going through a bad break up, and I was afraid that this person would do something stupid, but after all the dust had settled, I totally forgot about this person. Now I hardly thought of this person anymore, what does that make me?
I still believe and my faith is not shaken when it come to do'a. For me, I need to step up in the sense of remembering the persons that I should send my do'a to, and istiqamah. Sometimes I thought about making a list and read it after each prayer, but I am scared that it would become a routine that I loose the essence of it already. But I guess it all comes down to niat, and insyaAllah, being a humble servant to Him, deep down even if we did not utter the words through our lips, He'll know best.
For now, saya do'akan agar semua umat Islam diberi kesejahteraan hidup, kemenangan di dunia dan di akhirat, sentiasa di dalam lindunganNya dan tidak tersesat dari jalan kebenaranNya. Amin....
For sharing :)
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Of Family and Stuffs
My younger sis who just graduated from a Maktab in KL has been posted to a school in Sungkai, Perak. I have not been there yet. She was a bit down when she came to know about the school. Its a small town chinese school. Based on her senior's experience, mode of communication is only Mandarin, and even when they hold meeting, Mandarin is used. So the non Mandarin speaking teacher is left clueless (be it Indian or Malay). So much of 1Malaysia spirit huh?
The senior couldn't stand the condition and nothing much he can do about it, so he asked to further studies. There are also other teacher giving tips to my sister, if you teach BM, that is all you can do. Don't even bother to get involved in other extra curricular activites, basically mind your own business. Well, like me, my sister is also the adventurous type, she loved to get involved with the students, be it in uniform body or any sports activities, and she said if she could not do that, then what is the point of being a teacher then? She got a point there.
I tried to talk some sense into her, noting that not all schools are the same, mainly depends on the headmaster. I told her, unless you try, you'll never know. The school is small, total students is only ~90 persons (Std 1 to Std 6), so there is chances that the headmaster is not as controlling as she would have thought. She reported duty yesterday and according to her, the teachers are OK, just the common feedback that she gets is the students did not really have respect for non Chinese teacher....hhmmm... that is tough.
I told her to hang in there, see how things work, try her best at least, and if she really could not adapt to that situation, there is always another option, whatever that may be.
People should realised that there is big different mindset between community living in kampung and small town versus the one living in big city. I used to take school buses with kids from chinese school (SJKC Jalan Davidson and SM Confucion) and we (4 of us) are the only people from non Chinese school. And these kids got along just well with us. They even tought us how to swear in Cantonese and Mandarin back then... :P So if you are talking about kampung chinese vs town chinese, it is different.
On another note, her house hunting journey was not so good. She started by wanting to share a RM450/month house with a friend, but the friend is posted somewhere in Slim River, quite a distance from Sungkai, so she started looking for a new house, she found one kampung house RM 175/month and decided its a go. But when my other sister went and have a look, she did not approve, the house is not in well kept condition, and the house owner who lives nextdoor just mind their own business. Since she will be staying alone, they decided to look for another house, with a housemate is preferable.
Luck is on her side and Alhamdulillah, they found this house ,
If you are driving heading upnorth on PLUS, after Slim River exit, you will see a well built housing area on the left. Its actually a Felda project building homestay, but somehow this owner decided to rent it out. It has 4 rooms with RM 450/month. She is sharing this with another new teacher reporting to a school nearby.
I just hope that my sis can endure the atmosphere there (the school), as I am already making plans to go to Sungkai Hot Springs and free accomodation is always welcomed :D
The senior couldn't stand the condition and nothing much he can do about it, so he asked to further studies. There are also other teacher giving tips to my sister, if you teach BM, that is all you can do. Don't even bother to get involved in other extra curricular activites, basically mind your own business. Well, like me, my sister is also the adventurous type, she loved to get involved with the students, be it in uniform body or any sports activities, and she said if she could not do that, then what is the point of being a teacher then? She got a point there.
I tried to talk some sense into her, noting that not all schools are the same, mainly depends on the headmaster. I told her, unless you try, you'll never know. The school is small, total students is only ~90 persons (Std 1 to Std 6), so there is chances that the headmaster is not as controlling as she would have thought. She reported duty yesterday and according to her, the teachers are OK, just the common feedback that she gets is the students did not really have respect for non Chinese teacher....hhmmm... that is tough.
I told her to hang in there, see how things work, try her best at least, and if she really could not adapt to that situation, there is always another option, whatever that may be.
People should realised that there is big different mindset between community living in kampung and small town versus the one living in big city. I used to take school buses with kids from chinese school (SJKC Jalan Davidson and SM Confucion) and we (4 of us) are the only people from non Chinese school. And these kids got along just well with us. They even tought us how to swear in Cantonese and Mandarin back then... :P So if you are talking about kampung chinese vs town chinese, it is different.
On another note, her house hunting journey was not so good. She started by wanting to share a RM450/month house with a friend, but the friend is posted somewhere in Slim River, quite a distance from Sungkai, so she started looking for a new house, she found one kampung house RM 175/month and decided its a go. But when my other sister went and have a look, she did not approve, the house is not in well kept condition, and the house owner who lives nextdoor just mind their own business. Since she will be staying alone, they decided to look for another house, with a housemate is preferable.
Luck is on her side and Alhamdulillah, they found this house ,
 |
| Cantik tak? baca gaya Eric Leong ye.... |
I just hope that my sis can endure the atmosphere there (the school), as I am already making plans to go to Sungkai Hot Springs and free accomodation is always welcomed :D
Monday, February 7, 2011
All icon-ed up!!
I have been limiting my use of emoticons to ;) , ;) and ;) . No difference rite? hahaha.... I noticed that some of the blogger based blog have been using yahoo emoticon and being IT blind as I am, I tried to google on how to do it. Numerous website available, and as as far as I can see the instructions are simple. Sadly none of it work on my page, not sure why though. :P
So I resort to ET smileys. At first glance, the smileys are kinda creepy , with grey colour (as opposed to bright cheerful yellow on yahoo). But if I varied my choices, it actually looks cute 8)
Now I have more options to express my feelings rather than using the same icon over and over again :e
Lalalalalala.....eh silap.... :tone :O
So I resort to ET smileys. At first glance, the smileys are kinda creepy , with grey colour (as opposed to bright cheerful yellow on yahoo). But if I varied my choices, it actually looks cute 8)
Now I have more options to express my feelings rather than using the same icon over and over again :e
Lalalalalala.....eh silap.... :tone :O
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
From PD with Lurve...
Each festivities, all department will get a gift basket each. Ours, we normally gets two (to match the no of people). This CNY, the gift basket looks like this.
From previous festivities we took turn to claim the basket, and this is what I have at home. Baskets for my yarns and needles
So now, with the addition of this lovely tanglung, my yarns have proper home ;)
Each basket are for respective items. I realised that I have been buying yarns without actually finishing any good project. Now I have to start doing it and stop the buying, pronto!!
But what makes this round a special one that I dedicate the whole post to it? jeng....jeng...jeng.......
Bila kak tek balik M'sia, jgn lupa claim kat saya naaa.........
 |
| before |
Upon reaching the office my colleague and I ran operation disect to get things out and claimed posession of the lovely basket
 |
| Hasil tuaian |
 |
| Unorganized chaos |
 |
| much better...don't you think? |
Each basket are for respective items. I realised that I have been buying yarns without actually finishing any good project. Now I have to start doing it and stop the buying, pronto!!
But what makes this round a special one that I dedicate the whole post to it? jeng....jeng...jeng.......
 |
| it comes at both sides, so kak tek boleh pakai kiri dan kanan ;) |
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