Sunday, October 01, 2006

Word Sunday : Fast and Fasting

Man I haven't been blogging for a bit. Like most bloggers, I have been actively blogging in my head, I think I could puke. Then I wonder if I were to puke, is that consider batal puasa kerana muntah dengan senghaja.

Anywaaaaaaay, I have been occupied. I was trying in vain to finish up the newsletter. Second issue this time round. :D. I was encouraging people to send me articles, in the hope to get more articles of course. And when some do, I don't like them. Ayooo pleaselah don't expect me to put forwarded email articles and lame (in my opinion) outdated stuff. Me no like lah.

This is the most trying fasting month in my life, not counting my first few years of me learning to fast of course. I am still ferrying the kids around. Haziq still has evening class. I have to reschedule everything for both their timetable have changed in completely opposite time. Sya finishes earlier while haziq starts later. And how many time do I have to tell you that it is mega hot out there.

And now there is no bazaar Ramadan here, I had to cook everything, everyday! If before I usually cook up lauks only and buy kuehs from Bazaar Ramadhan. Now I have to make them, if I feel like eating them. The thing is I don't break fast with rice and all. I want kueeehhhhhhhh. Hu hu hu. With the limited time I have at home, I rushed to prepare a decent meal. I have made some and surprise myself. But I am sure those are mere peanuts to most goddesses out there. ;)

But I want my mummy. Her kuehs are always best albeit the presentation is a bit off but seriously all her kueh melayu sungguh mengasyikkan. I know some of her own designated kueh apam are a hit in Muar now that some akak took the recipe from her. I was doing keria and felt like talking to her for tips. I was kneading donut and remembered her fluffy donut.

I want to tell you this ok. You know my late mum..she has some Arabic feature. Sharp nose. Deep set eyes. Sharp feature. Radiant skin. Tall. Rest assured that I don't take after her. The week before Ramadhan, I have been seeing a lot of her. One was almost like her. Her oldself. Like her the last I saw her healthy. At the airport sending me off. The one I hugged tight and drop a few tears on her comforting shoulders.

I thought about my dad during this fasting month. I wondered how is he coping fasting alone. Oh I talk to him often. But emotionally, I wondered how he is.

Then it got me pondering. When we first got married, my lover and I, we often fast together, alone. Then we are blessed with kids and breaking fast can be quite hectic and noisy, but beautiful. There will be time when either of us will have to break our fast alone. I want to savour this moment I have with my family forever. I remebered breaking fast, the whole lot of us at my mum's and my mum prepared so much. So much, I felt like crying now.

My dad remembered like it was only yesterday when he shared his breaking fast with my mum, alone.

Time flies fast. And fasting month is always a reminder of that.

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21 comments:

anggerik merah said...

Ramadhan Kareem to you & family too.

Take care!

Anonymous said...

You must have been busy.....was looking out for your ym response, no luck there. Selamat berpuasa....nak apa2 from here, lemme know. Can send over.Take care dear. Muahh

Sya said...

Lollies.. ur n3 remind me of my mum, although she is not a good cook but I really miss her "kuih kemohong inti kelapa".

Eh.. smlm I wanted to cook the cek mek molek according to ur instruction.. alamak after that cancell.. tepung kehabisan, so postphone today kalau sempat lah.. :p

Lollies said...

AM - Ramadhan Kareem to you too.

Lynnete - itulah aku shebok gilalah abbe. huwaaaa gua rindu sama lu. ko betul ke nak hantar aku barang. ha ha ha. bahaya tau itu promise

kak sya - wah apa itu kuih kemohong? cek mek molek shedaappppp. air gula dia mesti terpancut tau baru best. heh heh. have fun

sare @ syah said...

Selamat berpuasa Lollies...

pe2 pun masakan emak memang paling best...ni yg tak sabar nak balik kg ni...hehe

rad said...

salam 10th ramadhan daa...
Wah, very the very busy ye?
I envy you - part terlihat2kan mak tu.
I always wonder & asked everyone in the family, why I never dream of my dad? Why only my bros dreamt of him? What's the significance? MasyaAllah..kadang2 rasa mcm ayah tak sayang...
But mak told me that biasanya anak lelaki yg mimpikan ayah & anak pompuan yg mimpikan mak. Betul ka?
Jgn lupa sedekah kan byk doa & bacaan Quran utk mereka yg telah pergi..
Dont you wanna share ur newsletter with us? I would love to see it! I rber the one-page thg that I did in school long ago - everything from drawing the cartoon up to putting it on board every clsroom..

Mama Rock said...

oh lollies, i'm sure your dad will pull through this situatuion. same with my mum dulu when my dad passed away - she wasnt in the mood for raya but we created the mood for her :)

ps - yes, ramdahan in middle east - no bazaar! our first ramadhan in dubai, i took the kids out to get food, ended up being the only group walking on the road cari makan...hahahha, in the end beli shawarma je bawak balik :)

Jill Yusoff said...

I was going to do a 'Tiring and Trying' for my word sunday. seems like you beat me to it. Tiring indeed, nasib baik ada pasar ramadhan, boleh beli air tebu :)

simah said...

*hugs* walaupun dah *tua* (wink) makanan mak mana bole lupa..kan?

hope ur dad is doing ok..mesti terasa gila berpuasa sorang sorang tanpa his soul mate..

n u r so away from home...anyway..let us enjoy the present n treasure the past.. :0)

Lollies said...

sare - yay balik posa rumah mak memang bessstttt

rad - hmm i don't know about that pulak. I think certain orang dapat and some don't. Tapi still like you said banyakkan sedekah untuk merekalah kan? Sharethe newsletter? heh heh. sungguh amateurish, if you want I can email it to you though and perhasp get a tip or two from you.

Mama rock - itulah kesiankan mereka. Tapi my dad he is totally alone. No one is with him at all. except friends. It's not the same.

jill - hei i still want to read that. AIR TEBU??!!!! Huwaaa ko dengki

simah - there are a lot to smile about remembering the past

Idham said...

:) ramadhan kareem to u and ur loved ones too...

happy to see u manage to squeez in time to give us an update....been so so long....hehehe...rindu la jugak nak dengar berita dari Doha.

Jom kita tukar2 kueh...:)

idham.

rad said...

This is just a tot ok.. why not you & your siblings carikan ayah pengganti/peneman? Seriously, I was talking abt this with my mak last weekend. She was saying, org pompuan lain - susah nak cari pengganti as they can survive on their own. But our bapaks are different, they are so used to someone to prepare everything for them, temankan makan etc. So, eventhough anak2 dtg hantarkan makanan, or jengok2 2,3x sehari - it is not the same with having someone to look after you...

P/s: no tips from me coz i did that one zaman buta IT dulu2 heheheh

KakNi said...

Sedih pulak baca entry lollies ni walaupun dia tak beria-ia nak menunjukkkan kesedihan...

Tak ada bazar ramadhan? habis restoran semua tutup 24 hours ke kat sana? or the kueh simply not acceptable to our malaysian taste?

Er... kat sini popular sgt tepung pelita, mana-mana pun ada jual, anak2 akupun hari2 nak kueh tu tapi dia orang nanti besar tak leh tulis macam ko sebab mak dia (aku la) tak masak dan tak buat kueh, so most probably dia org akan ingat - Ah! kuih tepung pelita kat seksyen 17 yang achik comel jual tu sedapppppp!

Sya said...

lollies .. kuih kemohong tu cam pau le, tapi pau kampung, org kampaung i panggil "kuih kemohong" he he he

Anonymous said...

nice blog & setori to share.. cite pasal bukak pose mmg sedih if u r not in malaysia bumi tercinta(u only realised it whn u r abroad). i miss those kueh2 yg uncounted tu kat pasar ramadhan. though saigon is very close to msia tapi food are definitely not the same maaaah..

just imagine, u only want to have a bite or a piece (or few) of it but u have to senseng lengan baju & masak ikut resipi which is selalunya can cater for more than 10 heads.

Lollies said...

idham - oh sekarang newsletter dah siap dan dah issue. so dah ada sikit free. he he

rad - hmmm sebenarnya itu perkara adalah di dalam proses. Hmmm..dia tak datang sini raya. full stop.

ah ni - wa banyak2 kueh ko sebut tepung pelita. mak aku punya sedap gilos. ha ha ha to your story. anak2 aku sekarang tak ada choice. kena telan gak apa mak dia masak. kat sini depa tak jual style malaysia. aku nak kueh melayu atau yang sewaktu dengannya

sya - oh ya ka? ha ha ha. belajar benda baru saya ni

anon - you are in saigon? if you blog I would know what it is like there. he he. itulah nak makannya saya dua orang tua, budak kecik makan bukannya banyak, nak buatnya banyak. eh tapi anak saya makan kueh saya buat boleh tahanlah, so sekarang ada sikitworth it

Anonymous said...

yang,
aku pun ternampak2, terbau2 arwah uwan a week before and one week during Ramadhan..aku duk nangis tiap hari..sampai Busu pun pelik..pastu tup-tup dah tak nampak lagi..

i guess arwah datang melawat anak2..itu sebab yang kau terpandang2 arwah mak kau..

beb, beli barang kat bazar ramadhan menghilangkan kesyokkan nengok your kids and lover makan hasil 'air tangan'..banyak khasiatnya :)

salam ramadhan (ke dah raya?)

Halley said...

Sedihnya baca blog hari ni... cannot imagine not having mom anymore... Ramadhan Kareem... Dah try resepi mee kari...

dlt said...

sedihnya entry ni. sampai saya pun jadik terkenang camno ur dad puasa sorang2, berbuka n bersahur sorang2. sure teringat sangat2. ur dad tak g raya kat Qatar ke?
like my neighbour, a year after his wife passed away, anak2 dia sibuk dok carikan mak baru coz diorang kesian tengok dia. at least ada orang jaga eventhough anak sulung dok sekali. tak sama kan?

Anonymous said...

saigon is hhmm.... ok la. great experience after few years here. food & bahan2 asas depa almost the same like ours. eg nasi for main meal. ada noodles, kuetiau, mihun too. their cuisine same2 thai, chinese & ours a bit. but 95% none halal laaahh. managed to find some local muslims restaurants to try out their healthy & scrummmmptious food.. (** fav words for vietnamese is "same2" which means lebih kurang sama lah..)

local food/products very2 cheap maaah esp for vegetables.. but for us, alien2 ni.. cannot rely 101% on theirs laa. they have tepung pulut too but tak leh pakai.. huwaaaa.. lembik liut jadi buah melaka dakuuu... habis 1 kg tepung. from that moment la serik betul buat melaka.

i luuvv cooking ( & eating lerr.. sape nak test the food sampai habis.. for cases kuih tak jadi) but i luv to cook those yg dlm loyang saja hik hik.. like cakes ke.. bingka ke..bake2 pasta ke!! fyi, i luv to try@eat all kind of food. i luv buah melaka so much.. if only i could bake it in a tin@loyang, beeesssstttnya..!!@#$%*&^%$#.. takde la i buat keje2 "metek" ni (which means cerewet in kelantanese lang..)

lollies.. me no have own blog yet. a lot to share actually.. tunggu habis puasa la kot. got a fren just moved to dhahran from doha. then heard another 2 old long lost fren just landed in doha..

have a blessed ramadhan..

*** sakitnya hati kalau kuih tak jadi di bulan puasa ni... satu loyang maaaahh.. but itu lah challenge nya... makannya kalu nggak jadi, bagemana harus cari yg lain.. mana bisa ada pasar ramadhan di saigon ini.. waduuuhh... kacau banget..***

Lollies said...

aie - wei belum rayalah babe. tapi akurasa sini raya awal dari malaysialah.

halley - beum dear. sebab minggu ni minggu pot luck. mana boleh pot luck mee kari. rugiiiiii

dlt - hmm manalah saya boleh carikan for my dad. dahlah taste saya tinggi. dia dah jumpa dah yang dia kenan kot. saya kenan ke tak..itu bukan ceritanya

anon - are you with minyak negara? i think i know one couple who was posted in vietnam and now is in doha. but i don't know where in vietnam were they