Dry Taps Again !

We live in a beautiful island in Malaysia. Our main water source is from Sungai Muda. Recantly in 2023, we had 2 major water pipe burst that caused water crisis to almost the whole of Penang. At that time MS had come back from UK for holidays and Sofi was also on break. Having this two around was a blessings. They helped to carry water and fill up the water tanks upstairs. I have one 80 Gallon water container in my balcony. We store water inside here for emergency. Since it had been awhile since we had any water crisis, this water had become "stale"and cause itchiness, if we bathe with it. So now we had the tedious job of transfering this water to toilet tanks and the rest for washing and watering plants. Since the pressure was very low, we only had a little water coming from the hose in the porch. MS and Sofi, helped to transfer water from the porch to the balcony by tying a bucket to a rope and pulling it up. They managed to fill the entire 80 gallon water container. Meanwhile Shak had water still in her house since her condominium tank was large and had enough water for up 3 days.

Now in January 2024, we had another burst pipe in Sungai Perai. Water was cut without any notice and 80% of our island was left without any water. Some of us still had the water we collected in December for another water disruption. But most of my neighbours had discarded the water  were left with no or very little water in the water tanks in our houses. This time around, MS and Sofi were not around. Ak had to carry the water to fill up all the pails in the house. The water was only trickling in the porch. So we had to catch the water and transfer to other parts of the house. I helped filling pots with water for the kitchen use. 

So the Water Supply Corporation of my island announced that there will upgrading works for the burst water pipe.The old  underwater pipeline is incurring a leak. This old pipelines will be decommisioned and replaced with new pipes. Thus we have to brace for another major water disruption in 2 weeks. In the meantime, they will try to patch up the leaking pipe and supply water  to all the disrupted area. My neighbour, who has a large family decided to invest in a huge water tank placed outside his house. This attracted so many other neighbours to come and have a look at this shining marvel. My neighbour was so proud of his investment and even tried to influence Ak to purchase one. Of course his sister is selling the motor and she will give us a good price, he said. I put my foot down and told Ak absolutely no tank sitting in our porch . We noticed the pump and motor for this water tank, makes a very irritating noise. I even heard the noise in the middle of the night. So the next day when Ak was chatting wih the neighbour, he brought up the subject of the noise. Now this neighbour admits he didn't know about the noise before buying it. Unfortunately there is nothing he can do about it. So for now we have to adjust living in our house with this irritating noise until my neighbour decides to shut it off.

In the meantime, we are continously storing water and using water sparingly. Clothes cannot be washed at home because the water pressure is so low, we cannot turn on the washing machine. For now we have send our clothes to the laundry. I also cooked a few meals and freeze them. It is not safe to eat out when almost 80% of the island will be out of water. Of course I am grateful that we at least have some water and a roof over head during this crisis. I cannot imagine how life is in Gaza where water is deliberately shut down to torture the civilians. I feel so privileged when I turn on the pipe at home to see water flowing. We have to accept a little difficulties in life and stop complaining too much. What we are going through is not even an ounce compared to the people of Gaza. Anyway, I pray for the safety of the divers who are doing the dangerous job of going underwater to address the leak. 

My Own Little Business

Today I am writing more on my new business interest. The friend I was talking about, decided to do her skin care class for my two daughter and also as a training session for me. My daughters naturally did not mind being the lab rats for this kind of experiment. I had called my friend over for lunch. I had prepared for her a special lunch and insyaAllah I will share the recipe with you soon. It was my late mom's recipe Coconut Rice, Chicken Masala Curry, Tandoori fried Chicken, Beans and Carrot stir Fry and ice cream with fuit cocktails for dessert. (Whoa, after puttting it down in words, only do I realise how much of excessive calories that would have cost me!)
After lunch we settled ourselves at the dining table where she will be conducting her demo.To my amazement, my friend took out a cabin size luggage bag which has all the cosmetics, lotions, creams, mirrors, cotton etc. According to her, I too must bring along this kind of bag when I conduct my skin care class!! 

I had a look at how she demonstrated all the various layers of lotions, creams, and foundation to prep my daughters faces. Then she applied the various application for the cheeks and eyes. Also lipstick and lip gloss. My daughter of course were absolutely over the moon to be given a makeover by my friend. They were encouraging me to learn all the tricks on how to apply all these colours. I agreed to attend this companys business meeting just to see what it was all about. During the presentation of this company, I found it hard to concentrate and focus on what was happening in front of me. I have attended many classes, religious and for self improvement before. I never feel so detached to what was happening around me as I felt during this meeting. After I reached home, everyone was eagerly waiting for me. That was when I told my children and AK that this is not the kind of business I would like to do. So there goes another dream of me opening my own business. Nevertheless, I will still continue my search. To own and run a small successful business. Till then pray that my dream comes true.

No time to blog?

It has been more than a week since I last posted anything. The reason is because of the never ending chores in preparation for Eidul Fitr. Despite all the organizing, I think I am one of the last ones to bake cookies and sweets for this festive season. Last week I spoke to mom in law and guest what? She had already prepared 3 types of cookies and even had them posted to UK for my brother in law who is studying there. Then my sister in law called and told me she had already baked 5 types of cookies and now she is free to do her shopping and other stuff. I don't believe it. It is only 21st of Ramadhan and there is still a good 9 or 10 ten days to go. How come everyone is super fast this year. Even some of the other blogger had started to make their cookies. Sigh!! Anyway, I entered my kitchen today with zest and determination and baked 2 types of cookies, Almond crunch and Choc Rice Cookies ( Sarang semut ). It turned out quite well, after 4 hours of toiling in front of the oven that is. So now I am in the same squad or gang or whatever it is with everyone. And if anyone ask me ' Have you started making any cookies?' I can give them a brilliant smile and invite them to come and taste my cookies of course after breaking fast. As they say better late than never.

Ramadan Feast in my home

These are some of the dishes I prepared at home in this holy month of Ramadan. As a start I"ve decided to reduce the variety of dishes on each day so that there is no wastage. Once again I would like to remind myself and all brothers and sisters out there to increase our 'ibadah i.e read the Quran and do other little things like sadaqa, help the needy, istigfar, zikir and much much more. May Allah swt grant us an easy and rewarding Ramadan.

A day out of Focus!!

Today the water from the main pipe into my house will be turned off. Why? Because the plumber still could not find where the leak is coming from. So to make sure, he said, that it is from my house we have to turn off the water. Otherwise it could be from my neighbour’s house. So last night we bought 4 extra pails and a 30 gallon drum to fill water. One day with no water itself is terrible, imagine 3 days without water! Sigh!! Anyway exactly at 9.15 am today I turned off the water. Hmmm… that was easy, I thought. By 10:15am, there was no problems. I could catch up on chores that I have put off. I could call my sister and hang on the phone for awhile. And I could even give Sofi some mathematics to work on. At 12 noon, I walked over to the restaurant opposite my house to get Sofi lunch before sending her off to school. This is very easy... Now where shall I and Shak my eldest can have lunch. I took the car out and drove straight to a Mamak restaurant. We both ordered fried Beehoon ( no need to count calories today…heeheeeheee) and iced tea. I was still in the mood of self indulgence when suddenly there was a loud angry voice near me. A man was shouting and scolding the waiter for leaning against the table. How absurd, I hope he does not sit near us, I said to Shak. I think I spoke too soon. The man sat directly next to my table. Then turned his chair and faced exactly to me. I don’t know why but many times in my life even as a teenager I have come across this kind of people. I call them Mentally Out Of Focus (MOF). And I have told all my kids how I have been chased by one MOF when I was 15 years old. I ran for my life carrying my heavy school bag. Thank God I was near my father’s shop. I ran straight inside and hid from this MOF. Even today I still shudder when I think about it. Back to now, this MOF person was trying very hard to get my attention, that’s what they usually do. I on the other hand tried to signal to Shak to ignore him and to my dismay Shak was laughing or maybe controlling her laughter with a look saying she knows this is one of the MOF’s I usually talk about. I bend down low trying to ignore him. The MOF person trying his best to irritate me crossed his leg, then switched then crossed. Then to my horror he took out a lighter and started to burn the bottom of his trousers. By then I was shivering from the inside but sweating profusely from the outside. My day which started in a slow pace turned upside down. I was literally stuffing the Beehoon into my mouth. The Fried Mee that I ordered for my son MS soon came. Trying my best to sound calm, I asked Shak what the time was. Suddenly I heard the MOF person calling out….!! “ Sister..,sister…SISTER…..!!!!! What is the time ahh??
I shot out of my chair and literally ran to the cashier with Shak following me behind. I lingered and pretended to look for my wallet at the cashier. From the corner of my eyes I can still see the MOF person staring at me. Now I looked at my food bill as though it was the most important piece of paper in my life. To my relieve the MOF person got up and left the restaurant.. Sigh..!! I went straight into my car and drove back home. What a day I thought . And I still have another two days with no water. Maybe I’ll have Maggi tomorrow…....at home !!

WHAT A MORNING!!!

Everything that can go wrong went wrong this morning. I got up later than usual because firstly the plumber who came yesterday had stopped the water into the tank, thus I can't wash clothes today. Next, since every thursdays I cook something light, I did not have to rush to prepare lunch for my afternoon school kid. But this had proved to be the cause of my disastrous morning. I went to the kitchen to put water to boil and guess what? The gas had finished.So I put some water to boil in the thermopot. Then I put the leftover chicken curry into the microwave. My eldest came down to help out which again proved wrong. She dropped the whole bowl of hot chicken curry onto the table, under the table and around the table!!!Luckily no one was hurt. Now there was a big task to clean up the mess. The gas man still did not come. I said out aloud when my youngest thinking she would be of help if she asked for a simple breakfast caused another disaster. Bread and nutella! Hmm.... that sounds simple, right? WRONG !! The nutella was hard and frozen. So I put the bottle into the microwave. SPARKS!! FIRE!! I screamed, my daughters screamed, and finally I turned off the switch. Phew ! What a way to start your day and the gas man still did not come. Fried beehoon would be a simple lunch. Since there was no gas and it was gettting pretty late, I soaked the bihun in hot water. The beehoon become too soft to fry. And then finally I heard the hon. It was the gas man. He is finally here! So what the heck, I thought. I still have the rest of the day. I can now choose to cook fried beehoon, beehoon biryani or even beehoon soup. Because i can use my stove again:)These incident reminded me of a saying " BE OPTIMISTIC , EVEN IF YOU ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM."

Domestic duties

Lately I have this passion for baking and cooking new recipes. I thought, hey how long can you look at pictures in cookbook without actually cooking them. On top of that, my son Salman, very timely gave me Nigella Lawson's cookbook titled Nigella Express for my birthday.
I honestly can say that I actually tried and succeeded in making 3 recipes from the book. One was pancake. Okey don't laugh. It is a different type of pancake. Maybe a little exotic I would say. Next was the Cupcakes. Yehhh. Cupcakes are always a winner. True enough it became a big hit in my house. With all those buttercream decos, my sweet tooth daughters naturally made a beeline to gobble them down. My third adventure was Chocolate Mint Cookies. It was a let down though because the cookies did not turn up quite well. But anyway my 'ever loyal and devoted fan of my cooking'daughter Sofi loved it. So what the heck, as long as I had loyal fans and admirers of my so and so cooking, I will continue to perform my domestic duties. Though I must admit that sometimes the food may not look as good as it taste... ADIOS!!

Eid Open House

This year my hubby and I decided to celebrate Eid in my hometown first before proceeding to visit his family. Thus we all went to our neighbourhood 'Surau' to perform Eid prayers. Here I took the opportunity to wish happy Eid to my neighbours who have all gathered to pray. After prayers we went back home and had breakfast together. I had prepared My all time favourite chicken curry, samosas, 'roti jala', and had ordered some spring hoppers (putu mayom ) and lemang. I also made my special coffee. It usually is a grand breakfast on the moring of Eid,

After breakfast, we took some family photos and proceeded to the graveyards of family members to offer prayers and flowers for the departed souls. In Malaysia, it is customary to greet people with “Selamat Hari Raya” which means “Happy Eid “. Muslims also greet each other with “maaf zahir dan batin” which means “forgive my physical and emotional wrong doings”. Eid al- Fitr is not only a time of celebration but also a time to cleanse their sins and strengthen their ties with family and friends.

In Malaysia we celebrate Eid al- Fitr in a unique way due to our vast cultural diversity. The celebration of Eid al- Fitr spans over 3 days sometimes to a week with much joy and festivity in the air. We have the unique “Open House” theme where everyone from the layman to the Prime Minister play hosts to their visitors. ‘Open House” means Muslims will open the doors of their homes to welcome friends, visitors and well wishers irrespective of race, religion, culture or position. It is the time when Malaysians of all race and religion join in the festivity and celebrate together with their Muslim friends. The “open house” concept is unique to Malaysia and I don’t think any other nation in this world has this concept. This open house concept is also practiced during other major festivals like Chinese New Year, Diwali, and Christmas.

As any festivals in Malaysia, there is food galore. Traditional delicacies like ketupat (rice wrapped in coconut leaves and steamed), lemang (glutinous rice baked in bamboo stems), rendang (dry spicy beef/chicken curry), satay (grilled chicken/meat ), peanut sauce, roti jala and chicken curry are served to the ever thronging guests. There will also be an array of kuih raya ( festive cookies), mouth watering desserts and drinks. Large scale open houses are held by politicians in venues announced via the mass media. This is the time when tourists from various countries are given a warm welcome and shown the Malaysian hospitality.

When the Prophet Muhammad arrived in the city of Medina, he found that the people of that city celebrated many festivals. He abolished these pagan observances and told the Muslims that God has prescribed only two festivals for them - the two Eids. The Eids are days of thanksgiving and rejoicing for every Muslim, as well as for the community of Muslims as a whole. Eid-alFitr celebrates the completion of a month of fasting and Eid-al-Adha the completion of hajj, both fasting and pilgrimage being acts of worship undertaken for the sake of God alone.

While the Eids are occasions for joy and happiness, they are certainly not occasions for frivolity, over-eating or the pursuit of pleasure. The joy which we feel on Eid is the spiritual joy of fulfillment - fulfillment of God's command of discipline, piety and collective worship. Each of the Eid days begins with prayer (salat) and is spent in alms-giving, visiting friends and relatives, and exchanging greetings and gifts. The spirit of Eid is the spirit of peace and forgiveness, for at these times one should forget all grudges and ill-feeling toward one's fellow men if he has not already done so. On Eid one makes a fresh start in his relations with others in a brotherly spirit.


We had an 'open house' - a Malaysian tradition, on the 13th Saturday. We planned to have it from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm but somehow it got extended by a around 2 hours as some of our friends were only able to visit later. It was definetly a very happy but tiring day for me. Some of my family members only come out after sun down. Thus the open house got extended to almost 11 pm. All in all it was a very fulfilling day. Now I have to store all the balance food and pack our stuffs to go to Ak's hometown.