Sabar lah sayang

Hari ni Neeza tak sihat. Shahmey pun tak sihat. Shahmey selsema dan batuk. Neeza selsema, sakita tekak dan pening kepala. Rasa macam nak demam pun ada. Kalau orang tua sakit, kenapa teruk sikit? Mungkin sebab immune system tak sebaik budak kecik. Sejak semalam lagi Neeza dah kena nose block dan sakit tekak. Bangun pagi tekak kering sangat. Sabar ajelah nak nak di bulan puasa ni. Mana boleh nak minum air kalau sakit tekak tu. Kena banyak sabar. Dugaan di bulan puasa kot. Shahmey takpelah, dia tak puasa hehee..


Semalam, buat pertama kali dalam hidup, Coan berpuasa. Dia tak cakap pun yang dia nak puasa. Dia ada lah mention masa bersahur dengan kami pagi semalam. Neeza masak nasi goreng masa sahur sebab masa berbuka malam sebelum tu kami berbuka di luar. Jadi, no food - kenalah masak masa sahur. Dia mintak Neeza suapkan nasi goreng (memang dia ni manja banyak). Dia ada kata, dia nak puasa. Dah banyak kali dia sebut nak puasa tapi tak puasa pun. Semalam dia puasa! Alhamdulillah...


Dari dalam bilik, Neeza terdengar Coan mintak Sophea bukakan penutup bekas Nestum. Dia nak buat Nestum. Dia siap cakap kat kakak dia,

"Oan nak bagi Shahmey ni. Oan puasa.."

Terkejut gak si kakak tu hehee.. Tapi yang bestnya, masa dia nak suap kat mulut Shahmey, dia boleh rasa dulu sebab nak tau manis ke tak. Lepas tu dia pergi kat Neeza dan bagi tahu..

"Ummi, sorry ya.. Oan termakan sikit. Oan nak rasa manis ke tak."

Neeza pun kata, takpelah dan dia teruskan puasa. Neeza tak tahulah dia sengaja ke tidak bila dia rasa nestum tu hehee.. Tapi, hari ni memang dia tak nak puasa (katanya lah). Walaupun dia join sama sahur, dia dah mention awal-awal, dia nak makan tapi tak nak puasa.


Kejap tadi, Shahmey batuk lagi. Dengar macam ada banyak phlegm. Malam ni rasanya nak bawak lah dia jumpa doctor. Dengar kata, klinik/hospital buka sampai pukul 2 pagi bulan puasa ni. Mungkin sebab dia start pun lewat. We'll see..


Kisah berbuka semalam pulak. Buat pertama kali dalam hidup Neeza pulak, Neeza buat kuih gulung a.k.a kuih ketayap. Siap buka resepi di internet tuuu.. Lap top letak kat dapur sambil nak buat. Bila Kakak tengok gambar kuih gulung tu kat screen, dia siap cakap,

"Ummi buatlah kuih ni ya. Kakak suka sangat kuih ni.."

Heheee.. ye la tu.. Tapi memang dia suka pun kuih gulung ni. Dulu, masa-masa dia puasa kat Malaysia, kalau dia nampak kuih ni kat pasar ramadhan, mesti nak beli.



Maka terjadilah kuih gulung semalam. Pada mulanya, bancuhan tu agak pekat. Ehemmm.. Neeza memang ada pengkritik tetap dalam rumah ni. Jadi pengkritik tetap tu lah yang menambah air dan bancuh semula. Barulah nampak senonoh sikit. Kuih yang tak senonoh, makan jugak. Kuih yang senonoh, barulah boleh ambik gambar hehehh..




Gambar di atas adalah juadah berbuka semalam. Disebabkan model tu puasa, dia diberi keutamaan untuk masuk gambar ;). Makanan lain yang Neeza masak ialah Gulai Lemak Cili Api Ikan Gelama, Ikan bilis goreng berlada campur kacang tanah dan kentang serta Sayur bayam masak rebus hehee.. Kat dalam gambar ada apam apa entah - yang tu dibeli. Ingatkan manis or at least masin. Tapi, rasanya masam! Macam tosai lah kot tapi tebal dan takde pencecah apa-apa pun. Jawabnya, buang saja sebab takde sape nak makan. Sayangnya kan...

Hati berbunga riang :)

Happy, gembira, suka, riang dan yang penting sekali syukur kepadaNya. Walaupun connection internet macam $^&@*% je petang semalam (malam di M'sia), lewat malam semalam dah okay. Jadi, dapatlah baca berita detail di blog-blog pilihan dan juga M@laysiakini.


Tak payah cerita pun ramai yang tahu apa yang jadi semalam kan :). Tak kisahlah apa orang nak kata. Bagi Neeza, kezaliman terhadap rakyat telah disedari rakyat sendiri. Yang kaya, bersuka ria. Yang miskin pulak hidup merempat, tiada pembelaan. Tapi, masih ramai lagi yang belum celik mata. Ataupun, mungkin juga kerana terpaksa lantas pihak 1 lagi masih mendapat undi.. 15,000 lebih tu kira banyak juga kan ;). Tak payah cerita lah yang 92 tu sebab kita boleh kata lah sebab itu mungkin mereka dan keluarga mereka yang memilih. Tapi, majoriti 17,000 tu memang membungakan hati :) :) Alhamdulillah...

Pagi ini juga, Neeza dapat bunga dari kawan cyber baru yang sentiasa ceria. Akak hantar bunga ni pagi tadi hehehe.. mestilah bunga gambar. Takkanlah nak hantar bunga hidup. Sampai sini aje dah layu gemalai heheheh... Terima kasih Akak. Bunga ni khas untuk kawan-kawan baru mengikut label pada bunga tu laaa..


Kategori kawan baru bagi Neeza pula ialah kawan yang baru menjejakkan mata (dalam 2-3 bulan sebelum ni la kot) membaca bebelan Neeza ni blog yang serba sederhana ini. Dengan itu, Neeza juga nak kirimkan bunga cantik ni untuk kawan-kawan baru Neeza juga :). Terima lah pemberian cyber yang tak seberapa ni ya kepada kawan-kawan di bawah:

1. Akak
   
   
2. Abahnajwa (Nazali)
   
   
3. Abang Long
   
   
4. Adry
   
   
5. Cikgu Banihassim
   
   
6. Eira
   
   
7. Kak elle
   
   
8. Kak Tie
   
   
9. Kak Zany
   
   
10. Tiny (kaktiny)
    
    
11. KM
    
    
12. Luna (kakluna)
    
    
    

Kalau dah pernah terima bunga ni, simpan aje bunga Neeza bagi ni dalam ingatan ye :).

My 2nd attempt ;)

I love cheesecake and I could eat a few slices at once! Despite several times asking for the recipe from Kak Mahani, I never baked any cheesecake when I was in M@laysia.


I don't know why but it seems that I've been craving for cheesecake lately. Last week, I was determined to bake one. I searched for a recipe in the web and managed to get one that fit with all ingredients that I've bought. I was happily and confidently baked the cake. But, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to be!! Huhuhuuu.... (too much confident perhaps). The feature looks bad and the taste was almost awful... *sigh*

I ate another scrumptious cheesecake last Thursday (thanks to As who paid for the cake). I still wanna eat more of it hehehee...

Yesterday, I made a 2nd attempt. I asked for a recipe from Kak Mahani, again (I think she's been telling me for more than 10 times heheheee). It was a really simple recipe.

Yesterday, I made a 2nd attempt with the simple recipe. I alter the recipe a bit though. Alhamdulillah, it turn out better. I shall rate it as 7/10! hehehee.. (tak lah sedap sangat pun..)


Cheescake recipe

Base
2 cups of cookie crumbs (I used tea biscuits)
5 tblspn butter


Cake
400g Philly cream cheese
5 eggs
1 can plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence
1 tspn lemon rinds
3-4 slices of peach


Topping
1 can of liquid whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence



To prepare the base:
Mixed them together. Spread it at the bottom of a baking pan. Press it till compact and bake for 10 minutes to ensure the crumbs stick together.


The cake:
While baking the base, beat egss and sugar together. Mix cream cheese, yogurt, lemon rinds and vanilla essence. Add in chopped peach slices. Pour the batter into the prebaked base. Steam baked the cake at 175 C for about an hour or slightly golden in color.


The topping:
Whip together whipping cream, sugar and vanilla essence till soft peak. Spread the cream all over the cake. Decorate the peach slices on top.

Note: steam baked means putting the pan with batter inside another bigger pan filled with water. It is steaming while baking, to prevent burning too soon, cracking and drying.

Dag Dig Dug...

Today is 6th March 2008 and another 2 days (8th March 2008) will be the 12th Election Day for my beloved home country, Malaysia. I have nothing much to say about it (so much have been said in my friends' blogs, anyway) because I'm not good in elaborating political issues. Added to that, I don't get a chance to go back and vote due to a few inevitable constraints.


Of course, everyone's heart must have been beating so hard when the 'judgment day' is getting closer. I know I should not say judgment day because if it's really a judgment day, there shouldn't be any campaign whatsoever. Okay, I won't continue about this.


What I want to write today is about heart beat. Hehehee... of course not in a medical way. It is normal for our heart to beat (only the dead has no heart beat! - though some of them are forced to wake up from the grave and cast their vote kwang! kwang! kwang! Heheheee..).


My heart beat too, really fast especially when I'm expecting something or waiting for a result. I remember when I was in standard 5, I had to take a Standard Examination for Standard 5 that called Penilaian Darjah 5. Now, they call it UPSR and the students have to sit for it when they are in standard 6 instead of standard 5.


It was in 1985 (I forgot the exact date and month) that the school (my school then was Sultan Ismail School in Kemaman) announced the result (Actually that was the 2nd year I was in that school. I was in 2 other schools before for standard 1 till part of standard 4). All of us (who took the exam) didn't know that they wanted to announce about it that day.


I had my dancing practice for a Gift Presentation Ceremony a few days after that with other dancers (huhuuu!!! it was just a Tarian Zapin) in 1 of the classrooms. Then, our trainer (1 of the staff in the school) told us,

"Cikgu suruh semua pergi kantin. Dia nak bagi tahu keputusan Penilaian!"

Danggg!!! I felt a huge punch on my chest. My heart beat so fast. Dag dig dug! Dag dig dug! I laid my hand on the chest but it kept beating faster and faster. I said to myself, 'what's the result? Do I pass? Do I get 5A's? What if I don't get 5A's? What would ayah say? Ayah has sent me to after class tuition that he paid for it. Ayah has bought many revision books. Oh God, please help me. Let me pass with flying colors..'. By the way, I spoke to myself in bahasa melayu and not english hehehe...


I looked at my friends. They were not eager to go to the canteen. Perhaps, they didn't really care. I went to the canteen and sit on 1 of the chairs there, waiting for the announcement. Many of other friends were there too, talking like they were in pasar ikan. It was noisy, couldn't hear a thing but the buzzing of human mouth.


I looked around and thought, 'where's the teacher? who's supposed to announce the result? Is there really a result or its just a gimmick from irresponsible person?' It was quite a while (about 15 minutes) that we waited there patiently (not really I guess).


A teacher (I don't recall, was it a teacher or the Vice Principal), went to the front with a long list. A messy one. The pages were here and there. He had to rearrange the pages before he could say anything to us. Then he said,

"Saya akan bagi tahu nama murid murid yang dapat 5A dulu ya. Dengar betul-betul"

My heart beat really fast. All pictures came to my mind. My father, my mother, my beloved grandma (Mok), my full of hope teachers and the result itself. I kept imagining how's my certificate looked like. Scary!! Then, the teacher announced names one by one. It was neither according to alphabet nor Birth certificate hehehee.. So, we had to listen carefully. During that time, everyone was so quiet, eager to know his/her result.


As the list went on, my heart reduced its beat. My name was not announced. I was a bit frustrated. I must have got 4A's or below. I just waste my time waiting so long in here, I thought. Then, I listened,

"....Nor Raneeza Ramli 5A!..."

What? Did I listen him correctly? I asked my friend who sit beside me.

"eh! betul ke saya dengar tadi?"

She verified and nodded.

"Best nya awok dapat 5A..."

I told her,

"tak tahu lagi betul ke tak. entah entah cikgu salah baca"

Hehheee... me in denial state! I was so happy actually. I couldn't wait to go back and tell Ma about it. Unfortunately, Mok (my grandma) was in Kelantan. I would definitely call her to inform, I thought.


After class that day, I went back home. I was thinking to surprise Ma,

"Ma, hari ni dapat keputusan Penilaian. Ma teka Ja dapat berapa.."

Then Ma said,

"5A ya?"

A bit frustrated when she said that. Perhaps she could guess by looking at my reaction. Well, who can lie to a mom right. Then I said,

"Haah ma... tadi cikgu bagi tahu kat sekolah"

Then Ma said,

"Betul ke? Meh Ma cium sikit"

Hehehee.. Ma kissed me on my cheek. I felt embarrass then coz' Ma rarely kissed me (I kiss my kids a lot though).


When Ayah came back home, I told Ayah about it. He was happy and asked me,

"Ja nak hadiah apa?"

My Ayah was always like that. He's the man of reinforcement. He always rewarded us (my siblings and I) whenever we did anything good. Compared to Ma, we prefer Ayah better partly for that reason hehehee... Ayah like to pamper instead of scold us. I know it was not good for us. Well, it compensated with what Ma did to us... fair and square!!


That evening, I called Mok to inform about the result. Surely, she was happy though she didn't really understand what 5A's means. She promised to make nasi kunyit for me.


For getting 5A's, the school gave each of us a seminar bag (standard 5 and seminar bag? mistakenly chosen gift I guess) and a trip to Penang. That was the first time I went to Penang. Also, the state itself (Terengganu) rewarded each of us RM150. I went to the ceremony that was held in Kuala Terengganu with Ayah (only myself and Ayah). On our way back, Ayah got summoned for speeding. Ayah didn't have enough cash at that moment. Previously, when we were summoned by the police, we had to pay there and then, unlike present. So, he borrowed my money (part of the RM150) to pay the summon. He refunded me a few days after that...

Fried Meehoon with eggs

I wanted to make fried meehoon (rice vermicelli) yesterday morning but got no meat or chicken in the fridge (yeeahhh... I hadn't done my groceries...). I thought of just putting grind anchovies but abang didn't quite agree with it. He suggested me to add eggs. What?? replacing meat with eggs?? oh well, I've seen fried meehoon with eggs before but I never did it. My husband taught me of how to do it, but of course I had to do it myself.


To be frank, I was lousy in cooking meehoon - it always turned really soggy due to too much water added and too much chopping of the noodles while cooking. To me, its really difficult to stir the noodles coz' they always clump together. So, my only solution was usually chopped them off really fine and put much much water... heheee

I believe it might be due to 'no sincerity' before. This is your excuse neeza. just admit you are not a good cook. When you do something because you have to do and not because you want to, the result is different. So, yesterday, alhamdulillah, it turned out okay. I guess it was my victory (hahahaaaaa!!!! baru berjaya goreng meehoon dah havoc...) Its okay. Perhaps a reward should be given to my success stories.

Let's look at the proof of the 'victory'.

Fried meehoon with eggs

I served the fried meehoon with Kopi 'O' cap H@ng Tu@h (American coffee makes my head goes #%$&@)

I'm gonna put the recipe here (its rather meant for me to view it later). But you're welcome to read and smile looking at a junior amateur (not even an amateur yet!) recording her success story :)

Ingredients:

1 small packet meehoon (rice vermicelli)

1-2 tblspn of ground dried chilies

1 onion (or 3-4 shallots) - crush

3 cloves garlic - crush

4-6 pieces of anchovies - grind (preferrably using a traditional mortar)

2 eggs

1-2 teaspn salt

1-2 teaspn sweet soy sauce

a small bowl of chopped cabbage

2 tblspn oil

1 cup water

string onion, cilantro and red pepper to garnish - chopped

Directions:

Soak the meehoon in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain well. Heat the oil over medium high to high heat. Stir fry the anchovies until fume and crispy look. Add the crushed onion and garlic. Stir fry until yellowish in color. Add the ground dried chillies. Stir fry until cooked well. Add salt. Add soy sauce. Pour in water. Add the meehoon. Add the chopped cabbage. Stir thoroughly. When the meehoon soften, break eggs and add them. Stir again until the egg well blend with the meehoon.

When its cooked, garnish with the chopped string onion, cilantro and red pepper. Its ready to be served to the hungry tummy!

Tips:

1. The anchovies is a replacement of MSG (anchovy is healthy, the latter not quite...)

2. I like my fried meehoon to be a bit hot, sweet and sour. So, I prepared the asam kicap (chop birds eye chili and put them in a bowl. Add sweet soy sauce and squeeze 1/4 of lemon)

Khalass....