Muffin Tarts?

Making the pastry

Making the "pau"Pita bread halves

Tart shells

Stuffed Pita Bread

Steamed "pau"

Muffin tarts

Garlic bread

Almond Oat Bread loaves

Participants were enjoying garlic bread slices

Products we took home. Yummy...

Last week I received an sms from Izad informing me about the cooking lesson for last weekend. I have joined the lessons at his "cooking academy" twice : how to bake/decorate cup cakes and how to cook spaghetti bolognaise. As usual the fee was just RM35 for 4 recipes (except for cup cake decoration, the fee was RM75). This time around the recipes were "pau pandan", muffin tart, pita bread, and almond oat bread. I have heard of tarts, and I have also heard of muffins, but muffin tart? I was curious so I contacted Izad and told him I wanted to participate. Each participant was able to take home 3 "paus", 3 muffin tarts, 4 or 5 small slices of almond oat bread, and 2 halves of pita bread stuffed with a wonderful filling made of chicken nuggets, tomatoes, latus, chilli sauce, and mayonaise. For those who are interested in joining the future lessons please contact Izad at 013 938 8797. Above are pictures of the participants and our cooking products from yesterday.

Keinsafan

Saya baru sahaja habis membaca buku berjudul Travelog Dakwah yang ditulis oleh Prof. Mohd Kamil Ibrahim, Pengarah UiTM Johor di Segamat. Saya beli buku tersebut semasa berbengkel ISO di Kuala Lumpur pada minggu lepas. Itu pun secara kebetulan. Sepatutnya kami telah beredar ke Kuantan sebaik sahaja bengkel tersebut selesai pada jam 1 tgh di Hotel Seri Cempaka Cheras. Disebabkan kami terpaksa menunggu seorang rakan sekerja yang menghadiri mesyuarat hingga pukul 5 petang, kawan-kawan pun menyarankan kami jalan-jalan cari makan di Tesco. Dalam kesempatan tersebut saya menjengah di kedai buku Popular dan "terjumpa" serta "terbeli" 2 buah buku :) Salah satunya adalah buku Travelog Dakwah.

Isi kandungan buku tersebut memang sungguh terkesan di hati kerana saya pun lebih kurang sama dengan penulis dari segi kejahilan ilmu akhirat. Ilmu duniawi, no problem. Maklumlah, belajar sampai ke menara gading, di negara omputih pulak tu. Sekiranya buku tersebut ditulis oleh seorang ustaz untuk mengajak ke arah kebaikan, saya kira ajakan tersebut tidak begitu memberi kesan yang mendalam bagi diri saya kerana kita sedia maklum seorang ustaz memang baik dan tugasnya mengajak kepada kebaikan. Tetapi apabila seseorang yang jahil, dan menemui "jalan pulang", ajakannya lebih mengujakan saya.

Bila saya amat-amati segala yang diamalkan oleh beliau setelah diberi peluang untuk menjadi seorang "born again Muslim" memang tidak terikut oleh saya yang daif ini. Terjaga malam memang kerap, boleh dikatakan saban malam, tetapi hanya sekadar untuk melawat bilik air. Setelah selesai hajat, maka tidur semula adalah lebih menyeronokkan dari beribadah. Tetapi, seperti Muslim yang lain saya juga bercita-cita tinggi menggunung untuk masuk syurga tingkat teratas! Memang tidak logik. Walau bagaimanapun, Allah maha berkuasa.

2012

Danial said there was nothing to do at school after the PMR exam was over so he wanted to do something different with his buddies. They planned to watch the new movie "2012" on the first day it was released in Kuantan (I forgot what date it was!). The show started at 12 noon and ended around 3pm. I wish the movie started at 11am so it would end an hour earlier. At first I was quite reluctant to let him go because it hurt my eyes whenever I see a bunch of teenagers walking aimlessly at the mall. On a second thought, I should let him go out with his friends once in a while. So far he has been a responsible teenage son. Knowing how rebellious a teenager can be, I better not be too strict with him. In the evening, when I asked him how the movie was he said "ok, but a lot of bad words".

This morning Danial just left for Hulu Langat to participate in a school holiday camp which was organized by JIM for 3 days. The trip was almost cancelled because the organizer couldn't find any adult to accompany the participants. I am glad they found a UMP student who is on a semester break to be the chaperon. Our whole family got up at 4.30am so we could send Danial to the chaperon's house by 5.00am. We thought we were late but when we arrived, 2 more participants had not arrived yet. I hope they have a safe trip there and back (this Wednesday).

Trip to Petrosains

Yasmin and Harris went on a trip to "Petrosains" in KL on Saturday 7 November. That was the weekend after they finished their final exams. I wonder why Danial didn't go. Anyway, they left the school around 6:15am so our whole family had to get at 5am to get ready and send them to school. I realized that most of our time is used to ferry our kids around or to care for all their needs. It makes me understand more of what my parents have gone through. Understanding comes with appreciation...

Harris and friends

Lining up to get on the bus

Parents sending off their loved ones

Yaumul Ihtifal

Our family was really busy last weekend because we had 2 "yaumul ihtifal" ceremonies (award giving ceremony) - one was for Najla's kindergarden and the other was for Harris' and Hannah's school. Najla's was on Saturday morning (21 Nov 09) and Harris' and Hannah's was on Sunday morning. It was raining hard on both days and we were soaking wet when we arrived at both places. Najla participated in 2 performances. She was dressed like a tree in the first one, and singing a "nasyid" song with a group in the second performance.Since she is not 6 years old yet, she will continue studying at the same kindergarden next year. I know she is very disappointed because she really wants to go to her brothers' and sisters' school as a first grader (standard one). We had trouble persuading her not to enrol because the school gives priority to those who are 7 years old.

On Sunday, Hannah received an award for one of the most promising students (whatever that means) and Harris got an award for getting the 3rd place in his class. Harris performed in a sketch and sang a "nasyid" song with his friends. Alhamdulillah, he will be promoted to the "best" class next year. I hope he will do well and get all A's in his UPSR. Hannah on the other hand, will go to "second" class. Well, it doesn't make that much difference because Hannah did well in most of her subjects by getting high A's. But, so many other students did better than her. Since the ceremony was for the elementary school children, Yasmin and Danial decided not to go. They both stayed home and did what they do best - playing with the computer!

Brave

Najla is definitely the bravest of all my kids when it comes to seeing dentists. End of last month, when Steve was attending a conference in Manila, I took Najla to Dr Nazri's clinic. She had been complaining that her bottom front tooth was aching. It was close to Maghrib but the doctor who was supposed to replace Dr Nazri was nowhere to be seen. I asked Najla to go home and come back on a later date. She refused so we waited for another 20 minutes when the doctor finally showed up. As soon as her name was called, she walked into the room and sat on the chair calmly. She didn't make any fuss at all when the doctor injected her gum and then pulled her tooth! Later the doctor suggested that she pull the one next to it also because it was beginning to loosen and Najla said ok. Wow! What a brave girl! I still remember when Danial was about that age, he screamed, wiggled, kicked, and made all kind of other fuss that taking him out of the doctor's office was the best option. Maybe Najla would like to be a dentist someday...