Life by the beach

"Fish!!!"
That was her first word when she saw the river (left) and and the breaking waves (to her right). Me, Sarah, Iqah and Nissa went out for a short drive to our lovely beach today. It was quite warm and windy that afternoon. We spotted a long bench by a pine tree and settled ourselves. Iqah was excited and started pointing everywhere. Her chattering rode on the winds and reached a young couple who was snuggling comfortably on a washed up log. Somehow feeling interrupted, they stood up and started to walk away. Some boys were swimming in the sea oblivious of the raging waves.

It has been quite a while since I came here but the beach looked cleaner today. Nissa sat on my lap, her curls moving in rhythm with the breeze. She was happily accessing the situation. After a few minutes of pacing aimlessly, Iqah chose a shady spot and started singing her favourite song "Topi Saya Bundar" (Translated as My Hat is Round).

Well, I have memorized the song because she has been singing it for quite a while whenever she gets the chance. The song also got played in my head like a broken record. Because of the repeated words, I kept replacing the words and sang along. Before you even ask, here is the song lyrics,

Topi saya bundar,
Bundar topi saya,
Kalau tidak bundar,
Bukan topi saya.

Yep, only four lines... I dont know how many times you have to repeat this... Aiman gets to sing this song with his friends on stage at a school Raya celebration.

My versions,

Baju saya biru,
Biru baju saya,
Kalau tidak biru,
Bukan baju saya.

Rambut saya panjang,
panjang rambut saya,
Kalau tidak panjang,
Bukan rambut saya.

and so on...

Have fun singing ;)

It has been a week since I last typed for this blog. It has been more than two weeks since I started to assume my post as a housewife (without the 'wife' part, the man that I wanted to marry, sat on his 'high and mighty throne' and decided that I am not good enough to be his wife, so here I am, husband-less ;)- heh rephrase that, I am more or less, a cook; a chef (without the white uniform and hat).

I am beginning to enjoy this stay-at-home-to-care-for-the-household role. There seemed to be less stress on the mind but it is the physical exertion that pulled me a few recipe back. I said this before, I am not kidding... it really is tiring and all the time I was thinking about our mom that woke up early morning just to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner without fail. Yes, we do have maids but our mom preferred to prepare the food herself. Sometimes even when she was not feeling well, she would still come up with food for us on the table. Forget about other responsibilities, cooking for the family... something that we sometimes took for granted... How much have we been appreciating these?

So, my days were filled with other responsibilities as well... and my free time? guess again. I halted on the food business and decided to try my hand at sewing. So I went off to get more thread for my mom's sewing machine. When I tried changing the bobbin (a new term I discovered after searching the Internet to find out how to put the parts to get it to work) I fumbled and was as frustrated again (This was not my first time, I did this with my sis sometimes ago and we really got difficulty getting it in place). And no, I did not get it to work properly. The needle snapped.... again!!! Hey, I am not the person that gave up easily (huh? say what?) but at that moment, I packed everything and stared at the machine, my hands still holding the nightdress that I decided to patch (my favorite deep purple-maroon dress is still in its sorry state). On the bright side, I still wear that dress every time when its not part of the laundry. So that happened to be a one day 'misadventure'.

I tried my hands at making bao (pau). The first time I found the recipe at My Resipi.com. I replaced the vegetable fat with margarine and got an edible yellowish looking bao. For the second time I finally bought the vegetable fat and got a near perfect bao (but I forgot to add the baking powder)... also edible. And just yesterday, I got every single ingredients in... and used 2 kilo of flour. The mixer was halfway to the brim that I got difficulty operating it. It was a challenge to get the ingredients to form a smooth dough... but I finally prepared about 60 pieces of soft bao which I sent to the Surau after Maghrib prayer.

Oh well, I do not want to bore you with all of my exciting kitchen adventure... so I might refrain from updating you with posts that involve any vocabulary directly related to the steam, cook or bake academy!

Just earlier this week, I wrote about my venture into the business realm. Not that I have never done it before. I was a cashier/shopkeeper/coconut grater operator while I was in my teenage years, working off my free time, after school. But this time, I went through the whole process of starting a small food business; raw materials, energy and most important, some money to start with.

My first $7.20 was followed by another $8.00 (I sold 10 packets out of 20). It seemed that I sold 50% of my products on both occasions. I did not consider strategic locations, as I was told although my time improved from 9.30 a.m. to 7.00 a.m. which basically was not early enough if you want to catch customers on their way to work. In Islam, we were advised to start early morning... you shouldn't sleep after Subuh prayer because morning is the time Allah distributed Rizqi. Rizqi would come in many forms; health, knowledge, wealth etc. This is the time when we hope for mercy from Allah, pray that Allah will always provide us with unending flow of sustenance. Allah, Most Gracious and Most Merciful.

On the first business day, I went to bed quite late. I was watching a Japanese drama series! A set of VCD that Sarah (my niece who was staying with us for the PMB holidays) brought with her, along with what looked like a travel luggage of a person planning to spend months abroad! I have never watched a Japanese drama before. The drama is crazy, funny and very touching. Although the translations were quite jerky; words were not properly organized (mind you, this is an original VCD), the messages were quite vivid. Even though none of the characters were crying, their words were so touching that I either ended up crying or misty eyed. I remembered meeting three individuals in Osaka a few years back; a University professor, a businessman and a software engineer. I actually observed how they work. They are a hard working group with fresh, creative and sometimes unusual ideas. But I am not here to talk about them. The VCDs cost me my morning... I woke up quite late. My cousin and brother unfortunately discovered nothing served on the kitchen table!

I am probably not continuing my business (after two days' experience) because I simply do not have the motivation and drive. I am not saying that its not good business, if one persevere, it can actually be a successful venture. I remembered reading a paper about a guy who complained that he is jobless while having to care for a family and pay house rent. Reporting that he could not get any job because he lack the skills. That was actually pathetic. If he just look beyond himself and go out of his comfort zone... he can go into the forest and gather banana leaves and sell it in the market. Even 'daun irik' (Phacelophrynium maximum) is marketable. You know, the leaves that people use to make 'kelupis' (rice half-cooked in coconut milk, wrapped with the leave before steaming). You don't just sit around and wait for a rescue team.

I also wanted to tell you about my nephew's fever yesterday. He woke up from sleep and was crying furiously. His temperature went up and he was drenched in sweat. I was at a lost. I am not trained to handle this kind of situation... His parents were not back from work yet. I tried calling but I couldn't get through. I panicked because I had no one to turn to. I also got their maid to panic with me. Then I realized that I am not alone... the Best of Helpers is there all along. I recite surah Al-Fatihah over and over again. I tried to recall Selawat Syifaa... but in panic mode, I just couldn't get the words correctly and in the end I recite Al-Fatihah over and over. He was in my arms, sweating profusely... until finally he stopped crying and calmed down.

I am sitting at the edge of the bed. Clean from any makeups; blushers, lipsticks, eye shadows (not that I put on makeups 98% of the time that I am awake!), fresh and ready to tackle the day... sign of a good night's sleep. Not hurrying to get out of bed yet, I was lazily flipping through a magazine. My mobile phone vibrated and I quickly pushed it aside, uninterested and not bothered by the 'missed' calls. I am on-leave, so naturally, I should not be working or even think about work. Just relaxing and doing nothing...

Doing nothing of the above!

Tuesday, 10th
Today is Day 7. I have been busy. This week has been a sort of an adjustment period for me. Taking over my parent's job is definitely not an easy task. Things that we took for granted or systems that seemed to be running on auto mode do not usually work well when it came under our care. At one stage, I was a plumber and an electrician, besides being the full-time cook and the accountant.

Yesterday, I decided to fill my time and money wisely (not that I have a lot of free time or money). I got our maid to help me cook beef, rice and some long beans early in the morning. I want to sell 'nasi bungkus'. We left it at a small kampong shop; every $1.00 per 'nasi bungkus', 20 cents will be cut off. I also sold my pizza slices. I did not prepare a lot because I reserved half of the food for lunch ;).

So yesterday, I earned my first $7.20 form selling 7 packets (out of 14) of rice and 2 slices of pizza. Not bad for a start. Considering that I finished everything and sent it to the shop at around 9.30 am (customers usually stopped by early in the morning). I was tired after all the activities and decided to take a rest today. Wow, imagine waking up at three every morning of every day (I started only after subuh prayer) just to get everything prepared by 6 in the morning. Imagine having to take back all the leftovers. The uncertainties... hmm... I am doing it again tomorrow. This time, I have better strategies.

Just being a housewife... is a lot of work. I am not kidding. It is tiring working in the office and equally tiring to manage a household. All this reminded me of how Sayyida Fatima Al-Zahra, who was a dedicated housewife asked for a servant from Rasullullah (s.a.w.) who instead taught her something better, i.e. reciting the Tasbih everytime before going to sleep.