Ketupat

"Ibu! Dah nak hari raya ke?", teriak Hafiz yang mengintai dari tingkap rumah.

He must have seen the daun kelapa that I carried, and co-related them with ketupat for hari raya. Good association. "Ha'ah!" Ibu jawab selamba. Ayah smiled, proud of Hafiz 'self discovery' progress.

The daun kelapa only cost us RM4.50 for 50pcs. Reasonable. But that was just the raw material. Total cost towards finished products was much higher :

Pre-production training & technical jargons clarification among siblings:
1. Daun ketupat
Hafiz : "Ni daun apa ibu?"
Abang Idin : "Let me guess, daun kobis?"
(KOBIS ??@%#!! I was speechless! )

2. Isi ketupat
Hafiz : "Boleh tak kita isi udang dalam ketupat?"
Abang Idin : "Kah!Kah!Kah! You no-brainer you!"
(Eleh...as if 'daun kobis' was such a brainy answer?)

3. And the answer is ....
Abang Idin : "You mean, coconut leaves?"
Hafiz: "Bukanlah, ibu kata daun KE-LA-PA!"
Ameer: "Bukanlah, ibu kata daun KE-PA-LA!"
(Alahai.... lebih baik ambik orang Myanmar jadi helpers)

Labour cost (unquantifiable):
1. Tukang anyam ketupat (Ibu)
2. Tukang lap daun dengan kain basah (Abang Idin)
3. Tukang menyepahkan lidi yang separated from daun (Hafiz)
4. Tukang bawak lari daun yang dah siap di lap (Ameer)

Entertainment cost (conducive work environment is vital...):
1. Disney, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon channels actual airtime (unfortunate for tukang anyam but essential for the other tukangs)
2. Tukang berdengkur kat sofa (Ayah). Hmm...penatnya drive ke pasar!
3. Tukang sorok Astro remote controller (Hafiz) so that Ibu couldn't switch channels

Subsistence provision:
1. Susu berulang kali(Ameer & Hafiz)
2. Chocolate ice cream (Abang Idin) as upah lap daun, but self service
3. Teh O (Ibu)- separuh mug ajer sebab Ameer dah langgar & tumpahkan

Factor in these productivity adverse disturbances:
1. Ibu turun naik tangga untuk buat susu Ameer & Hafiz berulang kali
2. Ameer acting as QC inspector, loosening a few ketupat yang dah siap on the pretense of "nak check ni siap ke tak?!"
3. Abang Idin & Hafiz squabbling over which channels to stay tune to
4. Ayah's snorring - definitely not music to my ears
5. Time out for
a. Ameer nak pegi toilet
b. Ibu nak pegi toilet
c. Ibu kena lap Teh O tumpah
d. Ibu kena kutip balik daun kelapa yang Ameer bawak lari

Safety precaution (read: ibu shouted):
" Lidi kelapa bukan Light Saber! Jgn buat pedang! Nanti tercucuk mata! "

Total production time :
5 hours for 50 pcs (EXCLUDING isi beras dalam ketupat - I can't finish this entry if I were to include that episode).

So, there you go my boys! The ketupat fear factor challenge that Ibu has learned to conquer. The adrenalin kick was unbelievable!

Nevertheless, it's all worth every effort, sweat & tears.


I know I'm not a good cook. In fact, I am a lousy cook! The rendang your Ibu can prepare is next to nothing compared to those served by other godly moms out there. But if there is one thing about hari raya that I hope you boys would remember is that this Ibu of yours would make sure, with God's willing, to serve all you 4 boys (including Ayah) fresh, home-made, original traditional style, personally weaved, ketupat daun kelapa - di pagi hari raya.

Satu pengorbanan jugak tu kiranya.

Selamat Hari Raya Qurban anak-anak ku...

Wassalam,
Ibu

Not So White Lie

"Did you brush your teeth before going to bed last nite?", ibu tanya Abang Idin.

"Yes", he answered crisply. Eyes still glued to NFS* Carbon game on the TV screen, cautiously monitoring his Porsche Cayman S (**) manouvering the sharp drift, both hands expertly handling the PS2 controller.

"Are you sure?", ibu repeated - because I was not so sure.

"Iyeeee......" he replied affirmatively, irritated by my line of questioning which was obviously interfering his concentration to maintain his lead over the other cars, Eclipse GT (**) and Mitsubishi Evo (**).

I walked over to the bathroom and VOILA!!! The toothbrush was still lying by the sink, complete with the toothpaste on it, untouched. Dah la 'pasta gigi' tu ibu yang picitkan malam semalam, tinggal gosok jer gigi tu. Itu pun malas. I picked up the toothbrush and stepped right infront of him, blocking his view of the game.

"Ni amende?", ibu tanya.

"Eh! eheh... eheheh...." he looked up. Sambil tersengih-sengih, exposing a line of not so white front teeth. A non verbal admission that he was indeed lying right through his not so white teeth.

Eyyyyy budak idin ni. Geramnya!! I'm still thinking of what kind of 'stick' he should deserve for lying early Sunday morning.

Maybe I should geletek him real good. Siap badan!

Wassalam,
Ibu

* NFS : Need For Speed

(**) all the names of the cars in the PS2 game were identified by Abang Idin himself as I was typing this entry.

Tengok Wayang - Cuba Teka Cerita Apa?

Lately ni banyak pulak blog entries pasal cerita2 kat wayang.

Ibu & ayah memang rajin gak tengok wayang but almost always with the boys. So obviously the movies that we watch are either cartoons, animation or G rated stories. Lagi satu condition, must be stress free stories. Ayah kata, kalau kena bayar sorang RM7-8 sorang lepas tu keluar panggung sebak2 dada nangis..... naahhh! buat bazir duit jer. Itu Ayah yang kata. Ibu pulak sebenarnya, believe it or not, tengok lah cerita sedih mana pun, tak nangis (except for 'Rain Man' featuring Dustin Hoffman).

Anyway, setelah sekian lama ibu tak tengok wayang cerita melayu, malam semalam ngorat ayah gi tengok satu cerita melayu. Masa balik rumah nenek last weekend, Ibu Noi kata, radio S'pore dok openly memperlekeh kan cerita yang satu ni. A lot of radio callers from seberang ridiculed "angan-angan" Msian film producer for such a story and anticipated it to be disappointing.

Weyy... cubit peha kiri, peha kanan sakit jugak. Jadi ibu bersemangatlah nak memartabatkan filem melayu yg satu ni. Tak sangka penuh la pulak panggung. Oleh sebab we all ni jenis "just in time" (semadang lambat....), so tak de chan la cekup good seats at good price. So kena beli couple seats, yg tak de discount for kids. Tak pe lah... sekali-sekala tengok cerita melayu.

It turned out that this movie was NOT BAD AT ALL!!! Abang Idin & Hafiz terkekeh-kekeh ketawa. Ameer was so engrossed with the characters; masa 'hero' kena pukul & jatuh, dia siap jerit, "ibu....tolong lah dia bangun! tolong lah ibu!". Kuat la jugak suara dia, agak2 separuh panggung boleh dengar. Famous sekejap ibu.

Dipendekkan cerita, seronoklah budak2 bertiga tu & ibu & ayah budak2 menonton cerita ni.

Dan bangun tidur hari ni, pagi-pagi lagi Ameer (while still in his pyjama) dah merangkak-rangkak atas lantai, siap dengan geleng-geleng kepala & jelir-jelir lidah, sambil mengeluarkan special sound effect yang dia baru belajar semalam:
CHKKK! CHKKK!! CHHKKK!! CHHKKK!! CHHKK!!!

Ha! Cerita apa la agaknya we all nonton semalam ek?

Cheers!
Ibu

Kasut Raya

Sepasang kasut anak lelaki boleh beli 2-3 pasang kasut ibu.

Untuk 3 orang anak lelaki? Cair credit card!

Mujurlah raya setahun sekali (raya yg nak kena belikan anak-anak kasut ler!)

Mujurlah manusia ni dicipta hanya ada sepasang kaki seorang (maximum). Kalau macam caterpillar, tak ke naya?

Mujurlah hari tu pakai credit card ayah .....

ahahaha.... uhuhuhu... bestnyer!

p/s Ingat lagu Aznil, "Jangan, jangan, jangan...jangan cepat marah, nanti cepat tua, bikin gaduh saja ...." :D