Not So Green Thumb

The only thing that I had successfully planted was lemon grass, more than 10 years ago. Living near to beaches, sandy soil really helped the growth of lemon grass. It could grow in abundance even with minimal care. So my gardening experience stopped there, with the exception of watering plants grown by my family and friends.

Fast forward 2021, lockdown after lockdowns, being at home most of the time for months and I could not even travel interstate to visit my family, somehow gardening starts gaining my attention. This ongoing pandemic actually led me thinking about the possibility of humankind going back to basics. I for one, has no survival skills whatsoever. But I'm sure I need food, and the thought of growing my own food came to mind.

Of course I resort to Internet to find the way. Exploring YouTube, and I found many videos about gardening from kitchen scraps. There are so many vegetables and fruits that can be planted from scraps, and my first try was carrot. Put the carrot top in water and let the leaves grow from there. After that, transfer to soil. But my carrot tops all became rotten. After considering other options, I selected tomato. There are two ways: put tomato slice in soil or remove the seeds and put them in soil. I tried both methods, and it seems like there are some tiny plants growing. Not sure whether they are from the slices or the seeds.

Shopee is also my favorite go to website, and I discovered hydroponic set for beginners. Instructions are enclosed, seeds are given as well as the nutritional water. Based on the reviews, it seems like many people managed to grow plants using the set. Hopefully mine works too, insya Allah ameen.  

 

Solo

Saya memang menyukai apa-apa berkaitan Jepun sejak kecil. Mungkin boleh digelar sebagai otaku atau weeb. Antara perkara yang menarik perhatian selain daripada budaya dan keindahan alam semulajadinya, apabila dewasa saya mendapati Jepun sangat menghormati privacy seseorang. Ketika saya berpeluang melawat Jepun, saya suka kerana mereka tidak sibuk melihat orang asing seperti yang saya alami di negara-negara barat. Tambahan pula saya berhijab, penduduk negara barat selalunya akan memandang lebih lama daripada biasa. Tetapi di Jepun, tiada siapa yang hirau.

Namun, tidak dinafikan, di Jepun jugalah timbul masalah hikikomori. Fenomena tidak keluar rumah bertahun-tahun malah ada sehingga akhir hayat. Malah drama Jepun juga banyak memaparkan kehidupan solo. Aktiviti solo adalah tema utama banyak drama, terutamanya yang melibatkan makanan seperti Kodoku no Gurume yang sangat popular sehingga berjaya mencapai siaran bermusim-musim.

Baru-baru ini ada satu lagi drama bertema aktiviti solo yang menarik bertajuk Solo Katsu Joshi no Susume atau terjemahannya Solo Life Woman. Sangat kena dengan situasi saya. Menariknya aktiviti solo yang dilakukan adalah pelbagai, bukan sahaja makanan, malah termasuk menyewa limousin, pergi ke zoo, aquarium, restoran Perancis dan menginap di hotel berseorangan. Sesuatu yang saya tahu saya boleh lakukan dan pernah lakukan 😇

Leftover

Since I started living on my own, I realized that I have a knack of creating something out of leftover food. 

For instance, if I have leftover soup, I would mix it with flour and fry it - hence it becomes cekodok. I have done this trick with so many leftover liquid-based meal, kuah laksa, curry, masak lemak, you name it.

It all stems from the intention of not wanting to throw food away. The reason I don't really like baking is because it's hard to really wipe clean the residue of the mixture. If I cook lauk, it's easy to just mix the container with water and put the remnants into the pot and it will be cooked. But when it comes to baking, exact measurement is vital, I can't just simply mix the residue with water. But recently I have found a way to solve this problem. I will wipe the residue with bread and toast it. So it becomes sweet toasted bread. 

Recently, being at home all the time, I tend to cook more and try to use whatever ingredients that I bought. I'm a big fan of hummus since I first tasted it when I was in Australia, so last year I bought tahini to make my own hummus. It takes a long time to finish using the tahini as I don't eat hummus everyday. I have tried putting tahini in any dish that I could, I put it in smoothie, I put it into cream pasta, and both turned out good. Tahini is actually sesame paste, so its taste is not that far off from unsweetened peanut butter. There were about 1/2 cup left, the first thought was to make cookies with the remaining tahini but I changed my mind. 

I put it in my healthy version masak lemak (no coconut milk) instead just like in the picture. This masak lemak is really a leftover-based dish. Instead of preparing the onion + chilli + tumeric paste from scratch, I used the remaining healthy version (no stir fry, just cooked on stove) sambal I made a week ago. 

Even though the original masak lemak recipe doesn't include carrots and tomato, I put them for my veggies portion intake . I'm the only one eating anyway. And I find it delicious, at least to my liking. Alhamdulillah. 

Senarai Bacaan Buku 2021

image source: https://muslimheritage.com/libraries-of-the-muslim-world-859-2000/

Bismillahirrahmanirahim

Untuk lebih bersemangat membaca lambakan buku yang dibeli, saya buat senarai buku yang telah habis dibaca di sini. Akan dikemaskini dari semasa ke semasa. 

Sudah dibaca:

1. Surat-Surat Dari Maninjau Edisi Kemaskini tulisan Hafizul Faiz terbitan Jejak Tarbiah (ok ini sedikit mengelat sebab mula baca dari tahun 2020 hehe)

2. Ustazah Zaman Dulu-Dulu tulisan Maisarah Mohd Pauzi terbitan Jejak Tarbiah

3. Khusyuk Dalam Solat tulisan Tuan Guru Haji Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat terbitan Jabatan Penerangan PAS Pusat

4. Next is Now tulisan Lior Arussy

5. Kisah Malaysia Berkurung: Pesan Cinta Daripada Tuhan tulisan Abdullah Bukhari Abdul Rahim Al-Hafiz terbitan Jejak Tarbiah

6-10. Hikayat Satria-Satria Sejati (Lima Buku) tulisan Hilal Asyraf

11. Seteguh Gunung Fuji Berdiri tulisan Mohd Hariri Mohamad Daud

12. Mencari Unta Merah Jepun tulisan Abdullah Bukhari Abdul Rahim Al-Hafiz 

13. Aku, Buku & Kota Kaherah: Kembara Sang Pencinta Buku tulisan Shahriman Jamalullayl

14. The Garden of Evening Mists tulisan Tan Twan Eng

Sedang dibaca:

1. Hiduplah Untuk Hari Ini (Jaddid Hayaatak) terjemahan daripada tulisan Muhammad Al-Ghazali terbitan IMAN Publication

2. A Concise Guide to Trees tulisan Jenny Linford

3. 4 Bulan Di Amerika Jilid 1 tulisan Buya Hamka

Normal Untukku

 

Mereka rasa terkurung itu merimaskan

Bagiku menenangkan

Mereka rasa penjarakan sosial itu melelahkan

Bagiku mendamaikan

Mereka rasa menyendiri itu menyusahkan

Bagiku melegakan

Mereka rasa kesunyian itu menyedihkan

Bagiku satu kesempatan

Mereka rasa semua ini menghairankan

Bagiku kebiasaan

Mereka rasa berwaspada itu melecehkan

Bagiku melegakan

 

Normal baharu itu kurasakan nikmat

Yang tidak terungkap

Ribut yang melanda

Kini semakin reda

Ramai kembali alpa

Ingin kembali ke normal lama

Jiwaku keresahan

Mempersoalkan

Tidakkah mereka gusar

Bencana kembali menimpa

Andai mereka leka

 

Normal baharu itu

Normal untukku

Sejak dahulu

Bagi aku mengecap bahagia

Menghindar hiruk pikuk dunia

Dan ragam manusia