How sweet it is to be a Muslim Woman

So..,who says jadi housewife tak best??? Pahalanyer melimpah ruah tau!!! Especially here in Japan lagi best..,50% of your husband's penchant is your's jugak...if only they do that kind of thing back home in Malaysia too...that would definitely help the wife's self confidence tremendously kan, and help to control the husbands to behave and to treat their wives well!Over here, every month the bank would do an auto deduction! Itu yang zahir laa...ini yang 'batin' nie..,memang tak der tolok banding tau yang Allah kasi for us ladies who are housewives!-yer laa...kalau tak housewife, how do you suppose to earn this pahala to the maximum...EVERYDAY ???!!! kan???!!!In Malaysia, I think housewives are not highly regarded..., when in reality, that's the highest place Allah has given to us ladies. I just don't get it when some ladies look down on their own gender just because they 'sit at home'! I got it myself! At one time, my sister in law said to me..'..duk kat rumah, duk kelebet anak jer'..well, how degrading is that?! I felt like saying, well, tangan Indon is better than your own hands feeding the children is it?! If you send your kids to nursery...they are just a number okay?! So if i do have a choice, I would vote being a housewife anytime..looking after my own children and raising them with my own hands! By the way, I do love 'sitting at home' and be a home maker as I am a homey person! I really think whether a woman should go to work or not is her own choice, and not because she felt challenged by others to do so!
It was just yesterday when I was feeling a bit down from thinking about this life..,that all seems to be so empty...,really! Like, I was just wondering..,looking around me, and doing whatever we do..,is that just it???! what next? Where do we go from here..?
Growing up as a Muslim in Malaysia seems to have so many limitations..,without having to see or feel the beauty of being one. Mostly, it is all about horrifying punishments like what the hell really look like and what we get in the hereafter say if we don't say our 5 times obligatory prayers everyday..,(that we'll rise up from the grave with our face looking like a pig..,and that later a gigantic scorpion will come and eat us up)! That is just one to name a few...
It's very rare to hear people saying about the love of God. Mostly it is about fear...so most of us, would end up living in denial...to forget about what will happen in the hereafter... and that will be dealt later with when the time comes..,so to say! But, when it comes, there's no turning back and there will not be any second chance!
Today, I just recieved this forwarded email about how beautiful and sweet it is to be a Muslim woman. I read about this before in a newspaper years ago but I forgot to make a clipping. So I was glad to see this email this morning. With this, now I could really see how much Allah really loves us..,but then again, I feel so really small too..,like as if it's sooooo difficult to be such a good woman (read as angel) when actually it's really easy! So i guess this is good news and a form of consolation and encouragement to my depression that I was having yesterday that I thought that I'd share it here...
Let us think and ponder...!

1. A good woman (wanita solehah) is better than 70 good men (lelaki soleh).
2. An evil woman is worse than 1000 bad men.
3. 2 rakaat of solat (prayers) from a pregnant woman is better than 80 rakaat of solat from a non pregnant woman.
4. A woman who breast fed her baby will get a merit from every drop that the baby takes.
5. A woman who treats her husband in kindness when the husband came back home tired will get pahala jihad (merits as if you went on a holy war).
6. A woman who doesn't get to sleep properly looking after her sick child at night will get merits as if she has freed 20 slaves!
7. A woman who look at her husband with love and vice versa will be looked by Allah full with blessings.
8. A woman who cause her husband to go out and fight for Allah and later look after her home well will enter Paradise 500 years earlier than her husband, and she will be the leader of 70,000 angels and fairies..,and the woman will be bathe in Heavens while waiting for her husband coming to her riding on a horse made up from 'yakut'.
9. A woman who doesn't get to sleep well looking after her sick child at night will have all her sins be pardoned by Allah, and when she entertains her child, Allah gives her merits from 12 years of ibadat (prayers).
10. A woman who milk an animal while saying "Bismillah" (In the name of Allah), will be prayed by that animal with blessings.
11. A woman who sweeps the floor while 'berzikir' (praising Allah), will get merits as if we are sweeping the floors in Baitullah (Kaabah).
12. A woman who kneads her dough of flour saying "Bismillah", her 'rezeki' (income) will be blessed.
13. A woman who looks after her solat (prayers), observe her fasting, and listen/obey to her husband ,then Allah will give her permission to enter heaven from any door that she wishes to enter!
14. A pregnant woman will get fasting merits in day time.
15. A pregnant woman will get praying merits in night time.
16. A woman who give birth will get merits from 70 years of solat (prayers) and fasting, and for every pain from her nerves, Allah will give merits from one pilgrimage done.
17. If a woman dies 40 days after the delivery, she is considered as 'Syahid'.
18. If a woman breastfeed her child until he/she completes 2 1/2 years old, the angels in heavens will sing and say the good news that the heaven is compulsory for you!(..and how are you supposed to be entitled for this if you had to go to work? In Malaysia there's NO such thing as 2 1/2 years of maternity leave okay?!, and you mean to say your job is GREATER than HEAVEN??? Puhleeeeezzz!!!)
    
19. If a woman breastfeed her crying baby, Allah will give her merits from a year of praying n fasting.
20. If a woman gives a massage to her husband without being asked, she will get merits of 7 blocks ('tola') of gold, and if she does it by being asked, she will get merits of 7 blocks of bronze.
21. A woman who dies with her husband's blessings will go to Heaven.
22. Everyone will be called to see Allah in the hereafter one day, but Allah will come Himself to see the women who look after their 'aurat' (head and body) properly covered...(..iaitu memakai purdah di dunia ini dengan istiqamah)...

Wassalam...

Lunch at Rebecca's place

Green Curry cooking demonstration by Kak Mimi...
Well, it started out when Rebecca, our Taiwanese friend asked Kak Mimi to show her how to cook green curry. She has an instant green curry paste but she didn't know how to do it the proper way. So Kak Mimi was like..."Asilah, have you ever cooked green curry before?" A flat "No" was my answer. Green curry is more a Thai dish...,and I never really into curry so much (apart from fish and crab curry), so I didn't know anything about that and have to refer to the recipes if I had to make one! Anyway, by our own invitation, we ended up having lunch at Rebecca's place on last Friday with Harie San and Asmah ( a newly arrived Malaysian ICT wife)...hihi...Thanks Rebecca! I brought a dish over to go with the green curry..,which turned out to be similar to Malaysian's own 'Masak Lemak Cili Api'. So maybe that was it. The Masak Lemak Cili Api in English! Only that we didn't know! hihi! I would have definitely said "Yes, I know how to cook that!" otherwise!In between, Harie San showed us how to bake chiffon cake. We did that for our dessert. Looking at her doing it with Rebecca took the fear of baking away from me! It was awfully fun actually, that they managed to do it really quickly, and no hassle nothing! And after having oishii-licious finger licking good Kak Mimi's chicken green curry with potato and my fried beef that I brought over, we had Japanese tea flavoured chiffon cake and steaming hot coffee for dessert! Yum yum indeed! We must do this often!
What they did was first to beat the egg white and sugar vigorously together into a hard form, that even if you turn the bowl up side down after that, the foam wouldn't fall! The trick was to add a little salt as well. Then the yolks are beaten next with sugar till it turned to a light creamy colour. Sieve some flour, Japanese green tea and baking powder into the egg yolk mixture and continue mixing it together.Next, was to take a third of the egg white portion and mix in to the batter. Beat vigorously again for a while. Then, add in the rest of the egg white foam and mix in lightly with a spatula. pour into a chiffon cake container and pushed it into the oven. Oh yes! It was pre heated off course at 170 degrees and bake ! Oops I forgot to take the picture of the cake... until after I got home~ Full and contented!!!*burp*Hihi! Kak Mimi, I really can't wait for your version of the chiffon cake with that pandan paste you said! Don't forget me yeah, or do I have to self invite again this time? Hihi! Don't worry, I'd bring a dish over too!

Pajeri Nenas

Ingredients:

1. 3 cloves garlic
2. 8 shallots
3. 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
4. 1 tspn chilly powder/chilly paste
5. 1 stick cinnamon
6. star annice
7. cardammon seeds
8. 1/2 cup vinegar
9. fresh pineapple cut into bite sized slices
   
10. a pinch of salt
11. 4 tbspn sugar

Method:
In a pot, sautee pounded/sliced garlic and shallots together. Add in curry powder paste (mix it with a tablespoon of water) , chilly paste, cinnamon, star annice and cardammon seeds and fry for 30seconds. Next, add in 4 cups of water, vinegar, pineapple and the rest of the ingredients to the pot and bring it to boil. Ready to be served with hot rice!

Ikebana-Japanese Flower Arrangement

I just came back from Sakura Club just now..,and we did some Japanese Flower Arrangement today...This picture is taken before we begin our class:Before that, as usual we started our day with reading our Toyota Citizens Pledge, which says among other things:

1. To nurture greenery, to protect our rivers and to respect the rich nature around us.
2. To value the benefits of sports, to broaden our knowledge and to raise the level of culture.
3. To work with a willing spirit and raise healthy children in a happy family atmosphere.
4. To help one another and to broaden our circle of friends, so as to warm our city with friendship.
5. To revere life and to abide by the law in order to make our society a safe and pleasant place to live in.

Then we went on to singing our Sakura Club song which goes like this...

Sakura...,sakura..,yayo ino sora wa
Miwatasu kagiri
Kasumika kumoka
Ni o izu izuru
Iza ya..,iza ya..
Miniyukan...

Today's session was flower arrangement which was done in Keifu style. These are the materials needed for the project:-

There are three main branches called Shin, Fuku and Tai play an important central role and are arranged in triangular. There is a base of them or Hanaza, which makes a foundation vigorously with bushes of flowers and leaves.

In arranging the flowers, place Shin or the tallest one a little backfrom the center of the Kenzan. Put Fuku or middle-sized one to the left front and Taior shortest one to the right front. Complete the arrangement by forming Hanaza with some flowers and leaves, adding Ashirai or supplements to fill the gap. Shin leant to the left from the center called "Hongatte" and "Gyakugatte" the other way round.
The sensei was very helpful and patient teaching me doing the arrangement..,with Umair on my lap and sometimes clinging around my legs..,I am definitely a slow learner and need time to put things together. This is she fine-tuning my floral arrangement putting the leaves facing forward...with me snapping the picture away..

But, at the end of it, looking at the finished product, I am definitely proud of my achievements!

This is us inside the classroom with our finished products on display...

At the end of the lesson, after clearing up our working table and the room, we were served tea and some Japanese sweets and fruits to enjoy with our friends...

I made three new friends today..,Natalia and Kasia (picture below) from Poland, and Rajeshwari from India.

For our next session which is on the 18th of November, Godwilling, we'll be making a trip to Toyota Automobile Museum in Nagoya.

Malaysian ICT's Raya Open House'08

Last Saturday which was on the 1st of November, we had another round of a Raya open house...a belated celebration of sort with students and friends from and around Nagoya. This time around, we were the host. It was a Nasi Beriani pot luck kinda party, with everyone of us did a dish and a dessert each. Zaharah did the rice, Zura and Ain did the Ayam Masak Merah, Kak Mimi with the Kurma Beef (I've forgot to take a picture of this...ooops!), and I was entrusted with the vegetables..I did both Pajeri Nenas and the Jelatah. As for the dessert, we had brownies with white chocolate toppings and sugar beads, trifle, kek batik, and Bubur Kacang Hijau with durian. Others brought over boxes of mandarin oranges and kaki fruits to add to the menu. See the mandarin peel inside the box below! ..the guys were enjoying them at the park just outside the hall ... All in all, it was a great party, with really really oishii-licious finger licking good foods and we all had fun! Very good teamwork and combination!!! These are some pictures taken during the event... ...and the party continued till it was dark. To fit in everyone, we did the party at the Ekaku Apartment Community Hall this time. We started at 1pm and ended at 8pm. By 8.30pm, I've got everything washed up and went straight to bed!

Najwan turned 4

Last Wednesday (29th October 2008), we had a pot luck dinner celebrating Najwan's 4th birthday cum a welcome dinner for Hasmizie and family, a newly arrived Malaysian ICT.
I was requested to cook chicken cashew nut again, so that was what they got from me. Here are some pictures during the party...and this is Umair  watching TV on his rocking horse before the party...which is currently his new hobby!

Shirakawa -Gou, Japan

I was watching this TV programme one day when they showed this cluster of thatched roof houses..,and I thought they looked very pretty and unique. By chance a couple of weeks later, Nizam was scrolling down the internet on interesting places to visit in Japan and came across the site about these thatched roof village. Apparently, there are quite a few of this kind of village in Japan but we chose Shirakawa-Gou as it is the biggest in Japan.
It is situated in a remote mountain region, and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. It is famous for its gassho-zukuri thatched roof houses characterized by their almost 60 -degree steep roofs. This is to keep snow from accumulating heavily on the roof tops in winter. Shirakawa-Gou is one of the heaviest snowfall areas in Japan. So, on the 25th of October, we had a chance to make a day trip with Kak Mimi and family to the famous thatched roof village. Initially we planned to sleep over, but there was no vacancy at the local inn at all.
We had a nice stroll in the area, trying to feel how it was like living there back then some 300-400 years ago... In some houses, there are some descendants living there..,now making money from us visitors..,collecting fees to view the interior of their houses..!The view was breathtaking..,though my legs were screaming in pain covering the whole village on foot, it was all worth it! We had some beautiful pictures taken, and thanks to Kak Mimi who has a knack with the camera, we would forever engrave that lovely moment in our memory!Quote:-
From Toyota-Shi, train rides to Shirakawa-Gou is both expensive and difficult. If you were to take a train there, you have to get down at Takayama Station, and take a bus and make a U-turn to Shirakawa Gou. Train fare is 5000yen one way.
If you take a bus there..,you have to go to Nagoya first.Between Nagoya (Meitetsu Bus Center near Nagoya Station) and Shirakawa-go there is one bus per day. The bus is operated by Gifu Bus and runs only from April through November. The travel time is roughly three hours,
and the fare is 3500 Yen one way. The Japan Rail Pass is not valid on this bus.
The other option is you could also sign up for a package bus tour (with meal i think!)at the travel agency.