cooking class

my last post on this blog was on January, wheeew!! not so fancy. I actually had millions of stories on my head, but i just couldn't find the appropriate time to write it down here. But here i come..

so, today i attend a short cooking class at NCC. This NCC probably the biggest cooking community in Indonesia and they periodically hold some cooking class in certain places in Jakarta. This morning i attend a halal dimsum (Chinese dumpling) class. I actually not so interested in dumpling, but my husband loves them soooo much and he's actually the one who encourage me to attend this class. The result, not bad at all.

I got siomay, hakao, angsio chicken feet, and shrimp roll mayo. The steps are easy, i'll show you my next experiment at home, but first of all i got to add more stuffs on my next grocery shopping.

Bebe Mikail!!

Alhamdulillah 7th January i gave a birth to a baby boy!
My husband named him Mikail Esa Widinugraha.



Welcome sleepless nights, diapers change and bunch of fun!!

counting the days

so, this is my 38th weeks. From the latest USG my doctor told me that my baby 's weight is about 2.7 kg, and he will still gainning more weight until the delivery day. I couldn't dare to see myself in the mirror, i'm a big fat mom-to-be right now! hahaha! I even walk strangely like a north pole's pinguin. The baby's position was also OK, although my doctor said there's a placenta around the baby's neck, he said i can still working on my plan to have a normal delivery, the conservative way.

my activity? doing some yoga for pregnancy, stop baking for a while, preparing some stuffs to be brought to the hospital on 'the day' and praying. Due date ( i saw it in my doctor's computer) for me is 11 january, so i hope everything is going to be fine as it planned. I'm so nervous and exciting!

Blessings

Alhamdulillah, there is a lot of blessing on this November.

This is my 7th month of pregnancy and i'm planning to start my pregnancy exercise class. My doctor said it will help me on the delivery process. The exercise will help you to learn how to breath, how to push, and how to gain more strenght on the delivery process. But, do u know what is the the most helpful method? Praying! Especially the shalat. In Shalat, there is a position called sujud which help the baby to rotate and move to the right position. It also help your thigh to get stronger. Well, i'm saying this not only because of me as a moslem, my doctor also admit and suggest me to do more Shalat. Isn't that great?

My husband accepted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this is one of his dreams and he was struggling to the limit to get it. This is a miracle to us. My husband was facing so many distraction and trouble on his way to get this job. I looked at him every night, he prayed and prayed to Allah to give him the best. We handed all the decision to Allah, we believe if the job is good for us and for our life, Allah will show us the way. When we found that he passed all the tests, we're gone speechless, the only thing that remain in mind was to thank Allah for all the blessing that we cannot get without His Merciful hand.

I also start to buy and gather some baby's stuff for my baby. I got this new beautiful crib and bed, baby bath, some tiny clothes, diapers, and breast-pump. This is such a fun thing to do, to buy some cute colorful stuffs for your baby makes you can't wait to see his coming! I believe he will be cute and smart like his father.

Weekend Cooking!!

Since i'm pregnant, food has been an issue. I no longer can eat any sashimi or raw sushi, i have to avoid grilled steak and completely skip the half-rare one, and i'm dying for good food.

So, this is the result of my suffer. I made my own hand-rolled sushi with non-raw filling. It's fried salmon sushi with sauce and wasabi mayo and cheese (don't ask cheese inside sushi?)
I have to be proud, look at the picture, it looked promising ahahaha!



So, another favor, today, i made this 'Burger steak with veggie and fries' for my husband (which actually just a sweet reason to cover that i was dying for it too..)





My husband loved everything on the plate and ate everything in minutes. He kept saying that the steak and the sauce were excellent!

plans..plans..

I was actually browsing for some short trip. Just wondering to bring my baby (after the delivery, of course) later on his first trip (his? my doctor said it's a boy until my last USG). I remembered my boss from my last office, Irek, he and his family are cute travelers. So i checked on his site and find some wonderful destination to be my consideration. his website is www.zyzanski.com or you can find more trips at his another site which he also provided the address on this site.

Oh yep, i'm still on my 6th months, the nausea -thank God- has gone away, and i was thinking to start a trip, actually maybe a very short visit to Singapore. Not actually a short vacation, a friend of mine is getting married there, and she was (also) in the same boarding house with mine when we were at university. She did come to my wedding, so i thought that i have to give her a favor, a short fun visit to fulfill her invitation. Well, let's see what my doctor would says about my plan.

HAPPY LEBARAN!!

It's a little late to say Happy Lebaran, but i couldn't access my own blog on my last 'mudik'. In Indonesia, it's a tradition to travel to your parent's house or your grandma's house or uhm your hometown (usually placed in different city from where you currently live) on last week -or days- on ramadhan. The purpose of this travel is to catch a moment of Ied Prayers together with the whole big family on 1st of Syawal month which is commonly known as Eidl Fitr or in Indonesia: Lebaran Day.

So, i did too. Me and my husband took an executive train to Cirebon, and drive from Cirebon to Kuningan in West Java to see Grandma and family there, this is an annual tradition that we keep and even we admit it was tiring, we enjoyed it so much. After the Ied Prayer and Dzuhur Prayer we left Kuningan for Tasik, my mother's place.

I was on my fifth month of pregnancy, and i had to be extra careful with my body and the baby inside. Thank God, everything went very well and, here i am back in Jakarta safe and sound.

To all family and Friends:
Happy Eidl Fitr
May Allah gives us the forgiveness and let us start the new days with newborn heart..

bread episode 1

Cooking is a trial and error process. It requires skills, good ingredients, supportive equipments, and passion to make your food alive. Ahahaha.. i was talking like i'm a pro chef or something, the fact that i only cook for the whole family - and friends sometime.

And this is my 'trial and error product'


I called it white skin bread with chocolate and vanilla filing. It has a soft texture, crispy vanilla skin, with creamy vanilla and rocky choco-chips inside. I have to admit, still a long way to go to get a perfect sizing and proper baking, but the taste is good!

learn and learn

Alhamdulillah, this ramadhan brings me so many lesson and blessing in life. I was listening to my husband who told me about what he heard at the mosque earlier. Simply he said that the best job and career is when it makes you closer to Allah. I remember at the time when i was still working at the office, i kept my prayers in 'injury time' especially for Ashar calls, i ussually did it at 5pm, not in mushalla or mosque but in an empty meeting room or in my boss's office (actually my office has 3 mushalla at the 20th, 19th, and 16th fl but still..), and i did it really fast to catch-up another deadline that i have to fulfill. Astagfirullah.. I was an idiot, why would i have to put 'world stuffs' at the first place and ignoring what Allah told us to do? it was simple, for the monthly salary (what a shame..), or another overtime addition, or great performance, and becoming a high achiever. However, i was working very hard.. too hard.. and with that attitude, i didn't get anything, in fact, i believe i told you earlier about how my mid-performance was terrible. I think i get it now.

This is the Hadist i actually heard long before i listened to what my husband said - and i think i was only listening without understanding the meaning at the time.. shame.

Barangsiapa memperbaiki hubungannya dengan Allah maka Allah akan menyempurnakan hubungannya dengan manusia. Barangsiapa memperbaiki apa yang dirahasiakannya maka Allah akan memperbaiki apa yang dilahirkannya (terang-terangan). (HR. Al Hakim)


Oh another thing, on my last post, i thought that i haven't told you about the privilege of being a housewife, which i actually did. I said i am happier.
There must be plenty of reasons why people get happier than ever. One of the reason that i am happier now that my husband is guiding me -and keeping- me in the right path, that way i will always close to Allah. My husband always share what he got from the mosque. I love it. It helps me understand stuffs in the right point of view.

There a lot more thing that i have to consider as privilege, but sometime i just need a time to understand it because this is something new, marriage life has always been something new in everyday. Still don't get it?

Well, here an example. It was the first day i came up to the office after miscarriage bed rest, and my boss called me to get to her office. She was asking me about my feeling, and my answer was : "i am fine but i was really upset."
I was physically recovered but i felt upset. When i got married i knew i will be a mother - one day - but who knew that i will get pregnant so fast after three months of marriage? I knew nothing about being pregnant or even bigger to have a baby. So i started to learn, i read books about pregnancy, i drink and eat nothing but healthy food, i don't drive and took cab everyday to reach the office, and i kept eating those pills, hormones and vitamins the doctor told me. I was shaping myself to be ready for motherhood. Then i got a miscarriage. I was really sad and upset cos i've been preparing everything i can to be a mother. That was a big lesson.

It also happen in marriage life, everyday is a new lesson, you never experience what will happen tomorrow, so it is understandable if sometime we feel upset, we feel not right, or feel discomfort. We never been there, we never done that. It can be fun, sparkle, or maybe awkward and hurtful. BUT. Trust me all the thing happens in your day-by-day marriage life is simply to train you, to get you prepared for something bigger. My un-expert suggestion is: never ever jump to a conclusion in a situation at home. Often, when you explore more, listen carefully, improving your willing to understand, and keep trying to be a better person and a better wife, you will find more privileges than what you can imagine.

So, i hope you understand why i was answering 'i have no idea'
I must be less-exploring the situation, jumping fast to the conclusion without trying understand more, or i was not listening, i just hadn't seen it yet at the time.

I hope this will be a good share for you all.

so the answer is

people keep asking me what is the privilege of being a housewife? why do i get married so young - although i never think that i was too young to get married, i was 24 when i got married, but anyway..
Other question keep coming through my ears are
- can you go hang out with your friends after married?
- is your husband giving you 'monthly salary' for the house-stuff?
- do you cook everyday?
- is that true that you always ask your husband before doing this or that?

First of all, i don't answer all of the following questions (not all of them) directly. I however, still have the privilege as a human to answer or not to answer those when it's not necessary. Sometime i just have t think before i talk (or write down) what would be the answer. It's not that i'm trying to make it up or telling a diplomatic answer, it's just that as a housewife those question would have so many different answers in many circumstances.

Second of all. Ok then i will try to answer those question here. AND. These answer might be change one day, don't ask me why, i just quite sure that some 'adjustment' and 'modification' and 'new-approach' of marriage life always happens.

What is the privilege of being a housewife?
My answer: Believe me, i have no idea. This is maybe the worst answer for the worst question ever. But honestly i have no idea what is the privilege.
The worst metaphor is probably like this scene:
This is my second year of marriage and i still don't have enough 'point rewards' to be redeemed to any kind of privilege. You know it's like you have a frequent flyer membership in an airplane company. when your membership is still new and you don't have enough point to be redeemed then you will still have to go on more traveling, more miles to get more points to get those privilege.

I know it's not a good metaphor. Some frequent flyer memberships do provide you with free lounge at the airport or get some discounts when you shop at duty-free shops. Well, i'll write and modify my answer when i get a better metaphor for this one. I think i do have one privilege that is confirmed: i am happier. That should be enough for a member with a low points like me uh?


Why do i get married so young?
My answer: AGAIN, my age was 24 when i got married, and it's not too young for an Indonesian girl. Believe me, some of girls in this country even getting marry on the age of 12. So, ask them not me.

Can i go hang out with friends after married?
I don't hang out very often. I'm not dying without friends around. To me, true friend are always there, and it's not that you always have a tight schedule to go on a movie, coffee, or lunch with friends all the time. This might sound crazy, but i adore the feeling of missing them, i fancy a quality time when we meet again and talking for hours about how are we going. For example, a month ago i met Afny. She was my classmate at university and we were live in the same dorm. Last time i saw her was on her wedding day, means last year. And when i met her again, it was awesome, so many stuffs we discuss and share, and i kinda like it.

Well, i still have more questions to answer, but not tonight.
Housewife gotta wake up early in the morning right? ahaha..