Peace and Tranquility...

How many people have the chance to wake up in the morning and being greeted by a beautiful and peaceful view follows by a fresh breath of air? Not many I guess :) BUT as for me I'm blessed, God is kind and merciful for we still able to have and experience all of these, I still have a kampong and my mum cottage to come home after we reluctantly sacrifice our family house which our parents built and raised us up for the past 32 years for the sake of giving a way to development. No doubt compensation was given by the government but no amount of money can compensate the memories we had there what more now our dad is no more with us. It tore our heart whenever we see the demolished concrete whenever we passed by as if we trash our dad sweat and blood on the ground that builds the house.

Enough with me being melancholy (I've shade enough tears already hehe), I've made a promised to myself that I won't look back and appreciate what we have for I believed God has better plan for our family, He has something better in store for us and most of all we still have each other AND as the eldest in the family I've to be strong for everyone esp for my mum. As for now, while waiting for our new family house being built my mum lived in our dear old cottage which is by the paddy field, it may not be big but it's surrounded by a beautiful view.

I can't remember ever taking a picture of a paddy field or paddy itself, so I decided to pick-up my digi cam and take a shot at it and capture the memory that it's giving me right that very day for who knows one day this will be taken away from us as well.

Here are the snapshots of the paddy field and paddy...tidak lama lebatlah buah padi ni and time tu lah sengsara mau halau burung pipit and punai...belum lagi case gaggau kena serang oleh serangga perosak...hmmm. But best time time gini coz leh smell the aromatic smell of the paddy hehehe

my mum pokok sireh hehehe

Isaac birthday...

Gabe and me went back to kampong last Saturday. The weather was fine as we left our house but as we reach Menggatal all of the sudden it started to pour heavily and I could barely see the road (have a poor sight esp in this weather), if it hasn't been for the white line I would not be able to stay on my side of the road and thanks God most of the road has been repaired and sealed other wise I would be a victim to the pot holes which is quite famous on this part of the road.

It continued to rain heavily until we reach to Tuaran and good thing Gabe is asleep by now otherwise I would have another problem on the other hand(as always). It was a relief when I saw the junction to mum cottage , thanx God(which I normally missed in a dark rainy day) and finally we are safely in my mum doorstep at 6.40pm hahaha. It has been a while since I came back and it's good to be back home and I missed rainy day smell in kampong, it gave me a kind of peaceful feeling ...do you know how I described the smell? 'Greenly smell'...Yup! bercolor-color lagi hahaha guess the rain has a different kind of smell when in kampong especially when it's just a few feet away from the paddy field and the paddy just sprouting out. Before I can start reminiscing and being nostalgic, my sister reminded me we have to leave for our nephew Isaac birthday (1st cousin Alfred son) which will be at 7pm, dreading to drive Gabe and I squeezed into their Kenari hahaha.

3 years old Isaac

Isaac with mum and dad

Project kulupis

I believed everyone still remembered when I mentioned in my last post regarding the kulupis thingy and I'm sure lot of you knows what is it but for those who are clueless to what is this kulupis thingy your curiosity will be answered through the picture snippets that I'll sharing. But it got to wait for a while for I need a little bit time to upload the pictures hehehe. Patience is virtue wakakaka

Here are the pictures as promised...

Yes, this is what you need to have in order to make a kulupis. 'Silad leaf'(anybody knows what is silad in bahasa or English? LOL), glutinous rice and grated coconut.

and this is what we need to do....

glutinous rice

Preparing the 'silad leaves' while waiting the glutinous rice to cook...

'silad leaves' being washed and wiped

One of the thing about kulupis making is that, it's being done in crowds beside making the work lighter and fast its fun. I'm not very sure where it is originated from but I came to know about it the day I got married for it is one of the delicacy being served and I loved it. I was informed that it is normally being prepared for a special occasion like wedding or grand festival by the Kadazan in Papar but later I came to learn that even the Bruneian Malay in Papar does the same. I guess the very reason why it is only being prepared occasionally is that, beside glutinous rice being expensive it is not easy to find the silad leaves which only grow in rare places for it's not something that you plant like a flowers or fruit trees which I think somebody should start thinking of doing it before it extinct. So in the kampong, it is not a rare sight when you see everyone is there during
kulupis making and that's the beautiful about them for they don't need to hear about any speech regarding unity(politician hot topic lately which can't hardly be seen in some...duuuhh) in order to have it...they practising it all these while.

And this is what we were dong as we help one of our dear friend who wants to have kulupis for her Raya celebration tomorrow, we are continuing the spirit of unity which we were brought up with regardless of races and religions among us and at the same time having fun especially for the newbies in kulupis making hehehe.

and here are part of the kulupis crew

this is what we do to the glutinous rice when it is cooked
then fold it...and...

tedaaaaa....all ready for steaming

Well...that's all about it and whatever sharing I've had here is out of the information that I've acquired from people around me and whatever I amiss as well as wrongly shared I deeply apology for it and I would very much welcome comments and willing to be corrected. If anyone interested on the ingredients don't hesitate to ask...I can ask my friend whom the expert hehe What!?Me? I'm only the crew, remember? wakaka