Friday, June 19, 2015

Dendeng goreng

Assalamualaikum w.b.t
Peace be upon you :)

Today marks the day where I had successfully passed 4 out of 5 theoretical and practical skills assessments. Alhamdulillah. I couldn't be more grateful than this, when Allah eases everything for me. And now it's just a step more before I could call myself a doctor. It sounds pretty wow but actually, tough world is waiting for me ahead and to not spoil my euphoric post-exam mood, let's not talk about that 'world' for now. *horrayy jumping up high*

And with a flash of light, we welcomed the first day of Ramadan yesterday. Fasting in Russia is quite challenging as we had to fast for 19 hours. But it does give me a nice experience though. This year, due to my tight schedule (final exams), I 'm pretty sure that I might not have enough time to prepare proper meals for my sahur/iftar. So my mum suggested me to cook "daging dendeng goreng" which can be kept through out the whole month. It was one of family's favorite side dish in Ramadan, a recipe that has been passed down by my grandmother to my mother. And now, it has been passed down to me!

The recipe is so simple that I feel like sharing it here (note that this is not a cooking blog so excuse my akward words hehehe)

Ingredients
1kg beef meat (slice into small pieces)
2 tbs tamarind juice (since I did not have enough of them, I mixed them up with some lemon)
Water
3 ts salt (you might need more. Do not hesitate to use lots of salt as it brings up the flavor)
Sugar to taste

Method
1. Put meat, tamarind juice, salt and a pinch of sugar into the pot. Then, add some water until it covers the meat.
2. Simmer them over low heat until the water dries up (I took for about one hour)
3. Take out meat from the pot and pound lightly slice by slice with a pestle to make them tender.(Jangan tumbuk kuat-kuat, nanti hancur pulak)
4.Heat the oil in frying pan and fry the pounded meat.
5.You may also add some onions and chili /pepper. (I didn't add any)
6. Ready to be kept in containers. For a good storage, make sure its oil-free. (I used lot of tissues to dry up the oil after frying)


This is how it looks like. Ala-ala serunding but in a grumpy version. 

Fact : There are so many ways on how people cook 'daging dendeng'. But the main idea of this dish is drying the meat up, as 'dendeng' is an Indonesian word which means dried meat.

Happy trying and Ramadan kareem everyone :)


Love,
Cahaya termasyhur

2

Thursday, June 11, 2015

The grandmother

Assalamualaikum w.b.t
Peace be upon you :)

I had passed my Surgery State Exam yesterday, which left me with three more papers to go. All praises to Him, for easing me with all the procedures and questions during the exam. 

One of the procedures that we had to carry out during the exam was clerking patient. Each of us were given a patient to be currated. Based on the information that we gathered, we had to decide for the right diagnosis and  prescribed our patient with a proper treatment. Tough, it was! 

But alhamdulillah, I was given a very nice grandmother. When I told her that I was sitting for my final exam and I'd to present her case to the professor, she grabbed my hand and said that she will help me with all her might. It was such a blessing to have her cooperating well with me. If not, it will be so hard for me to diagnose her disease, as 80% that makes a right diagnosis is the patient's complaint.

I examined her from top to toe, rained her with so many questions so that I didn't left out any important points and despite her being irritated, she answered to each of my question with not even a sigh. I took 20 minutes clerking and examining her. (according to the rules, I should spend 10 minutes only! But who cares? haha )

When I was trying to puzzle out all the information while thinking of a disease that suits her complaints, she asked me ;

"So doctor, am I going to live?" 
It was a common question in all patient's mind. The atmosphere was in silence for couple of seconds. Because of the language barrier (note that our conversation was in Russian language), it took me few minutes to construct the most comforting sentence to reply to her question.

"Of course you are. Being sick doesn't mean that we have zero chance to live. Sometimes it's just a small hardship that we have to face in life." 

She smiled listening to my answer. And I smiled too. For being a nice patient to me, thank you grandmother. :)


"Barangsiapa yang menempuh perjalanan untuk mencari ilmu, maka Allah akan mudahkan jalannya menuju Syurga" -HR Muslim


May Allah ease me and my colleagues till our very last paper. Amin. 




Love,
Cahaya Termasyhur
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Sunday, June 7, 2015

Sugar and spice

Assalamualaikum
Peace be upon you :) 

Currently I'm waiting for fajr prayer, at 1.35 am which is about 15 minutes more. My brain is stuck in traffic right now, I can't study anymore. And out of a sudden, I feel like creating a new post here. Hence, this entry. 

A year of silence from blogging, when so many things had happened and changed. Some are sugary, some are spicy and some are even bitter, for a better reason.

                                               ******************

Last month, I lost my very good friend in a hostel fire in Moscow. She was one of the 9 severely injured victims. She suffered from the fire for almost two weeks and passed away just a month after we met, and approximately two months before her graduation day. It was a sad incidence and the whole world were knocked by her story, the story of a syahaddah. 

When we last met up, she said to me ;
                "InsyaAllah panjang umur kita jumpa lagi ya"
I never thought that sentence would really mean something. If I were to know about that, I would hug her tightly and cry in her arms. But Allah took her in a beautiful way, in such a good ending. Husnul khatimah. 

One beautiful thing about her, she loves to talk about heaven. And now I am so sure that she's smiling brightly over there. I miss you, Ika. Al-Fatihah. :')

                                             **********************

Two days ago, I had turned 24. Alhamdulillah. People says, a year older a year wiser. So happy birthday to me! I received so many sweet birthday wishes, and the earliest was of course from my family.

My beloved housemates treated me with a suprise birthday sushi-dinner. I did not expect any birthday celebration since I know everyone are now busy preparing for the finals. But yet, they still have time for me which made me deeply touched. Suprise tu siap ada pakatan sepadu dengan my Mr. A, okay! haha dah pandai main pakat-pakat ye sekarang. :p

Overall, too much sweetness on my birthday. Alhamdulillah.  :')

                                             ***********************


I'm counting days towards my big day. And I am too excited for it, all the way from a to z!

But I have to first finish my final state exam with flying colors, so that I can start to focus on the preparations with no guilty and restrictions! wehoooo and guess what, the final state exam is just the day after tomorrow! I am so nervous and scared. Mama said ;

"Kalau dah usaha sebaik mungkin, insyaAllah Allah tolong. Usaha yang penting. Mama sentiasa doakan kak long" 
Mama is forever my calamity, after Allah. Man jadda wajada, kan? All the best my dear batchmates. Lagi satu nafas je untuk bergelar "doktor", insyaAllah. May Allah ease us.
"Oh Allah, expand our chest, make our task easy and remove the impediments from our speech. Amin."
 
                                          *********************

Okay times up. Azan subuh dah bunyi. Good bye peeps!

 Love, 
Cahaya termasyhur

2