In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
I came across one of those dog meat farm videos on YouTube a couple of days ago. I watched it aghast in horror....AAAAAAA!!! Everyone knows I'm a cat person, but I love dogs too. Muslims aren't allowed to eat dogs, and many of the learned and religious bureaucrats frown upon owning a dog. There is no ban on dogs in the Qur'an, and I haven't found the specific hadith (order of the Prophet, peace be on him) that states the restriction. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. No, I don't want to eat dog. I'm not even curious. The rationale of people who eat dogs is that some dogs are for meat, and some for pets. All animals belong to Allah, but Allah made animals subject to humans. I consider some animals are for meat, and some are for pets. I consider dogs to be as friends, someone to share food with, not to be food. Someone to help protect us, and add to our awareness of the world and Allah.
But nobody could ever be friends with a mackerel. Mackerel is for food, and no human can question that. My Dad gave me a kilo of mackerel this morning. My Mom said it cost RM10. Only 4 years ago, I could frequently buy 2 kilos of mackerel for RM3. Mackerel tastes great raw, so it makes great sushi and sashimi. I use 95% of the fish myself, though I give the heads to the cats. The soft roe is the best part, which I eat while gutting the fish. I'll have to teach you how to process and fillet fish. It's not fair that I have to do all the prep and the cooking. Mackerel is a popular fish, not only with humans but also with other fish. But as a species it is adapted to that, and repopulates quickly. The price of this fish tells me that it is under pressure, also that every single fish but one had roe in it. When mackerel was cheap, it was not easy to find soft roe. However, I can still find mackerel for sale every day no matter what the price is, not like snapper. So I made hand rolled sushi for dinner. Hey, this rice isn't sticky at all! I couldn't make rice balls. This rice is Basmati rice, from India I suppose. I also suppose Indians don't eat hand rolled sushi. So I added some corn starch (I didn't have any rice flour) to the rice, and that made it sticky enough to roll. Next time, I'll use seaweed sheets, or buy local rice. I don't eat vinegared rice because it gives me heartburn, but otherwise it's pretty good and very filling. You want some? I love you, and I need you.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Monday, October 5, 2015
Letter to Erin 20151006
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Hi Erin! Hi Sweetie! How are you feeling today? I pray that you are feeling healthy and confident. It's business as usual for me today. I had to go downtown in the morning to get the new prayer schedule. Prayer times I'm sure you know, are dawn, afternoon, early evening, sunset, and night. But they have it all calculated accurately to the times nowadays, that I can just look at the schedule and see that the night prayer is 8:19 pm today. The Muslim calendar is a true lunar calendar, so the full moon is always on the 14th. The new year begins next Wednesday. Year 1437.
I killed all my guppies yesterday. I keep telling myself, "Don't wash the thing with soap!" and what do I do? I washed the thing with soap. That's why I hate house cleaning. I kill innocent fish, that do me no harm. They don't pee at my bathroom door. Poor fish. So I took 9 baby guppies from my Dad's fish pond. He seems to have an endless supply of guppies. They seem to be doing OK. They all are basically the same size, about a couple of grains of rice or less each. So I put 4 pellets of fish food in the jar, about the size of a mustard seed each. They get bigger after soaking in water. But the bigger fish chase away the little fish from the food. And I'm watching them right now. There they go, so bigger than a couple grains of rice, circling the food, making sure no one else gets it.
I don't know what it means! I'm a guppy killer! Maybe I do know what it means, and I'm not telling. I hope you are doing great. Take care of yourself, Sweetie. I love you, and I need you.
Hi Erin! Hi Sweetie! How are you feeling today? I pray that you are feeling healthy and confident. It's business as usual for me today. I had to go downtown in the morning to get the new prayer schedule. Prayer times I'm sure you know, are dawn, afternoon, early evening, sunset, and night. But they have it all calculated accurately to the times nowadays, that I can just look at the schedule and see that the night prayer is 8:19 pm today. The Muslim calendar is a true lunar calendar, so the full moon is always on the 14th. The new year begins next Wednesday. Year 1437.
I killed all my guppies yesterday. I keep telling myself, "Don't wash the thing with soap!" and what do I do? I washed the thing with soap. That's why I hate house cleaning. I kill innocent fish, that do me no harm. They don't pee at my bathroom door. Poor fish. So I took 9 baby guppies from my Dad's fish pond. He seems to have an endless supply of guppies. They seem to be doing OK. They all are basically the same size, about a couple of grains of rice or less each. So I put 4 pellets of fish food in the jar, about the size of a mustard seed each. They get bigger after soaking in water. But the bigger fish chase away the little fish from the food. And I'm watching them right now. There they go, so bigger than a couple grains of rice, circling the food, making sure no one else gets it.
I don't know what it means! I'm a guppy killer! Maybe I do know what it means, and I'm not telling. I hope you are doing great. Take care of yourself, Sweetie. I love you, and I need you.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Letter to Erin 20151005
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Hi Erin. How's it going today? I pray you are doing great. It's kind of a surreal day here for me. I've been busy all day like I usually am on Sundays, but it's a very hazy day. It started last night with the dreams I had. Wow, I wish I could record video of my dreams. It was incredible, so awesome that I don't want to tell the world about it. What a great movie, though. Glory to Allah. I think I'll write about it in music. But I managed to stay active all day. I cut the grass at the side of the road all the way from your house inshaAllah to my parents' house, on both sides of the road. Wow. I'm still seeing that dream. Incredible.
I was making dough just now, and the cats were going berserk! Well you're the girl I want to marry, Erin. I love you, and I need you.
Hi Erin. How's it going today? I pray you are doing great. It's kind of a surreal day here for me. I've been busy all day like I usually am on Sundays, but it's a very hazy day. It started last night with the dreams I had. Wow, I wish I could record video of my dreams. It was incredible, so awesome that I don't want to tell the world about it. What a great movie, though. Glory to Allah. I think I'll write about it in music. But I managed to stay active all day. I cut the grass at the side of the road all the way from your house inshaAllah to my parents' house, on both sides of the road. Wow. I'm still seeing that dream. Incredible.
I was making dough just now, and the cats were going berserk! Well you're the girl I want to marry, Erin. I love you, and I need you.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Letter to Erin 20151004
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
I forgot to mention that I will place a water tank on the roof of your house inshaAllah, where the water goes up to fill the tank before going to the faucets in the house. Kind of like a giant toilet tank. You never know when we might need emergency water.
I'm kind of tired today. I had been getting up in the wee hours lately to conduct extra worship, and it's caught up with me. I occasionally do that. So please excuse me, I'm going to go be catatonic for the rest of the night. I pray you are doing well and taking care of yourself in my absence, because I love you and I need you.
I forgot to mention that I will place a water tank on the roof of your house inshaAllah, where the water goes up to fill the tank before going to the faucets in the house. Kind of like a giant toilet tank. You never know when we might need emergency water.
I'm kind of tired today. I had been getting up in the wee hours lately to conduct extra worship, and it's caught up with me. I occasionally do that. So please excuse me, I'm going to go be catatonic for the rest of the night. I pray you are doing well and taking care of yourself in my absence, because I love you and I need you.
Friday, October 2, 2015
Letter to Erin 20151003
Happy 2nd anniversary, Sweetie! I love you, Erin. I want to marry you. And I need you. I'll have to admit that I stopped working on these house plans when I figured out that you have your own house plan. But if you don't have any house plan when the time comes inshaAllah, I'll go ahead and use these.
1. I didn't write the measurements down because this is just a simple view of what I had planned, besides I will need to re-measure everything professionally before construction.
2. Right now there are trees bordering the property of your house inshaAllah, but I intend to remove them all and build a wall. It would help slow snakes down, and block out debris from floods.
3. I didn't label the west facade correctly: it's actually the north facade.
4. You have a nice and big walk in closet and bathroom. All yours! I'll just use the other restrooms. I made a mistake with placing the toilets: none of the toilets must face west (or towards Mecca). Instructions of the Prophet (peace be on him).
5. The trees aren't scaled correctly. The south facade actually faces a whole lot of banana trees, which I intend to clear. They don't taste very good, and I want to keep that area open.
6. Your house is actually an upgraded version of my little house. My little house is actually smaller by about 30% than what you see in this plan. I had to make it bigger so I could play Sims 3 more comfortably. I plan to use my little house as an office/studio, plus it will be my doghouse whenever you're mad at me.
7. No. we're not situated on a hill overlooking the sea. We have neighbors on the north, south, and west. My parents are my north neighbor, and my younger brother lives with them.
8. I didn't decorate the walls of the house. Just to remind you, a Muslim house must not have statues and human effigies (like posters of celebrities) in it. Please unload such items before we marry, if you have them. Photos of your friends and relatives are OK.
9. The main entrance/driveway is on the east, and it connects to a small road leading to an elementary school located north.
10. There is a laundry room on the ground floor. Sims 3 doesn't have washers and dryers, so the laundry room may not be obvious. Options for clothes dryers are poor in this country, so be prepared to dry your clothes on a line. Oh, I can do my own laundry. It may not please you how I do laundry, but I will do my own laundry.
11. I put big showroom style windows on the first floor overlooking the yard on the south. I plan to have metal shutters on these windows like you would see on businesses, to close when we leave for vacation for instance.
12. Please expect the presence of cats! Mouse control! My cats are expert mousers, so you must be nice to them.
Erin, please make a donation to a worthwhile charity of a minimum of one US dollar.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Letter to Erin 20151002
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
I saw your interview on Google at the Global Citizen Festival 2015, and I want you to know that I think you are so beautiful, and I love you so much. And I need you. I hope you have figured out now the connection between the mind and the stomach: a stressed out mind creates a stressed out stomach. But it's also vice versa, that's why comfort foods exist. Preparing your own food has the advantage that you eat exactly what you want and you know exactly what's in your food. Don't let yourself be pressured into eating foods you don't want to eat. Your sensitive tummy, and your being my girl mashaAllah, is what makes you a powerful endorser of food products.
My Mom gave me a bag of dried salted anchovies the other day, so I decided to fry them up to a crispy fry, then keep them in the cooler. I noticed there was a lot of shake at the bottom of the bag, and it could only be pure anchovy, with some salt. So I spent the entire morning making anchovy bouillon. I put all the shake in the spice grinder, and pulverized it into a fine powder. There was a little moisture from being in the cooler, so I was able to knead it like dough. So I shaped it in to balls, and used it for my noodle broth for lunch. I kept the leftover oil from frying the anchovies, because it tasted very light. So I fried up some chopped garlic and mustard green stems in the anchovy oil. Then I added chopped cilantro, mustard green leaves, and fish balls into the broth of a single home made anchovy bouillon ball. Needed a little salt, but it tasted great. Alhamdulillah. It didn't taste fishy at all. Rather, it tasted milky. It must have been the chopped mustard green stems.
I saw your interview on Google at the Global Citizen Festival 2015, and I want you to know that I think you are so beautiful, and I love you so much. And I need you. I hope you have figured out now the connection between the mind and the stomach: a stressed out mind creates a stressed out stomach. But it's also vice versa, that's why comfort foods exist. Preparing your own food has the advantage that you eat exactly what you want and you know exactly what's in your food. Don't let yourself be pressured into eating foods you don't want to eat. Your sensitive tummy, and your being my girl mashaAllah, is what makes you a powerful endorser of food products.
My Mom gave me a bag of dried salted anchovies the other day, so I decided to fry them up to a crispy fry, then keep them in the cooler. I noticed there was a lot of shake at the bottom of the bag, and it could only be pure anchovy, with some salt. So I spent the entire morning making anchovy bouillon. I put all the shake in the spice grinder, and pulverized it into a fine powder. There was a little moisture from being in the cooler, so I was able to knead it like dough. So I shaped it in to balls, and used it for my noodle broth for lunch. I kept the leftover oil from frying the anchovies, because it tasted very light. So I fried up some chopped garlic and mustard green stems in the anchovy oil. Then I added chopped cilantro, mustard green leaves, and fish balls into the broth of a single home made anchovy bouillon ball. Needed a little salt, but it tasted great. Alhamdulillah. It didn't taste fishy at all. Rather, it tasted milky. It must have been the chopped mustard green stems.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Letter to Erin 20151001
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
I find it difficult to accept that you be extremely busy and not have digestive problems. It's not just the stress of work, but also the inconsistency of the food you find on the road. Most people think that if you consume something or diet frequently enough, then you would get used to it. I find that the stomach, especially of sensitive people, would shut down with persistent abuse. The glutton becomes obese, the anorexic becomes unable to eat, and the bulimic dry heaves for no reason.You should try to make life easy and predictable for your tummy when you are busy traveling and what not. Prepare your own food as often as possible. Just something to get you by, until life allows you a pause. Before you check into your hotel room, stop by a grocery store and pick up some sliced bread, sliced meats/cheeses, salad mix and fruit. Or stop by a convenience store and buy some sliced bread, sliced meats/cheeses and canned food/fruit. Or in a foreign country, stop by a convenience store and pick up some flat bread and canned food. When you have to leave town, just chuck the lot into the trash then repeat the process when you get to the next town. Wasteful maybe, but not on your tummy.
You must take care of your tummy since I'm not there to take care of you! Don't experiment with food when you're busy: keep it predictable. Don't trust strangers to prepare your food. Don't starve yourself either. Remember to say, "In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful" before taking the first bite/sip. I love you, and I need you.
I find it difficult to accept that you be extremely busy and not have digestive problems. It's not just the stress of work, but also the inconsistency of the food you find on the road. Most people think that if you consume something or diet frequently enough, then you would get used to it. I find that the stomach, especially of sensitive people, would shut down with persistent abuse. The glutton becomes obese, the anorexic becomes unable to eat, and the bulimic dry heaves for no reason.You should try to make life easy and predictable for your tummy when you are busy traveling and what not. Prepare your own food as often as possible. Just something to get you by, until life allows you a pause. Before you check into your hotel room, stop by a grocery store and pick up some sliced bread, sliced meats/cheeses, salad mix and fruit. Or stop by a convenience store and buy some sliced bread, sliced meats/cheeses and canned food/fruit. Or in a foreign country, stop by a convenience store and pick up some flat bread and canned food. When you have to leave town, just chuck the lot into the trash then repeat the process when you get to the next town. Wasteful maybe, but not on your tummy.
You must take care of your tummy since I'm not there to take care of you! Don't experiment with food when you're busy: keep it predictable. Don't trust strangers to prepare your food. Don't starve yourself either. Remember to say, "In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful" before taking the first bite/sip. I love you, and I need you.
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