The sweet Keria making

Bismillah,

I tried this recipe a week before the flood strike us. My friend Syazwani had extra sweet potato on that time. She gave it to me and told me to make some Keria out of it. 

Keria is a traditional Malaysian bite-sized food / snack (snack ke?). You can say that the shape of Keria resembles the normal doughnut, with sweet potato as the main ingredient. It is best serve during tea time (or breakfast for some Malaysian). 

Nyonya Kueh defines Keria as:

Okay enough said, here's what you need:

1. Sweet potato
2. Plain flour
3. Caster sugar (the normal sugar would do too)
4. Some water
5. Oil 

First you boil the sweet potatoes to make it soft and tender. 

Then you peel off the skin..

..and mash the potatoes..

..finely.

Next, add up plain flour bit by bit..

..and mix well.

Add some baking soda if you wish.

Knead all the ingredient together and add some water to form a soft dough.

After that, form a round dough according to your preferred size of Keria.

Flats the round dough..

..and makes a hole in the centre to form a doughnut.

Done with the first part. :)

Next, deep fry the doughnut. 

For the sake of health, do not eat Keria often okay people. 

Deep fry is a no no if you want to look young at older age like Japanese people. :)

Done with the second part.

Add sugar and water on separate pan. Wait till the mixture boils 

and glaze the doughnut with the syrup.

And tadaa! The final product. Nyummies~

Credit to:

The chef: Zaira

The photographer: Me

The sweet potatoes supplier: Syazwani

The tester: Asyikin

We are flood victims (Part 2: during the flood)

Bismillah,

This is a continuation of this post. Still remember that the power supply will be cut off from this post? So this was what we've did as a preparation. We cooked every raw materials that we had in the fridge. From chicken, seafood, egg, fish, to even veggies. No one want to throw all that away when it got spoiled right? Membazir camtu je nanti. 

We cooked almost non-stop okay (nonstop!) before the power cut off. We wanted to ensure that we will have a sufficient amount of food during that period.      

While we were preparing the food supply, we can frequently hear the helicopter sound. It was so close that you was concomitantly wondering, "has the flood reach our street by now?"   

A view from Sis Zatil's house at Warren Street. 

Can you spot the helicopter?

At Warren Street before we left for Central Avenue. Half of the garage was being flooded. 

Do you still want to rent this property? Nah..

Then we packed our stuffs and foods as we wanted to move for a higher place, the Central Avenue. Thanks again to Sis Zatil for her hard work in finding a much higher place for us. :) 

Do you think the ants know that the flood is coming that they 

wanted to move out somewhere higher? (Our seniors' house at Central Avenue)

Some of our food supply. Menu for the first day: fried chickens, boiled eggs, veggies soup, rice. 

Mewah kan untuk mangsa banjir? Alhamdulillah. ^_^ And some plain water.

 From Central Avenue back to Warren Street to gather more foods on that evening.
Can you see how high the Central Avenue is? And try to zoom in to the end of this road.

 Here's the close up view. Blocked road.

As most of us (particularly me) afraid that the food supply that we have might not enough, we went to the FoodWorks located at Hawken Village. The only shop that managed to operate during flood, and they used a generator for their electricity. We went there to grab more loaves of bread. But unfortunately...

The bread's shelves were empty! :( 

(Roti dah habis boleh lagikan senyum? Hehe..)

Same went for the biscuit's shelves. *Double worried*

But, lucky enough that we were early and managed to grab 4 bread loaves at the counter. We were being blessed again! Thank you Allah that You ease our rough situation. :)

I found this service was kind of cute and generous. No electricity remember?

 Thanks FoodWorks!

On the second day at Central avenue, Ainna got a phone call from Auntie Nisyat. It was an invitation to cook at her place (as her stove use gas not electricity). She wanted to finish her meat supply fast as the meat might be spoiled due to power cut off. 

So we went there and we read Surah Ar-Rahman (Allah the Most Gracious) from Quran as our sign of appreciation to Allah for:

• the food supply we have at that moment.
• the help that we got from many people.
• the fact that we are still alive not being drag or drowning in the flood.
• the house at Central Avenue that Sis Zatil managed to find for us.
• and many more (!) that you can't finish listing all of it.

"And He gives you of all that you ask Him, and if you count Allah's favors, you will not able to number them; most man surely is very unjust, very regretful" [14:34]   

"Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?" [55:13]

So this was our menu on that day. Thanks Auntie Nisyat! Alhamdulillah2 praise be to Allah for the food. :)

Fried Samosa with potato and curry filling.

Lamb Briyani! Owh yeah..

Carrot and cabbage in a sweet ketchup soup. Masak kicap la..

Curd yougurt and Kheer; a Pakistan's dessert (as told to me). 

Or maybe from India? I'm not very sure.

Disclaimer: Sorry for the last 3 pictures, a bit dark. No electricity aite? :)

To be continued..

We are flood victims (Part 1: pre-flood)

Bismillah,

Now is 4.40 am in the morning, the 3^rd day since I evacuated my unit property at Sir Fred Schonell, St Lucia. Currently there is no electricity (no electricity means no internet too okay, just keep that in mind), limited food supply and probably shortage of water supply soon. The condition? Alhamdulillah praise be to Allah, all 6 of us are being blessed by Allah in this flood crisis. You’ll find out what I mean with that ‘blessed’ word. Keep on reading. :)

I will make 3 parts for this flood experience story; pre-flood, during the flood and post-flood.

__________________________________________________________________________

Rewinding back to the past most critical 72 hours on 11.1.11 (the last update from me in this post).  

I just finished with the observation and some data collection for my crosses project (more details about my summer project here and here). I was at the rooftop of Goddard building alone when I did my data collation. I knew something was not good when it was raining heavily on that day since morning. Like something was no right. It did rain on the previous day, but there was something different with the weather on that day.

Then I went back to the lab downstairs to keep my log book. I wanted to finish up with the DNA extraction and some plant transplanting work that was long due.

It was about noon when most of the people (summer students, postgraduation students, and researchers) that were currently in the university received a warning email from their school director. That email told us to go back home immediately to secure things, evacuate the university ground asap and move to hilly area.

“Nurul, you need to go back now. Pack your stuffs and buy food for a week”, said Vignesh with his serious face out of nowhere when I was browsing the internet to check emails.

I stunned. I tried to read his poker face deciding whether that statement was a joke or for real. You know how playful Vignesh is right? (Read more about him here) 

“This is serious! I’m not joking”, he continued realising the long pause and reluctant-to-believe face that I gave to him. 

“Yup I will. When I finish with this”, I responded.

As soon as he leaved the lab to inform others, I immediately called Zaira. I told her about the evacuation and let her knows that I’m going to overnight at her place for a couple of days. I packed my stuffs and headed straight to my house.

This was the first scenario that I felt blessed and grateful to Allah. I was lucky enough that Allah gave me will to do some groceries few days before this flood crisis strike. So I had enough food supply for a week. Alhamdulillah.

This was what I brought in a cabin size luggage:

• Passport, Malaysian IC, house documents, student ID, bank card, some cash
• The holy Al-Quran 
• Laptop, mobile phone, phone charger, camera
• Some clothes, socks, spare hijab, small towel 
• Umbrella of course
• Rice, eggs, milk, bread, fruits
• Medications and toiletries

And this teddy bear; the only not-so-important item that I will not leave behind. This teddy means a lot to me.

With his flatted tummy. Owh well..

That evening when I arrived at Zaira’s place I just realized how serious and critical the situation was when I watched the television (okey, rumah saye tak ade tv harap maklum). The Toowomba was heavily flash flooded due to inland tsunami. That area was severely affected and damaged as told by the news. My jaw was almost drooped when I heard of the news. 

Now I need to face this crisis independently without my parents. This was a matter of survival. That night we gathered at Sis Zatil's house. There were 6 of us; Zaira, Asyikin, Sis Shuhada, Ainna, Sis Zatil and me.

O’ Allah, please help me and my friends.

Just overnight, the water went higher than expected. Almost half of the Warren St was submerged with water. The map of Warren Street in this post. Alhamdulillah Sis Zatil managed to find a house at Central Avenue which is the highest point in our area.

Above was my travel log on 14.1.11. I only managed to blog again when the internet connection already stabled. To be continued..

Skype-date and flood: what's the link between these 2?

Bismillah,

Last Sunday I skype-date with my father. He asked about the current status of the flood in my area.

Father: So how's St Lucia? I found out from the news, it's getting worst huh?

Me: Owh, St Lucia is still safe. And the uni is still on like usual. I even went to the lab last Friday. I believe everything is good!

Father: Owh okay. Just take care of yourself. And plus, your house is located near to Brisbane River aite?

He googled my location and showed me the map through his iPhone.

Father: See this. (And obviously the picture of the map is not clear when you skype) This is Guyatt Park, and this is your house.

Me: Yup, you are right. But I don't think is going to flood over here. Our area is pretty high.

Father: Yup but just be careful will ya. The news told me that the northern part of Queensland is already submerged!

Okay I don't have a tv, so I don't know the latest news. >.<" Then I showed him this.

Me: Ayah, look at this!

And as I stated earlier, the picture came out to be blurred and distorted through the skype frame. It was not as clear as this.


Father: Who's that? Is it _ _ _ _ ? (Okay siapa tahu sila isi tempat kosong ;p)


And he gave me his mocking smile.


Me: Laa... Why should I put his picture as the wallpaper? Ayah ni..
_____________________________________________________________________________


And today is 11.1.11. This is going to be a history for me.

Brisbane town council has already announced that Brisbane city and St Lucia (where most of the UQ students live) will be hit by flood due to overflowing of Brisbane River. It is expected that the flood will be 6 meters high by Thursday if the rain continued. Plus, they are also releasing the water from the nearby damp.

More news and current status of Brisbane flood here. Click the link to find out how worse my situation is right now. :(

And this is the map for my area released by town council entitled: Brisbane flood map. Remember the Guyatt Park I've talked earlier? That park is near to a ferry jetty. And see all those blue area? That blue area is expected to submerge by Thursday. Meaning that the whole Guyatt Park will disappear by Thursday!

The purple circle is my house and the red circle is where we gathered in senior's house for now. We are going to stay here till the flood is over.

The airport service is off, all shops are closed, the class were canceled. They told us to buy food supply for a week. There was no more bread on the supermarket's shelves.

Sooner they will shut down the power supply. No electricity.

And the town council do predict that this time the water level is going to be HIGHER than the flood happened on 1974! That was the last time Brisbane had a SERIOUS flood.

This was what happen 37 years ago.

(http://connect.in.com/brisbane-flood/photos-brisbane-flood-1974-05-75efa3aa069cc822.html)

The latest picture of Toowomba, located only an hour distance from Brisbane city.

So do you manage to find the link between skype-date and flood? The link is what my father said in the skype about the flood finally becomes a reality.

P/s: Hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri
The new modified version is: Bah besar di negeri orang, di negeri sendiri tak de la pulak nak bah. 

For the love - Boonaa Mohammed

Bismillah,

I found this beautiful video by Boonaa. Thought of sharing it here. Listen full-heartedly okay.. :)

I'm deeply touched, are you? *watery eyes* And now it's time to reflect ourselves..

New year gift

Bismillah,

Below is my new year gift. Please read carefully.

A presentation for my summer project in front of 2 lab teams; SKB's and Ortiz's.

And currently I'm blogging instead of preparing my slides! >.<" Cuak habis sampai tak lalu nak menghadap powerpoints. Gulp~

I have 3 big projects that I'm going to present for tomorrow:

1) Crossing of TDM lines, a late flowering A.thaliana.

To be crossed with flc-3. Please note that the size of these 

siliques are a quarter of your thumb! 

2) Propagation of Bur-0 and Phytochrome C.

3) The distribution of late flowering time based on rosette leaves scoring.

  

Okay, enough said. I need to finish up slides. 

O' Allah, ease my task for tomorrow, may I present fluently and able to deliver the content of the presentation successfully. Ameen..