Pol-e-Choobi

I watched this iranian movie title pol-e-choobi (wood bridge) before sleep last 3 nights. It was a great movie. It started with nowruz celebration in shomal. The place was so beautiful (well i love shomal much). It's about a young couple whom are fighting with life in iran and planning to migrate to america but are constraint with the husband's job. With help of wife's uncle, the wife went to dubai for visa process. Conflict arise when husband suspicious about wife in dubai. His ex gf also just came back from oversea and they met which make the situation worst. He think of re establish their relationship that once they had with thought that wife is cheating him in dubai. He started to ignore wife's calls which later make wife suspicious of him. She return to iran to take her husband to america as the visa are ready but end up fighting about both suspicions. Wife went out from their house. Later the husband realized that he made mistakes and in the end they meet again at shomal...(this is my understanding from my broken farsi as theres no subtitles, maybe it's not exactly the story but i am sure it don't differ too much). 

I did cry at some parts of the movie. They are both lovely couple but because of wild suspicions, their marriage in trouble. I think this is the bad side of long distance relationship which really require trust and patience. Do not betray each other. It sounds simple but for those who've experience it, it's really hard. There are two scenes which really touched me. One when the husband give advise to his sister's bf about marrying her sister and another one at the end of the film, the husband's monologue on his way to shomal. Below are the dialogue. (Mind that 's not exacly the dialogue as my broken farsi only can catch these. For any iranian that is reading this post, please give comment and correct me. I really appreciate it). 

(1)  1:31 "Roozi ke fekr kardi ye chizi az tahe del dustari hichvaght velesh nakon. momkene dobare tekrar nashe adamha ke too senne salete fekr mikone bazam pisht miyad. bad 10 15 sal begzare ke befahme ke hamun 1 bar boode ke halet dg khub nemishe. eshgh yani halet khub bashe" 

My translation: 
"On the day that you think you like something, never leave it. Maybe it won't happen again. People in your age think that again it will happen. After 10. 15 years they will understand only that 1 time it happened, thus your life won't be good again. Love is that your life is good"

(2) 1:38 Hamishe bayad jelo beri too jadde yek taraf hatta age bekhay ham ejazeh bargasht nadari. Amma hanuz ham mishod baraye ona ke darmiyad az taskire poshte kooh  o tunel o piche too ghesseh goft. Baraye ma tahrid o tars negaheshun kardan negaranesh bood. Vaghti pishe hamin ghadre baham boodano nemiduni. Vaghte doorim mishe fahmid unike rafte cheghard az vojoodeto kande ba khodesh borde. Chegard pishe un khodet baham gozoshte. 

My translation: 
"Always go further on a one way highway even if you want  you don't have permission to come back. However............(i don't really get it)..........When we're together, we don't know the value of our togetherness. When far we understood that the person who has left took away some part of your existence. .......( i don't really get it)" 

So guys, who love to watch romantic movie, please watch this movie and share your opinion with me. I copy the link below.

http://forum.iranproud.com/download-movie-iranian-movies-pole-choobi-c8-f9170

or

Taa daafe baad...ba kassi ke doosesh dari syak nakon...chon momkene az syak ke dari zendegito kharab mikoni...khoda hafez!!

Dream Life

Everybody have their own dream for life. And it is changing as age changes. When I was child my dream is to enter university and become an accountant. I achieved half of it which entered university but not graduated in accountancy. If you asked me what is the biggest I've done for my life was that. I regret of not choosing the right university and course. It's all because following my teenage want without thinking my future. 

After graduated I dream to have a great profession in a corporate world but I end up further my Master and later Phd. Thus, I think my only choice now in profession is only to become lecturer which was the most profession I never want to be during my schoolhood. Well, we'll see later...

And now in adult life, my dreams is focused on what life I want to have after I finish my education. I don't mean about occupation but the way of life. House, family, lifestyle etc. Now I will share about it with purpose that after some years I can glance back to see whether I achieved it or not. I prefer to live in a countryside area a.k.a kampung in Malay. Not village that is really far from urbanism but not in the middle of city. I want to have small country house, with garden for me to plant vegetables and flowers as what mak is doing now. Have chicken coop so that I will wake up from sleep because of the rooster's crow and during hari raya I can cook rendang kampung chicken. To hear birds chirping instead of the sound of car engines. I will plant a nice grass on the lawn so that in the evening I can have tea with families under tree sheds on a green grass. At the backyard I want to plant vegetables and spices so that when I need some of it I just can open the back door and take it. Cooking while looking at my plants will be so great.

My kitchen would be an open one which mean there is no separation between living area and kitchen. so that I can watch what my children is doing while I'm cooking or my husband can do his work at the living room while me preparing meals. About children I want 3. 2 is ok. Moreover my other siblings also have not so many children. So 3 is my choice 2 girls and 1 boy. Well I have some years left before it become impossible. haha. I will decorate my house in very country living theme. A mix with cream, green and red colors. Minimalist furniture with wide area for the children to play.

I prefer to work instead SAHM because I don't want to depend on my hb's money. That's just not me. I learn to be independent since my father passed away. I'll shop online (outfits) more because I hate of choices and make decision to buy during family outing. I prefer to spend more time with them doing things that we can do together while I am off. Moreover, some of supermarkets nowadays have the delivery to home service for groceries shopping. 

I will travel the world. Places that I love to go such as Italy, Australia, South Korea (again), Turkey and UK. I prefer to go to cities (well, as I live in a countryside), rather than island or mountains or anything that involves physical activities. 

In my life, I love to live far from the people that I know or know me. Only close families and friends. Which means that I will have a quality relationships rather than mix of everything. I don't know why but my experience in life has taught me that somehow people that are not very close to me just want to take advantage. Therefore I just need some important people in mylife.  

Oh what have I rambled about? Whatever..let me look back on this post 10 years later and see what happened and what not. Taa daafe baad.....love me the way I am and lets dream nicely because dream will lead us to achievement. 

Chili Crab Recipe

School holidays come again. So starting yesterday nieces and nephews started to come and drive myself crazy again. :) previously when they were smaller, i screamed because they made house messy but now they've grown up but still i have to scream alot to them. Not because of messy house but because lazy!! 24hrs computer, ipad, phone. No other thing. Even i have to scream for them to go bath. Oh..oh..this is how technology affected life. Sigh...however, i'm not angry with them of course i'm a good maksu. What makes me happy when they're here is that i could cook more and there are always somebody to eat it. 

Like yesterday i cooked chili crabs which is they're favorite and me too. If only me and mak crabs are not so tempting like yesterday. In a blink all crabs gone. :) fatin looked so tired after eating. I asked what happen? She said i was full to eat but it's a waste if i don't eat this because you cook so delicious maksu. Hehe. Enough of praising myself. Let me share the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 kg crabs, clean cut into 2 and break the claws with pestle to make eating easier

*10 dried chillies, clean, cut 1 inch, boil for 15 minutes. This step is important to hinder from stomach ache since i cannot eat chilli much. 

*1 large onion

* 4 garlic cloves

* 1 inch ginger

* half inch shrimp paste

3 tbsp chilli sauce (bottled)

2 tbsp oyster sauce

4 kaffir lime leaves

1 dried tamarind

2 tbsp honey

Salt and msg to taste

Oil

Water

Methods: 

1. Blend all *ingredients

2. Deep fry the crabs for 10 minutes or until cook.

3. In a pan heat some oil and fry the blended ingredients until well cook. This step is also important in cooking chillies to avoid stomach ache. Make sure the oil comes out from the mixture and the color of chillies turned darker.

4. Add chilli sauce, oyster sauce, honey, kaffir lime leaves, dried tamarind, salt and msg.

5. Mix well until aroma rice, add the fried crabs.

6. Stir well until all the crabs coated with the sauce. Add water if it's too dry to get some gravy.

Add more chiili if you prefer it spicy. Kaffir lime leaves will give a very nice aroma. Honey will give a nice sweetness. Good luck!!!

Rindu Strikes

گل نازم دلم تنگهنذاشتن پیش هم باشیم
باید هر دو جدا ازهم
شریک درد و غم باشیم
دلم تنگه واسه چشمات
دلم تنگه گل نازم
منم مثل تو دلگیرم
می دونم عاقبت یک شب
از این دلتنگی می میرم
دلم تنگه گل نازم
نگی از تو جدا بودم
اگه پرسیدن اون کی بود
نگی من بی وفا بودم
دلم تنگه واسه چشمات

گل نازم دلم تنگه
نذاشتن پیش هم باشیم
باید هر دو جدا ازهم
شریک درد و غم باشیم
دلم تنگه واسه چشمات
دلم تنگه گل نازم
منم مثل تو دلگیرم
می دونم عاقبت یک شب
از این دلتنگی می میرم
دلم تنگه گل نازم
نگی از تو جدا بودم
اگه پرسیدن اون کی بود
نگی من بی وفا بودم
دلم تنگه واسه چشمات

Leggings or Support?

Support is what Iranian women refer to leggings. How to spell it? S.U.P.P.O.R.T or S.A.P.P.O.R.T or any other spelling? I don't know why they called it support. Is it because the material nicely support legs muscles/fats? Is it because it support their need to wear something sexier without being detained by the moral police? I really don't know. Who started to call leggings support? Hmm..well well well. 

During my visit to Iran, I saw this is the "in" trend currently. Well I would say that in Malaysia too. For me wearing tight pants or leggings will make a woman looks neat. In Iran normally women wear mantou or long dress in fllowing the dress code. When it's being match with leggings which is tight, it will make you look fashionable.  It is contrast if you wear leggings and tight short shirt which is for me unacceptable because you will show all your body curves/fats/butts whatever you have. Of course in Islamic dress code leggings is not suitable but for me it is ok. I wear tight pants with long dress for which I don't over showing my body. However, in Iran somehow i saw that the girls trying to push the boundaries of dress code by wearing very thin leggings that when she bend her knee, you can see the skin color. And for me it's an eeeeewww fashion. You wear hijab, nice. You wear mantou/long dress, nice. But you wear a  socks with that? And you think you are one of those supermodels with long skinny legs?It is so unacceptable for me.

When I went to Mazyar Fallahi concert, there were some moral polices at the entrance of the hall. They checked dress code. In front of me there were 3 girls. Suddenly the police asked one of them out from the line and I heard what the police said. Ya mantou bepush ya shalvar bepush. (Wear either mantou/long dress or pants). I looked at that girl. She wears a very tight, thin leggings with tight, short mantou (above knee). I don't know whether she was allowed to enter in the end or not. Never play with Iranian polices. They arenot like Malaysian polices :-P Yes, me passed the police checking with flying colors of course haha.

I understand how hard womens in Iran have to face the reality of dressing and fashion. They have very minimum rights to wear what they want. But for me, they all look nice with their fashion in Iran. Modest and neat. If I have to live in Iran, I will have no problem with the dress code. In fact I love to wear mantou even in Malaysia. For leggings, it's ok to wear as long as you know the boundaries especially for woman ho wears hijab and with condition that make sure your legs are nice and lean. If you have that chicken drumstick leg just stay with your normal pant or else you will look like a chicken wrapped. 

Taa daafe baad...khoda negahdar

For more info about Iran and leggings: click here

Azren and support

Farsi Milestones

Internet in office was really bad lately. I complained several times to sps but seems no action taken. Well, it's a normal thing in the university after almost a decade I'm here. I don't know when the uni especially this unit (sps) want to upgrade its service. Forget it..I'm used to it already. Bcause of the slow speed of internet today, I got pissed off and turned off the computer. I saw in the corner of my table one small book that I left there from the 1st day I enter that office and didn't even open it. It's a english-persian dictionary which I bought from Iran last 3 years. 1000 toman. I randomly opened its pages and try to read the words. There are also basic sentences like greetings and others that are useful for tourists. I was shocked that I can read the farsi words (in farsi alphabets) and every page that I opened there are english words that i can translate to farsi. I kind of proud of myself. Well who else want to praise me right? I never thought that I can arrive to this milestones. I learned without a formal learning. I did this all by myself. Now I really want to master my writings and spellings because somehow in farsi what we pronounce is not same as what is written. For example. I go is beram but to write it is be-ra-vam. It's quite hard for me. I'll learn it slowly. My weakness is that if I try to read a farsi written article I get easily fedup because somehow I cant understand what the meaning of the words. So I dont know whether it's correct or not. Anyhow, 'dont despair and never lose hope'-maher zain I will master it soon or later.

Taa daafe baad.....khoda hafez

JDT at Niavaran Palace

Foods in Iran

If you know me well, you'll notice that I am a "foody" person. I love cooking particularly and of course I love eating. Who doesnt like eating tho? ;P The only problem is that the metabolism rate, why it's declining? And the fats get stuck at some parts of body. Oh my..I do care of course but I decided to ignore the fact that I am on eating clean during my trips to Iran. How can I resist to eat yummylicious foods that I can only get once in a blue moon? So here are some of foods that I managed to capture its photo before its gone I had while in Iran and it still take me times until today to lose the gained kg!!

Kaleh Pacheh

Lotsa fruits and so cheap!!

Some buffet foods. 

Shir Pesteh

Kabab

Forget its name. But it tastes like mahicheh

Persian polow

Faloodeh

Ash Reshteh

Adasi. I dont like much

Torshi Sir

Mahi va juje kababs

Soup e jo

Mirza Ghasemi

Mahi (ghazalali?) Sorkh Kardan

Jigare gusfand-o bokhoram :)

Shirini Darmakhi 

Haida Berger

Assorted Bastani

Havij Bastani (Zaffron)

Cucur Udang (Shrimp Fritters)

Today is first if muharram. Since it's public holiday, my other siblings came. Lunch was prepared by me and my sis. For afternoon tea i made cucur udang. Earlier in the morning i bought shrimps from the regular fish monger, pick some chives from backyard and found some bean sprouts in fridge. So here is the simple recipe.

Ingredients; 

- 4 cups flour 

- 1 tbsp yeast 

- yellow food colouring

- salt 

- bean sprouts 

- chives 

- shrimps 

- water 

Methods;

1. Mix flour, water, salt, food colouring.

2. Let it sit for 1 hr. Mixture will double up the size. Make sure you use big bowl.

3. After 1 hour, add the left ingredients, fry until golden brown. 

4. Serve with peanut sauce or any sauce you like.