Of cooking and meeting of minds

Alhamdulillah, the halal and nutritious food competition finally took place.We had 12 entries but akhirnya tinggal 6 contestants (cos' we had to postpone the original date).I wanted to withdraw but not nicelah, kan? So pagi lagi I dah turun ke dapor to prepare my scrambled duck egg (omelette) breakfast meal and toast and rockmelon juice.

The other contestants were well-prepared but the show must go on.Heh heh.Chef from Istana Hotel (Syed Fikri) sangatlah gentleman.He was truly kind but I think dia mesti nak tergelak nengok my entry.Dia kindly said, belum lagi saya buat omelette dgn telor itik.Senang cari ke telor itik? I said susaaaahh..bla bla bla.He said did you put it consistently on high fire? I said yes..bkn gitu  ke caranya? He said mula2 low then slowly increase it to sederhana.I said toast tu I tak butter up cos' dah byk mkn benda berlemak.Then he suggested I brush up dgn olive oil.Hmm..stg new there.

I tak menang, OK? Mungkin corot pun. :D Saja nak meramaikan contestants..but glad I did it cos' I met so many interesting people termasuk two academics frm Engineering (sorang Egyptian), the other developed their own enzymes for goatmilk buat cheesecake..so organic..Yang menang tu buat chicken breast swissroll like lunch set.Sedap gila.Depa mmg culinary grads.Aiseh..rasa mcm nak ambik culinary course kat community college.I like cooking but I tak reti!

Ptg tu my IOK class bertambah 2 students..from other Kull nak audit.Another one sms-ed nak join.Hadoi...but a nice group.

Besoknya (today) I rushed to attend seminar pemikir Abim/Wadah.Glad I went.I learnt so much.Mula2 fikir alamak, no one I know and no one knows me.But at the registration, Prof Nik of PUM greeted me and got his friend to escort me to seat paling depan a few seats away from Wan Azizah.Mak aiii...malunya datang lambat! Then after the talks, saw Izura and Kak Mah so had a good time catching up.Kak Mah introduced me to her gfs..mcm2 le kita nak buat (pantang ada prob..semua nak tolong..haha..we need to focus on a problem, I told Izura.Yes, she said).

I heard so many cendikiawan Islam for the first time.Where was I all this while? Sokmo last train! I suka Dato Prof Siddiq Fadzil's talk.Kelakar sungguh dia ni.Kelakar ilmiah.He said fatwa ttg rally ni adalah mengikut warna baju..kalu kuning..haraaaam.Kalau merah, sunat muakad.:)) He said Islam ni bkn agama racist.Dia ingin berpesan kpd org Melayu...baiklah tinggalkan pepatah pepatih yg tidak elok seperti kalu jumpa ular dan keling, bunuh keling dulu.He said punya byk perumpamaan lain, ngapa itu yg kita selalu nak guna.Mcm juga Cina Buta..he said byk cara lain nak explain benda2 tak senonoh gitu..kambing buta ke..lembu buta ke..kenapa Cina harus dibutakan.

He said rupa2nya perumpamaan ular-keling tu wujud di Sumatra juga.Cendikiawan Indonesia bertanya sejak bila Msia mula guna perumpamaan itu (tak kelain nak claim origins tu..haha)... Cendikiawan Msia pantang soalan tak berjawab wpun tak tau..so he said: yah...sejak melayu kenal keling. :D

A young scholar from Unisza was talking of how loss of scholarship would bring chaos to tne state, society etc and betapa ilmuan hari ini tidak jujur dgn ilmu mereka.An ustaz was caught saying pemimpin wajib ditaati secara mutlak..jahat ke baik ke.But luckily students yg ada ilmu questioned him back till dia tak leh kelentong lagi.Begitu juga with one Historian yg menghina cendikiawan Islam pre merdeka dgn mengatakan mrklah petualang bangsa (just becos' they were Islamicist).The young scholar said bagaimana cendikiawan lama bisa merubah masyarakat mcm Said Nursi..pemikiran dia ditulis atas cebis2 kertas dari penjara but hari ni...negara sekular itu boleh
berubah menjadi mcm hari ni despite kekangan yg dasyat.

Banyak lagi.Lain kali I want to attend lagi majlis2 ilmu mcm ni (twice a year). I bought a few books by Siddiq Fadzil (nanti ASA nak jemput dia dtg to speak on academic freedom from Islamic perspective and I told Nik..Nik pun nak invite dia to speak on integrity nxt March). Am reading buku anak Hamka called Ayah...inspiring gila! ( kisah ayah dia dgn Pramoedya Ananta Toer tu sungguh indah..Pram ni zaman Soekarno bkn main sombong..Dia belasah Hamka, reka cerita bkn2 psl penulis Islamist ni sampai ramai masuk penjara tanpa bicara termasuk Hamka).

Bila Soekarno jatuh, Hamka bebas, si Pram pulak kena mcm2..bukunya kena banned etc.Bila org tanya Hamka apa komen dia ttg ban itu, Hamka kata dia tidak pernah bersetuju dgn ban itu sbb Pram menulis mengenai cinta.Jika tak suka, tulis buku lain, jgn ban.Bila ditanya kisah Pram menganiayainya, he said dia sudah maafkan segalanya.Fuiyooo...sungguh mulia!

Pram ni bila anak dia Titik nak kawin bukan Islam, dia tak kasi.Kalau nak kawin juga, lelaki itu disuruh belajar agama dgn Hamka so the couple went to berguru dgn Hamka.Bila Titik beritau dia anak Pram, Hamka terdiam sebentar.Lepas tu dia senyum dan kata tidak mengapa.Fuiyooo...sucinya hati dia! Para penganalisa berpendapat itu cara Jawa Pram meminta maaf dgn Hamka dan Hamka memahami message itu dan menerima maafnya.Wow, what a pair.I think they admired each other's work.

Bila wartawan tanya Pram kenapa hantar anak dan bakal menantu ngaji dgn Hamka, he said perbedaan politik masih tidak berubah tetapi bila bab tauhid, Hamka is the best in Indonesia and Islam is about tauhid, he said (gamaknya Pram dok mendengar ceramah Hamka di TV dan radio dan membaca tulisan2nya.Iyalah Pram hidup zaman jahiliah..yg terbaik dan teradil baginya ketika itu was socialism/communism gamaknya.Hamka received his Honorary Doctorate from Al Azhar and despite not receiving any formal education from any uni (dia banyak belajar sendiri dan dari tokoh-tokoh agama di Sumatra, Makkah dan byk membaca.It is amazing tht it was not the Mufti or uni prof who led the religious reformation
 or Islamisasi di Indonesia but a tasawwuf chap)

Gosh...it's like being in a different world reading this book.Bezanya datang ke majlis2 ilmuan mcm ni.Syukurlah I pergi.