Cosmic Dust: Survivors Episode 3: Day(s) Off

Bismillah,

For 22 years, this year Ramadhan was the special one for me. I never thought that I will be doing this in my life; fasting, travelling and hiking for almost a month. A good friend of mine once said,"baguslah, orang time puasa ni petang-petang tido, kau kena g hiking". That's my duty, that's my tasks to be fulfilled, apa nak buat? T_T. Serious, ramadhan itu juga sangat-sangat manis rasanya, rasa kelainan, umpama kalau masak ikan masak tiga rasa, ada rasa yang keempat! hoho

So, what we (The Malaysians) did during our days off?

1. Fasting!

2. Laundry

3. Shower! (beware of the dark water rising from the 10 days or more of no shower!)

4. Iftar together

Once we got at Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research (SNARL), I was amazed that we finally had a real kitchen! Which means, boleh lah masak-masak, no need to eat Mexican-American food everyday. After submitting our latest assignment late in the evening that day, we discussed among ourselves "what should we be getting for iftar tomorrow, since the cook will not be cooking during the days off". Then everyone agreed to have(not to cook!) shrimp curry. I listed down the ingredients "verbally" to one of my friend so that she could get the stuffs when she went to the city (We don't like to be in the same vehicle haha!). Good, she had all stuffs that I wanted, except for the curry powder looks extremely "healthy" and "weird" - organic curry powder????!!!

Here's what we've got:

Cooked shrimp - couldn't get any fresher than this

The celery is for Yasmin's fish soup-her cook was superb!!

So basic ingredients such as onions, garlic etc kena ada, plus bunga lawang (i don't know the English name for it). Since she couldn't find thai chilli, she got me harbaneros instead, trust me, she bought 4 of it but it tasted like a bowl of cili padi! then, tumiskan everything, including the harbaneros and potatoes. Agak-agak dah wangi, masukkan curry powder. To my surprise, the American version of curry powder lagi banyak proportion of tumeric than the curry itself. I had my friend who couldn't fast that day to try it and no way! rasa kunyit T___T. So I altered it, last-last jadi masak lemak udang, aduhai....failed! Maaf ye kawan-kawan, bukan salahku....! Bila kawan-kawan and cikgu mat saleh tanya, susah nak explain ape sebenarnya masakan ni, nak kata kari, kari tak jadi, nak kata masak lemak, ada rasa kari sikit. confuse. Anyway, as long as dapat makan something Malaysia that day! And thanks to anyone yang beli barang, I still didn't know who was paying these stuffs, i thought must be the guys sebab mereka tak masak and left the task to girls kan? kan? thanks korang belanja beli barang yeh!

That night itself, sempat beli my favorite Haagen Dasz Strawberry Sorbet for $3.99. Actually, when I was in Malaysia, tak makan ice cream sangat pun. When I got here, Arizona was really hot and I became best friend with Baskin Robin and Haagen Dazs (the only ice cream I can afford to buy here + halal)

My days off tak habis dekat makan-makan dan masak-masak je. I also did something beneficial (except for hiking - sebab the professors also went out hiking during their days off - apekah tak penat????????). Please enjoy the photos from my days off there:

not exactly day off tapi jalan-jalan juga lah

enjoy sight seeing - flowers and butterfly

sedang memikirkan masa depan @Yosemite National Park

Melihat manusia-manusia bertempiaran melarikan diri dari disimbah ombak (dengan gaya yang mengada-ngada)

@San Simeon beach - not exactly day off - jadi day off sebab professor drive terlampau "slow" menyebabkan kami 3 suburban tertinggal kat belakang tak tahu nak pergi mana - so chill out je lah