No pork! No lard! err, halal meh?

I am a foodies goodies, (ya, saya seorang yang suka makan). I love to try new places, not necessarily it has to be fancy, 'warung' is also included. So when the booklet on upcoming 2009 Chef United MIGF (Malaysia International Gourmet Festival) was handed to me, I quickly flipped through the pages looking for the must-try-restaurant AND on the lam-alif-lam-ha status (Surprisingly there was only ‘pork free’ indicator available-Hadhari la katakan) .

You see, I began to be a 'vigilant' halal person on the food that I consume starting on my first pregnancy. (We muslim believe that not only the food has to be 'halal' but the source of income that we pay for the food must also be pure (suci-putrity; alamak! I am indirectly servicing a conventional bank, macam mana tuh?)

When I had Haziq in my tummy, I didn’t have any of that ‘finger lickin’ good brand AT ALL after watching this one video aired by TV3 (PPIM raided the chicken farm, it was damn filthy and the sembelih was inappropriate-yucks!)

Then during preggie with Nazurah, it was Japanese craze. The latest pregnancy with Hazim was different, I didn’t have this big appetite or crazy crave like I used to EXCEPT for Fatty Crab!. To overcome this, the other half (being a syariah compliance person) had a friend to flew down a box of fresh crab all the way from Sabah and then directly sent to a nearby Siamese restaurant before it landed on my dinner table (supaya saya tidak teringat kedai Fatty Crab itu! walaupun tak sama, I appreciate hubby's effort and yes, saya tidak makan lagi fatty crab itu hingga hari ini)..another craze was my friend’s mee udang (dunno how on earth boleh mengidam when I had never taste any of her cooking?… whether it is just me being over exaggerated, but mee itu di masak dengan penuh rasa kasih sayang, thanks liza merican, I like!)

There was a famous Yong Tau Foo shop in MRR2, so when a friend suggested the place for dinner, I promptly ask “halal ker?” her reply was “hey, orang pakai tudung ramai makan kat situ lar!” For a moment it felt like a bee had stung my butt (macam tak ada tempat lain), I was thinking, I am wearing tudung, so if I dine at a non muslim’s stall, does this mean I will lead other muslim's approval to dine there? Ini tak boleh jadi nih..

My brother used to say that during ol’ times there wasn’t many choice, as such, the malays would go to any non-muslims stall as long as it doesn’t serve babi. But now, we have so many options, we even have Chinese muslims restaurant, why would we still opt for one?

I haven’t fully studied how a restaurant can gain the halal certification in Malaysia (InsyaAllah will immediately do after this). One thing for sure, even though they don’t serve pork or use wine in their cooking but still server liquor (to the non-muslim?), they won't get the halal certification.

A friend once ask how can I feel ‘less’ guilty(?) by dining at any foodcourt or at this one famous eatery at Ampang Park, my reply was (1) There is a halal cerification on the meat producer, (2)I always ‘kepochi’ asking the waiter about the cooks/chef and to be sure that it does not contain any liquor or any of that 'piggy' stuff (though it has stated so). InsyaAllah, sekurang-kurangnya mereka yang tanggung? wallahualam. There was one time we even called upon the chef at this six star hotel in the kiasu land to ensure that we had specifically choose only the vegetarian and seafood on the buffet platters (and that French chef memang baik to cook a separate omelette for us)

When I am writing this, I started thinking of the restaurant & my favourite diners (sucikah tempat2 itu?):-
Tamarind Hills: superb surrounding, fusion & thai food, truly a table for two; Carlos : love the fajitas, hate the smokers, Chilis: all timers favourite, minus the liquor, Kampachi and Rakuzen: heaven for Japanese food; Tony Romas: the ribs ada halal certification, but after discovering that it is BUFFALO ribs, I turn to the prawn servings. Hard Rock Cafe: nice atmosphere, tengah makan masih teringat nak joget macam masa dulu2!, Rebung; siput sedut masak lemak itu memang sedap, slurppp!

Then come this memories of my outbound trip (memang nak pengsan sebulan tak dapat makan laksa): -
London : lucky to have a friend with malay maid & kudos to Malaysian hall food; Paris: croissant, bread! bread! (dan siput?), Venice : plain pizza with cheese, Swiss : Egg, egg with croissant and salad, Germany: fish and chips, Amsterdam : kebab! (tapi kena careful of jewish kebab, though no pork but ayam tak sembelih), Brussels: roti lagi! Bali : McDonalds (but I almost took babi masak kicap during one tour!), Bandung: heaven! Ikan gurami, Jakarta: only had pizza at the mall after stumbled upon sate babi & sate kodok kat food court, Brisbane/Gold Coast: kebab and Malaysian restaurant truly a saviour, Singapore: Lau pa sat punye chicken wings, lontong & nasi padang!

Do you know that girl, the fisherman’s daughter from east coast who scored many A’s in SPM? She doesn’t eat out, the family eats nothing except the mother’s cooking. According to the father, air tangan ibu memang banyak khasiatnya… especially when it is accompanied by doa & dzikir, subhanallah! (Let alone being skeptical about halal & haram kan?)

Being a working mother, there is limited time for me to cook and to be honest, I only know to cook simple dishes i.e masak lemak kubis, ikan bilis dgn kentang goreng cili, udang goreng cili.. (masak cili jer la den, kawin ngan org ada darah minang nih!). When I read about Nur Madihah, rasa insaf nye.. my new resolution is to cook for the family whenever possible. Saya berazam untuk belajar masak demi keluarga saya!

Haziq used to say “My mommy cooks the best spaghetti in the whole wide world” (budak ni kaki bodek, mak dia bagi dia maggi ayam pun dia kata mak dia paling best). But when the other half compliment my first attemp on Seafood Aglio Olio, (he said it was far better than his favourite eatery) my feeling was like “OOOh, I’m worth it” he he he..
Aper2 pun, my mother cooks the best laksa in the world!

Note : Besyukur atas nikmat Allah untuk deria rasa dan rezeki ini. Semoga kita sama-sama memanfaatkannya untuk hanya perkara2 yang halal, insyaAllah.