My happy sick day

I was not feeling well today so stayed at home......resting.
Well, that is what sick people are supposed to do, right?

But, before noon, my stomach growled.
So, what to eat?

Then I remembered that I had "asam belimbing" in my fridge.

Last weekend I was at my mom's.
When I saw her brought in some belimbing buluh (which she had it dried under the sun)
I asked her what she would do with that belimbing buluh.

Then, she said, "sambal hitam" - "remember your student that Iban guy told "sambal hitam, sedap, sedap sangat"?

Yeah, I remember.
 That "Iban guy" was Daniel, and my mother met him when he and his friends (JAD batch 4) came to my house during raya month last two years. I remember Daniel talked about having sambal hitam which was made by Syak's mom. (Was it Syak? I'm pretty sure it was Syak because Syak is from Pahang and the famous sambal hitam is indeed from Pahang :)
(Oh, Daniel, are you Ibans?  :)

Anyway, my mom started to talk about the sambal hitam. About my brother-in-law who bought the sambal at RM5 - per a very small container. About tv "Pelik tapi Sedap" host, Zaibo who introduced the sambal in tv.  And about belimbing buluh tree in our yard which produces a large amount of belimbing.

Well this flashback will be endless. So to shorten the story...

I brought back some belimbing buluh, boiled it until "hitam" and kept it in my fridge for several days until today.

Yeah, today I made the famous Sambal Hitam (do google it to find the recipe)

And this is the result.

Yeah, this does not look appealing.

But I am sure it is "The Sambal Hitam"(google it and you would find lots of photos of it with almost the same look).

But one thing that I am not sure is: Is my Sambal Hitam is "The Sambal Hitam"? I mean, I have never tasted it before, so I am not sure.... but, I already ate it twice today. At noon, and at 4 o'clock this evening.   :)

Ok, that was about my first attempt to make Sambal Hitam.

Now, I would like to share with you about my "weird but cute" little present which was given to me by Qatrun Nada - my lovely student, during Pre-Grad party last two days.

First let me remind you of this photo:

I posted this photo several months ago - this is Nada's foot - she was wearing this weird but cute socks on Sports Day. I couldn't help myself when I saw her socks. I was like "What is this?? This is so funny! So weird! But so funny. And cute?" And I ended up took this photo.

And, last two days:

Nada and Me :D

And this is me appreciating the present :

:D