SELAMAT HARI RAYA & CATCHING UP..

Ola everyone!!! SELAMAT HARI RAYA….MAAF ZAHIR & BATIN.

Well..well.well..how is everyone’s raya?? Hope it has been a memorable one..with many more raya days to come.

I have yet to go to the gym. I dread to weigh myself on the weighing machine. For sure lost a few kilos during the Ramadhan..but based on my self-observation on the amount of foods that I’ve taken for the first 3 days of raya…mau dua tiga tan naik badan ni..hehehe..Ok..ok..En. Tank..i’ll start my workout again pretty soon. Now tengah resting my left knee.suspected the old injury is resurfacing again. Cam tau2 jer nak kena exercise balik..ceh..

Alright..the following are the summary of my Raya celebration. Hope you guys will enjoy reading it;-) Lamakan tak baca my entry??..so enjoy it…I hope so..

My Raya celebration this year is different from the previous years. I celebrated my first raya in KL with my family and close family friends. Went back to Muar only on the second day of raya and came back to KL on the 3rd day of raya.


ONE DAY BEFORE RAYA
Since beraya in KL this year, Mom decided to ‘makan besar’ for the family on the eve of raya. So, Mom and I started to weave ketupat 2 days before Raya. Weaving ketupat is one of my favourite task..hehe.. Learnt the skill from my ever patient Aunt Fuzi when I was in standard 5. Tak sia2 naaa blajaq…jadi Naib Juara mengayam ketupat lagi gitu when I was in UTM..hehehe…Thanks Aunty;-) As for this year, I taught another Aunty to weave. Looks like she could handle it well…Well there’s no harm to share ur skills or knowledge with someone else right? By the way, tahun ni dapat buat kuih raya dua jenis jer. Melting moments and chocolate chip cookies. But need to replenish the stock as both biscuits dah sapan di makan by my siblings and the guests. Kuih ‘hamper’ semua lambat jalan..yg homemade gak yg habis dulu.

So at the eve of raya…the whole family had a wonderful gastronomic array of foods..ketupat, lodeh, sotong with kuah kacang, ayam masak merah..and of course my Mom’s ever famous rendang. Geee… I really2 hope that I can be as skilful as Mom to prepare the delicious foods one day. Now still in the apprentice phase…bila oii nak graduate??

RAYA DAY

I actually cried after the raya prayers while counting and preparing the ang pau envelopes in my room. Couldn’t help to hold back my tears..merah2 hidung and mata. But I did not wailed or anything like that la..just teary eyes. I realised that I have one less angpau to give out this year….each year since I’ve started working, I would give ang pau to the elder ones my parents, grandmas and a few elder people who are very dear to me. All of them have taken good care of me eversince I was a baby and lovs me up until today without asking for any return except to hope to see me getting married soon and live happily (phewwwww that’s one big wish!!). But this year, I have one less ang pau to give out..I lost my someone dear to me on the first week of Raya last year. I could still remember that I managed to salam and kissed her and give out the ang pau before I went back to KL. She was about to go to the hospital on that day. She slipped into comma and passed away a few days after that. She’ll always have a special place in my heart and in my prayers. May Allah blessed her soul.

Alright enough of the crying session, my family had a surprise guest in the morning..Wani’s ‘tooot’ came for breakfast cum beraya. I was surprise to see him too as the first guest that morning..a pleasant surprise indeed. It was a short visit though as he had to go to work right after that.

Then sessi bersalam-salaman after that. Asking for forgiveness with my parents including my ever famous sentence..slamat hari raya..maaf zahir batin and sorry for the extension again this year..hehehehe.

Another pleasant surprise when our family friends paid us a visit. Thanks for coming;-) Appreciate it.

In the afternoon, went to Dad’s friend open house somewhere in Damansara..nearby my office. Dad’s friend doesn’t live in a house..i think he lives in a mansion laa. A magnificent house. Love the water lily ponds in the garden. The swimming pool was very inviting and the foods were marvellous..roast lamb and turkey.

Night, went to another Dad’s friend house nearby my home – another mansion..makan tepi pool under the moonlight while listening to jazz music from the music room. The host is wonderful cook. She practically cooked every dishes including the mouth watering blue berry cheesecakes and a few other cakes..Oh God, please forgive me for I’ve sin..i ate a little bit way too much rich foods on the first Raya..heheheh.

Ended up my first Raya with another guest came to my house. I was already excited to go back to Muar the next morning..so kampunggg kan?? Laugh your heads off..i don’t care..

DAY TWO OF HARI RAYA

Set off early to balik kampung. Stopped by at a mamak shop for breakfast and I learnt a lesson from my parents. The was this one mentally-ill man sitting nearby us..talking to himself. When Dad came to our table after parking his car..the first thing Dad did was to order a meal for the mentally-ill guy. Mom asked the mamak to fix the guy a nice drink and paid the meal. My parents requested the mamak to send the food to the guy first before preparing our order. A naturally unselfish act that I learnt that morning.

Continued our journey to Muar. Used the new bridge. Almost turned into a jakun to see how Muar has developed. Everything seems so near when u use the new bridge. First stop..Tok Meng’s house since we came across their house first. Had a meal and chat and off we went to my grandma’s house…Tok Nah’s. Changed into t-shirt and pants..go straight to kitchen to help preparing for lunch. Asam pedas with assorted fishes for lunch – ikan pari, mayong and sembilang. Freshly caught fishes.. Had sort of makan besar as most of my Mom’s siblings were around at that time.

Evening…although my stomach was still full. We went to Tanjung to have our rojak kangkung and rojak buah and ABC. Enjoyed the dishes while thinking and planning about buying and eating cream puff from Kim Leng, the air mata kucing in front of the Pasar Besar, Kaya and Roti Hailam and even the apam balik…tamak haloba kan?? You got to be in Muar or a Muarian to learn these skills…hehehehe


Night..I was too lembik (sleepy) to go out to execute my plans on buying the cream puff, air mata kucing etc..Mom was down too..so I stayed with her at the apartment while the rest went out to search for Mee Bandung and Satay…Nway..lucky me for not going out as Kim Leng, the bakery shop that sells the cream puff was closed.

DAY THREE: raya ke tiga

Woke up at 6:00 AM. Left for Tok Nah’s house to help preparing for breakfast. Relatives wanted to come over for breakfast that morning. Mom cooked abt 12 packets of mee hoon that morning. Tok Nah prepared her ever famous jemput-jemput with the help of Aunt Liza. 2 kilos of it..sapan..habis..

Breakfast ended at about 11 and off we went to Tok Timah’s house. Had a chat with Mak Tuk. She lost a good deal of weight. Makes me worried to see her in such condition. I pray for her health everyday. Spent some time with her. And off we headed for KL after that. X sempat nak merayap @ Bandar to get my food stuff..or in other words to fill up my stomach with different type of foods. Funny..i’m usually a small eater..makan skit dah kenyang..but whenever I’m in Muar..my stomach will be able to be expandable to accommodate the foods that I wanted to eat. Magic..magic..

Nway..safely arrived home by late evening. End of my food tasting journey and of course visiting the people that I must visit. Best balik kampung..nak balik lagi aaah


DAY FOUR:

Woke up in the morning.Helped Mom to cook Laksa Johor and Soto for our guests. In between went to our neighbour’s wedding. Did not go to the akad nikah ceremony coz we can hear the whole ceremony went on – thanks to the loud speaker. The bride married a northern Indian man residing in Sydney..so the akad was in English. Yg tak tahan tu the mas kahwin is 8888.88 AUSTRALIAN dollar gitu. Lucky her as she finally found someone that can take care of her. Her parents passed away few years back. So she was like organising the wedding by herself with the help of her aunts and relatives. Happy for her.

Uncle Joe and his family came- thank u for coming and thank u for telling my parents about this blog..hehehe..Dad asked what I wrote on my blog after u all left…nasib baik gua pandai cover line..…, another family friends came to visit us and Mom’s cousins, Wani’s friends and Ashraf’s gf and friends…in all..our house closed at 12 midnight that day..Org kenduri kahwin kat depan rumah pun dah lama bungkus meja hehehe.


DAY FIVE

Spent the day cleaning up the house while helping Mom preparing lunch. Went to KLCC- wanted to watch Chicken Little with yayin..but unfortunately TGV was closed due to power failure..must be the fire incident that happened during the first/second day of raya.

Went to print out the raya photos. Nice ones. Finally..ada gak family picture enlarged to be put in the empty frame that we have at home.

By the way…Congratulations Zura..for your new baby girl. Hope both of u will be well and healthy. Zura, ur babies really know how to pick the right time..hehe. Zura’s first daughter was born in the first week of raya two years ago. If both were boys..i would call one Mohd Syawal while the other Mohd Aidilfitri..heheh. Anyway..InsyaAllah..i’ll try and visit u when both of u are better and stronger. Take care..


And so, that’s all folks..my first 5 days of Raya. A lot of things happened in between and today actually ..but I would prefer not to write about it. There are things that u can write about and tell everyone bout it..but there are things that happened that u should keep it to urself..Alright…got to go..tomorrow is my first day of work after many2 days of not working…going to sleep. Take care everyone…ada open house jangan lupa jemput I..hehehe. I’ll be having some makan2 soon..will give u guys a buzz nanti.
Till then..bekerjalah serajin-rajinnya..walaupun anda merasa semalas-malasnya..hehehe

SELAMAT HARI RAYA..& MAAF ZAHIR BATIN