eid 2013 iii - the other side

This year is particularly special coz all 5 of us siblings got to gather together at the same time. It's been years since we last managed to do so. Albeit not on first and second Syawal, it was a good to be together, made jokes about how less hair we have now or how much fat already accumulated here and there :D

3 of us are married to orang Pahang. My second brother is married to orang Kedah, while moi, to orang Terengganu. Like most married couples, we celebrate first and second Syawal alternately between parents' and parent-in-laws'. On 3rd Syawal, we normally switch side.

Abang Long or fondly known among the nephews and nieces as Pak Long (He has a kebun with kambing. That adds to kids' fondness he he), organized a small BBQ-do for adik beradik. Er.. actually I played an important part to pass the message across so he will do one ha ha. Spread included nasi putih, sup ayam, mihun, fruits, lamb, sausage and fish.

And of course, a specially transported kerpok lekor from Tgg.

The nephew and nieces.. geng tudung periuk kekenit. Adam asal boleh je geng dengan all the girls, janji ada kawan. All four of them belong to different parents.There's 12 cucus altogether with the eldest being 17 and the most kenit is about 9 months.

 Kids asked - why papadom? And not mamadom? Answer?

Fruits that barely made if even as appetizer :D

Takde gamba banyak coz I was too occupied eating he he..

eid 2013 ii - a very hearty strawberry birthday!

Hearty Strawberry Cheese cake for the birthday girl. that was the best deco that I could do he he. 

Coincidently, 1st Eid 2013 that fell on 8th August was also Kakak's 12 birthday. In anticipation of that, I baked a Strawberry Cheesecake for her birthday and brought that right up from KL to Tgg.. siap transit kat Temerloh lagi :D

It feels like just yesterday when I first held her in my arms, looking those chubby cheeks and abundant of hair! And just few days back, she was cutting her cake on her 12th birthday! How time flies.

the boys in their traditional attire

apples of my eyes! seated L-R - Iman, Kakak, Adam. 9, 12 and 5yo respectively. 

It was a rather 'quiet' Eid in Tebby's kampung. Unlike previous years, almost non-stop flow of relatives, friends and children came. I wonder if death of our elders makes us grow apart?

 

eid 2013

Obviously I am not a light-traveller. These were the things shoved into the car  balik kampung for Eid 2013 :D I have 3 bags of clothes, a bakul of toiletries, a bakul of tidbits and ubat-ubatan, 5 pillows and blankets. Yup, read me right, pillows! Apart from getting that wonderful feeling bau bantal ala-ala kat rumah, my children can have peaceful sleep in the car as well.. with pillows, blankets and all he he.

And I haven't ramble about kuih raya and all. Suffice to say, penuh!

Suasana berkabus otw to Kuala Terengganu. Taken at LPT

My hometown is in Temerloh. I was born there, raised there for the first 12 years of my life. Tebby is from Kuala Terengganu. Want to know the good news? Since we have to pass Temerloh otw to and otw from KL-Kuala Terengganu-KL, we made 2 stops at my kampung :D Sekali ke Kuala Terengganu, sekali lagi ke KL.

Kakak wants to be photograper (among others! she just can't decide!) While the boys slept peacefully at the back, she was happily snapping away..

This year I did not prepare much in the clothes department. After so many years, this is the first Eid that I did not get any baju baju for myself. I have few pairs that are still looking good and new. We got them kids a pair each of baju kurung and baju melayu and few pairs of casual tees, shirts, blouses and pants. But that was about it la. No langsir baru, no kusyen baru. In fact our first curtains lasted for 10 years!

But I made raya cookies! Cranberry & Cornflakes cookies, White Choc Macadamia cookies, PB & Jelly squares and Honey Cornflakes. Not just that, I also baked Pineapple cake and Strawberry Cheese cake. I have never felt so domesticated before he he..

Sampai Tgg at around 12:30 noon. After preparing for iftar, Adam sibuk ajak pegi pantai. We went to ziarah kubur arwah FIL then off to Batu Buruk. Saw 3 boys playing in the water totally naked! They are obviously underage but not so young anymore. Not a very pretty sight. At least pakailah spender dikk!

My boys almost soak themselves too. Iman was too happy to remember that he was fasting. Naik kereta terus tanya what time it was and how many hours more to breaking fast :D Lagi mencabar coz Adam beli sausage roll and iced rootbeer drink from A&W!

... More coming on Eid.. insyaAllah..

baju raya kecoh-ness

10 Ramadhan. Cepatnya masa berlalu! 

First weekend Ramadhan bawak kids beli baju raya @Alamanda. Tak survey-survey pun. Jauh sekali lah nak ke Jalan TAR sinun. Nampak booth aje terus rembat. Kids punya baju raya setel.. alhamdulillah. Meraikan anak-anak. Mak Pak takde baju baru untuk raya takpe. Yang apaknya konfem takpe sebab dia memang bukan penggemar baju melayu. Yang mak nya tu, betul ke takpe??  He.. he..

Adam paling excited. Cik Mat ni kalau nak outing, haruslah dia pilih sendiri baju dia.. seluarnya, bajunya. Time ni takde pilihan .. lepas kelas Global Art pegi Alamanda so pakai je la baju tu. Baju raya pun dia yang pilih sendiri. Memula nak hijau tu... jenuh gak nak pujuk suruh ambik kaler lain. Dia ni takde lah cerah kulitnya.. kang kelam pulak kalau pakai hijau tu.. At last he agreed on kaler lain which I think sesuai dengan dia. Pastu.... merengek nak samping pulakkkk. Layan. Puasa nya idak yer dik..

Iman pulak takde masalah bab kaler kaler ni. He's fair. Apa kaler pun okay dengan dia. Cuma tang peha tu, gebu nau... susahnya nak cari seluar yang muat. Last-last terpaksa beli saiz besar sikit sebab nak sesuaikan seluar dengan peha dengan bon*** dia tu :D

Kakak pulak ambik baju kurung pesak gantung. Memula dia ambik kurung moden. Sekali angkat dari hanger, makkk aihhh.. jarangnya.. Innernya ada sekali tapi jenis spaghetti strap gitu.. Of course we were against that. Lepas tengok kejarangannya, Kakak pun tak nak he he.

Kalau tahun lepas, tema baju raya we all is light brown.. tahun ni tema 'now everyone can choose'. Everyone is entitled with his/her own opinion/choosing (of course with guidance and a little bebel from me) so last-last the 3 kids semua kaler lain-lain. Apaknya nak pakai baju last year aje. Mak nya, walopun dok kata takde mood nak cari baju raya, dalam hati masih menaruh harapan kot-kot berjumpa dengan baju love at first sight nanti.

Ni kejadian lepas setel beli baju raya. Cik Mat Adam tu lapar.. maklom lah tak puasa. Lepas tu penat pilih baju raya bersamping bagai kann.. merengek nak kan makanan dengan air. Pegilah kami ke Cold Storage. Beli roti dengan air tin. Dengan few barang-barang lain. Adam macam biasa lah, ligat. Berlari-lari. Adoi.. kalau orang tengok haruslah cakap mak pak tak reti jaga anak.. tapi hakikatnya easier said than done la. Dia terusik satu botol pasta sauce tu, depan mata mak nya 3 bijik botol menari nari on the shelves, lepas tu tergolek satu per satu ke lantai. Yang last sekali tu malang sikit nasibnya, jatuh dan pecah..

Pakcik supervisor kata tayah bayar. Terima kasih Encik.

Lepas bayar semua, carik-carik roti... aikkk mana dia?? Haruslah dalam kekecohan tadi dah tercicir.. isk. Pegi pulak beli mexican bun Roti Boy. Kena tunggu pulak 15 minit sebab baru masuk oven. Masuk keta pulak semerbak baunya... kena pulak time tu pukul 4:00 petang.

Apapun syukur urusan baju raya anak-anak dah selesai.

cooking a la stress..

Traffic was baaaaaaaddddddd yesterday on 1st Ramadhan.
Dugaan pertama bulan Ramadhan tahun ni.
No, wait. Second dugaan as my alarm set at 4:40 and 4:50 did not went off. Nasib baik I set it at 5:00am for daily wake-up alarm. Later I discovered that I had actually set it up at 4:40pm and 4:50pm and not am! 

I had, earlier on visualizing myself calmly frying marinated beef, do omelette, heating up sup tulang. And later watch TV and do some catching up with the kids while waiting for azan Maghrib. Isn't Ramadhan the best month for us to gather together and have dinner together? Something we do maybe 3-4 times only a week on other months.

But what actually happened was: -

Sampai rumah 7:10 malam. I had just 20 minutes to prepare for iftar. Tebby sent me home first then he was off to fetch the kids @taska. While he was at that, I fried the beef, did omelette and heated up sup tulang. Thanks to my 3-tungku dapur! Did those in style some more! Coz I was still in my crisp black pants, not-so-crisp-anymore white-purple striped pintucked office shirt. Complete with tudung and socks! While those cooking on the stove, set up the table with myriads of pinggan mangkuk. No time to pilih anymore. Tebby nyer request for sirap bandung oso kenot layan, tak sempat! Teh-O panas and Sarsi. Not a good combination but beggars can't be choosers right. Suffice to say while I was still susun-susun makanan atas meja, Tebby and the kids sampai (Iman with a really tired face with slumped shoulder and all :D) and kedengaran lah azan Maghrib.

yup. like that. except that I did not rasa-rasa the taste

Syukran Ya Allah, we could still break our fast with the kids albeit a few minutes delay, and indeed the simple food was more satisfying (and economical) than those of PARAM.

gelagat 1 Ramadhan

Sahur 1 Ramadhan 1434 bersamaan 10 Julai 2013

Tengah sahur pun buleh annouce siap-siap
Kakak 'Lepas makan Kakak nak tidur balik'
sambil suap nasi lauk sadin
Iman 'Saya nak tengok TV lepas ni'

Adam pulak
'Ummi, budak 5 tahun kalau tak puasa tak pe kan?'

:D

welcoming Ramadan al Kareem

Alhamdulillah. Bertemu Ramadan sekali lagi :-)

Anak-anak dah dimaklumkan sejak 2-3 minggu lepas, hopefully they are mentally prepared to embrace Ramadan. Kakak should be no problem insyaAllah as on normal days pun she doesn't eat a lot. I am a tad bit worried with Iman coz he eats a lots and he also does lots of snacking :P Adam, a little excited to fast, probably he still doesn't know what awaits him but one shall always try right?

As for me, dah practice a bit.. sort of coz I have just finished ganti puasa. Oh ya, I need to get some ubat gastric for Tebby, just in case.

Rasanya last weekend almost all para ibu, especially the working ones, dah sibuk with preparation to usher in Ramadan. To have a menu lined up, at least from Wednesday to Friday. Some may say, beriya-iya sangatlah pasal makanan sampai tak mention amal ibadah. Well, for one thing, preparing iftar for your loved ones is ibadah juga. Plus, meraikan anak-anak yang berpuasa. Dulu waktu anak-anak kecik masih belum mula berpuasa, tak ambik pot sangat pasal makanan berbuka. We could just eat whatever there was. Sahur pun takat minum air masak. Now that my elder two dah puasa, kenalah ease them up to go through the month jugak kan. Our menu pun take a lot of consideration of their appetite inclination :D

We went balik kampung last weekend coz my brother buat tahlil and small makan-makan. Dia masuk rumah baru alhamdulillah and to usher in Ramadhan as well. Sunday morning dah balik ke KL and went straight to Pasar Borong Selangor. Baru ada feel nak beli bahan mentah kalau pegi pasar basah (and the kids dapat main kepala lembu yang dah kena sembelih). Aside from preparing lunch yesterday (ketam berlada atas permintaan Iman and sup tulang feveret Tebby), we also marinated chicken for roasting later, 2 types. Tebby had enough of Mc Cormick so I did the marinade as suggested by few sites. I just couldn't thank Google enough he he.

We now have 2 types of marinated chicken (for roasting), 2 types of marinated sliced beef (for frying) and ikan rebus with garam kasar and asam keping (for frying later). Also stocked up telur masin. Nasib baik I checked our rice bank yesterday, we are in dire need to stock up..

And now we doa banyak-banyak that we can sampai rumah and have enough time to serve fresh homemade meals for our loved ones for iftar. I'll try to keep the take-ways to minimal insyaAllah.

Kalau orang lain dah gantung baju raya dalam almari, I have none. Not for us and not even for the children .. yet. No worries boys, I'll sure buy one suit each. I know Adam is gonna be very sad if he doesn't get one, lengkap with samping and songkok. Iman tak ambik pot sangat pun pasal baju-baju ni as long as ada iPad. And Kakak, she's very much a jeans-and-tshirt person, shrieked with delight when I told her I haven't gotten her any baju kurung yet :P

Anyway, for caffein-lovers..

I have skipped caffeine for few days already (under close supervision of a personal doctor & dietician that is!) Not because to avoid the withdrawal but from recent test, I have quite a serious osteoporosis. I shall story later-later than one. All I can say, at the moment, I have never seen myself so religiously taking calcium tab and drinking anlene!