6 Syawal 1428

Wouldn't it be great if we use the Islam calendar habitually? Hmmm... just thinking out loud...

Anyway, Eid has been great. Ramadhan has been quite fulfilling. I broke fast 3 times at the hotels (Prince, Istana and Nikko). All as corporate guest, which I am never too keen on. Besides that, I had 3 other iftar sessions away from home, due to outstation duties in Lumut. On the second last day, we had our iftar at Mak Nim (my youngest aunt)'s place and the last day was at my Mak's. That makes 22 days iftar with the family at home. Alhamdulillah.

I received 2 gifts this time. Both from contractor/supplier. The first one arrived 3 days before Eid, at 9.30pm, containing cookies, chocolates and cordial. The second one arrived at Mak's 2 days before Eid, containing fresh flowers and fruits, which we consumed on the first day of Eid after the brunch.

On the second day of Eid, I spent the day at home doing the laundry and doing some decoration. Mak Yah went to my cousin's house in Puncak Alam, with Mak Nim, arriving back home just before Maghrib. With Haakem being away in Kelantan, the house is just so quiet. I watched Pontianak Harum Sundal malam 2 for the first time, verdict - BORING!

On the 3rd Syawal, Mak Yah and I prepared Soto for my aunt, uncle, cousins & families (9 pax). They arrived at 3.00pm and soon after they left, I invited Mak, my eldest sister (Bu), Angel and Adli (6 adults, 3 children & 1 infant) to my house. After I was done refilling the dishes and heating up the pulut palas and serunding, I asked Bibik if she wanted to call her family back home. Our attempts the day before failed. She spoke with her family for a good 25 minutes.

My family arrived at 8.00pm and went home around 10.30pm. Bibik cleared up the dirty dishes and were done by 11.30pm. Millie has been a good little hostess in her cherry printed frock!

Ah yes, Haakem and Hubby arrived at 11.40pm, much to my excitement. They had the Soto but with mihun (vermicelli rice noodles) because all the nasi himpit (cubed pressed rice) was finished.

1 SYAWAL 1428

Alhamdulillah, Aidil Fitri was celebrated in a fun and joyful but non-expensive way! All my siblings and their families gathered at our Mak's home on the eve of Eid.

After coming back from work at 1.15pm on 12th Oct. (we got early release at 12.15pm), cleaning up my own home, packing things up including the food we prepared, we pushed off to Klang, convoying with my youngest aunt & her 10 year old daughter, at 4.00pm, arriving at 5.00pm.

The table was spread at 6.30pm and come the final Iftar moment, we started feasting on ketupat (rice cake cooked in coconut leaves), lodeh (vegetables cooked in coconut milk), sambal kacang & sotong (crushed peanut & soaked dried squid in sweet chilli sauce), fried chicken... all prepared at Mak's house and then from our house (courtesy of Mak Yah - my aunt cum mother), pulut palas (glutenous rice cooked in coconut milk wrapped in palm leaves), chicken rendang (chicken slowly-cooked in thick curry gravy) and serunding udang/ikan (dry fried grated coconut with shredded fish & prawn) and as if that is not enough, my elder sister also prepared rendang paru (thinly sliced cow's lungs in thick curry gravy). For drinks, we had orange juice.

After isya' prayer, the boys lead by my Hubby chanted the Takbir & Tahmid. I ironed our festive clothes, including Bibik's. More chatting, more takbirs, more eating (heheheh!!) and finishing up the kids clothes, I slept at 2.00am while my sisters slept at 4.00am. My brother earlier left for his mother-in-law's place at 1.30am.

Morning of Eid, we got up for Subuh prayers and around 7.30 Haakem and Hubby got ready after eating some ketupat. hubby, Haakem, Mak yah and my youngest sister Angel's 2 boys age 6 and 2) left for the mosque at 8.15am while my brother in law (Din), his 2 boys age 15 and 13), his girl age 10 and Mak left at 8.30am. Prayer started at 9.00am. We, the sisters, Bibik and Angel's helper (Sundari) tidied up the house and prepared for the brunch and got dressed in our festive clothes. The people came back from the mosque at 10.30am and again the table was spread with about the same dishes as last night but with an addition of beef rendang which was so delicious!!

After eating we started with our photo session and later, the mintak ampun & maaf (apologising & forgiving) and duit raya (money in small pockets) sessions, which always hilarious!! Haakem was really happy and so were the rest. Even Bibik made quite a collection! Particularly so after her massaging my Mak and aunt.

Hubby and Haakem left after Zuhr prayer, stopping at our house in KL to collect their clothes and some food to be taken back for my in-laws, before pushing off to Kelantan shortly after, arriving at around 11.00pm.

My aunt who just arrived from Makkah a day earlier, came with her husband, youngest son, eldest daughter's family and eldest son's family at 5.30pm. After they left, we busied ourselves preparing dinner. This time, everyone asked for something with no cocnut milk in it, so asam pedas ikan tenggiri (mackerel in hot & sour gravy) with brinjals, blanched kangkung, fried fish and sambal belacan. After dinner, Mak Yah, Bibik, Millie and I pushed off to KL with my youngest aunt's car, arriving home at 10.00pm. After unpacking and putting the dirty clothes in the washing machine, Millie and I went to bed at around 12.00.

Tomorrow's Raya And I Am Still Here..... At the Office

I am still here..... waiting for the GMD to annouce early release. Back at home, we have prepared serunding udang & ikan, rendang ayam and pulut palas. Insya Allah, we'll push off to Klang by 3.30pm.
Hope it is a nice and smooth and happy Aidil Fitri... will be posting pix on 16th October!! Will resume work on that day.

EID MUBARAK!!!

Alhamdulillah, Ramadhan hampir selamat ditempohi tanpa sebarang rintangan..... insya Allah.... Aidil Fitri bakal tiba dalam masa beberapa hari sahaja lagi... dan harap-harap tahun ni akan kuat azam & semangat untuk sambung dengan puasa enam di bulan Syawal dan terus berpuasa untuk mengqadha mana-mana yang sangkut di tahun-tahun sudah. Dah 2 tahun tak buat puasa enam.... memula sebab mengandung (alhamdulillah!!) and last year sebab baru jer melahirkan (masya Allah!!).
Buat sahabat-sahabat, ingin saya mengambil kesempatan ini untuk memohon maaf sekiranya terkasar bahasa, tersinggung rasa atau termengata atau tersalah raba sepanjang pergaulan kita samada di alam nyata atau di alam cyber. Maaf zahir dan batin, semoga ikatan persahabatan dan persaudaraan kekal abadi.... I will be back at my place insya Allah from the second Raya, jemputlah datang ke rumah kalau sudi....
SELAMAT MENYAMBUT AIDIL FITRI.... BERHATI-HATI DI JALAN RAYA ..... JIMAT-JIMAT BERBELANJA......

Eid Is Coming.... Soon......

Another Eid...... a second one for my Millie.... the 8th for Haakem...
Preparation? A pair of baju kurung for my aunt, my mom, myself and Haakem. Hubby will wear one of his existing ones, still new. I had to make new ones for me since have not any new baju kurung made since 2005 and they will be my office-wear as well.
No change of curtains, or cushion covers or carpets... no personalised greeting cards..... we are on a tight budget this year. But I have ordered RM12.00 worth of kuih bangkit kelapa, some packed brownies for families and close friends, 2 sweet & sour layered cakes, some dates tart cookies and planned to buy some tempeyeks. My aunt has bought some pineapple tarts and makmur cookies. And that is about all... I'll get new dress for Millie and I must get new shoes for myself and Millie and sandals for Haakem. Currently I only have a three year old sandals, which I wear almost everywhere and a five year old court shoes which I only wear at the office for meetings etc. And yes, I am getting Bibik a new baju kurung, ready-made, as well.
I am not taking any leave for Eid. We will be at my Mom's on Eid eve, for the last breaking fast, spend the night there, go for Eid prayer, have brunch with my family, exchange salaams, gifts and money packets. After Zuhr prayer, we will push off back to KL and hubby & Haakem will then proceed to Kelantan. I just cannot manage Millie on an 8 hour ride and worse still, 16 hours ride back to KL. Why don't we take the flight like before? As I said, we are on a very tight budget... so I am trying to save all the fund we have.....

The Past Few Days - Hectic, Taxing, Draining.... Alhamdulillah

Saturday after work, hubby and I went to visit Mama (my close friend's mother who's like an aunt to us) who was down with mild stroke on the first day of fasting. We have been procastinating visiting her but it was something we just had to do for she is dear to us!She is recovering well thanks to her only daughter (my dearest sister/friend), her daughter in law and of course Papa for his moral support. That evening, we had rice, fish in soy sauce and mixed tomyam which I made a few minutes before iftar.
On Sunday, I prepared pilau rice (nasi minyak la tu), beef korma (with potatoes, green chillies, onions and tomato), chicken in chillie and tomato sauce and pineapple & cucumber salad. Alhamdulillah, hubby and Haakem enjoyed them very much! For the first time in Ramadhan hubby had second helping and ate again at 3.00 am. LICIN!!!
Sunday night Millie had a high temperature, I placed wet hanky on her forehead and wash her face with zam-zam water, the fever reached its hight 38.3 degrees at 2.30am. I was suppose to travel to Lumut in the morning but I postponed it. Hubby and I brought Millie to the clinic at 7.15am. No other problems, thank God! So, I went to Lumut with Man instead. My heart broke to have to leave Millie.....
That evening, I break-fast with my colleagues and one of our supplier's family. Seafood spread... what else? Later that night we had gried noodles and later hubby took me out to have naan and tandoori. We didn't go down for sahur served by the hotel. I checked on Millie 3 times and at 1.20am, Haakem called me with Millie's voice screaming in the background. Apparently she got up from her sleep searching for Mama. They managed to calm her down by 2.00am. But her temperature was maintained at below fever level. Alhamdulillah.
The next morning, I checked out at 9.00am, leaving hubby (he will check in using his name later that day), arriving at the office at 9.30, attended meetings from 10.00 am to 12.30 pm, assist to prepare the tender negotiation reports, signed them off and had to wait for the other team to finish their do's until about 2.00pm. We pushed off to KL around 2.30pm, stopping for ikan bilis for 10 minutes, for Zuhr/Asr parayers in Bidor and arriving in KL at 6.30pm.The three of us girls were dropped off at Titiwangsa LRT Station at 6.45pm........ it is still mind boggling that my colleague's boss would drop us there, with no shops/stalls selling food/drinks except perhaps the nearby petrol kiosk. We took the train to masjid Jame' station and bought sugar cane drinks (one plastic container each) and dates. Both McD and BK were full. So, we broke our fast, standing, with all our bags around us, near the BK entrance. We were too upset to eat anything else that we decided to go home. I caught a cab and my 2 colleagues got on the train, home.
Alhamdulillah I arrived home at 7.35pm and after performing maghrib prayer, I breastfed Millie and chatted with haakem. He got me some ice lemon tea, what an angel! Bibik took a considerably long time to have her dinner and clear the kitchen that i only got to have my meal by 8.30pm but Alhamdulillah.... I checked on my colleagues and they have both arrived home at 8.00 and 8.10 respectively. I felt lethargic that I slept without performing my Isya' prayer and/or Tarawih prayers. I got up at 5.00am for Isya' prayer and sahur and slept back until 6.30am. I didn't even see Haakem off to school. I slept again until 7.40am and got on the 8.30 bus, in time for office.
Hubby is still in Lumut until Allah knoweth when. He's supposed to go back to Tumpat for raya preparation at his father's. Most probably he''ll go back to Lumut again, staright from his stay in Kelantan. I pray for his safety and strength...... he is not enjoying his job now but it will have to do until something better comes.... to make ends meet... at least for him.....