PreRaya

I've been busy lately because of the preparation to go to Rochester, NY, USA. Alhamdulillah, after two years in INTEC preparing myself academically, finally the time that I've been waiting for has come. It's just around the corner. AUG 25.

This year is the first time I'm celebrating Eid ul Fitr not only outside Malaysia, but also away from my beloved family. Since I'll fly on the 15th day of Ramadan, so it's clear that my Syawal celebration will be on the land of Uncle Sam. I wonder how it's like. Lucky for me, there are other Malaysians in my university who'll also celebrate Eid ul Fitr there. So I guess it wouldn't be that sad celebrating Eid ul Fitr there. First class starts on September 6 which is on the 27th of Ramadan. This year, Syawal 1 is predicted to be on September 10, Friday. September 10 is my dad's birthday and I won't be there...

Due to the fact that I'm leaving my beloved family and country before Eid ul Fitr, I made some preRaya stuffs e.g. ate lots of Malaysian delicious foods (the ones that I favor), ate lots of  Raya cookies, took family potrait with all in Raya attires, and ate ketupat palas.

3 weeks ago, somehow I felt like eating ketupat palas and char kuey teow. I told my parents and they gladly replied that they'll look for them. Char kuey teow is easily available, unlike ketupat palas. But, I don't want ketupat palas that is bought because the taste is different from the ketupat palas that is made by my dad. I really like the ketupat palas that my dad made. The taste...ah...very delicious ! Especially when he put small cut beef/chicken inside the ketupat palas. Speaking of ketupat palas, it's is normally eaten during Eid ul Fitr in the Northern region of peninsular Malaysia. They can be eaten by themselves, or with peanut sauce, chicken/beef curry or rendang. As for me, I like to eat them by themselves if they contain beef/chicken. Else, I like to eat them with rendang. Back to my case, my parents were having difficulties in fulfilling my wish because it's hard to find palas leaves in Klang Valley. So, they took the opportunity when we went to my grandmother's house in Kota Kuala Muda, Kedah to get palas leaves and made ketupat palas for me. Special for me ! Last night, I ate lots of ketupat palas made by my parents and my grandmother. Despite her not-so-well condition, my grandma still wanted to make ketupat palas for me. I'm touched !

the making of ketupat palas

ketupat palas ready to be served

At my grandma's house, I saw lots of Raya cookies that my aunt (Cu) made for sale. Well, since I request, she gladly gave some to me for free ! hehe...Her pineapple tarts are delicious. They are very soft and sweet.

Last week, when all 7 of us (my family) were present at home, we took a family photo wearing themed Raya attires. The theme for this year is orange because that is my favorite color.

the 7 of us - ayah, ibu, abang, me, baby, eman, ami

Kenduri Doa Selamat + 19th Birthday Celebration

I just recovered from fever. I guess I didn't have enough rest and sleep for a few days before and after the kenduri which was held at my house. This is normal though, whenever people organize events in their houses be it birthday parties, open houses, or kenduri (a kind of religious feast). 

July 31, 2010

The purposes of organizing this kenduri on last Saturday (July 31) night were to :

                          1. pray for my safety in pursuing my studies in USA

                          2. pray for sister who'll sitting for SPM this year

                          3. tahlil (pray for dead people) for relatives

                          4. my 19th birthday (my birthday is on August 1)

Lots of people came to the event. There're 2 slots. The first slot which was before Maghrib prayer was for my relatives. The second slot which was after the Isyak prayer was for my neighbors and friends. However, some of my relatives stayed back until 11p.m. My birthday celebration was held at around 10.30 p.m. To my surprise, my cousin (Kak Ika from my mom's side) baked a chocolate cake for me. As from my family, it was chocolate cheese cake (my favorite cake from Secret Recipe). As a token of appreciation to my friends and neighbors who came, I gave them a goodie bag each which contained a muffin (I made by myself), jellies, and a small snack. 

chocolate cake made by Kak Ika

Secret Recipe's chocolate cheese cake

blow out the candles

There're varieties of food on that night. My dad cooked a very healthy vegetable soup (mushrooms + labu air (I don't know what's that in English) and made his famous tapai pulut (fermented glutinous rice); my mom made mango salad,sambal belacan (blended chillies with prawn paste), and ulam segar (fresh herbal vegetables); my mom's friend cooked ayam masak lemak cili padi (chicken cooked with coconut milk and blended chillies, turmeric, etc),  very famous Malay food originated from Negeri Sembilan; one of my aunties cooked udang masak sambal petai (prawns cooked in blended chillies), specially requested by me because I like it; another aunt keladi masak asam pedas (yam cooked with blended chillies and tamarind), very famous Malay food originated from Malacca; other aunties brought Malay traditional desserts like tepung pelita, seri muka, apam, and lepat. As for me, I baked muffins. However, there were only 60 muffins that I managed to bake due to time constrain. Some of the muffins were a bit overcooked on the top, but the bottom is still good. Somehow, people liked my muffins. My neighbors, relatives and friends said my muffins were marvelous. A neighbor and one of my aunties even asked me for the recipe to bake those muffins. Not bad, my muffins...hehe  

August 1, 2010

My 19th birthday ! Well, when I woke up, I felt very sleepy and tired. The whole body ached.  There're hundreds of messages from Facebook and my handphone. What else could it be ? Birthday wishes of course. I took quite some time to reply to those all. 

In the afternoon, my family and I went to Muar to visit my sister in her boarding school, MRSM Muar. She couldn't go back home for the event that was held last night. Even though all of us were still tired from last night, we still went to see my sister. We had our lunch there, and accompanied her for shopping. She also asked me to help her in preparing for her mock interview tomorrow. Mock interview for scholarship application.

On the way back to Serdang, there was a traffic jam on the North-South Highway on the lanes to Kuala Lumpur. We reached home quite late, around 9 p.m. When I checked my Facebook account, again there're hundreds of birthday wishes on my wall. Actually, some people even wished me on July 31 or August 2. Anyway, thanks to all the wishes. It was a great day to remember. My last birthday as a TEENager. Next year, there's no more TEEN on my age.

Steamboat with Family (At Home)

First of all, I would like to wish a Happy New Year 2010 to all. May all of us be blessed in whatever we do in the coming days. This year, I'll be 19 years old; final year as a teenager with the "teen" word. There are a lot of memorable moments (sweet + sour) that I went through during the challenging year of 2009 especially in INTEC. What I can say, memories are not to be forgotten, but to always be in your heart because memories cannot be played back. Even though there are bitter memories, we still cannot fully forget about them because we usually learn a lot from bitter memories, so that the bitter memories won't repeat themselves. Pehh...do I sound like a nagging old lady ? Hahaha...just a short note on memories.

Anyway, that's not the highlight of my post this time because January 1 is something very common to all of us. Every year people will make a lot of target for themselves that they want to achieve, but at the end of the year, some still could not be achieved...

On December 30, 2009, my family and I had another steamboat session for our dinner. However, this time, it was different because we had the steamboat at our sweet home. We cooked the steamboat by ourselves using my brother's small and portable gas stove. My brother went to a supermarket to buy the seafood, vegetables and other foods to be cooked in the delicious tom yam soup that my dad had prepared. It was a very interesting experience because we all know that steamboat cost is not cheap. Therefore, by having our own prepared steamboat, we can save a lot of money, and we do not have to go anywhere ! According to my dad, the cost for that special steamboat was between RM 30 to RM 40 (only for the materials in the steamboat). Free of charge for labor to cook (we prepared by ourselves what..) and dining place rate (we ate at home...). Usually, steamboat for 7 persons would be above RM 100. See how much we save on our money ?

Steamboat with Family

It was so hard for me to wake up at 5.30 am today. The weather in Akasia was so cold that I had to completely cover myself from head to toe while sleeping throughout the night. Furthermore, I usually wake up around 6.45 am and above during this semester break. 5.30 am is really too early for me. However, I really need to force myself to wake up because I need to be ready by 6.45 am at Akasia's bus stop. I was shivering when I showered this morning. The water was so cold !! Usually I bathe with hot water at home. Then, when I talk to Hema, I realized that something is wrong with my voice. It sounded differently from usual. Sore throat !

Today, I sat for TOEFL examination for a very long time and I only got 10 minutes break. The exam started at 9 am and ended at nearly 1 pm. The place was so cold and I really regretted that I didn't bring my sweater. I left it at home. I was shivering in that place as well. In fact, I went to the ladies two times before the exam started to get rid of the air-conditioned room. I felt that I'll be sick later with the sore throat that suddenly attacked me this morning. When I saw two Korean guys wearing short pants and seemed to be fine with the air-conditioned place, it made me think for a while. "How can they withstand the cold temperature of the room?" Haha...of course they can easily handle that since they are Koreans ! I don't want to comment on the exam because it's over. So, close the book.

After the exam, I went back to Akasia with Hema. Since Hema is on diet, she just accompanied me to eat lunch at Sup Utara Restaurant. I ate porridge. After that, we went back to our room and laid ourselves on our beds. While relaxing, we talked about lots of things and lots of people until we got tired and fall asleep. I'm not sure at what time I woke up later but Hema was packing up her stuffs to go back home. Then, she left me alone in our house around 5pm. After she left, I did not know what else to do. I tried to sleep, but I could not. Besides, according to Islam, it's not good to sleep after Asar time. So, I just sat on a sofa and do nothing. My RM 18 watch dropped this morning, and became malfunctioning. Then, my sister's phone that I borrowed last night ran out of battery. My phone has been malfunctioning since the second day of Eid until now.

I was actually waiting for my family to come as soon as possible. So, after packing my things, I waited for them at the guard house at 7.30 pm. I waited and waited, but they never appear. One hour later, they reached Akasia at 8.30 pm. With my stomach growling for food, I smiled to them and told my dad to go to Plaza Alam Sentral. Actually, I asked all of them to fetch me in Akasia because I wanted to treat them steamboat with the first salary of my life that I just got yesterday. I chose to eat at Thai Fusion Steamboat because I've tried it before with my housemates and I think the foods are quite nice with cheap prices. Since I'm the one paying for the foods, I'm the one ordering everything except for their own drinks. Sadly, I just treated myself with plain water because of my sore throat.

I felt extremely happy when I saw my family members seemed to enjoy the foods very much. The bill was below the budget.^_^ Alhamdulillah, I managed to treat my beloved family with the first salary that I've ever gotten in my life after helping my mom's friend with her company's administration at her international company.

Balik Kampung

Even though it is late by 1 day, but I'm still very zealous to write about the memorable days that I spent in my dad's kampung which is situated in Kota Kuala Muda, Kedah. The 7 of us (my family and I) went to my dad's kampung on the first day of Eid Adha (November 27, 2009). The journey started at 9.58 am (my watch). My dad thought that there'll be no jam on that day since it's Hari Raya itself, but actually there's a jam somewhere in Lembah Beringin along the North-South Expressway when we just began our journey about less than an hour before. The cause of the jam is no other than accident. Accident, my dear...we got stuck for almost an hour. It's an accident which involved 3 cars. I got to snap 1 of the cars. Here is the picture of it.

After that we continue our journey happily. I never sleep along the way. When we were about to go through a long tunnel in Perak, I was ready with the camera. Even though I've been going through the very same tunnel for like hundreds of times (hyperbolic) I guess since I was small, but it never stops me from being over-excited about it. Here's the pictures of it.

At around 1.30 pm in an R&R somewhere in Perak, my dad stopped the car. We had our lunch there. Since the food that they have weren't look nice, some of us ate burgers, sandwiches, fruits and kebabs as lunch. I ate rice, but it wasn't nice...Finish with that, we continued our journey to the North. My dad asked my brother to drive the car. I didn't know about that that when I sat at the passenger's seat next to the driver's seat, my brother looked surprised. It was a coincidence that I decided to sit at my mom's seat because my younger brother likes to disturb me. So, it's like that. My dad changed place with my brother and I switched with my mom.

We reached my grandmother's house at 3.56 pm (again my watch). My Tok, Cu and cousins happily greeted us. I unpacked my stuffs and then I ask my younger brothers and cousins if they're interested in playing Frisbee with me. It turned out that they would like to play that. Thanks to Eton for introducing me to this game even though I never play this in a team. Based on the knowledge that Eton taught me, I passed the knowledge to my cousins and younger brother. So, we played at an empty construction site behind Tok's house. The construction here is the construction for a new road to be constructed. However, we played for a short time only because I became interested in following my dad to walk along the construction site which is just next to a river. The others all walked, but I was jogging all the way with my sandals. I want to sweat ! As to expect from my dad who's a fishing craze, he started imagining he'll go fishing at the river and then we'll cook Ikan Bakar there. What an imagination, ayah ! ^_^

At night, all of us stay in front of TV since 8 pm to watch the last episode of a very outstanding Malay drama : Nur Kasih. My mom, my brother and I are big fans of this superb drama. The ending was nice. I ♥ the drama so much ! Gonna miss watching it...

On the next day (December 28, 2009), early in the morning, my parents went to a small river between paddy fields. They went for fishing. My dad if he goes back to his hometown..."tak sah tak pergi mengail". When they came back, they brought back few small fishes. Ikan haruan and ikan puyuh were the ones that they got. So, our lunch were those fishes. I cooked the main course for lunch : ikan masak sambal and telur dadar. ^_^ In the afternoon, my uncle, Pak Ndak came with his family. Kak Siti, his first daughter is graduating next year in fashion designing. She showed us her creations. Nice ! My aunt, Mak Ngah also came with her youngest daughter, Kak Chik. Later in the evening, the same event happened. We played frisbee again with Kak Chik as an additional player. The unique thing was that she played frisbee with her baju kurung. Kak Chik..Kak Chik...Then, as I've promised, we went to a nearby shop and bought ice-creams. The ice-creams there are so cheap ! Very very cheap ! "Aiskrim batang" is RM 0.20 only !

On the next day (December 29, 2009), early in the morning, my parents went fishing again. But, this time my younger sister, younger brother and I followed them. Since I don't like fishing, I went jogging alone along a paddy field. Jogging at a paddy field...hehe...what an experience ! In the evening, while I was sleeping, my uncle, Pak Chik came with his family. I don't know how long have they arrived, but I noticed their presence when I woke up at 4.30 pm. In the evening, Faiz, Pak Chik's son joined us to play frisbee. He seemed to like it too ! After that, all of us went to buy ice-creams again. Around 6.20 pm, my sister suggested that both of us should have a ride around the kampung by riding my uncle's motorbike. Without delay, I agreed ! After asking permission, we went around the kampung by motorbike. Yuhuuu....My cousins also wanted to join us. But, it's too late already. My dad said just continue the next day. At night, suddenly my phone got a problem again ! The screen turned black when I opened the flip. What la...I just sent for repair 2 months ago. What ? Expect me to buy a new phone ?

On the next day (December 30, 2009), early in the morning, my parents went fishing again. Yes, for the third time. Who knows, it's their luck on that day. My dad caught a very big "ikan keli" weighed 1.8 kg. Here's some pictures of my dad proudly hold the fish.

It's so big that I think it's more than enough for all of us for lunch. To me, it looked so delicious to be cooked as "ikan bakar", but they cooked it as a "gulai". It's still very delicious though. Even my brother and younger sister who dislike "ikan keli" ate the fish. Perhaps because the fish was still fresh. So, it tasted better. After we had our lunch, my family and I packed our stuffs and got ourselves ready to go back home. Ahh...time passes very fast. It has been 4 days already. Around 3 pm, we headed back to Seri Kembangan, Selangor. On the way back, another accident occurred. 3 cars involved if I'm not mistaken. It happened somewhere in Sungkai.

Before we reached home, we had our dinner at Chop n Steak Corner, a very classic restaurant as it has lots of antique things like a scooter, an old bicycle, and others. We ate chicken chop, lamb chop and a few additional food. While waiting for the food, I took photos of my malfunctioning hand phone. Look properly...the writings are inverted !

Around 10 pm we reached home. Too tired that I can't type..so, that's why I'm typing now....

Smaller ?

This is a photo of my sister and I when we went to National Science Center, Kuala Lumpur. See...my sister is taller than me even though I wore a 3 inches wedges shoes... :(

When my younger sister came back from her boarding school yesterday for Deepavali break, she told me that her friends and herself talked about me on the previous day. Her friends said that I am the smallest elder sister they've ever met. They met me when I followed my younger sister and her friends on their trip to go to Genting Highlands during the last mid year school break. I was asked to accompany and have an eye on my sister since she's still underage, 16 years old. But actually, all of them are 16 years old and the eldest is me, 17 years old. I wasn't 18 yet at that time. So, I was actually underage as well.

Since I was the eldest, her friends thought that I'll be the one taking care of all 8 of them. Of course, I would be glad to take care of them as well. However, they were shocked to see my size which is smaller than theirs. Besides, I am shorter than my younger sister. While we were in Genting Highlands, her friends were actually worried about me because they said I looked very young looked like a small kid despite my age. They're scared that I might be lost somewhere. So, they've to follow me anywhere I wanted to go. As for me, I thought they followed me because my words ruled since I am the eldest. But actually...haish...

In addition to their conversation, my sister told them that I'm always behave like a small kid, very childish. My younger brother who's 12 years old also said the same thing. Not only these 2 people...actually, there's a lot of people out there, my friends obviously thought that I am the youngest in my family for the very same reasons :

1) I am small in stature (my height is primary school kid's height I guess since my younger brother is taller than me)

2. I am childish (can't help it...it's natural...)

Deep inside my heart, I am very happy when people think that I am younger than my actual age. Some people even think that I am still studying in school when it is a fact that I graduated from high school 2 years ago. I look young !! ^_^

However, I feel sad when people think twice before trusting me ( in terms of making a decision and taking care of someone ) because I always behave like a small kid. So, people always think that my mind is like a small kid's, can't be relied on. I might make unnecessary decision.

Oh please...I might be small in stature, behaves like a small girl, and whatever...but my wits is on the same level as the people of my age. I can think wisely, make a good decision, and of course, lead people. Please do not think that I am always cheerful because I am just like a small kid, can easily forget things. Don't even think of bullying me because I always keep unhappy things to myself. Once I reach my limit, I'll explode. I do have lots of things that I hate so much !

Why is 1 Syawal 1430 H a very special day ?

I am very busy nowadays with Eid celebration that I don't have time to update my stories. What to do ? Guests keep on coming to my house...^_^

From my observation throughout 18 years of my years of breathing in this world, I notice that Hari Raya Aidilfitri has always been one of the most awaiting festive season in Malaysia, especially to Malays...eh, sorry...Muslims...eh, I think Malaysians wholly. Everyone in Malaysia knows that Raya break usually will be around 1 week. Enough for visiting relatives and friends, attending open houses, collecting money (ehem...I like this!), and holidays. That's why people like Raya so much ! Ok, that's for the introduction of this post.

Now, let me go straight to the point. Raya celebration this year is indeed very special of all others because of few reasons :

1. First time I celebrate first day of Raya at home...in Seri Kembangan, Selangor.

2. First time I sewed my baju raya...it's a purple baju kurung.

3. First time I cooked for a big number of people...urm, around 20. My neighbors visited my house on Raya night. I cooked them fried macaroni with cheese, chicken, mixed vege, chilli paste, and what else ah ?? I forgot... Uhh...my own recipe that I created after break fast. It turned up to taste nice ! hehe...

Lots of my friends ask me about my duit raya collection. Well, since I'm already 18 years old...I'm not like few years ago...when I was still "muka tembok" to go to my neighbors', my friends' and my teachers' houses to collect duit raya. Now, it's my turn to stay at home and wait for people to come and visit my house. So, less duit raya this year...just got duit raya from relatives and family friends.

That's the end of my Hari Raya story~ I would like to add some more, but I think I have to wait for more things to happen in this one month of blessings.