Raya Raya ~ Syawal 1430 H

Most probably we are going to celebrate Hari Raya on Sunday, 20 September 2009. My husband is very excited because this is his first raya at home after 4 years celebrating abroad. He bought a new red sampin which cost him RM500, a white kopiah and butang baju melayu. Since we didn't have the chance to make a new baju melayu for him, he is going to wear his old baju melayu which he wore on our wedding day 6 years ago. It still looks brand new! I asked for a pair of slippers because mine has worn out. I have 4 pairs of baju kurung which haven't been worn that much since we were not celebrating raya "excessively" abroad. I got a new tudung from my sister and a new telekung for sembahyang raya.

My husband and 2 of his brothers went back to his kampung to buy foodies for Hari Raya. The one that my husband really loves is N9's lemang. He claims that N9's is the best compared to other states' lemangs. I know Opah cooks good lemang too. I know Opah's rendang tok is the best rendang ever.

When I was a kid, Opah used to bake kek gula hangus (with and without raisins) ordered by neighbours for Hari Raya. The price varies according to sizes. And Opah used to sell acar buah which is also the best ever in Nescafe bottles, big and small. My mother will cook lemang, dodol and kuah kacang for nasi himpit for her to sell too. Hari Raya seems to be a big income contributor to Opah. Furthermore Opah is the best cook in my kampung.

The morning of Hari Raya will be the busiest for myself when Opah ordered me and my sister to send raya foodies to neighbours as sedekah. Sometimes we have to wait for the plates because Opah knew that several neighbours dare not return her precious plates. After that we were ordered to set food for orang masjid to come for raya at Opah's house after sembahyang. Remember, Opah is the best cook and they came to her house first!

There was an incident on one raya eve when karipap tasted "extraordinary" sweet. It was my aunt's doing when she accidentally mixed flour and caster sugar prepared for kek gula hangus. I was the one who said "eh, this karipap is sweet!" You should see Opah's face when she tasted the karipap and straight away knew that my aunt used her kek gula hangus ingredients. That night we had Maggi Mee for buka puasa since no one prepared a proper lauk when everyone was busy cooking foodies for raya.

Makan Makan Ramadhan 1430 H

Ramadhan comes again! I was back on the 4th September flying for 24 hours and finally arrived safely at home. The best thing of celebrating Ramadhan at home is the opportunity to taste local, famous delicacies during iftaar. We had planned to go to several bazaar Ramadhan to search for food that we missed a lot. Let see if I can still remember what we had since we arrived home.

• murtabak (1* ~ bad!)
• nasi lemak (5* for sambal)
• roti john (1* ~ I don't like roti john)
• roti bom (5* ~ my favourite, must be without sauce)
• kuih bongkok (similar to my grandmother's kuih but without bebola tepung pulut berinti kelapa dengan gula melaka, therefore only 2*)
• tepung pelita (3* because I don't think it was the authentic tepung pelita, it was more like takothai)
• kuih gula melaka (I prefer green)
• taufufah (4* ~ I prefer the one in pasar malam)
• putu bambu (it was similar to putu piring but "bamboo" version unlike putu bambu I had with my grandmother, thus 2*)
• tauhu sumbat with peanut sauce (2* ~ I prefer something sweet)
• pulut panggang (5*)
• tepung talam (4*)
• tomyam (tengok je)
• telur bungkus (3*)

Today we had nasi beriyani gam, kuih lapis (merah hijau?) and puteri ayu. My grandmother used to make kuih lapis with many colours: red, green, yellow, brown, white. We freshen ourselves with soya cincau and soya kurma. Yesterday my sister made us ketam bercili and we had air laici and cendol from bazaar Ramadhan and soya ros from Mydin.

NOTE: I am not complaining. My grandmother makes better kuih than anyone else's.

My sisters have been busy making biskut raya especially tart nenas and sarang semut for her beloved ones a.k.a. her sons and my husband. The sisters went to fetch another niece from school and brought back chocolate cake from her house.