On Extended Raya Leave

The purple family! My wife Julina, my daughter Dayana, my son Hilman & I at Armada Hotel PJ for my wife's family Raya gathering.

Hmmmm have been on leave and expecting only to return to work on Monday, 6th of November. It's been kind of fun tho taking care of my 1-year old son, bathing him, feeding him, putting him to sleep, etc. Being with him gives me that all-over feel-good sensation. I do wonder why some married couples voluntarily remain childless. I suppose they have their reasons, but, do they really know what their missing out on? I do wonder....!

Anyway, on the 4th day of Raya, I went to Jimmy's house. Jimmy is an old friend of mine whom I have known ever since we were in Standard One. He's my age (40 years old), single (he's been married before though) and lives in this nice bungalow house somewhere in Ampang. My wife, 2 kids & I went there sometime after Maghrib. We chatted. Met his parents and his sisters and nieces who were there. He played some piano tunes for my daughter. He's is currently involved in a project as an architect but his passion has always been art & music. He's really good at sketches and he showed one particular sketch of Tun Mahathir which was really superb! He also happened to have some art pieces hanging around his place and I actually bought one!

On Sunday lunchtime, I had Raya with my wife's siblings at Armada Hotel in Petaling Jaya. Raya with wifey's family has sorta been like this especially since my wife's mother has passed away in 2002. We met after her brother & sister finished celebrating with their in-laws. So it was at the Coffee house where we met, exchanged salams, ate, chatted and gave away duit raya to our nephews/nieces.

Well, since then I have been on leave. Already have 2 Raya open house invitations and one Wedding this syawal so far. Hope to attend all if possible.

I'll be busy this weekend for a course and will be officially back to work on Monday.

Till then, Adios!

Amir Fuad.

Raya

My son Hilman(in purple baju melayu) and my daughter Dayana (in blue kebaya).

Hari Raya!!

My first day of Raya was OK, I guess.

My wife prepared Soto, Ketupat(the instant kind) and chicken rendang. So I had a bit of Raya food for breakfast before pushing off for Aidilfitri prayers at the Bandar Sri Damansara(BSD) mosque.
Good crowd there. Even managed to pay my zakat fitrah before the prayers actually started. Lebih afdal kan kalau bayar sebelum sembahyang raya?
After prayers, stopped by at one of the 7-11 outlets in BSD and bought newspapers.
Got back, had another round of breakfast, this time with wife and kids. Did not go to my parents' or my parents-in-law's graves as we kinda did that just before raya to avoid the crowd. Then we all got dressed up in our baju raya, me in a blue baju melayu, wife in a dark blue kebaya permaisuri (I don't know what the heck it is, it looks just like any other other kebaya), my 8-year old daughter in a light blue kebaya and my 1-year old son in a purple baju melayu with a matching samping sans songkok (Don't think they actually make songkoks in sizes that small). Stopped by at Jalan Maktab Lima to pick up my brother.

And then it was off to my cousins' house in Taman Ibu Kota, Gombak. It once was the house where my maternal aunt, Mak Bulat(my late mum's elder sister) lived. Currently one of her daughters (Lin) stays there. Another daughter of her's (Bam) passed away about 3 weeks ago, so it was the two of them before. Anyway, Mak Bulat's eldest daughter, Saadah flew in from Kota Kinabalu with her husband and one of her daughters, Badik. We had ketupat, sayur lodeh, fried chicken, sambal goreng and the piece de resistance, Lin's famous pineapple tarts (recipe inherited from the late Mak Bulat, so I used to call it mak Bulat's tarts before). I swear, they are so sedap, they melt in your mouth leaving you with this sensous taste of butter and pineapple jam lingering on your tongue for a good minute or two!!!!

It rained after that, so we chatted for a bit. Then we excused ourselves to go to Auntie Anyah's house in PJ. She is my mum's first cousin. So we joined her with her husband, 3 children (she has 5 but her 2 boys were away, I guess) + spouses, and her 10 grandchildren and other friends of hers. My daughter made friends with one of Auntie Anyah's cucu while my son busied himself with some toys in the TV room. My daughter was so happy because she got 3 duit raya packets.

The it was back home.


2nd day of Raya!

Left the house at 12-ish to pick up my brother at Jln Maktab 5, KL. Our initial plan to visit Mak Mon (my mum's late cousin's wife) was aborted because she was AWOL. Calls to her house were unanswered but Auntie Anyah quickly gaved us the idea to visit another cousin of my mum's, Auntie Bibah who lives near the Mines Shopping Fair. Since the plan was to be at Auntie Bibah's house at 2.30pm onwards, My family & I plus my brother decided to have lunch at KLCC first. Also hopefully the kids (esp my 1-year old son, Hilman) would be less cranky after having some food in his tummy.

After lunch at KLCC, it was off to Auntie Bibah's house. Managed to find the house with some guidance from my bro and some memory of actually going to the house a few years back. So it was more soto. fried meehoon, fried chicken, chocolate cake and raya cookies.

After sending my brother back home, I (or was it my wife?) decided to have dinner outside. We all wanted to have a change from the usual raya stuff. So it was off to Great Eastern Mall in Ampang. Most of the shops there were closed. Since it was my daughter Nana's turn to choose which place to go, she decided on Alexis.

So we sat there and lo and behold who was behind us? None other than Deanna Yusoff herself. I think she was with her boyfriend (they seemed a little lovey-dovey). Anyway, I had "Slow Roast Duck" - quite nice. Wifey had this thing called the "Duck Confit" and Nana had the "Spaghetti Bolognaise". Hilman (my son) had some spaghetti(taken from his sis' plate) and also some breastmilk straight from the breast.

Then we headed home for a good rest. Baru pergi satu rumah dah penat gila.

BTW, I bought the Gubra VCD and watched it. Did I like it, well yes and no. I actually enjoyed the performance of the supporting cast rather than the main cast. Rozie Rashid(she plays a hooker) and also the guy who played the bilal, the lady who played the bilal's wife gave good performances. The lead actress, well.....she was good but I did not know whether it was her acting or the main plot ( the one involving Orked, hubby, Jason's brother, the "other" woman, etc) but it left me either grimacing or wondering what the **** was it all about!?!?!?!? Best Movie in the local film awards? Hmmmmm...hard for me to say I guess because I do not watch that many local movies.


Well, that's all. OMG I am so bloody wordy! Note to self: Next time, SUMMARIZE!

Happy Raya to anyone reading this (ada ke?) and I'll make sure I post pictures in the near future.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

My First Post for my blog

Hello!
First time posting here.
Have been reading other people's blogs for years and now finally got off my butt to write my own.

It was a nice ride to work today.....No jams. KL really should be like this everyday!

Well, am certainly looking forward to the 2-week break. Took a long break for Raya and also because my maid is on Raya leave. Have to take care of my kids esp in the 2nd week when wifey is back to work, maid still on leave.

It will be another quiet raya as my parents have both passed away, and my married siblings will join their in-laws for raya. Same situation with wifey. I'll probably spend the first day with my brother(he's not married) and perhaps go to one of my cousins' house in Gombak. After that, I really do not know what our plans are. Maybe we'll catch a movie, go makan at some restaurant or something like that. We'll play it by ear I guess.

Anyway, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Happy Deepavali to everyone!
Will post more later and perhaps attach some pictures once I figure out how to get this darn thing working!!

Amir Fuad.