Irfan Back to his Old Tricks

It looks like finally, Alhamdulillah, Irfan's fever was touching baseline. He finished his last dose of antibiotics this morning and was still on paracetamol round the clock. His appetite was back and he was jumping up and down all afternoon. He enjoyed his bit of "mercun" - firecrackers - which I bought at Pasar Ramadan earlier. He was running around in the lawn.

As for Idlan, he had his half-day fasting again today - late breakfast and no food and drinks until Maghrib. He appeared to be getting the hang of things now. I managed to walk around Pasar Ramadan in Melawati earlier armed with the X-Pro1. Snapping away. Quite fun. Will be uploading the photos soon, although they were already up on Flickr and SmugMug.

First Ramadan

So, where did you have your first berbuka. I try to make sure that I would be on leave the first day of Ramadan. This would allow me to have the first Tarawikh knowing that I do both have to rush to work tomorrow morning. And the second major advantage was, I could get to plan where to enjoy my first berbuka. Inevitably it would be with family.

When do I start consciously plan for this? Well, staying abroad for 13 years did put things into perspective. I've been on call on first days of Ramadan before, had exams, alone to myself. I did not mind so much back then, but your mind do wonder. How nice it would be to be with family.

Nowadays, it was not really a choice anymore. I would make sure that the first day of Ramadan was free. A bit of a personal holiday for me. In fact, I value it more than the Eid as it was a lot more hectic on Eid, and one do not have time for themselves then.

What did I do this year? At my Mum's, enjoying her cooking. I couldn't say no to that. My sister was there as well, minus Irfan who was still having a temperature. We didn't want him to pass it on to his cousins.

So, Happy Ramadan again to all ....

No Pasar Ramadan

The plan was to visit the Pasar Ramadan in Melawati as I usually did every year. But since my Mum-in-law wanted to come along, we decided to stop at Taman Melati to let her do her shopping before dropping her back home. We would then do our shipping.

But, as soon as we reached Taman Melati, it poured down royally. The plan to Melawati had to be scraped. We went to Jaya Jusco instead for a quick groceries. By the time the rain subsided, we had I leave for my Mum's at Bukit Antarabangsa for berbuka. So, the Pasar Ramadan had to wait until tomorrow.

The Spice Shop

Every time we land in Kepala Batas, my Mum would go to this shop without fail. Apparently, this spice shop had been handed down a couple of generations and they now have a shop, being previously selling their wars from home. 

It was more of a one-stop place where all the ingredients were available, including the recipe should you wish for. They were available as printouts. You can get all the materials, from onions, ghee, ginger etc. you name it, hey got it. 

Anita asking for his latest mixAfter sussing out the quantity, he would then start the mixingHis brother would then make sure all we perfectly mixed upAnita started coming here since last year after tasting my Mum's curry. And every time my Mum went back to Kepala Batas she would order some spices. And now, Anita was buying them for her friends as well. 

This is the way!

According to the owner of the shop, they had started supplying their spices to restaurants around KL for the last few years. What you do when you get to the shop was to tell him what you were planning to cook, and he would mix the spices up to your taste. These were all freshly grounded, and the Biryani mix was my particular favorite. 

Poor Boy on Ramadhan Evening

The plan to head to the mosque for Tarawikh had to be put on hold after Irfan felled high temperature tonight. He vomited his medicine and we had to tepid sponge him with some ice before the temperature finally came down. Had to stay with his as usually during fever he always wanted me around. And sure enough, he wanted me all along.

He is back now playing on his iPad and about to settle for the night. Temperature now settled but he had been coughing out some green muck since. We might have to put the plan to have the first berbuka at my Mum's house on the back burner as well. We don't want Julia's children to catch the bug as well. Let's see how he is tomorrow morning.

For all my friends and readers, a Happy Ramadan to all. Ramadhan Mubarak. Didn't matter if you're a Moslem or non.