Selamat Hari Raya

Selamat Hari Raya. It was a really nice day, getting to spend it with my family without any distraction from work for a change. And I started my day with the visit to the mosque, just a five minute drive from my house.

We were lucky that we were there early as before long, the place soon filled up. And the caretaker forgotten to open up then third floor of the praying area. He already left for his kampung the evening before. Plenty of people ended up having to pray on the pavement outside. Luckily it wasn't raining although it threatened to do so.

As soon as we reached home, it was time for the morning feast while waiting for my brother-in-law to arrive. The children played with their cousin for a while before we had to leave to my Mum's place just after eleven. More food, followed by my Mum's lunch. I was already ready for a nap by then.

We were joined by my Uncle. My boys soon got restless as my sister and her children were in Melaka for Raya.

Their cousin and a classmate of them came to visit late afternoon. And boy, did they enjoy it. So much so that they forgotten about Smurf 2. I was sure they would remind us about that tomorrow. The visitors kept on streaming in until late, and only now that I got the chance to sit down and blog. A long day it has been.

Cuti Raya Day-1

It sure had been a hectic day, but more fir Anita than me. She was still at the kitchen now perfecting her laksa. She reckoned that she would be at it past midnight.

All the main tasks completed. Satay, checked. Rendang, checked. Lemang, checked. Ketupat, checked. Next on the list would be laksa and bolognese. Everything going according to schedule. As well as the cleaning. We had four helpers coming in for the day, with three staying overnight - my parents' maid, our maid and her friend. Two of them Filipinos. Cleaning was tip top!

The boys were upstairs playing with sprinklers. The whole house was smoking! My task would be to get the gaji melayu in order for tomorrow as well as putting the bank notes into the ang pow. Easy task!

Right! Much to do now. Will blog later. Selamat Hari Raya!

Better Late than Never

I must admit that I sacked a bit this year. Usually I got my Raya card organised well ahead of time, but this year with the combination of work, and moving house, things got delayed. I managed only to get down to business last night during the rare nights which I could get my act together and get things going.

So, Anita would have to honour of getting the cards posted. I got the stamps already for them, so they just need delivering. Raya was definitely round the corner now....

Iftar at Marriott Slideshow

The slideshow from the recent iftar at JW Marriott hotel

Return to Marriott

Since we had the voucher after the mishap a couple of weeks back, we returned to the scene of the crime for berbuka. This time, we were seated indoors, but the marquee where Anita had the fall remained unchanged. I guessed they never quite took heed to what happened.

Anyhow, apart from a slight variation, the spread remained the same. The satay was overcooked this time however. And the place was just as packed, that being Sunday and all. And with that, almost every table had children coming along - ours included. No privacy if you were coming here for a date!

Food was well topped-up and I tried some other stuff, mainly noodles as I wasn't in the mood for rice - been having rice for berbuka almost every day. The queue for roast lamb remained long, so again I gave that a miss. But the highlight remained the fruits and pudding. Idlan had two helping of chocolate cakes - he was right hyper in the end! Big mistake.

We didn't hang around for too long this time as we had already made reservations for Despicable Me across town.

Compared to most places, the buffet here remained the most reasonable price-wise, although the spread was limited tonmainly local Malay cuisine. Well worth checking out, but make sure you were seated indoors.