A Homemaker’s Diary

The celebration started with all the cooking (although I did not manage to snap any pictures..huhu) I totally forgot to take the Raya feast pictures and only realized that when I was cleaning up all the dishes at night.

We successfully made our first time ketupat palas this year and the feedback from those who ate them was generally good. Next year we might be doing more compared to 2 pot susu of beras pulut we made this year. SIL brought some of the ketupat home together with my rendang ayam.

Even my nasi daging got good response from my aunt who asked for the recipe. We did invite few friends over but perhaps most of them were busy with family gathering. Later in the afternoon we went to SIL house and had her usual Raya lontong.

The sad part during this Raya was I fell sick during the second day..came down with cold and fever and since the panel clinic was closed, I have to make do with Panadol for the night. We went to the clinic on the 3rd Raya and now as I am writing this entry, I’m feeling better except for the stuffy nose.

So how’s your Raya celebration this year?

We went to the Curve and Ikano yesterday after the 4D scan at Vision College. Thought of trying the RM15.90 IKEA buffet but at 6:30pm the line to the cashier was like very, very packed..dah la tak boleh bayar dulu and book meja..ish tak kuasa la nak put up with such crowd..tu belum berebut nak amik makanan lagi..ended up having bukak puasa in Colonial Times..even Waroang Penyet was fully booked.

After that we went to Tesco nearby, why there were so many Indon, Bangla and all these foreigners nowadays? Fortunately there were few things like bamboo blind, plastic place mat, alas meja that I wanted to buy kalau tak, tak berbaloi je memenatkan diri.

Check out my new alas meja. The nicer one we bought at Jusco Equine, couldn’t find a bigger size for the dining table so have to use the green plain one bought in Tesco. But since Hubby has brilliant ideas to stack the cloth place mat underneath the plastic cover, cantik la sikit alas meja green plain tu..hehe..

I’m off from the kitchen for now, nak pegi beli santan some more, senduk lagi (baru je patah time kacau pulut..huhu) and some chicken for ayam masak merah. Will update the picture of my raya feast after tomorrow…selamat hari raya, peeps!

I suddenly have the craving to eat ketupat palas with gulai (curry) daging for this Hari Raya. I was thinking lemang won’t taste the same, tak de excitement like when you open up the palas leave to eat the ketupat..so off we went to Alamanda with the plan to buy beras pulut, santan and whatnot after break fasting at any of the available eating outlets.

Turn out there were many people shopping in Alamanda on Sunday. At 6:40pm we were out of choice of places to berbuka (apart from Manhattan Fish Market and JM Baryani). So in the end we went to the Coast and got 2 seats for their buffet.

After that we went to Carrefour but all mission failed. I was looking for alas plastik for dining table, some plastic container to put all the sudu garfu for drying (after 5 years, the old one pecah already and Hubby threw it away), bamboo blind to put up on the kitchen window (now the window all very bersinar-sinar after Hubby cleaned up on Saturday)..satu pon tarak. Even santan M S and beras pulut pon habis…wah, I’m not the only one who want to eat pulut this Raya..huhu!

Hubby suggested we try kedai runcit nearby our place or pasar borong. So after buying my new pair of raya sandal, we went to pasar borong. Amazingly punya la banyak orang jual daging..jeng jeng..bought 1/2kg daging pejal, some daging cincang with lemak-lemak, freshly pressed santan and spices.

Funny thing, both of us tak kenal daun palas..punya la upset when we thought those daun palas are actually daun kelapa tak bukak lagi..keh keh..luckily I was gatal mulut tanya the seller “ni daun palas ke” Dengan tamaknya bought 2 ikat, in case la salah bukak daun or the daun terkoyak..amatur la katakan..seikat baru RM2, boleh dapat about 20++ biji ketupat tau (we bukak the daun and practise folding to 3 segi shape last night)..heh!

Last stop to Balaji, bought 1kg beras pulut and 2 packs of MS santan kotak. Ni baru la rasa mcm nak raya sebab boleh masak2 kan…now have to wait whether my first time ketupat palas menjadi ke tak..will update later as I need to get ready, we are going to KJ for 4D scan today.

Another mission after that to find alas meja, bamboo blind and bekas sudu..huhu!

For this Hari Raya, I’m done with all these preparations:

1. I have cleaned the old plastic, decorated containers and filled up with Raya cookies.

2. I’ve decided to cook nasi daging, ayam masak merah, kari daging, rendang ayam and acar timun for Raya dishes instead of the simple bihun goreng.

3. Will go to pasar borong on Sunday to buy beef and other ingredients to cook those dishes.

4. Hopefully there will be stalls selling lemang on the eve of Hari Raya, so that we can have lemang with my rendang ayam.

5. I have cleaned the room downstairs so that whoever coming will have place to solat.

6. I need to clean the toilet downstairs, scrub the sink and brush the toilet floor in case anyone need to go to the loo..heh!

7. Hubby needs to get ice from 7 Eleven and buy KFC for Niece (she’s fussy with other people’s cooking) since SIL and the rest of her family are coming on Raya morning.

Emmm..what else do I miss here..

Somehow I feel happier tonight..not sure whether it’s the beryani that makes my day or just the hormone raging in my head..heh!

I was a bit down after looking at pictures of old friends in Facebook, pictures of them excelling in their career, going everywhere globe trotting, on vacation, wearing great clothes, socializing, you know having and acting every bit of a successful career women..huhu..what do I miss here..wonder where I will be now if I never quit my job years ago..maybe I am a manager, or senior exec by now or whether I am still sane if I keep on working..haha! I was never good when it comes to work pressure, there was time when I fell sick twice a week during the last job I held..huhu! And that’s why Hubby is not very happy with me working full time because he knows it will only kill me in no time.

Despite all, I realize my life now is not that bad either. I can sleep and wake up any time I please (well, for the next few months at least), no need to wake up every morning and drag myself to work. I don’t even have to crack my head to think how to handle the financial situation, what bills to pay with so much that I earn…and no need to drive myself crazy to be too ambitious to get more and earn more. I can choose not to cook or clean and still no one will reprimand my action. Even without the monthly income I can still shop and dine to what we can afford..I should be happy to be in my current state.

So I went upstairs and told Hubby “macam nak beli kasut raya la..” Hubby replied, “OK, nanti kita pegi beli” I went downstairs with smiles in my heart .

It’s not the new shoes that counts (I don’t even need a new pair as we are not going anywhere special) but the assurance that somehow my life is being taken care of, happily and lovingly. I don’t need a career to gauge how much myself is worth of, I am simply happy with me and what I have all these while.