Why are there no tables?

Questions about the lack of tables never stopped.

Last Sunday, our masjid (mosque) held it's Hari Raya 'open house'. Since the kids and I haven't had the opportunity to go to many open houses this year it was a nice little outing for them.

Unsure how to balance.

The masjid is just across our main road, so my mom and I decided to walk there. There were many people there and a few stalls (bazaar-like) prepared by the organizing committee. There was sate, nasi impit and kuah kacang, mee and meehoon sup, and lontong. The food was actually quite good. 

Chair = table too

Eating on plastic chairs with no tables was quite an experience while trying to juggle 3 small kids with different appetites but somehow my mom and I managed it. Of course their Raya clothes became casualties and we were probably the only people who managed to get the kuah kacang all over one of the chairs. 

Juggling

It was hot and a bit tiring but everyone left happy and full.

Comot!

Smashin' Ayam Penyet at Wangsa Walk

Waiting for chicken!

It's true! I must be one of the very few people who still has not tasted Ayam Penyet (translated on the menu as smashed chicken..hmm). It's just that I had a bad experience with Indonesian food once so I was less than enthusiastic to try again. However, my curiosity got the better of me, so we decided to stop off for lunch at Ayam Penyet @ Wangsa Walk.

Look here!

We ordered 2 sets of Ayam Penyet, Sup ekor and Ikan Assam Pedas.

Love the chicken..but not the other stuff

First of all the ayam is not "penyet" at all. It's just fried chicken. I loved the flavour. A little hint of spice but not overpowering and fried just right. Wish we had ordered more. The accompanying sambal was very hot and a bit sour but complimented the chicken very well.

Water with meat

Initially we had ordered the sup ekor and ikan assam pedas because we noted that the ayam penyet set did not come with any gravy. Eating dry rice isn't something that we enjoy so that was why we ordered the extras. BAD BAD BAD choice. The sup ekor was just a watery tasteless soup with little portions and the fish was a bland but overpoweringly hot gravy with very tough and totally unfresh peice of 'togkol' fish (or was it 'tenggiri' it so tough I couldn't even tell the difference).

The drinks look nice.. pity they weren't

Since the food was hot, you would think that the drinks would be refreshing and soothing to our palates. Unfortunately, they were not. My watermelon snow juice tasted strangely of honeydew essence and was so diabetic inducingly sweet that despite my tongue being on fire I could not force in more than 2 sips. I drank an astonishingly expensive (RM 0.70) glass of sky juice instead. The girls' drinks were not really any better with the milo ais being the only decent one. 

All in all, the Ayam Penyet itself was good but everything else was not. Next time, I'm just going to order the chicken and drink plain water.

Accidentally Cheap Potato at Kenny Rogers

Another book reader- yeay!

Know how each place has it's own signature dish? Kenny Rogers is probably most famous for it's roasted chicken. As usual most of us decided to play it safe by ordering our normal quarter meal with side dishes. But Maz decided to be a little adventurous.

We were't confident enough to try the new Balinese Chicken

She chose a Baked Potato meal (Beef Bolognase) with came with the standard 3 side dishes + 1 muffin option. For some reason she decided to load her plate with carbohydrates that day (rice, pasta and potato). Unfortunately, the combination of a baked potato with what is basically a spaghetti sauce was not really a mouth-watering one. The topping was average and overall the meal did not really work.

Carbohydrate overload!

The Baked potato meal cost RM 15.90 (same as the Quarter meal). Why "cheap"? Because although there were four of us, we only paid for 2 meals. The cashier mistakenly rang up the bill (we noticed 2 days later when splitting the reciept). An honest mistake. Still torn whether to go back and pay? Let's take a vote. What do you think?

Hmmm....

||BOOK CLUB||

Will start recommending my favourite books to help all of you out there who can't decide what to read next. Try "The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold". Check out the synopsis and review here. Want to borrow this and more? Check out Hidayah's Book Club.

||MY PLAYFUL SIDE||

Show your support! I have also joined this great contest by Eyriqazz called My Raya Moments Contest. Check out my entry here. Come and join too, there are amazing prizes up for grabs.

Hooray! The New You Giveaway Prizes

Yeay! The New You Giveaway prizes safely arrived. My entry managed to get 4th Place. What did I win?

Nabila House PFA Perfume & Voucher worth RM25
Honey's Quilling Accessories worth RM 15

To be honest, when Hanz e-mailed me, I wasn't sure what exactly I would be recieving. Little ol' me thought that quilling accessories would be some kind of kit to make accessories..hehe. Me and my non-artistic fingers would totally make a hash of it. However, I was totally wrong! What I got were these:

Sweet gift cards, can't wait to use them

Cute little fridge magnets :)

Cool earrings!

Doesn't Zil look amazing with them? (Psst..new dress too)

So cute huh? I love talented people. If you guys are interested go to Honey's Quilling and check them out.

The other prizes were:

Perfume and gift voucher from NabilaHouse

I love perfumes and purse concentrates although I don't really wear them often, but as my girly side still loves them. The perfume I won was called Still (inspired by Jennifer Lopez). It has a nice fresh smell that is not too overpowering. I cannot wait to spend my gift voucher at NabilaHouse but there are so many perfumes and products to choose from. Any recommendations? I prefer soft, sweet smelling scents (current favourite is Dior Addict).

Thank you to Hanz for the amazing giveaway and to Honey's Quilling, NabilaHouse and all the other sponsors :)

||MY PLAYFUL SIDE||

I have also joined this great contest by Eyriqazz called My Raya Moments Contest. Check out my entry here. Come and join too, there are amazing prizes up for grabs.

Destinations by Sheila O' Flanagan

Basic book description

This book is a collection of short stories that revolves around the lives of regular commuters on the Dart (Dublin Area Rapid Transport) system. Destinations reveals the inside track on the lives of ordinary commuters and uncovers the hidden links that lie beneath the surface of 'anonymous' city lives.

Two evesdropping passengers learn more than they bargained for; an office-party fling has unforseen consequences; a suburban housewife is forced to face her estranged mother- and her thorny past; an office worker finds her commute to work livened by the daily daily sightings of a handsome stranger; a hot date with the office stud gets off to a disastrous start... is there light at the end of the tunnel? (from book jacket).

What I liked about this book

The short stories were really interesting. Even though they were short the story-telling was compelling and character development was solid. Each story had a little twist that made me smile at the end. Plus some of the characters were re-featured in other stories and the tale was told from a whole new perspective. I had alot of "Oooo so that's what happened!" moments while reading this book. It was great chick lit in delectable bite-sized chunks. Makes you believe that you can find true love on the LRT ;)

What I disliked about this book

There was not much to dislike. Maybe one or two of the stories were not as good as the others but I think that is prob just a matter of personal taste.

A quote I liked from this book

"Suddenly all the things I was so sure about are shifting in my head. I can't seem to grasp what is and is not important anymore. I don't know what I am and am not good at. And I sure as hell don't know why because today is a day the same as any other."

Rating: 4/5

|| BOOKCLUB||

Want to borrow this book and more? Check out Hidayah's Book Club.

Antara Steamboat Restaurant

Yeay! UKM Wondergirls Raya reunion!

UKM Wondergirls Reunion..hehe

Since Cik Ton (aka the other Hidayah) was back from Sabah, we decided to get together. So a Stream load of girls + Amer (Aida's "little" brother) set off to Puncak Alam, Aida's rental house. Her new life as a lecturer at UiTM sounds really interesting and hectic. Can't wait to start mine.

Our mission was to find some good dimsum. Seriously. Cik Ton was craving for them since it seems she couldn't find any all the way in Sabah (though I doubt she had time to look). So Aida took us all the way to Jusco Setia Alam to a little restaurant called Antara Steamboat Restaurant. 

No Kuey Teow over there?

We ordered the 3 dimsum sets (RM 19.90 per set) and just in case it was not enough, everybody ordered an individual meal too. I had the Claypot Seafood Tom Yam. Sounds grand and delicious huh? It was not. First of all, it was quite tasteless (just hot), and secondly I doubt that 2 prawns, 2 crabsticks and 2 fishball can be considered as a Seafood dish. There were no vegetables or any other stuff in the Tom Yam soup (so I have a huge suspicion that it was one of those instant pastes).

Disappointing Tom Yam

The dimsum was okay (I guess I'm not really a big fan- or I have still to find some awesome ones). There was a good variety and I was told that the price was very reasonable. The dimsum came with 2 sauces for dipping,  a chilli sauce and a salty Yong Tau Foo like sauce. In the end I just felt very "fishy" and had to stop over for a peanut butter and jelly waffle. Hehe.

Dimsum was okay

But it was great to get together with all the girls again. Missed having everyone together. 

The 2 Hidayahs

||MBP||

Check out my latest post for Mom Blogger's Planet "Lessons from Raya".

||BOOK CLUB||

Successfully mailed another book-  "The Truth about Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell" to Ajjah. Added "Shall we tell the President by Jeffrey Archer" to the library. Wanna borrow these and more? Just go to Hidayah's Book Club.

Hari Raya Aidilfitri | Day 1- Green/brown

Yousof: First one up and ready for Raya

Despite all the ketupat & rendang, he still wanted nuggets for Raya breakfast.

Aishah: Ready for Raya

Yes, our Raya clothes are a bit too big!

Hamzah: Ready for Raya!

Refuelling first.

Selamat Hari Raya

How I know Raya is near

1. It's 9.30am and I'm the only one at my desk.
2. I left the house at 8.30am and managed to get to the office before 9.00am (Gombak-Chow Kit).
3. The corridors are lined with small, flickering, colourful lights (and it's still daytime).
4. The notice boards are full of Kad Selamat Hari Raya from drug companies, suppliers and sales representatives (no "real" people send out Hari Raya cards anymore). 
5. Every radio station I switch on is playing a Raya song.
6. I have no mood to do anything! (Oh wait, that's not just near Raya time..hehe).

Last day at the office, tomorrow I will "officially" start my Hari Raya holiday. I say officially because I've been crusing on holiday gear for a while now.  So I want to take this opportunity to thank all visitors, readers and followers of this blog your support. I apologize if any of my posts or comments have offended anybody. May these last few days of Ramadhan be spent in the best possible way.

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin

I am a big fan of the oldies Raya songs (Anuar Zain & Elina, M.Nasir, etc), for some reason I have always liked this song too. (yes, I have strange taste in music..hehe)

||BOOK CLUB||

With everybody busy doing last minute Hari Raya shopping, I also did mine. Went out and replenished my reading list at The Big Bookshop at The Mall. There are alot of books there and the prices are almost comparable to my favourite low price book shop BookXcess. But you have to be a great 'treasure hunter' because there are not many books from "familiar" authors. Good for trying out 'new' ones though. Here's what I bought (all under RM 20 each except for one which was under RM 30). Will add them to Hidayah's Book Club as soon as I have read and reviewed them ;)

Raya Cookie Monster

My family has always been a bit unconventional about certain aspects of Hari Raya. Mostly about the preparations. Although almost everyone I know is probably busy baking Raya cookies right now, the only time I remember helping my mother make Raya cookies was when we were in Scotland. Since we got back, I think the abundance (and convenience) of ready made cookies, plus the fact that we keep getting free (huge) Hari Raya hampers means that there hasn't been a home-made cookie at my house since I was 9 years old! Oh, not forgetting the fact that we don't have an oven (shameful huh?).

I love 'biskut raya'. It's one of the things I miss most if we go back to Srawak for Hari Raya because over there they will serve 'kek lapis', and beautiful and delicious as they are I still feel as if something is missing. Therefore in anticipation of this Hari Raya, my good friend The Cookie Monster will conduct a short Hari Raya Cookies tour.

Me on Hari Raya ..hehe (source)

"Me wanna eat me 5 favorite cookies! COO-KIES! "

Mazola- I love these melt in the mouth peanut delights (source)

London Almond- Cookie/Almond/Chocolate, yummy! (source)

Samprit- Simple and delicious (source)

Sarang semut- Easy to eat (source)

Tart nenas- I prefer these over the 'gulung' version (source)

There are many more (especially nowadays), more colourful ones with strange and exotic flavours. But I'm not really a fan. I prefer the good old-fashioned ones. Hopefully my table manners are better than Cookie Monster though..hehe.

||BOOK CLUB||

Just added another great book to the library- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd , first saw it on Oprah when she interviewed the awesome cast of the movie adaptation (Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys). Want to borrow this book and more? Visit Hidayah's Book Club.

False memories

(pic source)

Isn't it strange the things we remember,

And the things we forget,

The images that linger,

And the ones that slip through the net

Isn't it funny the moments that remain crystal clear,

And the one that we simply throw away,

The ones we hold dear,

And remember to this day,

Isn't it curious what we hold on to,

Though many years have passed,

The facts that still remain true,

The memories that lasts

Isn't it peculiar how the past was different,

Even though the moments were shared,

But what matters is the present,

Another broken bridge repaired

True love and Ayam Percik

Aishah surprising Mok Nik & Mek (my aunts)

Last weekend we went back to my kampung in Kelantan. Kampung Lubok Jambu, Kedai Mulong, Kota Bharu, Kelantan (to be more precise). Actually all of my uncles and aunts (on my mother's side) are living in Kelantan, and all my relatives on my father's side are in Sarawak. For some reason we have always been the only family living somewhere else.

Happy!

Ever since I was a little girl, our trips back to Kelantan have always been the highlight of my year. For some reason, time stands still when I'm at my 'kampung'. Even now, I look forward to my trips back as much as I did when I was a kid.

Preparing for a big family iftar

Currently, we still go back to visit my grandmother (my only surviving grandparent). She's 96 (I think) but still sharp as a pin. She stays with my mother's eldest sister Mok Nik.

Mok Nik is (in my opinion) the best cook in the whole world. She makes the best Ayam percik on the planet! Her ayam masak merah, gulai, solok lada are all amazing. Plus she is the only one that can make me eat Nasi Kerabu and ask for more.

Ayam Panggang

She is also one of the reasons I believe that true love does exist. Married 4 times (twice to the same man) she proved that although the road may be difficult, the destination is definitely worth it.

Initially married at 13 to a 16 year old student of my grandmother (she taught Quranic recitation), the marriage lasted less than a year since she was not ready. Her second marriage was ended by in laws who thought she was not worthy of their son. Her third husband was abusive and a total jerk. But in the end she re-married the love of her life (2nd husband) and they spent many happy years together until he passed away 2 years ago.

Mok Nik

Although she did not make ayam percik this time (just some delicious ayam panggang), I love seeing her happy with my kids. Watching her, I have faith that things will be ok in the end.

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks is one of my favourite authors. His book "The Notebook" is the only book that I have read 4 times (I rarely read the same book more than once) and is the only book that makes me cry each time. And I mean REALLY cry, I actually have to put the book aside and cry my eyes out and then only continue reading. The movie adaptation was also quite good. I also enjoyed "Message in a bottle" and "A walk to remember". However I was a bit disappointed with "A bend in the road" so I was excited to read another Nicholas Sparks book.

Basic Plot

John was the classic 'rebel without a cause', with his life in a downward spiral and no "future" he decided to enlist in the army, for lack of anything better to do. Stationed in Germany, he found army life non-remarkable. Everything changed when he was back in the States for his annual leave and he saw Savannah for the first time. Thus began an incredible story of love, separation and sacrifice. 

What I liked about this book

Have you ever read a book and felt all tingly inside? Nicholas Sparks has a way of making you actually believe in true love. You can almost feel the exact moment when his characters realize that they too have taken the plunge with no parachute. This book explored that sweet feeling of love at first sight and also long distance relationships. Are words and letters enough to convey true feelings, hopes and dreams? 

What I disliked about this book

The ending! I loved this book, despite the slight predictability of the storyline but I wish that it had turned out differently. 

A quote I liked from this book

"That's why I don't tell people about us. They wouldn't understand, and I don't feel the need to explain, simply because I know in my heart how real it was. When I think of you, I can't help smiling, knowing that you've completed me somehow. I love you, not just for now, but for always..." -Savannah Lynn Curtis

Rating: 4/5 

A sweet, romantic and lovely book. A must read for all die-hard romantics out there.

||BOOK CLUB||

As well as Dear John, I have also added another book to the library. Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones. One of the best books I have ever read. Wanna borrow these and more? Go to Hidayah's Book Club.