What we did last weekend

The last round of open houses are finally over and done with.
Saturday was my Along's open house. By unwritten and unspoken agreement, my sisters and I back each other up during our respective house functions. The host gets to entertain her guests, and the other sisters make sure that the buffet table is always replenished. That way the host doesn't have to worry if her gulais and lemang and nasi impit and satay and mee kari are running low. She knows my Angah, SIL and I will be going around from kitchen to table to make sure everything is topped up. Along just mingles with her guests. My Bro-in-law, whom we call Bang Rong, also had his siblings and they helped out too. Mid way through the afternoon, we ran out of fried chicken. Luckily our chicken man from the market was still at his store and he quickly hopped on his motor and delivered what was left of his stock for the day (it was already 1pm by then). Chickenman saved the day! The rest of the day was a blur of more guests and more replenishing. We left her place after maghrib just as the last couple were about to eat. By then her kitchen was already clear and all that was required was to clean the stuff on the dining table.
On Sunday, we went to my aunt and our surau's Imam's. Later that night, amazing A went over to my sister's house to pick up precious Chik (who had followed his cousins to their house after my Aunt's place) and to watch the Liverpool-Chelsea game. He came back a happy man with Liverpool beatng Chelsea!
On Monday we hosted some of precious Girl's friends. And later in the afternoon, we had a few good friends of ours come over for tea. I cooked lodeh, nasi impit, mee kungfu, mee tulang and baked cupcakes. We had some lemang and chicken rendang from my Along's place. And my angah came with her family bearing divine chocolate chip croissant (instead of regular bread) pudding! By the time everyone left it was nearly maghrib and we were all exhausted but very happy.
Now to head back to the gym to burn all that raya food....

ps: oh no! it's not over! We've been invited to a "majlis hari raya" this sunday! Where got syawal lagi.. :-)

This past month....

Where do i begin....

It's been almost a month since I wrote anything and what a month it has been. So where do i begin. At the beginning is a good place as any i suppose, so here goes..
Hari Raya Aidil Fitri was fun and hectic. It started for us on the malam raya where after the last buka at precious 4's Uwan and Atok's house, we had the takbir group come by. This year saw a few new faces and a crowd of about 45 men and boys, larger than what we've had for a number of years, alhamdulilah. Since Uwan was still not well, for the first time, the task of preparing the takbir meal was put on the girls' shoulders. We served mee kungfu (cooked by me!) and the usual rendang, lemang, nasi impit and kuah kacang. Then all the boy cucus followed their Atok and dads takbir, which ended at 11pm. First day Raya was spent first at Uwan and Atok's, then at Tok Ma and Tok Pa's, then back at Uwan and Atok's and finally ended the night at Tok Ma and Tok Pa's. We stayed till past 10pm, after we all talked to A's sister and nephew, who are spending raya in Wales, via skype. Ahhh, the wonders of technology.
The rest of raya week was spent visiting relatives. This year we didn't go back to kampung in N9 since Uwan couldn't take the journey. In fact we had to check her into a hotel for 3 days to let her rest and keep her from having to entertain people who wanted to visit. Alhamdulilah, this week, she's finally feeling a bit better and more mobile.
Then came PMR.
Precious girls's PMR exams began a week after school reopened. She opted not to go visiting much during raya and only followed us when we went to our parents' siblings homes ie sedara terdekat. The rest of the time, she was ensconced in her room. The exams were "not bad" according to her. Mama can just contribute numerous and countless doas. InsyaAllah all will be well. On the last day of her exam, which finished at 9.30am, we took her out for breakfast at her favourite kopitiam. Two of her aunties and some of her cousins tagged along. Then we went to her favourite store - BORDERS! She bought 3 books to add to her stack of books waiting to be read after PMR and after lunch we had a girlie movie date watching Mamma Mia with another aunt and her girl cousins. Nowadays, she's catching up on her reading and her online mangga series!
In between, we had our share of the flu and coughs. Precious J had a bad time with severe tonsillitis which required 2 doses of antibiotics. Unfortunately he developed an allergy reaction to the first dose of penicillin and was covered in a rash! The doctor switched his medication and alhamdulillah he's doing great now.
I've been busy for the past 2 weeks with the primary school magazine. Some of us volunteered to help the school publish the yearbook (this is the 2nd year of publication) and have been going to school to organise the photo shoots. Then worked on the proof reading. It looks really nice. The moms who are graphic designers working on the layout really did a great job. Not your run-of-the-mill school magazine. Next week we'll be setting up the booth in school to collect the orders.
This week is the boys' final exams. Come friday we'll be about done with exams this year, save for if precious Abang gets selected for boarding school. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
This weekend is again filled with more visiting. Precious Girl wants to invite some friends over, so mama is figuring out the menu. And Precious Abang and Chik want to tumpang sekaki. So more kids! Time to go to the supermarket. Be back soon...