AIDILADHA 1431H

Lately my body has been kinda pre-programmed to wake up around 5.30-ish. So it was no surprise that I was bright eyed by 6 and in front of the computer. After Subuh I went down to the kitchen because my stomach was grumbling like nobody's business. I made toast (with chocolate spread and crunchy peanut butter, just like in Kelana!!) and had a few drinks. Took out Abah's birthday cake, had some of that and I was all set. Abah woke everybody up and all of us got ready. He had already told us that the solah would start at 8.30am but being the lazy bums we are, Huda, Husna and me only got out of the house and headed to the masjid at 8.25am. The entrance to the ladies' section was blocked off with the latecomers, so we thought that we could sneak in through the wudu' area. Turned out it was locked and we had to make do with an area just outside the sekolah agama.

There were no Raya fare when we got back, so we all helped Mama with preparing our breakfast as we were positively starving..!! Mama wanted to make hailam and since some preferred mee while others wanted meehoon, she ended up preparing both. Then, we all sat around our litle table and quickly finished off all of the yummylicious noodles. The boys took off first while the girls stayed on to chat, and there was one horrifying episode whereby in the end I ended up laughing till I cried.. Uhuu~

Anak bujang masuk dapur jugak akhirnya.. Mee and Meehoon Hailam Raya Haji..

Anyway, after we filled our tummies, what else do we have to do but sleep.. Haha.. Bet you didn't expect that, but we actually did sleep and only managed to trudge to Nenek's after Zohor. Only Nenek, Belle, Ya and Mak Long were home. Mak Long outdid herself.. There were lotsa good food waiting for us; Laksa, Rendang, Ketupat, Kuah kacang and even Yong Taufu..!! And the butter cakes were damn delicious. The picture below is actually my second Yong Taufu serving.. Eheh.. And then we watched a murder-thriller on TV (The Stepfather) which coincidentally has just been 'khatam'ed by Huda and Abah the night before.

The plaque in front of nenek's read "ERMYZA" originally, the initials of all the family (Enol, Ros, Mimi, Yem, Zainudin and Ana)

Then, we brought Nenek to Atuk's kubur for a visit. Just wanted to mention that Atuk's grave is near a rubber tree which I found somewhat soothing.. Heheh.. Totally random, I know.. So we went back home and got ready for tomorrow. The boys were going back to campus, Husna still had her finals and Huda and me... Well we've got work..! Uhuh.. Maybe that's why this year's Raya Haji didn't feel like an occasion since we only had a one-day break.. Still, it was nice spending it with family, eating good stuff and visiting dear relatives..

AIDILADHA 1430H

Before I start, just let me say that IRIS totally ROCKS!! Ok.. On to the main event!

27th November 2009

I woke up sometime before 6. Watched a few G No Arashi episodes. Those guys crack me up, especially Sho in sports. Total FAIL. Anyway, the eid prayer were to take place at 8.15 am. I went with Husna and Mama to the nearby surau. There were lots of s**t on the road so we had to pick through our way. That kinda reminded me of kampung where our eyes would constantly be glued on the road for any weirdly shaped colored lumps.Huda woke up late and she went to the Masjid with Abah. Me and Husna kept giggling all through out the khutbah, which is why Mama kinda told us off afterwards. On our way back home, we saw about 6-7 cows tied up outside. There was even a group of foreigners taking pictures with them. Cute!! All of us had breakfast after that. The customary nasi impit with kuah kacang and soto. Yummy!! I managed to sneak in one more GnA in between the nasi impit and soto. Hee.. After we ate, all of us gathered at the living room and wished everybody happy eid and to ask for forgiveness. No photo op this time as most of us were dressed rather casually. Then we saw the video for Huda's birthday that I made. Actually I'm not really satisfied with it, but you make do with the time you have. However, Huda was definitely getting teary eyed towards the end of the video and she kept on LOLing to hide it.

Next, we got ready to go to Nenek's house. The menu there was mee kari. I kept on going to the dining table fror the fruit cake. Cik Ros and family arrived an hour after we did. By then, all of us had eaten and are sprawled in front of the TV. Nenek's purse got stolen earlier in the morning, and that was the hot topic for that day. And the funny thing was when she chased after the thief she asked her to return her car keys. And the thief actually turned around and threw her the keys!! Hahaha..!! Then all of us gathered in front of the TV and watched some Malay dramas together.

We took our leave at about 3pm and headed to Kemensah Height to a friend of Abah and Mama's open house. When we got there, not many people were around as the function was supposed to end at 4pm. And imagine our surprise (HUda's especially) when we saw Datuk Siti Nurhaliza getting up and greeting us. (Please imagine our surprised faces...) We took a table quite far from the hosts while Abah and Mama respectively took their places at the husbands' and wives' table.. The food was delish. The satay was nice. I had some really diluted cendol and some roti jala with kari. Then, we kinda took a walk around the house, which by the way is sooo purrty. Of course, being the camwhores that we are, pictures were taken here and there.

It was almost dark by the time we got home. We stopped by McD's for some prosperity burger. (Ok, I'm starting to crave Prosperity. I want one NOW!!). I fell asleep after the first break in Nur Kasih's last episode and only woke up at 4am only to trudge upstairs and fell on my own bed.

28th November 2009

Mama announced early in the morning that she was going to have breakfast at OldTown Jaya Jusco AU2. All of her kids got ready and were already outside by 10.30am. We had some Kaya Toasts, Peanut Butter Toasts, Nasi Lemak, half-boiled eggs and Hor Fun. It has been a while since all 7 of us had breakfast together. If memory serves me right, I think the last time was when we at the kedai bawah pokok in Gombak. Anyway, we decided to do some shopping afterwards. Huda bought me an anklet and a phone accessory (JaeJoong) for Ayang. Thanks Huda!! Then I bought a couple of sweat pants and Abah bought us Giordano shirts.

We stopped by the house and then were on our way to Mok Yah's house in Shah Alam. She made a chocolate cake (or rather Hajar did) and mee rebus. I watched Kismat Konnection (I miss Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan is a joy to watch) but missed the final half an hour. Can any kind-hearted soul fill me in on the ending? We had to go home early beacuse we had tahlil at Nenek's that night.

We were quite late arriving at Nenek's. Everybody, including our beloved PokSu (@ Yem) was already there when we got to Taman Kamariah. PokSu works for the embassy so he's not always around. Nenek cooked mee kari and grilled some chicken. Mama brought the brown and black pepper gravy while Cik Ros brought some ice cream. After the solah jamaah and yaasin, we cleared the hall and headed to the dining table. I just took some chicken with gravy and fries. Nice.. And guess what was on TV? Death Note!! I only watched some though because Huda wanted to see Tizz Zakiah on another channel. Tsk.. Luckily, I managed to see L and Kira's face-off at the end.. Ureshii!! We went home at about 11pm and ZZzzzz...

29th November 2009

Abah, Husna and me went to see Ninja Assassin at KLCC. Since we took the first show, there were not many people at the cinema yet. The story was somewhat predictable. I felt that more focus could have been given to Mika and her relationship with Raizo. And pray tell what happened to Raizo after the whole revenge ended? Just quietly live at the burned temple, thinking of his lost love? Or made a huge change in career and is now a salesman? Haha, that was random.. The story basically revolves around blood. Like every few seconds blood will be spurting amidst cut-off limbs and blink-and-you'll-miss-it action sequences. Don't get me wrong, I loved the action. It was intense, but a little less blood would be preferable.

We had lunch at the Signature foodcourt. I tried the ebi tempura udon at the newly opened Hachigo but it was not as good as Sushi Kings'. Too bad.. While Abah shopped at the Stadium, I walked around Kino and saw some magazines with Arashi on it. Got quite excited, squeee... Abah wanted to go to the Property fair at the Convention Center, so naturally that was our next stop. Me and Husna were just walking around looking at miniature models. Then, we stopped by Starbucks for Toffee Nut fraps.. It was as good as I remembered it..

The rest of the day kinda went by quickly. Didn't do anything quite interesting after that. Slept and watched 2Days1Night. They got the minivan stuck in the sand at Jeju island and KimC had to walk all the way to camp.

Aaand.. It's a wrap!!

AIDILADHA 1429 H

Originally we planned to leave for Terengganu on the 4th. But because of the rain and possible flood, the plan was postponed. Since I already took my leave on the 5th I thought why not enjoy the day. So me and Husna headed to the newly opened AU2 Jaya Jusco. We took a quick look around and was infinitely pleased with the fact that there are some interseting and exciting places(namely eateries) there. There were Johnys, Oldtown, Kenny Rogers, Sushi King, Subway, Starbucks, Big Apple and the usual KFC and Pizza Hut. I called Kak Maya because two of our favourite haunts are there (Yeay us!!) and also to fill in some Dong Bang stuff. I must've looked a bit loopy when I was talking to her coz I was on the handsfree so it basically looke like I was talking and laughing to myself.

We made our way to Kuantan on the 6th and checked in Grand Intercontinental Hotel at about 9.45pm. After we unpacked for a bit we went out to Alif's for some dinner. We had quite a laugh with the Reserved sign.

The next day is Eid. It's our first time celebrating any Eid away from home or kampung. After the Eid prayers we had breakfast at a local Kopitiam and then went shopping at Berjaya Megamall. I didn't buy anything. Just a speaker for my office computer.

First we stopped by our cousin's place. Just to check up on what they have been doing.

Then we headed to Sungai Ular because a cousin of ours is having aqiqah for his new son. There Ina and Faiz instantly came running towards us as soon as they saw us. So we had a bit fun playing with them.

We had to head home when the sun was about to set. It was so hard seeing their sad faces. But there will always be next time OK sweeties? Seal the promise with 5 roses...