Al-Patani Hari Raya Do@Putrajaya

25 September 2009, Friday (6 Syawal)

Today, the Al-Patani clan organised a Hari Raya do at my eldest sister's house in Putrajaya. It was attended by all the Wan Mahmood siblings including the grand children and great grand children, and was also joined by some relatives and friends.

This time around, Kak Pah decided that we should go potluck. So most of the Wan Mahmood siblings had chipped in with various types of food. And Kak Pah had plenty of help from her siblings, niece, nephew and son.

Hari Raya gathering at Putrajaya on 25 September 2009

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Noraihan, my niece and I decided to contribute Steamboat dish.  I prepared the soup and home made fish ball, stuffed ladies finger and stuffed chillies, whilst Rehan bought all the other stuff for the steam boat (various types of vege, squids, and all the fish cakes).

 

Ocah contributed marinated beef for grilling and potato salad, while Kirah cooked daging masak hitam.  Abang Jen had brought BIG shrimps which were used for both the grilled dish as well as steam boat. Kak Ida had prepared jelly.

 

 

 

And kak Pah, the host had cooked Mee Siam and Kuey Teow, where the latter was cooked on the spot for all the ravenous guests.

 

Thank God, I had prepared beforehand most of the stuff for the steamboat.  Once I reached Putrajaya, all I needed to do was to start cooking the soup with all the ingredients I had prepared earlier.

Just after we left my house in Cheras, I had started to feel like I was coming down with flu and a bad throat. True enough, once I reached Putrajaya, I had started to sneeze and my throat became really bad.

After cooking the soup, I had gone up to lie down as by that time, I had a runny nose and my head was pounding and was feeling feverish.

By the time, I came down to the living room, after maghrib prayers, I also had swollen eyes, which I believed could be attributed to my condition. The flu had really floored me. Suffice to say, the rest of the night was a nightmare for me.

I didn't really pay attention to what was happening around me and wasn't even aware who had arrived.  I was oblivious to the surrounding as I was feeling miserable. It was fortunate that Khairina had taken many shots of the Hari Raya do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just as we were ready to leave the house, Kirah had demanded that I joined in the photo shoot with the Wan Mahmood siblings, so I had acquiesced as it is a rare occasion that everyone is ever present during any of our gatherings.  I must have looked a sight, with my bloated face, swollen eyes, and runny nose.  Thank God, the photos were taken from quite a distance.

 

 

 

 

Soon after the Wan Mahmood siblings/in-laws' photo shoot, my family was one of the first to leave my sister's house as by that time, I had also started to wheeze badly and all I wanted to do was to go to bed and hit the pillow.

I did not salam anyone as I was worried about passing the flu bugs to them, so I quietly left my sister's house and hit home.It was a huge relief to be back home given my condition.

Till we meet again at the next Al-Patani gathering, which I believed will be held at my eldest brother's house (Fusil) in Subang Jaya.

2nd Syawal in Malacca

21 September, Monday (2 Syawal)

Today my husband and I decided that we would drive back to KL after spending the 1st day of Syawal with my siblings in Bukit Mertajam, and after visting Mak and Ayah at their new home at Makam Wan Muhd Saleh Al-Fatani in Tanah Liat.

On the way, my kids had suggested that we go somewhere instead of going back home as they couldn't bear to face the 2nd Syawal in KL. Usually, we would spend a couple of days in Bukit Mertajam with my dad. They love the kampong atmosphere whenever they celebrate Raya in Penang.

So, after some deliberation and narrowing the choices between Kuantan and Malacca, we settled for Malacca.

It was the first time that we had never planned ahead before going anywhere.  It was the spur of the moment decision.  We were keeping our fingers crossed that we'd manage to get a room for the night.

By the time we arrived in Malacca, it was dinner time, so we decided to have Malacca's legendary ikan bakar.

We drove to Muara Ikan Bakar. We were shocked to find the place overflowing with patrons.  Never did we imagine that people would patronize such places on the second day of Syawal. It took us a while before we were seated.

I usually enjoy the ikan bakar in Malacca, but this time around, at that particular stall, the food was a tad disappointing. We were utterly disappointed with the Ikan Pari as it was old and tough and was inedible.  We demanded to be compensated and the stallholder only gave a RM3 discount. That was daylight robbery!!We vowed never to patronize that stall ever again.

After dinner, we searched various places for a hotel to saty, with the help of, of course the GPS.  And finally, we managed to get a room at Formosa Hotel.  I was quite apprehensive at first, but once we entered the room, we were pleasantly surprised.  It was roomy, spacious and quite tastefully furnished. It was spacious enough to accommodate my husband and I and our four kids.

As it has been a very long journey, imagine driving all the way from Bukit Mertajam to Malacca, which is about 520 kilometres away, we decided to call it a night as soon as we occupied the room.

Khairul was quite eager to bring his siblings to Jonker Walk but as everyone was tired, we decided to forego it.

Early the next morning, we had breakfast at the coffeehouse.  Although the fare served was quite sparce, the food turned out to be quite good, particularly their kuah kacang.

Despite having finished eating breakfast, Khairul had been whining about eating Cendol. So, we scoured many places but to no avail.  Those that we found were full of people.  Not surprising given that it was a public holiday.

And I remembered that last year when I was in Malacca, my friend, Mustazah had stopped by the area near Stadhuys to have Cendol, so we drove to that place to look for the stall.  We were praying very hard that the stall would be opened.

Being a public holiday, it took us ages to find a parking space. And we finally parked our cars at Dataran Pahlawan. And later walked to the Cendol stall, which miraculously was opened. It was brimming with customers.

Believe it or not, Cendol had never tasted so GOOD!. It was the best Cendol I had ever tasted.  And my husband and kids couldn't agree more. Each of us had more than one helping.  Some even went for a third. That was how good the Cendol was.

After that, we just walked around that area briefly, and took some shots. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And later we went back to Dataran Pahlawan, as the kids wanted to window shop and look-see. We dropped by at the Dataran fountain.  The fish in the fountain were a sight to behold. They were really cute.  As we approached the edge of the fountain, they edged closer to us and kept opening their mouth in anticipation of being fed.  Needless to say, we didn't have anything to feed and we reckoned it was wrong to simply feed them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also stopped at the Bazaar to buy some dry stuff and snacks.

It was close to 4:00 p.m before we decided to call it a day and headed back to KL. Although it was a brief trip, it was memorable simply because it was the first time that we had celebrated 2nd Syawal outside of Bukit Mertajam in my parents' home, and that we had savoured one of the best Cendol in Malaysia.