Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Hari Raya Open House

During the last week of raya, The Don and I held our Hari Raya open house especially for our elder relatives. We didn't initially plan to have it but at almost every house we went during raya visiting, especially The Don's side, our uncles and aunts said they have plans to come to our house during the Raya season. Perhaps its due to our "ringan mulut" attitude at always inviting people to our house (as opposed to "berat mulut" and feigning ignorance and keeping their mouths shut when somebody so much as give any indication or hint at coming to their house) However, everytime any of uncles / aunts / cousins called to say they were in the vicinity, we were either at the other side of the island visiting or indisposed (and by that I mean our little weekend at Royal Plaza Hotel)

So we discussed and decided to have an "Open House' on the last weekend. We didn't send out any invitations, merely a personal call to relatives and friends. We honestly were unsure if people would turn up, since
  • we heard every other cousin/family/friend was also having an "open house"
  • we are quite far down the line in the family hierachy of both sides and thought the aunts/uncles/granduncles/grandaunts might not exactly prioritise our invitation especially in the time-constraint month of Syawal.
  • This was the third time this year we are holding a function at our place (after the wedding & the housewarming) and seriously even I wouldn't have attended a 3rd invitation in one year hehehe.

    So I guess we were either lucky or perhaps The Don and I are really, really in their good books. Relatives started flowing in trickle by trickle from 11am. By 2pm it was full force. As far as we can recall, 90% of the people we invited turned up and that includes The Don's bro and wife, all his paternal uncles and aunts, most of his maternal uncles and aunts, both his grandmothers, all of my siblings, my aunts, his reservist friends and our close neighbours and my colleagues. At one point, all 13 of his paternal aunts and uncles were present at the same time and there was absolutely no space to sit. Such that some of The Don's cousins had to eat in the study.
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    By 3pm, the food levels were dangerously low. The briyani rice was fast depleting, the choice chicken parts were gone and only traces of the cucumber acar was left I began to panic. We inited about 100+ people but as I said earlier we hardly expected a good turnout. Lucky my mother-in-law came to the rescue with her claypot rice. Alhamdulillah.

    But the biggest surprise of all was when some people brought gifts along with them. Its been almost a year since we got married and moved into our matrimonial home but The Don and I have simply not stopped getting presents for the house. The presents came from people whom did not make it for our house warming. But that was a long-long time ago. Among the gifts we received were 2 warmer sets, a corningware set and a wine bottle holder (???) (the last one from our chinese neighbour)
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    I guess what they say is true. Setiap tetamu yang datang itu membawa rezeki.
  • Monday, November 28, 2005

    ROYAL BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

    It has always been difficult springing a surprise for The Don. His instincts are super sharp and he always second guesses my surprise way before I bring it on. This year I was determined to succeed. I had everything planned way in advance. Booked the suite at Royal Plaza on Scotts, ordered the cake and bought him a new Nokia plus bluetooth headset. He kept hinting and trying to extract from me what I had in store for him but everytime he asked I put on an apologetic look and told him I was super broke this year so no present for him. hehehe

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    On the actual day, seeing how I seemed to have not made any plans, The Don went for an appointment early in the morning. I told him to call me when he was on the way back so that I can get ready. Meanwhile, I rushed to pack our clothes for the weekend stay at Royal Plaza and took a cab down to the hotel. I checked in (using his name) and waited very very patiently for his call. I conspired with the reception staff to give him a surprise.

    When he finally called, I told him to meet me at Cafe Vienna for lunch. That wasn't much of a surprise for him coz we often go there for lunch. When he reached the lobby, he called me again, asking where I was. I told him to look for Ms Suet at the reception and he was given a room key. Hahahhahahaha Finally managed to surprise him. (although if I had made the reservation in my name, I'd have failed again since apparently he called up to check if I had made anyreservations in my name) The suite was super big and the service was top class. If it weren't so expensive, I'd love to stay a whole week there!!!
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    Later that night, we went to my in-laws for the kenduri do'a selamat held for The Don's birthday. We thought it'd only be family but apparently my in-laws invited a whole bunch of people. Macam kid's birthday party plak. Nasib baik takde belon. The Don was surprised to see a huge cake waiting for him. But best of all was the surprised look on his face when he opened up my gift to him. satisfaction!!!!!!!
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    Now for our anniversary next month.. I wonder what he has in store for me........

    Friday, November 25, 2005

    A Birthday Surprise One Day Early


    The Don's birthday was on Saturday 19th Nov. I had everything planned, present bought and everything one week in advance. The Friday 18th Nov was a normal day, well it was supposed to be, anyhow. We were in the car that morning, the Don sending me to work as he does evey morning. The traffic was heavy, not unusual in the early morning. At the slip road leading to Stevens Rd exit, traffic was start-stop so we were driving at dead-slow speed with frequent stops. On one such stop, The Don noticed thru the rear-view mirror that the lady behind us was holding up a piece of paper at her steering wheel. We then moved on and picked up speed. At the next stop a few seconds later, he noticed again from the mirror that the car behind us did not seem to slow down despite the fact that all the cars in front of us were at a complete stop and so were we. The Don pulled up his handbrake, just in case and true enough, she banged into the back of our Lancerlot for 3 consecutive times.

    When we got out of the car we realised the back of lancerlot was wrecked beyond words. The Don was busy checking the damage to the car while I did the neceesary exchange of particulars. The lady was in a panic state but after talking to her husband ont he phone, she offered to settle the matter privately but seeing how there could be a possibility of an injury to both of us, we declined. I called our firm's workshop and within minutes, they took our car and gave us a replacement car to use in the meantime.

    Anyhow, @ Alexandra hospital after the necesary x-rays and examination, we were given a few days MC with a appointment to see a specialist. I am used to handling road traffic accidents and acident-related injuries, it sure will be funny handling my own and the Don's. But you can be sure I won't let that lady off easy.

    Tuesday, November 08, 2005

    My Hari Raya Celebrations

    Sorry this comes a lil' belated. As you know, my office was closed for the whole week prior to hari raya. My plans to actually extend my Raya wishes on the PC @ home was mere wishful thinking considering I hardly had any free time. So even though this wish is very belated, it comes straight from the bottom of my heart......

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    In the spirit of Aidil Fitri, to all my blogger friends & visitors, I extend my sincere apologies to one and all for any misdeeds, mistakes & if any feelings were hurt or inadvertently angered by the words on this blog or by my comments in any of your tag/shout boxes. May this Aidilfitri bring with it the best for you and your family and may Allah s.w.t bestow his blessings to us all. Amin.



    I had a blast of a Raya this year. I was super-excited, considering this was the first time The Don and I will be celebrating Hari Raya as husband & wife. Add to that the excitement of celebrating in our own home. My mom offered to cook for me for Hari Raya seeing she was gonna cook the same dishes at my sister's place but I declined. So on the night before raya, I cooked lodeh, sambal tumis udang and my mom brought back some satay gravy she cooked at my sister's. We bought some ketupat and lontong & serunding. Now it really feels like raya.

    We have all seen it before whether on tv or between our own parents etc etc, the wife on her knees, crying, asking for pardon for all her wrongdoings while the husband takes on a superior tone and bestows his forgiveness while superficially asks for same. I have to admit that was what I kinda expected although perhaps a toned-down version.

    In the morning of Aidilfitri, after coming home from Ba'alwie Mosque for Aidilfitri prayers, I was fully prepared, full speech and all, and even before I opened my mouth, my tears were already streaming down my cheeks. After all in nearly one year of marriage I knew there have been numerous times I have been less than a perfect wife. What I totally didn't expect was a totally reciprocal response from The Don. (minus the tears & knees bit) Unlike the scenes of yesteryears between my mom and dad and aunts and uncles and those I see on TV, he actually reciprocated my asking for forgiveness and actually meant every word of it. He recounted the times he had inadvertently hurt my feelings expressed his syukur for having me in his life and even thanked me for being there for him 24/7. For a minute I was quite speechless. But of course, being married entitles you to more than just words to express your feelings so that settles it. At that poignant moment, there was nothing sweeter for me than being married to him. I am grateful to Allah s.w.t for all the blessings that have been showered to me and for bringing him into my life.

    After our "wajib" (essential) first day visiting of in-laws, grandmohers and grandmother-in-laws, we fetched my mom and zoomed off to Temerloh, Pahang.
    The celebrations in Singapore seems quite sedated compared to the celebration there. The day before Aidilfitri, most houses would already be busy preparing lemang, rendang & dodol. All the houses will be surrounded by pelita that looks simply amazing at night. Probably the origin of lampu lap-lips. In the morning of Aidilfitri, the men will recite marhaban from house to house from the mosque in Kampung Tekal (which is a family wakaf mosque by the way) all the way to my granduncle's house in Bukit Seden.
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    The morning of 2nd raya is spent at the family burial grounds, where close to 30 families will congregate to recite tahlil and yasin as rememberance to our elders who have passed on before us. And invitations for open house abound everywhere in Temerloh. So basically the whole weekend we were there was spent eating eating and more eating. I won't be surprised if the negligable weight The Don and I lost during Ramadhan has been gained in double dose.

    We heaved a sigh of relief that we have completed the visiting on the Pahang side of the family. Now on to more visiting in Singapore..........