Raya Eve
Hubby’s plan of leaving for Melaka early in the morning was shot. He’s not one for early mornings. By the time we were ready to leave, it was past noon.
The drive was uneventful, no traffic jams at Seremban. Woohoo!
We headed straight for his parent’s house at Batu Berendam and then detoured to Semabok. It was a hive of activity when we arrived. The kitchen had pot full of this curry or that rendang or some other foods that were red and full of gravy. There was mee goreng and turmeric coconut.
I stopped by in the cat shed out in the backyard to say hi to Patrick, Black’s brother although I could have sworn he was related to Mushu rather than Black. He has the same colouring as Mushu: creamy Siamese but his brown spots are more evenly spaced and coloured than Mushu’s random patches.
By the time 6pm rolled by, we were getting all the food ready and an aunt was in the early stages of preparing Nenek’s famous bandung drink. I call it the power bandung because it’s the best bandung I’ve ever had. The secret? Come over to Semabok for Raya one day and you’ll see.
Came time to buka, we stuffed our faces worth of lemang, ketupat, mee goreng, beef rendang, chicken curry, turmeric coconut (my favourite), and whatever that was placed in front of us on the table laid out in the back kitchen.
And then it was time to hang around and wait for the neighbourhood men to come around for takbik prayers before we headed back to Batu Berendam.
One down, two to go.
Raya: Day One
Selamat Hari Raya!! Bright and early to Semabok. The men had to go for morning prayers. We women just sat around or fiddled in the kitchen while waiting for them to return. Early morning visit to Patrick. He’s so adorable!
Even more excessive food today.
On the menu:
- Ayam masak merah (PEDAS!!!)
- Chicken curry
- Chicken rendang
- Acar (homemade)
- Cucumber salad
- Lemang
- Ketupat
- Serunding
There may have been more or less, I’m not sure because after a while, the food we had on different days, just sort of blurred together. Breakfast became lunch became dinner became supper.
All I know is, I had lunch around 1 or 2pm. After most of the guests had been served. Three tables full, a couple of rounds for one of the tables. Wan, Sasha and I temped as wait staff. Now I know what the waiters at restaurants feel like and why they hover around your table and try to clear your dishes even before you’ve finished eating. It gives them something to do. And the faster you clear, the more food you can bring out. Your hands feel itchy and restless if it’s not bringing anything to the table or clearing the table.
We had a surprise visitor when we returned to Batu Berendam. Sam! He had called earlier while we were in Semabok but had not confirmed if he would be dropping by. I couldn’t give him directions on the phone (I’m not native to Melaka) and hubby was in the john. So he directed him to a Petronas and we got him from there. It was closer than we thought, only about 5 mins from Batu Berendam. We brought him in, plugged him with cookies and tidbits, talked, chatted, I made fun of him, he took a couple of swipes at me; same old, same old. Since there was no dinner at Bt. Berendam, we took him for chicken ball rice (or is it chicken rice ball) at Jonker Street while the rest of the family headed back to Semabok. We had to wait for a table as it was packed and then we had to warm our seats even longer before the food could to get to us. Verdict? Chicken ball rice is not all it’s cracked up to be. In a nutshell, it does not live up to its hype. When we got back to Batu Berendam, he got a strong dose of local kopi for his impending drive to Singapore. It was already close to 8pm or slightly after or maybe even later, I can’t remember.
A shower and a winding down session later, Rizal’s mum decides it’s time to head over to one of the aunt’s haus for supper. Ack! No choice, in-law say, me follow. So this time it was three huge wokfuls of mee goreng and fried kuey teow. Plus the tarik. Brrrr…We got done after 10pm. It was about this time on the way home that Rizal remarked, “I think it’s not the general culture to eat so much. In fact it may just be our family that eats this much.”
It was also during our drive either to or from said aunt’s place the Wan made a revelation: the immediate family’s not even Malay! Instead, they are half Indian, a quarter Chinese and a quarter Bugis. And I thought he’d realized it all along! I think he probably thought he was actually a quarter Malay not a quarter Bugis. Oh well, you’re never too old to learn. Being half-Indian is probably what drives hubby’s love of Indian food.
Anyway, two down, one to go.
Raya: Day Two
Open house at Batu Berendam.
The caterers came late. Appointed arrival time: 10am. Eve’s arrival: slightly before 11am. Caterers actual arrival time: close to 11:30am.
Menu:
- Lontong
- Chicken curry
- Beef Rendang (which never got served because mom-in-law was afraid it may not be appropriate for Indian friends)
- Laksa
- Roti jala
- Mee goreng
- Nasi minyak
- Cendol
- Cordial
- Air mata kucing
- Meehoon
- Ketupat
We used paper cups and plates, so not so much washing up and recycling of plates needed. Sasha ended up washing the proper cups because we were running out of paper cups.
After a time, it looked as if Uncle Bakar’s entire dining room had ended up at our house. Uncle Bakar lives next door. He’d systematically brought over first his chairs, then coffee table, more chairs and additional tables from his house as the crowd over at our place swelled. It looked quite hilarious and haphazard. There were two tents out on our lawn and one table under one tent when we started (the other tables we had were on the verandah). By the time afternoon rolled by, the other tent had filled up with the coffee table and some comfy looking chairs. Soon our empty porch started filling up with tables and chairs as well.
Parents arrived at about 2pm, had food in the living room as it was crowded everywhere! In-laws were too busy to sit and chat, so they were entertained by a couple of teenage boys, one of whom was quite gregarious and chatty. At that point, I wasn’t even sure if they were related! All I knew was that there were so many people around and they had to share the living room with my parents. As the conversation went around and dad-in-law sat down to join us, I found out that one of his staff is actually my junior from Convent Kajang. Doi! Small, small world. Too small.
For dinner we adjourned to another uncle’s house (I really have a knack for selective memory: can’t remember which uncle this was) and stuffed ourselves with soto, some kuih from our open house earlier (recycle food where necessary, no point wasting!), more noodles and stuff and oh, I don’t know, by this time, I really can’t remember what or how much we ate. Everything just blurred into one big blob.
Thank gawd we didn’t have supper.
Tried watching Puteri Gunung Ledang but it was soooooo much of a drag that I fell asleep not even halfway through. The quality of filming was good. It’s just that I don’t see the point of showing what happened in their minds or telepathically first and then repeating the same blurdy scene all over again, this time in real life. What’s the point? There was too much unnecessary detail where detail was not needed and scenes not needed, angles not needed. Besides, in those times, events and things happened to people at an earlier age. I think Tiara Jaquelina looked too old to be Puteri Gunung Ledang. Dig those earpieces though. Wan thinks they look cool for Bluetooth devices of that era. Hahah!
Day of Reckoning: Back to KL
This was my favourite. Lunch consisted of:
- Four-angled bean cooked in turmeric
- Fermented fish assam (urgh, didn’t have any of it)
- Chicken curry or some kind of spicy chicken
- Assam prawn (spicy!)
- Pineapple in sweet & sour lemaky gravy
- Cencalok
- Another meat dish which I can’t remember
My favourite meal. Home made. The best.
Again, the plan was to leave early. Before noon, said Rizal. Saying is a totally different thing from doing. I knew we wouldn’t be able to leave without eating first. Since we woke up late (around 9am), it would have to be a return trip after lunch.
This is when we made the mistake of watching Mujhse Dosti Karoge! after lunch. And since it was so hot anyway, I didn’t feel like hauling my butt into the car and nodding off while being baked in the hot sun. So watch the movie we did.
By the time we left, it was close to 4pm. Weather was cooler but everyone else probably figured they’d head back up to KL in the late afternoon like us. So we got caught in traffic. Oh well.
We had the audacity to have dinner too later on. But we kept it simple. Sushi & a shared bento at Sakae Sushi.
Mission completed. Thank gawd this happens only once a year. Not because the food isn’t delicious, it’s just too much!
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