Kisah Raya 2015 (1000th Blog Entry)

Yay! Akhirnya dapat curi masa nak update blog. First of all, Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir dan Batin to all my family, friends and blog readers.  I hope you all had a great Raya this year, oh in fact we are still celebrating now as it is 11th of Syawal today. 🙂

We went back to kampung on Wednesday night, 2 days before Raya. We went back to my Mom’s place in Penang and arrived in time for the last sahur for the year. It is a tradition that all my siblings ( yang mana can make it lah) and our families go back and berbuka together a our Mom’s house in the last day of puasa. This year, only my second sister Lia and youngest, Shanaz weren’t around. The rest had a fantastic feast cooked by my Mom. There were about 15 of us. From age 3 to 63 and all were loud and happening.. haha!

After buka everyone went out to play bunga api and we had such a great time! The young and the not so young alike! Hhehe! And only after that we made way to Kedah, to my in law’s house, driving in the magical malam raya while listening to takbir and lagu raya.

First raya in Kedah was a bit quieter because the family and the kids were  smaller. My mother in law made ketupat, serunding etc and I cooked Nasi Tomato with Ayam Masak Merah. After makan we all drove to Grik to visit Azman’s grandmother or MikiRafa’s great grandmother.

We were telling the kids how lucky they were to have a chance to celebrate raya, to salam-salam and be merry with their aged Nenek Moyang. She is the same age with Tun Dr Mahathir but unfortunately not as strong physically as he is. She is however, one of the sweetest old lady that I have ever know. May Allah bless Tok with good health insyaAllah!

This is her house im Grik. In our entire family, this is the most kampung house there is. There is a creek across the road in front of this house and everytime we come here, Miki and Rafa will surely mandi there for sure! hehe

That evening, because my brother was hosting an open house at his house, once again we drove balik lagi sekali to Penang. We had rendang ayam, lemang, nasi daging, yummy chocolate cake and star of the day – Mee udang! Miki yang tak reti makan udang pun terus makan udang siap kupas sendiri kulitnya. Hehe!

My brother has two fat Persian cats so when Rafa sees them he went crazy! Rafa adores all animal and all night he played with the cats yang macam sama besar dengan dia tu… He even yelled “I AM SO HAPPY!” sebab dapat main dengan cat! haishh…

The next day on 2nd Raya, we went over to my eldest sister’s house pulak in Sungai Ara. She made two types of Nasi Arab, Mandi and apa tah satu lagi, yang pasti bukan Nasi Shower lah! LOL… And her Ayam Masak Merah was also very delicious! Yum! Memang raya ni untuk makan kan?

After lunch we went straight all the way to Taiping in Perak! To visit my Aunt’s family. My second sister Lia and her family were already there from Manjung. Makan lagi! Nasi Minyak, Ayam Kuzi, Lontong etc etc etc… My side of the family kalau makan memang champion. Haha! Everyone had a nice time catching up and then we drove back to Penang.

On third day of Raya, macam malas nak melawat rumah orang so went to beraya to the mall! Haha! We watched AntMan and it’s such an entertaining movie. Really nice one! I love it. Even Rafa watched the movie till the end. My niece Sarah and nephew Arash came along BTW. After movie, took them to McDonalds.. haishh budak-budak, raya pun cari cheeseburger…

Fun for the kids didn’t end there, once we got home, we changed into our swim gear and head for the beach! Yay mandi laut sampai lebam!

The next day, the whole family went for lunch at the Original Kayu Nasi Kandar. hehehe! Orang Penang macam inilah… Pusing la dunia jauh mana pun nasi kandar tetap di hati! LOL

After the luncheon we all bid goodbye because we were heading back to Kedah and then back KL without stopping in Penang again. Azman’s kampung is beautiful! I am sure I have posted some photos in this blog before but just to let you know that behind the house there is a huge paddy field that stretches all the way to the mountains. So picturesque!

We like to come here with the kids, to let them run and enjoy the fresh air, observe butterflies and bugs and marveled at the creations of God.

But first let me take a selfie…

Hahaha! Jangan marah!

This Raya, Rafa is 3 years old. And despite having been here many times, he commented about the mountains for the first time. And guest what he said that is? VOLCANO! hahahah! Each time he sees it he will be excited, almost panicked perhaps thinking that is a volcano and it is gonna erupt any minute from now! hahah!Lawak lah Rafa!

I took the opportunity to educate Miki that we don’t have volcanoes in Malaysia and the nearest one is in Indonesia. See balik kampung can learn geography ok!

This Raya I also learned to cook a new dish – Gulai Daging Rias Pisang (batang pisang) and it is amazingly delicious! I took photos and will update the recipe later.

Alhamdulillah Raya this year was lovely and we are still celebrating with friends in KL. I just have to jot down here however, that on 10th Raya, I lost my gold bracelet that I love very much. It is my 9th anniversary gift from Azman and the design was chosen by Miki. Not to mention that gold is very expensive. I don’t where I dropped it and it breaks my heart so much that I try not to think about it. InsyaAllah kalau ada rezeki jumpa lah di rumah…

To all of you out there, ampun kan salah silap diyanazman.com selama ini! Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir dan Batin! muaxxxx