Aidilfitri 2010 in Kelantan

Dear Diary,

Selamat Hari Raya!!! It is not too late to wish selamat hari raya right. After all, rayakan sebulan…hihihi. How was raya for everybody? Hope you guys had a pleasant and enjoyable raya. I believe raya celebration is still going on. After celebrating raya in our respective hometowns, now the celebration continues in cities with open houses everywhere.

1^st day – A hectic raya for us…involving traveling and eating. All the gentlemen went for sembahyang raya while the ladies stayed at home getting ready. We shot off to Tanah Merah after sembahyang raya and made rounds of ziarah to all relatives’ houses. All in all, the total was 5 houses. As Hubby’s aunts are all great chefs, we enjoyed a wide array of raya dishes such as satay,nasi dagang, rendang ayam, rendang daging, lontong, mee kari, nasi minyak, lemang, ketupat, kuah kacang, nasi tomato, laksam and many more. Not to forget, kuih raya, cakes and desserts. I was busy eating. I think even the baby might be wondering why is Mama eating so much today after a month of no eating during daylight hihihi.

2^nd day – Today, we visited relatives in Ketereh and Kota Bharu. We enjoyed another round of delicious food. There were nasi dagang, bihun sup, nasi lemak, bihun goreng, baked macaroni, cakes, kuih raya and satay. Later in the evening, it was my parent in laws’ turn to host an open house for relatives and friends. We served soto (jawa style). We had loads of fun catching up with relatives. Gossiping and eating!!!

3^rd day – Hubby and his parents went to Pengkalan Kubur for a kenduri and shopping. I decided not to tag along. I wanted to pack and rest at home before going back tomorrow.

4^th day – We got up early and started our journey home. We made our last stop in Tanah Merah at Cik Jan’s house and were served laksam. The best tasting laksam for me!!! Traffic along Jeli-Grik-Kuala Kangsar was smooth (except for 2 accidents) even though there were many cars. However, traffic at PLUS was another different story. We were caught in jam and there were times that we were moving at only 20km/h. Very tiring journey!!! 11 hours of traveling. Luckily I didn’t go into labor.

Enjoy the pictures….

"Sape nak hadiah free? =)"

Dear Diary,

I was tagged by Mummy Nana to try my luck in this lucky draw. Thank you so much dear…(batting eyelashes hihihi). This is my first experience in this tagging business, so here goes my first trial….

First, I need to write an entry on the above said title, upload this cute picture of a red car and link the giveaway sponsor’s blog = DONE

Second, I need to put the red car picture on by side bar blog and link it to the sponsor’s entry with the same title = DONE

Third, I need to become a follower of the sponsor’s blog = DONE

Fourth, I need to tag 3 bloggers and let them know that they’ve been tagged = DONE

As , Zarin & Zakian

Finally, I need to drop a few lines in the sponsor’s comment box = DONE

Hopefully, I'm lucky....mana tahu rezeki baby dalam perut.

When He was Away....

Dear Diary,

Last Wednesday, Hubby had to go outstation for two days. When he was away,…

I have to send Imran to kindergarten. So, for two days both of us walked to his school. Look what I bought for breakfast… The first day was McDonald’s Big Breakfast and menu for the second day was nasi lemak with rendang ayam. Usually, we have home cooked breakfast. Since I got a chance to go out early in the morning, I changed the menu for something different.

Pity Zarra! My heart goes out to my little girl. She is more attached to Hubby than Imran. For two consecutive nights, she has been angry with me. At around the time that Hubby usually comes home, she would get all excited whenever she hears the sound of keys and would cry out, “Abah balik! Abah balik!” When I told her that Abah is not coming back tonight because he needs to finish his work, she would hit me with her chubby hands and said, “Nanti Abah balik la.” She is also having difficulty sleeping at night and I could hear her calling out for her Abah a few times. Be patient dear, Abah would be home before you know it.

Siti Nurhaliza

Dear Diary,

At this exact moment, I am enjoying myself tremendously. I am watching Konsert Satu Siti on Astro Ria. This was a recorded concert by Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza and it was performed at the prestigious Istana Budaya. I am not a fanatic fan of the number one singer but nevertheless I love her voice and songs. Kiranya peminat gak le kan hihihi….

She sings so effortlessly without having to force her voice out. Her voice oomph is superb. It is a very precious gift from Allah for her. In a way, it is also a special gift for us because we can enjoy her melodious voice. Another talent of hers is the ability to croon in many types of music genres.

Enough comments on the famed diva. I want to immerse myself in her well-known songs such as Jerat Percintaan, Aku Cinta Padamu, Purnama Merindu, Percayalah, Bukan Insan Biasa, Ku Mahu, Cindai, Nirmala etc. The list is endless. Terkenang zaman muda dulu-dulu……

* Pictures courtesy of Yahoo! Image

Counting Days

Dear Diary,

I’ve been keeping this little secret closed to my heart since 3^rd September. Nobody knew about this except for immediate family. Last 3^rd September, I went for my check up as scheduled. My gynecologist routinely checked my blood pressure, weight and asked the normal stuffs. Then, as usual she scanned my baby. Ya Allah, my baby was in breech position. This never happened before, not even during my previous two pregnancies. However, she said since the baby is small (around 2.5kg) and I have been pregnant before, there is a tendency the baby would turn back to normal position. Still, she advised me to be extra careful and if I were to feel any kind of pain, I should immediately go to the hospital.

Hubby and I have been praying hard ever since that day for the baby to turn to normal position. Even though I enjoyed myself during raya recently, there was always this uneasy feeling in my gut regarding my baby’s position. There were times that I cried thinking and worrying what would happen if the baby doesn’t turn to normal position.

With very high hope, today I went for another check up. I was worried sick. It was such a huge relief when my doctor scanned and found that the baby has turn to normal position. His weight also has increased to 2.9kg so the likelihood he’d be in breech position is very slim.

I thank Allah profusely….Alhamdulillah!!!

Now, I am waiting patiently for this baby to be born. Anytime....

Be Thankful

Dear Diary,

Early Sunday morning, we shoot off to Kelantan. Yea….balik kampung!!! We’d be there for more than 1 week so the things that we brought along were a lot, including raya stuffs.

Alhamdulillah, traffic was smooth. There were not many cars on the road, so we took only about 6 hours to arrive at our destination (via Plus exit Kuala Kangsar - Grik - Jeli).

For the past four days, we had been eating varieties of Kelantan’s dishes.

As we will be celebrating Aidilfitri tomorrow, I am taking this opportunity to be thankful to Allah as I am able to fast in this year’s Ramadhan, able to perform all ibadah without any difficulty and able to rejoice in Aidilfitri. Hope Allah will give me more years to live and good health to experience many more Ramadhan, Insya Allah. Alhamdulillah…..

Ramadhan Recap

Dear Diary,

Alhamdulillah, up until today I manage to fast without any problem even though I’m 8 months pregnant. I’m just a bit dissatisfied because I’ve been performing terawih at home instead of at mosque. There is another 1 week give and take to go before Ramadhan comes to an end. I’m now busy packing for balik kampung. Yup, you heard me right. Balik kampung!!! This year its Hubby’s turn so we are heading to Kelantan together with parent in laws sekeluarga. We’ll get to spend the last few days of Ramadhan in Kelantan. I’ve also been busy planning what dishes to eat when we are over there (Ingatkan busy buat amende kan hihihi). You see Kelantan offers varieties of dishes and I love most of them. Nasi kerabu, ayam percik, nasi tumpang, nasi dagang, laksam, colek ayam, colek perut, akok, sira pisang, ubi kayu rebus, the list is endless.

Alhamdulillah again, my raya preparations are done earlier this year. Maybe partly due to my status as a stay-at-home-mom, I manage to steal precious time in between chores to settle my raya preparations. Most of the preparations are focused on Imran and Zarra. Before Ramadhan started, I dragged both kids to Sogo and shopped for their baju raya. Thank God, Sogo sale starts early this year. Coincidentally, my cousin who is staying in Guangzhou came back for a holiday in July so I asked her to buy some clothes for the kids. As for baju kurung and baju melayu, those were checked from the list during second weekend of Ramadhan. As I am heavily pregnant, I didn’t get me a baju kurung this year. I bought a long dress (jubah) instead. Apart for a few types of biscuits and cakes that Hubby ordered from his colleague, there is nothing new for the house like cushion, curtain or furniture except check out picture below. Both kids are over excited whenever we switch on the lights. Customarily, we don’t really celebrate raya at our house but at our parents’ houses. So, I don’t see the necessity to change everything in the house.

Alhamdulillah again and again, nearly 95% of this year’s iftar meals and desserts were home cooked. I was a bit diligent this year in making desserts for iftar. There were lesser visits to pasar ramadhan this year and kinder to the wallet as well hehehe.

Puding Roti, Puding Roti dgn Sos Kastad & Aiskrim Vanila

Sira Ubi Kayu, Pengat Keledek, Kuih Sagu

Keledek Goreng, Kastad Jagung, Cucur Sayur

Cucur Bawang, Cempedak Goreng, Cek Mek Molek

From the Bottom of My Heart

Dear Diary,

Just wanna share this beautiful song with you guys. Whenever I listen attentively to this song, tears never fail to flow from my eyes. For me personally, this song is about my love for Allah. The lyrics and melody really touch my heart and always remind me of The Almighty.

KETULUSAN HATI

by ANUAR ZAIN

Cintaku tak berdusta
Tak mengenal ingkar
Tak kenal nestapa
Cintaku hanya indah
Hanya bahagia untuk selamanya

Apa yg kurasakan ini
Persembahan untuk dirimu
Kau dengarkan kasihku

*
Mencintaimu tak mengenal waktu
Tak mengenal puitis
Hanya tulusnya hati
Mencintaimu tak mengenal ragu
Keyakinan hatiku hanya untuk dirimu
Selalu

Cintaku tak berdusta
Tak mengenal ingkar
Tak kenal nestapa
Tak ada seribu janji
Hanya bahagia untuk selamanya

Apa yg kurasakan ini
Persembahan untuk dirimu
Kau dengarkan kasihku

(Repeat *)

Apa yang kurasakan ini
Persembahan untuk dirimu
Kau dengarkan kasihku
Oooo

(Repeat *)

Lyrics taken from here.