In the Raya Mood 2

The best part of raya is actually the preparation, especially the day before. This year we celebrate the first raya in my kampung, so we got busy with preparing lemang, rendang and kelamai (pumpkin cake in bamboo). The riuh-pikuk from the kids and cousins is unmatchable by the rest of the kids in the neighboring houses. This year, all my mom's grandchildren are back, so the pitch and screams are almost 100 decibles, especially chasing after the chickens.


This year, we had two types of rendang, rendang daging rusa (venison) and buffalo meat rendang. On top of that, the evergreen gulai ayam kampung, without the skin because all these kids had torn away the skin while pulling off the feathers. Thank god, only one chicken is skinless, otherwise, the flavor would have been different.

And Mama was in-charged of the kitchen, with the blending and the "tumis'ing", managed to put these rendang on the stove before Asar. Ended up with sore shoulders - results of dehusking coconut with Papa and fidgety fingers after squeezing the coconut milk.

The gentlemen? Well they were kept busy with the lemang and kelamai outside. The weather was excellent, so they didn't have much trouble taking care of the fire. Somehow, my dad was a little bit disappointed as the lemang was cooked to perfection - no kerak! And he loves kerak lemang!

So the timing was nice, we had lemang, gulai ayam and rendang for the buka puasa of the last day of Ramadhan. The kids just love the gulai ayam, not hot at all, while the parents were wishing it should have been a little bit spicier and hot...

In the Raya Mood

Somehow all the buzz and fuss of the festivities reminds me of my childhood. There was a different feeling back then, and I miss that feeling.

I miss the atmosphere of Ramadhan then, specifically being around the kitchen of my late grandmother's house when she and my mother would prepare the buka puasa dishes.

I miss feeling so weak and drained while waiting for the azan.

I miss the fresh smell of rambutan plucked from the trees, turned into juices from the blender my mother just bought when we first had electricity installed at Wan's house.

I miss being greedy with all the buka puasa spread like pengat, kueh talam, rambutan juice, gulai cendawan sisir.

I miss having buka puasa with my parents and siblings.

And I look forward to a sumptuous buka puasa with them when we all get together this Sunday to prepare my mom's famous gulai ayam kampung, my kids favorites - lemang and rendang daging kerbau... Hey, only in my kampung I get to have daging kerbau (buffalo meat), instead of beef!

Now & Then

The difference between a primary two boy NOW with his mother at primary two in 1976 THEN.

Adam - 5 pairs of school uniform – none of them is spotless, must have at least one marking of pens or water color, or pure dirt.
Mama - 2 pairs of school uniform – managed to bag the “Best Dressed Student/Cleanest Uniform” award most of the years in primary school.

Adam- 1 pencil last 2 days
Mama- 1 pencil last 1 month

Adam - New box of color pencils every MONTH
Mama - New box of color pencils every YEAR

Adam - Exercise books become “lonyer” by end of first term
Mama - Exercise books in excellent condition till year end

Adam - Sleeps in air-conditioned room, showered with warm water every morning while Mama busily prepares which uniform (ironed by maid) to wear and put tie on.
Mama - Slept in ”kelambu”-clad bed, no fan or air-cond. Showered with ice-cold water, collected the evening before from the perigi near the kubur…and dressed up on her own with uniform ironed by herself.

Adam - Homework done only if Mama asked and checked, under close scrutiny of Mama or aunties.
Mama - Her mother never has to worry about homework – all homework settled by night time.

Adam- Screams and shout for Mama to look for his missing textbooks that Mama has no idea of the whereabouts.
Mama - Books and school things are sacred stuff. Treated with honor and dignity.

Adam - RM 1 duit belanja every day, with bekal air and sometimes bekal of rotikaya, cereal, apples or sausages.
Mama - 20 sen duit belanja, spent on the best nasi lemak daun pisang ever, sold by best friend who came to school with a basket of those to help her mother.

Adam - Sent to school in Papa’s car, came back in neighbor’s car.
Mama - Walked about a km to and from school, with a bunch of friends, sometime de-toured to collect rambutan or rambai by the road side.

Adam - Watched Playhouse Disney Channel and play the videogame. Hands are quick on the remote and joystick. Calories burnt – 200 perhaps.
Mama - Created own game using stuff collected around the house, sticks, boxes, leaves etc...Imagination was wild and high. Calories burnt probably 1000.

Adam - Results: No 32 out of 39…sigh!
Mama - Results: No 1 out of 25, infact no 1 throughout the primary years… :-)

Terkenang semasa dulu...

In every congenial trip back to my mother-in-law’s in Alor Setar, we would religiously make our compulsory visit to Pekan Rabu, the all northern food-galore center. When we were there recently, Amir found a new love – the “emping”. We were at this regular store, getting the regular stock of ikan masin and putu beras when we realized that Amir was happily dipping his little hand, filling it with emping from one of the containers. He was munching bit after bit that we decided to stock that too.

I already knew what to dish up with the emping. We just need some young grated coconut and some thinly sliced gula kabung to be mixed with the emping to make an unforgettable concoction. Which reminds me of the good old days...




When I was small, there was a period of time that my family stayed with my late grandmother in her kampong house. My dad was assigned to a very remote school deep in the jungle of Pahang. Accessing his workplace was very challenging, he decided to leave us to stay with our grandmother. This was in the mid-70’s, when having electricity and water is a new concept to the kampong people. Oh! I remember… I think we only had electricity, but water access was still very much ‘going-to-the-well’ type.

This was when I remember there was a lush green paddy field behind the house, with plenty of coconut trees swaying, that you could see tempua’s nests moving to the motion of the wind. This was when the air was crisp and smell of young paddy seeping up my nostrils. This was when I would pull the strings of the scarecrows tied to a bunch of empty milk cans made by my late grandmother to jolt the nerves of the uninvited visitors, cheering their departure.

I remember after the harvesting season, my mom’s siblings would gather at their eldest sister’s place to celebrate yet another good year of harvest. This was where the fun start, the making of emping. I recalled my aunties choosing a certain type of yield, dry frying the rice and when it was ready, transferred to a lesung kaki. Boy… I remember the fun of tapping the lesung with my elder cousins, and it was done with such a rhythm. The best part was enjoying the emping hot from the "oven"!! How I wish my kids would experience the simple life in the kampong during those days...