Office Deeparaya

I know I know, my posts are always about makan. Hey I AM a foodanista. This time it's about Shell IT's deeparaya open house at the Wisma 2 bistro. Yyup, me and a few foodanista buddies headed over in our baju kurung (well a few of dem forgotten to wear theirs..grr). The food wasn't too fantastic, but it's still free food, and not thaat bad lahh. There's putu mayam, kuah kacang with nasi impit (yum!), satay, muruku, some chicken dishes, etc..If ya don't know what's the food I mentioned above, google it yourself lah..

East Coast Adventure

I have 2 aunties staying in da east coast. If not for them, I would probably wouldn't travel much to that part of Msia. Another Cacu (what we call my auntie - cacu for Mak Su kut..haha)'s son is getting married to a Kelantanese gal. When I mention 'another' above, well..lemme tell u the backgrnd story. Cacu (my dad's youngest sista), has 4 sons. The eldest are twins. Both got married a few months apart, and now the third brotha is getting hitched. So mom/dad/me/my hubby packed our bags for a weekend getaway and ventured da east coast. The best was to ride on mom's new Civic. I was just waiting to get behind the wheels. All of us were eligible drivers, but I got to start the journey. Hah. Mainly coz we'll be hitting the Karak highway first, which I like, because of its scenic views and great corners. We stopped to have breakfast at an R&R on the east coast highway, where I had one of da best roti canai (with kuah dal) in my life! But it costs RM0.80/piece..in KL oso RM0.60/piece ok..As we neared Kuantan, we headed north, got lost a little, was hoping to stop at a famous Kopitiam at Cukai, but it was closed! Ergh totally forgotten that the east cost closes on Fridays. And so we moved on, to find a good place to have lunch. We reached Kuala Terengganu at about 3pm. Cacu called, asking us to stop by to makan. Ooh..of course we couldn't oblige. Cacu and sons and daughter in laws and granddaughter (!)


were at their resident. I was so excited, to see baby Ayesha and makan the delish mee rebus Cacu had catered.

Then we headed to our hotel in KT - The Grand Continental. My window had a faraway view of the ocean. Not that great, no nice beach, but nevertheless, oceans are always peaceful to look at. And as always, hotel rooms are a delight. I always feel most chilled in hotel rooms as I know I can make a mess and not have to clean after myself *grin*. Ahh but we have an early and long day the next.
Next day, Saturday, woke up bright and early, had breakfast at the hotel (which is one of my fav things to do as well!) in my baju kurung. After that checked out, then drove to Cacu's place. From there the convoy journey of 5 cars headed to Jeli Kelantan. This trip is for majlis pernikahan (wedding ceremony) Khalis (Cacu's 3rd son) with Madiha, his gal of choice who's from Jeli Kelantan. This Jeli, is so up north of Kelantan that we were like 5km only from Thai border..
The journey was boring, but interesting as I haven't been to Kelantan since I was a kid. Interesting to see the sudden change of culture and people as we drove by. The most obvious is..in Kelantan, all women covers their head/hair with tudung. And the pakciks (elderly men) wears kopiah (small white caps) on their heads. Watching the people in their modest homes as we past by kinda reminds me that life is about simplicity and blessings.
As we reached the bride's home, the mountains of Thailand began to emerge. It was spectacular. Madiha's family greeted us with much warmness. The bride's mom, all gigly and shy is the warmest lady I've ever met.

The ceremony, simple-short-sweet. After the akad nikah is done and the couple is now pronounced, they proceeded to a lil photo session which are persisted by the family and me (!). Yup, I taught the couple a few poses, so we all could get a good shot of them in their striking peachy outfits. Enough bullying the couple, we all were invited to makan. The food; kampung-style rice and dishes, with ulam and sambal belacan. It was heaven. Me being a chicken freak, thought the ayam masak merah was exceptional, and thankfully it was a buffet spread, so I didn't hesitate for a second helping. Mom liked the agar2 (jello dessert)..tsk, tsk..
Anyways, then we headed back to Kota Bharu (KB). And checked in our hotel at the Renaissance. This hotel has great fluffy bed and pillows, and nice shining marbled bathroom, with glass door standing shower..cun..
It was rainy during most of our journeys. Nice cool driving but it gets difficult when the rain's heavy. That evening dad wanted to take a drive to the beach nearest to KB, which is Pantai Cahaya Bulan. There was not much to see as it was getting dark, but the sea and sand was rough. Stunning blue skies which framed the ocean was breathtaking nevertheless.

We had dinner there, tried the cucuk2 goreng2 (ark dunno what it's called, but it's famous there). It is pre-fried seafood on satay stick, and u choose which ones u want, they'll fry it again, and u dip into this delicious chili sauce. It's damn good..
I enjoyed Renaissance and had a bubble bath that evening before turning in. Tomorrow another long day - drive home.
Woke up and had a satisfying breakfast. They have pastry racks! Great omelette and nice selections - porridge, even nasi dagang (the famous breakfast food in Kelantan).
We drove home using the Gua Musang way, and stopped at the slopes of Cameron Highlands! Yeay, got to see and buy strawberries..

when we stopped at one of the flower nurseries which also had a lil cafe, where I of coz had coffee..Love the cool air, and enjoyed it while it last..We only spent like 1 hr there, then we headed off home.

Back mall ratting..yeah!

Raya has past (oops..sorry it is STILL the month of Syawal). the following weekend me and hubby took the chance to go mall ratting again.. Wooh..feels like it's been ages. We visited our favorite 1U of coz..Shopped a lil bit, watched a flick, and makannn..Oh yeah we watched The Covenant...nice, handsome chaps in there, gals..

The open house culture

Open houses are becoming the norms of the Raya culture in Malaysia. And I don't mean just the normal relatives' visits on the first few days of Aidil Fitri, but a special date set by the hosts of a resident to prepare food (lots of!) catered (mostly) and invitations sent out to as many people as they know. This is a great culture to become a trend in today's generation as it broadens social network and tightens relationships.

For hosts, it's an opportunity (and excuse) to make up the house, to open their doors to families, relatives, colleagues, and neighbors. In another angle, it is also a way to show everybody their warm homes, all spruced-up and decorated for all to see. Parties are everybody's favorite to host (for some!) and to attend. Open houses can even be as grandeur as a wedding party, because of a few similarities in its infrastructure, such as the tent, catering, and food. For invitees, the most to look forward to, is of-course (hah, coming from me..) the food..
Me and my hubby had the opportunity to attend of my dearest colleague's open house in Shah Alam, and truly enjoyed myself.

Selamat Rayaaa

Raya came at last. Woke up by the smell of rendang. Yeayy! Put on my baju kurung and ran to the kitchen. When Solat raya is going on, I was busy gobbling up the rendang, kuah kacang (peanut sauce), nasi impit, chicken curry, lemang and our residence's specialty - sambal sotong! Argh..I ate and ate and ate..Pure heaven. Then watched TV, then my brothers and families arrived. I ate somemore. Then aunts and cousins came, and I ate somemore.. That evening, folks said, OK it's time for us to make the visits. So everybody clad in new clothes and fresh face, start driving around town to our relatives'. This continued for the next few days. We ventured Ampang, Kajang, Damansara and Cheras. Yes we KL-ians had an easy time this raya maneuvering the streets, as there were very few cars around. I had a fabolous time savouring many kinds of delicacies (some even weird - to be served on Raya) but they were extraordinarily delicious. Yup extraordinarily..may be the Raya mood made everything so dam tasty.. A few highlights, met with Sheila's youngest daughter (with Acis) who is so adorable, Nek Teh still healthy and laughs at everyone's jokes, Nek Ampang served us sup tulang (!). Raya is about family, children, food and of course, forgiveness and love. Hope I manage to capture that in some of the photos taken on Raya week..

The breaking of the fasts

Towards the end of Ramadhan, I find it easier and easier to fast, and more blessed with the benefits that the month brings. And excitement emulges slowly knowing AidilFitri is around the corner. My thoughts trail to what else, the food which I will be consuming during Raya, which I am sure you will read of in the next posts. Now..I have more stories of my buka puasa rendesvous.
Yes, nearing Raya, as the city was left empty coz folks started going off to their hometowns, me and family enjoyed a swift drive here and there for our berbuka puasa. The pasar Ramadhan (food market where all kinds of food are sold to cater muslims for berbuka) are visited less, coz we were starting to get sick of the same stuff. I was busy looking and booking places to eat in town.
We tried berbuka at this new and not-so-famous hotel called Radius-Inn International in Changkat Bukit Bintang. The cafe was small, the food not much but delicious nevertheless.

Then, I thought of trying the berbuka at Planet Hollywood, KL. I was expecting to see some western style delicacies, but the spread was the normal rice and kampung dishes. And not good cos we had to sit downstairs, and it was quite packed that day. Thankfully it has grilled selection, but we have to walk upstairs to the outdoor seating area to grab the grilled stuff, which was the norm ikan bakar, beef etc. I only remembered the Onion soup to be dam sedap.

Next was Aseana KLCC. This time my eldest bro, Abg Maja and family joined in as well. I have heard so much about Aseana, but have not tried it. And I was glad I did. It's a cosy yet exclusive bistro situated at the corner of KLCC (at the Mandarin Oriental's side door entrance to KLCC). Our arrival was coincidently same with Abg Maja, so we walked in the bistro having a good table outside. It was a little rainy, so the air was cool and fresh. Not much selection, but what's available are very tasty and nicely presented. I especially enjoyed the sambal udang, tomyam soup (tho not heated well), and the cute lil dessert tarts! My niece, Anis, even packed home a few of those into her handbag *grin*. After the scrumptuous meal, we walked out together, and didn't miss the chance to snap a few shots.


The next venture is to Dynasty Hotel on Jln Ipoh. Now this was my most favorite rendesvous. We went on Raya eve, so it was pretty much empty. The food selection..my oh my was surprisingly quite good, there were crabs, tiger prawns, roasted lamb, yongtaufoo, rojak, wild mushroom soup *grin*. And it was allll sedap. The dessert/fruits table has this beautifully carved melon. And there were a 'mini' band performing us with Raya songs..yup..very happening.