Al Fatihah...

Tepat jam 8.50 malam, 22 September 2010, Zaini Bin Ramli (my nephew-in-law) kembali ke Rahmatullah, setelah mengalami kebakaran ekoran pesawat ringan yang dinaikinya terhempas di kawasan ladang kelapa sawit di Johor lebih kurang dua minggu yang lalu. Semuga rohnya ditempatkan Allah bersama orang-orang yang beriman.


Al Fatihah....

Jom Makan...

Raya kali ni agak suspense juga. Hmm.. nak masak banyak mana ya? Ada ke orang yang akan datang? Tahun lepas kami beraya di Amstelveen, agak jauh untuk orang kedutaan dan pelajar Malaysia nak datang. Kali ni kan dekat aje... Kami takla kenal ramai pelajar sangat, tapi words get around kan, risau pulak makanan habis... Malu !!! Dan kesian kat depa jugak kan !!!

Apapun, kami masak sebanyak mana yang muat dalam periuk dan kuali yang tak seberapa besar tu :))

DH pulak teringin nak cuba resepi "ayam beriani" dari Kak Hanieliza tu. Eh...Cik Abang, ini bukan masanya untuk nak cuba masakan baru tau. Apa jadi kalau kurang berkenan dengan selera kita? Memandangkan diri IA pun dah keletihan malam raya tu, jadi dibiarkan la saja DH masak resepi barunya dengan bantuan anak-anak angkat tu :))

Bagus juga ada anak angkat ni, depa la yang buat ketupat, potong daging untuk rendang, dan segala serai, kunyit dan apa2 rempah ratus yang diperlukan. Hmm... rumah kami pun depa vacumn kul 12 tengah malam tu, nasib baik jauh dari jiran kalau tidak jenuh nak minta maaf dari orang Belanda yang datang merungut. Dalam keghairahan depa mengemas ruang tamu tu, sampai terjatuh pulak rumah Spikey, hamster Ilham tu. Hah... kesian Spikey, pening seminggu agaknya :))

Jom kita tengok apa yang kami masak dan hidangkan untuk tetamu pada Aidil Fitri tu.....

Juadah kemestian di pagi raya - ketupat palas

Bertungkus lumus IA buat ketupat palas ni, bil talipon ke Malaysia pun melambung jugak :)) Alhamdulillah, rasa dan texture nya boleh tahan juge... Tima kasih mak. Tapi kalau boleh, lain kali mak ukur la dulu santan tu, sebelum diletak kat dalam periuk, agar senang Cheq nak mengagaknya :))) Yang membanggakan, kebanyakan ketupat tu di balut oleh anak angkat IA yang sorang tu, pandai betui IA mengajar dia, 2 kali tunjuk dah pandai he...he...

Inilah juadah yang tak seberapa tu, rendang daging, nasi impit, kuah kacang, ketupat, ayam beriani, pulut kuning, rendang ayam (TQ Ija), cheesecake(TQ M), rempeyek, kekacang, buah2an dan apple crumble(TQ W).

Niat di hati nak masak lontong bila balik dari solat sunat Aidil Fitri, tetapi memandangkan tetamu pertama kami sampai agak cepat juga, maka IA KIV dululah ... (hingga selama-lamanya he..he..)

Ramai juga tetamu yang datang selepas tu. Memandangkan semasa mereka sampai tu, kami baru saja nak ambik gambar keluarga, maka tetamu2 tu pun turut mengambil gambar keluarga masing2... Maka terjadilah sessi gambar bergambar. Hah.. riuh rendah jadinya....

By the time kenalan DH sampai dalam pukul 5.30 petang tu, ketupat, rendang ayam, pulut kuning, rempeyek, cheesecake & apple crumble semuanya dah habis. Tak pe la..makan je apa yang ada :))

Arnold (Indon) & Cora (Dutch), Ervan & Elisabeth (keduanya Surinam)


Inilah suasana Aidil Fitri kali ni, memang berbeza berbanding di Malaysia, tapi IA rasa kemeriahannya tetap ada walaupun dengan cara yang berlainan. Memang pada awalnya IA keberatan untuk memasak dan tiada hati untuk melayan tetamu, namun memandangkan DH dah lama menjemput pelajar2 tu dan juga kenalannya, maka dikuatkan juga hati ini. Tapi sesungguhnya hati IA memang rasa bersalah, ketika IA tersenyum tawa dengan tetamu, anak saudara IA beraya di hospital Johor menemani suaminya yang terbakar, manakala keempat-empat anak mereka beraya di Kedah. Sudah hampir 2 minggu peristiwa hitam ini berlaku, tetapi keadaan Z masih belum stabil, walaupun sudah keluar dari ICU. IA amat berharap agar dia semakin pulih dan dapat dipindahkan ke Hospital Alor Setar secepat mungkin.

Sambutan Aidil Fitri Di Embassy

Let's view these photos (courtesy of Ija, since I forgot to bring my camera) taken at the Embassy for Eid Prayer and Majlis Sambutan Aidil Fitri soon after that.

The kids, right in front of the embassy before the prayer starts.

The prayer was led by Wak Jamal as he was fondly referred to. Don't know why he was called that, he looks nothing like a "wak" to me, but he is from Johor. The sound of takbir made me just want to cry, as always. There was one particular takbir by this man which was very very nice indeed and truly mendayu-dayu. I must remember to ask DH who he was.

The much awaited majlis makan2 was prepared on two different levels to accommodate the crowd. I was informed that the food must be prepared for 300 people. That many? I'm glad that I was not chosen to cook one of the main dish. I would be panicking... The reason I escaped from the cooking (bad of me huh..) was because they thought I would come back after raya!! But I do have this feeling that it will be my turn when its Aidil Adha... Mak tolong!!


While waiting for the preparation, sempat lagi budak2 ni berlari-lari..

Siap main "tag" lagi, butang pembuka pintu pagar pun jadi mangsa...

Thumb-wrestling...

Err..green and nature inspection girls?

Now, let's see some of the food prepared by Perwakilan Ladies and also by the guests...

There was ayam masak merah, rendang ayam, lontong or lodeh, kurma ayam and nasi beriani

Roti jala and kari ayam

Laksa johor especially cooked by Pak Mat and sambal bilis


Kuih-muih brought by some of the guests.


And, most unexpected was...


Lemang.... just arrived that morning from Malaysia, I heard.


Some of the guests eagerly queuing for the sumptuous food


There were a mix of nationalities attending the feast and prayer. The lady sitting next to me during the prayer was of African origin. Some Malaysian ladies who were married to Dutchmen also brought with them their MIL and FIL. There were also Malaysian Chinese and Indians, patiently waiting until the prayer ended. Some Arabic faces were also seen and not forgetting, our neighbours from Pattani, Selatan Thai.

This elderly lady in blue baju kurung and black tudung (above picture) is a Singaporean and had been living in the Netherlands for 25 years. She told DH that this was her first time coming to the feast and that she had enjoyed the food and meeting a lot of people so much.


It is heartening to see almost everybody turned up in baju kurung and baju melayu complete with sampin, even the Dutch (can anybody spot one with bright pink baju melayu?). The young Dutch/Malay jongens and meisjes looked especially lovely in them. Tapi, sudah tentunya anak-anak Melayu kita lagilah comel2 dan lawa2 belaka :))


More happy faces enjoying Aidil Fitri di perantauan.

Di Pagi Raya... Terkenang Daku...

This is our second Aidul Fitri celebration in Holland. Despite feeling sad and just recovered from fever, I feel that I must cook something in case people turn up on Hari Raya. But I am glad that my DH had invited two students and another family student to spend raya with us. The two guys came the day before and they help us make rendang and ketupat palas. They even vacumned the whole house and rearranged the living room that now I couldn't find my recently bought rotan :) Even Ilham couldn't find his favourite hamster because the cage had been moved to a more secluded place :)) Its a shame that the other family student couldn't make it on malam raya, but they arrived early the next morning in time for us to have breakfast and go for prayer at the embassy together. Their presence made our lebaran lively, interesting and much much more bearable. They helped us entertain our guests later in the afternoon. Thank you guys and thank you Ija & family, make sure you people come early on Aidil Adha ok :))

Bersiap sedia untuk makan pagi sebelum bertolak ke Embassy

My handsome two anak angkat, hmmm masih bujang tau... :)

My other family angkat and their children, kira anak angkat juga le kan


Jom kita raya kat embassy pulak lepas ni...

Ramadhan And Aidil Fitri - The Joy And The Sadness

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI, MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN to my dear friends, family and also to those few who might still be reading my blog :))



It has been so long since I last updated this blog and since then, so many interesting and eventful things had happened. We had some friends who came to visit and together, we had travelled to Luxembourg, Brussel, Bruge and two more places that I, right at this moment, had forgotten the names (old age is catching up :)) Right after our friends went home, within 2 days we had packed and moved to our new house in Den Haag. Then after a few days of moving, I had followed the Perwakilan Ladies to Metlach in Germany for a day of "shopping". The next day, we had a bit of "kenduri masuk rumah". Three days later, we went to Stockholm, Sweeden where we had a chance to go to Riga, Latvia. Five days after we came back from Sweeden, we had gone back to Malaysia. Hurray!!



We arrived back in Den Haag on 1st September, after six hectic weeks in Kedah, KL, Klang and Melaka. To those family and friends that I did not have the chance to meet, we are truly sorry.





I had a long fever and a cold right after we got back to Holland, and to make matters worse the heating system was faulty. No matter how many times I adjusted the temperature control, nothing happened. The house was colder than outside!! For someone who had just got back from a hot country and having fever at the same time, the house was very cold indeed. It turned out to be the "boiler" was switched off. Apparently the house had 2 different boilers for hot water and the heating system.



The last 2 1/2 months had been truly eventful. It was interesting going and visiting new places, meeting and getting to know different people, it was even more wonderful meeting my elderly parents and other family members. My parents looked older and frail, I wish I lived closer, not in Den Haag and not even in KL. I would have written about the places but my mind is occupied on more pressing and worrying matters. The joy of travelling and meeting family in recent months was somehow overshadowed by the recent event that happened to our family during the last week of Ramadhan. My sister's son-in-law was involved in the small plane crash in Kulai, Johor recently. The young trainee pilot did not survive the crash (condolence to her family), but Alhamdulillah my nephew managed to crawl out from the burning plane but he was burnt and is now currently in the ICU in Johor. I pray that he will be well and go home soon.



In this trying time and need, I wish I was in Malaysia and I lament the fact that I had changed my flight ticket to an earlier date. I want to be there for my niece and her family. The four children must be very sad, with none of the parents with them during raya, and the eldest one is going to sit for his UPSR in the coming week. I am very close to my niece and her family, their house is like a second home to us. How I wish I was there to support them. May Allah give them the strenght and patience to go through this trying moments.