2nd Syawal : Disc Grdn - Qusais - Disc Grdn - Deira

i survived the first syawal in dubai with very few tears and a lot of laughs. everyone here misses their family back in malaysia, so we're together in that sense, and became family over here. i thank all the lovely hosts and hostesses who opened their doors to us with their warmth and spirit of syawal.

on the night of the first raya we beraya to fida's house, the dubai baker. she made bihun sup, but the one that i was looking forward to was her carrot cake! nyummy! siap tapau lagi! thanks, fida!

fairus, me & fida

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second raya greeted us with the same ray of summer sunshine and warm breeze. we started the morning with a cucur udang breakfast (i made it just like mak's!) and later off to fairus's house at the discovery garden for brunch.

fairus is a young malaysian mom living in dubai whom i got to know through our blogs - and i met her for the first time yesterday during the raya prayers at matrade building. thank you for your friendship, and thanks for the raya meals!

aida (on the couch) me, fairus & fida

what could be fun than pegi beraya umah member, and then terjumpa pulak member lain. the more the merrier!

what did we eat? fairus prepared the yummmiest nasi ayam - but the best of all was the tau foo fah. yes, you read right. fairus actually made her own tau foo fah and it tasted heavenly! seronoknya kat dubai pun dapat tau foo fah!


kahfi had fun, but not as much as his big bro - who conveniently found himself surrounded by girls, girls and girls. kawan elok-elok okay!

khaleef in blue, tini in pink, fatin amily in brown & alya in red

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we went to kak zaida's house later, but before that we rode off far into the end of dubai to qusais, bro mazed's home. i didn't know the couple before this and was glad to meet their acquaintance. they have the most endearing sons; the youngest eagerly greeted me at the doorway with the salam, the middle one tagged along as i put kahfi to sleep in one of their rooms, while the 15 year old, eldest one sat cross-legged on the carpet with me and kahfi, borak-borak, keeping us company.

i have two sons, and i hope they would emulate these boys' politeness and warmth - and, like i told their parents - great 'PR' skills! the boys are brought up really well!


as bro mazed's wife hailed from johor, we were served with yummy laksa johor. kak zaida was there as well, and she immediately invited us to beraya to her house.

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afterwards we went to kak zaida and bro imran's house in discovery garden (yes, people. we were in discovery garden, scoot off to qusais, and now heading back to discovery garden. gile jauh perjalanan!)


i love kak zaida's home! very laura ashley with her flowery curtains that matches the table spread! kak zaida just moved in to this new home. previously she stayed in mirdiff (also a favorite place of mine - it's pratically in the same building as central perk!)


kak zaida's rendang is the best! i do not like nasi himpit, and you would rarely see me munching one, but kak zaida's rendang was too hard to resist and i actually ate a lot of nasi himpit with her rendang! nyum!

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the night was upon us, and we have one more open house to go to. this time it's mr. khairul's mckk senior, bro faisal's house in deira. kak muna, bro faisal's wife was an equally charming hostess!


the other boys from mckk came too; afza, mr. khairul's classmate, and bro zaim, class of 82. four of them got comfy at the 'arabian' corner of bro faisal's home and chat all through the night.

kak muna is the one in black

kak muna made a lot of dishes! kuey teow, bihun sup, nasi putih with mix vege, ayam madu, kari kambing and rendang, along with lemang jagung and nasi himpit. the guests' favorite was kak muna's homemade keropok lekor! excellent!

memang mckk betui! even the serviettes was arranged nicely in the quad colors - red, white and yellow. black je takde!

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thanks to all for the continuous merriment in this second of syawal in dubai. tomorrow, another special dish to be devoured at eiyda's house in sharjah. dah umah pasangan kelate - ape lagi nasi dagang la kita esok!


* i just got this picture from eiyda (during her raya open house) who tagged me in fb. thanks dear! your nasi dagang was excellent! i really envy the fact that you can make this classic dish! abe pun masuk dapur ye? oh and the best surprise was the air cincau! i LOVE cincau, or in perak we call it air lengkong - icy cold with black jelly yummies!

thanks for the kelate dish - cheers for eiyda and abe nik!