Things I Love About Syawal 2014

 

cuddly cousins on malam raya. the boys with their cousins on mak’s side : from left kahfi, sufya, kazim, icha & khaleef

 

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what goes on instagram – and what actually happened. haha. our family potrait at abah’s front lawn in ipoh on 1st day raya morning. father and son both donning the unmistakable quad-colored mckk sampin.

 

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..when kids line up for duit raya!

 

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siblings fight! normal scene. keep walking. nothing to see here.

 

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 5 hulubalang berkaca mata yang berjaya menawan bunga-bunga dari taman larangan haji sharifuddin. huhu. sitting down : faiz and din. standing behind them is eldest son-in-law abg mat, nash & my mr khairul. you’ve got good taste dudes. haha.

 

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2nd raya : think green!

 

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ipoh family! complete set of 5 daughters & 5 sons-in-law, 10 cucu. alhamdulillah!

 

kg lalang family! we’re missing ateh who was celebrating raya in cairo with newly-wedded hubby pawi. 5 kids, 2 daughters-in-law & 5 cucu. alhamdulillah!

 

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love this photo! the boys with their cousins on bapak’s side. each character shining through – the serious no-nonsense big bro. the loud 2nd-born kahfi. the cheeky kazim. the princess-y wafa. and the ever adorabs khairy.

 

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…and to top it all, the cherry on top – a classic shot of us in our raya best, on an old wooden staircase back in time. selamat hari raya aidilfitri 2014, maaf zahir batin.

10 Things I Love About Syawal 2013

at the time of writing, aidiladha is just over – and here I am writing about syawal that happened about 2 months back. never too late to share a little happiness!

 

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1) dino raya cards

thanks to technology, physical holiday cards are things of the past, almost extinct. but speaking of ‘extinct’, thanks to my bro-in-law asrar, my boys and their cousin wafa received raya cards – but not in the conventional sense with pelita and ketupat. this one was with dinosaurs on the cover. thanks uncle asrar!

 

 

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2) teh's final raya as a singleton

first raya morning in puchong, and my siblings-in-law had their usual wacky raya photo-shoots. this would be the final raya my sis-in-law teh celebrate as single girl. she’s the one in cream-colored baju kurung. yup, somebody has put a ring on her hihi she got married on the eve of merdeka with cairo sweetheart pawi (who is, btw a malaysian ye bukan egyptian kih kih).

 

the anwars

 

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3) ipoh raya

an ALMOST completely perfect picture. all my sisters and husbands were in ipoh on 1st syawal except ME huhu. miss the awesome group photo! the amusing thing here was probably seeing all abah’s sons-in-law in specs. including son-in-law yg kat dubai tu!

 

from left my younger sis syima with hubby din holding baby miqail. my youngest sis azi with newly-wedded hubby faiz. my younger sis syida with hubby nash. my eldest bro-in-law abg mat with yong syimee. abah & umi in the middle. my nieces and nephews cuya, ica, nuna, haiqal holding adam, and haqeem. miss everyone!

 

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mr. khairul with his grandma & mom

 

4) the meeting of 3 generations at hulu langat

son, mother and grandmother. or mother, daughter and grandson. any way you look at it, it’s a priceless moment to be treasured. it’s amazing how strong the squinty cat-like EYE gene is in the family right? to me, it’s the day when I was forced to eat, eat and eat the lemang rendang and never leave the table until grandma is done borak-ing!

bangun nak basuh tangan pun opah umi bising, “nak kemana tu? makan lagi!” got no problem with that!

 

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5) raya photosession at ipoh with photographer faiz

my youngest bro-in-law faiz is a professional photographer. so it’s just ridonkulous not to ask him to take a few professional snaps of us as a family. hihi. this short photo session was at abah’s house in ipoh on 2nd syawal. I’ll share the shots in another posting yah! beautiful shots! thanks so much faiz!

 

this is us~

 

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khairy with anong khaleef

 

6) eldest & youngest cucu atok anwar

this is the first raya for their youngest cousin on bapak’s side – chubby wubby khir khairy. my boys absolutely adore and obsessed over him. picture below is evidence, thank you very much.

 

this is what poor khairy has to endure each day with his abang-abang cousins. sigh. sape suruh comel sangat!

 

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7) compulsory raya shot at kg lalang

syawal would be incomplete without a shot in front of this classic kampung house in my in-laws’ place at kampung lalang. eventhough we spent our first raya at puchong and langat, we made it a point to visit some relatives over here the next day.

 

 

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8) my in-laws beraya at abah’s house

after kampung lalang, my in-laws shot off to ipoh and spend a few hours beraya at my abah’s house. nasi lemak sikit, rendang semangkuk, kopok lekor, kuih-muih and kacang – simple tidbits to welcome the besan.

 

besan : abah & mr. khairul’s bapak

 

 

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9) beraya with laksa at mak keh’s house

thanks to my 2nd cousin kak tiny, I requested laksa and her mom made some delicious pot for raya fun time at mak keh’s house. mak keh is my mom’s very close cousin, dah macam adik beradik. it was such wonderful time hanging out with my 2nd cousins and family – it really reminded me of the time when mak was still around, and these are the group of people we would hang out with at mak keh’s place.

 

spent one awesome syawal with my 2nd cousins on my mak’s side. the yummy makan-makan was held at mak keh’s house and we just lepak borak and makan.

 

the laksa was so good, even a hardcore laksa-fan penang boy agreed and had 3 helpings! thanks so much kak tiny for making my laksa wish a reality! hihi

 

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10) classic shot at a wooden bridge

thanks to my sis-in-law tina (who has a good eye for interesting shots) for this awesome shot of us as a family crossing this old wooden bridge near their grandma’s house in langat. looks so classic when I turned it black and white.

one of my favorite shots of us!

 

 

 

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10 things I love about syawal 2013, but most of all, alhamdulillah I get to spend syawal in malaysia! here’s hoping for another blessful raya in 2014. amin!

Big Family Gathering @ Little Penang Kafé The Curve

it was the final weekend before ramadhan starts, and my whole family (abah, umi, my sisters & husbands plus kiddos) stayed at the royale bintang the curve for the weekend just to lepak satu family. and also because my abah wants to belanja his cucu-cucu for a day of fun at kidzania the next day.

for dinner we gathered together at ‘little penang kafe’ for a taste of penang hawker food at the curve damansara.

 

‘little penang kafé’ described itself as being “the first restaurant to offer authentic penang hawker food in a shopping mall”. the interior certainly sets the mood, taking us back in time. and the menu suggests the same – filled with penang hawker food and baba nyonya delicacies like char kuey teow, kuey teow soup, mee udang, curry mee, assam laksa and many more.

 

it’s not often do we get to dine out ramai-ramai like this. most of the time atok prefers to just tapau and eat ramai-ramai at home. tak pening atok dengan cucu-cucu yang bising! hihi. so this was considered a HUGE outing for us. we were just missing azi’s husband faiz (working) and my mr khairul who was still in dubai at the time. syida’s hubby nash was taking the picture.

 

obviously I can’t help NOT ordering my favorite kuey teow. penang fried kuey teow has always been my favorite and would never miss getting kuey teow sani or kuey teow gagak whenever I’m in penang. the kuey teow at ‘little penang kafe’ is as good as it gets – well-seasoned, dry just the way I like it. I would order this again.

 

abah with his choice ‘penang curry mee’

 

‘penang curry mee’ for abah. said to be ‘the most sought after hawker dish in penang’. judging from the empty bowl at the end and hoq quiet abah eats – the curry mee must be dead good.

 

this was umi’s pick of the day : ‘penang jawa mee’ – a nyonya style mee rebus. the gravy looks deliciously thick and the portion is huge. you can share this one if you’re not too hungry!

 

abah & umi with their delicious penang dishes at ‘little penang kafe’.

 

my eldest nephew haiqal with his dinner : fried rice with egg sunny side up. simple yet satisfying. haiqal next time order something else ok. nasi goreng ni mama pun bole buat! haha

 

BFF & cousins : my nephew haqeem & my eldest son khaleef ordered the same food – ‘fish ball noodle’ simply noodle in clear fish ball soup. not spicy, hot from the pot. delicious.

 

the boys’ ‘fish ball noodle’. you can even choose your noodle – bihun, mee kuning or kuey teow.

 

cousins & BFF! haiqal, haqeem & khaleef in their football jerseys

 

 

love the interior : the ceiling, the walls that look like it’s made from papan in kampung house and the grill looks authentic too – like eating in those old chinese coffee shop in penang. ‘little penang kafe’ is my new favorite place to makan!

‘little penang kafe’ is on ground floor at the curve. forget marche. go hawker style next time!

Atuk Holiday With Cucu @ Royale Bintang The Curve

Atuk Sharifuddin had planned to treat his grandkids for a day of fun at kidzania. to add to the fun, he got each of us rooms at ‘royale bintang the curve’ hotel for to hang out during that weekend. it was such fun (and SO much noise) when the kids go in and out and run along the corridor as our rooms are right next to each other on the same floor.

chaotic! thanks atuk!

also, since aunty gim was by herself with her kiddos in her hotel room (uncle khairul was still in dubai at that time) my room was the headquarter to lepak, makan donuts and make more noise. great!

 

atok at royale bintang the curve lobby with all his 9 grandkids (excluding youngest one baby miqail) that’s two eldest cucu haqeem and haiqal at the back, little adam in green sweater and lil kazim right next to atok. then atok’s only three granddaughters cuya, ica & nuna. and dubai boys kahfi & khaleef. alhamdulillah dah 10 cucu atok sharifuddin!

 

the complete picture of 10 members of Kelab Cucu Atok Podin including baby Miqail in black ed hardy bib

 

compulsory activity : pool time at royale bintang the curve. more chaos!

 

atok buying tickets for cucu’s fun time at kidzania. for haiqal, haqeem, khaleef, kahfi, cuya, ica & nuna. thanks so much atok! they had an awesome time!

 

abah, umi, anak menantu dan cucu-cucu. one of our BIG family dinners while we’re staying at royale bintang the curve. little penang café the curve (review soon!). it’s been awhile since we gathered this many together at the same time, dining out! the only ones not around were faiz (working) and mr khairul who was still in dubai.

 

comot time at aunty gim’s room. they’re munching j co donut and I’m addicted to their nestum-topped donut!

 

see what I told you about them hanging out and buat bising at aunty gim’s hotel room?

 

us sisters with kiddos and abah & umi. thanks so much abah for such wonderful weekend!

 

it was one awesome weekend hanging out with abah umi, my sisters and nephews nieces at royale bintang the curve while jalan-jalan makan-makan at the shopping mall, knowing that we don’t need to face the crazy traffic and mad dash to find parking space at the curve. hihi. the hotel is practically part of the curve building!

we had dinner with abah, went up to our room, and could still find time later that night to run down to have supper with my sisters. such awesome time.

lets repeat this, tapi kat dubai pulak, amacam abah? kih kih.