THE QUIET LIFE ( just for the sake of having a title...)

The silence is deafening...

How much more dramatic could I get??

Yet, truth does prevail...

It is so quiet here...too quiet.

After almost two weeks of chaos, laughter, riots of taste and colours...

Ramadhan 28th

Abang arrived home barely one hour from iftaar. I have had two episodes of  tearing out by that time. His bus was supposed to reach Kota Bharu main station by 4pm but no sight of it until a good one and a half hour later. Abah was doing full i'tikaaf for the last 10 days of Ramadhan, so the task of picking Abang up was redelegated to Ayah Chik Razif. It was totally understandable if my brother-in-law got sick of hearing my voice as I made frantic calls every few minutes. Whattodo, I was under a full-blown anxiety-attack !

After Abang was safely deposited on our doorstep could I breathe normally again...

(Abang actually arrived home looking like a 'princess'...yes, not a typo there. He wore a white jubah which is far too long that he had to pinch up on the sides to lift it up to walk...hhaha..Apparently, his ustadz just presented him the robe for getting the highest mark in tajweed test in his class. To show his appreciation he decided to wear it home, on the long bus journey. When they stopped for prayer, he actually had to change for solat. Mama and Adik cruelly laughed at him!!)

The irony of it was, I couldnt manage to cook anything special to celebrate the home-coming of my prodigal much-missed son. We had a pizza delivery instead!! Talk about being a good mum!! I am SO NOT!!(when I am nervous-stricken that is....please note that I do not function under duress)

I made up for it the next day and the day after and the day after, right to the morning of Syawwal 9th when Abang hitched a ride with his friend's father  back to madrassah.

We couldnt pick him up as Abah was occupied with i'tikaaf and couldnt send him off because Abah was flying off to a distant place in the evening.

On that day, my heart was twice broken...

Now there are only me and Adik home...Abah wont be around until Oct 2nd.

Thanks Adik, for being here and soothe my sore hearts with your antics, your laughter and and your love.

And oh, yes, you too Grey...( she just nuzzled me to remind!!)

As we look at the various photos taken during those days, we can only but reminisce...

Alhamdulillah, it was a good Ramadhan for us. Adik didnt ponteng a single night of taraweeh. She prayed with me and continued doing it  alone in the last week after Mama was visited by the 'friend' who come-a-visit everymonth. On the first night Abang home, I asked Abang to do taraweeh at home so that Adik could pray with him and I could listen to his reciting. The next night, Adik asked Abang to do it at the mosque as she couldnt stand another night of loooong rakaats!! Abang recited one whole juz the first night and Adik has had enough!

It was good too because we managed to meet the targeted number of Qur'an khatams. Good because we managed to eat simple healthy meals during sahoor and iftaar.

our standard sahoor meal..a tumbler of protein drink,dates, honey and  occasional energy bars

We didnt make a single visit to any Ramadhan bazaar. That is a success in my book!!

I learnt that adding oat bran in rice porridge made it more tasty and filling. Sprinkling it on the kerabu pucuk paku to replace toasted coconut works as well. Abang's requested durian fritters was mixed with it too, and the lepat pisang got the same treatment too. ( which prompted someone to pronounce it as lepat 'piseng',haha)

We lost a few kgs but but it came back ever so swift ...especially on ME!!huhu...

Raya came and the usual funfare took place. Our customary 3rd Syawal open house was a hit as usual. Guests started coming as early as 9.30am and the lasts groups left at 6.30pm.It peaked at around 12 noon when most of mama's and abah's siblings came together. All spaces were occupied, leaving standing room only for some of us! We had laksa Sarawak, ketupat palas with rendang and the satay with nasi himpit. I was so busy entertaining that I didnt have the chance to take photos. But I'm sure you two could check them out at your various cousins' facebooks as I remember seeing lots of cameras went clicking that day. Some of your naughtier female cousins took shots of Abang saying that they will post it on their walls claiming that Abang is their current boyfriend...haha.

Thanks to my ever-so-helpful niece, Chah, for helping out. Aminah too...and Toksu and family of course.

The merrymakings continued with lots of kenduris and open houses do that we attended and some had to be apologetically missed. We hardly had leisure time for the only four of us ( which Adik still grumbling over up to today). Its either we were out or guests were here.

I cooked all most of Abang's favourite on the pretext of cooking for guests, so it was like killing two birds with one stone.....  

                                        fruit custards that Abang and adik are crazy about.

fried tomyum beehoon with sambal kicap

and other tidbits

                                                                                                                     

I think that's about it...

Let us pray that Allah accepted all our good deeds in Ramadhan, give us the taufeeq to be istiqaamah in all our amals and bless us with better Ramadhan in future. InsyaAllah.

p/s as promised to Prof Has,here's the recipe for the fruit custard;(I always make large batch as the kids are so fond of it, u may want to halve it)

3l water

1large can of fruit cocktail- strain and put fruits aside

10 heaped tbsp custard powder

sugar to taste

1 can evaporated milk

1/2 can condensed milk

pinch of salt

Mix everything except fruit together, stir well,put on low heat till it thickens. When its cold,put in the fruits and chill overnite. 

Just b4 serving,in my attempt to make it healthier (and prettier), I wud add seeded n halved  black grapes,watermelon scooped in its baller n segmented oranges. Just put any fruits u fancy.... Alas, my kids will make it unhealthy again by putting lots of cut-up ready-made jellies . Well,it looks much prettier though with those colourful jellies.

Happy trying! (am sure u'll make a healthier version of it...)