For the past few years Hari Raya had indeed been a closed family affair for us all. Just us and the children, lately with additions of their spouses and children. Not that we are hermits among the crowd but most immediate family members and friends living in the vicinity of the Klang Valley joined the balik kampung exodus.
So raya means just us and my iconic nasi dagang for all (stretching from breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!), the solat sunat raya and spending the rest of the day lazing around. I need to mention that my husband will have his must satay menu. So the day will also be spent grilling the satay. As this raya coincided with our Merdeka holidays, we have a whole week of full corum family stay-in. The home is indeed a riot with laughter and kids screaming, not to mention Mami Tok needed to see to the daily menu change. The things with my children, they do not fuss much around food, even fried rice is a change and well appreciated.
The Klang Valley populace was back to normality the week immediate after raya. That's the time when friends chose to drop in while we are back to work. So it'll be good to have everybody in at one go and be prepared for it. I had been planning for the open house all along, but failed to commit the date until last Friday. Due to a heavy work schedule up to the end of the week, the e-mail announcement only went out at about 5:30 pm on the day. The invitation was for Sunday, September 11, 2011 from 12:00 pm onwards (while stock last). By then most of the staff has already left the office. I got to verbally invite those still hanging around the office and took to sending SMS the others and appealing them to forward to the others. Was hoping of all hopes that they'll get the invitation.
Simple menu really, but the nasi dagang has to be there. There was nasi himpit with satay and mee curry plus the normal raya cookies. The nasi himpit was cooked the evening before for proper jelling. So was the sambal kelapa for the nasi dagang. The curry for the mee and the nasi dagang itself was prepared early in the morning. The tuna and makerel masak kunyit lengkuas to go with the nasi dagang was prepared before I retire for the night.
Faiz and a cousin, Faizal, took to the outdoor charcoal satay grilling. Luckily for us, Faizal just arrived in the morning from Kelantan. He is to register for an engineering course at UiTM come Monday. A helping hand indeed. My eldest was not able to make it home as the husband was on 24-hr duty the day before. So was Nazim and his family as the kids were still recovering from a bout of stomach flu (how ailments come about to be called these days). Amir and Meera were terribly dehydrated after bouts of vomiting.
In spite the rain and downcast skies, we had a great turnout from neighbours, friends and their family members. The first drop-in was Fauzy and family around 12:30 pm and the last was Johaary and his family members at about 5:30 pm. One noticable difference this open house was how the children and grandchildren of friends gyrate to our grandchildren's corner, some even refusing the food spread before them for their new found corner. The battered toys were god send to parents who were able to enjoy the raya spread and spend time catching up with friends.
This could be my last raya open house while still in service as I'll be retiring early December. But I do hope to have friends over even in my retirement. Though tiring, the get together was worth it all. Incidently the office will be holding our raya gathering next Friday, September 23.
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