MERDEKA!

National  Textile Museum
{formerly: Federated Malay States Railway Station & Selangor Works Department built in 1905}

Merdeka!

It’s been about two weeks from my last posting. I have been busy playing catch up with work related issues and course assignments matters after enjoying a long Raya break! However, it was a well deserved and well spent break. All close related family and friends were met. The clan relationship is well cemented and we imparted family’s traditions and customs accordingly.

Today is Merdeka Day. 31^st August 2012, Malaysia is celebrating its 55^th years of independence. Malaysia or Malaya was colonized by the British where they brought their system into ours which were blended together and later the Land’s system and customs were unceremoniously ignored. That was history which must not be forgotten. However, for the record, we do have a system of administration and justice back then.  Malaysia or Malaya then was definitely NOT a land “without inhabitants to claim the right to be governed by any existing law…” nor it’s a land “… with no fixed institution…” as stated in few decided cases in the late 1800’s. Malaya was a ceded territories and not a terra nullius. Enough of our motherland’s history.

Present day. The celebration started off with the count down at the Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) formally known as the Selangor Club Padang (Field) at the stroke of mid night. 55 years ago, this Square witnessed the lowering of the Union Jack flag for the last time and with that the end to our singing of “God save the Queen”. Today, the parade starts at 7am, with various bands marching representing people from all walks of life. It was a beautiful and harmonious picture perfect. A post card picture perfect and hopefully Malaysia will continue to be a peaceful and blessed land, lest God forbids it only remains on a post card and history books as souvenirs and information for the future generation.

I am very proud to be a MALAYSIAN and always will be, may we live in peace and harmony for now and generations to come, Insha’Allah. I despise trouble-makers; they are threats to the country, UNITED WE STAND n DIVIDED WE FALL.

Selamat menyambut hari MERDEKA ke 55
(Happy 55th Independence Day)

{Malaysia: land of potpourri of cultures}

Merdeka kisses

~Acepaizah~

{nb: red & yellow water melons, followed by greenish honey dews and center piece papayas }

SELAMAT HARI RAYA 2 @ 20th Augustus '12

{part of the clan}

Today is the second day of Hari Raya. My sis Dr. S and I decided that we will do a get together notwithstanding that she is leaving for Kuala Terengganu in the afternoon. So she made four simple menus, to her of course! The main course is her famed Yemeni Rice with chicken cooked in thick tomato puree. Our second main course is fried macaroni with generous minced chicken and button mushroom with a dash of Dr.S’ secret herbs. Then we, read as Dr. S decided that we serve some fried chicken marinated with her secret herbs and coated with local cameronian honey. And for dessert, my niece NN cooked up her signature favorite dessert, pudding fruit cocktail and fresh orange and apple juice and bottles of mineral water.

The kids, NN, FA, MF and MS helped setting the table and made the necessary arrangement as to spread the food and drinks for want of proper buffet table. Drinks were prepared by brother in law MN and placed them on the spiral stairs while ice bucket was placed below it. The scrabble table doubled as coffee table instead where Raya cookies and our moist chocolate cake were placed. As usual, the kitchen bar is the main buffet table! It starts with Yemeni rice followed by our ala Mediterranean chicken, mixed vegetables with fresh tiger prawns and macaroni. Ending the buffet line is of course our mandatory Raya delicacies, some home made ketupat, stall bought lemang (glutinous rice in bamboo grilled by open fire) and  chicken floss.

As usual, our first guest is my nephew AW with his wife SHjr, three broods, sister SH and niece AN, followed by sister KH family, i.e. brother in law MM, nephews IQ, JA, JE and JK, My aunt, uncle and cousin NF. The ambience, atmosphere and the company were simply great. In fact the weather was a perfect sunny and windy day like we were at a holiday resort. Yes, a resort style Hari Raya celebration for one last time in my condo.  Hence it calls for many photo shoots as a remembrance of the venue and as what I call bukti kehadiran (Proof of attendance)!

The story telling session was non stop. It was just us, strictly family, either by blood or marriage sans outsider. We, the four siblings especially have lots to talk about. We are trying our best to strengthen and improved our family ties lest we slip away with our own rat race life, like what my little sis, Dr. S texted message me few years ago, “that we have to nourish our sisterly relations and keep family ties intact.” Everything is a perfect 10 on Acepaizah’s scale. SELAMAT HARI RAYA TO MY DEAREST SISTERS and my beloved readers.

{the buffet bar}

~salams and raya kisses~

~Acepaizah~

SELAMAT HARI RAYA 1 @ 19/8/2012

{traditional Malay house @ KLCC}

{ketupat in the process...}

Selamat Hari Raya… Selamat Hari Raya… SELAMAAAAT HARI RAYAAA!!! (A very happy Eid ul Fitr!). We celebrate Hari Raya on the 19^th August 2012. The announcement was made by the Keeper of the Royal Seal on Saturday at about 8pm after breaking fast for the 29^th day. By then, my ketupat (rice in coconut leaves) and my sister’s beef rendang are already on the stoves. I have been weaving the ketupat packets in afternoon with some help from my niece, NN who seem very keen to sharpen her ketupat weaving skill of late. Earlier in the afternoon we went to the KLCC shopping centre for our last minute shopping and to get and absorbed the spirit and aura of the forth coming Eid ul Fitr celebration.

On the bless Sunday morning at about 7.22am we drove to our ‘home town’ which is about 8km from my abode in the city of lights, i.e. Kuala Lumpur.  It is a ritual that we converged at my late parent’s house which my sister SH now resides with her family after performing the Eid prayer. We helped ourselves to the delicious spread of Raya dishes i.e. her specialty lontong among others and of course the never ending photo shoots by many photographer wannabes and modeled by self claimed professional models! Raya greetings and salams were made to each other and duit raya (token of $$ in packets) were given to the children. There after we adjourned to my sister KH’s home for lunch of her  mandatory briyani rice and grilled chicken among others.

In the evening we gave our due respect to our elder, i.e. my aunt who is my late father’s sister at a nearby neighborhood. It was a relaxing evening gathering with her special brewed tea. Three years ago, when my cousin NS is around prior to her going to New Zealand, my aunt cooked her specialty buhkari rice with chicken pieces and cut carrots cooked to perfection together in the rice itself.  It is a middle east styled rice with some influence from the Arabian peninsular.

It was a great Hari Raya celebration. And the kilos scale is rising!

{Dr.S  briyani rice and acar-29th day break fast menu}

~raya salams and kisses~

~Acepaizah~

Iftar 3 - BBQ-ed Chicken & Briyani

{the bbq chicken}

This might be my last posting on iftar for this year. Last Saturday, nearly the whole clan converged at my nephew’s house, Kamal, for iftar.  Due to heavy traffic which came to a near standstill along the Duta Ulu Klang Expressway into the Middle Ring Road I had to break my fast in the comfort of my car sipping water from an over exposed mineral water instead! There were some pro and cons in arriving late for an event. For one, nearly everyone was anxious over my late arrival since I am a punctual person always arriving few minutes earlier.

After making myself comfortable, my nephew brought me a glass of tea and some mixed kuihs. Thereafter I make my way the buffet table. The main dish is my sister’s, KH, (K’s mom) famous briyani rice, cooked to perfection with a generous sprinkle of cashew nuts, raisins, green beans and fried onions. My sister’s briyani rice is the best in the world! One can simply eat the rice by itself sans its accompanying side dishes of chicken curry or dhal gravy and prawn in chillies. The prawn in chillies were spicy and sweet, and that is an entry for another day.

Any family gathering at either my nephew K’s home or my sister KH’s house will not be complete without the mandatory BBQ-ed chicken. As usual, the boys Kamal, Kamil, Iqmal, Aiman and Ezwan and their mutual friend Ehsan were busy at the BBQ set. According to Kamal, they marinated the chicken pieces with almost every spice available in the kitchen and with a dose of cola; of a certain brand and let it sits for hours as to get the perfect taste. And I must say that their BBQ-ed chicken were the tastiest I ever ate. Some may say that I am bias in my observation, but like the legal Latin maxim, res ipsa loquitor (the thing speaks for itself.) Time and again the BBQ-ed chicken rose to the occasion and it always on demand, where some reservation was made whilst the pieces were still being BBQ-ed!

What’s the score like on Acepaizah’s scale? Oh well, the score is an all round perfect ten. The Briyani rice and BBQ-ed chicken may even break Acepaizah scale! Compliment to boys, my sister and her daughter in law, L. It was a great iftar gathering sans some close clan, i.e. my beautiful sisters’ (S and Dr. S) family, for want of time and distance. The people were beautiful, the food was great, the ambiance was inviting, and they were my close knit clan!

~chicken dance sauces~
~Acepaizah~

11/8/2012

Iftar 2 - Mee Bandung & Nasi Lemak!

{mee bandung full to the brim!}

We’ve been fasting for two weeks. My body fats are melting slowly like the Arctic glacier but the city temperature is rising instead. I am not referring to the weather, which is the metrological department jurisdiction. I am referring to the city folk hectic shopping schedules. It’s a norm to adopt shop till you drop concept in the preparation of the forth coming Eid celebration. I am immune to this scenario but I am very fortunate not to fall to this shopping epidemic. I can remember clearly the last time that I did my Eid preparation. It was the grandest Eid preparation that I ever did the first and the last. It felt like it was just yesterday, but that is a story for another day.

In the midst of all these I received an invitation to break my fast from my sisterly companion CS. Breaking fast with family and friends will inculcates in a person a sense of love, brotherhood and friendship towards fellow human beings. I went to her place at about 6.45pm. Some of her guests were already there whom I knew since I knew CS since time immemorial! The dining table was full to the brim. There was her famous mee bandung (yellow noodle in thick savory gravy), nasi lemak (here we go again) and briyani rice amongst others. These were the main dishes. Then there were few kinds of local kuih and lamb porridge, ginger coffee and a soothing soda syrup bandung.

I started with a few mouthful of lamb porridge since I am not a lamb enthusiastic. It was tasteful but for the lingering taste of the lamb, I supposed. Thereafter I helped myself to a bowl mee bandung. The gravy is rich in color, flavor, and taste with few pieces of fresh tangy succulent prawns and generous pieces of meat and veggies together with the mandatory drop-in egg. I squeezed some lime and slurp it in a record time.

After prayer, I had second helping. This time around I attacked my favorite nasi lemak. The rice is made from the Basmati variety; hence it has a well elongated form. I was cautioned by F that the sambal might be too spicy for me. So, I just “fish” the squid pieces out carefully. Add a few pieces of cucumber, fried peanuts, anchovies and half hardboiled egg I make my way to the dining table, while waiting for my frothing Teh Tarik specially made by CS. The Teh Tarik was simply awesome made from fresh brewed tea leaves simmered to perfection and mixed with fresh milk and shake them well so that a nice frothing form forms atop the glass.

It was such an awesome break fast affair with good food, good ambience and good company and it is nearly sinful to give a point on Acepaizah’s scale. Nevertheless, with much pain I must. Well, the mee bandung is definitely a 9 on Acepaizah scale and the nasi lemak I will give a 7. The nasi lemak lacks in the moistness and “creaminess”. Oh the Teh Tarik is definitely a perfect 10. Just like Nadia Comaneci of Romania the only athlete in Olympics that score a perfect 10 in gymnastic years ago.

{Nasi Lemak}

~more nasi lemak kisses~

~Acepaizah~

4th Augustus 2012