Selamat Hari Raya!

Our annual family photo. The only time we take a decent one

Eid Mubarak everyone!

Raya cookout!

Every year I will definitely try to cook something and bake something. This year I surprise myself by baking 2 types of cookies, making rendang tok, rendang ayam and kuah kacang!

And I don't have a maid!

*pat myself on back*

How do I do it? I spread it out.

I made rendang tok and choc chip cookies a week back. I split the 1.5kg rendang into several small containers and put them in the freezer.

I worked on the kuah kacang and chicken rendang today. This time I had help. My sister came to kupas bawang.

Last and not least I wouldn't have been able to do it without my dishwasher. No way I can muster the strength  (and fasting ) to cook AND wash. No maid remember!

So here are some photos. Unfortunately I did not manage to take photos of the rendang tok and biskut semperit that I made last week. Was too busy with the cooking and hands were too messy to snap a photo.

But do check out my spanking new Le Creuset pot! It really does make the food taste better (trying to justify my hefty purchase) (there was a 60% discount! )

Getting into the Raya spirit

I don't get many people coming to my house to beraya but I do like making some biskut Raya. Just to get the Raya spirit going.

I can't remember what I made last year but this time its choc chip cookies!

I had some pretty good recipes but I can't remember where I've put them. So I got this recipe from a friend and it is yummy!!
Ayden has always been such a helper when I bake. His motoring skills has developed so much more being 5. He's able to roll the cookie dough into little balls (i portion them into the right size with two teaspoons) and press them down with a fork.

I used Hersheys choc chips this time round. The results .... very yummy!!

Hari Raya 2013

We had an awesome Raya. And the first Raya at our new house!




We finally have a garden where we could put up our lampu Raya. We bought some bunga api and pop pops where daddy and the boys had a great time playing them.







While me and Hannah watched from the door way cos poor Hannah was afraid of the bunga api.

Our Raya has always been very simple. Families from our both sides are within the Klang Valley so our mandatory visits are usually done within the day. Of course I had fun dressing up the babies. But as usual Ayden refused to get his picture taken, so here are the twins in their baju raya. Cute tak!






It's getting easier to find baby baju melayu and baju kurung off the shelf these days. I prefer to buy my own baju ready made too. Tailoring just cost too much although I bought a whole lot of Thai silk for making baju kurung from Bangkok recently.

So our first stop this year was at my parents place. The off to my in-laws. And we were done by evening. With our bus load of young kids we skipped visiting other family members on the first day. We decided to space it out over the month. It's much less stressful this way. I remembered before we had kids, we went visiting ,u husband side's family. 7-8 houses all in one day. Though I enjoyed meeting all his old aunts, the heat was unbearable. But I really do enjoy visiting family. As long as I'm not the one driving!

So over the long break we generally stayed home and enjoyed the holiday. We lazed at home and had some fun in our garden.



Or rather Ayden had some fun in the garden



While the twins watched longingly from the inside. Soon kiddos! You will join your brother outside.

On the second day of Raya I decided to have some family over and cooked a simple meal for everybody. I made lontong and it was a hit! I served my home made rendang tok and rendang ayam. Owh I burnt a pot while boiling the nasi himpit. And it was my La Gourmet pot too!! Left it boiling downstairs and went upstairs to serve the net. Then I smelt something burning and made a bee line for the kitchen and found a charred pot. Luckily was able to completely wash off the burnt bits.

So here are my brag photos of the food



It's a Chef Wan recipe and I got it from a blogger Nuridah Salleh Thank you for sharing the recipe. It's awesome!


The large pot of lontong was apparently not enough. I totally under estimated the portion. Usually when I make one pot tak habis. This time tak cukup. Must be sedap la.

Was very grateful for all who came. Everyone had to sit on the floor cos we had no furniture. Luckily we had a large carpet in storage. Would have made a bigger do but was too tiring to do so with the twins being so young. Will do so next year! And by then our house would have been nicely decorated and have some furniture.


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