I would love to wish all my Muslim friends, and all my readers who celebrate this auspicious occasion, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
This is truly a time for me to reflect back , and think of the group of Malay friends I have in Kuching, mostly that I have met since high school days. At the time of Raya, a massive visiting plan from house to house, similar to Chinese New Year itself would bring everyone together. We could easily cover 8-10 houses a day back then, and boy, this year would be my first time skipping Hari Raya visiting in my precious hometown, Kuching. As strange as this sounds, I have made it back just in time for Hari Raya in the past few years during my summer holidays. Unfortunately, my luxury of holidays have been running short, and now I am suffering the consequence of the cruel working life.
SATAY IN THE MAKING
As I thought time would drift by depressingly with thoughts of imaginary curry, satay and rending which I would have savoured should I be having a holiday in Kuching now, I received an invitation from Farhan, a dear friend I have met since my college days in Perth. Yeap, his place was not so far from mine, so on the second day of Raya (Sunday) I made my first, and only visiting so far in Perth for Hari Raya.
To me, I have always believed that it is not so much of the food that we look forward to, but rather the people we are visiting, and the purpose of the whole celebration that truly bring joy and meaning to any huge occasions. I gotta admit though, you can only find the best Malay dishes served with such style and distinction at the “open houses”. Having friends coming together, and sharing smiles and laughter, forgetting the pain and worries of the ever-cruel world just for a day or two, this really something worth celebrating for. I am grateful in some ways that I have not been missing out much for this Hari Raya.
FARHAN aka POJOE
Having arrived at Farhan’s place.. I was amazed by what I observed. There was a group of Malay Students, mostly from Malaysia (if not all) gathering at the house and diligently worked their asses out in finalizing food preparation for the guests. I arrived kind of early in a way, and soon the entire house was filled with people from everywhere.
I was thick-skinned enough not to lend a hand
My Share of food
And the servings went on and on until I could not stuff anything down my throat anymore.
From the pictures, I can say that most of the food was sort of mixed up and it is difficult to differentiate which was which. I was sooooo hungry that time that I just stuffed all the food onto my plate. So here is a list of the food that I have eaten:
Lamb Curry (Kurma style?)
Nasi Briyani (with some strangely delicious Yogurt as topping)
Satay and Satay
Ketupat (with Satay sauce)
Ayam Masak Merah
And Satay and many many morrreeeee…..
Oh did I say Satay??
Yeap, you have to admit the main highlight was most definitely Satay. And gosh, you guys have no idea how much I miss Satay !!
I particularly love the Nasi briyani and Lamb Curry. And oh did I tell you that the Kuah Satay (Satay Sauce) was top notch??? Specially prepared by Asraf.
THE PEOPLE THERE...
Coming from a group of mostly guys the food that was served was impressively awesome. For a little while I felt like I was sitting in one of my friend’s houses eating their dish there.
ROBIN, ASRAF and FARHAN
Thanks so much Farhan for having me there. Special thanks to Arif and Asraf too, who were there and made time to entertaining me even though they have so many other guests present. Being there and savouring the irresistible food with a great company of beautiful friends, I know that I was amongst a group of true Malaysians, and I am proud being one myself.