Well, Hari Raya Puasa/Aidilifitri came and went but I did not get to drop by any of the houses to visit my Muslim friends, not even my family members for the simple reason that it had been so so so very hot here. I cannot imagine myself all dressed up nicely and dripping in my perspiration, feeling so uncomfortable. That, of course, meant that I did not get to enjoy all the lovely dishes, cakes and cookies but no, all was not lost!
I had just got up from my nap that afternoon when I got a call from my girl’s coursemate originally from Trengganu but posted to a school here in Sibu. He told me he would be sending some stuff over and he did! That was so very sweet and thoughtful of him to want to share some of the Raya goodies with me, thank you so very much to him for the really nice gesture.
There were these different types of kek lapis (layer cakes) and other steamed cakes…
I don’t know what those brown ones at the far end were but they were very nice – my favourite of the lot! My missus liked those colourful squares – she said they were not as sweet as the rest.
No, I did not save any for my girl who would be coming home for the weekend the following day as I would not think she would be all that excited over these cakes. However, she saw the photo that I shared on Facebook and was looking forward to the kelupis…
…that were so good and went absolutely well with the very lovely chicken rendang and these, I saved till she got back so we could enjoy them together. The usual kelupis that we may get around here is a little different – they use the palas leaf and I think there would be much more santan too. These, I’ve been told, are the Limbang-style ones. I don’t know what leaf they use, the nyirik leaf, it is called and it looks something like lengkuas leaf or the bamboo leaves we use to wrap our chang (dumplings).
I did not save the fried bihun…
…for her either – I had that for breakfast that morning and she would only be back in the house by mid-afternoon or evening…but I did keep the mantis prawns, cooked butter prawn-style, for her and yes, they were very nice too.
That weekend went past pretty quietly – just the usual routine stuff except for lunch on Saturday – my girl said she wanted her favourite beef noodles and dumplings here so of course, whatever she wants, she will get! I did not feel like having those so I ordered a plate of the nasi lemak biasa (RM3.00)…
…for myself. I shall refrain from making any comment on the egg but no, the rice was nothing great. Luckily, the very nice sambal…
…saved the day. It also helped a great deal that I had ordered the rojak (RM4.00)…
…as well so when I ate it all together, it sure made up for the not-all-that-nice nasi lemak. The aforementioned prices were those that I saw displayed at the stall but when I asked the boy for the total, he said RM8.00. I did not bother to ask and just paid quietly so I really do not know why I had been charged that extra one ringgit – maybe like most everybody else, they’ve increased the prices as well.
My missus ordered the sizzling noodles (RM6.00)…
…from the stall at the back of that coffee shop except that when it was served, the hot plate did not seem all that hot nor was the gravy sizzling. Well, she did not say anything so I guess it was all right and besides, there were two very big prawns…
…that came alongside the other ingredients.
Other than that lunch that we had outside, we ate at home the rest of the time and the next day, Sunday, we sent my girl back to her school as usual.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 