Macam-Macam Kerjaaaa.....

Manis, the visiting cat

Our house was buzzing with activities, even Nissa’s visiting cat, Manis felt it. There was cooking to do and also some last minute things to get for Faris Raya preparation. My trip to the market was extra early. By 7.30am, I was already at Man’s gerai ayam at the Seksyen 6 Market in Shah Alam. Very quickly I told Man to prepare me two birds, the usual way I’d have my chicken done – potong kecik and buang kulit. I signaled to Man to pass the chicks to ABE as I wanted to go get meat pulak. Man said, “OK Kak…settle”. Before I walked away , I wished him Selamat Hari Raya.

Next was to the meat gerai. I don’t have any special one that I frequent. However, there was this boy who surely knew how to get me at the corner of my eyes. Tak tau lah budak ni Indon ker local. But from the way he spoke, he sounded like Indon. Tak kisah lah…Indon ker local ker…semua nye ada di bumi Malaya ni nak cari rezeki. Got the guy to cut me about 3 kilos of meat, paid for it and off I went to get the santan. So far so good. I didn’t have to stand in long queue to get my provisions.

After the santan, I headed to my usual gerai ikan. The owner, Yong (as in Buyong) was a student of mine before. So everytime when he sees me, he’ll tell his budak-budak to give his cikgu some discount. At times sampai, I sendiri rasa segan. Forever lah getting discounts for my ikan tenggiri or prawns and the other what have yous. But I could see he was ikhlas. Thanks Yong, ingat kat cikgu dia ni lagi.

My last stop was the vege gerai. Picked our usual vegetables, paid for them and went to meet up with ABE who was waiting for me at the centre of the market. OK…let’s go, I’m done here.

And as we walked out to the car, suddenly droves and droves of cars were making their way to the market. The parking bays which were empty earlier have now been filled. Fuuhh…nasib baik lah we were early. Just a 10 minute delay, would have put us together with the rest of Shah Alam folks.

Upon reaching home, I asked Bibik to get prepare barang-barang for making rendang, well you know, the usual stuffs like onions, ginger, garlic, serai etc. Bibik being Bibik, told me that everything is ready, just waiting to masak only. Wow, how efficient, what would I do without her around. Gosh, I just don’t want to imagine so. I told her that we’ll make reandang after Iftaar. That way, we can rasa the garam, gula and cili nya. Bibik gave her green light.

Next thing to do was to go get groceries from Tesco. So again, ABE & I berlari pulak ker Tesco. With the list in my hand, I grabbed the necessary items. Managed to be out of there in less than 1 hour, another record set today, I told myself.

On my way out, I got Bibik her Raya slippers from one of Raya gerais in the Tesco complex. Gold coloured low heeled slippers….sure Bibik suka.

Next destination was to the bank. I had to do some quick banking transactions before going on the Raya break. There was a queue, but it was kinda bearable. After the bank, was a quick stop at SACC to go look for a samping for Faris. Unfortunately, there was none which I felt suitable for a young man’s ware. Colours were overly bright and there was none which could match with Faris’ orangy brown baju Melayu. So, tak pe lah. Looks like it will be a repeat samping for him this year plus nobody would know anyway…

Farah's cuppies creation ...before


After...

At home, Farah had already started with her baking. She told me earlier that she wanted to make cupcakes for her Grandmothers in Seremban. Ok..bagus lah I said to her. New at baking so, I still had to supervise her attempt. She got a little nervous while at it, afraid that her cup cakes would not turn out as expected. End result nya, ok lah…menjadi and the whole house smelt cake. Nissa was restless as the smell was really testing her determination at fasting. Mau tak nya, orang besar pun keriok-keriok perut, ni kan pula this eight year old.

Working on lil sister's baju

As Farah baked, I went on to complete my bead work. I have completed Farah’s baju kurung two nights back and it was time to work on Nissa’s. Mak datukkkk….juling-juling my eyes dibuatnya. Too bling, bling all those beads….

Bling-bling on my baju

Bling-bling on Farah's baju..yang paling glamour, by the way..

Once Nissa’s baju was nicely and colorfully embellished, it was time to work on my own baju. Two bajus to work on at one go!!! Memang asking for trouble. I did the base beading work for Nissa’s baju and after that Farah continued by just following what I had done earlier. Farah was running back and forth from the oven to the beading station (which was also our dinning table). Luckily for me, Farah managed to get the bead work on Nissa’s baju done in a few hours. Other wise, I'd have to slog some extra hours to get Nissa's baju completed.

By then it was almost Maghrib, time to buka puasa. Yeahh…29 days down 1 more to go. Everyone was so excited. After Maghrib, nak buat rendang la pulak. Ok, ok…better be quick.

It's rendang making time...

To cut the story short, I did the initial work on the rendang. Well you know the part tumis bawang, santan and others. After that Farah, Bibik and even Nissa helped merendang till selesai.

Rendang sudah masak...

By the time we completed all the chores and cleaned up the kitchen, it was almost 11.00pm and I felt as if I had run marathon twice that day. Performed my Isyak and within minutes, I was fast asleep. So did Bibik and my two girls….

Tomorrow, to pack and let’s balik kampungggggggg!!!!