Hari Raya Feast

Today, Ping and I celebrated the Hari Raya festival with Wati and her family at her place this afternoon, just like the previous years. Unlike the last two years, we decided to visit her house in the afternoon on the first day of Hari Raya this time round. We used to visit her in the evening and she would whipped up steamboat for us. But I think we have already troubled her much.

Surprisingly, there wasn't many people at her place today. Before I stepped into her house, her grandmother noticed me and informed Wati of our arrival. We were being ushered into her living room to taste all the cookies that were all laid beautifully on the coffee table. That was sufficient to whet my appetite.

I munched a few of these M&M cookies. At first, I thought it was ginger cookies as the shape and the colourful chocolates reminded me of ginger cookies. But it wasn't. It was a chocolate cookies, toppled with mini M&M chocolates. Not too sweet. Quite nice.

I also had some Honey Cornflakes cookies. In fact, I ate many of these. Wati used to make this in the past but due to her hectic working schedule these days, she stopped making it. Instead, she buy it from the shop itself. Though these didn't taste as good as hers, it was still edible.

And the crunchy peanuts. These peanuts are totally addictive! I couldn't stop munching on it. It's so good and yummy.

Now, for the main meal. Her dining table was lined up with trays of traditional Malay cuisines, just like eating buffet in the restaurants.

Sambal Fishballs and Chicken Rendang

Vegetable Lemak and Beef Rendang

How can one eat Malay cuisines without the one and only important food? Ketupat! It's actually a type of dumplings and people would usually eat it as an accompaniment to Satay and Rendang. Wati and her family made it using the palm leaf for the festival.

My favourite food of all time, Sambal Fishballs. One of Wati's aunties cooked it specially for the occasion and I have always love this dish ever since I first tasted it many years ago. However, what was so unique about this simple dish is that there was meat inside the fishballs and it caught me and Ping by surprise. Nonetheless, it tasted great!

This was my plate filled with all the food. The chicken and beef rendang weren't that spicy so I didn't managed to burn my tongue but those were still good. I love eating it with the ketupat.

After all the scrumptious food, Ping and I couldn't move and we just sat down at the dinner table, chatting away on this lazy afternoon.

Mid-Autumn Festival, Lanterns and Homecooked Food

Last Sunday was the Mid-Autumn Festival and whenever it arrives in the month of September, it will always be a hysterical period for me. Thoughts of delicious mooncakes, colourful lanterns and family bonding will start to form in my mind. But sadly, I didn't really eat alot of mooncakes this year for certain reasons.

Early in the morning, my mum boiled a pot of small yams for us to eat as part of the festival. These cute and small yams can cause sticky fingers when you start peeling the skin. I ate about 2 of these yams.


In the evening, my mum had to attend a wedding dinner and thus, the atmosphere was already half-gone. So I cooked myself a homecooked dinner with rice, fried egg with onions and vegetables.

It was neither greasy or filling of sort. It was just a comforting dinner which I had after a long while.

After the dinner, my dad helped to light up all the lanterns at our backyard. As he did that, I helped to illuminate the dark concrete floor with candles. Eventually, everything looked very romantic and cosy.

As for the mooncakes, I didn't really take many pictures of the mooncakes which my parents bought. But I ate a pastry which took a form of a piglet and inside of it was filled with lotus paste. Usually, there isn't any filling to accompany this golden brown pastry. I remember I love to eat this when I was a little.

I also had Tau Sar Piah - a flaky pastry which has mung beans filling inside. It's very good.

Though I didn't take many pictures of this festival, I still have fun enjoying my mooncakes and gazing at the full moon.