Happy Dewali...

Happy Dewali folks. Today November 2, 2013 Malaysian Hindu is celebrating the Festival of Light. May the festival of light bring peace and prosperity to all. 

Have a nice day.

Eid Adha...

Today is the Eid Adha. The first thing in the morning we went to the mosque for a  special Eid Adha prayer. Then got home to celebrate and enjoy the foods that had been especially prepared for that occasion. At the dinning table the whole family sat to enjoy the simple spread of traditional foods as in the image below.  

And this Marble cake.

Have a nice day.

Of Relatives and Friends on Eid Festival 2013...

After going through the spiritual journey of Ramadan for one month we celebrated the festival of Eid. This year the festival was celebrated from August 8, 2013 and the celebration continue for one month. One is not allow fasting on the first day of the Eid but could do an optional fasting after that day. We have prepared foods and cookies to entertain friends and relative who come a visiting during the festival.  This year’s many of our relatives with their children came to visit us. We were happy that many did come over during this festival. At this period of our golden years such visit are most welcome for it is only during this time that we get to seen them and their growing up kids. At the same time it was also an opportunity for our children to meet their cousins and their children as well. It became sort of a reunion of family members in a festive mood. Below are some images of the guest at our home in Ampang Jaya.

Have a nice day.

Happy Eid Fitri...

Happy Eid Fitri folks. May we all continue to enjoy peace and prosperity together. Have a nice day.

Happy Chinese New Year...

Gong Xi Fa Cai folks. 

May we all continue to enjoy prosperity together. 

Have a nice day. 

[This year Chinese New Year fall on January 23, 2012]

Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmans folks. 

May we continue to have peace and harmony.  With  that we all would be able to enjoy prosperity together. 

Have a nice day.

This year Eid Adha...

This year Eid Adha falls on November 6, 2001. Woke up early and together with our son-in-law and the two grandsons went to attend the special Eid Adha prayer at the local mosque nearby. With the two granddaughter now studying overseas it left little Adibah to help grandma, her mom and Auntie Lin in the kitchen preparing the cakes and cookies for the Eid. 

She had insisted of making some cookies and with the help of her auntie Lin got it done. With her two elder sisters away she was left alone to do her things without been tease or disturb by the elders. And the result of her works is the image above; tasty and colorful indeed. She did well and we are happy with it. 

While she was happily in the kitchen her two siblings are busy at the computer as seen in the image on the left. 

Meanwhile Lin our youngest daughter who has taken over the kitchen from her mom did the Butter Cakes. It is one of my favorites cake and I love it. 

As for the lunch she prepared a Chicken Biayani which turns out to be good. Better then the one we often ate at the restaurant nearby. 

Well folks we did had an enjoyable Eid Adha. It was indeed a great family reunion. 

Have a nice day.

[All images was taken with the iPad camera - please click to enlarge]

Of Hari Raya Open house...

From time to time we would open our house to friends and strangers on the Hari Raya or Eid Fitri. This year we play host to a numbers of friends, a few I had known only in cyberspace like Facebook and Blog.

The Open House is a Malaysian concept of celebrating one another festivals in a more organized way. Visiting friends and relatives on this auspicious festival is on a basis of no invitations; folks could come anytime to visit and all are welcome. In an Open House the happening is made simple since folks are told of the time of the Open House. And as a host one get to meet many visitors in one go. It would be hectic but to me it is an enjoyable event that happens once in while. And we love playing host.

As for this year let these images speak for itself the charm and warmth of friends at our home on the first day of Hari Raya. The event started at 12:30PM and ended at past 10PM in the evening when the last guest leave.

Thanks folks for coming over. Both Asmah and I are happy that you all could come over and share the joy and happiness with us on this blessed day.

One of the guest, a blogger wrote about her visit to our home. Here is her take....

Have a nice day.

Happy Eid Fitri 2011....

Selamat Hari Raya folks. May we all continue to enjoy peace and harmony. With that prosperity  together. 

Have a nice day.

Happy Eid Adha...

Happy Aidil Adha folks;. May we continue to enjoy peace and prosperity together. Have a nice day.

Happy Dewali...

Happy Dewali folks. May we all continue to enjoy peace and prosperity together.

Have a nice day.

Life.. moving on...

The Ramadan and the Eid Fitri has passed. With that life is back to normal with the normal ritual of breakfast, lunch and Dinner and the occasional tea with friends. Asmah my spouse has been under the weather lately so the kids and grand kids told her to skip the ritual of cooking that she love to do every morning. She has been an active woman all the years and for not been allow to cook, it was not easy for her. Anyhow as to not allowing her to get bored, she did a little cooking with the help of the eldest grand kid. The eldest grand kid has just graduated from the IB program and out of school for now, waiting to continue her study when the semester starts. Other than that the Ramadan was beautiful. Off and on the kids and grand kids was around for Buka Puasa. Then came Eid Fitri on September 10, Lin our youngest daughter came back from Singapore and with that the whole family was around to celebrate the Eid with the usual fun and joy. It was really nice to have everyone around and it felt good to have all the loved one around at this juncture of our golden age. Like most folks in their golden age the kids are on their own now and the house is left to both of us. Where once we hear the cry and laughter of kids, now the atmosphere has changed but as usual we managed to keep ourselves busy by taking the happening a day a time. If we felt like going out to have lunch or dinner or just to shop we would just go to the nearest Mall, like the KLCC, the Great Eastern Mall or the Pavilion. At time we would go as far as the Curve at Damansara where Ikea is nearby. I love Ikea for the innovative ideas of home furnishing and most of the time came home buying new items for the home.

Anyway now that I have most of what I wanted of Ikea, I now concentrate on quality wooden furniture for my love of things made of wood. Just a few days before Eid I bought a teak side table made in Bali. It has a carving of Banana leaf on the top; making it such a unique masterpiece of furniture. I had wanted to buy this table when I first saw it but it was expensive. So I kept postponing buying it and until two weeks ago when I saw one in the furniture shops nearby. It was not on displayed but put up as one of the decorative item. And it was on offer with a special price tag. A few days earlier I had bought two collapsible wooden stools and was hoping to buy that table on my next visit. I told myself that if that table is mine it would still be there when I came for it. Sure enough when I went to have a look, it was still there. I ask how much he would give me for that. The salesperson whom I have befriended for my frequent visit there told me that if I wanted it, I could have it for a special price, sort of an Eid gift to me. With that price I decided to buy it and above is that exclusive teak side table; now my priceless possession. It is an old saying in our culture about furniture, in that the furniture in the showroom awaits its owner. In this instance that furniture has chosen me as its owner. With that folks I am now the proud owner of this piece of a quality teak side table.

Have a nice day.

Happy Chinese New Year 2010...

Kong Xi Fa Cai [Happy Chinese New Year] to all. May we all continue to prosper and enjoy life. Have a nice day.

Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas folks. May we all continue to prosper and enjoy life. These are scenes of the Christmas decoration at the KLCC. Have a nice day.

Happy Diwali...

Happy Dewali to all, may we all continue to prosper and enjoy life.

Folks the Eid Fitr [Hari Raya] celebration is still on, so we now have two festivals to celebrate.

Have a nice day.

A candid moment...

Since I am still in the raya mood, I am posting this candid image of a scene at that Raya Open House. It is one of those moment that I had managed to capture during the busy time playing host to all those fine folks who came for that special day. Have a nice day.

Of relatives and Raya...

Well folks it was an enjoyable week. It all began with the Open House on the first day of the Eid Fitr. The Open House was a success and I am glad that everyone did enjoy themselves. I thought after that hectic and enjoyable event on the first day of Hari Raya I would take a rest but then relatives start coming in droves and we had to continue playing host for the Raya visit. In the tradition of the Eid Fitr the Hari Raya is celebrated for the whole month from the first day of the Eid Fitr. So it is normal for friends and relatives to visit Muslim home at any day of the month. It is during this month that one could visit friends and relatives without an invitation. All are welcome is the culture of the month.

During the whole period of last week except for a lull of a day the guests kept streaming, mostly of close relatives; nephews and nieces which I had not seen, some for more then a year. Now they came in full force with their adult kids and new addition to the family. A wonderful aspect about the present living style is that they did inform us of their coming via SMS; the wonder of the cell phone. That set in motion a communication channel that made its easy to know how many are coming to the house. For after the Open House we did not prepare much food except the usual Raya cakes and cookies that was made especially for the Eid Fitri. And as usual we still have plenty of it. But it is not the same as serving heavy food the Malaysian style of entertaining guests. When I knew how many are coming my spouse and I would work out of what best to serve them. Among the choice are Nasi Lemak and Mee Goreng which are easy to prepare. Thus for those who came after the Open House the menu would be just that simple.

One group after another of the relatives kept arriving and by Sunday most of those who live in and around Kuala Lumpur had arrived. What a week it has been. We get to meet with so many relatives in just one week. It was good of them to made the visit and been the oldest of the family member, both grandma and I was delighted with the get together. The numbers of family’s members that came visiting this Raya was beyond expectation. It does become one of the many great moments in our lives, a beautiful moment indeed. The images here show some candid moments of those relatives at our home. Have a nice day. [Please click image to enlarge]

Gong Xi Fa Chai [Happy Chinese New Year]...

Folks, it is festive time again in Malaysia. This time it is the Chinese Lunar New Year. Probably it is only in Malaysia where you could find cultural/religious festival celebrated all throughout the year. Just a month ago it was Christmas and the mall was decorated with that Christmas themes. Before that it was the Moslem Eid Fitri. As usual with the Chinese New Year which fall on January 26 this year, the mall are going ga ga with Chinese New Year theme decoration. Malaysian are fortunate lots where one get to enjoy these festivals all the year around and this time it is the Chinese New year. We decide to visit the Pavilion and the KLCC malls and here are some images that has turn the mall into a riot of colors. Indeed a many splendour things.

Gong Xi Fa Chai to everyone from Asmah and Me in Ampang Jaya, Malaysia. May we all continue to prosper and enjoy life in this year of the Ox. Have a nice day.