EID MUBARAK

You can take my Mama out of Malaysia but you can never take out the Malaysia in her.

Point in case, her preparation for Eid. Being the filial daughter, my job was to help her anywhere I can. Like, massaging her tired legs, kissing her tired face, burping appropriately after eating the cookies and cakes.... oooh...but I digress.

So, what's so Malaysian about her preparation for Eid? First, she prepared herself spiritually by performing prayers at the Malaysia Hall. Then, in between work and her waking hours, she made cookies. Yummylicious cookies using recipes she inherited from her ancestors. GrandMa, greatgrandMa...the lot. Divine colours they have too.

Problem is, some of the ingredients are hard to find. Like, where can we get Brown & Polson custard powder here? So, she had to settle for Ahmad's. Then, there was this hunt for Nestum. None of the shopkeepers have ever heard of Nestum. She tried substituting it with Cerelac and was unhappy with the results. So that's one cookie not finding its way to our "balang kuih". And pineapples are so expensive now, at $5 a piece, so Mama didn't even attempt to make jam and tarts this year. Phew...some energy saved there.

But all of those challenges didn't deter her from making Makmur, Cornflakes Honey, Sarang Semut and Chocolate Chip Cookies. She went overboard with the choc chips - there's the plain, or with walnuts and with macadamias - three types of them. Now she's saying she may make some London Almonds too. Oooh...and she's made Moist Chocolate Cake (with buttermilk....yummmm), Orange Butter Cake, Fruit Cake and Kek Lapis.

"Siapa nak datang rumah kita ni Mama? Are we going to hold Open House this year?" I asked her.

"Angelina, when we go visit other people's Open Houses, we'll bring our cookies and cakes as gifts. We'll go buy some nice packaging materials so that they look pretty too, OK?" she assured me.

"...and so they won't think twice about giving you and Brad duit Raya, OK?" Cheeky retort from her.

Well, thank God the baking phase is over. The kitchen looks normal now. And I get some practice on the DSLR. Divine colours there...don't you agree?

Clockwise, from right: Choc Chip with Walnuts, Sarang Semut, Cornflakes with Honey, and Makmur.

Wanna have a taste? Come on over. yummm..!

Heard over the grapevine that the community will be observing the moon tonight. If it's sighted, then it's Eid tomorrow or else Friday it shall be. Well, to the cats, it doesn't matter what day it is. As long as Mama comes out of the kitchen with mouth watering delicacies...I think apart from her much drooled over rendang kerang, she'll also make sambal goreng, sambal sotong and nasi dagang (which means tuna! yay!)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Maaf dan ampun dari hujung misai sampai hujung ekor.....purrrr.....meow!

In the meantime, the stalemate in Australian Parliament is finally over. The handful Independence members finally made their decision. OK, results from the General Election was 72-72 for both Labour and Liberal. Then the single Greens member declared for Labour. Then another Independent also declared for Labour. Then the final three - 1 for Liberal, 2 for Labour. Making it 76-73. Oh dear, Ms Gillard, although remains as PM will not have it easy for the next 35 months in Parliament. Expect fur to fly all the time... this is better than reality TV.