Selamat Hari Raya Eidul Adha

Muslim Community Association (MCA) of San Jose have decided to hold this year's solat Eidul Adha at the Santa Clara Convention Center. It was good of them to do that as the MCA prayer areas are too small to 'house' the large number of muslims praying all at once. So they have to do two rounds of solat each time, - either for Juma'at or even for the Eids. Santa Clara Convention Center saw a multitude of muslims this Eidul Adha. I think the pictures below speak for them selves. As with every Raya day, I would be the one to 'move' everyone in my house. From the mandi sunat Raya...to solat sunat Hari Raya, and not forgetting the cooking!. I know they are all 'sunats'...well, not the cooking ( rasa nya 'wajib' tu.. he..he..). But to me those are the basics.. the must-haves for a Hari Raya... or Raya day. I remember when my elder sister, my younger brother and me were toddlers arwah Cikgu Zainal would wake us up early- early morning of Raya day and bathe us in COLD water! He would tell us to niat dalam hati mandi sunat raya kerana Allah Ta'ala. We didn't mind it at all sebab excited nak pakai baju baru, which he has crisply ironed and laid out for us. Oh ya, right before Cikgu Bastiah knows how to jahit baju, he was also our tailor! He sewed all of our baju kurungs and baju melayu. Senang jer dia buat, jahit macam 'baju kedah' with leher bulat.... kain & seluar semua pakai getah! That was our father - a very practical man! Langsir? huuh.. dia jugak yang jahit. Rumah kat kampung dulu-dulu used to have glass shutters and rumah we all had PLENTY of them. Cleaning those window shutters was really a chore! Life was 'better' for my two younger sisters as Cikgu Bastiah could then jahit baju and WE took over the bathing tasks! :-) Before Globe Silk Store was around my parents did all their shopping in Penang but after Globe became the 'in' thing for them, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman became their favourite spot! I think, that street holds plenty of memories for many..... I don't know about yours, my parents were always 'budgeting' and 'saving'... tahu saja la gaji cikgu back then! But because of them and their ways we always had 'just enough'. Tak berlebeh dan tak kekurangan... I could go on and on writing about my parents for there are so much to tell about them. But I think I'ld better not! My tears are now running faster than I could type..... sigh! I suppose each of us have our own sweet memories of our childhood Raya days and that of our parents. And I also think that we should create fond memories for our children too, then they would remember their Raya days like we do.. As for the solat sunat Raya, I appreciate it even more now that I am older... and living life overseas. And I assure you... there is no takbir Raya like the kind we do in Malaysia. Memang Syahdu...
That I missed the most! Tried to do it in the car on the way to the Convention Center but got no response from either my son or his father... sigh! Oh ya, my son is back for the holidays so I have him with us to celebrate Eidul Adha. Having him makes my cooking worthwhile... :) I believe food is a unifying agent. Jadi memasak la I the night before: nasi impit, kuah kacang, masak lemak lodeh, nasi minyak, kari daging, ayam masak merah and acar... sedap ke tak sedap belakang kira... he..he.. The areas around San Jose celebrated Eidul Adha this year on Dec 19th, which is a day after Arab Saudi declared 'wukuf'. There are also muslims from a few areas here who celebrated Eidul Adha on Friday Dec 21th; which is 10 days after the sighting of anak bulan Zulhijjah. And, Eidul Adha in Malaysia fell on Thursday Dec 20th! For whatever reason is beyond me.. Thank you to Haniza for bringing over her karaoke set which we belted on, just us anak beranak with Haniza and Kevin after all our other guests have gone back ...he..he..


Anis with Nana - anak Pak Mat .

The best part of Raya day was talking and seeing Cikgu Bastiah via the webcam... :)

Hari Raya & Deepavali Reception

On Saturday Nov 10th, the Malaysian Professional & Business Association (MPBA) organised a reception for Hari Raya & Deepavali. It was still in the month of Syawal and Deepavali was only a few days before... so the mood for festivities was still in the air. I hear it's an annual affair and the reception was held at my hubby's office. You can see the various spread of food on the table - curry, assam pedas, samosas, rendang, meehoon goreng, mee mamak...- and the dessert table was equal in variety. I thought we brought the 'hit' of the day - satay! ... from Kak Rose & Pak Mat's grill, fanned at the back of our house. The lovely couple came all the way from Stockton and everyone was pleased to meet them. I was given the 101 ( basics ) on satay making and now I know those golden delicious succulent meaty bites needs tender loving care in their preparation. And Pak Mat is just the right 'man' to do it. Sabar betul! If it were me, I think I would have burnt the whole lot and created heaps of carcinogens! Although Kak Rose's peanut sauce or kuah kacang is the 'talk of the town' - memang sedap! - their satay doesn't really need the thick peanutty coat to taste better. They're already 'out of this world' delicious just on their own. . Maybe this year's crowd is not too large compared to previous years since it is a long weekend - Veteran's Day is this Monday. Nevertheless, there are a few MPBA members who came from as far as San Francisco and Sacramento, like Semara & Anee. I spotted a few Singaporeans as well - they love our kind of gatherings. Picture on the right is the President of MPBA, Haniza doing her welcoming speech, introducing and thanking her committee for the wonderful work they have done. And the girls at their counter for new member registration....

Raya Gathering...

We finally met more Malaysian families at the Raya gathering hosted by Aziz & Shafinaz. The Family Tree Apartments clubhouse's hall has just the right size and facilities to host such an event. The rent is also not that 'steep', making it even minimal when shared. The hall comes with refrigerator, dapur with 4 burners, a sink and a big wide 'bar' for serving. It has even a yard on its side for children to play and roam, giving the opportunity for the ibu2(mothers) and bapa2(fathers) to borak2(chat). There were plenty of food - potluck style! I just loved the 'lemang' brought by Aisha, who came all the way from San Diego. I heard she left home around 3am this morning. Although wrapped in aluminium foil, it tastes almost the real thing. Shafinaz & Ruby also spent the night before cooking! Rendang, kuah kacang...I can't remember who brought what but semua sedap2..delicious! We wanted to have a change so we made karipap, and brought along dodol. Funny actually for I have never made karipap, that is before coming to the US. Always have felt very difficult - cumbersome...renyah!! Especially klim - mengelim. Must thank Kartini Khalid in Boston for giving us her recipe and taking the trouble to show and teach us her secrets. Kalau dah terpaksa, semua nya boleh!

I observe that, anak2 disini semua nya terajar - disciplined. It's good to see them, even the small ones stopping their play to join the elders for solat jemaah. Imagine di imamkan by a 20-year old...alhamdulillah.. The gathering at the clubhouse ended around 6pm, however upon an invitation by Faridah we continued on to her lovely home nearby. Borak punya borak we lost track of time...we went back home late in the night...kekenyangan.


Thank you all, hope to see more of us for the next raya gathering.

Hari Raya at Pak Mat's...

We were told that Pak Mat's place in Stockton is 'kampung' to many Malaysians here during hari raya. Students as well as those who have made California as their permanent residence gathered at Pak Mat's not only for his superb sate and Kak Ros's delicious rendang but also for their warm hospitality and kemesraan. Stockton is almost one and half hour drive north from our place and this would be our first trip out of San Jose. I think this valley is appropriately named... the Silicon Valley...Lembah Silikon with numerous 'big' names of semiconductor companies lining the freeway. But most of the panaromic view on the other hand, is mainly made up of pasir dan tanah yang 'gersang'...barren land with few vegetation. There were also many 'windmill' like structures along the way. I suppose taking advantage of the massive amount of wind energy for electricity. Pak Mat and Kak Ros have gotten many visitors by the time we reached their home that Raya afternoon but they were still dishing out hot steaming sate! Sedap ... macam sate Sairah & James' in Boston. My husband was excited to meet Pak Mat again after their first encounter 11 years ago in San Jose. Likewise, Pak Mat remembers him too!..



Alhamdulillah with good food and warm friendly people...what more can we ask for to celebrate Hari Raya..

Eidul Fitri in San Jose

I was surprised at the large number of people - berbagai bentuk dan rupa - streaming into the Masjid Muslim Community Association (MCA) for Round 2 of Solat Eidul Fitri. The place was packed! Tens of baby strollers lined the walls of the hallway to muslimat prayer area. I read somewhere that Solat Eidul Fitri is 'wajib' for mazhab Hanafi, whilst for us pengikut Shafi'e is sunat muakad. Macam kat Mekah pulak rasa nya! Meeting Siti Rubiah & Sharifah, when I edged myself to the front, was an absolute relief. At last muka Melayu! I first met the ladies during berbuka puasa for Rubi & Hazani, ( their family is leaving for home next week) at Restaurant Zafran. Other familiar looking faces ( like ours ) are probably the Indonesians and Cham ( Vietnam muslims ). Actually me, hubby & Faizal were already at the masjid around 8.25am but we were told Round 1 had just finished with only the khutbah to top it up. So we went back to Faizal's house which is around 15 minutes away, to enjoy the nasi impit with rendang daging, rendang ayam, kuah kacang & kuah lemak lodeh which I managed to cook up the night before - with the 2 girls' help, of course! We thought it would be better and more 'meriah' celebrating pagi raya with Faizal, Salbiah, & baby Yasmin, considering the young couple were also new in San Jose and probably the first time menyambut raya di perantauan. My kuah kacang & kuah lodeh was a 'hit' - if I should say so myself.... :) Thank goodness for easily available halia & lengkuas (galanga) found in Ranch 99 at Cupertino - a famous Chinese supermarket chain in this area. A few places here and also in Los Angeles, New York and Boston celebrated raya on Friday, following Arab Saudi. But based on the calculations of sunset & moonset (which is quite mindboggling to me!) done by North America Islamic Society, Eidul Fitri jatuh pada hari Sabtu. Dengan itu, mengikut waktu setempat.. kami pun berhari raya pada hari Sabtu. I guess it's not uncommon, since a number of times Malaysia, Indonesia & Singapura berhari raya on different days. I only wished we are more unified, even nak raya pun kita tak sepakat! Anyway, Solat Eidul Fitri was at 10.45am that Saturday morning, after a bit of fund raising speech by setiausaha masjid. Topic of khutbah delivered by the young imam - seen on the closed circuit monitor in picture above - was on family values, a topic that everyone can relate to no matter which corner of the world we come from....
Raya picture at Faizal's of us and the girls...
their brother is in Boston celebrating raya with our new found family there....alhamdulillah for the internet, it really makes such days as this bearable..

Kek Raya made by Anis and Atiqah..
EID MUBARAK to our family in Perak & Kuantan...and to all our friends!!!

Salam Ramadhan...

Alhamdulillah, kita akan bertemu lagi Ramadhan.
Ramadhan kali ni tiada Pasar untuk di selusuri dan tiada beg plastik mengelilingi jari-jari.
Tiada ikan percik, ikan bakar, atau sambal sembilang...
tiada kuih muih atau bubur lambuk untuk dibawa pulang.
Ramadhan kali ni di harap lebih bererti
kerana tiada sesak yang harus di harungi
Akan kehidupan bersama yang tidak mengerti
Di negara Mat Salleh ini...
Selamat menyambut Ramadhan semua.....