Hari Raya Briyani; Home

It's not even Ramadhan yet and I got teary booking my flights to Brunei for Hari Raya. All because this is my last Hari Raya as an unmarried person.

*commence weepiness*

And next year I have to split up my Raya time between TWO families! And I won't get to go to Brunei the whole time and just pig out and be babied because I'll officially be part of someone else's family! Okay, so not like a total stranger someone else, and it's not like I don't know Alman's family, but still! I'll be part of another person's family?!?!?! And I have to pretend to be well-behaved (err wait did I say pretend? That was a typo) and I have to be good and demure and wifely and what if I don't salam people properly and what if I can't make sufficient small talk and what if I don't understand Alman's relatives when they speak Malay and what if they think I'm snobby because I don't understand and what if I miss my family because I'm not with them on Hari Raya, and since my family is already so scattered all over the world what if my parents feel sad that I'm not there on the first day, because I'm part of someone else's family on the first day?! THAT IS CRAZINESS! THIS IS CRAZY!

I have a feeling I'm going to be crying right into my overloaded plate of homecooked nasi briyani come Hari Raya morning from the overwhelmity of it all.

For some reason thinking about Hari Raya is the only time I really feel like STOP THE PRESSES GUYS I'M GETTING MARRIED?! Everything else seems easy. Living together? Check. Setting up a house together? Will do. Total monogamy forever? No problem. Split up Hari Raya? HOLD ON THERE WHAT IS THIS CRAZY TALK.

And now I'm getting all teary again.

Sticky Toffee Pudding, Ben's KLCC

It's almost Ramadhan!

My stomach has already started to rumble its trademark cavernous roars at random times in anticipation of the coming month, as if it knows that it will soon be deprived of lunch (which breaks the monotony of my working day) and more importantly, caffeine (which allows me to stay awake to experience the monotony of the second half of my working day) (can you tell I like complaining about work?).

And if any of my organs deserve to be anthropomorphized, it would be my stomach. My stomach is the root cause of most of my emotions (like when I get upset because I'm hungry and I have to wait SOOOOO LONGGGGG for Alman to get ready to go out on weekends when I just want to GET OUT the DOOR so I can EAT SOMETHING) and tragedy (like when I get really excited about eating food that I've carefully put away in the fridge the night before, and then I open the fridge after a long hard day only to discover that my food has been PILFERED by a PILFERER) and relationship compromises (like when I get angry because I'm so hungry and take it out on my poor fiance. This is a compromise of sorts because he is a pilferer and so crankiness is his punishment, and also he's already promised to marry me so it's too late buddy, my stomach and I are all yours! But it's not all bad - we love him really, so sometimes we do nice things for him. Like give him the last longan in my ice longan, or the most cookie-ish scoops of ice cream from my Haagen Dazs cookies and cream carton. That is compromise, boys and girls, and that is true love).

So... this is going to be a trying month. The light at the end of the tunnel is Hari Raya, going home, being with my family, and forcing my sister to make our famed sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and cream that we have at our family's open house every year. The baking of the pudding used to be my specialty, until I realized that I would not be fulfilling my role as an older sister unless I bossed my sister around and made her do it. So now she does.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with vanilla ice cream at Ben's, KLCC
(Not as good as mine. Oh alright. Not as good as my sister's. Also I hate Ben's, but that's a story for another day.)

Smorgasbord Part 1: Brunei

Brunei In Photos

1. Pebbles & Bamm Bamm, my sister's kittens

We don't know what sex they are, because my sister says she can't tell (I already told here there should be two pretty obvious hints in the genital area, but she said I was being gross) and no one else can be bothered to check. Pebbles and Bamm Bamm run around the patio all day like they're high on speed, pounce on each other a lot, devise evil schemes to con their way into the living room, where they're not allowed in because they aren't kitty-litter-trained, and are frequently picked up and cuddled by various members of my family, much to the kittens' annoyance. So adorable I want to gobble them up.




2. Fatimah, my cousin's daughter

Has the juiciest chubby little thighs. Like Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, is also picked up and cuddled more than she probably likes. As she is the offspring of my bossiest older cousin, I imagine that this kind of treatment of her as an animated baby doll will cease as soon as she can order people not to pick her up if she doesn't want to be picked up.


3. My sister's butt

Is like, hugely chubby. Good for playing bongos on when bored. Mainly posted this to cause mortification, because what else are sisters for.



4. Hari Raya breakfast

Lamb briyani, and 2 sisters on Skype in the background.