I still remember last year's Ramadhan. It was really beautiful. For the first time ever, I spent most of the days cooking instead of selecting food to break fast from the abundance of choices at Pasar Ramadhan. Mr. Hubby helped me in the kitchen and we had glorious time of not having left-overs to clean up.
This year, I still cook. Only most of the time, they are instant, pop-in-the-kuali and voila! Instant nasi goreng for breaking of fast. I have never been so thankful to instant food industry. Maggi, you're amarriage life saver! Of course, I still have to chop up veggies or poultry or anything to flavor the instant nasi goreng, but I can do that while sitting down and watching my favourite sinetron, 'Soleha'. The nasi goreng frying is then done by my Mr Yummylicious Hubby. Me? You can't expect me to slave over the kuali with a back-ache from carrying this grapefruit-sized baby!
Also, I remember the extensive shopping trips I had prior to balik kampung for Raya. I could spend from morning till night at Jalan TAR, going to and fro shops lining up the streets and also browsing through rows and rows of tudung. I spent hours at Jusco to choose from the not-so-many-selection of baju Melayu for Mr Hubby. My Hubby would follow me with a wretched expression tattooed on his face - are we done yet??? Nope, not until the colour of my fabric matches with the colour of your baju Melayu. So, bear with your choosy wife!
So, when Raya is around the corner this year, I was determined to repeat the joyful experience I had last year doing my shopping trips. After all, this year we had added a few more items to buy for my in-laws family and that surely meant a whole day trip, right? I had even planned to break fast at one of the North Indian food restaurant at Jalan TAR because they have this heavenly Chicken Biryani that practically melt in your mouth, to go with it is cold Mango Lassi that is ever so smooth and gut-satisfying.
Sounds like I will enjoy my weekend tremendously.
The reality was otherwise. We reached Jalan TAR at 2.00pm, parked at my old office, then walked to one of the textile shops. That's it. We spent an hour in there, and we bought everything on the shopping list (except for brooches) and I started to have back-ache. My calves hurt too. We quickly paid, then hobbled over to the brooch shop and spent less than 10 minutes there. By that time, my entire body felt all achy and my feet were killing me. Literally.
By then, I was reduced to negotiating with my hostile body to let me enjoy a few hours browsing through other shops, but it refused me. My own body refused my order! The more I pleaded, the more the pain intensified. Until I had no choice but to tell Hubby that we should definitely go back because I can't stand, let alone walk any further!
So this year I broke my own record - for spending only 1 hour doing my raya shopping! That is the shortest shopping trip I've ever had, and boy, My Hubby was beside himself with joy - anything that saved him hours of agony waiting for me to make decisions on what to buy, that anything should be celebrated and thanked over and over again.
This year, I still cook. Only most of the time, they are instant, pop-in-the-kuali and voila! Instant nasi goreng for breaking of fast. I have never been so thankful to instant food industry. Maggi, you're a
Also, I remember the extensive shopping trips I had prior to balik kampung for Raya. I could spend from morning till night at Jalan TAR, going to and fro shops lining up the streets and also browsing through rows and rows of tudung. I spent hours at Jusco to choose from the not-so-many-selection of baju Melayu for Mr Hubby. My Hubby would follow me with a wretched expression tattooed on his face - are we done yet??? Nope, not until the colour of my fabric matches with the colour of your baju Melayu. So, bear with your choosy wife!
So, when Raya is around the corner this year, I was determined to repeat the joyful experience I had last year doing my shopping trips. After all, this year we had added a few more items to buy for my in-laws family and that surely meant a whole day trip, right? I had even planned to break fast at one of the North Indian food restaurant at Jalan TAR because they have this heavenly Chicken Biryani that practically melt in your mouth, to go with it is cold Mango Lassi that is ever so smooth and gut-satisfying.
Sounds like I will enjoy my weekend tremendously.
The reality was otherwise. We reached Jalan TAR at 2.00pm, parked at my old office, then walked to one of the textile shops. That's it. We spent an hour in there, and we bought everything on the shopping list (except for brooches) and I started to have back-ache. My calves hurt too. We quickly paid, then hobbled over to the brooch shop and spent less than 10 minutes there. By that time, my entire body felt all achy and my feet were killing me. Literally.
By then, I was reduced to negotiating with my hostile body to let me enjoy a few hours browsing through other shops, but it refused me. My own body refused my order! The more I pleaded, the more the pain intensified. Until I had no choice but to tell Hubby that we should definitely go back because I can't stand, let alone walk any further!
So this year I broke my own record - for spending only 1 hour doing my raya shopping! That is the shortest shopping trip I've ever had, and boy, My Hubby was beside himself with joy - anything that saved him hours of agony waiting for me to make decisions on what to buy, that anything should be celebrated and thanked over and over again.