Sunday, October 21, 2007

It’s just isn’t complete without Kuih Lapis during Raya

It’s my 2nd time being able to spend this auspicious occasion in KK since doing my studies over(South China)seas for 4 years. And it’s been 5 years since my last Raya visit to Membakut, where all of my Mum’s ‘old’ chums are at. They’ve known each other for nearly 30 years and still keep their friendship intact. Now that’s what I call true friendship. For me to actually have a proper Raya celebration, I have no answer to that (perhaps 10 years?). I remember cruisin’ around with Mum, Uncle M, and my cousins, N & N, and visited 12 houses in just one day! God knows how bloated our tummies were, and we little kids ended up snoozing at the back of the car on the way back.

This year, I kinda hoped that we could do that again (visiting the 12 houses part). Unfortunately, during the 1st day of Raya, we had to attend a relative’s wedding and found ourselves going back nearly 10 that night. It was quite fun though. After the reception at the community hall, we continued to ‘aramai tii’ (basically mean to party!!!) at the groom’s house. As usual, there was the ‘live’ singing part and One Uncle Walter taught me the ‘foxtrot’, which is different from the usual cha-cha, joget, sumazau, twist or ‘slow dance’ (where couples just sway from left to right hehe) which are normal dance routines during Kadazan weddings. Me being a first-time learner, I was a bit scared ‘cos obviously there were steps to be followed and I might ‘injure’ him with my stilettos. Plus, I was wearing a really (really!) short black mini. If I trip and fall, you know what will happen. It will be the Major Embarrassment for the Night. He dismissed my fears and told me to just relax and follow his direction. At first, my whole body was rigid and my movements awkward. But good ol’ Uncle Walter told me to visualize as if I’m a lifeless doll and that I let myself being ‘led’ by the partner. After a few tries, he said I was doing really good and that he’d like it if I were to be his dance partner! It turned out that he made lots of complicated turns (just like in the ballroom dancing scenes in old Western movies!) but I still can get along with his pace. Frankly, foxtrot is much more interesting than other dances. Its movements are graceful, elegant, and sophisticated. It might look easy, but it’s not. It really does take a lot of coordination of rhythm and timing, and ample airs of grace.

Anyway! Seems like I’m out of my intended Raya topic hehe. So, during the 2nd day of Raya, we planned (with fierce determination) to go a road trip to Membakut. Unfortunately (again), Mum must attend one of her friend’s son’s wedding during the afternoon. Apparently, her friend is one of her ‘supporters’, and so it is compulsory to attend, even for 20 minutes so be it. Luckily, her friend was understanding and we managed to leave after grabbing a quick, light lunch at the reception. It’s surprising sometimes that wedding receptions at home are much better than those in grand hotels and community halls. Hotels may have gorgeous decorations and atmospheric layouts, but it is always the food that matters. Am I not right? *winks* In this case, who cares about bumpy roads full of potholes when you can get yummylicious food of black pepper beef, sweet and sour chicken (the yummier version) and just nicely cooked mixed vegetables? But the music was thumbs-down though. I mean, who sings emotional rock songs at weddings?!

Right, back to my Raya topic. After that, we fetched Uncle M and there we were: Mum, Uncle M, me, and my lovely Si Gatal, getting all ready for the trip. By then, I had changed into my new sort of goldish in colour Kebaya. Some things I like about wearing kebayas and baju kurung are:

(1) You can sit with your legs wide (not that wide!) open and not worrying that onlookers can get a view of your knickers,

(2) You can be assured that your knickers is not going to show at the back of your waist as compared to wearing low-cut jeans,

(3) You can hide your legs when you realized that you forgot to shave them that morning,

(4) You can be sexy without showing too much flesh e.g. through the body-fitting kebaya and kebarung,

(5) You have loads of cloth materials to choose from which looks expensive but is not e.g. cheap polyester which looks like satin, and lastly,

(6) It’s pretty convenient for your husband/fiancé/boyfriend/boy friend to undress you when you’re both in the mood for some luuuurve *grins cheekily*.


Uncle R and Us!

The Amazing Kuih Lapis

V and the cute li'l girlsss

It was most unfortunate that the raining season came into the month of October ‘cos it had caused massivetraffic on the roads, not forgetting to mention blurry views of the cars ahead due to heavy flow of raindrops.Luckily, Uncle M was driving and Gatal and I got to catch on our beauty sleep at the back. As we were reaching Kg. Brunei Membakut an hour plus later, the only memory that I have about this place is the little bridge that we had to cross in order to reach the kampung. Our car was just crossing the bridge when I woke up. I realized that we were on the bridge and I was like, ‘Oh my God! We’re here!’ Uncle R’s house, Mum’s old chum, still looked the same as it had been 10 years ago. It was still raining heavily and I was devastated of the fact that my peep-toe heels will be drenched in mud. But as soon as I saw Uncle R’s familiar face, I felt a whoosh of happiness and gave him a big bear hug. I mean, Mum only gets to meet him once a year! Apart from him and his dad (quite a good-looking old gentleman), I don’t quite remember his siblings and their kids. Anyway, after the exchanged greetings of ‘Selamat Hari Raya’ and salams to one another, we sat down on the plush sofa and I eagerly waited for the yummy Malay delicacies to come out (gosh, I’m such a pig aren’t I? But hey, I am born in the year of the pig *grins*). We were served kuih lapis, home-made satay and its peanut gravy, home-made pulut, Raya cookies and cakes, and aromatic tea and coffee. Based on the topic that I have posted, I really have to emphasize on the kuih lapis. They were so COLOURFUL!! Like rainbows but with different version of colours. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s really tasty too. Gatal commented that Sarawakian kuih lapis looked much better and Mum told me that this is the Brunei version of kuih lapis. Well, I don’t care what Gatal says, I’m all for the Brunei version *smiles*. As we were helping ourselves with the kuihs and drinks, Uncle R and Mum couldn’t stop chatting about their recent developments and of their other friends. They also giggled endlessly of what ‘pranks’ they did in their heydays. More people dropped by after sometime and we decided to visit another of Mum’s friends at a nearby place. There we had really delicious rendang and curry while watching Garfield on Astro hehe. We would’ve gone to a few more houses but since Gatal had a business appointment to go to, sadly we had to leave early. Thankfully, the rain had stopped but there are still a lot of cars so Uncle M drove at an insanely super fast speed in order to get Gatal to be punctual for the appointment. There was one time he overtook a few cars while heading for a bridge and we can’t even see incoming cars from the other side. Talk about nerve-wrecking (even Gatal was shell-shocked)! But Uncle M was an expert (he should be a car racer) and got us to our safety in KK in about one hour. After sending Gatal back, the remaining three of us went for drinks at a kopitiam (I still managed to add some more satays into my tummy!) before heading back home. Our Raya trip may be short but it’s being able to meet your friends that matters. It shows that we still care and appreciate each other, isn’t it? =)

Ok adios for now, need to catch on with my beauty sleep!

2 comments:

Diana Rikasari said...

I think this is your favorite reason of why you like baju kurung or kebaya:

(6) It’s pretty convenient for your husband/fiancé/boyfriend/boy friend to undress you when you’re both in the mood for some luuuurve *grins cheekily*.

HUehehhehehehehhehehehe...

V oN toP said...

aww no it's not!! *blushing like ripe tomato*