Quiet Eid

My Raya wasn't any different than any other Rayas I've had in the States. You wake up not feeling any more special than any other day, decide whether you want to go sembahyang Raya or not, come home and then - nothing. Life goes one as if nothing's significant about today. Except today you can have lunch again.

We finally met other Malaysians living here. I saw some ladies in a baju kurung at the mosque and decided to introduce myself after the prayers. This is the first time we've met other Malaysians because *cough* last year we didn't go sembahyang Raya *cough*. They're mostly families who've been living here for decades, married to Americans, with kids with American names. But they were nice and friendly and invited me to their open house, so yeah, I made some friends.

Apparently, there are about a hundred Malaysians living around Seattle. I feel like this past year, we've been living in a bubble. Well, we didn't mind it so much. Sometimes, being on your own and doing your own thing isn't so bad.

It was just the two of us on the first of Syawal so I didn't cook much. I just made nasi impit and instant kuah kacang. I had a hankering for rendang but knew it's not worth the bother without proper kerisik, something I don't really know how to do. Besides, where lah to get freshly grated coconut? So I combined two recipes I found: Dry Chicken Curry from my mother's old Ellice Handy Recipe Book (printed in 1960, it's even older than my sister) and Rendang Ayam from some Masakan Melayu book. Jadik siot! Faux rendang, can lah! Cooking the santan till it dries and turn brown made the house smell like kerisik anyway, so it was almost authentic. So that's what we had for our Raya dinner.

This weekend there are two gatherings to look forward to, so that should be fun. I was thinking of making my usual Raya trifle, tapi macam malas lah pulak. I think I'm just going to make bubur pulut hitam. Tell me, do you put in the gula while the pulut is boiling away, or a little bit after, when it's all cooked?