Hi-dee Ho

Hari Raya is the high social season for Malaysians in Seattle. So every weekend there will be an open house to go to. Come, eat, meet the same group of people, catch up on what's been happening since you last saw them (last week, yesterday), eat some more, sometimes pose for pictures, eat again before going home with perut kembung.

This year faraway Malaysian Seattle-ites met Aliff for the first time. Lots of "Ooh, last year dia dalam perut! Dah besar ya?". Aliff just looks at them in curiousity, wondering what all the fuss is about. He was a big hit when we showed up with him in the Halloween kangaroo suit. Our excuse was the suit kept him warm and protects him for the rain. Sebenarnya nak show off betapa cutenya anak kami. Heh. Aliff did get duit raya, unexpectedly. And my brother was right. He did get the "paling kurang" amount, which was five bucks. We're going to have to open a bank account for him now.

Last year everyone excused me for not contributing anything to the open house, because I was pregnant. This year, seganlah pulak datang melenggang je. If I'm too lazy, we just stop by the local grocery store and buy tiramisu or some other dessert. Last week I made Chocolate Silk Pie, using a recipe from Real Simple magazine. Except for the crust, no baking involved. Yum-o! Sedap, I tell you. Mr. Tulisje had two helpings, eventhough he knew how much egg yolks I had to put in (six). This weekend I'm going to try to make chocolate truffles.

Last Sunday's open house was a bit different than usual. It was at John and Lily's place. John is a chef at the Sheraton and Lily was once an airline hostess with MAS. They both just moved here from California. The food was goooood. Lily cooked almost everything but John made Mee Goreng Mamak and Ayam Masak Merah and by Malaysian standards, he passed beautifully.

What made this open house different than the rest was after all the eating (and sometimes during) the -let's say, more senior- guests had a karaoke session. Oh my Lord. They sang Bee Gees, lagu Hindustan, Ramli Sarip, Alleycats, Lionel Richie. I still have the tune of "Green Green Grass of Home" in my head. And the karaoke machine was a laser disc player! Laser Disc! Those huge things, and the videos had unknown models with bad make-up circa early 90s draping themselves on stairways and verandas. The aunties and uncles let themselves go, whooping and hollering and "chewah"-ing.

The younger kids slinked away upstairs in embarassment where some watched football (my husbandlah tu) and some played with John's guitars (he has four!). While the more senior of us danced along to the Gibb brothers, I rocked Aliff to sleep while listening to the UofW students jamming away to Man Bai and John Mayer. It was a good time.

Later people. I'll try to take pictures of my truffles if they turn out well.