Ramadhan Bazaar revisited...

On the 20th of September, I went to the Petronita's Ramadhan Bazaar. It was the third (and the last) of the series this year. Why is there only three bazaars? Because by the third week of Ramadhan, many Malaysians would be back in Malaysia to be with their loved ones (especially those with single status). Only those of us 'poor unfortunate souls' would be left in Khartoum... sob, sob...

Anyway, I missed the second bazaar, because my dear husband took his own sweet time going downstairs and by the time we arrived, most of the food was gone... hehehe... serves us right for dilly dallying.

So, this time round, we were really early. By 4.30 we were already there... We bought pasembur, laksam, mee bandung and a variety of kueh. We managed to finish all our coupons...yea! Did we finished the food? Yes, glad to say that we did, even though it was quite a struggle because we bought so much... hehehe...

The early crowd...

The cheery ladies doing brisk business!

Amir, glad to be let outside!!!

The spirit...

The spirits are alive and well in Khartoum... What spirit you might ask? Heheh... Well, first the spirit of giving is very much alive in our community. Since the start of Ramadhan, neighbours have been busy exchanging dishes for iftar. Living in a Malaysian community means that the good old tradition of giving continue well through the generations.

When I was young, I used to be the one 'forced' to send dishes to family and neighbours. When my kids were small, I 'forced' my brother to go and now it's my daughter's turn... hehehe. I hope that she'll remember this tradition and continue with her kids in the future.

I am not a good cook. I'll only cook for survival... hehehe... Anyway, I want to share a story... When I was staying in Taman Sri Rawang, I had such good neighbours. During Ramadhan they'll be giving us lots of dishes without fail... Come six o'clock, we'll have a few dishes for iftar ready... supplied by neighbours... My late brother Ayang was my accomplice... hehehe... Then, one day, we waited in vain... by six o'clock, nothing from the neighbours... we panicked and the two of us rushed to the nearest Ramadhan bazaar in Kg. Kenanga... hehehe... 'Padan muka'... I was laughing like crazy and my brother was so mad at me... hehehe... Those were the days...

The second spirit is the spirit of solidarity. I am glad to say that being part of a Malaysian community fosters this spirit of solidarity. Yesterday, we had a 'pot-luck' iftar for the whole complex... Supposedly catering for about 200 people. And the ladies decided that instead of having a normal 'pot-luck' (where everyone bring a little bit of this and that), why don't we have a more 'structured' pot-luck.

It was a brilliant idea because we'll have enough food for everyone. Block A ladies had to prepare fried chicken, mix vegetables and the deserts. We had a meeting and agreed that each house fried two chickens. We assigned 'volunteers' to prepare the mix vegetables and deserts. For deserts we decided to have four, sweet and savoury (santan jelly, doughnuts, pau sambal and currypuffs). Those who do not cook would come and help the others. It was a simple arrangement but fun... Well, it was fun for me... hehehe

It's also an excuse to go round other people houses and get to know each other. I strongly believe that this kind of helping each other (well, in my case... as an innocent by-stander...heheh) is good to foster the spirit of neighbourliness as well. And by reports, it was a success... Yea!!! To those who laboured over the stove yesterday, you deserve a pat on the back!

The spirit of Ramadhan is really alive and well in Khartoum...

Goodies from Malaysia...

My husband just got back from Malaysia 3 days ago armed with a lot of goodies... 2 suitcases and 5 boxes, actually... Hehehe... Aliah was so anxious for her father's return or more likely, her expectation of all the goodies... I think definitely the latter. She was counting the hours when her father was supposed to be back.

He finally arrived about 6.30 pm, and we started our 'journey' of opening boxes after boxes. The kids stopped pillaging after they got their stuff... school bags, baju raya, shoes, water bottles etc... The father was jet-lagged and it's up to the mother to settle everything... well, most of the stuff are mine anyway... Two boxes of sate, enough to invite people for an 'open house'... heheh, that's the plan anyway and various other food stuff.

My husband also brought back 5 types of raya cookies among other things. Amir promptly asked to eat them and I had to open one of the london almonds... hehehe... I just hope that there'll be some left for raya... sigh...

The kids rummaging through everything...

The sate...

Aliah n her baju raya and school bag!

All three with their own baju raya... hehehe... so happy!

With all the excitement, I forgot that we had to pay thousands of ringgit for the 'overweight' luggage... Well, what to do, at least everyone's happy with the goodies... especially me! hehehe...

The first Ramadhan Bazaar...

I just got back from the first Ramadhan Bazaar, organised by Petronita. It is held every friday, and starts after asar, about 4.30. The food is prepared by Petronas staff or their wives. The location is at Laman Mesra, at the new Petronas Complex.

My verdict? A little bit disappointing, after all the hype about the bazaar. The selection is quite limited. I'll try and list the spread as accurately as I remembered it. They have the 'heavy' section with fried meehoon, sarawak laksa, nasi dagang, pasembur and curry laksa. The 'kueh' section is a little bit better with a variety of offering.

I had to hurry home to cook for the kids afterwards. I was expecting to see chicken rice on sale at the bazaar, but was disappointed. I hope the second bazaar is a little bit better because I still have a lot of coupons to spare...Take a look at the pictures below...

Quite a lot of Malaysians came down to support the bazaar...

Doing brisk business!

Waiting for customers...

The first day of Ramadhan

The first day of Ramadhan would always be special. Yesterday was my first Ramadhan in Khartoum. Even though my husband's away in Kuala Lumpur, it was special. It was Aliah's first day of fasting as well because last year she 'cheated' on her first day because she said drinking is not considered eating... yeah, right...

Anyway, the first day here is not too hot because there was a sandstorm the night before. It was quite a bad one it seemed, though we slept through it... hehehe... Only in the morning we saw that the corridor was full of sand and our shoes were all covered with red dust... Our driver, haithem met with an accident early in the morning, so the kids had to go in another van. It was also my first day 'not' sending Hadi to school. Normally I would go and carry his bag for him. He just wanted me to carry his bag so he could straight away play in the playground. So, I decided that enough is enough!

When Amir woke up, I went to the ground floor to complain about our tv reception... the sandstorm had done some damage to the satellite dish... Then, we went up in the lift... and I walked out without realising that I've left Amir in the lift. I could hear him crying and in panicked I went into the lift again... he was not there, so I assumed he went out on one of the floors. But instead of going up, it went down and I had to wait for a lady to get on and went out on the second floor before I reached the sixth floor... and he was there looking scared but there were a few workers there, trying to calm him down... I was so glad to see that he was okay...

I cooked a simple meal for the family but since we're in a Malaysian community, we had several 'extras'. K.Shidah gave karipap, Rozie gave kuih keria and Norima gave a fish dish. We had lychee drink to quench out thirst... hehehe... Aliah and Amir's favourite drink... Today, I have to crack my brain what to give my neighbours... something simple... am still thinking about it...