so much for the movie, mee rebus and ice balls by the juke box. 1 syawal fell on monday for us this year.


the last time i spent raya complete with the morning’s solat sunat at malaysia hall was in 1990. it would’ve been great if more of us were here. but alas, the sheep woman was up north. ninie was back in tanjung with her family. that left ash, jimbo and i. still, we made do with what we had. it’s great what you can find in soho to fix a great raya spread.

malaysia hall was packed. i’ve never seen that many melayus in one small english vicinity.

post-solat, we adjourned to amir’s house nearby for some grub which comprised genuine ketupat daun palas, soto and rendang pedas daging. amir then suggested that we should go to the malaysian high commissioner’s residence up in hampstead at noon. what the hey – it’s raya. again, i’ve not been to the high com’s open house since upper sixth form. food was regular raya fare, although word had it that the absence of any satay was the reason for the low-ish turnout. we were then persuaded to join amir and his family to another do at tok din’s (london’s penghulu – used to run the old malaysia hall at bryanston square) in brent. apa laga. pegi je la. more rendang and nasi minyak. and a lovely bread and butter pudding made with croissants. yum. i”ve not done beraya this extensively for yonks. made me feel like a kid again, but without the duit raya.


we had a closed open house back at ash’s. hahaha. i made rendang pedas ayam and pulut kuning, ash made lontong and jimbo, believe it or not, made the BEST kari daging (more ubi than daging. hahaha.) and sambal daging in the world. iJun and friend came by but it was a pity that i had to leave for sheffield by then. never mind, there’s still raya haji.

and sheep woman, youaren’texcusedthistime.

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oh ya. watch out for I IS MALAY. coming to a fringe designer boutique near you.