Welcome Ramadhan 2009

Salam and Selamat Berpuasa to all,

I remembered my gym buddy, Wan screamed "last day, Syah... last day" last Friday at the gym as I came in from my easy run at the park. With that statement, we promised to keep on coming even though it's bulan puasa.

OK, make that just before buka puasa.

Anyway, me, wifey and Iris went back to Alor Setar to 'sambut puasa' with my in-laws, as we will go back to my place this Raya. We hit the highway around 6.30 p.m., and arrived there safely, alhamdulillah. I have not met my mother-in-law since my father-in-law's passing 5 months back, and the house is eerily quite without his usual banter (and sometimes unnecessary farting at the dining table heheheh God bless his soul) and other antics.

The first day of puasa was busy with relatives coming over (my wife has 9 other siblings), and I went on to Stadium Alor Setar for my annual visit to the famous Cucur Udang Mat. Every year, I have seen many new type of food inventionsaround here that I would make it a point to try them. This Cucur Udang Mat, if you come after 5 p.m., they'll distribute numbers like in a clinic to keep you in line (serious!).

The way this cucur udang is made - is they'll put a lot of beansprouts in the batter, and fry them separately from the prawns. The prawns, separately fried in a special batter mix, are baby tiger prawns... huhuh yumm!, and they throw in separate fried tofus and lots of cucumbers. And the kuah... light and delishh!

One new thing we found this year is the 'halwa susu unta'. Looked like the nougats from Australia, it is awfully sweet, but have a nice aroma to it. One pack the size of a 50sen coin, had to be shared with 4-5 people. Seriously sweet, like bunga tanjung in Kelantan.

Some others worth showing are Nasi Ulam (equivalent to Kelantan's Nasi Kerabu) but less coarse-chopped, and to be eaten with sayur keladi asam. This is a good and light meal...

We saw this ikan pekasam dish complete with hot sauce etc. I cannot consume any freshwater fish, let alone the pekasam version, but looked at this spread enviously (just look at the cili kering goreng, chillies, onions etc - good presentation pulak orang Alor Setar nih).

There are also a lot of fresh fruit juice stations available which you could customize (handy and healthier?, as compared to the usual air bandung, kathira etc), bbq chicken and chicken wings on a stick, ulam stalls (never had those in KL), the usual kuih spread (only karipap for me), and another long queued 'tepung talam Mak N'jang'.

That said, I have yet any time for terawikhs. This will however to continue this weekend and I will forget the runs etc for a while. Need some energy to run around meetings and submission in Penang on Monday.

Trainings will resume Tuesday onwards...