Raya 2010: Day 1 A Right Riot

First of all, Selamat Hari Raya everyone, Maaf Zahir & Batin. Hope your first day of Raya was good, or least less traumatic than mine.

For me, the stress started from last night’s continuous and very heavy rain, which I wouldn’t normally care about, except this time the whole compound became knee-high flooded- which has never happened since the concrete flood drains were constructed next to our house. So there was a mild panic as the water level threatened to reach our bandul threshold at our house entrance, and I watched helplessly my left foot Croc float away in the strong current. May my fake Croc rest in peace in fake goods heaven, amen. Mum too was ready in swimming goggles in her wheelchair. Bless. Her nurse was doing warming-up stretches and dry-practising her kuak dada strokes on the sides.

The garage submerged underwater.

So there was that flood last night and the Food we had today. Every year, without fail, three troops of people come straight from the Masjid to our house for their first breakfast in a month. We’d normally serve satay for the whole of Day 1, ordered from a trusted supplier. But this year we broke from tradition and Dad said we’re just having Soto rather than the whole Satay, Ketupat, Lemang menu we were used to.

So a fair bit of soto was ordered from an unnamed soto-maker enough to cater to at least 600-800 guests. Fine. But I wish the caterer Dad chose had told us that drinks weren’t included – or perhaps more importantly- that the quantity they gave us wouldn’t last even the morning, nevermind the whole day!

Lemme get this straight, the Soto was excellent in taste, but the amount supplied was measly to say the least. Certainly not **AT THIS POINT I FELL FAST ASLEEP**

Mee Kuning and Mee Putih for the Soto

Big-ass warmer pot for the kuah soto

The chaos that was once our kitchen.

** POST CONTINUED DAY 2 RAYA, Saturday, 4.32pm**

I was gonna go all cavalier and post an entry after a long exhausting day~ but I failed, and tetidur halfway through last nite.

Anyway, I was saying… it certainly was not the amount I expected for the $500 we paid for it. It was nearly gone by 11am, and we were expecting around 800 guests!

When we queried, we were told there’d be another batch coming in the afternoon. Fine, except they didn’t show up until 8 in the evening to a royal bollocking from my normally serene sister.

In between, we ended up having to dilute the original kuah and modify it, and we even made FIVE large periuk of soup tulang/kaki ourselves and rabus mee ourselves! So much for catering services. The amahs must have thought we’d gone mad! They’d never seen us in the kitchen, much less motong-motong daging and looming over the stove!

I guess I’m not complaining about that, but surely when you contract a catering service and they’ve been told about the number of guests, you would expect a respectable quantity. Just not with this company we hired, I suppose.

So our departure from the normal fare of Satay, Kelupis, Lemang etc on the first day proved to be a cause for high blood pressure. We should have played safe and stuck to the normal menu, minus the popular lemang.

The thing is, what is Raya without the chaos? The only thing different this year has been the flash flood. That, and the drama of blocked drainpipes in the kitchen as I got up this morning. Just what the doctor ordered.

Right, I gotta go now. Another huge convoy has just pulled up in the driveway. I’m certainly looking forward the stilted conversations and awkward silences. Can’t wait.

Have a good Raya everyone!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Minal Aidil wal-Faizin.