Salam Aidilfitri

We totally admire our Muslim friends for their discipline and steadfastness during the month of Ramadan, and today, we wish them 'Salam Aidilfitri!'. We were also generously invited to 2 lunches hosted by different families.

These lunches were held at the friends' mothers' houses where huge spreads of fabulous nasi padang and desserts of kuih-kuih and pulut hitam awaited the hungry, and the greedy. We were definitely uber greedy. Like bad pennies, we turned up at the first house at 11.45am. :P Then we arrived at the second house at 2.15pm with plenty of stomach space for seconds. Heeeee.

The friends' mothers, aunts and grandmothers cook SO WELL. They began cooking before dawn, or probably yesterday so that the rempah and flavors could settle in. The best Malay and Indonesian food are always found in the home kitchens. We're so lucky to have tasted them today. Homecooked spreads always taste this much better than the supposed best nasi padang and kuih kuih available commercially. O happy sigh. I definitely don't need dinner anymore. I ate all afternoon. Totally overdosed on nasi lemak, sambal-everything, rempah and all things edible. Awesome. BURRRRRP.

Yes, to the guests and non-Muslims, Hari Raya Puasa is partly about the food. In other parts, no, it's really more than the food. It's a privilege to be invited to join the cosy celebrations, to get to know our friends a little better. We're glad that they've graciously opened up their homes, and hearts to us. So to me, this is what the festivities are about. We ate, we laughed and created memories of another happy day.