Of Open Houses .....

Its not too late to talk about Open Houses, is it ? The Syawal month is almost over ...and now Deepavali is here .....celebrated for 3 days for some Hindus and others for about a week ....another friend said " for a month ."

Whatever ....I'm not suprised if I am to receive invitations to other open houses ....a fantastic and unique experience for us in Malaysia . That's hubby and son Amir at a neighbor's house , Cikgu Muru on the first night of Diwali ...




All those spread of food served during Hari Raya ( and now Diwali ) had not done justice at all ....to me . Every few days I would weigh myself ...and getting down from the scale I would give myself a sigh ...........!!



Its not getting any better .......If the scale had a life of its own ....it would be doing this ..........!!



I thought that there would be less open houses this year ..what with the increase in cost of food and everything .Well , what do you know ...open houses functions were numerous .


As usual , there were the usual crowds of various races visiting each other ....good to see that the Muhibbah spirit is alive and kicking . It certainly cultivates and strengthens friendships ....open your hearts too ...if I may say so . You get to make new friends ....

My Sg. Petani friend ..

That's what attending open houses do ....plus you get to bump into old friends ....like this friend .....Jeriah Abang .



I must have looked the same after all these 30 odd years as she could recognised and remembered my name as well . I'm bad with names ......and so as not to " drop my water face " , , I decided to ask for her cell phone number ...and said like this ..." and which glamourous name do I put in this phone of mine ? " This certainly works ...and at least it " saved my water face " if you know what I mean as by then her name rang a bell...ringgggggggggg!!! So far this never fails to work .

At my second cousins house ....
happy faces plus full tummies !!

Now , at open houses ...you are supposed to eat ....if you don't ...don't go ....because if you don't eat ..the host gets " kecik hati " . So don't spoil the day and fun of everyone there . As for the host ...food must be enough for everybody for the simple reason ...you had invited these people and these people do expect food ...food plus expectation to eat when they came over to your house .


Of course at my second cousin's house during raya ...food served were delicious ....briyani rice ...lemang plus ketupat ...plus rendang ....plus cakes . Too bad I did not take pictures of the food .Hmmmmmmmmnnnn...yummy .



Yunno I once went to a friend's open house ...she had this tent sat up in the compound of her house and as usual the crowds of people were already there ....her neighbors ...her friends and her husband's colleagues . This friend welcomed me with open arms ...full of warmth ...inviting me and my family to eat . Alas !! When I approached the trays of food on the table ...there were hardly any food to eat !! For a while I didn't know what to do ...then I just scrapped whatever there was to put in my plate . Honestly ...I just don't know what to say ...only that it taught me a lesson ...always have enough food ...don't " alang alang . " I will never know if this friend was aware or not about the situation at the " table ".




Now , there was Diwali Open house to attend.....a different array of food served .... rich spicy food ...of tosei , mutton curry , chicken or" ayam kampong " curry , spicy crabs and lots lots more . Of course , being the odd one out on the block ..we were given a plate of indian sweet goodies ...like marukku , kuih rose etc. etc . Do try to identify these out .



This was given to me on early Diwali morning ...by this liitle girl ...my neighbor. I was drying my laundry when I heard a chirpy voice saying " Hi , Auntie !! " . I turnt and saw her ....looking cute in her traditional clothes .



She was waiting for her parents to go to the temple for prayers ... it was Diwali morning ...a reason to look your best in your new dress.



Plus the bling bling on the hair too !! Don't you think she looked adorable ?


Then , I was given another tray of Indian sweets by another neighbor . How nice ....!!



Now ...I need to return my neighbor's plates . Its a no no to return an empty plate ....very very not Malaysia . I just have to bake something ........