Lazy as I have been trying to portray myself for the past few weeks, come Eid Adha I can't simply lie down and close my eyes and ignore all the cheerful laughters of my children playing with their cousins when they came to visit us on the eve of Eid Adha. Suddenly the house was full of joy and colours that reflected happiness.
Thank you Allah. I am truly blessed.
I felt sorry then, that due to my laziness too, I didn't prepare any special food for the family this time. It left me in an awkward situation, really. In the past, be it Eid Fitr or Eid Adha, there were always variety of delicious food and we will all gather at the table and enjoy eating. The traditional ketupat and rendang ayam is a must, topped up with sambal tumis and kuah masak lodeh and sambal kacang. When I had that extra super girl power, I would prepare satay, nasi himpit and lemang too!
"It's okay, dear. We understand you" Mom smiled, while my sisters giggled behind her.
"As long as you allow me to 'eat' your cute baby porcupine, the rest is not important to me!" my brother said, staring a moment at my youngest daughter before he started to chase her.
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| Baby porcupine, the busiest person during Eid Adha |
Masya-Allah, I am so happy.
That very morning on 10 Dzulhijjah, the whole family prepared themselves to go to the masjid for prayer, then became spectators to the slaughtering event. This year the masjid at our place received 14 cows to be sacrificed. All went there but me. My husband told me to just stay at home and rest.
I terribly felt guilty for not being able to spread any food on the table, so I decided I would use the time to bake a cake. Then I remembered Nadia's date and honey cake that I have always wanted to try but had not found the right time to do so yet. I said to myself, this is the best time to have a go at it, and headed into the kitchen.
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| Yummy date and honey cake, recipe contributed by sis Nadia Masood. You can also try it. Click here for the recipe. |
The cake was really simple and easy to bake. It tasted super yummy too! I ended up baking not one but THREE cakes!!! Can you magine that??? The nice aroma filled the house. Wonderful! Thank you, sis Nadia, for sharing the recipe with me. I love you!
I left one cake for the family and cut the other two and arranged them on the plates and started distributing them to neighbours. SubhanAllah, after few minutes the plates exchanged hands, they returned to my table with something else and soon the table was full of variety of food, just in time when the whole family came back from the masjid. Of course they were hungry by then and were also surprised to see lots of food waiting for them.
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| At 3 o'clock, clockwise: Ayam masak kicap, ketupat, nasi himpit, rendang, sambal kacang and ayam masak merah. These are Malaysian traditional food. Except for the date and honey cake in the middle, none of these dishes were cooked in my kitchen. |
"How did you prepare all these?" my husband asked.
"Let it be my little secret" I winked at him and started serving the food to all.
Masya-Allah, how beautiful life is when we share love and kindness with all the people around us.
Imagine how wonderful life could be if there were no war in this world.....
Only peace. Lots of smiles. Loving and caring for each other.
Let's pray for all our Muslim brothers and sisters who are suffering and struggling in their life at the moment. Pakistan, Palestine, Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Iraq, China....where ever they are in this world. They must have yearned for a decent, peaceful life, and I believe they deserve our prayers to help make it come true.
Let us also appreciate the freedom and happiness we experience now by offering zikr, lots and lots of zikr. We are nobody, we are nothing without the bless from Allah The Almighty.
SubhanAllah...
AlhamdulilLah....
Laailaha IllAllah.....
Allahu Akbar.....
