Eid-ul-Adha and Memories



My grandma's house is all lit up for Eid

 Eid-ul- Adha has just passed, but I am still longing for the times spent with loved ones at my maternal grandmother's house in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. It's always a pleasure to celebrate Eid at our own ancestral home. If you have been following my blog for a while, I have mentioned that Eid-ul-Adha has always been my favourite celebration. I maybe biased here, but I personally think that there is more time to spend with family during Eid-ul-Adha compared to Eid-ul-Fitr. 



Lemang in the making. Lemang is a type of delicacy where glutinous rice and coconut milk
are cooked in the bamboo casing. 



For Negeri Sembilan folks, we celebrate Eid-ul-Adha in a very big scale. Even though this year, my family did not do any "Qurban" ceremony, we still celebrated Eid in a very grand style. Apparently, my cousins decided to cook their own "lemang" during the eve of Eid, and they really worked hard until midnight. So, this year I did not even buy a single "lemang" courtesy of cousins.





Home-cooked lemang

Meanwhile, my son really enjoyed this year's Eid as he got to spend time, playing games with cousins and second cousins. 

My son and his second cousin- they really looked like twins



Rainbow marble cake- my tradional cake for Eid-ul Adha. I have made
adjustments from my own original recipe.

And I as usual, needed to bake something to bring to my "hometown", remembering that my mother does not really like fancy, frosted cake- ended up baking the ever versatile rainbow marble cake. This time around, I have made adjustments to my original recipe.( I will do another entry specially on that recipe). The cake turned out nice and fluffy and tasted even better after a few days. My mother brought a plate full of cake pieces to the kampung surau for Eid morning prayers.





Rainbow marble cake- cut into pieces. Original recipe- please see here



Using grandma's old crockery, it feels like I am being transported to yesteryears..



Sometimes, what really matters in our life is time spent with our loved ones. It has been two months since I went back to my "home town" and I felt that this year's Eid was definitely the best. Never mind for the massive traffic jam of going back to grandma's house- what really matters is the idea of going back to our own roots and culture. My grandmother has passed away for 21 years, but the picture of her grandchildren and great grandchildren happily playing hide and seek in her massive compound, is sure  something to be treasured in my heart.



This little girl- my niece who was excited as well to celebrate Eid.



Well, I have definitely coming back to my roots once again and humbled by memories of spending time with my ever lovely grandma. And life is even sweeter with the idea of celebrating Eid with family and relatives, having dinner of barbecued fish and steak. Nothing beats the feel of celebrating Eid in my grandmother's house.



We even had barbeque during the second night of Eid.

 

I belong here, I am..... Yes, I am.