The story so far… 20 years ago, Ain and I took each other as husband and wife on a sunny afternoon in Pasir Mas. As it was a chaotic day, I had to spend a lot of energy to ignore what things might go wrong, what might come tomorrow and other conjectures. Instead I focused on the moment. One thing […]
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The spread
A collection of blog posts in which photos of food make appearances for one reason or another…
18 Years of Irfan
I still remember the day of Irfan’s birth like it was yesterday. When we left for the hospital, when she was wheeled into the labour room, when I went to see his birth and when I recited the azan in his ear. I cannot believe it has been 18 years since the day. For his 18th birthday, we had dinner […]
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Dinner by the Bendang
A bendang is a rice field. Ain and I thought we would try out a new restaurant we saw earlier. Its speciality was char kuey tiau. Irfan decided to sit this one out as he wanted to study. Besides the char kuey tiau, we also had the restaurant cat to keep us company. He just sat at our table without […]
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The Outbreak Aidilfitri
And so it came to pass that Hari Raya Aidilfitri was held during the Covid-19 pandemic. We were forbidden to cross state lines, nor be in a gathering of souls that numbered more than a prescribed number. Thus we stayed at home during the first day of Eid. Ain made nasi dagang which was delicious. We packed some in takeaway […]
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With Students in Songkhla
For the first time since joining the Centre, the International Soft-skills and Leadership (ISoL) camp programme committee invited me to chaperone students for two nights in Songkhla, Thailand. The camp was a joint programme between UniMAP and Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya. I thought we would go as a family (along with Syamril, the other language teacher on duty) not […]
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Birthday Dinner in Pauh
I am now a couple of year short of 50 years old. We celebrated at a café that we have never stopped at before in the town of Pauh, between our home and my workplace. It seemed like a nice place to celebrate a birthday. Well, two birthdays, as Ain’s was 11 days before mine — although we had dinner […]
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Ain’s Birthday By The Sea
It was time for Ain’s birthday once more, and this time I suggested we go to Kuala Perlis after I got off work. It was nothing special as we had regular masakan panas for dinner, although Ain did get the epic ABC as seen below. Also below are photos of the occasion that night. It was small and low-key, but […]
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Year’s End Vacation 1: Sitiawan
After a couple of weeks planning for it and applying for leave, it was time to execute the end-of-year vacation plans. We exited the highway near Selama and proceeded towards Taiping using the Federal roads. There was a convenient new road from Taiping to Changkat Jering. We stopped for lunch at the food court at that town. There was a […]
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19th Anniversary Dinner
It has been 19 years since Ain and I were wed. Unlike last year when we had to go see a doctor during our anniversary, this year was fairly uneventful. However, it was the first time we celebrated our anniversary at a Middle Eastern restaurant. I had always wanted to fine in a such a restaurant with the family back […]
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A Seventeen-Year-Old Irfan
Many years have passed since we were blessed with Irfan. He came into our lives and made it much better than it could have been. He still gifts us with this. Today, this young man turned 17. Although we had an earlier birthday celebration with his grandparents the previous week, we had our own little commemoration at a restaurant nearby. […]
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A Friday Lunch With Friends
My colleagues have been expressing a long time desire to sample Ain’s bihun goreng tom yam. They loved it when we offered packets of the food to be sold at my workplace. It has been a couple of years since stopped doing so. Recently, Ain invited the ones who has been asking her about her bihun goreng tom yam the […]
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Early Irfan Birthday Dinner
Atok and Opah came a week before Irfan’s 17th birthday to celebrate it early. For that purpose, we visited their favourite Thai restaurant in Padang Besar. As usual, Godzilla and the Rubik’s cube came along for the ride. Here are Irfan with his grandparents reviewing the menu beforehand. Here are Ain and I posing for a photo. This former infant […]
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Meals for a Party Divided
And so it came to pass when Ain had to travel to KL to tend to Cikma’s surgery and recovery. (Spoilers: The surgery went well and she is recovering nicely.) Irfan and I were unable to come with her as we had work to do that we were unable to put off. Irfan had tuition classes to attend while he […]
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Weekend Food at March’s End
It all began on Saturday evening when we headed to Kuala Perlis very close to the first place where we stayed overnight upon travelling to Perlis as a family. Before, the premises only sold fresh belacan. Since then, the owners have opened a restaurant proper where we discovered kerabu maggi that was perfect to our taste; and cheap too. Also, […]
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Ain’s Birthday Nasi Lemak
Earlier in the day, I had an idea and exclaimed, “Tonight, let’s celebrate your birthday somewhere amazing!” She asked, “Where?” I said with pleasure and pride, “The same place we had dinner yesterday!” So this year we celebrated Ain’s birthday at a nasi lemak stall in Kangar. We had dinner here yesterday. Ain had a nasi lemak paru but Irfan […]
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Irfan is Sixteen
Once again, the arbitrary day based on an arbitrary timing system returns after a long cycle known as a year. Because we appear to honour the system, it was time just like last year to celebrate Irfan’s birthday. He turned 16 today. Atok and Opah visited from Perak to celebrate their grandson’s birthday with him. Irfan’s birthday cake was an […]
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