Iftar with the SPK Girls

Four years of friendship and three Eids together.

Wow. We are just 10 days away from the end of Ramadhan!

Alhamdulillah, this year's Ramadhan has been pretty easy so far (if compared with last year - heavily pregnant and fasting)! I was quite consistent with my terawih at the neighbourhood surau during the first week of Ramadhan - up until I found out that Aiden started sleeping in class! You see, Aiden used to follow Hubby and I to the surau for Isyak and terawih but by the time we get home and tuck him to sleep, it is usually close to midnight and he would struggle to wake up the next morning for school. Once he even fell asleep in the school van and knocked his head on the window when the van braked! So come the second week I volunteered to hold the fort down at home while Hubby continued with his terawih at the surau.

Apart from that, Ramadhan has been fairly smooth. We spent the first weekend in Teluk Intan with Hubby's grandmother, and the second weekend Hubby, Aiden and the in-laws visited the relatives in Kuantan. It was the first time that Hubby and Aiden balik kampung without Ian and I. I decided to stay home because I had observed how tired Ian got from the car ride - and to subject him to long distance travel on two consecutive weekends was a bit too much. So while the two boys were out of town, I took the opportunity to visit my mother and grandmother's grave and spent some time with my aunt.

Also, my yearly Ramadhan ritual included breaking fast with the SPK girlfriends. As usual, I would provide the venue whilst the rest would bring food - pot luck style! This year, we decided to make homemade Nasi Kerabu! For those of you who are completely oblivious to this Kelantan delicacy, Nasi Kerabu is a blue-coloured rice eaten with fried beef/fish/chicken, crackers, pickles and other salads (plus even Solok Lada if you're feeling particularly adventurous)! Then afterwards, the men would head to the surau for prayers and the kids would proceed to the garden to play fireworks. And the ladies would hang out till the wee hours of the morning, catching up and gossiping. Of course the men would then find an excuse to retreat to the local mamak shop and would only return when the kids get tired and cranky.

Nasi Kerabu and the various condiments that make up the meal. Quite leceh, in my opinion!

Far left is all the ulam for the Nasi Kerabu. Middle is my own homemade kuih bakar. Excuse the imperfect look - it was my first try! And on the right is my favourite akok. 

Akok and jala mas are my favourite Kelantan kuih. I guess I developed this liking after years of seeing my mum enjoying this, back in my younger days. (My mum is Kelatanese - in case you didn't know!) These Kelantan desserts are not easy to find in KL, so imagine my surprise when I found a stall selling akok at the Bukit Jelutong pasar Ramadhan! And it met all of my requirements - not too sweet and most importantly, not hanyir! So for the past three weeks of Ramadhan, I have been having akok every single day without fail! I even took down the stall owner's number in case I needed a dose of my favourite akok post Ramadhan. Guess what? He lives in the neighbourhood right beside mine!

Anyway, here are pictures from that night. After four years of friendship and three Ramadhans/Eids together, we're still as close as ever!

Every year, we would post for pictures at this exact spot.

Love this shot! All the wives made their respective husbands snap a group picture, it looked like we had a flock of paparazzi taking our pictures!

Now let's compare how we have changed along the years. On the left is 2014, on the right is 2012 (albeit missing one)!

Here are the kids having a second round of Nasi Kerabu. Aiden and the rest were in the living hall watching TV.

Here are the two babies of the gang! Fast asleep while the mummies gossiped.

And, here is a tradition we would practice every single year. The first year we did it, we went through packets and packets of fireworks trying to get the letters right -  the toughest challenge being writing in the mirror image! This year, we only needed two tries to get it right! Highlights of this tradition include the excitement of practicing, choosing which letter to "write", running to the fire to light up the bunga api and reminding each other to maintain the same height and to not block your own face!

This was 2012 - our first Eid/Ramadhan together. See how we completely blocked our faces in this shot?

We even tried writing Puasa! 

This was last year. 

Very sporting ladies. This was this year's attempt.

See how much we have improved through the years? *grin*

Anyway, thanks for the Iftar gathering, girls - you know who you are!