Eid Adha 2014

Eid Adha 2014.

Whooppss sorry for the gory photos.

I have never been one to celebrate Eid Adha. Despite having roots tracing back to Kelantan (hello, sweet tooth!), I was born and raised in KL hence I never saw Eid Adha as a big celebration. Then Hubby arrived in my life - and this Pantai Timur-ite showed me another side of Eid Adha. So year after year, we celebrated Eid Adha with his side of the family.

This time, it was slightly different. No... scratch that; it was significantly different!

Usually, Hubby would pay for his portion of the Kurban in Kuantan. And we would then balik kampung to witness the sacrifice. One memory that stayed on with me all these years; was being pregnant with Aiden and hiding inside a room, trying to shut out the terrified squeals of the goat being slaughtered right at the porch of the Kuantan house. Erk, that is definitely an experience I would not want to repeat.

Yes, I am extremely squeamish, and I have a soft spot for animals. I don't consume rabbits, deers, birds, even beautiful fishes (my FIL brought home a fish baby blue in colour, from Sarawak once, to be cooked for dinner - andddd I cried...), as I cannot bear the thought of them being cooked, what more eaten. They are like pets to me!

This year, I joined (for lack of better words)...a kutu. A group of neighbours and I paid a stipulated sum each month and at the end of the cycle, we had enough money to pay for one portion of Kurban. Alhamdulillah, my portion of the Kurban was sacrificed at our Surau, so even though Hubby paid for his portion in Kuantan, we decided to stay home to help our kariah Surau with the Eid Adha preparation and celebration.

Hubby at work. Since my lembu was #7, he was part of the team in charge of melapah that particular cow.

The men and women all wore matching red tops that day, as provided by the Surau. It even had "Surau Cahaya SPK" printed at the back!

Where was I, you ask? I was hiding at home when they sacrificed the cows - all seven of them. As soon as that was done, I finally made my grand appearance. Thankfully, I was part of the team responsible for cooking, hence I did not have to mess around with any cow parts or blood. *pheww*

That knife! If you know me personally, you would know the cerita sebalik that knife.

The men and women team in charge of cow #7.

Hubby's pictures are dominating this blogpost!

Oh did I mention that my maid was on leave during the Eid Adha weekend? So here I was supervising Aiden running around the Surau while juggling taking care of Ian and helping out with the cooking; slicing vegetables, cutting bread, even pounding coarse black pepper into a level acceptable to the head chef. I think I probably developed arm muscles from all the pounding - he was very particular about making sure the pepper was super fine! (When the women cheekily asked whether we could just use store-bought fine black pepper, he simply smiled in response. Faham faham sendirilah.. tak boleh!)

Well I guess he must know what he was doing, because the sup tulang was just heavenly. And when you add that with the sambal kicap we made... ohemgee, there goes my diet! *wavesbyetomydiet*

Head chef making a big pot of sup tulang for everyone who took part in the Kurban at our Surau this year.

Meanwhile, these two boys were running/crawling loose in the Surau. So proud of Aiden, he can now take care of his little brother! Well, most of the time at least. Sometimes when he's caught in the moment, he'll play with his friends and completely forget that he has a brother named Ian!

Ian pissed that Aiden was pulling him back from exploring the Surau. Ian had so much energy because he had just woken up from his morning slumber - poor Ian had to sleep in the car seat in the Surau while Mummy was busy cooking!

Aiden shadowing his brother's moves.

Posing with his favourite Abang at the Surau.

Soooo.. why did I say the experience this year was significantly different from previous celebrations? Well, I was scrolling through my Instagram looking at everyone's Eid Adha day, and it occurred to me; we never had the chance to don any nice outfits that day! Everyone in my Instagram feed was dressed like it was Eid Fitri - classic traditional wear and all! Us? We were covered in cow blood (Hubby at least!) and sweat the whole day. I think the whole affair at the Surau ended close to 4pm and then we dragged ourselves home, had a long hot shower, turned on the aircon and slept in front of the TV. *pooped* Just to show how tired we were, we even forgot to put our share of the Kurban meat in the freezer - thank god the meat didn't turn bad!

To make up for our very unique celebration this year; the very next day we decided to bring the kids out for a day of fun in the sun at Sunway Lagoon. Wow, I had not stepped foot in Sunway Lagoon for ages, but I was certainly impressed with all the changes and improvements they have made over the years.

Aiden was absolutely thrilled that he met Captain Hook; matched Aiden's swimming outfit too!

Here's another picture. I managed to coax my diet to return home that day. *grin*

Hope you had a great Eid Adha celebration. I wish that Allah accepts your good deeds and sacrifices, alleviates your sufferings, and forgives your transgressions. Happy Eid Adha from all of us.