Makan makan

1.

Two nights before Maulidur Rasul 1427, hubby suggested that we had a small Maulidur rasul celebration at our home. He was thinking of a small dinner comprising just Kamarol, himself and I. Kamarol in turn, suggested inviting JPA-sponsored friends from Takara and Ichikawa Ono since he too was thinking of having a small kenduri arwah in honour of his dad who had just recently passed away during the spring break. Besides, I had yet to invite friends from Ichikawa Ono who had helped me when I moved, for a thank-you-meal.

So, we started calling everybody (limiting the invitation to just men, since space was rather limited) at about 10.30p.m., inviting them to come over to my place the following evening, for a small Maulidur Rasul-cum-kenduri arwah-cum-housewarming party gathering. It was quite late by then that some listed on our guest list had actually gone to bed.

There was no class the next day, so Kamarol and I went places to get the ingredients needed for the kenduri. Prior to food shopping, I bought a new carpet for the house, to make it more comfortable for our guests later in the evening. Kamarol and I went to a lot of shops to get different things – it’s not like we can get everything under one roof for fair prices like we could from a Giant outlet in Malaysia. Along the way, Kamarol asked me why didn’t hubby suggested this earlier, and I replied I was just as surprised as he was when hubby first announced his intention at Kamarol’s place.

Kamarol was the Head Chef that day and I assumed the position of his assistant as we worked together in my small kitchen. Apart from taking care of Huzaifah, hubby was in charge of clearing and storing everything away so that we can seat our guests properly. I must admit that hubby is a lot better in storing stuff - by the end of the day, the house looked a lot spacious than it normally does, spacious enough for hubby to comfortably lead Maghrib and Isyak prayer for a congregation of 7 makmums with free spaces left.

Huzaifah 'rasmikan' the new carpet

There are many reasons why we must be thankful for the birth of Rasulullah, and we are to remember this everyday, not just on the day he was born...
"Sollallahu ala Muhammad.."

Menu for the day – Plain rice, Kari kepala ikan, Sambal sotong, Jelatah timun & nenas, Telur goreng kicap, kiwi, pineapple and bananas as dessert, followed by black tea and Kopi Hang Tuah. Considering it was a last minute thingy, I was glad that we pulled it off quite well, alhamdulillah. The food, the pengisian by hubby, the tahlil, the selawat and all.

Head Chef overseeing guests enjoying his creations

As for dalils on celebrating Maulidur Rasul, they could be found on various pages, among others, here.

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2.

Sabah’s e-mail sent to my keitai was brief and to the point - “Jumaat malam kol 7 kitorang buat housewarming kat rumah Apid. So jemputlah datang ye”

Hubby asked me numerous times, whether or not I would really like to attend the housewarming party held in Saginuma, 1 ½ hours away by train from Gyotoku. Admittedly I wasn’t really keen on taking Huzaifah for a long ride on train, especially when we have to transfer trains several times, but the three kohais - Sabah, Apid and Fahmi – had been kind and helpful when I was in Komaba, and I really wanted to introduce hubby to them. Besides, it would be a good opportunity for hubby to mingle with Malaysians, and I thought he would like that.

The weather was fine, Huzaifah was pretty cheerful for most part of the travel and yes, both hubby and I had a fine time attending the kohai’s housewarming party. Menu of the day – Nasi Ayam by Sabah, Strawberry layered cheesecake and linguine (instead of fettucine) with Alfredo sauce by Apid, and lots of junkfood. Everything tasted good - oishikatta. We were spoiled for choices when it came to drinks too – various sports drinks, fruit juices, non-carbonated soft drinks and coffee. Everybody praised Sabah for his (now signature) Nasi Ayam and Apid even managed to conduct a short course on preparing Alfredo sauce (or in this case, Apido sauce). Huzaifah had a great time too - eating lots of cake and playing with linguine pasta.

It was past midnight when we reached home, Huzaifah already asleep as I seated him on the kid’s seat behind me on my bike. We saw a lot of flushed red faces on the train – possibly a hint of drunkenness, we even saw someone throwing up in the middle of a pedestrian’s pathway. (None of the strangers who played with Huzaifah on the train looked drunk or smelled of alcohol though.) Glancing at the salarymen in suits standing in the train, hubby remarked that chances are low of witnessing such sight in Malaysia at almost midnight. Obviously, while there are good cultures that can be learned while we are here, there are Japanese cultures that would be better merely observed and never followed.

And so I turned 31...

“Mentang-mentang ni hari ni birthday kau, kau ingat kau dapat cuti ke?”

Kamarol, who was supposed to be my next door neighbour but ended up being my 10-minutes-by-bike neighbour, called me when I did not turn up at the only class I have today. I quickly reassured him that I would be there as hubby, Huzaifah and I were queuing up to board the bus to Waseda University from Takadanobaba eki. We had just returned from shopping at a Halal shop in Shin Okubo – the first time for hubby since he arrived in Japan.

It turned out that I got no class today after all because the class was cancelled though we did not receive any earlier notice. Apparently Kamarol made that call a few minutes before the announcement was made, so he himself was not aware that the class would be cancelled when he called me. Anyway, I thought having no class on my birthday is pretty cool – so I quickly returned to the place where I left hubby and baby, this time with Kamarol tagging along.

When I woke up this morning, I really had no idea what to do apart from attending class and maybe go out somewhere for lunch with hubby and baby. Then I thought, since I only had one class scheduled for today, why not have lunch at the kebab shop in Takadanobaba, attend the class while hubby and baby wait and then take a walk around the University compound.

But since we had ran out of halal meat stock for quite a while and I had been quite sick of eating just Japanese sticky and short grain rice, hubby thought we might as well go to Shin Okubo, since it is only a station away from Takadanobaba. And so we did.

By the time we were done with the halal stuff shopping in Shin Okubo, I was running late for my class, so we changed the plan to have late lunch together in Waseda after class. Left baby and hubby in front of Waseda clock tower, hurried to GSAPS building, only to be told that there was no class today. Zannen…

Anyway, it took ages for hubby to return to the spot where I left him and baby, and by then Kamarol already had to rush for another class. So, hubby and I had our late lunch at Okuma Garden House cafeteria – 2 bowls of kitsune udon, a side dish of tofu, 2 cups of ice cream with free flow of iced water and green tea all for less than 1000 yen. I smiled to myself as I remembered the cost for us to take a photo commemorating hubby’s 33rd birthday in Disneyland was almost double the price we paid for lunch today, as we quietly celebrated my 31st birthday.

A quiet birthday it really was – no loud wishes from colleagues, huge present from hubby or fancy cake from friends. Instead, all I received were a c-mail from Hien, an e-mail from Jue, an Im from Masni and an e-card from Rina. Hubby sang Happy Birthday in both English and Arabic softly as I woke him up for breakfast. In keeping with the theme, even Huzaifah woke up rather quietly this morning, just merengek for his first feeding instead of the loud wailing I’m used to.

Somehow, the quietness of it reminded me of the day I turned 16. Despite feeling sure that some of the closest room-mates knew it was my birthday, no one in my dorm wished me that morning as we prepared to go to school. No one wished me after class ended and we had lunch. No one wished me after evening prep was over. It was like nobody remembered, and I was quite puzzled. But then I found solace in sharing my excitement with my classmates and same age friends in another room where I used to hang out a lot.

That very night, after being held up at a friend’s room for a while, I arrived at my dorm to find that - “SURPRISE!!!”- my dorm mates had planned and organized a surprise birthday party for me. They asked for help from some of my friends to delay me from returning straight to my dorm after the night prep session and supper was over. They purposely ignored me the whole day to enhance the surprise effect – and yes, it was a big relief to know that they remembered after all.

That was then – when what friends and dorm mates thought about you and how they regarded you meant a lot because we spent more time together than we did with even our own siblings. Friends, particularly dorm mates, mattered a lot back then Their thoughts and wishes meant a lot.

Now that I’m in a small cocoon made up of hubby and baby, miles away from close friends and relatives, with no big fuss over my birthday, somehow the quietness fits. Because what matters most is that I am spending it together with those who matter most to me.

And for that I am most grateful, alhamdulillah.