Tuesday 4 October 2005

What's for sahur?

Only a sip of coffee , that’s all that I had before the start of this Ramadan. There was no time to cook or heat up the chicken korma and kambing kicap that I brought home from Mawar last night. Taufiq had it cold, straight from the take away containers.

Usually every morning , without fail, Tabby would wake me up for subuh. (Tabby’s body alarm is set for 4.30 am!) but I think the sleepless nights in my attempt to complete the Big D finally took its toll last night or rather this morning and I slept right through Tabby’s gnawing and the phone alarm, waking up with a startle with only a few minutes for Isya.

My attempts to wake the others failed. Only Taufiq and the cats woke up. In the absence of hubby, I had to make the rounds – first to Nona’s room to see if there’s any sign of life under the duvet- heard a groan, and no – no sahur for her. Hafiz and Rehana never woke up for sahur.

Hubby is almost like my late father in his Ramadan routine – while Mak heated up the food for sahur, he’d make the rounds to wake us up. Pak had a simple technique. He’d call out our name non stop and even if you pulled the blankets around your ears, it still wouldn’t help, because the monotony of his voice would still get to you.

If Pak failed, then God help you if Abang came to the room cos he was from the school of Gestapo ‘Techniques of Waking People Up for Sahur' Division. He’d come to the room armed with several of his self concocted torture devices. If you’re one who slept with mouth wide open, his drip-drip-drip of belacan juice or salt water will have an instant effect – guaranteed to make you rush to the bathroom to have a gargle and return to the dinning table, wide eyed and alert. But, I was usually subjected to this slow but just as effective treatment which took quite a while to sip in. I’d be in lala land dreaming of whatever, when suddenly in my dreams, I could taste. I have observed him at work before. His victim would usually smack his/her lips at the first taste the belacan or salt water, smacked the lips a few more times, grimaced and went back to sleep. This meant, he'd have to increase the dosage, until the victim had enough salt water in him/her that he/she actually thoughthat he/she was drowing in the sea and taking gulps of salt water!

Anyway, if all the above failed, he had another harmless one...one that you would only realise on waking up the next day, greeted with roars of laughter! I had woken up to face the world with a moustache not unlike the villains of Tamil movies, complete with tendrils and twirls at both ends. How I slept right through his artistic experiment, I don’t know.

This morning, I realised how much I missed my AG who at this moment had just finished his lunch (He sms to tell me so). He was usually the first to wake up and heat up the food and then make the rounds to wake the children up, pulling the duvets off them. He’d bring Nona’s bowl of cornflakes and a glass of milk to her room for Nona had room service, you see, unlike us. She usually placed her orders the night before. But with Mama, she’s not getting that kind of special treatment!

When I was younger and lighter, he’d carry me to the bathroom, prop me up against the door and splash cold water on my face. Alas, now the weight has more than doubled and he’d need a horse to drag me up.

It’s just one hour into fasting and methinks, bubur lambuk will be just great for buka puasa!

SELAMAT BERPUASA EVERYONE!





38 comments:

nadya.s said...

slamat berpuasa to u too kak teh!!!

mama irma said...

Selamat berpuasa to you,Kak Teh. Last year my daughter ate free food from the mosques around London everynight after tarawikh. (at least lepas rindu dia nak makan curry, roti prata etc...),this year she is still fasting in London, but wiser, I guess.

bibliobibuli said...

selamat berpuasa and selemat berbuka puasa juga!

miniME said...

selamat berpuasa kak teh!

Kampong_Boy said...

Selamat Berpuasa to you Kak Teh... Nanti kita buat bubork puluit hitam...

meandbaby said...

Kak Teh, Selamat menyambut Ramadhan Al Mubarak!

Bergen said...

Enjoy your blog a great deal for the homely feel with members of the family going about their business safe and sound under the roof where mom and pop take care of everything to make it a home like no place else in the world.

mommy@lif said...

dear kak teh,
masa kecik dulu jenuh nak bukak mata for sahur..dah duduk depan food pon tersengguk² lagi.. pastu 2 3 kali basuh muka barulah segar mata... paling best mak akan masak best² utk bersahur than berbuka.. udang galah lah..yummy!

selamat berpuasa dan berbuka utk k teh sekeluarga

Blabarella said...

Ooo, so UK starts fasting first ye? I never knew that!

I hope you and your 2-legged kiddos (our anak2 kaki 4 tak kira laa, depa forever "cuti"!) have a WONDERFUL Ramadhan!!

And here's hoping that AG would have beefed himself up strength-wise whilst on his travels so that he can (again) carry you to the bathroom and splash water on your face!!

Happy Ramadhan, Kak Teh and hope to see you soon!!

Lydia Teh said...

Your abang has given me some Gestapo ideas to wake up my Sleeping Beauties, hehe.

Selamat Berpuasa. Here in Msia it starts on Wed, so PMR for that day deferred to Thurs as three states observe Awal Ramadhan as holiday.

Anonymous said...

Selamat Berpuasa Kak Teh!! We all start esok kat Sydney.

Your story really remind me when I was young too. I was one those who daughter yang liat sangat nak bangun. My dad would make sure every one wake up. Anak askar la katakan. Then we all would go down and wait for mom to heat up all the food and cook some fresh dish if needed. We would sleep back on the couch or floor until sahur is ready again. Then again dad would wake all of us up!! Hehehe...

Ahhh I miss those days sometimes. So here we are having a quiet puasa in Sydney.

Selamat Berpuasa and berbukak puasa to all the Muslim Bloggers and readers. :)

Ordinary Superhero said...

Kak Teh,

Selamat Berpuasa.

Semoga kita semua berlumba2 mendapatkan keberkatan, kerahmatan dan keampunan dariNya sepanjang Ramadhan ini.

InsyaAllah.

Anonymous said...

Selamat menyambut Ramadhan yg mulia, dan selamat berpuasa buat kak Teh sekeluarga (dan juga pembaca blog yg lain) dari saya (org baru ni...)

AuntyN said...

Kak Teh Selamat Berpuasa to you and your family.

Yeay, Kak teh dah hantar the big D!!!.....*am grinning from ear to ear ni, Kak teh shud know why hehehehe*

Queen Of The House said...

You puasa dulu, does that mean you all kat sana raya dulu jugak?Selamat berpuasa & berbuka, Kak Teh & family.

SimplyMas said...

Kak Teh! Kita kat sini start puasa esok... Lain pulak eh?

Apapun, Selamat Berpuasa to you and your family! :D

MA said...

Kak Teh - Selamat Puasa To You and family.

I am adopting your Abang's Gestapo tactics should any one of my Brood failed to get up on the first stirring.

Thanks for the detailed manoeuvres !

:-)

Nazrah Leopolis said...

selamat berpuasa kakteh sekeluarga...

i pun dah siap makanan sahur for myself. CA pun dah siap order, he gets room service too.

i miss making my rounds ala gestapo kejut adik2.ada guna ice, wet towel, water spray dan tumis sambal pagi2 buta...sure bangun punya lah..

i remember waking my mom up, she'd say, "hmmm..."pastu tido balik...kejut lagi "hmmm..." terus i kata, "mak lagi lima minit lagi mak!!!" terus mak lari masuk bilik air...heh heh. O, sweet memories!

iJun said...

Selamat berpuasa kak teh! Nak bubur lambuk gak!!

Atok said...

malam tadi, after terawikh: koey-teaw goreng...
atok sahur nasi+ayam kicap. brppp...
buka: lum tahu...

Honeytar said...

Kak Teh: Selamat menyambut Ramadhan AL-Mubarak!

Waaa... special treatment sahur like that... no problem lah nak bangun! hehee...

anggerik merah said...

Kak Teh,

Masa lunch tadi, in between meetings dah glance thru tapi tak sempat nak baca betul2... Habis meeting, masuk office buka lagi blog...

Kelakar cerita KT about various style waking up for sahor...

Angkat masuk bilik air tu..wow romantic nye..hehehe..

Nadia said...

kak teh ramadan mubarak!!!! I ALWAYS enjoy hearing your family stories :) ya laa..hahahahahahha sambal belacan ...that would be a good wake up'er' hehehehehe hugs waa nona..daddy's little girl yeh.:)

anedra said...

selamat berpuasa to everyone at EA! am all set for sahur and Nasar is the most excited!! hehehe..can't imagine AG carrying you to the toilet! N wouldn't dream of it..in fact if it were to happen, I;d be the one carrying him to the toilet! sighhhs!!!!

Lollies said...

Selamat berpuasa Kak Teh.

I ususally memang pemalas bangun sahur. I sleep late and sahur terus. But my eldest nak puasa, so think I should sahur. Woke up and cook a bit.

Haziq ate so little. Hope he survives

Ely said...

oooh hehehe bubur lambuk lagi! hai, so sedapppppppp!!!

i know moms usually dont spoil their kids like the dads (or stepdad for my hubby). room service pun boilah jadi kat sini!

kaezrin said...

Selamat berpuasa to u too Kak teh!

Ruby M. said...

selamat berpuasa kak teh!!! missed you on YM lah :) hope to see u during Raya!

Anonymous said...

Kak Teh,

Selamat berpuasa untuk Kak Teh sekeluarga.
Teringat waktu single dulu, my mak ketuk bilik-bilik anak dia -normally me & my brother and bawa secawan besar air teh setiap sorang untuk bersahur! Only my youngest sis still bangun sahur everyday and my mak used to say like "10 budak hitam - lama-lama tinggal sorang yang bersahur!"
~Norabella

Anonymous said...

Kak Teh,Selamat menyambut ramadhan al-mubarrak...Kalau posa masa winter syokkan?...masa saya kat sana tu...ramadhan musim winter, seronok 3 tahun berturut2 bukak posa pukul 3 ptg....my son pun seronok sahor jam 6.30pg!Jemput anak balik sekolah 3.15pm, bawa coklat makan ngan anak sambil jalan balik.....Ramadhan masa summer......dah rasa gak masa kat Aussie...sahur 1.30pg, subuh 2.30pg, berbuka 9.30 mlm!!!...

Mak Ety

Anonymous said...

KT - terasa ketiadaan the other half eh? in another week or 2 i'll be in the same boat.. che abe kena keje luar, probably raya pun kat sana :(

Neeways, selamat berpuasa, berbuka dan sama2 mengejar rahmat & nikmatNYA di Ramadhan AlMubarak ini.

-RedKebaya

Unknown said...

KakTeh,
As usual Ramadhan brings out the wonderful memories during our childhood. Have a bless Ramadhan.

Ewok said...

Kakteh, i tak bangun soq pun. our dinner at mawar tu lah my soq. Selamat berpuasa ya makcik blur Now that ur D dah siap, apa lagi... :)

anggerik merah said...

Singgah lagi...satu hari 3x.

Pnut said...

Gestapo ?? boleh try nanti bila anak dah besar...

kak teh-org utara gak kan?

abdullahjones said...

kak teh,
adakah art fadhil akan berada di mawar setiap sabtu?

atiza said...

kak teh,
dah AG takde nih, selera makan pun kurang..selim melim la lepas nih..then AG kena la carry kak teh to the toilet :)

Kak Teh said...

thank you, thank you everyone for your wishes...hope my tips to wake up sleepy eyes during sahur help. and to abdullahjoens, yes art fazil sings in mawar on saturdays - but not during ramadan.
adiejin - yes - he is still there!