RAY FOR RAYA

CURIOZ CORNER

The approach of Hari Raya means we will get everyone involve in furniture arranging, painting the house and putting our heads together in decorating the whole house. Naturally my husband will be the handy man while I do a lot of ordering and coming up with the 'The Do List' for him. Frankly, we enjoy such moments together, minus the disagreements and the sulking of the faces for we would be full of anticipation and excitement to see the final outcome.

This year we took out our treasure troves from the store room, under the bed and in boxes and started to play with the deco a week before Raya. We were still changing the deco even till 2am of Hari Raya eve.

We were thrilled with the result and received many comments from our guests who loved our Ideas Factory Home Project.

PERI-O-METER AT NANDOS

The little flag indicates how hot your chicken is

I settled for the hot scale only

The Peri-Peri sauce stand

The espetada chicken I had. Can feed two.

The four thigh meat of the Espetada is skewered kebab-like.

My two side orders - potato and bean salad

Quarter size chicken with grilled vegetables

The Peri-O meter scale of the Peri-Peri sauce

Love the Nandos website

Everything is explained in drawings

The cockerel is used as the Nandos' logo

The cooking pot of the Portuguese

PERI ME AWAY NANDOS

Nando’s is the home of Portuguese flame-grilled PERi-PERi Chicken. The chickens are:

• Only the freshest, and never frozen

• Marinated for 24 hours in our natural PERi-PERi sauce

• Grilled to order over an open flame to reduce fat content

• Basted to your taste to control the spiciness

So guess what? We had Nandos chicken for our tea recently at Jusco Tebrau, JB. Their big platters of flame-grilled PERi-PERi chicken are made for sharing. A platter shared is a cost divided. At Nando’s, even when you “Buy, buy, buy!”, shares and other pocket-friendly measures like bottomless soft drinks (excludes bottled waters, nectars or fresh juices) and yogurts mean you won’t have to splash out a fortune.

The spicy chicken here even comes with a cute little flag that indicates the spiciness level on the “peri-o-meter”, that’s like what some people do for burgers. I had chicken espetada with potato salad and bean cole slaw. Hubby had quarter chicken with rice and salad - peri-peri hot.

Nando's Peri-Peri chicken is always healthy. As part of a well balanced diet it's just as tasty as on a reckless uncontrolled binge! Flame-grilling the chicken means it loses lots of its fat. Nando's Peri-Peri menu provides a varied choice of healthy but delicious options which makes eating out healthily easy.

For more details visit http://www.nandos.com.my/ The webiste is so eye-catching.

More about Nandos

Nando's was born in 1987 in South Africa, although the tale of Nando’s and the inspirational Peri-Peri takes us back much further in time. From the humble beginnings, Nando's Restaurants have now opened in 34 countries on five continents around the world, launching in Washington DCin July 2008. .

In the beginning Nando’s Peri-Peri Flame-Grilled Chicken didn’t just fall out of the sky! The natural wonder dates back to a time when the brave Portuguese set out to explore new worlds…
The explorers tried to sail to the East, where it was rumoured treasures abounded. They realised that they couldn’t make it without a stop to replenish stores for their journey. So in what is now known as Mozambique, they established a port. The rich and fertile lands they discovered enticed many explorers to settle. The Portuguese flourished here and life soon included great food, wine and much laughter.

Discovering Peri-Peri
Indigenous Africans introduced the Portuguese to the African Bird’s Eye Chilli. The locals called this fiery little chilli Pili-Pili, which means Pepper-Pepper in Swahili.‘Peri- Peri’ was the best stab the explorers could make at pronouncing Pili-Pili, so Peri-Peri it became. They immediately added it to their cooking and it soon became an integral part of their lives. The women found that Peri-Peri aroused passion in their men and were delighted that something so small could prove so satisfying.

Nando’s hatches 413 years later the gold rush started. Many Mozambican-Portuguese settlers rushed to Johannesburg to prospect for gold. They took their unique Peri-Peri chicken with them. Some prospectors found digging for gold too tough and decided that feeding hungry miners with their Peri-Peri chicken would be a more lucrative business.

In Rosettenville, a restaurant named Chickenland flourished. Then in1987, two great friends - Robert and Fernando - visited and fell in love with Peri-Peri flame-grilled chicken. They bought the restaurant and changed its name – the first Nando’s (after Fernando's name) had been created.

The Legend of Barcelos

Back in the 14th Century in Barcelos, Portugal, a pilgrim was wrongly accused of theft. The penalty was death. For justice he appealed to ‘Our Lady’ and St. James – the patron saint of protection.
The pilgrim came before the judge who was to decide his fate. The judge was about to eat a roast cockerel for his dinner so the pilgrim pleaded “If I am innocent may that cockerel get up and crow.” To everyone’s astonishment, and luckily for the pilgrim, the cockerel did rise and crow heartily! Only a legend but we love it. Indeed we chose the Barcelos Cockerel for Nando’s identity because of its association with faith, justice and good luck.

So there you have Nandos and the famed Barcelos Cockerel in Malaysia but not in Singapre yet.

MUTIARA RINI

DADIN'S NEW ABODE

Where we love is home -
home that our feet may leave,
but not our hearts.

After Nazrul's wedding, we drove to Dadin's new house at Mutiara Rini. Very spacious for his family of five. I noticed that Cousin Dadin had given some personal touches to his house and his home proud wife, Chuai was all pleased to show the house round.

The family was offered an alternative place to move out as his present accomodation would be affected by the Iskandaria Project. The spanking new terraced house at Mutiara Rini has four bedrooms and faces a piece of open land. Very comfortable indeed. I could imagine the surrounding being cool during the dew hours. The double storey house decoration is taking shape and the hall and the dining areas are almost completed with the fixtures and furtniture.

Surveying the size and the space of Dadin's new abode, some questions played in my mind. Should I buy a retirement house in JB and carry out my reconcilation pact with nature which I miss a lot here? I grew up in a kampung, amongst greenery and a stream gurgling behind my house. Those were the days...my kampung daze....free to take flight and lose myself in day dreaming under the jambu ayer tree. Terribly miss those memorable times of my life.

Meanwhile I will just dream on of houses with spacious grounds, bay windows, cobbled stones pathway, rose bushes and a swing under a bough.

HAPPY ROOSTING IN YOUR NEW HOME DADIN & FAMILY

Folk art cottage by Catherine Holman

NAZRUL & SITI FAIRUZ BIG DAY
08 09 2009

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“Nikah (marriage) is my Sunna. He who shuns my Sunna is not of me.”

To Nazrul and Fairuz

'May you lead a happy life as a wedded couple till death doth you apart'

Traditional Muslim weddings are always events of a lifetime, with every friend and distant relative attending, lavish costumes often adorned with gold or silver jewelry, and precise religious rituals to be followed. Thus you can imagine how much preparation and effort have to be put in for the miles long guest list to be pampered and the traditions and rich customs to be observed over a period of days and nights. The entire event planning could backdate a year earlier than the set wedding date.

Nevertheless, weddings are happy occasions and I, for one welcome these auspicious moments, especially those of beloved relatives. I see these moments as times where one deepens and strengthens one ties. These gatherings also act as platforms for the third generation family members to get to know the older ones and continue the family roots to replace the previous generation.

Who else in the Sheikh Madar Clan is getting married? Do let us know in advance.

Enjoy Siti Nurhaliza's 'Bukan Cinta Biasa'

NAZRUL'S JB WEDDING

TO NAZRUL & FAIRUZ

In our life there is a single color,
as on an artist`s palette,
which provides the meaning of life
and art.
It is the color of love.

Nazrul and Fairuz on their wedding day

The dashing looking groom

The demure looking Siti Fairuz

A wedding album with the groom's parents

Reception time for the couple and close family members

The table setting for the couple's tea reception

Groom' s siblings and family members

Couple with my family

Fairuz's mother and family members

Abang Ahmad menepong tawar the couple

Mum also blessed the couple on their happy day

Group photo with the bride's family members

Groom's mother welcoming the bride into the house compound

Couple looking replendent walking towards the groom's house

Abang Manaf and Tok Latiff

Mum and Maznah

Saedah's and Rohana's children

With Jannah - who broke the 16 year old Singapore's long jump record

Ramon and Manaf. Ramon was a 1980's singer and actor

Cik Amy and Gayah (Ramon's wife)

Mum and her PA - Tini

With Jameelah and Rohana

With Zubaidah, Ratna and Farid and the gang

A gathering of cousins and aunty

Qaish and his two body guards

A joyous moment to be together

With Yunus family and Hussein's daughter (far left)

Part of The Madar Clan

Syed Mustapha and Isa exchanging news after a long separation

We were the very first guests to arrive

Kak Ani with Siti greeted us at the gate

On Friday - the rewang night

We popped in on Friday for a night visit

The couple on eve of their wedding

Abang Ahmad inviting us two weeks before the wedding

GATHERING OF THE MADAR CLAN

08082009

Weddings bring about the gathering of many relatives, especially so when you a have large family to boast of. We congregated at Abang Ahmad's wedding for Nazrul's betroth to Siti Fairuz.

Relatives from across the causeway and all over Malaysia were there to join in the merriment and be part of the happening that day. I was there on Friday night itself, because my hubby had wanted to surprise his friend whom he had not met for the past twenty years. We were there again on Saturday with my mum.

I am just going to do a slide show presentation with photos which had captured the beautiful moments we spent together.

EVE OF WEDDING SLIDESHOW

~ 07082009~