FAMILYHOOD & LOVE

MAZ HOLIDAY

Bali, Hanoi and Sapa were part of her itinerary while Singapore was her base. Maz and her two children, Ema and Zac, spent almost a month on her recent holiday but she was jet setting everywhere. We barely squeezed two weeks together from her 32 days of vacation before the whole family flew off to Sydney.

As usual no visit to Singapore is ever complete without a crossover to Johor Bahru. We made two trips there, buying shoes like crazy and blouses. Maz tried the naan and prawn lemak cili padi at Pandan City. She was taken aback by the quality and taste of the food. Her eyes rolled up at the smacking good taste of the freshly grounded cili padi sauteed with galangal, lemon grass and some coconut juice. The low price almost knocked her flat.

Maz also had time to attend her school reunion where she got to meet her Primary 1 classmates whom she had not set eyes for the past thirty years. She snatched some time to tailor her kebaya at Geylang. Orchard Road, Bugis and Arab Street were not given a miss. My brother and husband also arranged for her to swing her nights with Tania. Clark Quay was another place they went for some late dinner and music. My sons and nephews dragged Ema on their ghost hunt. Changi Hospital, Pasir Ris and Punggol bore nothing to make their hair stand. Ema's shrieking hyena-like laughter must have scared those apparations away!

I am so fortunate to have Tini look after my sister's family needs. She managed the cooking so well by serving different dishes daily. Whatever my sister and her children craved for, Tini would prepare the next day. They had mee rebus, mee siam, soto, spaghetti, carbonara macoroni, mushroom soup, roti jala, curry chicken, tomato rice, ayam masak merah and many more. What Tini had to do was just asked what Maz wanted to eat the night before and the dishes would be ready for their breakfast or lunch. Maz also brought home lempeyek and fried shallots all done by Tini. And a big fat NO to those who wish Tini could be on loaned into your household!

Zac loves prata for breakfast while Ema prefers thosai. There would be nasi lemak, lontong, cereal, putu mayam or toast to add to the items for the breakfast table. Maz is not a great eater and would just nibble her food. But I did see her truly eat when she requested for mussel sambal and lemak cekur manis.

We are always delighted to have Maz and her family over. It was like a family reunion for us. We will wait for Maz's visit again with bated breath.