Ramadhan 1435 - Part One

we're coming into the last ten days of the holy month of Ramadhan. its been quite smooth sailing, so far. the boys, though they whine and ask 'how long more' every 3 minutes and fall asleep in their plates during sahur and missed a week of sekolah agama because they can't get up and are the most difficult to handle from 530-730pm, have been extremely wonderful by not missing a single day of fast.

i vowed to not have a dining table filled with pasar ramadhan food this year and i've managed to keep to that, accept for one day. we used to have oodles and oodles of kuihs and lauks and satays for iftar and they either had to be finished during sahur or end up being shoved in the fridge. so this year, no more. Ramadhan is about controlling oneself, so controlling from toppling over the table with food we shall.

i actually made a list of what to cook this year, for sahur and for iftar. but some days, tiredness and laziness just takes over and the list gets thrown out of the window. but good thing i had back ups, i.e. googling 'what to cook with chicken' or 'quickest way to cook meatballs' helps.

i've kept our iftar menu simple this year. something quick and easy on weekdays, because picking up the boys would take up almost an hour due to traffic, and something slightly heavier on weekends, as i can take longer time to cook. alhamdulillah, for 14 out of 17 days, i've managed to lay the dining table with home-cooked meals for the family to break fast with.

iftar day#2…spaghetti meatballs, lamb chops and peanut butter cup brownies

iftar day#3…mee kari

iftar day#5…creamy baked chicken with fries and salad, nutella cupcakes for dessert

iftar day#6…nasi lemak, ayam goreng, sambal udang and vanilla cupcakes

iftar day#7…nescafe jelly to accompany bought satay

iftar day#8…nasi tomato, kurma daging and ayam masak merah

iftar day#9…baked meatball parmigiana with fries, carrots and broccoli

iftar day#12…steamed fish, ginger fried chicken and beef with oyster sauce

iftar day#13…kuey teow with fish ball soup and cream caramel

iftar day#15…butter rice, kerutuk ayam, chilli eggs and salad

iftar day#16…roast chicken with fries and salad and ice cream for dessert

iftar day#17…ayam cili and udang masak lemak

we substituted the kuihs with lots and lots of fruits and juices this year. the boys are quite happy with their iftar dishes, asyraf's been known to mutter 'sedap nya semua benda buka ni…' while holding on to his bursting tummy.