Eid ul Adha Potluck on the Rooftop of Al Attar Escala, The New Gold Souk, Dubai

In Malaysia, Eid ul Adha is usually not celebrated as grand as Eid ul Fitr especially in the west coast. However here in Dubai, the celebration of Eid ul Adha among Malaysians is almost as joyful as Eid ul Fitr. We do have open houses and visit other Malaysians' houses. The dishes served are as splendid as during Eid ul Fitr.

During the last Eid ul Fitr, we spent most of the days visiting other Malaysians' houses. However for this Eid ul Adha, as planned, we celebrate it with fellow Malaysians by the swimming pool on the rooftop of this Al Attar Escala apartment. There are only three families - our family, Amin & Laila and Razi, the 'bujang sementara' who's brought here his family from Malaysia during the school holidays. The rest are all orang-orang bujang and 'bujang sementara'.

So at 1.30pm Monday afternoon, we were on the rooftop gathering and eating the special raya dishes joyously.

We occupied the pondok there when other mat sallehs were seen sunbathing nearby. Bujang-bujang tu siap pasang bendera Malaysia...wah bangganya. While Laila, Norita (my guest) and I were preparing the table and food, the men killed the time puffing cigarettes and chit-chatting.

The food is ready...Razi's family brought nasi impit, rendang, spaghetti and fruit cocktail pudding, Laila prepared peanut gravy, two types of salad and also nasi impit. As for us, hubby cooked his speciality mihun soto and begedil, I made daging dendeng to be eaten with lemang Nona, roti jala and chicken curry and also puding dadih strawberi. The 'bujangs' brought a few types of drinks. Aiseyy...no teh tarik la he he.

We were so hungry...apa lagi sesi makan pun bermula soon after hubby recited some du'a. All this while, I only met 4 or 5 Malaysians in this apartment building. However today, I realized that there are more than 20 of us including 6 kids. Ramai juga rupanya.

Ain and Apit wanted to have a swim in the pool but they were clad in baju kurung and baju Melayu. So, main air je la. At about 3.15pm, we all pun bersiap-siap packing things and put chairs and tables back at their places, bujang-bujang tu cabut balik bendera yang they all bawa dan simpan for the next occasion. Before leaving, not to forget sesi mentapau makanan yang paling meriah especially amongst the bujangs he he...We feel happy that we could share this special raya dishes with all the bujangs because most of them seldom cook for raya. Cuma ada sorang bujang tu yang rajin masak nasi impit walaupun 'rendang'nya di beli at the nearest mamak stall.

That night, we received an invitation to Amali and Zarina's house which is a just a walking distance to our apartment. We were served with plenty of Johore special dihes - rendang daging, chicken curry, lemang Nona, nasi impit, fried mixed vege, rojak buah and desserts...hhmmm all were delicious. Nak balik, Zarina siapkan bekalkan our family and Razi's family with nasi impit and rendang daging sedap dia. Alhamdulillah rezeki, thank you so much kepada tuan rumah yang pemurah ni.

p/s - Moi and family, thank you so much for the invitation tapi our makan-makan time coincided that afternoon. And to Nik and family, thanks for the invitation but we got your message a day late! Takpa la, lagipun we had another invitation nearby that night. InsyaAllah, next time we all datang beraya rumah you all ya. :-))