THE 11TH DAY OF EID 1447H

Puan Farah Sabina Safiai and her husband, Mr. Azlin Shah Omar, came for Eid visit on the 11th day. Puan Farah is a friend of UPM TESL Class of 1993, and she is married to someone who happens to be my neighbour and also the alumnus of Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, of the same residential college, Fourth College. They are now residing in Seremban.

Guests who come could now also visit the garden at the back. Puan Farah managed to get some chillies to bring back home today.

We are now actually in the second week of Eid, about 19 more days to go. I am not sure if there will still be more people coming to visit after this.

THE WEDDING RECEPTION ON THE 8TH DAY OF EID

   28TH MARCH 2026    ~ People have already started holding wedding receptions once the fasting month has ended. The second reception attended in the month of Syawal/Eid was of the daughter of my neighbour opposite my house.

As usual when it came to reception of neighbours, I attended the event with surau-goer friends. That would be the time I socialize with them outside the surau [small scale community mosque] once in a while.

Do expect more reports of wedding receptions attended coming your way.

THE 9TH DAY OF EID 1447H

    29TH MARCH 2026    ~ Two more groups of guests came visiting on the ninth day of Eid. The first one was the family of Mr. Shavarein Sulong and his family members, the regular annual visitors. Mr. Syazwan Shavarein is an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti and because of him, I get connected to the other people in the family circle.

This year, the Eid visit was concluded with the visit to the garden in the backyard and the photoshoot was done outdoor.

The second smaller group was another ex-student of Asrama Semai Bakti Felda, Mr. Solihin Ramli, whom I taught him English when he was in Form 3 in the tuition class there. He now came visiting with his wife and 6-month baby boy.

So far, those were all the people who had come during the nine days of long Eid break [for some people]. As tomorrow children will be going back to school and adults to work, I am expecting less people to come. And I still have a lot of Eid cookies at home.

MY HOMETOWN GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE STARTED AFTER THE END OF FASTING

My gastronomic adventure with my buddy started on the 9th day of Syawal - 9 days after fasting in the month of Ramadhan ended. My gastronomic adventure buddy, Mr. Redzuan, was also free to go food hunting so I decided to ask him out for my early dinner.

Initially we wanted to go to this one place but it was not opened yet after Eid, or had closed down for the day. It should be operating according to Google Maps but we were deceived by the information. It happened to us recently when the information of an eating place was not correct on Google Map. Hence, we made a return trip to Restoran Tomyam Syafiq in Taman Pulai Mutiara, our second time here.

We had the meal set for two, which was actually quite a lot. The Thai food was good and it was worth the money.

Thanks to Mr. Redzuan for the time. Hope he is ready to continue with our regular meeting for all kinds of food after this.

THE 8TH DAY OF EID 1447H

  28TH MARCH 2026   ~ I was invited to the Eid Open House held by an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti [SPM batch 1999], Ms. Zalila Ali, at her house in Taman Sri Pulai. Her husband is also an ex-student of the same school but too bad, he was working on that day so I could not meet him.

This was the third event involving eating all kinds of food of the day so I could eat that much.

There were also other ex-students of the same batch who attended the Open House. We had planned actually to be there at the same time.

I just got to know the host's younger brother, Mr. Hazli Ali, is also an ex-student of mine.

Thanks to Ms. Zalila for the invitation. Hopefully I will be invited again for other open houses in the future.

GETTING MY ROTI CANAI AFTER ONE MONTH AND ONE WEEK

I completed my six days of optional fasting in the month of Syawal yesterday. The first breakfast I had after one month and six days extra of fasting was Roti Canai [and Teh Tarik]. Accompanied by my assistant [part time] gardener, Mr. Eko, we went to this stall named Restoran Warisan Pak Atan in Kampung Melayu, to try the flat bread for the first time.

THE REVIEW OF THE ROTI CANAI: the flat bread was alright but unfortunately, the dhal gravy was not. It was a bit salty and thin at the same time. I have tasted better gravy at other places. Bear in mind, the gravy is one factor that determine whether the meal set is good or not.

I should now write Roti Canai review at the stalls/restaurants I visit in Johor Bahru after this.

THE 7TH DAY OF EID 1447H

Mr. Raja Mohd. Hilmi and his family members came visiting for Eid today. I only taught him English for tuition classes when he was in form 3 and 5, but he seems to be the only one from SMK Kempas who is still keeping in touch now [after he came visiting today]. The last time I saw him during Eid was back in 2017 [READ HERE]. Nine years ago, he had only two children but now there are already four.

I might be seeing him and his other family members next week in Seremban, and hopefully that will happen.