Ramadan Bazaar 2017 & Our Quiet Hari Raya Celebration
Hello!! Selamat Hari Raya to all my muslim readers. I know I should have said last Sunday since it was officially the first day and now it's been a week, oops. But it's not too late because the celebration is actually for a month.
So this is one of the rare times that I managed to fast for one whole month. It's different this time because it was the first time that I fast at my new work place on weekdays. So basically I spent most of lunch time at my table. Sometimes I go out such as to the post office even I had to walk in the hot sun. I expected the post office to be crowded but it was not so that's a good thing. The distance, well..not so much, hehe. But I would say it was efficient when it comes to registered postage.
I also managed to go to the Ramadan Bazaar two times but the first time was to actually find a drinks stall. I actually went round twice and eventually found it..where I first entered the bazaar -_- It was to buy the Thai Milk Tea and it was sooo good..for a $4 cup, it was huge too. The first time I bought for takeaway, and saw that I had to carry two big cups, my eyes were like..so big, and I had difficulty carrying it together with a big bag of heavy ingredients to make cookies.
Another trip was with my brother and it was a more thorough exploration. Okay, not really thorough..because you had to go there with a plan. Otherwise you will end up jostling a lot with the crowd where at some point, wouldn't move as they were finding for nice food to buy and eat. It was pretty packed at some key points such as where the popular stalls were. At one point, we were sweating because it was so hot in the cramped areas and with the crowd while waiting for our food to be prepared. There were a lot of young stallholders selling hipster and instagram worthy food. I would say they were not cheap so we were very selective.
I didn't take the food pics but the stalls where we bought the food from. We should have done the former actually, lol. Just trying to be different. Overall, many people said that the entries of many of such hipster food and it's pretty pricey price tag somehow killed the festive atmosphere where previously, the food being sold were mostly traditional food. Also, there were also many foods being sold that were not halal, or permissible to be eaten according to Islam. And you won't know unless you have done your research, mostly by Muslim bloggers who took the effort to explore and ask the stallholders themselves if their food is halal.
Actually the need to be creative was also because the rent this year for the stalls were the highest as compared to past years. And because it was also competitive, they had to come up with such creative ideas and believe it or not, many of them were first timers in the f&b industry. So this was like a litmus test for them too.
On Hari Raya day itself, my mum cooked traditional Raya food, sans coconut milk of course, hehe. Of course to be honest, coconut milk helped to add richness to the food and taste. But health comes first. It was still yummy to me but maybe other people used to the actual traditional Raya food may beg to differ. My mum can cook such standard fares and at times, I feel bad that she had to resort to my annoying strict diet, hehe..but it also opened her eyes to cooking healthier alternatives.
If you have been visiting, I hope you all had fun. I haven't gone visiting for ages, and if I do, usually to an aunt's place. I honestly had to lie that I go visiting when I talked to my colleagues at work though in actual fact, I don't. It doesn't quite bother me because I used to do so last time so I had all the experiences from back then, though not all were fun and I often wished I was back home quickly, haha.
Anyway, here are some pics from the bazaar and the food we at home on Hari Raya itself.
Oh, I also included pics from the second day of Hari Raya which was on Monday. If the public holiday falls on a Sunday, we will get the following Monday off too. These pics were taken off the rooftop of Marina Square and the McDonald's of Shenton Way which is actually our favourite McDonald's location.
follow me on http://instagram.com/rahayupopz
So this is one of the rare times that I managed to fast for one whole month. It's different this time because it was the first time that I fast at my new work place on weekdays. So basically I spent most of lunch time at my table. Sometimes I go out such as to the post office even I had to walk in the hot sun. I expected the post office to be crowded but it was not so that's a good thing. The distance, well..not so much, hehe. But I would say it was efficient when it comes to registered postage.
I also managed to go to the Ramadan Bazaar two times but the first time was to actually find a drinks stall. I actually went round twice and eventually found it..where I first entered the bazaar -_- It was to buy the Thai Milk Tea and it was sooo good..for a $4 cup, it was huge too. The first time I bought for takeaway, and saw that I had to carry two big cups, my eyes were like..so big, and I had difficulty carrying it together with a big bag of heavy ingredients to make cookies.
Another trip was with my brother and it was a more thorough exploration. Okay, not really thorough..because you had to go there with a plan. Otherwise you will end up jostling a lot with the crowd where at some point, wouldn't move as they were finding for nice food to buy and eat. It was pretty packed at some key points such as where the popular stalls were. At one point, we were sweating because it was so hot in the cramped areas and with the crowd while waiting for our food to be prepared. There were a lot of young stallholders selling hipster and instagram worthy food. I would say they were not cheap so we were very selective.
I didn't take the food pics but the stalls where we bought the food from. We should have done the former actually, lol. Just trying to be different. Overall, many people said that the entries of many of such hipster food and it's pretty pricey price tag somehow killed the festive atmosphere where previously, the food being sold were mostly traditional food. Also, there were also many foods being sold that were not halal, or permissible to be eaten according to Islam. And you won't know unless you have done your research, mostly by Muslim bloggers who took the effort to explore and ask the stallholders themselves if their food is halal.
Actually the need to be creative was also because the rent this year for the stalls were the highest as compared to past years. And because it was also competitive, they had to come up with such creative ideas and believe it or not, many of them were first timers in the f&b industry. So this was like a litmus test for them too.
On Hari Raya day itself, my mum cooked traditional Raya food, sans coconut milk of course, hehe. Of course to be honest, coconut milk helped to add richness to the food and taste. But health comes first. It was still yummy to me but maybe other people used to the actual traditional Raya food may beg to differ. My mum can cook such standard fares and at times, I feel bad that she had to resort to my annoying strict diet, hehe..but it also opened her eyes to cooking healthier alternatives.
If you have been visiting, I hope you all had fun. I haven't gone visiting for ages, and if I do, usually to an aunt's place. I honestly had to lie that I go visiting when I talked to my colleagues at work though in actual fact, I don't. It doesn't quite bother me because I used to do so last time so I had all the experiences from back then, though not all were fun and I often wished I was back home quickly, haha.
Anyway, here are some pics from the bazaar and the food we at home on Hari Raya itself.
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| We had their yummy taco dendeng |
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| These were thick cut potatoes slathered in cheese |
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| I took this pic from the bus. It started moving though..hehe |
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| Home cooked Hari Raya ftw! |
Oh, I also included pics from the second day of Hari Raya which was on Monday. If the public holiday falls on a Sunday, we will get the following Monday off too. These pics were taken off the rooftop of Marina Square and the McDonald's of Shenton Way which is actually our favourite McDonald's location.
follow me on http://instagram.com/rahayupopz
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