Ramadhan story

This is all very wrong.

All the hotel buffet, the glorious multi-course dinner, the mountain of food, the burgeoning pasar ramadhan (where more often than not, we bought way too much food beyond our need). And the midnight snacking. And the not-so-occasional Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa for sahur.

I am ashamed to admitt that I too, was part of these bacchanalian display of excess during this holy month of Ramadhan. The hard fact is, the true meaning of Ramadhan is lost to most of us, me included. We are not supposed to stuff our face with so much food, nor that we should over-compensate our loss of daytime meals during buka puasa.

The funny thing is, despite of my so-called "awakening", I keep on doing it. The feast never stop. I made too many concessions, too many exceptions when it come to Ramadhan. My conscientious intention to celebrate the holy month with family and friends are often accompanied by the ensuing feast on the dining table. Like what happened yesterday, when I had this buka puasa gathering with my UM mates at Cozy Corner in Ampang Park. I had a medium-rare Fillet Mignon with poached potatoes and side condiments as my main dish. The starter was a shared plate of whole chicken salad in Nicoise dressing, and there was also a bowl of seafood cocktail, drenched in tartar dressing. To complement the main dish, we had a plate of deep-fried prawn fritters, and Kapitan-style chicken and cashewnut dish. Dessert was apple pie, topped up with vanilla ice cream and chilled whip-cream. To add further damage, there is a box of gourmet praline from Bateel as well. The truth is, the food was very excessive, very unhealthy and the worse part is, I felt bloated like a whale afterwards. Nothing good could possibly come out of this, and yet I use Ramadhan as an excuse to justify this decadence.

In time like this, my mind travel back a decade ago, to the humble dining hall of Semesta. It was the age of innocence, where buka puasa was nothing more special than the usual dinner fare that we had for the rest of the year. A plain rice (nasik kawah) A scoop of overcooked vegetable (sayur kobis lembik was the worst). A piece of main dish lauk (chicken was the highlight), and a slice of fruit (tembikai mostly). The best thing that you can do to spiced up your meal is to bring a small portion of dried serunding (brought from home, of course), or to buy a sambal telor / sambal kerang from the school canteen.