first day puasa

aiyoh
What a hectic first day of fasting.
I asked Taufik what he wanted for iftar (buka puasa, breaking of fast) and he told me to google for the recipe for Chicken Handi. So I did. Wrote it down and wrote down the grocery list.
We went grocery shopping at 2pm. Iftar is at 5:47pm, so plenty of time, right?

Wrong!

Coz I felt like eating cucur udang (prawn fritters), so we had to go to the fishmarket to buy prawns first. Then when we finally got to Panda Supermarket, it was asar time (afternoon prayer) and even though they were supposed to close down the cashiers during salah (prayer time) break, they had to keep it open coz there were so so many people in queue. We got our stuff and queued up just as salah break was over.
By the time we got home it was 4:15pm. One and a half hours to breaking fast.
I still had to cut up chicken and prepare the pastes for the handi.

panic panic panic!

ThankGod Taufik helped with the shelling and cleaning of the prawns and fish. ThankGod it takes only 15 minutes to cook rice. ThankGod Ilham was helpful with grinding the peanuts in the mortar and pestle.
Still, 10 minutes to maghrib (dusk prayers, when we are allowed to break fast), and I was still waiting for the oil to heat up to fry the prawn fritters. I was frying fritters and making the peanut sauce to go with it at the same time. Felt quite good that I could multi task.

I was still in the middle of frying fritters when maghrib came!
Taufik had to feed me dates so that I could break my fast without interrupting cooking.

My peanut sauce didnt turn out right (have to remember to call my mom-in-law and ask for the recipe again), but the fritters were yummy. heh heh.
I had wanted to make sirap bandung but didnt have time.
My chicken handi was so-so, but I have an idea how to make it better next time.
We finished the fritters, prayed maghrib, then watched Malcolm in the middle, then only had our dinner of White Rice and Chicken Handi and Lettuce ulam. I had to fry eggs for the kids coz the handi was slightly spicy for them.

ah well, who said the first buka puasa has to be perfect?

This morning I had prepared the sirap (dissolve lotsa sugar with warm water, add red food coloring and essence of rose), so I think having sirap bandung for iftar is a big possibility. Ilham is so excited by that prospect.
I'm gonna try to fry some sweet potatoes as well for iftar.
For dinner, we're gonna have fried fish, with maybe thai chilli sauce. with rice. and lettuce ulam again.
Pray everything goes well.

Selamat berbuka, everyone! :)