Mealtime Mayhem

My dad suka makan bercicah. Sementelahan menu utama encik bapak adalah ikan, for he is on cholesterol watch. I can trust my mum for watching his diet but not hers. Mangkuk kecik, kicap manis Adabi, cili api dan limau kena disiapkan kat sebelah tepi pinggan bapak sebelum panggil beliau duduk makan. Kalau takde, memang kena duduk berdiri terima arahan ambik bahan satu persatu. That's why my mom the one who has to sit last to make sure everything is there.

Encik bapak tak makan banyak, so dia selalu habis makan dulu. He is so good at making that cicah with his secret proportion, that lepas my dad habis makan semua berebut nak ambik baki cicah. Pernah cuba reproduce the same cicah but it never the same, that's why puan emak biarkan ayah buat cicah sendiri. I guess air tangan bapak adalah salah satu secret ingredient.

Well I have to say that being abroad for a long time *feel cam merantau jauh je kan*, kadang-kadang I reminisce the mealtime mayhem. I missed them and I hate the fact that I am gonna miss it a lot.There is certain unspoken rule and unique preference that we subconsciously agreed upon. Whenever my dad is home, everyone kena makan kat dining table, television off. Whenever he is not, even my mum pun makan depan TV. 

My dad has to be the one yang kene jamah all lauk dulu before us. Nobody touches fried chicken drumstick as it is belongs to my older brother, he also likes to eat the tail half of fried fish sebab dia suka kunyah ekor. Whoever in exam, jangan makan kepala half of fish. Saya tak suka makan ikan rebus (here they called it singgang). My older brother tak suka bunga kantan dalam kerabu mangga. Whenever mum cooks sambal terung, my older brother akan songlap most of the sambal udang kering, so you have to acts fast. My younger brother suka extra bawang goreng in his soup. He also likes to eat kicap manis Adabi with his every meal, like extremely a lot. We have to restock 6 bottles of 'em every month. I think that is why he is the fairest among our sibling.

Siapa yang terkemudian habis makan, kena habiskan semua lauk, bersihkan meja dan basuh semua pinggan mangkuk even bagi baki lauk dan tulang-tulang untuk kucing (or sometimes anjing) makan kat luar rumah. Before encik bapak habis makan, someone has to go get him his fruit desert, as ready to eat as bananas, and as troublesome as betik, (nak kena kupas, de-seeding and all). Usually I am the one who has to do that, because my mum baru je duduk to have her meal. That's why I always be the last one to finish. My mum will stay at the table, talk me to finish all lauks. And she is pretty convincing.

"Hah, habiskan ikan tu, sayangnya kalau tak makan."

"Tu sayur kangkung kan favorite, habiskan."

"Hah habiskan baki nasi bapak ni." believe you not, my mum still tells me the 'nasi menangis' stuff up till I am form 5 you know. Just to talk me untuk habiskan nasi.

For those who aren't familiar with that story, here's the long version, as much as I can remember.

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CERITA NASI MENANGIS 

as told by Puan Emak and getting nod from Encik Bapak

Pada zaman dahulu di sebuah kepulauan ada sebuah keluarga yang suka membazir nasi. Setiap kali nasi tak habis dibuang ke laut (I think it because they live nearby laut kot). Nasi-nasi tu pun menangis dan berdoa sesiapa yang membazirkan nasi akan jatuh susah. Nasi-nasi yang hanyut itu pun terus menangis sehingga terdampar di sebuah kepulaun lain. Orang-orang di kepulauan itu mengutip nasi-nasi itu dan memberi makan kepada ayam-ayam ternakan mereka. Nasi-nasi itu gembira sebab dimanfaatkan lalu berdoa mereka-mereka yang tidak mensia-siakan nasi akan mendapat kesenangan. Kedua-dua doa para nasi dimakbulkan Tuhan.

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Last sekali my mum will ask me to guess which countries are mentioned above? It's kinda obvious, Indonesia is the poor cursed one and Brunei Darussalam is the rich blessed country.

Now siapa berani cadangkan kat Presiden Indonesia suruh rakyatnya jangan membazir nasi as the solution to economic crises rather than borrowing money from IMF.

Now back to mealtime mayhem story

Basically I am the scavanger of all. Atas sikit dari kucing. That's why dulu I am borderline overweight. One thing yang mak tak kasi habiskan adalah nasi kat periuk. Because she still has that superstitious belief that periuk nasi jangan dibiarkan kosong, nanti putus rezeki. Similarly tu beras dalam bekas simpanan, paling kurang tinggalkan secupak.

Okey my main objective here is to tell you how much I missed having meals with my family. Once again, nostalgia mencurah-curah meng-complicated-kan entry ini.

p.s. the end is kinda abrupt don't you think?