Ohmygosh, what a busy day it has been! I would have liked to blog yesterday, but I just didn’t have the energy to update as usual. But I’m feeling so much better today after two days of eating properly … so here is a post for you! 🙂
Anyway on Wednesday afternoon, I called my parents up in Singapore. It was already dusk for them and thus Syawwal. I wish them a happy Eid, while Cart and I were waiting in anticipation for it to be our turn. With the announcement from the Centro Islamico Culturale D’Italia, we found out that we were good to go too. Yay Raya time!
This was our last breaking fast meal. Gado gado! I know it doesn’t look appetizing, but it’s so delicious. Completely vegan! Thank you Kynne for sending me the peanut sauce 🙂
(Sidenote : Paying 2 euro for bean sprouts is such a cut throat. So what if it’s organic. I might as well grow it myself!)
In the morning, I went for a quick run (just to start my engines before my 10km run next week) and then we got ready and rushed off to the Grande Moschea di Roma. With past years experience, I thought that it would be a good idea to use public transportation as it is very difficult to find parking areas during these times.
Unfortunately for us, ATAC (the public transportation in Rome) wasn’t organized properly. The Flaminio-Civitacastellana train line which was supposed to run every 10 minutes came every 40 (!!!) minutes instead.
So we took the chartered bus provided. It was just our luck that the bus driver didn’t know the route, and took longer than he was supposed to. I knew something was off when a passenger ran down to ask directions. And when we passed the auditorium twice, the entire bus was complaining. We didn’t manage to get to do the Eid Prayers in time in the end. That was such a disappointment.
As a consolation, we got to do a jenazah prayers after the sermon.
(By the way, I don’t know if it’s the culture here but there were so many women bringing their children here and they were running around, and shouting. I don’t think that’s right)
Going back home was a horror, as not only was it blazing hot, we were in a huge crowd of people. I felt like someone placed a bonfire near me. It was so uncomfortable to say the least. What a terrible idea it is to take the public transportation and I don’t want to go through that again!
The combination of heat, the long wait and anxiety just zapped out my energy. We were supposed to have Cart’s parents over for dinner, but I was so tired, and just cannot make it so we had to postpone it. As soon as we reached home, we immediately headed to the bed and slept.
(The swordfish looks so pitiful)
The next day, feeling slightly better, we did some marketing. I know the traditional thing to do is to get ingredients for food like Ayam Masak Merah, and Rendang and whatnots. But it’s too much fuss to search for the ingredients for them in Rome. Moreover, Cart’s parents prefer to eat Italian food (just like my parents prefer to eat Malay food even when overseas)
We made trofie con pesto e fagiolini e patate, Orata al forno and caponata. It was such an action packed evening – tidying up the house and prepping the food. We even had a blackout at one point. Hahaha!
Nevertheless, when we were done, it was a lovely evening chatting and eating. Simple, but I like this new tradition 🙂