Salam Aidilfitri!

The cool thing about Malaysia is the amazing number of public holidays and festive celebrations we enjoy! We are now celebrating Aidilfitri or affectionately known as "Raya" in Malaysia. So Shortcake would like to wish all Muslim friends and all Malaysians...

"Selamat Hari Raya

&

Happy Holidays!"

I'd like to 'borrow' this uber-cute, super-charming greeting from my fav Doodolls (which incidentally is a Malaysian brand)

Uber cute greeting courtesy of Doodolls on Facebook.

Happy 52nd Birthday Malaysia!

Happy birthday Malaysia!

You have come very far since your first Merdeka.

In the spirit of oneness, I'd like to share Pete Teo's 2008 track "Here in My Home" performed by Malaysian Artistes.




SELAMAT MENYAMBUT HARI KEMERDEKAAN!

And happy holiday!

August is for Malaysian Delicacies

We always try to make it a point to Buka Pusa once with our dear R during Ramadhan month so we did our break fast session last night at PJ Hilton. We were supposed to do Subak but due to the perpetual rain we then changed the venue to Al Nafourah at Le Meredien, but we were dissapointed to hear that Al Nafourah was not serving Middle Eastern cuisine, rather they were merely having local food, but at the same exorbitant price.

I've never been to a Buka Puasa Buffet in a hotel before, and boy it was FUN! There's so much more variety compared to you usual buffet. I see all my favorite local delicacies such as lemang, ketupat, serunding, nasi minyak, satay, rendang, and loads more. There were Tempura stuff, Chinese dishes and Indian dishes and mamak favorites like murtabak and mee goreng as well!

Once you're done, you can move on to dessert, and there was no shortage here; you can choose from cakes, chocolate fondue, creme brulee to the local stuff like kuih muih, sago, putu piring and loads more colorful stuff I can't even name! And at the end of it all, you can take home a box of Bubur Lambuk for you sahur the next morning. I'd say all in all that's worth the RM98++ we're paying.

I didn't take much photos for fear of being kicked out in public, but here are two photos; the first is my greedy starter platter; a medley of everything! The second is of my all-time favorites; lemang and ketupat with fragrant serunding ayam and daging plus a couple of succulent beef satay!

Crazy mixture of stuff ... I'm hungry just looking this photo!

I think food like this sums up why this is a great country!

The beef satay was truly superb.

Oh but we girls really had fun with all the stories and catching up on each other's lives. The stories went on and on and the there was virtually no end to food! But alas, we out-talked them, they started to clear away the desserts before 10pm, which was rather dissapointing, but we had our fill.

Look look, I even wore a brand new custom-made Baju to get into the mood of things, here's headless Shortcake and R.

Overall, great talk and great food. Splendid.

August is for Malaysian Stories

August is a time of reflection for Malaysians ... I won't say I'm a patriotic zealot but I do love my country and I'm immensely proud of the creativity of Malaysians artists. P1 and 15Malaysia brings us 15 short films to celebrate the beauty of our diversity ... here are a series of short videos created to show us who we really are, so stay tuned ....

Excerpt from 15Malaysia's site:

"15Malaysia is a short film project. It consists of 15 short films made by 15 Malaysian filmmakers. These films not only deal with socio-political issues in Malaysia, they also feature some of the best-known faces in the country, including actors, musicians and top political leaders. You may think of them as funky little films made by 15 Malaysian voices for the people of Malaysia."

Screenshot taken of 15Malaysia's site.

These videos will be released one by one between 17 August till 16 September. So far, two videos can be viewed; Chocolate by Yasmin Ahmad and Potong Saga by Ho Yuhang. Get the latest buzz on their Facebook site or follow their tweets.

You may watch and even download the videos, go to: P1 or 15Malaysia

What to expect? Well, some are funny, some are sad, ironic and even a little bit silly; they may make you laugh or cry or invoke all kinds of emotions ... and some may even make you go "huh?"

Have fun everyone and enjoy being Malaysian!

A Loss For Malaysia

Our country has produced many great talents, but in my heart and mind, only one person uses her talents and resources to bridge the racial and cultural barriers in this country in a way that no others had done.

Yesterday Malaysia lost Yasmin Ahmad, film-maker and storyteller extraordinaire. I think her message to us Malaysians is there are no exclusive race and class among us but we are all God's creation, a colorful society that make up this unique country. Her creativity, wit, humor and film-making style has inspired many and gave us a sense of pride of our fellow Malaysians.

Alas, my limited and inept words will do no justice to her cause, I'll share 3 videos below which are close to my heart and I believe speaks of her dreams and visions.

I think she would like to be remembered for the good and funny times:



A trailer of my favorite Yasmin Ahmad movie:



Beautiful in any color, shape and size, a commercial by Yasmin Ahmad:




Thank you Yasmin for showing us how beautiful we all are, in our individual ways, as a family, as a community and as Malaysians, despite all our cultural quirks.

I never knew Yasmin personally but her films and writings made me feel like I did, I'm sure many would feel the same. Yasmin will always have a place in the hearts of Malaysians.

Al-fatihah and deepest condelences to friends and family of Yasmin Ahmad.