Start of 2026

how was your 2026 so far? I hope you've used up all your MyKasih money last year

it was the first day of 2026. 

my parents were in Penang for work leaving me and my siblings at home. It was never really a problem for us to just exist in the house the way we always do but my aunt invited us over to her house for eat-eat (makan makan) with all other families. 

Great, no need to think for food. Alhamdulillah rezeki. 

We drove there hungry lol. Like some puppies sniffing for food, we went straight to the kitchen to see what our aunt was cooking. There were some leftovers from breakfast and dinner was still far away. it was only 4pm. 

my aunt probably sensed our desperation for food

 “Lapar kee?” she asked. 

we nodded. 

“ingat kita kesah kee”

we laughed ha ha, you’re jok….ing right? yes maam you do look care, cause youre our aunt. Who loves us very dearly. kan umi? hehe…*nervous smile*

Despite the slightly sinister remark she then steamed some sticky rice thing and told us to make pizzas. Thankfully, gratefully, kindly and fortunately, she already had all the ingredients ready.

Pizza it is! 

dont mind the spoon on the dough...

We followed the QUICK the INSANELY soft (thats literally the name of the recipe) pizza recipe for the dough prep, and left the kneading job to the breadmaker. We then proceeded to stretch and shape the dough to circles and left if to proof for few minutes. 

I was too hungry it had only been fifteen minutes. 

“when are we eating the pizza man” 

“its proofing” 

my sister replied with a cant you see it? annoyed face. 

proofing…..dont say it, Sofea. don- 

“but what is it trying to proof??”

 i replied, totally proud of my own joke. 

she looked at me, 

“THE BREAD!!!”. 

Few days before I’d watched a TV show where Jennie worked as an italian pizza maker and i saw them did it in ten minutes! so this is an unreasonable amount of time for a non italian pizza. I was hangry and this close to suing the recipe maker for the misleading recipe name. 

The dough then proofed beautifully and we spread the sauce and added all the ingredients and a lot of chhheeeese. baked it and alhamdulillah it was sooo good. It was indeed INSANELY soft. I forgave the recipe name maker.

Thank you Umi may Allah bless Umi and family. 

As more relatives arrived, the house slowly got crowded. Too many conversations at once, i hope people raise their hands before speaking. I just continued watching boboiboy playing on the tv eventhough i couldn’t hear a single word. 

As much as I love my family, I am very shy and reserved around them. I dont usually join the adult conversations. Neither am I too young to join the young conversations. I’ll just sit with any baby (or alone) and response to whatever questions thrown at me.  

My phone kept getting lost I asked my nine year old cousin who was watching the tv besides me. 

“did you see my phone?” 

“no? i dont even know how your phone looks like” she stared at me in disbelief are you seriously asking me this?

“right, you dont” realizing my mistake for asking her

nevermind i’ll find it myself. Its not like anyone is messaging me anyway. Maybe thats why it got lost at the first place. 

It was nice seeing all families members meeting each other, catching up, updating their life stories and their health status, millenials telling their old “it was last year” jokes, the children running around and ofcourse the typical “bila nak kahwin” question. I’ll take the question if it means this family gathering, guys.

Alhamdulillah Allah gave us the chance to meet again, healthy.

The dinner was finally ready, we gratefully ate, prayed, and we played card games. I mean, them. not me. I was too shy. 

It was late at night when we kiss goodbyes and went back home, realizing that that day was thursday and not the weekend. wow. could’ve gave us one extra cuti, PMX. 

PS: we all met again on saturday at my house with my parents around.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great 2026 so far. A reminder that January will be extra long i hope you can survive with the money left after all the gifts (for someone else or for ourselves) bought in December. Im already broke by the way, it's only the 10th today. Pray for me.