A Night of a Million Deeds

Ok first of all im gonna say that my hp has gone bonkers. i cldnt take pictures!!! it says it's saving and saved but when i wanna check back says "No more files" It's NOT the memory card problem cause i changed memory card and the problem persists.

Yesterday at 3pm, i got a call from my friend/sister/junior, HUDA. She said she has two tickets to a dinner at Royal Plaza on Scotts that very night but she cldnt make it and wanted to give it away then she thought of me and hubby! It was actually from her aunties who cldnt make it.

So A Night of a Million Deeds is a night to appreciate the SGD1k and above donors of Kampung Siglap Mosque (hereafter known as MKS). And also to sort of inform the donors what they're gonna use the money for. haha.

Thank God i was dressed quite decently (read: office wear) and not some t-shirt kinda wear. But still i felt out of place sey cause the rest were SUPER dressy. Also, actually i was going to my sister's school Lantern Festival celebration but i cancelled out on her so to speak.

The Programme started with cocktails at 6:30pm... i didnt see any cocktail going on so we went and loitered downstairs. We hung out at Mc... then i told Zubair, "I dont think the dinner would start before 8pm, we shld better eat something first" and we bought (do u even need to guess?) large fries!

One of the questions i asked Huda was, "Will it be in English?" She said, "The itinerary in the invitation are all in English.. guess should be English lor..." But Nope it wasn't.. the speeches were all in Malay.. perfect Malay i should add... but the slides are all in English. *shrug* And our friend, Zubair, was bored to death not to mention sustaining his hunger cos i ended up finishing the fries! hahahah

First speech was from Mr Khair Mohd Noh. I tot that he's a fabulous speaker. Not too funny not too serious. Didnt stump a lot and has a rich malay vocabulary and think really fast on his feet.

Then it was Ustaz Firdaus Yahya's turn to give a presentation about Darul Qur'an and their future plans. Basically MKS is the second org in Singapore to start this Tahfiz (memorisation of the Qur'an) program foundation. And they were chosen by MUIS (the Singapore Muslim body) to expand the prog.

Reminiscing, I was the pioneer badge back in 1999! Sadly, i quit in mid 2001 - After 9 juz. i cldnt cope with working life and i had just moved to Woodlands and the commute is terrible! To think that i came out first in the exam amongst 6 other female students.. and that my dad offered to chaffeur me... sighh... i was a lost cause back then. I didnt know what was the priority. I didnt even hafta pay any fees cause i was offered scholarship and i cld have continued in a Tahfiz sch in KL. I was naive. Damn i was naive!

Anyway, it is my wish that if and WHEN i become a housewife, i will pick this up again.

I teared when they showed a video presentation Bcos i realised how much i missed MKS and what a BIG mistake i made. and and and and......... (endless...)

Before the dinner actually starts... (and it was 9pm already).. there was still some award presentation for donors of 5k and above. there were 7 recipients. and there were a total of 13 tables of 10pax..... Do the math!

NOW.. Dinner items from the famous Royal Plaza kitchen (maybe):

1. Fried Rice
2. Moroccan Lamb
3. Braised Beef
4. Fried Baby chicken with rosemary and lemon
5. Broccoli (a total miss)
6. Some fancy named fish called Amellius or something to that effect. (Too many meat already)
7. Soup was cream of asparagus with something. (Took but just a few sips)

I took both lamb and beef. I'm sorry, Zubair, i really can't eat lamb.. its ... DRY lah.. beef tastes better DEFINITELY.

Then there were the usual salad.. mango.. prawn.. salmon... but the dessert... well there were a lot of weird stuffs.. and me not being a choc fan just took the Apply & banana strudel.

Most interestingly and i salute them for doing this: the host said the muslimah go take their food from the buffet table first.. then the muslimin to follow. And We were entertained by a LIVE Qasidah while eating dinner.

Zubair was laughing at me when i was the only one left eating.. enjoying my second helping of the prawn salad (which i took half for him but he was full) while everybody else were paying attention to Ustaz/Dato Haron/Hassan Din giving a speech about Ramadhan.

The closing event was GREAT! in the itinerary it said, "Auctioning of art pieces." i thought God we can leave by the time. But its not any ordinary art pieces... its Arabic words in Arabic calligraphy and the artist did it on the spot! after less than 5min of squiggling on paper, the product was shown to the floor and we all gasped! it is soooooooooooo nice! i caught it on camera but like i said my camera is having a downtime right now.

Auction starts at 250. The first piece - La ilaha illallah went at $300! Second piece - Basmalah sold at $450!! Masya'Allah all these people so generous!!!

I left the place beaming, feeling fuzzy and warm from their good deeds.

and We reached home 11.15pm!