Chicken Rice O Chicken Rice

Assalammualaikum.

As many may have known, or have not known, my mother is an active member of the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MACMA). And I have followed her in various activities for the past 2 years. 

There is a ReadMalaysia exhibition being held in the Malaysia International Exhibition and Convention Centre (MIECC) in Seri Kembangan, just next to Mines Shopping Fair. It is a book and education fair, and MACMA was invited to open a food stall in the exhibition. And of course, I tag (or maybe, was dragged) along. 

And we sell Hainanese Chicken Rice.

The fair started last Friday (5th June 2010) and will end on this Sunday (13th June 2010) from 11am to 10pm.

Some of the bookshops that participated in the fair are Gramedia Bookstore, MPH Bookstore and Unipress Dsitributor Sdn Bhd. Fyi, Unipress sells cheap medical books, so fellow med students do come and have a look, and eat the delicious chicken rice. =p

Being in this exhibition, selling food gave me a whole lot of new experience. It's definitely not easy to manage a stall, the tiredness and the fact that I have my End of Sem exam in less than 20 days time freaked me out. I even learned to chop the chicken, and I think the chicken looked horrible. I feel sorry to the customers who had that first few pieces of chicken that I chopped. But hey, the taste is still the same and I can guarantee I've done my best to keep the chicken clean and uncontaminated. So, the look should not matter. 

Since the stall is managed by chinese muslims, the lingua franca of the stall is Mandarin. And being the only one of the family not being able to speak the language, again the urge of mastering the language came into me. But whether or not I'll succeed, it's a totally different story. I think most of the workers in the exhibition knew about our stall, and since most of us are wearing tudung / scarf but speaks Mandarin, it feels special. And last night while I was walking back to the stall from the surau, one of the worker suddenly came and ask me if I'm a Chinese. He asked in Mandarin but the funny thing was, he asked without actually facing and speaking to me, it was almost like he's trying his luck whether I understand his question or not. So when I heard his question coming from my back, I stopped, turned back and looked at him, and replied in the same language (thank God I can understand and speak baby Mandarin).  So then his friends came to me, (guess what, they are from the insurance company) and started to call me to their stall to promote their insurance. I smiled, said thanks but no thanks and left them. It gave me a feeling of "enlightenment", adding on to the fact that I was in a super good mood back from IMU yesterday.

I first hold the chopping knife because I need to replace my sister who's going for her prayer (she's a full time worker while I am only a part-timer cum driver). And my aunts got excited seeing me in the apron with a big chopping knife, she asked my brother to take my pictures. And my, I look awkward. Hahah....

So, please do spare your time and come for the book and education fair, and don't forget to drop by the chicken rice stall (there are not many food stall, you won't get lost)! =)

Anyway, I gotta go now, to fetch some more chicken from the cook's house and bring it to MIECC. 

Till then, salam!

-AkMaR-

http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com

Wednesday 9th June 2010

11.42am