My durian drama

Last Saturday, Hawari & I went to the Malaysian 50th Merdeka Fair in Hertford. Best giler coz there were loads of Malaysian food ala-ala pasar malam atmosphere- kuih-muih, kueh teow, nasi lemak, nasi kerabu, apam balik, sate, ais kacang etc etc. Obviously, being pregnant gives me the licence to melantak dengan rakus sampai mengah... hehe. There was also performances, raffle draws, lion dance and some tai-chi/ kung fu demo thingy going on. Obviously, its a big event for most Malaysians in the UK to come along, therefore a good opportunity to meet up with each other... not forgetting some surprise reunions. I managed to meet Zura (she looked so lovely!), Kak Zihan from OGP (without Jeril-a.k.a-anti-social yang last minit cancelled), Hawa from BBGS (and a few other BBGS juniors), as well as getting to know new friends- particularly Aznim & family, who were just wonderful. The weather couldn't be any better- as a group of us, gathered under a big tree near the stage with loads of food and enjoying each other's company. Kak Zihan & Aznim were so kecoh sampai senak perut ketawa. I haven't had so much fun in a long time!

Anyways, back to the title of the story... what's a Malaysian fair without the Malaysian king of fruit - the durian. Yes, they were selling durians for £2 sebiji. Me, being the hantu durian could not resist to buy sebiji and got all excited on the way home, as I dah lama mengidam nak makan pengat durian. By the time Hawari & I reached Sutton, it was nearly 11pm and I managed to convince Hawari to kupas the durian before he leaves home. In order to make sure the whole house tak bau durian, I managed to contain the isi in a tupperware inside the fridge and got rid of the kulit durian (all nicely wrapped up!) in the garbage bin across the road of our apartment. I was convinced that I managed to hide all clear evidence (although I'm sure ada bau sikit lah) and went straight to bed.

At around 4am, my housemate and his friend, Adam, came home from London. Unsuspectingly, they encountered a strange smell- like leaking gas, most prominently in the kitchen area. Suddenly, they got into a panic and alerted the British Gas emergency unit! (Obviously, being in the UK and in the middle of autumn especially, durians were the last thing on their minds!) By 6am, a crew of gas inspectors arrived at our apartment taking tests and inspecting each and every gas pipes in our kitchen as well as the connecting pipes outside our flat to investigate this 'strange smell'. They also put on a 'CAUTION-DANGER' notice on our front door. All this drama happened while I was still sound asleep (dreaming of a bowl of hot pulut slathered with yummy pengat durian....)

By 8am, the inspectors still couldn't figure out where the gas leak came from and decided to come back in 24hours, this time with professional help. In the meantime, they issued out warning notices to the entire flats in our apartment block to not turn on their gas supply, just in case of an undetectable gas leak. They left shortly before 9am. Adam and my housemate retreated to bed after the long sleepless night ordeal.

Me on the other hand woke up around 9.30am, got all fresh and geared up to masak my pengat durian. As soon as I entered the kitchen to turn on the stove, suddenly Adam came running in to stop me. With his zombie-pucat-ness expression, he told me that its not safe to cook because there was a gas-leak-smell since they got back last night. Convinced that he was just pulling my leg (and irritated because I really tak sabar dah to cook my pengat durian), I ignored him and opened my fridge to reveal the tupperware with my durian in it. Within seconds, the whole kitchen bau macam leaking gas and out came my housemate half asleep rushing to the kitchen. I immediately said, "What??? Its just my durian lah!!!!" And the whole house burst into laughter.

In the end, we had to call up British Gas to explain everything, nasib baik lah tak kena saman or bayar their emergency service tuh... All this drama because I mengidam my durian... oops.. eheh...