A Visit to See The Queen

But we never actually saw her.............My DH's nephew is over for his half term 10days from Paris and i took him out to do the tourist thing we opted for Buckingham Palace and here it is...........
on the way passing a Army museum and the solders are out on exercise






A car is stopped and search on our way

Something the kids found too funny so here it is

The lush autumn leaves at St James Park i love the colours..................





getting close and feeding






The Palace




A detailed look at things













its so ugly dont you think?



on the way home saw


that looks really tight.
A wanted to see the traditional red phone booth so on the hunt

Is It A Chinese Pumpkin?

My mother and my neighbour both gave me parts of a Pumpkin its white and tasted like a marrow. I was very impressed with their harvest mashaAllah both grew it in there gardens. I made a curry with it of course!

more Autum Harvest........



The Herb Garden : Sweet Baisl, mint, thyme and more

Rubarb

The Mercy Of A Muslim Neighbour

That fear Allah ofcourse mashaAllah


Baked us a cake and came over to devour it with a cupa mashaAllah. JazakAllahu Khyrun to you lovely ladies.

I deleted my HE blog

For those that followed it , i nearly deleted this one to but held myself back. Lots of changes settling, unsettling , test and trials but alhamduilah i am still here. Settling back has been very difficult so far and to me yet no end to the un settlement i didn't realise it would be so hard and dragging but it is! Should have stayed n Algeria hey? Thing is I feel i have certainly slipped back into the stressful life style of London, rush rush rush as much as i tried to resist it i couldn't it had to be done. The one place where i should be feeling safe and relaxed i feel terror and fear so that has not helped my re-settling down. Life is different i must admit my attitude is different, i am different, we are different. is that a good thing or bad? only time will tell.
I did take some pictures during my absence so here are the food ones beacause hey i gota eat!

Millionaries shortbread




Autum Vegi's

Mousaka

Apple Crumble

A Sisterly Reminder

The Muslim woman is sincere towards her dear sister's.
She is always kind,gentle and friendly with them.
She understands that her religion is based on,trust,loyalty,
honor and true love for her sister.
Her heart is filled with the sweetness of faith.
She truly wants for her sister,
What she wants for herself.
She never forgets to pray for her in her absence.
She always has an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on.
She commands the good and forbids the evil for her.
She follows the quran and sunnah.

Dua is Rememberance

1. " When my servant asks you (O Muhammad) about me, (tell them) I am close to them: I listen to the prayer of each supplicant when he asks Me. Let them listen to My call and believe in Me, that they may walk in the right way "
(Quran 2:186).

2. " Your Lord says: " Call on Me and I will answer your call "
(Quran 40:60).

3. " Those who believe and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of God, for in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest "
(Quran 13:28).

4. " Remember Me, I will remember you; thank Me and reject Me not "
(Quran 2:152).

5. " Remember thy Lord much and praise Him in the evening and morning "
(Quran 3:41).

6. " Such as those who remember God standing, sitting and reclining "
(Quran 3:191).

7. " and men who remember God much and women who remember God, God has prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward "
(Quran 33:35).

8. " O you believe! Remember God with much remembrance and glorify Him in the morning and evening "
(Quran 33:41-42).

Prophet Muhammad (:Sallallaahu 'A ) said

1. "There is a polish for everything that removes the rust and the polish for the rust-of- heart is the dhikr (remembrance) of God."

2. He was asked which people are most virtuous and most highly esteemed by God on the Day of Judgement. He (:Sallallaahu 'A ) replied "Those who remember God often."

3. It is narrated in a hadith Qudsi (direct revelation to Prophet Muhammad (:Sallallaahu 'A ) "God Most High says I am as my Servant - think I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me by himself, I make mention of him to Myself. If he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than his. If he comes closer to Me a hand span, I come closer to him arms-length, if he comes to Me walking, I come to him running."

Feeling Out Of Sorts

It's been an uphill struggle since my return and alhamduilah although i feel i am making ground. i also feel i am taking 10 or 20 steps back or maybe never took them in the first place?

So many changes , so many 'wants' and as a human being and the off spring of Adam it's no surprise 'we want it all' but in reality we 'can't have it all'', that's jannah where we can.

I am fighting an inner battle within myself and in the real world too, a battle that brings terror to my life, my thoughts and fear too but also brings me closer to my maker but then why do i loose hope? Coz i am only human maybe.

other stuff going on is my washer has packed up and decided to give up on me. So i thank Allah truly when i say i am in the UK and have the ability to attend the local laundrette for a wash ,£2.70 per Small load and a 40Min's wash and great results alhamduilah its a blessing as one year in Algeria i was without a machine for 4 months and hand washing during the winter months it was a nightmare but you get through some how. In fact its the same place we used when i was a child and all the memories of wash day came flooding back, what was the young English assistant is still there but aged about 20 years. Me and the kids actually look forward to going there , its the simple things that make me happy! I must add the wash comes up nicer too subhaAllah! I go about 2-3 times per week and with signs of me heading there my DH is sitting back and being relaxed about getting the washer sorted he has managed to get the top of and clean a blockage but i keep telling him a screw has come loose from the drum so i wait, i did right to get down the launderette otherwise we would have been clotheless now that would have been a test!

here its is the old laundrette

funnily enough so many years on the dry still cost 20p and the spinner 20p I think it works cheaper as at home i am paying for water and heating the water plus electric and the washes are longer .

Life is so busy here in the UK time elapses too quick for my liking i must say i miss the quality of my days in Algeria and having time to think deal with my daily life. I find people in the UK are so consumed with their own being and dare i say selfish to an extent, in the sense no one has time for one another but the sad thing is that time can be made it may mean cutting into their time but this is were selfishness appears , this really saddens me. sometimes you can be surrounded by so many yet alone Allah knows Best.

Forget to mention i got a blog award my first ever and too be honest being the off spring of Adam i always wanted one ! Hugs of dear Umm Hibaat who i had the pleasure to meet this summer, someone came to life from the blog world and felt me worthy of a visit mashaAllah.

Eid in the UK

Taqabbal Allaahu minnaa wa minkum. Wa ghafar Allaahu lanaa wa lakum.

wishing all my readers a wonder full Eid and catch up with you al after the celebrations inshaAllah.
The day unfolds with early morning Eid prayer locally, we arrived just as they closed the door after us so alhamduilah as we sent 20Min's driving around looking for a mosque to pray in as our local one is under construction. After the Eid prayer not one person offered me eid greetings so i went up to sisters and shake their hands and embraced them offering them the sunnah eid greeting. Everyone was so distant and concerned about getting away not even stopping for the next sister to offer some joy for Eid as i especially go to the Eid prays for this as my Eids have been often a lonely affair and maybe not seeing another person to give them Eid greetings esp in the earlier years, so with this in mond its always my highlight after Eid prays to be embraced and greeted Allah al must'aan i was very shocked by this lack of affection from my fellow muslimah's

Next up visiting my neighbours with cakes and greetings





the kids felt in the festive mood


Alhamduilah i was ok most of Ramandan so come the last night i had fevers all night hot and clod alhamduilah . All my family are bunged up with a nasty head cold virus , some have sore throats to go with it too . so a very easy Eid at home and it was cold and windy all of a sudden not complaing but alhamduilah we made the most of the day. My DH's friends had invited us to eat out with them but due to the wet weather the seating area was not avalible so the families and their 9 children between them came here with mine 12 subhanAllah and the men cooked for the women and children and we all enjoyed a meal together alhamduilah dispite the flu but i tell you once the guest left i was laying down with the shivers and DH had to leave to work the night shift so alhamduilah. I found it amazing how i held myself together whilist in company but really i was in a bad way under. The kids said they had a lovely time mashaallah but my teen felt left out as noone her age and she felt a little borred to be honest. I must say its a difficult ages as they are kinda in between and its hard to find stuff to intrest them. Alhamduilah after even she made an effort and got into the spirit of things with the younger ones!

Another nice thing happened in the morning 2 of my neighbours , came around in the morning to offer me eid grrtings and duas. I was so touched as this is my first visit of this kid in over 15yrs as a muslimah and i just had to shed a tear with them and i told them so , that they felt me worthy this special day of Eid morning , so they sat with me for almost 40mins and we eat some cakes subhanAllah Alhamduiah.

My intention was to pass to others friends and loved ones 2nd and 3rd days but due to illness this has taken a back seat and i don't think i will be able to.

so today i have braved the shops with a fever in tow to get some bits for a hearty chicken soup for all inshaallah.

Side dishes (salads)

This one is coldslaw but i used Greek yogurt instead of mayo


Next up was a potato salad made with a small red pepper, onion diced fine, parsly, boiled egg and boild potatoes

Dress with a dressing of your choice and enjoy.

Hotch Potch (Lamb stew)

Things you will need
oil
lamb used baby
2 onions chopped
1 turnip chopped
1 stick of celery chopped
1 litre of water
salt and pepper to taste
Cauliflower
2 carrots
1 cup of frozen peas
2 cups of shredded lettuce
Finely chopped parsley

i tweaked the recipe a little to suit my pallet , added about a 5 inch piece of whole ginger and 2 garlic clothes (both to removed after cooking
Cayenne pepper and a vegetable stock cube also replaced the lettuce with cabbage.



Method
update latter

My Lasagne

Have not had this for a long long time

Ricotta and spinach puffs

Ricotta and spinach puffs

i used puff pastry (frozen from the supermarket)

Fudge

decided to make some FUDGE that Stranger has been making and had hope for it myself as EID parcels to give as gifts inshaAllah but that all soon went out the window lets see why.


So far so good!


OK not to bad now still

now it started to go wrong


They were very hard to remove from the tray and not solid as i had been expecting , Stranger what did i do wrong ?

not one to be defeated esp in the kitchen here it is take two!


Much better but not good enough for the parcels!

Coconut bites

If you like Bounty chocolate then this one is for you, i adore coconut in various forms. I wanted to make these , well something similar but don't know how


As in Algeria i had cakes made for Eid to share with family and neighbours for EID , here i guess peep's give one another gifts but this is too costly and i am not to happy about all this pressure to buy gifts. So here is one tradition i will keep for my Algeria experience.



sorry ladies i didn't mean to forget to post , i just didn't! Umm Hibaat glad you recognised them as i forgot the name!

Ok So you will need

Coconut i used 3 measures
1 measure of sugar
1-2 table spoons of melted butter or marg
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
egg white to bind

Method

Put all in a bowl and mix well
tightly shape golf ball sized balls and place on oiled tray , top with half a cherries, some times you can put into the cup cases and bake in them as the are fragile and fall apart but as i wanted to coat in choc i didn't.

Now bake at gas mark 5 for a very little time like 7 Min's , keep an eye on them as they burn quick. allow to cool and coat in melted chocolate.

It's really easy.

Corn with chilli

Try this with your corn next time all we had to say last night was yummy!

You will need

Whole corn (skin and silk removed) cut each whole corn into 3 pieces.
salt, pepper, Cayenne peer, creme, tom puree and butter
Boil, in a bowl mix 1 table spoon of Tomato puree, finely chopped coriander, salt ,butter, pepper and Cayenne pepper to taste.

In a pan over a low heat for a few Min's combine all this, toss in the corn kernel and add a dollop of creme serve warm.

Butternut squash & Corriander Soup

Things you will need

squash
Onion
Butter
Veg Stock
Coriander
Garlic to taste
Creme Frachie
Method

Peel the squash and remove seeds.
Saute the squash with the onions,butter and garlic for a bit then boil all in pot expect creme when tender blend to liquid and stir in creme.


sorry forgot to picture the finished soup maybe try later.
here is a variations to this soup