Ramadan Sofar

Alhamduilah its the 7Th of Ramadan and alhamduilah the fasting has settled well in to the home and family members are all into the Ramadan spirit. We as a family are trying to make the most of our guest as we know on the 29th or 30th day Ramadan will leave not to return until next year and maybe we won't be alive to reap its benefits. So lot of Quran rectiation going on in different rooms at different times of the day. some translation of the Quran being read and relayed to the younger ones. Islamic knowledge quizzes while the younger ones feel the pangs of fasting. lots of helpers in the kitchen this Ramadan inshaallah it will last beyond.

There is a certain vibe in the Muslim home at this time of year that creates a peace a kinda spiritual peace that only comes when the heart is attached to Allah subhan Allah. Another blessing is the Devils are chained up this month and the gates to Paradise are open and the Gates to hell are locked!
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “When Ramadan comes, the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are closed, and the devils are put in chains.”

Too much zucchini?

My DH came home with a big bag of zucchini and well seeing its Ramadan and not much cooking going on...........i decided to try something else have a look

Zucchini fritters
At Sonya's request here is the recipe, well i made it up to be honest! Here is what i did, Grated the zucchini's and in a bowl mixed 2 eggs added spices , like salt , peper and chilli powder, added some flour. mixed in well with all the mixture . Heat a little oil and form round flat cakes with your hands squezzing out the water a little and put into hot oil, allow to brown on both sides.

Zucchini omelete

Fruit Salad

For my Iftar table alhamduilah chop any friut of your taste and sprinkle with a little sugar pour in some fruit juice orange is good and mix well. chill and serve at iftar.
A salad for my iftar table my son made this mashaAllah

Vingerette for salads

" teaspoons of vinger, salt and peper to taste, 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 teaspoon mustard. blend well a lovely dressing for salds.

Carrot & Potato Salad

Steam the carrot and potatoes chop the spring onion mix in bowl and add some chopped parsley.

Chack Chuka Beatenjam (Aubergine Starter)

Prick some aubergines and bake in the oven till soft allow to cool a little and peel.

Mean while heat a little olive oil and crushed garlic to taste, add the chopped aubergine to the pan and stir , add salt and pepper and 1 table spoon of vineger or to taste.

sprikle with some chopped parsly and mop up with bread.

Hem Halow

This dish when i first came across it was sickly sweet to me but over the years i have become accustomed to cooking it my way and omitting the meat as that's just too rich for my table, also the idea of sweet meat some how does not digest well. Apart from the fact my DH loves this dish in Ramadan, bear in mind small amounts are eaten at the time of breaking fast and i now like to have some as i suffer from low blood sugar and after a day of fasting and little of this before i have my soup is just right for the body's balance and i now see the benefit in this for our table alhamduialh.
make a sugar syrup i used 1 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water i added Cinnamon sticks, green cardamons, dried ginger and ginseng for a spicy flavour. Allow this to simmer to a thickish syrups stirring when you can. Add 1 table spoon of ghee and the fruits in the bowl allow to simmer further for 5-7Min's and allow to cool.

I some times use fresh pears or apples and change the fruits but for this one i used figs, apricots , prunes, almonds and sultans

Foods for Ramandan On My Table

As this is our first ramandan together in 3yrs as a family alhamduilah mashaAllah. We making the most of things we can do together as a family and encourage one another inshaAllah. I will post some of the dishes i cook through out Ramandan to share with you inshaAllah.
This is what our shur table looks like , its more for my dh and its typically Algerian suhur


Cous cous with sultans and home made Laban and dates.

Myself i have a glass of water and 3 dates normally or sometimes a hot chocolate and toast.

Ramandan Karim

Dear Allah
My heart is so hard.
The earth’s crust has formed a shell around it.

I plead You to shatter the shell that makes my heart unable to move for You.
I plead You to break the shell that makes my heart unable to submit completely to You.
I plead You to shaken my heart with a mighty quake so it is in full awe of You,

so it is not neglectful of You,
so it beats only for You.

Ya Allah

My heart is so dry.
The sun’s heat has burnt it alive.

I plead You to melt the heat that makes my heart unable to cry for You.
I plead You to freeze the heat that makes my heart unable to wail hysterically for mercy from You.
I plead You to moisten my heart with a flood of faith so that it is in full awe of You,

so it is not neglectful of You,
so it sees only You.

Ya Allah

My heart is in need of You,
save me.
Save what is dear to You.

I beg of You.
For I am nothing; nothing without You.


Ameen Rainbow In The Grey Sky

Khubz (BREAD)

I wanted to make khubz tagine but my tagine has been spoiling my cooker so i am not using it anymore on the hob.
I mixed 2 cups of fine semolina
2 cups of plain flour
some grated lemmon rind and some salt
Yeast to rise and water to mix

Shaped them out into rounds and sprinkled the trays with a little semolina , pierced with a fork and baked at gas mark 6 for around 20-30mins.

A dense bread

Another Friday Already

Subhanallah that week passed to quickly for my liking, we headed off to for salat al jummah and to meet up with a dear sister i met during my hijrah. She said i looked out of place in London and that i somehow didn't belong here in her image and experience with me. May be she ws right but all is qadr and i acept what my lord offers me .By the time we got inside the kutbah had already started , here they have the same kutbah in English, Arabic and Bangla. The masjid was crowed mashaallah but i was not squashed and prayed with ease. Allah blessed us with the chance to pray a janazzah prayer for 3 women and 1 man. Exiting the masjid we were offered dates , water and a bag of ramandan goodies mashaAllah.


The emphasis of the kutbah was on helping the needy and charity this holy month, just as inflation has risen here for us so has it world wide and this should not make us stingy in giving to those who need it. we should still give inshaAllah. When these needy raise their hands let it be in dua and not for begging, even if you give little do give.
http://www.islamic-relief.com/seasonal/ramadhan/Default.aspx

During the kuttbah the iman also said if ramandan fall on Sunday we will be praying salat al tarawiyyah today subhanallah , Tabbarak Allah it hit home yes RAMANDAM is upon us, I would like to wish you a a RAMANDAN KARIM may you all benefit and be blessed with piety ameen.

Just beacause

A favorite cheese (port Sault) of mine was on offer at the super market and i have not had this cheese for well let's just say a long time, well when i got home i couldn't wait to scoff it down and this is how i did it

I love cheeses with red grapes, i sometimes eat them with cous cous too. It's the small things that make me happy!

Reading

some reading i am doing at the moment and i have successfully cupped recently alhamduillah. i dry cupped my own foot this morning , i was going to wet cup it but became worried as the skin thee is tough and i know we have a major artery there so dry cupped to be safe, i must say i feel instant relief with the dry cupping and really benefit from it mashaAllah.

another thing i have been looking into for 2yrs now is cure to sickness by rukkiyyah. when the Dr.s fail to diagnoss illness and its unexplained then rukiqqah can help. i will do a more detailed post on this soon inshaAllah.

Here is a link to rukkiyyah , lay down and listen to it attentively http://download.media.islamway.com/lessons/agmy/014-Alroqyah_Al3gmy.mp3

What's in my garden?

A frog yes a frog
As i went to do some trimming of the bushes something leaped in amongst them and i ran back in thinking it was a mouse or a rat! after much prodding and poking the bushes , me , DS and DD2 we learned it was a frog there hidden in the bushes subhanAllah so we have named it Mr Frogy very original i must add. Just two nights ago we spotted the neighbours cat sitting in wair by the bush for this wee frog, my ds soon moved her along by means of a jug of cold water.

Other things in my garden plants to share with you

I don't know what this is but has taken 4 yrs to grow and bloom.


i don't know the name of this one but it smells Devinne really lemony and it has just recently reveled some white flowers mashaAllah.
This is mint that i planted yes mashaallah sucess for once its for my kitchen and my dh mint tea!


Here are some ivy's

Finished

Mashaallah ok i finished my first crochet project well first by following a patern and here it is
It is a jug cover and i am using it for a lidless jug i have and now with itcthing fingers i have started another project a scarf for dd2 (6yrs) and the orders are flying in fast now the kids can see i can do it loool. i like this two tone cotten i saw a while ago insha Allah it comes good.

Cornflake Crispy's

A very quick and easy snack , the kids make this for me and i for them. You will need Cornflakes, butter, golden syrup and cooking chocolate you can also do it with coco. Melt in pan and mix together.



One coated place into paper cases and refriderate for about 10 mins

Mactoweem Algerian dish

Now i made this last night mashaallah very quick and easy a bit rich mind you as i am not accustomed to eating 2 meats in one dish in my book RICH but Algerians often cook two meats in one dish. This one is from http://culinaryxcouture.blogspot.com/2008/04/mthouwem.html
here is my version i changed the spices a little to suit our palet, added some chilli's and ommited the chick peas for Almonds.

Sisters

Aggression

My son was stalked and attacked in the super market by another child (around 10yrs old).Whilst my dh and dd had gone to another aisle this all happened in 2-3Min's, alhamduilah his karate training came in handy and he was able to defend him self. Now since i have returned i have noticed when my son is out with me other children looking at him in an aggressive way and almost provoking him to confrontation, my son is a is raised by me and is mashaallah a very kind and caring soul. At first i though i imagine it but no he told me sometimes when i turn my back the other boys stick their fingers up with a V sign not meaning peace. Now this angers me as its provocation, they are forcing him into trouble. what is this British Society like, what with a recent http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1047592/Help-help-pleaded-boy-clung-balcony-falling-seven-floors-death.html pointless murder of a young life and the countless stabbings here in the Capital LONDON, suddenly i am worried for my son and he is only 9yrs old. Anyone else experience something similar? what do you do in this society i want to know if the other mothers with boys have experience this?

It's that Friday Feeling

Yes yaum al jummah alhamduillah Rabi Alamin, what a blessed day jummah is for us .........subhanallah here is how mine went. I came down to cook lunch but discovered not much in food wise so i looked through the cupboards and spotted the cous cous and i had some peas to pod and what came to mind? Yes 'masfouf' also it reminded me of our old home Algeria 'sigh'. As on jummah day in Algeria people cook cous cous as a cultural tradition as its the only full day at home for all the family so they make a special meal to share bit like a Sunday Roast for some of the European cultures. It reminded e of my neighbours and how some jummah days i would end up with difernt bowls of cous cous sent to me by different families mashaAllah.
If i was in algeria and making this i would add foul (flaver beans too) and have this with a glass of Laban (buttermilk). Firday is the day i try to read quran esp surah al kaff as it is highly recommended so i do it first in arabic with a qari via online but i normally get lost alhamduilah its the effort that counts. Then i read it again in translation to make sure i understand what i am reading alhamduillah. I actually became quite tearful at some ayats i read that really penitrated my heart mashaallah TabarakAllah. We didn't get out to the masjid this week alhamduillah. Later in the day i went shopping for my hijamah essentials

I was hoping to show you some pictures of me in action but my dh has been to busy for me to pin him down for a session sadly but soon inshaAllah. I would also like to thank my dear sister who taught me and i pray allah give her the ajar aswell as me for teaching me and sharing the knowledge to help others ameen. Seeking Taqwa these are for you hunny just beacause you are my sister and i love you for the sake of Allah ukti!

Now while we were out shopping there was a punch up , yes a fight now this totally angered me. There were spectators of up to a crowd of 70 peep's and no one intervened, no one went into break it up, no one cared enough instead they were heckling 'fight' 'fight' this is the GREAT British society I live in. There was 4 teenagers beating 2 men who were out shopping with family his wife has 2 young babies in a double push chair and was wearing a hijab. The crowd was to big for me to actually see all but i could hear her screams and this drawed me nearer as i thought she was being beaten, she was screaming for her husband and other family member being beaten to a pulp. Then someone asked me what had happened there , i turned around and said shame on you, everyone is spectating the least you can do is call the police by then my dd had already done so. It makes me sick, it angers me, this is the non caring , afraid society we live in? the standby syndrome, i am discus ed sick to the pit of my stomach, i wanted to intervene , i wanted to slap the agressors , i wanted to help! What is wrong with these non caring people Britian was not like this before in the past i mean growning up, i remeber an old asain lady got mugged and most of the neighbours chassed the man down the street. In Algeria everyone steps forward and breaks it up, if i trip inthe street people rush forward to help me at the very least make a dua for me, for allah to protect me subhanAllah i miss my security alhamduilah. Later we saw the 2 men who had been beaten to a pulp , blood everywhere.

Other stuff i have been doing these days Al-hamduilah I have become fustrated with the crochet and following paterns , why? just can't do it but after another atempt 'bingo' i am on my way al-hamduilah this is going to be a jug cover lets see what gets made i have got my sights set on a afgan with 192 squares inshaallah looking forward to that one inshaallah need to get my hands on some yarn first inshaAllah.

Been having alot of insomia lately subhanAllah so one night i joted down a list for Ramandan goals for the kids as i am starting to home school the younger 2 again. conteplating my being and my own achievements for the days ahead in order for a better hereafter inshaAllah.