The Travellers Return

Alhamduilah my family are all back with me now , they returned on Saturday afternoon after 3days of gruelling travel via car all the way from Algeria to London. The scenes were emotional for all, they missed me and i them. My single life of 5 weeks came to a reality end almost immediately. The surprises i had gotten ready for each and everyone were much loved and appercahited! I could tell they are ecstatic to be home again. My some who has contracted Salmonella posioning in the last few weeks of their hols was a little worse for wear but has since build up his system with lots of TLC , mothers love and cooking! All back to school/work and life goes on as we entered the last 10 days of Ramadan subhanAllah i cant believe it has just passed so fast!

The moon at before the dawn

Sweet syrups to dilute from Algeria , mint and pommigrate flavours but i believe they have extract!
and not forgetting Algerian cakes sent by the in laws which are often art in themselves.





Just wanted to share some interesting cheeses i have been enjoying
Whiynsdale I am sure that's spelt wrong , a type of mild Cheddar with cranberries and my DH came home with the same cheese but with ginger and mango (i told him this must have been made with the desi pallet in mind!).


Both are very nice.

Homemade breads Foccacia and wheat Barley

Roasted Baby Lamb

My DH came home with this rare treat of Baby Lamb all ready for roasting , I would have liked it stuffed with flavour myself but i just did something simple to it. Added some sea salt , grinded ginger and chilli salt over it , sprinkled with rosemary and covered with sliced lemons of it went to be baked.


here is what we got tender succulent piece of meat!

Ripple help

I have ran into a spot of bother with my latest WIP remember this post?
Its the ends they are working into a decrease instead of straight! Any ideas anyone and help?
I feel disheartened to try again as it was tricky to start with :(

Rambling

The schools re-opened for my children this week , today i am offically alone at home and the holidays are over! Too soon if you ask me. My DH and 2 children are still in Algeria and are due back on Saturday as they will take their ferry tommorow to cross over to Marselle, France. I can't wait to see them i have missed them but have also enjoyed the rest and break from the routine. I have had time to bond with the youngest as its just been me and her for the past five weeks.


My son has been ill while away he was in hospital , severe food posioning , its been hard on my DH but the consulation for me is alhamduilah he has the support of all his family there mashaAllah.

I have been making treat parcels for my kids just some of their favourite sweets and drinks for when they get back as i know they would have missed them. also my son has lost a lot of weight due to the illness.
I have been watching this squirrel running to and throw on my garden wall as i type.


Its my first alone day since months and I have been catching up with the ironing that has sat there for almost 2 months.I am clearing the mountain done 1 hour already with the new steam generator iron. This device is great i feel like its cut my ironing time in half. I should have got one sooner. Now i need a new ironing board to hold the load as my old one is not strong enough to hold the new heavy device.

I have been feeling ill since last night , a bit fluey , with a on and off temperature. Its the weather change here in the UK well London anyhow its gone form glorious sunshine to nippy and windy. I am still upholding my fast, just feeling a little lonely to be honest.

I have also managed to sucessfully ruin my latest crochet project, not happy about that! Now I am not bothered to start again! Not at the mo and it was looking so nice to.

Anyhow back to my pottering about inshaAllah!

Remember the Marrow?

Well here is what my friend done with it , she cooked me Iftar (fast ending meal)
She made a curry of prawns, coconut milk, red pepper and the marrow.
She baked potatoes and we ate it as a jacket potoato topped with the marrow and prawn curry. It was lovely! Thank you dear friend Amatuillah!



The pleasure was all mine having someone cook for me as i don't enjoy my own cooked food so someones elses is delicious!

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie is an English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton.
I used beef........ Shepherd's Pie is essentially a casserole, lined with cooked meat and vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes, and baked.

To be honest i was a little tried last night and entered the kitchen late to start cooking so it was a little rushed and of couse even though i tried to cook for two ended up with too much.





INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
1 onion chopped
1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas
1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice
METHOD
1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).
2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.
3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.
4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.
5 Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.
6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.
7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.
Serves four.


As i had too much i made extra in the Ramekin dishes

As Ramandan progresses

Fast eleven already ! Subhan Allah we waited so long and now its all moving along , i must say that Allah has made it easy and all the fears that Satan had put into my mind before about it being hard with such a long day until sunset have all been proved wrong alhamduilah.
A picture i took of the moon outside my window last night

its not quite a full moon full.
I have been attending Tarwiyyah prayers just a quick link i googled for those who don't know what they are. Now this is the first time i have been able to attend in my whole Muslim life. So its been a really blessing for me. I have visited two mosques East London and a local one. The experience has been uplifting and warming spiritually and i hope to attend more in years to come as its has really made Ramadan come more alive for doing so not to mention the rewards boost!
On saturday i meet up with Ameena we prayed at the mosque and headed back to mine we ended up staying up all night well until dawn , just chatting , laughing and advicing not to mention munching on snacks. in the morning we assisted Ameena with some shopping for her bridal outfit. It was good fun and i am so glad i got the oppurtunity to help Ameena this way! I must add she is a top lass!

Pastry Slice

This is a very quick and easy snack to make and the toppings are endless.i made up my own , be creative.

I used puff pastry already rolled , layed it down on a lightly oiled tray , topped it with sliced tomato's, sun dried tomatoes , black olives, sliced mushrooms, hamouli chessed grated and once cooked i topped it with freshly chopped dill.





My neighbour gave me a slice of her harvest! A marrow

can you imagine the size of the whole marrow from this slice? I plan to cook a curry with it .

Ripples

I have been wanting to try this pattern for a long time but the ones i found were to complicated until my crafting fellow blogger directed me to Attic24 at first i was mesmerized by the colours going on at Lucy's Attic but she had some great and learnable patterns too. Even for the beginer and smaller projects. I am using this patten and after a few attempts to give up ..........i am now happy rippling and its a cushion cover for my newly decorated DS bedroom.

Do you like the blues ? The pattern is very good and i do hope Lucy publishes a book some time in the near future as she is just great with writing easy patterns. Thank you Lucy!

Vegetable Soup

This ones easy chop all vegetables of your choice up into a pan add a knob of butter a stock cube of your choice and cover with water boil till tender and blend!

Quorn Chicken & Mushroom Pie ((Vegi )

I began by sweating some onions in a little oil.


I added the quorn and some sliced button mushrooms i browned this a little.

I added a tin of condensed mushroom soup and just a little water , i allowed this to simmer and then i added some chopped parsley.


Placed my puff pastry into my dish and added the filling of quorn and mushrooms and in it went to the oven after brushing it with egg.

A succulent pie , very nice indeed!

Ramandan , the begining

Me and my dd 7yrs old saw Ramadan in together as the others are on hols and won't be joining us until around the 14Th day of Ramadan. I must admit i was very tired from the mammoth clean up before hand but the efforts were not in vain and the end result is something i am enjoying. I treated myself to some flowers, something i can't remember ever doing ! They were my reward , i deserved it didn't I?


I have been busy trying my best with various acts of worship , reading Quran in Arabic and English , concentrating on prayers and pacing them out at a pace that feels not rushed. I have set myself some goals this blessed month like memorising certain verses or chapters of the Quran and some daily duas(supplications)so i know these by heart.

the first day of fasting is always the hardest for me with a slight migraine and overwhelming tidiness feeling after breaking fast. My dd7yrs old fasted with me and managed a whole day masha Allah. It's good training for her while its not obligatory on her yet. I decided to let her do one day miss a day , otherwise she could become very weak at this age. Now she did gluttony (poor love) i was able to use my garden herbs and make her a mint tea , which helped alot!



Not having a whole family here has really freed up my time in the domestic areas and kitchen..........so iam making the most of this blessing and using it to gain rewards.

My iftars (fast breaking meals ) are easy and simple and i feel happy i can do it the way i want to and not have to deal with fussy diets. On the first day i set of to the kitchen at 5pm as i would if i was cooking for all the family .it was too early i was out of there in less than 1 hour!



I don't have any recipes to share yet, as my own cooking is simple but i may latter on in weeks to come as there are some i want to try from this blog
Here are some pictures of a simple fruit salad i put together


some fresh herbs from my garden that i am using Dill and Mint


There is a certain something about Ramandan that is so spiritual for me a certain carmness i am enjoying a laid back feel i have missed for so long. Will this change when my family get back?

My evenings are short and i feel so tired after the iftar meal and alhamduilah have controled myself not to do gluttony but yet i feel like i could fall asleep straight after. I wanted to do some Tarriwiyyah prayers at least but am not in the position to do so as of yet!