Winter...

is really starting to make its presence felt masha'allah.

The rains have arrived and it's feeling chilly at either end of the day now. The duvets and bedcovers have come out, and the children are out of their summer clothes and wearing vests and long sleeves.

It's still warm later on in the day, even with the rain, but there has been a definate shift in the weather which means it's time to get ready for a colder spell that will no doubt be welcomed by many after such a long, dry summer.

In our house it means rain proofing ourselves. Algerian houses are built to cope only with dry or hot weather. In the winter, even though the weather could be fairly spring like here in Algiers, inside your house it could feel close to freeezing. And rain? you don't want to know about it truly... I thought a lifetime of living in the UK would have me prepared for that one... but there's something so damned relentess about the rain here.

Anyway, our tarp is up, and it will stop most of it from coming in insha'allah.

We have what is typical of alot of homes where I live, an open roof! If you look at the photo you can see just how exposed we are in the winter months.

I'm planning my winter cooking too, finding new recipes to sit alongside the familiar ones I already use.

 

There's just something so comforting about coming home to a house full of the smells of things cooking,

My children spend alot of time walking back and forth from school so its important to me to have good hearty meals on the table when they come in.
And as much as I rebel against it sometimes, it's what I signed up for right?

 

I make an exception to my normal rule of no sweet weekday afternoon teas in the winter. I think it does the children good  to have a little something sweet to tide them over till dinner time.

I already posted my recipe for Flapjack a while back, but just in case you missed it...

 

And all you need to do is melt the butter, along with the sugar and honey

stir in the oats, and press down into a baking tin. And bake of course until nice and golden.

I like my flapjack to be fairly thick, so that it's moist and gooey in the middle, 

use a tin that gives you the right amount of depth to achieve the fapjack you'd prefer. 

Obviously the thinner it is the crunchier it will be, so beware!

We're heading towards a half term holiday here from Tuesday. November 1st is a day to commemorate the start of the revoloution against the French occupation in Algeria, and it's followed hot on it's heels this year by Eid-al-Adha. Which is why the children are benefitting from this double whammy by getting an extra holiday!

So we're preparing for a break (of sorts) possibly some family days out and a bit of travelling if we have time insha'allah in between everything else that seems to go on round here.

And with what's left of my weekend I'm off to tidy up a little, make some lunch and then insha'allah spend the afternoon with a book and some crochet. There are blankets to be made!

I hope you're all having a restful weekend

xxx