Eid and beyond...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food, dressmaking and cakes seem to have been at the forefront of everything we've done or thought about doing for the past month and a bit.

I don't usually enjoy sewing these days, most of my sewing is functional and not too inspiring, but I enjoyed making these masha'allah and the girls love wearing them too which always helps to boost the seamstresses ego.

We're concentrating now on getting the children ready for the start of a new school semester on Sunday. And praying that dh's long journey to the UK is a safe and fruitful one insha'allah. Our pace of life (and eating habits) change when he's not here and we consoled ourselves with his going away with some good old fashioned bangers and mash!

Tomorrow we're off on an early morning jaunt to the market to stock up on school supplies, and then home to bake for some guests we're hopefully having in the evening. We have days to fill.

xxx

Week one...

of Ramadhan has already passed and we're finally falling into some sort of rhythm in my house.
it's exhausting and doesn't include alot of sleep at the right time, but this of course is small fry when you consider the reward insha'allah.

We had a pretty tough first week emotionally and it was tough keeping on track, but this is real life and stuff happens... the trick is to roll with the punches and to keep moving forward.

Week one for us tends to be pretty low key, as we try to concentrate on adjusting to fasting long hours, so other than keeping up with our Qur'an and (for some of us) attending Taraweeh there hasn't been much else going on.
We try to remain aware of  our reason for fasting and we've pretty much cut out all other distractions such as TV, non-islamic reading and non-essential internet usage.

For the small people there has been baking, and as we move into week two we'll include some crafts to keep their fasting minds occupied although all in all they seem to have coped amazingly well.

 

although judging by the way my sweetie looks here, the wait for cake can sometimes be just

too long!!

You can find our biscuit recipe and the tutorial for our advent calender here insha'allah

t'was the night before fasting....

and with more than enough to do already we decided it was only fitting to include an impromptu baking session for the younger girls and their friend ( who happened to bring along her two brothers  aged 3yrs and 15 months!) 

One of our priorities during ramadhan is to make it as enjoyable for the younger people in our lives as possible.

Far too often children get a bit lost and left behind during Ramadhan and I want mine to grow up with as many happy memeories of this beautiful month as they can.

the result was a super pooped 19 year old who volunteered to be head chef and child tamer, and a trio of happy girls with some pretty biscuits to enjoy with milk while the men folk spent their first night at the masjid for taraweeh.

First days mission accomplished ...  on the child taming and biscuit making front at least masha'allah.

"and the recipe for the cookies?" I hear you cry!

It's not mine, it's Nigella's... you'll find it in Feast.

Or possibly on her website.

Either way, the kids are sure to love it so give it a try insha'allah

Islamic Happiness Project....

Yes, it lives.....
it doesn't always thrive it's true...
but as a concept, it's all still up there in my head, waiting for me to put my positive commandments into action.

I have a complex relationship with myself, it colours all things...
did I ever tell you I was diagnosed as bi-polar as a young adult?... that was before it was a trendy must have disorder and had a funky new name...


So you see, hapiness, Islamic or otherwise takes some work.
Simply to keep on an even keel takes some doing, but most days I think I get there.

Right now I need to spend some time re-affirming my goals...
taking the time to understand my relationship with Allah.
Ramadhan is nearly here, and I need to push myself in to a positive frame of mind in order to extract the very best of what that wonderful month of fasting has to offer.

So renewed effort on my part insha'allah..
and an emphasis on getting back to basics
Each week in the run up to Ramadhan I will look at one key area of my life as a Muslim and try to perfect it, or at the least to reaffirm my understanding of it.

This week Salat and perfecting my khushoo will be my priority.
Khushoo in a busy house is not always easy to achieve, but prayer is a balm that heals all wounds.
I can't think of a better place to start...

the reality...

of trying to feed a family in a third world country on a frugal budget means shopping carefully, cooking from scratch and taking good advantage of what the market has to offer when prices are relatively low.

We're reaping the rewards of good weather with an abundance of summer fruits.

Apricots, nectarines, Strawberries and peaches are all affordable enough at the moment for most people to be able to indulge in at least some...

The trick here is to wait it out a bit and resist the temptation to buy fruits when they first make their way into the market.  The price of fruit at the end of May and beginning of June was so high in my area that it meant fruit was beyond alot of pockets. 

However as we've moved into summer, prices have come down and people are busy buying fruits not only to enjoy now but  also for preserving  (mostly as Jam) for later on in the year.

Vegetables too will be preserved before ramadhan comes in, to try and avoid as many of the price increases as possible.

It becomes essential for people to stock up on what they use most before the innevitable happens and the prices are hiked up enough to break even the hardiest budget.

We're mostly enjoying our fruits as they come, chilled a little in the fridge but eaten fresh and healthily... sometimes though when the craving calls for it...  a summer crumble hits the spot nicely.

 

For me the math is simple..it's just as much fruit as you want in an oven dish big enough, perhaps with a little sugar tossed in if the fruit is too tart, perhaps also some sultanas and chopped nuts...though not always... and then crumble topping and for me,  it's a no nonsense half fat to flour combo with a fistful of sugar thrown in for good measure. I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to crumble, the more freeform and rustic the better, It's not meant to look pretty but to soothe the soul and comfort...

and on a good day I would have been able to upload the photo of peach crumble that goes with all this waffle, unfortunately my connection isn't playing ball and obviously has me on a one picture per post quota!

So you'll just have to go out and make one of your own to drool over... we had ours with ice-cream....

xxx

Flapjack....

                               

it's our wintertime treat, and we often sit around the table with mugs of hot chocolate,

a big plate of flapjack,

and read a book together...

　

the recipe is so simple..

and it's a good first cooking projects for kids too...

my recipe notebook has seen better days and has been handed down to dd6...who has embelished it in her own special way!

　

melt, in a pan 5 generous tablespoons of honey...or golden syrup

125g of butter and 124g of sugar.

When everything has disolved pour it onto 225g porridge oats.

We like to put a teaspoon of ginger in ours,

but if it doesn't suit your taste then you can just as easily leave it out.

Give it all a good stir and then pour it into a lightly greased tin..

I'm not fussy about tin sizes.. but what you want is a flapjack thats thick enough to be nice and chewy in the middle

so some sort of medium sized square job will do the trick.

Then bake in the oven till the top is a nice golden colour.

Once it's done leave it to cool completely in the tin, but before it hardens score into it,

so that it's easier to cut through when it's ready to eat.

My only other suggestion is,

that you find a quiet spot, arm yourself with a warm drink

and then relax..

                                      

2.15am

It's been a long day, full of cooking, guests... expected and unexpected.

Stressing over dresses that need to be made within the next couple of days

Making plans to create eid day goodies with friends...

and just the general flurry of activity that always seems to be part of our ramadhan days lately.

This ramadhan hasn't been the spiritual boost that I had planned for, but it's been a blessing in other ways alhamdulillah.

I come towards the end of ramadhan with a clearer vision of who I am and what I want my goals to be for the coming months ahead insha'allah.

Our sheikh said during one of his recent khutbahs that anyone going into ramadhan and coming out of it with the same (bad) character traits had wasted their month of fasting.

And thats a good lesson learned for me this year masha'allah.

Today {cos lets NOT kid ourselves that it's NOT morning already!} is sidelined for sewing...

two eid dresses for two young ladies in my life.

I have to be kind of desperate to get my sewing machine these days, and have put off this particular task for as long as I can, unfortunately there's no more time for procrastination...

a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do..and the machine is coming out!

To be honest I have to keep reminding myself what day it is... we've been pulling all nighters since the last ten nights of ramadhan kicked in,

to get those in our household who choose to pray qiyyam in the masjid out of the house on time,

, and the strain is beginning to tell somewhat...

So I'm off to my pit, to grab a bit of shut eye before they all come traipsing back in with the sound of the first adhan to eat suhoor before shuffling back out again to the sound of muaddhin calling the second insha'allah.

That is, if I can lure myself away from ravelry for five minutes, and the yummy new craft blogs I just found.....

New rhythms...

It's been a strange summer, full of highs and lows and unexpected turns.

Nothing we planned to do came to fruition, but plenty of things happened along the way that we weren't quite ready for, but got through anyway.

And now, at the end of ramadhan it's time to start thinking about getting the children ready for school again after a long four months of holiday.

We're all looking forward to a change of pace to lift what has become a monotonous routine, too much time off is just as bad as none at all it seems, and we're more than ready to get moving again insha'allah.

And for me personally, it's been a time of transition, moving home again... getting to know new neighbours and nuturing new friendships.

Which is why I'm in a new blogspace, I come back to blogging after a bit of a break with a new attitude towards putting my thoughts out and sharing what we do as a family, for a while I was ready to give up blogging completely, but for me, and those I now live so far away from I guess it serves a purpose that can't be easily overlooked.

I have spent the summer deep in thought about my roles as, wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend.

I've also spent alot of time thinking about my own needs and how they relate to my relationships with other people.

It's been a time of introspection and a time for deciding which paths to take next and how best to move on insha'allah.

I'm now a couple of months into my second year here in Algeria, and it's been hard to say the least...but the challenges have brought their own rewards.

I'm thankful for the opportunities I've had in the past year

and hopeful about the possibilites that lay ahead insha'allah.

So as we race towards the end of ramadhan, and towards a new academic year for the children I feel truly excited at what might lie ahead....