Eid.

EID CELEBRATIONS AHOY & MINI FOOD PORN POST!

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD!

UNF!!!

MELTED LOVELINESS!

1. salted caramel cups - recipe  2. pizza  3. grilled cheese

Ramadan has left us for another year which is always a sad occasion.  Did I make the most of it?  Truthfully, I’m not sure.  The beginning of Ramadan started out well enough but my resolve started to sag in the middle.  Tiredness I guess.  What I like about Ramadan is that you can just shut out the world and focus on faith and worship.  I’ve learnt new duas (prayers) and I want to take myself forward with a positive, upbeat attitude.

               

For Eid I wore my fuschia pink salwar kameez which is so bright it could be used as an alternative light source.  I cleaned myself up using my wild cherry scrub.  The scrub was good – it was strangely jam-like – it was sticky, sweet and I applied the scrub on my loofah like I was spreading jam on a piece of toast.

We visited another family for an evening Eid party.  It was fun although there weren’t any people around my age which sucked.  I ended up talking to a young girl of 10 who asked the most rude, intrusive questions I’d ever heard (‘how old are you?’ ‘What do you for a job?’ ‘Can you sew?’ etc, etc.)  I tried to bat away the questions (especially the age one because damn it that’s just plain embarrassing) but it was to no avail.  At the risk of sounding like a self-loathing Asian, why are Asians so damn nosey?  I mean, seriously, it’s just ridiculous the way some people think they have the right to know everything about you and your family even if you are visibly squirming and being evasive.  Just sod off already!!! Ugh. 

Thankfully, she left with her family early and the rest of the evening was spent in peace but my auntie (hosting the evening) noticed and said that the whole family was like that.  Apparently, the littlest daughter of 3 or 4 years old calls my auntie by her first name which is just plain rude. 

anyway, I’m just going to set that aside and let the Eid goodness wash over me. 

Eid Mubarak everyone! 

My brain is working at half-speed

As you might have noticed, Fasting in ramadan really takes away one’s appetite to blog. I’m not on my laptop as much. I’ve been listening and reading to the Qur’an on my electronic Qur’an player altho unfortunately the batteries have died. I could pick up an actual book of the Qur’an but I don’t wanna. Turning pages is for suckers! [/lazy]

I’ll have to scrounge around for some batteries.

*

I finished off ‘The Junior Officers’ Club’ which neatly coincided with a repeat showing of ‘Our War’ on BBC3 which I caught by accident while watching TV after I’d eaten my sehri. The programme showed the soldiers’ perspective of the war in Afghanistan. I thought it would be a very self-congratulatory piece (teary eyed piece to camera talking about ‘our brave boys…’) but it showed the human, everyday experience of being a soldier. They acted like the young lads they are with lots of goofing around and pranks interspersing the warfare. I don’t agree with the war but the soldiers seemed to act with integrity while on duty which gives me a little solace. All footage would have been greenlighted by the Ministry of defence first though so I’ll still take it with a pinch of salt.

Muslim readers may wonder why I’m watching TV and reading books during Ramadan. I’m actually watching less TV and doing more worship but I can’t give up the goggle box completely so I just try to be moderate (and realistic) with it.

I was sifting through all the rubbish I’ve accumulated in my drawers and found a calendar from two years ago. 2009 was my annus horribilis and I certainly don’t want any reminders of it but the calendar (made by Islamic Relief) is so beautiful I haven’t the heart to throw it away. All the pictures are from muslim countries and I remember how soothing it was to wake up and see such gorgeous pictures hanging on my door.

I took a few pics of my fave images:

Agra, India

Cairo, Egypt

Istanbul, Turkey

I think maybe I need to let go of things that have hurt me in the past and as ramadan is a time for renewed hope and renewed faith, hopefully I can move forward and cast away reminders from the past.

“And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. […]” (Qur’an 2:186)

My fasting is going well. I find it hard but it’s manageable. I’ve fasted every single day and feel like a champion!

My ‘five a day’ quota is taking a major hit though. Do chickpeas count?

I’m taking the desi approach to sehri: Rice and chicken curry (although today I had lasagne – go figure). Iftari is dates, samosas, chickpeas with muree (puffed rice), pakora and cake (I’m gonna be one of those greedy peeps who put on weight during ramadan, aren’t I?).

Even though I can’t eat food during the day, I've discovered the next best thing:

Body Shop products smell so good. The above are papaya body butter (smells fruity and lush), wild cherry scrub and shea body butter. I have the berry lip roll-on too but I don't wear it in case I end up ingesting it. I've never paid full price on a body butter - I've always bought discounted half price ones. The scrub was on offer and it's pretty good. If you can't afford it, the ace blogger Lipstick & Pearls has her own DIY scrub.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just off to stick my nose in the papaya body butter.

Peace out!

Ramadan Part II - Electric Bugaloo

Okay, so I announced it was Ramadan in my last post but it was coupled with rather materialistic ramblings (I bought stuff, yay! I wasted food… yay?) and I want to redress that with a gigantic mega-post full of Ramadan goodness. So let’s get cracking.

What is Ramadan?

"Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn piety and righteousness" (Qur'an, al-Baqarah, 2:183)

In the month of Ramadan, Muslims are required to fast everyday from dawn till dusk. Fasting means refraining from:

v Food

v Drink

v Intoxicants e.g. nicotine

v Sexual relations (ooh-err, missus… I’m sorry I can’t help it, well I can, but, you know…)

Muslims eat a meal before dawn called sehri then it’s fasting all day until sunset and the time of eating again is called ‘iftari’.

Ramadan is a time for being devoted to worship and the act of fasting brings you to a higher state of mind. It’s a time of the year for self-reflection and contemplation. How big of a jerk have I been this year and what do I need to do to stop it?

Yesterday, I was practically dying for a glass of water. I got all panicked and thought I would end up in a coma and die. I had eaten and drank my fill only half an hour before. Just how on earth are people in the Horn of Africa coping with famine? Subhanallah, we are so lucky to have the luxury to choose not to eat. I hope Allah brings relief to those suffering, ameen.

The Prophet said: He who gives food for a fasting person to break his fast, he will receive the same reward as him, except that nothing will be reduced from the fasting persons reward." [Ahmad, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah, Ibn Hibbaan, Saheeh].

It’s not just about guarding your stomach though. It’s about guarding your thoughts and your body parts too. One has to be careful not to quarrel, use curse words or lie.

Now, during ramzan, I try not to watch too much TV especially stuff to do with romance (which is hard because I am or was a Twilight fan – don’t judge me!) and I turn away from seeing two people kissing on screen cos I don’t need to see that while I’m in a state of fasting (or on any other day) buuuuuuuuuuut…

... after one day of fasting, I happened to have the TV on and was flicking through the channels. The film Alexander was on and Colin Farrell happened to catch my eye as he was eating a pomegranate. I was utterly mesmerised. My pious resolve was almost shattered. Considering Colin Farrell looked like this:

Throughout the movie, I can’t decide if it was a testament to Colin’s acting or my state of piety that I could be so entranced by him eating a friggin’ piece of fruit. Moral of the story: don’t watch TV during Ramadan. It will mess with your head.

Now, it’s all very well fasting but what does one have to look forward to as a reward for all the good deeds and hard work?

In the aftermath of 9/11, the idea of ’72 virgins in heaven’ was bandied about and it caught the public imagination. I was talking to my friend about this. As a muslim, I had never even heard this phrase before but didn’t know enough to dispute it. Thankfully, someone else did the hard work and I was so happy to find this youtube clip which explains beautifully what an Islamic version of paradise is really like and debunks the '72 virgins' myth.

Beautiful gardens with rivers which flow beneath. Sounds rather heavenly to me.

photo - optical illusion

Ramadan Mubarak!

To tell you the truth, Ramadan has snuck up on me because I’ve been putting off even contemplating it. I know, I know, bad muslimah! My imaan (faith) is thoroughly worn out and my spiritual batteries need re-charging so I’m hoping I can turn things around this month, Inshallah.

I’ll quickly tell you about my weekend seeing as I never relate my ‘real’ life events. I met up with a friend of mine in Birmingham city centre. We went clothes shopping and visited the Forever21 store. It’s a pleasantly airy store and we weren’t being jostled between the clothes rails which was a nice change from the usual shopping experience.

The biggest surprise came from Topshop. I haven’t bought any of their stuff since the last millennia when I last fit into their clothes. However, when browsing I spied the most beautiful, burgundy, long flowing skirt. I couldn’t believe my eyes. A modest and appropriate piece of clothing? From Topshop? Some mistake surely! I nabbed it and tried it on expecting to be let down. I wasn’t.

I immediately bought it and spent the rest of the day in a state of buyer’s euphoria.

The best thing of all? It was a size 12. yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah. I heartily recommend any muslimahs to run down to their nearest store and snap it up. The pic doesn't do it justice.

Also, the shopping bag:

... is Slytherin House inspired madness. Amazing.

We ate at Café Soya, a Vietnamese restaurant, for lunch. I ordered a main course meal of papaya vermicelli. A huge plate with a mountain of food the size of Everest arrived and I only managed to eat half of it after much struggling. Papaya vermicelli sweats are not pretty, y'all. I felt incredibly guilty to leave food on the plate so it’s only right that I spend a whole month starving every day as penance.

That’ll learn me.