So, here she is! The newest little princess of the family masha’Allah Tabaarak Allah, Ahsanu Khaliqeen (Glory to Allah, the Best of Creators)! Now Ibrahim has five sisters to contend with!
It is wonderful to be breastfeeding again – I weaned my other daughter about 4 or 5 months into pregnancy as my milk dried up and it was about time she weaned anyway (she was nearly 2 1/2) but now bubs and I can look forward to at least two years of breastfeeding insha’Allah. Truly a beautiful blessing and mother-child bond from Allah.
Have been MIA for a while and part of that was due to not being able to sign into my WordPress account and getting an error page every time. I decided to have another go today and whoo hoooo… here I am!
A lot has happened over the past couple of months or so, most importantly I gave birth to a beautiful fifth daughter eleven days ago. I had a normal, uncomplicated delivery Alhamdu Lillah.
So now I am getting used to the whole breastfeeding thing again and having six children in tow when we go out instead of five – I have to do a head count now to make sure noone is left behind!
Just take a look at these photos of the weather we had in Riyadh yesterday afternoon! The day started out quite clear but just before midday the skies suddenly darkened, everything turned a eerie shade of orange and a sandstorm blew up! Visibility was extremely poor, even on the main roads we could only see a few metres ahead, if that.
Today has been much better but we are left with a layer of fine sand on all outside surfaces. Even the bushes look like they are covered with ash and need a good hosing down.
You can also view a short video on the BBC website of the sand sweeping in towards the city centre. The video was taken from the 53rd floor of the Mamlaka (Kingdom) Tower.
All we need now is a good burst of rain to clear the air… let’s pray!
‘Adass is a delicious, warming and very hearty Algerian lentil stew perfect for the winter months. It is tasty yet has surprisingly few ingredients and is simple to prepare. Typically eaten with French baguette.
Ingredients:
1 finely chopped onion
4 medium carrots, halved and chopped
1 stick of celery, chopped
1 turnip chopped into smallish chunks
1 potato cut into 1 inch chunks
2 1/2 cups green lentils
1 tablespoon tomato concentrate past
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 litres water
2 tablespoons oil
Place all ingredients into a pressure cooker, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to medium or a little less than medium, screw on the lid and pressurise. Cook for 1 1/2 – 2 hours but check water level regularly. Take care when stirring not to break up the vegetables.
The lentils are ready when they are soft but not disintegrating. There should be some liquid remaining, giving the consistency of a very thick soup. Eat with bread and a little harissa if liked.
If you have leftovers, you’ll find that some of the liquid will be absorbed overnight so be careful not to make the stew too dry.
This is the typical cous cous with stew from my husband’s region of Algeria which is the capital and surrounding area. The sauce is ‘white’ (contains no tomato or harissa). I use courgettes, turnip and carrots although it is common to find this stew with meat/chicken and turnip (mouli/luft) only. I occasionally add one medium potato cut into 4-6 pieces also. The stew is easy to cook in a regular saucepan and the cous cous can be cooked in the traditional couscousiere or in the microwave.
Ingredients:
2 medium onions, chopped
1 chicken cut into pieces
5 small courgettes (zucchini) topped and tailed
5 medium carrots halved vertically
2 small turnips, in 4 chunks
1/2 tin chickpeas, drained
1 medium potato if desired
salt, pepper and a sprinkle of cinnamon
1.5 litres water
Saute the onions until soft then add the chicken pieces and spices and fry until sealed. Add the carrots, turnips, chickpeas and water and cook with pressure until almost done. Add the potato and courgette and cook further until all ingredients are cooked through.
To cook the cous cous, best results will be obtained by steaming not soaking.
Wash your cous cous, drain and leave to soak up whatever water remains. Rub grains together to separate them and then place in the top part of a steamer or couscousiere and cook until the steam breaks through the grains. Empty out into a large tray, break up the grains with a spoon and sprinkle on half a small glass of salted water and then return to the steamer. Steam a second time until the steam breaks through, turn out into a tray and with a spoon or fork rub through some butter, margarine or vegetable ghee (smen).
An alternative method of cooking the cous cous that also uses steam is to cook it in the microwave. Wash the cous cous and leave to absorb excess fluid. Place in a large microwavable plastic bowl and cover with cling film. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir through a half a glass of salted water making sure to break up the cous cous grains. Cover with cling film and return to microwave for a further two minutes and then rub through some butter, margarine or vegetable ghee as above.
I find this method less messy as you use only one large bowl to cook the cous cous in and the cling film keeps the steam build up aroud the cous cous so the cooking principle remains the same. You end up with nice fluffy grains as with steaming.
Arrange the chicken and vegetables over the cous cous and serve.
Above: Cous cous after having been rinsed – leave it to absorb residual water
Above: Cous cous 10 mins later. Grains have been rubbed to separate them.
Above: Cous cous after 2 steamings in the microwave. Knob of margarine/butter melting into the hot grains.
Above: Cous cous with chicken and vegetables arranged over the top; sauce from the pot served in a separate jug.
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said to Mua’ad Ibn Jabal (RA),
‘Beware of the supplication of the unjustly treated, because there is no shelter or veil between it (the supplication of the one who is suffering injustice) and Allah (SWT)’ [Sahih Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
The prophet (SAW) said,
‘Three men whose dua is never rejected (by Allah) are: the fasting person until he breaks his fast the just ruler and the one who is oppressed.’[Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi - Hasan]
Everybody must be aware now of the carnage being inflicted on Gaza and there are many bloggers around blogosphere posting on this subject. A very dear sister has posted this idea for staging a peaceful protest through praying for our brothers and sisters in Gaza for 24 hours.
She says:
I am calling you sisters, I am trying to arrange something different, something more Islamic than anger and shouting. I am asking you, would you pray for Palestine? Would you join to the group of praying people in the park, if you would know they were there 24 hours praying for Palestine?
Only thing you would have to take with you, would be your prayers mat and the water bottle to make wudu. Would you do this? And if you are an Imam who reads this, would you lead the prayers 24 hours for Palestine? And if you are not able to pray, would you be able to help those who can by offering them hot drinks if it is cold or offering them warming blankets?
Could we do something like this as a one big Muslimummah?
I would, so would you come to pray with me?
She has also posted a few facts about the injustices that have been suffered by the Palestinians over the past 6 decades.
At the weekend, I went to my local hospital for my first ultrasound scan of this pregnancy. I have never been one to accept screening and diagnostic tests during pregnancy and this pregnancy will be no different. However, I do like to have one early scan (around 14 weeks) just to check on the baby since I won’t feel him/her move until around 18 weeks, and also to check on the placenta. I was glad that I had been pre-warned by a friend that my hospital performs the Nuchal Translucency Scan so when the sonographer asked me to roll over so she could measure the baby’s neck I remembered what my friend had said and quickly asked her not to perform that part of the ultrasound.
I feel quite angry that the hospital performs this screening test without first informing patients and checking they want the test and understand the implications. A screening test is different from a diagnostic test in that it only gives a risk factor for certain conditions and NOT a definitive answer. If you are told that your baby is a high risk of having Down’s Syndrome then you will need further diagnostic tests such as amnioncentesis or CVS if you wish to determine for certain whether or not the baby you are carrying has Down’s Syndrome or some other chromosomal abnormality.
What I don’t understand is why this test is routinely performed in Saudi Arabia – it gives only a risk factor, chromosomal abnormalities cannot be fixed before or after the birth and termination of pregnancy is not available here. From my point of view, I prefer to find out about any problems after the birth rather than having a diagnostic test that carried it’s own risks (1/100 risk of miscarriage after amnioncentesis; 2/100 risk of miscarriage after CVS). I put my trust in Allah that He knows what is best for me, I make du’a to Allah throughout my pregnancy for the best outcome.
I wonder if I am on my own here or if there are others who feel the same way about screening and diagnostic tests in pregnancy.
