A delicious selection of Arabic mezze (antipasti and apperatifs)

From the top, clockwise: lentil soup, samboosa, wara ‘inab (rice stuffed vineleaves), Syrian Makdous (spicy, walnut stuffed, pickled aubergines), Kalamata olives, Palestinian style felafel (stuffed with spicy onions) and M’batan (Libyan potato wedges stuffed with spiced meat).

Perfect for breaking the fast during Ramadan.

Are young children allowed inside the masjid you attend for Taraweeh prayer?

I have been along to Taraweeh with my husband twice so far this Ramadan to one of the popular masjids in Riyadh – it’s the King Khalid masjid where Sheikh Khaalid Al-Jaleel now leads the prayer.

I left my older children at home since I am lucky enough to have a responsible teen and another who is almost a teen but I couldn’t leave the newest addition (8 weeks old) at home since she is breastfed.  I discovered at the first Taraweeh of this Ramadan that children are not allowed inside so I stayed in the courtyard of the masjid and prayed there and when baby wanted to be held or fed I just sat and quietly listened. I had the baby in the carseat so she was comfortable and so I could join in some of the prayer. I think she was mesmerised by the Qur’an as she was very settled! She’s probably used to the sheikh’s qira’ (recitation) as I have playing some of his Qur’an cd’s in the kitchen while I cook!

I have been to the same masjid before for other daily prayers and there was no problem taking children in but since this is Taraweeh prayer and the masjid gets very full and too many people take along small, unruly children, there is this rule for the month of Ramadan. Understandable really when you see the unruliness of the children – running around, throwing dirt, kicking and throwing water bottles and leaving the litter for others to pick up and so forth. It makes me wonder why people take such small children along to such a long prayer. The children will inevitably become bored and won’t be able to keep still – their antics only serve to distract their mothers and others from their prayer.

We have just returned from a few weeks break in the UK. It was a pretty hectic time and it was very tiring for me as my baby was only 3 weeks old when we flew out of Riyadh for London but we did some nice things with the kids like going to Alton Towers and ice-skating, we enjoyed some milder weather than that which we are used to here in Riyadh and of course we got to see family whom we had not seen in a year and half.

We were lucky to have day time flights both in and out of the UK for a change – we usually have night time flights which I don’t enjoy. I took my camera on the flight and took a few photos so it was:

Goodbye England:

… and hello Riyadh!

There is plenty I’ll miss about the UK but it’s nice to be back in the Land of Islam again – being Muslim is the norm here of course, adhan can be heard all the time and mosques are everywhere to be seen. It’ll be good starting our first day of Ramadan tomorrow back here in Saudi Arabia. Not so good to be back in the land of such extreme heat though particularly with air-conditioning units that are not working so well these days!

RAMADAN MUBAARAK to everyone! I’m hoping to blog much more again from now and blog about Ramadan in Riyadh but I’ve been having troubles signing into my WordPress account so I can’t promise!

I’m just staying home much of the time enjoying my these early days with the new baby, recuperating a little from the birth before we go off on our hols insha’Allah. Oddly, despite this being my sixth baby and despite being (obviously) older this time round, the birth was probably the easiest of the bunch and the recuperating has been much faster. I didn’t have that pale, ‘washed out’ look that I normally have after the birth and generally have been feeling very well – masha’Allah.

So, due to staying home, there is nothing much to say that is blogworthy so I thought I’d just give mention of a few noteworthy blogs.

Almiskeenah: The blog of an American muslimah living in Madinah Al-Munawarrah. I love visiting her blog to see the awesome photographs she posts of Madinah and the surrounding area and her beautiful, poetic way of describing things and her poignant Islamic reminders.

TryingtopleaseAllah: The joint blog of three Muslim ladies, living in polygyny and sharing their experiences. A refreshing blog as it shows polygyny in a positive light and shows the good that can come of the situation.

Itto’s Moroccan Berber Journal: I always enjoying popping over to Itto’s blog; it is the blog of a German Muslimah trying to live a natural and sustainable life in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco.

Simplicity by the Sea: A really nice foodie blog maintained by a Hungarian muslimah living in Algeria. Quite an eclectic blog – recipes from many different countries and plenty of photos to drool over.

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!

More to come insha’Allah!

Just wanted to share because I love this nasheed!

A little excerpt of the lyrics:

I am the servant who is afflicted by sins

I have come back beseeching the Healer

I am the wandering, homeless servant, I wronged myself

and I have come to Your door repenting

I am the wandering, homeless servant, I wronged myself

and I have come to Your door repenting

I am the servant who acquired sins

and was prevented from repenting by his false desires

I am the servant who became sad over his slips

Over his slips, worried and despondent

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.