Ramadan Journal 2017: Day 10 - On My Table

This weekend I was feeling a little tired, frazzled and unappreciated.  I had been waking up at 1.50am to make breakfast for my family and then sleeping for a few hours before getting up for work.  I had been returning from work to sleep for an hour then grabbing groceries, cooking, praying and having our daily taleem (study circle) just before iftar.  After iftar and evening prayers I was back in the kitchen making fresh chapatti's for hubby and mum-in-law and putting his tea on so he can stay awake through the taraweeh prayer.  I was getting annoyed at how long I was spending in the kitchen and how little time seemed to be spent on prayer and reading Quran.

My mum came to see me on Saturday because I had not had the chance to go and see her.  On talking to her I realised how tired she was and how much her knees hurt, yet she still tried to carry on gracefully with looking after my dad and making iftar for whichever of us siblings went to see her.  This prompted me to invite her to mine for iftar along with my siblings who were all visiting as it was the weekend.

I was already tired, so I decided I would do things differently.  No lavish feasts with all day in the kitchen - I was going to pull out whatever I could find in the freezer to fry or bake and make fresh salad and fruit salad to go with it.  I also asked my sisters for help, which they gladly offered.

In the end I made chicken and potato spring rolls, potato samosa's and chicken pasties from my freezer.  I set out medjool dates and the date and nut slices I had already made at the beginning of Ramadan. I made fresh fruit salad, avocado salad and a sweet and savoury dish called meethi dahi phulki's (dumplings in sweet yoghurt - which is a lot tastier than it sounds).  My sisters helped with the fresh dishes

For the main meal used the curry I had made that morning (bitter gourd and lamb) and made chappati's and served with kebabs from the freezer, which my sister-in-law added chopped onions, bell peppers and tomatoes to.

I ended up spending the same time in the kitchen as I would have done if I had been making iftar for just those in my household.  But I had such a good time breaking bread with my family that it cheered me up no end.