Edible Blessings

One of the many things I love about Ramadan is the sense of community, including the way many of us express this through food and feeding others. We tend to pick a day or two in Ramadan and then cook multiple dishes in bulk to send out to friends and family. When my teens were little they would look forward to those days with excitement at the thought of being allowed to take platters to various houses on the street. Now they are older, I have to threaten and cajole them to get them to do it.

 

In turn, I love the days when neighbours and family members send us snacks, platters or meals. It means that I don’t have to cook as much, there is variety at our iftar table, I get to try something cooked by someone else and I feel the love and sisterhood that goes into these gifts of food.

 

Today my lovely sister-in-law called and told me not to cook, she was bringing iftar. She freed up my time normally spent in the kitchen cooking so that I could read Quran. May Allah give her all of the reward and blessing of the extra reading.

 

While we waited, my neighbours daughter came by with a platter of pilau rice, aubergine fritters and shammi kebabs:

She is an amazing cook and her food is always a treat and guaranteed to satisfy.

My sister-in-law got stuck in crazy traffic and tuned up exactly as we were opening our fast, with the most amazing box of food:

 

She had made chicken biryani, chicken wraps, kebabs, channa chaat, raita and added lots of fruit. But the way she had presented her food made me feel like she put in a lot of care and effort for us (not to mention crossing the river to get it to us). I enjoyed feasting my eyes as much as my taste buds.

Another neighbour who I am good friends with dropped by with various desserts – defo feeding hubby these, he stays behind at the masjid after taraweeh for a little while and usually takes a thermos of herbal tea and snacks to share. He can take this with him.

I usually try to minimise sugar during Ramadan, but today I bought myself some chocolate cheesecake to share as a treat for myself and the kids:

The gifts of food have left me feeling super blessed and grateful this evening. May Allah SWT bless all of those that think of us and share their rizq with us with every good thing, perfect health, closeness to Allah SWT and the acceptance of all of their dua’s.

It was narrated that Zayd ibn Khaalid al-Juhani said: The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “Whoever gives iftaar to one who is fasting will have a reward like his, without that detracting from the reward of the fasting person in the slightest.”  (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 807)

Ramadan Treats

 One of the things I love in Ramadan is sending iftar to neighbours, family and friends and people sending back treats my way. I like that we just make a little extra and send it out and Allah (SWT) blesses it and it is enough for quite a few others.

 

Over the last 10 days, I have been sent pakora’s, potato samosa’s, mince samosa’s, two lots of biryani, a Bengali platter (with rice, channa and sweet pua pitha), dhai bhallay and lots of dates.

 

Today we got a knock on the door and someone handed my son a bag telling us it was from a house number down the road:

I recognised it as the house of an elderly widow and realised she had sent her daughter in law to houses down the street. The bag contained dates and a little scented tea light.

I think this aunty has the right idea. You could slave over a three course meal, or send a single date with sincerity and the intention to please Allah (SWT) and the reward is the same – that of the fasting person who broke their fast with your food.

 

May Allah (SWT) accept this Aunty’s efforts and be pleased with her insha’Allah.

Eid ul Adha 2020:1441 - Eid Mubarak

A belated Eid Mubarak everyone.

Taqabbal Allahu Minna Wa Minkum (May Allah accept it from you and us).

I hope your Eid was a blessed and happy one insh’Allah.

Ours was simple and quiet.

Lunch at my mums, dinner at mine with the first day spent mostly cooking and the remaining two eating leftovers and resting and making the most of my days off.

I didn’t get as many pictures as I should have, make as many plans or even as many decorations.

But I was grateful to see my parent and siblings, to share good food and to enjoy the days with my husband and children alhamdulillah.

For the latest updates and stories (including what we were up to on Eid) please do follow me on my Instagram account and Insta-stories. Also let me know if you are on Instagram, so I can follow readers there insh’Allah.

The Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The days of (Eid) are days of eating and drinking and of remembering God, the Exalted." (Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 2, Number 153)

Eid ul Fitr 2020:1441 – Day Two Barbecues and Slushes

The second day of Eid was a quieter, calmer day. We wore nice clothes and mostly lazed around. 

Hubby sorted out food, with a barbecue 

I watched a silly action film with my oldest, started filling out my new Clever Fox planner and ate the barbecue he made.

I took all three girls out for a walk in the afternoon and bought them slushes:

We had a late dinner in the garden with leftovers. No cooking, family and food = pretty much the definition of a good day for me alhamdulillah.

How did you celebrate this Eid? Did you find ways to make it joyful despite the challenging times?

For the latest updates and stories (including what we got up to during Eid and what we have been cooking) please do follow me on my Instagram account and Insta-stories. Also let me know if you are on Instagram, so I can follow readers there insh’Allah.

Eid ul Fitr 2020:1441 – Day One Cakes, Sweets and Chocs

We have such a set pattern for our Eids: I cook in the morning, we get ready, we go to my mums for lunch, the whole family gather. We eat mum’s beautiful food, we joke and laugh, we exchange gifts and spent the afternoon taking photos, mostly of the gaggle of cheeky little girls we have between us.  I invite everyone over for dinner, sometimes my uncle will invite us all over for a barbecue in the evening.

This year, we decided to celebrate in our own homes and not meet. I decided it was a one off insh’Allah and we should make the most of it.

I woke in the morning to find my husband had made himself sevaiyan (vermicelli in milk and sugar) for breakfast. I think he must have used all the butter in the house 😊

I made simple cupcakes for breakfast and set them out with some other treats:

Then it was time for the serious cooking. I made lamb pilau for the first time. My mum makes this every Eid and it tastes amazing, so I followed he instructions (clearly I didn’t defrost the meat, I had washed and frozen it, so just chucked it in).

It turned out really nice (recipe to follow insh’Allah). 

My neighbour is an amazing cook and usually sends over her special breakfast on Eid morning, this year was no exception. Halwa, puri and channay:

The kids asked me to make them mojito moktail, or “mum’s lemonade” as they call it.

Lemon slices, lime slices, fresh mint leaves, fizzy lemonade type drink (we used R Whites lemonade,  but 7 Up, Sprite or similar should do the trick). I add Ice cubes not too long before serving, so they don’t melt and completely make it flat.

The girls wore dresses my mum bought them last year. I was grateful I didn’t have to shop. All of our clothes were either gifts or I had bought them earlier in the year and put them away. The only one who bought a new dress was my oldest, who managed to find a shop open and picked something pretty (they were all shut again the next day after the Council told them off for opening, so we got lucky).

Once everyone was dressed up, we had lunch, which went down well alhamdulillah. I think I may have asked everyone more than once how the pilau was 😊

I was a little sad that we would not be seeing our family, and was thinking to see my mum from her front garden later I the day. As it turned out, quite a few of the family came by one by one and dropped off gifts and sweets and stayed for a chat at the end of our front garden alhamdulillah.

Chocs from @everyphototunity, I can’t tell you how good these were. And it’ no good putting both of our names on, because I’m not sharing!

Kheer (rice pudding), mithai (Indian sweets) and Eid money from my mum:

Darling made me this colouring book and a rosette with a sweet inside:

More mithai and delicious cupcakes from my brother’s family – my little niece made the cakes for us herself.

My neighbour gave Baby these sweets, which I have since confiscated and hidden – the child is hyper and bounces off every surface even without the sugar

This was at the bottom of the gift bag wrapped in tissue paper and I assumed it was a balloon weight. Thankfully I double checked and opened it. I really like this and think it’s so thoughtful. It also keeps your drink warm for up to three hours, I take so long to drink my coffee that’s it cold long before I finish, so that’s a handy feature.

These came in the post, but were from @curlyfries, they are amazing. Again, I doubt any sharing will be going on.

My neighbour’s daughter sent over milk cake, brownies and cookies:

I also unpacked my gift to myself – a new clever fox planner. Review to follow and also how I chose this over some other options. But safe to say, very happy with this 

I loved Darling’s card to me – it clearly sets out all the things that mean Eid for her.

It was all too much and our bodies are still in Ramadan routine, so we were all taking naps in the afternoon. This one is very trusting, leaving all his Eid money lying around…

I asked the kids a few days earlier how we could make this Eid special even if we couldn’t see family, they said by ordering dessert.  So we did. They all wanted cookie dough.

I asked the kids a few days earlier how we could make this Eid special even if we couldn’t see family, they said by ordering dessert.  So we did. They all wanted cookie dough.

For the latest updates and stories (including what we got up to during Eid and what we have been cooking) please do follow me on my Instagram account and Insta-stories.