“It’s good you are raising your children rough” – mum’s friend. What? Does he mean like wolves? (I think she was referring to the fact that we sit on the floor to eat in the sunnah way)“Ohhh, you’re boy looks like a Somali” – mum’s friend again, said with distaste. What can I even say, […]
My maternity leave started officially yesterday, although I have been on leave for the last two weeks. I have been trying to keep myself occupied so that I don’t go crazy. Thankfully nesting has hit like crazy and I have been dragging out furniture and cleaning corners that I previously pretended didn’t exist and rearranging every cupboard […]
Little Lady had her first sleep-over yesterday at my Aunty’s house. All the kids are on holiday and both Little Lady and my little cousin have been using their pester-power to get us to dial each other’s numbers so they could invite each other over. In the end my Aunt took pity and asked Little […]
I have never considered mine to be a large family. I was one of five children and I have five of my own and see them as five individuals rather than a large group. Over time, I have come to realise that we are often seen as a large family. Including my mum-in-law there are […]
I spent a lovely evening with my sisters at my mums home yesterday, good food, lots of laughter and some much-appreciated rest. I spent a little bit of the evening sitting alone on her battered old swing in the garden, not doing or thinking anything. Just being still and present in the moment for once […]
I had my favourite Aunty and Uncle and their kids round for dinner so thought I would try this as its fairly easy and the kids love it. Ingrediants: 10 chicken legs cut in two(into thigh and leg) to make 20 peices – without skinLive natural yoghurt (approx 1000g)4 tablespoon tandoori masala powder/paste of choice […]
I attended an interesting talk this weekend for the female family members of those people who are active in a local group of four or five masjids, so this would be trustees, board or committee members, imam’s, emirs or leaders of the masjids and generally people who were involved in the day to day running […]
Okay so that is a really stupid title (inspired by the popular blog Life Hacker), especially as Ramadan is not about doing things by shortcut, but about taking the time to do them properly and conscientiously.Having said that if you are getting up at dawn to eat, getting up early for work, spending ages in […]
My children are just coming to that age when fasting will soon become obligatory for them, particularly Little Lady. All three of the older ones are also in the age range (7-14) that I call the age of “tarbiyah” or correct upbringing when I feel that it is most important to start seriously establishing the […]
As I had one more day off before I went back to work, hubby offered to take me to the Thursday Boot Sale, I agreed just for the fresh air, not expecting to buy anything (as it’s usually quite a dissappointing market). I was pleasantly surprised then to come back with the books below. I […]
I needed something easy to write about while I was feeling a little brain dead and stuck and this felt like an easy list to make. Forty of my favourite books by the age of forty. 1. The Sealed Nectar by Sheikh Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri – an important and easy to read biography of the beloved […]
…cover their face with your picnic blanket and pretend to have tea. Darling has still not come round fully to the idea of a little sister usurping her place as the baby of the house. We can’t leave them alone for a second for fear of her poking the baby in the eye or putting […]
A funny thing happened this weekend, I found a pocket of time and made some cards. Little Lady went to both thee neighbours house and invited them around (one is 12 and the other 18) to play Monopoly. So whilst they argued, fought, sulked (“I’m not playing!”, “hey what about me, I am playing!”) and […]
The second day of Eid for us, was for my mum the first day, so as per family tradition she hosted lunch. Her Eid lunch is pretty much the meaning and definition of Eid for us – our soul food and our comfort food, our tradition, but also the gorgeous cooking we can’t wait for […]
