And you’re wondering what could I possibly doing that is new, right?
More pictures of dates and fried stuff?
An artistic shot of a glass of water?

Well I intend to host my very first Iftar.

I’m going to give people food to break fast.

Now my mom is not very happy about this.
She may not like the menu either.

But I had a plan…for how I could cook everything…bake bake bake…I really need a second oven…

However I was saved. I am outsourcing the meat and one side.

I am making one side and salad (well I informed my sister in law that she is making the salad).

I’m excited and petrified at the same time.

Wsh me luck!

We have no kitchen however.
Renovation is still going strong…*sigh*

I have no energy to bake even if it is pointed out to me that other people work over an hour’s drive from home and still have a life.

I still plot baking but unless it’s pizza it probably doesn’t happen.

Now to add to the burden, we started our downstairs renovations together with upstairs bathroom which just finished tile and looks awesome through the muck..

So we’re downstairs while lower roof is changing, new walls are added and support columns reinforced or replaced.

First casualty: they took down the garage roof and the lights there are connected to kitchen lights, main bath, back porch (as all these additions were done together I guess). No overheads but most outlets have juice.

Second casualty: in widening kitchen/breakfast table area, constructing new wall, we disconnected the washer and dryer last week. We went by my brother’s in-laws to wash on Saturday.

Third: the stove/oven was disconnected on Friday.

We are accepting food donations.

We did connect mom’s table top 2/3 burner stove so all is not lost. We could bake in the toaster oven I guess.

High points: as soon as the plumbers come and hook up our upstairs bathroom and we clean upstairs we can move back. Yay!

The house is half painted a lovely colour we all like and kudos to me for picking it and standing my ground.

KITCHEN RENO!

A world of possibilities.

We can have everything.

*sigh*

Or too many possibilities and mom and I are going crazy ;-)

Lots of different kinds.

So today I pulled out the ginger and the lavender bars for mom and me to sample.

The ginger was nice, kind of rich. I didn’t taste the ginger so much but mom did.

So next one block each of lavender. When I finally managed to open that packaging well for sure I could smell it.

But oh no one little block with all that lavender … Like eating powder/powder/cream. I wanted to spit it out and it was just one tiny little square.

We had to run to get something to blank out the taste. The mixed caraibe bar was nice.

But ew what to do with the lavender!

:-)

I’m going to miss m niece when they return to school! :-’(

Our family is going.
Two trips.
There might be an earlier return trip.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to Toco!

Niece’s Eid Dinner: Multi-grain Cheerios, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

:-)

Eid Breakfast: SAHINA!, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

Finally.
We got a good pocket of internet and tada!

Well, after I called and found out well “we have no internet yet” I replied and said well…we still like cash-back and I find they taking long to fix it. Maybe I should’ve apologised explicitly (I don’t mean badly…I mean actualy write out I apologise. But I still vexed).

Nobody wants my pictures to upload, neither flickr nor my website.
How funny.

I had sahina.
It was pretty.
Awesome chutney.

And there was sawaine.

That is all.

And my brother and his family are home!
Woohoo.

(No internet for two days!)

Chennette has given a nice talk about ‘Ids away from home. Hers sound nice. I think my accomplishments were making a nice SMALL kibbe and a biryani into which the salt shaker fell. I can’t remember how the biryani tasted but the kibbe was GOOD and I wished I had more meat and had made more.

Oh, we have kibbe and lamb.
Mom says we will make biryani when Chennette comes Saturday.
It does seem like we’re putting off a lot of things for when Chennette comes on Saturday….hmmmm

They both have a wife and daughter at home, not doing Itikhaaf. I can guarantee you that one of those daughters is not going to be much help. She’s not yet 3! :)

Thankfully the masjid has a working fridge and stove. The oven hasn’t been used in ages so they won’t use that. We’ll leave one five-gallon container of water with them and they’ll get the toaster oven. I told mom we can stock the freezer with a bag of fries and frozen fish sticks. We will partly bake some little beef pies that mom made and they can finish them up in the oven. And when we cook dinner we will carry it down for them. But since they will keep a car, maybe they can also come pick it up. I told them they can also expect KFC and Pizza and other food I feel like going and buying. After all, we might not be doing Itikhaaf but we will also have/want to spend the nights in extra devotion. My sister-in-law will make sure they’re stocked with snacks. Maybe we’ll move some of the niece’s into the masjid. I haven’t had chinese food in ages. Since my brother has been home I’ve not made pizza.

Empty house. Woohoo. My sister-in-law might spend some time by her mother. I tried to convince my mom she should do it too. Women don’t do it in the masjid. They kinda sequester themselves in part of the house, I think. Imagine…whole house too myself! Woohoo! Unfortunately no.

Now, you might be wondering what is the point of Itikhaaf.

When the prophet was 40 years old, he was spending a night in Ramadhan in the Cave Hira in prayer and devotion. The Angel Jibra’il came to him for the first time then. He received his first revelation. It was the first five verses of Suratul Alaq (Chapter 96 The Clot):

Read in the Name of your Lord, who has created,
Has created man from a clot
Read! And your Lord is Most Generous
Who has taught (the writing) by the pen
Has taught man that which he knew not.

This night is called The Night of Power. Worshipping Allah in that night is better than worshipping Him in a thousand months. So if you catch that night in prayer and devotion you will be…well very blessed.

The problem is nobody knows when the night is. The prophet was made to forget the actual date. Some people say it is the 27th. Some say it is in the last 10 nights. The strongest proofs and the general consensus is that it is in the odd nights of the last 10.

Some people don’t go so far. They just say it is in Ramadhan!

And that is the point of Itikhaaf.
You spend the nights of the last 10 in prayer and devtion, in search of the Night of Power. If you spend all those 10 nights praying (yes you can rest if you need to), you will obviously catch it.

What this really means is we’re coming down to the end!

My brother and father will “sequester” themselves in the masjid sometime Tuesday during the day. This will be the 20th fast and so they will be in the masjid before the start of the 21st day (that is Tuesday sunset!). until the end of Ramadhan (Ramadan will end at sunset before the day we go to the masjid for Eid prayers). Most likely Eid prayers will be Friday 10th and so it will actually be 9 nights?

Why did work have to start back now?
*sigh*

Today is the 18th fast.
I’m getting extremely tired and sleepy now.

I think I mentioned Itikhaaf or the Night of Power briefly in some previous posts here and here.

We made beef pies, froze some, baked some, sent some to the masjid and kept some.
We’ll send some of the beef pies with my brother and father for Itikhaaf next week.
I guess…more on that later? :)

We have two Iftar and dinners this weekend. Yay! And one on Tuesday (Emanciaption Day), otherwise known as the start of Itikhaaf.

I haven’t been sleeping much unfortunately.

I woke up for Suhur with a cramp in an upper calf (?). That was new.

And why am I so tired?

I STARTED BACK WORK!

Monday was a nice easy drive.
Wednesday, since the parents were going up that side I didn’t bother drive myself (NOTE: not driving, sitting in the back, aids car sickness). There was traffic for some unknown reason and it took about 1hr 30min to reach (it is usually just over an hour).

Today there was traffic. It just took over 2 hours! They say traffic was backed up all the way to Gasparillo.
Unfortunately we knew why.
There was a 3-person 3-car fatality and others taken to hospital. I don’t know if any more died. My heart goes out to them :(

And tomorrow?
Well as I was coming home today, I heard that a portion of the northbound highway collapsed so single-lane traffic and big jam. I wonder how far and if I will get stuck.
(Mom says don’t go to work!)
I’ve already been leaving early because of Ramadan.

Anywayz, I do have pictures to post but I’m beat. I fell asleep after breaking my fast for like 3+ hours and only just ate dinner and seriously contemplated skipping. I’m off to shower and pray Tarawih (and everything else) all by myself. On a chair!

All the best on the roads. Be careful!

And from there, I got to the press release on TDC’s website. Okay so you’re thinking why didn’t I go there in the first place? Well they didn’t link me to there did they?

I wish they could keep track of their multiple websites.

Previous posts:
Taste T&T 2010 Hits the Road
Further Thoughts

(Ramadan post coming soon…I have pictures of food! But I haven’t looked at them yet…doubtful as to their quality. But our masjid has at least 3 more iftars! woohoo!)

It occurs to me the workshop is on September 2nd and 3rd.
Bear in mind, so you don’t attribute anything to sour grapes, I have no expectation of being invited.

But, that’s during Ramadhan. You know fasting?
But I guess muslims only account for about 6% (or something like that) of the population.
And of that, who knows how many fast, right?
So, maybe muslims not really invited.
Maybe after all, we’ve not really contributed to what’s made Trinbagonian food so unique…so good.
So fasting muslims don’t need to be invited to the workshop at all!

And then the first Sunday lunch is on September 12th.
Well, let me tell you, Eid-ul-Fitr is most likely September 10th or maybe the 11th.
Will I really be able to convince my tired parents and other muslim family to drive up to Toco the next day?

Well, Chennette might be here for that weekend.

ETA: This link has two links to T&T websites, neither of which work.
What a release.

Taste T&T 2010: Many Flavours ONE FESTIVAL

Wow!
And I wonder to myself when is it?
How often do I pick up the physical newspaper and read it?

Have other people heard about it and not me? But I do check Twitter. Chennette keeps track of local food blogs better than me…

Anywayz, details for those who might not have seen it (someone tell me how long they running these ads because if it is only today then seriously need new committee real bad…if beginning of August…still need one).

It is in two parts all to discover what makes our food unique.

On September 2nd and 3rd is the Taste T&T 2010 Workshop (by Invitation Only) where local and international chefs will analyze our dishes.

Then they will continue on for a series of Sundays in the “villages that made our trademark dishes famous”. Come for Sunday Lunch (10am to 5pm)

• Toco Sea Food, 12th September @ Toco Regional Complex Grounds.
  Special Prize for Best Seafood Broth
• Tunapuna Creole Food, 19th September @ Honeymoon Recreational Ground.
  Special Prize for Best Curry Duck
• Debe East Indian Delights, 26th September @ Venue to be determined.
  Special Prize for Best Doubles

ADMISSION FREE

Did I just give TDC a free ad?? :)
(ha! not much people read this)

Well they said for further information call head office or go to the website gotrinidadandtobago.com but I didn’t see anything listed there for current Taste…SURPRISE! (not!)

Not sure I want to go.
But want to go. Not sure about Chennette’s plans.
It’s very annoying…have they been planning this long?

Unfortunately, I’m not all that confident. Maybe it’s this little inferiority feeling…

A couple days ago I screwed up my courage and read for mom who was like, what? you’re not reading that bad.
Then I read for my brother.

I’m told I get more blessings struggling than those who are very fluent.

I always hope to carry on the quantity of reading I do in Ramadan out of Ramadan.

Software plug: On that subject, I use Zekr. It’s Open source Qur’an software.
The best thing about it is it works on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux (well I hope all Linux). It can display the Arabic with the transliteration with the translation, or alone. And you can add recitations (or use the online ones) and play each verse one at a time so you can read along with the recitation. I made sure all my family have it.

I must add that the audio doesn’t work on Linux PPC. I think it needs Java… But it still works nicely as a Qur’an.

Okay, I still use my hard copy qur’an because the script is *nice* and big, but I really need to get one of those colour-coded tajweed Qur’ans…it would help a lot more when I don’t have my computer.

I think we are onto our 10th fast…and
THERE IS AN IFTAR IN THE MASJID TONIGHT
Yay!
Pictures? :)

Now my brother is home for this Ramadan and as you know Chennette is in Guyana with our other sister so…there are enough people in Guyana to make the things we like too.

Chennette craves macaroni pie…posts pictures of macaroni pie. Well yesterday mom baked lamb in bbq sauce and I made macaroni pie. I also made a macaroni pie with beef that went into the freezer, a meal to be baked for another day.

She made googni (boil and fry blackeye with onions and whatever else) and next day mom makes it.

We make aloo pie and channa and cucumber chutney she says hmm maybe I want that instead of pizza.

And I think, hmm, how long has my brother been home and I haven’t made any pizza?

Last night, she chirps that

you can’t make style on us @empresslilandra WE making Aloo Pies tomorrow for #iftar! http://bit.ly/aOpPiU #Ramadan #Caribbeancooks

What else is in the lineup?

So, I guess, in a way, we are celebrating Ramadan together.

:-)

Hmm…I wonder if she’ll feel for non-stuffed but fried beef kibbe with tahini?

Fried Kibbe, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

It looks kinda like felafel, doesn’t it? :)

Well, I missed a day of posting, so now we’ve had 9 Tarawih and I started my 9th fast.

Hey, a week of Tarawih prayers are done!
And Alhamdulillah I managed to make it to the masjid every night for it, although I think I was falling asleep last night.

Water has finally come last night and hopefully it stays to fill up our tanks.

We got sahina to break fast from our neighbours but otherwise, yesterday was a day of leftovers.

I really want Chennette’s pizza, googni.
I also might have to make Golden Wheat Carrot Cake and for some reason am considering trying homemade pastrami (because where would I get halaal pastrami in Trinidad?)