I wish Chennette was here, but we’re balancing the timing because although Big Sis is due end of the year, people are thinking she can come ANYTIME!
And Chennette isn’t coming until say….the 1st?
So, we can’t wait.

So I made the baklava last night (a bit too soggy…maybe too much butter and too much syrup?) The top is fine but the lower layers…are a bit soggy.
Regardless it tastes good.

Mom loves Rose Levy Beranbaum’s recipe for pizza so much that we sprinkled zatar seasoning on it last time we made and had zatar bread. The only thing missing was the shankleesh (stinky cheese!)
Zatar has sumac, oregano, thyme, black seed and who knows what else….sesame seeds…
So this time, I put the rest of the zatar into the dough itself and mom will make a fresh batch in the morning which we’ll sprinkle on top with a touch more olive oil maybe.
So, it’s in the fridge and for two hours tomorrow I shall be shaping, spreading and baking on the stone with a new peel!

And since Chennette got us tahini and we have channa, lime juice and garlic we shall make…HUMMUS!!! for a dip.

Mom has already made and assembled the beef kibbe. All that is left is to BAKE IT!

Mom also is going to do a kinda pot grill beef and make a chicken biryani.

We’re going to make a fresh salad (ordinary tomato, cucumber and lettuce) and also a coleslaw…tart or sweet? Well it depends if i forget the lime juice or the honey. I always forget *something*. I’m really sad we’re out of horseradish…:-(
Anywayz, mom likes it however I make it sweet or sour :)

If we had corn we’d boil it and lightly coat it with garlic butter but no corn so well…hummus and garlic, right?

Maybe somebody will bring ice-cream?

I’ll try to remember to take pictures tomorrow and actually get them off my camera and you know….upload them somewhere…
Pity I haven’t learned Chennette’s lesson yet.

And in non-food-related news, guess what I’m typing on?
Oh, yeah! and now guess the specs! :)

PS I don’t look forward to clean-up…and wait I’m still up after 3 am … will I sleep? Ah well, at least I finished grading and entering marks and let’s hope…that it’s all good!

Laterz!

It’s not mine…

I have a show idea!
And it will satisfy a couple of your most important criteria:

• be simple and thus appeal to the lowest common denominator
• can feature one of your most favourite hosts (Rachael Ray)
• and be done in 30 minutes or less (sometimes)

It will also satisfy one of my needs/desires/cravings or what have you.

Are you ready?

Teach Rachael Ray to Bake

or

How to Bake with Rachael Ray and random other*** person

Now, don’t get me wrong.
I have no problem with Rachael Ray per se.
I actually like her and some of her shows.

But she has said many times that she can’t bake. She buys cookies and pies and reheats them or remixes them or something. Which is not a problem for me. I mean you’re feeding people. It’s not up to them if they get the full works. It’s up to you and your time. But, I want to learn and maybe she can learn with us.

I want a baking show even if it’s a short special.

Even if they get the pastry chef Jehangir Mehta*** who got kicked off final round in Next Iron Chef to do it (actually they use all their iron chef competitors so freely so why not find out if he’d do a short or long series pastry show just for those people who want to see your hosts DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!!!!!!!!!!)

Okay, not pastry, how about cookies? You can do cookies! Those take less than 30 minutes…or can.

Or, actually, I’d be grateful for say a 6-episode bread special. Please?

I am sure you can find a bread-specialist.

Pretty please?
With ice-cream on top? (see Rachael loves to do that…so do I!)

Oh by the way, nice way to get Mario Batali to reappear on your network. I hope I remember to watch. I was wondering if your network forgot he existed…or was transitioning him off…or had already transitioned him off and I didn’t know!

We made good stuff and she took pictures with my camera which hasn’t been cleared in…um more than 7 weeks?

I’m really beat these days because…guess what?
I’m working!
Finally a paycheque (hmm I thought they said I would get paid yesterday but haven’t seen it yet)!
And I’m oh so tired.

Well, I felt very sous-chef…very did not do much (as Monday to Thursday straight very tired…well all I want is sleep and I’m too tired to sleep.

Regardless…I made a nice custard ice-cream this past weekend and it went really well with the tart apple crumble.

Maybe I’ll take some pictures of some mountains…maybe I’ll get the Eid-ul-Fitr pictures off my camera…that’d be a start, right?

Many years ago (when my parents first made Hajj), the Saudi embassy used to send emissaries to process passports and visas for the pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia for Hajj.

For various political reasons (so went the talk), they stopped coming. So the embassy in Caracas, Venezuela was assigned to the Caribbean. So pilgrims or the hajj leaders went there to get visas. Students go there too. Yes, our hajj visas were issued in Caracas last year too.

Well, the word was that they were coming again to Trinidad this year, and we were very happy because that Caracas trip is *stressful*.

On the news tonight, it was reported that a Saudi diplomat came in on Sunday to issue visas. On Monday the police came to his hotel room to interrogate and intimidate and search his room at the Hyatt. I think they said for guns…or whatever.

Why?

He travelled on a diplomatic passport and was met by representatives of the ministry of foreign affairs.

It’s outrageous.

Although I heard visas were issued this year, do you think they’ll ever come back to issue them?

They’ve already set small quotas for pilgrims coming…maybe they’ll stop us coming after all.

I am so ashamed but surprised?

If you know more, tell me. Right now, I’m watching IBN.

Edit: *sniffle*
I guess at least we only ever lost to each other?
*sniffle*

Congrats NSW Blues. Still love you T&T.
*sniffle*

Or maybe quite believable. I wasn’t paying much attention and didn’t know we were playing until I woke up one morning and mom and dad were like look we’re playing. If you know me, when I wake up, I’m not quite lucid (very far from it) so I was a bit shocked. (Of course dad knew long time…and claims he told mom who forgot).

Anywayz…Happy Divali to all celebrating.
I’m sure I heard something fall on my roof! ;-)

My powerbook isn’t quite dead yeat but it has vertical red lines running through it from start-up and then when (if) it loads the GUI there’s a box of vertical hashes following the mouse pointer along and when (if) it loads the console lots of the output is fuzzy.

Sometime during start-up it halts for five minutes and then recommences. I checked the dmesg (I think that’s what I check) and I think that’s just before or just after it starts doing things to the graphics card/video adapter (I forget precisely). And then 5 minutes later it continues in the log. I figure if it’s the graphics adapter and not say the display or whatever then it’s toast regardless.

I really need a new computer.
Now.
But I wasn’t ready for my powerbook to die.
*sob*

Well, I’ve never even made puffs before.

I burnt 1/4.

Furthermore, next time, we only make one of the recipe, maybe twice…five? you got to be kidding me.

On a happy note, mom’s layered chicken biryani tasted great. Usually chicken biryani is…well…you know so-so…okay…but can’t compete with lamb, goat or maybe even beef…
This chicken biryani tasted just as good so yay!

And as to the rest of the menu, we’re going by my cousin/aunt etc probably with our hands swinging because the non-burned gougères are going to the masjid…

Why didn’t I just bake a cake??
*sniffle*
Would’ve been less stress and less wares too.
Why oh why.
I guess it wouldn’t be ‘Id if I didn’t overdo it in some small way.

And, on that note,

‘Id Mubarak!!!!!!

26 out of 29 … way better than last year!

When a villager volunteered to come help, I enthusiastically said yes (because I know, as much as mom always says yes we’ll make rasgullah this year…it’ll never happen…it’s been delayed once again…) This meant mom wouldn’t feel obligated to make some of them and then she can make one fry thing and I can make one sweet thing.

But of course, things being as they are, mom was too tired for us to have them over.

But they made it at home anyway and brought it to us. Yay!

I am very grateful.

Granted, it’s not my mother’s recipe but who cares. We have Eid sweets!!!

They brought us kurma, gulab jamoon and coconut barfi.
Mom may or may not make accra on ‘Id day. I told her we’re bound to get at least one taste of something fried at the masjid so she doesn’t have to. She can make it the next day or during the week. Or I could try?
I’m going to make gougères (like 4 or 5 times the recipe and carry some to othe masjid).

I had dreams of making mamoul (date stuffed pastries) or a date cake or almond crescent biscuits and even a nice semi-frozen lime chiffon pie. I will make these things…just later…(like when we make rasgullah…you know).

For food, we’re making kibbe and chicken biryani and purple and white coleslaw.

I wonder if I should bother try to convince mom to just let me make lasagne instead of kibbe because you know who makes the kibbe and the biryani. At least I can make the lasagne ALL BY MYSELF!

What else would I like?

Accra.

And my sisters have many menus planned for different guests. One is stew chicken, fry rice, macaroni pie, potato salad…and for some reason I feel like drooling.

And who knows *when* ‘Id is. Sunday or Monday? Monday is the public holiday…if Sunday is ‘Id we will make accra on Monday. If Monday is ‘Id when will we make the chicken biryani? Saturday or Sunday? We like to make it the day before so we have something special to eat that last day. Maybe I can make the lasagne on Saturday?

*sigh*

Well, at least I have something to wear…I didn’t go crazy shopping during Hajj but I did get some stuff.

PS I have this dream of making blueberry pancakes on Eid morning before we go to the masjid. What time would I have to wake up for that???!!

And thus today is the first day of fasting. I’m hoping this year, Insha Allah I can fast the whole month (or almost). We didn’t even discuss paying < a href="http://lilandra.com/blog/archives/2008/09/03/ramadan-2-suhur/">fidiya for me this year and so I am cautiously optimistic!

I cracked it open and it was kinda…
Well have you ever seen a frozen raw egg? Or a semi-frozen egg? you know like when the water bottle in the fridge has shards of ice floating in it. Well the yolk was like soft-frozen and the white was shard-y.

We keep lowering the fridge temperature but still we have frozen water and stuff. The freezer…hmmm…I am sometimes concerned about. I almost wonder if the motherboard got reverse hooked up.

Or…contrary to what my mother always claims, that having my brother and family home and us always opening the fridge makes the stuff in it not stay cold…we don’t open the fridge alot and stare.

But somehow…we cook, we buy food and we eat and we can’t find room in the fridge. Aside from it being one of those stupid fridge and freezer side by side models, somehow the food we make just doesn’t go away.

And silly me, when Chennette came for the weekend a week or so ago, on an EARLY MORNING flight, I offered to make fry aloo. Offered?? She insisted that we make breakfast for her and said I could make fry aloo (I kept offering to make it for her when I was in Guyana). So I dragged myself off the bed a bit early but late that morning and scrubbed and sliced and soaked the potatoes and made fry aloo. I couldn’t find either of the woks and decided the non-stick fry pans were too small and used the deeper one…which meant all the dark bits stuck to the bottom and it didn’t come out quite right but it taste like it should.

And you know what?
SHE DIDN’T EVEN EAT IT!
She didn’t even make the sada roti for it.
I have never made roti and my sister-in-law said her sada roti doesn’t come out so good so the agreement was I make the fry aloo and she whips up some roti. She didn’t make any the whole long weekend she was by us.

So this container of fry aloo has been sitting in the extra cold fridge for some time. I ate some when my sister-in-law brought some food from her mom and she had a piece of roti left.

Anyway a day or so ago I was like I could just mash it and make aloo pie. Then I was like NO! I’m not going to slave over a pot frying pies until kingdom come. Bake them. Make crust. And this was late at night by the way and I remembered we had two sets of pastry dough sitting in the freezer from before I went to Guyana, one was mom’s (short crust for similar potato pies) and the other mine for an apple pie (butter butter). Of course I found the butter one and stashed it in the fridge to soften.

And the next day, I microwaved the fry aloo, added geera (cumin, toasted, ground) and black pepper, mashed and rolled dough and made pies and baked them.

And you know what?
They tasted REALLY GOOD!
And now a day after the pies are done and there is one less container in the fridge.

Now…if only I could figure out where the cake flour is hiding…

Yes. I know you know what I mean.
Shameful, huh?

But now, refreshed from a month-long vacation in England (and maybe finally sleeping properly), I hopefully will start back baking more often.

But you know…it’s like almost everybody drives these itsy-bitsy (and some not-so itsy-bitsy) hatchbacks in England. Almost makes you want a nice cute tiny three-door (although there were a lot of five-doors too…).

Laterz

But unfortunately, due to all the stress and worries, our heads were in a turmoil and I was worried that I would never be in the right frame of mind to make an accepted Hajj. But then, who can say what the right frame of mind is?

I didn’t want anything to spoil my Hajj, but there I was, haven’t even left Trinidad and Tobago yet, worried that my hajj might be spoiled by all the thoughts going on in my head. I was worried about why it took us so long to get visas. Who screwed up? Did anybody screw up? What about the other group that didn’t get visas? I was trying not to be annoyed with what I heard. I was trying to be *calm* and when upset make dua or pray..

In the years leading up to our trying to make Hajj (2006 when Chennette got sick, 2007 when our other siblings had babies), I never thought it would happen. I never thought I was ready for Hajj. I didn’t think I was worthy. I still didn’t think I was the perfect candidate but then…in our religion there are five pillars:

1. Tawhid – belief in one God and submission to him
2. Salaah – perform the 5 daily salawat
4. Zakaah – give the annual charity, one-fortieth of the money you’ve had for a whole year
5. Saum – fasting in the month of Ramadhan
7. Hajj – make the pilglrimage to Makkah, if you can afford it

And, I could afford it. Barely I guess ;-)
When I quit my job I made sure I had that money put aside (even though it seemed like a pipe dream) and didn’t touch it for anything.

And Alhamdulillah (All praise is due to Allah), I was finally making Hajj. My stomach shouldn’t've been in knots because of travel arrangements…yes it should’ve been in knots because of the great spritual/religious journey I was embarking on. I wanted it to change me for the better. I wanted to be a better person and a better muslim. And I was going to pray hard to change into that person.

Mostly, I wanted an accepted hajj. I know I’ve not been the best Muslim I can be and I know there have been lapses and I wanted forgiveness. Hajj gives you the opportunity for a clean slate (if accepted). But even if not accepted, I still decided it would be my turning point. There were many things I wanted (not just material!!!) and I also had to make up my mind to not be disappointed with whatever I received.

During all the worries about our visas and other groups not making it mom would announce at random, “It’s Allah’s house. When He’s ready for you to come, you will come.” Remember, Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) was ready for her to come twice before. And so with dad. Chennette and I were embarking on our first hajj. The obligatory one. And no matter what people tell you about it, you know you’ll never be ready.

And on a side-note, I was very concerned about these infamous stooping toilets or sunnah toilets.

EEK!

Especially considering certain surprises.

But don’t worry, I will have a post dedicated to that *luxury*.

Originally posted here and comments enabled here too.

The preceding week was very stressful as there was still some doubt that our first group (we had been split into two as we were such a large group) would be able to make hajj. They left Trinidad on the Tuesday before us and since then had missed so many flights and there was some talk of having to pay change of date fees and rebooking fees.

Furthermore, during that week we didn’t hear much from the first group directly. There were many rumours floating around that they were “locked up” and “starving”. They left Trinidad without their passports as the visas had not been issued yet and were supposed to collect them Tuesday morning at Caracas with the visas (the Saudi Embassy is in Caracas) and then continue on with their connecting flights. Caribbean Airlines said they would take people with some sort of photo ID and Trinidad and Tobago immigration said if Caribbean Airlines would board our group then they have no problem letting them leave. I assumed Venezuela was okay with 40-odd passengers being in transit waiting for their passports.

Well our whole group didn’t get visas until Thursday and ours arrived in Trinidad on Friday. So the first group had not left before us as was the plan. But they weren’t locked up. They were staying in a hotel outside of the airport. This was rather stressful. A couple from our jamaat were part of the first group.

During that week we got many calls from many people saying, yes we got it!, yes we got it! (and we would wonder but didn’t you say we got it yesterday?). It got to the point I didn’t want to answer the phone anymore. One Hajj leader, a friend of dad, sent a message with his wife for us to not leave Trinidad without our passport and visa! Don’t!

In that week, we also heard that one group didn not get through at all. Can you imagine a group of 50 paid their money for everything and then their visas are refused?

You must be really careful in picking a group. People may not talk but somehow you should find out for sure whether your group leader is licensed or not. If you can’t find out, sometimes the students in Saudi Arabia might be able to find out for you…I don’t know how…they might be better able to listen to what people are saying. Also, you have to get previous hujaaj to tell you honestly about their experience. And just because it was good one year doesn’t mean the next year it will be so.

So, Sunday morning, we left. We had confirmed bookings. We had visas. The only thing that could stop us was immigration at any point. There was enough layover time at each stop (or so we thought anyway). We were just worried about our fellow hujaaj in the previous group. The hajj terminal in Jeddah closes on Tuesday midnight and our group was scheduled to arrive Monday. If you’re not in by Tueday midnight you’ve missed it. They won’t let you in to make hajj. We didn’t know what their flights were anymore. We heard they would take the same flight with us out of Caracas to Frankfurt and when we went on to Jeddah from there, they would go through Amman and arrive the day after us. Cutting it very closely, yes?

Leaving Piarco (Trinidad) was hard. Our neighbours carried the four of us up. And we were the first to check-in I thought. We were starting to wonder if we were *late* (was it even 4 am??) It’s sad when the whole family is going because there is nobody to wave you goodbye. But then, isn’t it sadder when you’re leaving someone behind because then you *are* waving someone goodbye? Either way ti felt strange.

Thankfully in the throngs that came to see off the last hajj group, friends and family did appear. One group came with samosas and such (pre-arranged) so we’d have some extra food/snacks for the trip. Relatives of the people from the first group came to see us off too, and talked dad’s ear off. Dad was even able to thank one of the persons responsible for our group actually getting our visas.

With all this stress, I decided not to take gravol (much needed medicine for flying…but it puts you to sleep). We would arrive in Caracas around 11 and not leave until 5pm…and I didn’t think it would be wise to be asleep and groggy throughout that stay. The stories we’ve heard!

Originally posted here and comments form open here too.

One of them, about two to three hours into the drive, had BISWAS written on the side, in capital letters! Unfortunately I have no photographic evidence (we were in a bus)!

If you’re interested, check wikipedia or Amazon.com.

I know, I know, some of you Arabs/Arabic speakers (hmm do any read here?) will come and tell me what the actual significance of the phrase BISWAS is but for now…I prefer to imagine!

Travelling for so long makes it hard to distinguish between the days…the passage of night is hard,

All donations of food especially got and home cooked would be highly appreciated.

P.S. We did have a good hajj (hopefully accepted) and i didn’t overpack medicine.