The Other Therapy...

It's been a while since I found time for a book. Picked these two books up from the library just last weekend. I didn't want to be over-ambitious; AZ reminded me too, bearing in mind the fact that I can end up with four to six books at one visit and end up finishing only one by the time it's due date for returning them.

Alhamdhulilah, almost finishing the "Bookseller of Kabul" - a book the way I expected it to be. In-Shaa-Allah, Hoping to start on the second book soon - a non-fiction novel about post-war trials on home ground.

A New Skill Learned...

I had shared in my earlier post on Sister N’s Mum’s tasty food that she fed AZ and me two weekends ago. Last weekend, I decided to try out two of her dishes  - corn rice and cucumber and carrot achar. Alhamdhulilah, both the dishes turned out well. And that means, I have learnt two more new dishes.

And in the process, I discovered something very useful about cooking with basmati rice (and I am sticking to it). I have been practicing cooking with basmati rice for a while now- ghee rice, vegetable pulao, prawn biryani, etc. I don’t always follow what my Mum adds in, I try to innovate what I get from my favourite food blogs and from my own food sense sometimes. And thankfully, I am blessed with a family that welcomes variations in their food every now and then.

One distinct way Mum cooks basmati rice is that she does not soak her rice. She rinses it thoroughly just before adding it into the mixture base that she has prepared for her briyanis. I, on the other hand, have been soaking rice for at least 20 minutes before cooking it for a while now. For some reason, my rice texture would almost be not quite close to how I want it to be. I tried this time, making the corn rice, without soaking the rice. And it really did turn out with a texture that I always hoped for, or to be precise, with a texture that our family’s taste buds were accustomed to. And so…. I am definitely sticking to this method from now on, In-Shaa-Allah.

Oh, and we enjoyed lunch with chicken masala to complement the two dishes below.

While cooking the corn rice, I realised I had too much corn. And so, I decided to make custard with corn for desserts later in the day. What I did came to look like the bowl below.

And Mum came home, tasted the custard, and did what she does most of the times. She corrected the consistency by simmering the mixture again. Mothers…. May Allah bless them in both this Dunya and Akhirah for the things they do for us every moment. Ameen.

Surprise Gifts

Our Eid visits have just been wrapped up I believe. Alhamdhulilah. With AZ's exams throughout the month of Ramadan and into Eid as well, we have postponed some of our visits though. We opened our doors and warmly welcomed our guests nevertheless, and had good food and company that came with Allah's barakah through them.

Just last weekend, AZ and I accepted an invitation to visit a newly-found friend's family - Sister N, whom I have mentioned here. She came by weeks earlier, and we spent a good number of hours right after Azhar into Maghrib and Isyak. We had so much to share about, it didn't feel like she only just came into my life at all.

I had made vegetable briyani, my 'turn-to' brinjal pachadi and fish masala that day.  In all, it was a beautiful day. Sister N and I have been colleagues  who work for different media companies. We meet often at events that we happened to be assigned to cover at the same time. But our friendship just bloomed very recently. I am so thankful it did. Alhamdhulilah.

After our meeting at home, Sister N then insisted we visited her family too. AZ and I could't say no, of course.

Sister N's family is really sweet, especially her Mum. Both of us ended talking to each other more than Sister N and I. I have always been intrigued by her whenever Sister N shared about her, and it was for this one fact - that she is a convert who is trying her best to learn new knowledge on our Deen every moment. SubhanAllah.

So, you can imagine we didn't realise how fast time flew when she started sharing on her conversion, etc.

Together with our hearts, our stomachs were happy too with Auntie's lovely cooking. I came home with some nice recipes from her too.

Above all, what really moved me was Auntie's gift to me. A sejadah (prayer mat) and a pearl-beaded tasbih from her Hajj pilgrimage three years ago. She said she was waiting for the right moment to give it to someone, and Masha-Allah, she chose me.

I was so happy and really moved I must say... Whenever there are matters related to the blessed land, I am always lost on how to describe what I feel these days.

We came home in time for Maghrib. AZ and I took turns to pray on the sejadah. I have kept the beautiful maroon and clear-toned pearl-beaded tasbih in a relative's wedding souvenir holder, next to the table where we pray. I hope to make good use of it, In-Shaa-Allah.