Monday, April 29, 2019

Update on Cross Stitch

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 السلام عليكم


 So I know this is gonna be a short post, for 2 reasons.

1. Because I kind of miss the short 5-minute posts. I'll try and do more of them soon inshaa Allaah!
2. Because I have no time, I want to do a quick painting (coming up soon inshaa Allaah).

So to get on,
I've finished quite a lot of the pattern. I'm trying to figure out HOW to start on the leaves, what a nightmare. I'm sure I'll make a load of mistakes, and I don't even know how I'm gonna get it done before Eid, because I want to send my grandma a picture of the completed pattern - she'll be so happy inshaa Allaah!

I did one easy leaf yesterday, and today I did the outline (stem) of a leaf and a bigger bud, if you can guess what THAT means.
Believe it or not, I took these pictures in absolute sunlight, the sunlight of Qatar, which, in summer is pretty hot. It doesn't look bright though.

And this is a view from another angle:
And I have this left to finish:

One that I'm particularly happy with is the pink rose that looks so bright and... well, happy.
This is where I keep my piles of floss - which is only the beginning of it. Am I being too mysterious? Well, perphaps but it shall be revealed quite soon inshaa Allaah.

And now if I pack it up, this is how it looks.
Sloppy, but it's fine - I keep it away from Ramlah. If you have little siblings and you are doing some kind of handicraft, PLEASE do remember to keep your tools, your work and your everything UP and AWAY from them.



So that's quite it...

And inshaa Allaah see you next post!
Maimoonah

Friday, April 26, 2019

Board books any child would LOVE - Book Recommendation #5

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم 

 السلام عليكم

 So I know Ramlah's a three-year-old, but she still loves board books and, you know, laminated books. This post isn't entirely about board books, sometimes you might find books with the age group 3+.

Let's start!

Book #1

The Way to Jannah



Image result for the way to jannah
Ramlah still loves this book, we had it when she was born, and even before that. I myself had it when I was small! It's a lift-the-flap book, as you can see on the cover. I remember reading it to Ramlah when she was a baby. Though, now she can read it!
Age Group - it really depends. This is a read-aloud book for ages 3 months and up. A three year old also will love this book. 

Book  #2

The Salamander Room
Image result for the salamander room

Now, this book wasn't always Ramlah's. It was mine. I'm not sure how exactly I got it, but what I can tell you is, it's one of the nicest books I'd ever had when I was small!
"And when he wakes up, where will he play?" Can you guess?
Age Group: I would recommend this 3+ because I guess they can really understand when you tell them the boy is imagining it.

Book #3

Hafsah!

Image result for hafsah! umm an numan 
 The author is one of Ummi's friends. I don't really remember this book, but I think this is a bit more complicated. I would recommend this
Age Group: 4+

Book #4

Ahmad has to go Potty

Image result for ahmad has to go potty umm an numan

Same author. This was another favourite, and which is becoming Ramlah's rapidly!
Age Group: Depends. If the child is in potty training, you could read the book to her - suggestion. Maybe... 2+?

Book #5

First Encylopedia of Science
Image result for my first science encyclopedia

I had this book for a long, long time. This would be good for ages

4+

Well, that's it for now because Blogger started acting up with the post and I guess if I stay to write somemore, what'll happen is that the whole post will be lost.

So, assalaamu alaikum and see you next post inshaa Allaah!!

Friday, April 19, 2019

Easy Recipe: Traditional Pasta

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 السلام عليكم


 So, yeah. Today was a greatly busy day. I attended Ummi's class (1.5 hours), did an animated  PowerPoint for Abi (a long time) and to add to that - I cooked a whole dish of pasta, recipe handed down from my mother! Pictures below. Anyway - I forgot to keep the sausages out to defrost (they were frozen solid) and when I started it was already 9.30 PM so - yeah laaaaaate dinner! You can substitute it - just add any meats, ETC - chicken, chunks of pre-cooked beef, even pepperoni!

My best friend says she does NOT like pasta and noodles. When did I ask her which vegetables she put in (if I can remember rightly she said,) Do you really put veggies in pasta? I told her we put sausages and broccoli and she said broccoli was one of her favorites. It used to be NOT mine but since we eat it almost every pasta, which is made at least twice a month (even three times!!), I learned to like it.

So hopefully, she will make this! By the way, you might not find any left-overs if your family is BIG. I cooked a lot extra so we have JUST ENOUGH for the next day's dinner (which is today actually!)

I published it on Friday though!

Let's start the recipe:




The instructions won't be very accurate - nor will the pictures. I took it from my Canon IXUS.
Image result for canon ixus

Without further delay - let's assemble the instructions -

INGREDIENTS:

Enough pasta to fill your baking dish (we use a glass dish as you can see in the picture at the beginning of the post)
3 different colors of Bell Pepper (capsicum)
5 baby corn pieces (substitute with 1/2 cup sweet corn)
4-5 medium-sized AmericanaⓇ sausages (substitute with meat pieces)
2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp of MD Sweet Chili Sauce (available in Sri Lanka and if you are in Qatar do go to Family Food Centre, they should have all MD items.)
 One grated carrot (NOT baby carrot, a large-sized should do)
1/2 cup brocolli
1 cup spinach (we added a bit more)
3 tbsp ghee/melted butter
 1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Ground Coriander
1/8 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt, to taste
Puck Cream 6oz
Three cheddar cheese slices
200g mozzeralla cheese (grated)
RaguⓇ/ any other pasta sauce 12 oz Tomato pasta sauce
RaguⓇ/ any other pasta sauce 4-5 oz Classic Alfredo pasta sauce (no such bottle, but measure it from another bottle)

Let's start!

Boil your pasta according to package directions. After done, switch off heat but DO NOT DRAIN. Stir occasionally.

Grate the carrot and set aside.

Take out sausages/meat, cut into small pieces and set aside. Remember, we used pepperoni instead of sausages!
Chop the baby corn into quarters or smaller if you wish. If using sweet corn, just measure it and set it next to the meat. Chop the bell peppers too into tiny squares (I cut mine pretty badly so ignore that!). Cut the brocolli.

In a large wok, pour in the ghee, or put the butter in (preferably hardened butter). Let it heat up slightly, Gas Mark 5 or 4, alternating when it gets too hot.
Put in all the vegetables except spinach and carrot.
My pasta was halfway cooked when I started. By now your pasta should be almost done.
The meat needs to be quite roasted.. When it looks like this, reduce heat to Gas Mark 4-3 alternating again, even though some have not got roasted. Can you spot the roasted ones?
Put in the carrot but NOT the spinach. Give it a quick toss.
Now, before the carrot loses it's flavour (I put the carrot first once and that's what happened), add the sauces. Sorry for the quality again.... and I actually used a 24 oz for the tomato sauce, but it was half-finished so it's literally 12 oz.


Stir it.
Put in the salt.
Add the pepper, the cinnamon and coriander.


Add the Worcestershire Sauce.
Stir all, then drain the pasta and quickly add it to the mixture. Stir thoroughly
Wash the spinach (if you are getting it NOT in a box), then put it into the mixture. It kinda shrinks when you cook it, so make sure to add a lot of extras!

Stir, then switch off the heat. At this point you can serve OR, the better option, bake it. We almost ALWAYS bake it, just cause it tastes so good.

How to Bake Pasta

 No, you don't pour it all in a baking dish and bake it without anything. First, preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius which is 356 Fahrenheit.



Then, fill your dish halfway with pasta. Add 1 and a half slices of cheddar cheese on top. Pour half of the small tin of Puck Cream and spread. I didn't use the cream this time because we only had one and my mother wanted to make lasagne, which is basically thin strips of pasta, though prepared in a totally different way.

 Add half the mozzarella which is 100g.



Fill your dish. There might be a little remaining, that's what happened to us. We ate both baked and un-baked.

Spread the rest of the cream evenly, then evenly arrange the mozzarella.

At this moment you might want to add some pepperoni to make it a 'pizza-pasta', or just bake it.

Since it was 10.00 PM when I put it into the oven, you want to wait for about 15 minutes or until brown at the edges.



Out of the oven....
....and ready to eat!

Well, that's it for today, inshaa Allaah see you next time - next post might be a post on Board Book Recommendations - for little kids (toddlers preschoolers, etc). Ramlah is a pre-schooler now!



Maimoonah



Sunday, April 07, 2019

How I Journalled (as a 5+ year old) and miscellaneous

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 السلام عليكم

I'm sorry for the extra long title... I didn't know what to put.

Well, I have taken a sudden interest in my... babyhood? No, uh... primary-hood? Anyway, I found some old journals (believe me, about ten notebooks). One is an orange book which I think we bought in Sri Lanka. I'm not sure. I was around 5 when we went.

I have it in front of me (I'm scanning the pages for a date). Oh, here's a date - on the almost-last page. 20/2/2. HUH? Ok. I'm giving it up! I know, I'll look on my mother's blog - she has a post on there.

TEN MINUTES LATER.

*sighs* Found it. So.......... 25/3/2013. So, I would be 5+, but not quite 6.

Oh, and yeah I WAS in Sri Lanka! It says so in her post, and I remember writing letters to my friends : )! (This isn't going to make any sense, so check out her post)


This is what I wrote in my orange journal.

Sri Lanka is a beautiful tiny island. There are many birds, green trees and nice flowers. And lots of flower pots too. I love them. You get homes. And butterflies. You get much fish in ponds. I love to visit Sri Lanka!

The flower pot thing wasn't really true, but the reason why I said that is because my grandma has a beautiful garden and even now she tends to it - with a lot of pots and flowers.

Same notebook, first post:

My Grandma's Garden

My grandma has a nice garden. There are lots of plants and flowers. There is a henna tree too. I love to play in the garden.

Oh, the henna tree. I think the henna tree in my grandma's garden doesn't exist any longer, it got infected or something. I'm not sure.

Here are some pictures of the garden!



























These were taken by me with my Canon IXUS.

So this is turning into a photography post, which I don't want it to be this time, so, the next up is The Big Book Of Fun.

Living up to its name, it is a roleplay-book - kind of? It's like a game but you play it on paper. I got this in 2013. I'm not sure when. It has a lovely leather brown cover with some kind of air pocket I think.

Oh, I was 6 years old when I started it. No, I wasn't. Wait. It was in July, which meant I was still 5. Islaamically, 6 years old soon.

Here is the entry (not in neat handwriting):

This Is Who...? (arrow) Maimoonah.
This is Maimoonah and this is my note, book. I am six years old. I was born in September. Today is Ramadhaan. Now it is almost fair.

REMEMBER, empty a penny in the fun!

Have fun in the Big Book Of Fun!
MAIMOONAH T
__________________

Regarding the 'now it is almost fair', I meant I was almost 6. Haha!!

At first, it wasn't actually a roleplaying book. I wrote some sentences, drew some pictures and made a conversation.

"Look here! Look look!" (speech bubble said by the bird in stencil)
"What, what? It's a flower silly bird." (speech bubble said by 'me')

The second one was "How are you? Fine?" (Said by an 'adult')
"Good! Alhamdulillaah." (said by 'me')

The second conversation was inspired by a meeting in a mall haha!


It gradually turned into a roleplaying book when I finally learned how to 'forge' coins, which we call here 'dirhams'. Though what you do is put the coin under the page, and color on top of it with pencil or color pencils. Color pencils are what I usually use.

You use your finger to 'pick' up coins and either 'deposit' it into the 'bank' or buy things such as ponies, or visit the grocery store or even go to 'Eygypt'. Of course, I mean Egypt.

I did a few stories and Q&A on them 'just like my grammar books'!

I filled about half the book - and guess what! I still love roleplay books and play them!

I even had a trading centre and an eraser ready. Unfortunately, I had to give that idea up as the page got a bit stained near the 'penny count' area.

There ARE a few funny things I wrote. I'll try to find it.

THREE MINUTES LATER.

'I love playing. Do you love?'
'I love hamsters a lot! You love?'
'Maimoonah had a lot of boots. A rot was fallen on a log.'
'I love to colour coins! And I love to buy them! Mmm!'
'Maimoonah. My name is Maimoonah. That's why I've put my name.'

That is all lol! Those are the ones that make me laugh. Especially the last one!

I am not going to put pictures because there will be 50 odd pages to photograph and I DO NOT want that. Period.

This isn't very colorful so let me look for a picture to end the post.


We made dahl in traditional clay pots (in sri lanka of course) with my grandmother supervising! I remember she even bought me my own clay pot to cook in!



The above is the result!



The above picture is a traditional pickle (not cucumber) called an achcharu you say it like this 'Achhhaaruu.'


That's it for this week inshaa Allaah,

Maimoonah
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