Neelu's Journal: 2014

Have you noticed how easily we get offended these days? A friend posts a photo or a status update about something we don’t agree with, we get upset easily. Someone forgets the punctuation we see grammar police come up with yet another ‘your grammar is poor’ meme at lightning speed. A home cook announces that she is baking xyz when in fact its called abc, other home cooks tweet, its ABC not XYZ! Man, we put a lot of pressure on others to be perfect. All the time.

I feel, and this is my personal opinion of course, by putting pressure on our peers to be perfect at everything, we are indirectly putting pressure on ourselves to be perfect. We cannot judge others on something unless we are good at it as well, right? I wonder why we are becoming less and less tolerant of beginners, of people who are still learning or simple human errors. What has made us all such an expert at everything?

Joojeh Kebabs (Adapted from Ariana Bundy's cookbook 'Pomegranates and Roses')

Moving on to the recipe, Joojeh Kebab is a staple lunchbox and party dish. I've cooked this dish so many times and I am surprised it took me so long to share the recipe here.

Why is it our favorite? For one, it's very simple and easy to put together. Two, it's healthy and wholesome. Three, it's colorful and pleasing to the eyes. Four, it comes on a stick which for some reason is a sure fire way to get children to eat them. Five, and the most important, the marinade leaves the chicken cubes juicy and succulent. The aroma and flavors of grated onions, yogurt and saffron work well together and leave you asking for more.

I found that seasoning the vegetables and leaving them aside for a while before threading them on skewers brought out their flavors and took the dish to a different level altogether.

What you will need:

About 500 grams boneless chicken cubes

1 medium sized onion grated

1 cup of yoghurt
A pinch of saffron threads
A generous pinch of ground turmeric (optional)

Juice of half a lemon

Ground black pepper, salt and olive oil – go with your instinct and use how much you feel necessary

About 50 grams ghee (optional)

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Couple of peppers, use different colours

Couple of marrows or few cherry tomatoes (or any other suitable vegetable)

Ground black pepper, salt and olive oil – go with your instinct and use how much you feel necessary

Juice of half a lemon

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Hope you have had a good start to Ramadan. Alhamdulillah, ours has been good so far. The first day was exceptionally good with me thinking where did those fifteen hours go! But then on the second day, I kept counting remaining hours like a child. I think I felt energized during the first day because of the amount of water I had during Suhoor. Keeping ourselves hydrated makes a huge difference when fasting for long hours.

One of my goals for this Ramadan was to tell a non-Muslim friend about Ramadan. I've been pondering over it and realized that I've Muslims and non-Muslims reading this little blog of mine and what better way to introduce someone to Ramadan!

Ramadan, as you might already know, is one of the twelve months of Islamic Calendar. Among others, following are four reasons why we Muslims consider it to be a blessed month:

a) The revelation of the Holy Qur'an started during the month of Ramadan

b) Fasting, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam is observed during the month of Ramadan

c) During the month of Ramadan, door of Divine blessings is open to all those who pray and supplicate

d) The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) would strive harder when it came to prayers during this month and urged his followers to do the same.

One might think, especially seeing the lofty Iftar buffets in this part of the world, that Ramadan is only about keeping ourselves away from food, drink and physical desires. Yes, during Ramadan, we Muslims abstain from food and basic physical appetites from dawn to dusk. However, Ramadan is much more than that.

Source

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "When one of you is fasting, he should abstain from indecent acts and unnecessary talk, and if someone begins an obscene conversation or tries to pick an argument, he should simply tell him, ‘I am fasting. I am fasting’." (Bukhari and Muslim)

This is the month when we strive to connect with our Creator and try to do better spiritually. We train ourselves to curb our intense natural inclinations and strengthen our spiritual self. For a month, we fight various evil inclinations which gives us the power to do the same for next eleven months. We come back to Ramadan again, the cycle continues and our lives become a never ending process of spiritual enrichment.

Ramadan is also the month when Muslims, despite of all the differences among themselves, unite and connect with each other. The communal feeling is much more obvious with everyone coming together for prayers and charity work - which is in fact a part of worship.

I hope I have been able to give you a brief introduction to Ramadan. If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them in the best way possible. In sha Allah.

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Every month, I ask a friend to share her Currently list along with me. I am happy to present Sayana Rahiman from My Mouth is Full for the month of June. We met via a book club eons ago and after a couple years' break, we found each other as members of a food blogging community. I love her food photography and writing styles and suggest you check her blog.

Now to our lists, here's Sayanas:

Working on : A healthy lifestyle. I’ve tipped a quarter century in terms of age and I feel it is time to clean up my habits in terms of eating healthy and exercising regularly. I feel motivated by the fact that I’m responsible for my little one and the earlier he can pick up on this, the easier it will be for him as he grows up.

Reading: I haven’t read anything but mindless fiction in a while. This is probably why I’m engrossed completely in my current read Honeymoon in Purdah - An Iranian Journey by Alison Wearing. She paints a beautiful landscape of the country with its colours, flavours and countrymen with hearts of gold. It’s an insight into the land marred with stereotypes by the media which makes it an engrossing read. The book is abundant with descriptions of the meals they have.

Listening: To Ali babbling, cooing and gurgling all day long. It trumps my favourite playlist on my iPhone anyday.

Thinking: That I have to finish this list on time!

Watching: Not much nowadays. My husband and I are serious movie buffs and right until the last few weeks of my pregnancy, we were watching at least two movies every weekend knowing very well that going to the theatres would no longer be an option for a very long time once the little one arrives. We now enjoy Last Man Standing, Modern Family and Veep on a very low volume (sometimes I have to rewind it multiple times to get the joke) in order not to wake Ali after he’s slept for the night.

Anticipating: Ali’s first Eid. Growing up, Eid was the celebration I loved with family, which always ended with an impromptu trip to the park or beach. He’s lucky to have both sets of grandparents in the country and I can’t wait to capture it all and share it with him when he grows up.

Eating: Very healthy meals nowadays and it surprises me why I wasn’t doing it sooner. I do go weak in the knees when I visit Cocoville in Jumeirah. Chocolate has supernatural powers to override my senses.

Feeling: That my little one is growing up way too fast for me to enjoy. I was transferring a few photos from my camera and cannot believe how much he has grown in these few months.

Wishing: There were a few more hours in the day for time to do a few things I can’t do right now.

How do you live a productive life? How do you find the time to do the things you want to do? How do you manage time constructively? Is there any such thing as work-life balance? Though I do not have clear cut answers to these questions asked by many, I do have some tips to share:

1. Wake up early

Waking up early not only has a religious importance in my life as a Muslim, it also gives me a lot of quite time before my children are up. I’ve noticed that whatever task I give myself to do can be finished easily in the early morning. I find it easier to write and easier to cook healthy breakfasts and lunchbox meals when I've had the time to go through my morning routine calmly. When I wake up late, I feel groggy and rushed. Do note that to wake up early, you have to sleep early as well.

2. Eat Healthy, Move More, Sleep well
The kind of food we eat affects our mood and energy. Going for a walk even if for 20 minutes daily can do wonders to your creative energy. A sleep deprived body can never work to it's full potential. (Easier said than done, ha?)

3. Make lists

No, I am not talking about mental lists. They don’t work. Write down your goals – short or long term. Get it off your head and dump them on a piece of paper.

4. Make a daily schedule

Recently when I felt overwhelmed with ideas and schedules running through my head, I sat down and made a daily schedule on MS Excel. I simply divided each day in two parts – one before Talha got home from school and one after. I gave time for everything I felt was important - meal preps, work (packing orders, admin work etc), social media, blogging, work outs etc. It worked, beautifully!

I’am not exaggerating when I say I felt like I got few extra hours! I found chunks of time at unexpected places and this helped me in finishing some important projects on time. Although I do not follow the schedule religiously any more, I've come into the habit of getting important work done in the morning and keeping evenings aside for family. In short, schedules make life hassle free.

5. Get rid of distractions – TV

When we moved to this apartment last year, we decided to not get any cable connection. I can’t tell you how much time this decision has saved my family and I. I could write a blog post only about it. Our evenings are much more wholesome now with evenings spent together as a family. We have a lot more conversations than we did before. If you cannot get rid of your TV completely, start by reducing screen time. Start small, with baby steps.

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