Muslim Mamas Get Ready for Ramadan (Aug 22nd) - Page 2

[Liquesce]

Just wanted to add some links for listening to the taraweeh prayers from Mecca:

http://www.muslimtents.com/iharam/watch.html
http://www.muslimco.com/islamchannel.html
http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/b3234.htm

This site has a list of the imams who will be leading the prayers this year.

[1jooj]

: It's almost here!

I can't tell you how much my family needs the mercy of this month. Our work/farm/life situation has meant little time to prepare. Just last night, we were sitting down to dinner when a couple of local brothers stopped by on the farm, just to say hello to dh and remind him of the importance of iman and salat and wish him a successful month. Of course I was not appropriately dressed for their visit, having worked in the kitchen, garden and barn all day and being about half an hour from bed... so that's regrettable and one reason I wish people would call ahead...but dh needed that visit and those words from those witnesses just then, so alhamdulillah. We have a month of striving ahead, and I want it to be a springboard for our family.

So today looks like rain, so the kids and I are going to a dear friend's to make decorations. We have a bunch of other plans and still a million things to get done on the farm, but many of the biggies are done. Dh will be gone for work the first third of the month, and I wish he'd consider taking a few cooked meals with him, but I'll at least pack dates and honey for him.

I want to go to Tarawih too, but the kids will both have school, and prayers don't start until 9:15p. Surely dh will go daily, and maybe the kids and I will go Friday and Saturday nights, and on nights before days off school.

I think baby in sling is perfectly fine for Tarawih, and you can lay baby down when sleeping. I did this when ds was tiny, and no one had a problem with us. With dd, my back trouble prevented it, but she was fine on the floor or being passed around. See what works. Your intention matters most, right?

We were thinking moon cookies too. There's an incredible Moroccan recipe for gazelle's hooves, but they require a lot of blanched almonds ($$$) and they're labor-intensive. So maybe just sugar cookie moons this year. :

[umsami]

I'm getting out and dusting off the kids' fanoozes today. (Egyptian lanterns) Have to replace the batteries, because we have the tacky made-in-China kind that require batteries. :

We always make star and moon sugar cookies each year. I try to do at least one "sweet" per week. So we'll do star and moon cookies one week, qatayef (pancakes filled with nuts and deep fried) one week, ghorayebah (super rich butter cookies with an almond on top) one week, and then kunafa one week. I'll probably throw in some rice pudding, malhabayah (milk pudding), basboosa (seminole cookie/cake), and Um Ali (sort of like bread pudding) for DH as well.

For decorations, we have our trusty Ramadan banner that comes out each year. I need to find it today. I'm not sure where it ended up since we moved. We also put up twinkle lights outside... and balloons and paper chains inside.

Each year I vow to do some sort of Ramadan Advent Calendar type thingie... but never do. I don't think it's going to happen this year. Insha'Allah next year.

I need to get the giant water bottles filled for the water cooler and make it to the Middle Eastern Grocery Store either today or tomorrow.

My two boys start school on Monday, so it's going to be a very hectic few days!!!

Does anybody know if fuul keeps well? I was thinking of making a mondo-big pot and then just reheating some for suhoor for DH and I.

[Liquesce]

Originally Posted by umsami

I'm getting out and dusting off the kids' fanoozes today. (Egyptian lanterns) Have to replace the batteries, because we have the tacky made-in-China kind that require batteries. :

My inlaws sent a couple for the kids this year. For one and two year old kids, that is. They survived for about a day, which made me happy what with all the fretting I was doing about lead.

You can count on beans to keep for several days ... they start to smell pretty distinctly off when they turn, so there's really no mystery about it. They keep longer if you thoroughly reheat the whole pot regularly. They also freeze pretty well IMO, if you wanted to try freezing portions. It will affect the texture a little bit, but I assume you're mashing them up a bit anyway.

[umsami]

Total Ramadan Score at Target!!

I was picking up last minute school supplies for the munchkins and found a bunch of cute lights in the garden/patio section.

One set (12.99) was little brass colored lanterns...looked like fanoozes!!

The other was a 19.99 set of solar-powered star lights.

There were plenty of others that would have worked, but those two caught my eyes. We already have star lights, so I went for the faux-fanooz! They look sort of like this, http://www.target.com/Lantern-8-Bulb...ights%20Bronze , but they were not $60!!!

[sky_and_lavender]

Hi everyone!
It's really fun to read of your Ramadan prep! Last year I fasted for the first time and it was so hard for me and a test of my faith, but definitely a meaningful experience.

This year, I am about to give birth! Could be any day now. I have really been hoping that my baby waits until Ramadan begins to come out, and it looks like s/he will. Yay!

Anyway, my husband was looking up dates on the Hijri calendar, and he found that I was born in Ramadan on the day many Muslims think is most probably the anniversary of Laylat al Qadr. And now our baby will be born during Ramadan.

Just for fun, I wondered if anyone knows of any folk or religious stories about it being good to be born in Ramadan?

A blessed Ramadan to everyone!

[peaceful_mama]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE basboosa! i need a recipe

I think the kids and i will make ramadan paper chains and signs maybe tomorrow inshaAllah I will have to get them some glitter. Got to do it when Daddy's home because he can write Arabic and I can't lol

We did this one year at my friend's house.....this year I'm going to introduce it as a project to the kiddies Oh and we need construction paper of course!

[noorjahan]

Ramadan Mubarak :

[umsami]

Ramadan Kareem :

For basboussa, I usually use either Claudia Roden's recipe..or the one in "Dining on the Nile" by this Egyptian-American pediatrician.

Here's Claudia's recipe...

For the syrup:
1-1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

For the Basboussa:
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
2 cups semolina
3/4 cups desiccated coconut (I just use normal sweetened coconut or if I'm feeling fancy... frozen unsweetened coconut)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
a few drops of vanilla extract (I use a teaspoon)

Like with all Middle Eastern sweets... you have to decide, do you want cold syrup and warm pastry or warm syrup and cold pastry. I usually find it easier to do cold syrup and warm pastry, so I prepare the sugar syrup first.

Boil the sugar, water, and lemon juice until it's thick enough to coat a spoon. Roughly 7-10 minutes depending on your stove. Allow to cool and chill.

Preheat oven to 350.

For the pastry:
Spray a pan with Pam or brush it with melted butter. I've used both a square pan to make thick basboussa and a rectangular pan to make thin basboussa. Claudia doesn't specify a size.

Melt the butter either in the microwave or on the stove. Add the rest of the ingredients in order... mixing a bit after each one. Beat until everything is well incorpratedl (Claudia says with a wooden spoon, but I've used metal spoons).

Spread the batter in the prepared pan... using a spatula to get a nice thin even layer. Bake in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes.

Remove it from the oven and cut into squares (or desired shape) as soon as it comes out of the oven. You can decorate each square with a blanched almond if desired. Pour the cold syrup on the hot basboussa and let it sit. Eat and enjoy.

[umsami]

For those who haven't seen it (and who care), here's Obama's Ramadan message....

http://www.islamicity.com/islamiTV/?ref=9560


I don't remember anybody speaking so long (5 minutes)... but I also don't remember the other messages as being so political? Of course, old age could be getting to me.

Oh...and as a sort of funny addition, apparently Egyptian Muslim date sellers are naming the best dates "Obama."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,541440,00.html


I'm going to have to ask DH to bring me back some Super Obamas!

[noorjahan]

I learnt about the both due to my friend's (egyptian) posting on fb! It's cool!

[Amatullah0]

Originally Posted by sky_and_lavender

Hi everyone!
It's really fun to read of your Ramadan prep! Last year I fasted for the first time and it was so hard for me and a test of my faith, but definitely a meaningful experience.

This year, I am about to give birth! Could be any day now. I have really been hoping that my baby waits until Ramadan begins to come out, and it looks like s/he will. Yay!

Anyway, my husband was looking up dates on the Hijri calendar, and he found that I was born in Ramadan on the day many Muslims think is most probably the anniversary of Laylat al Qadr. And now our baby will be born during Ramadan.

Just for fun, I wondered if anyone knows of any folk or religious stories about it being good to be born in Ramadan?

A blessed Ramadan to everyone!

cool, i was born in a non-muslim family in ramadhan too! on the 4th though...

[umsami]

Assalamu Alaikum Mamas:

Just thought I'd link to this article on what you can do in one minute...

http://www.islamcan.com/cgi-bin/incr...58332377.shtml

1. In one minute you can recite Soorat al-Faatihah 3 times, reciting rapidly and silently. Some scholars said that the reward for reading al-Faatihah is more than 600 hasanahs, so if you read it 3 times you will, by the permission of Allaah, gain more than 1800 hasanahs – all of that in one minute. ...