An impromptu suhoor at Costa Coffee: a journal entry by MWA's Aishah Schwartz

Subhan'Allah...I was feeling somewhat dreadful the last couple of days, and I spent most of that time attempting to sleep it off. In fact, after iftar, I went to bed (again), and Al-hamdulillah, fell fast asleep. I woke up at 2AM and pushed myself out of bed with the thought, "whatever will I eat for suhoor?"

Aishah's forgotten iftars and suhoors...Ramadan 2013

Scrambled egg sandwich and peaches.

Chicken Caesar salad and lentil soup.

Lentil soup with kidney beans and crackers.

Chicken Caesar salad and cheese pizza.

MWA asks: what is it about Ramadan and fasting that you particularly enjoy?

[If viewing from the "Home" page, be sure to click on the "Read More" link after the introductory text to read...the rest of the story!]

I'll kick-start the post, and as some of you may already know, I oftentimes lean toward a touch of humor, so this is something silly that popped into my head one evening in Ramadan as I started to peel the toppings off a pizza that just arrived for suhoor. One of the reasons I might particularly enjoy the fasting aspect of Ramadan is that: I have food issues to start with! lol

Food. It bothers me to spend money buying it. It bothers me to spend time putting it away. It bothers me spending time to prepare it. It REALLY bothers me having to clean up after preparing it! And it UBER bothers me that all of that money, time and effort are consumed within 5-10 minutes from the start of eating it! AND THEN!!! And then we flush it down the toilet!!!! WTH?!?!

In the first week I was trying to make iftar and suhoor a little more photo-op-ish (lol) (for the MWA Ramadan blog's photo section), but as Ramadan rolled along this month, iftar's began to slim down to a mug of tomato or lentil soup, a handful of jelly beans (what! no dates?!), a cup of coffee and a tall glass of water (or two) before jumping out the door to pray Isahah and taraweeh. For suhoor, now maybe I'll eat a little more since I went light on the iftar, but light is the pattern that seems to be working best for me going into the second half of Ramadan.

On the serious side, subhan'Allah...it seems I have enjoyed listening Quran more than ever, and I have particularly enjoyed visiting different masjids for taraweeh prayers.

Last, but not least, helping maintain the MWA Ramadan blog has really helped keep me focused on the essence of this Holy Month. Al-hamdulillah. And I'm so grateful for the contributions of MWA's members. Salute!

Fasting Ramadan and Keeping the Momentum Going by MWA's Isahah Janette Grant

Thirty days of fasting from sun-up to sun-set takes discipline, dedication, faithfulness, and most importantly the grace of God. The initial excitement at the onset of Ramadan and the eagerness to begin a month of conscious dedication to Allah for the purification of the body, mind and soul can begin to wane, especially for new Muslims and young people fasting for the first time, once the half-way mark is reached.

Around day 15 or 16 of Ramadan there can be more of a difficulty in getting up for suhoor to eat before the fast begins in the early morning hours; it can become harder to keep one’s patience as hunger pangs develop and escalate during the middle of the day and it can be harder concentrating on salaat and the proper manners that the believers should exhibit when fasting.

Aishah! Whaddjya eat today? Ask Sakinah...

IFTAR: Hot dog sandwich, chicken noodle soup, pineapple orange juice and water

SUHOOR: Veggie Pizza & Sprite

Sakinah after Suhoor. That's one fat cat!

Okay, it's settled. I have a terrible diet. But look! I only ate the toppings on the pizza, not the bread!

Aishah's after taraweeh adventure at Senzo Mall - July 20, 2013

No joke. The first thing I saw when I walked in the front door.

A.C. for Taraweeh Please! A journal by MWA's Aishah Schwartz

To be honest? This is a totally impromptu post. I have three other member posts to publish, two other personal journal posts to finalize and another one burning my fingertips to get off onto my keyboard! But I said to myself, "This is a quickie." Well...we'll see about that. Here goes. [Don't laugh. I didn't get this published until July 29...ten days later!]

I'm a collector. I collect mobile numbers, names and receipts; oh, and plastic bottles.

It happened when I started visiting my favorite masjid for taraweeh prayers, that I noticed the women's prayer hall, which has two large air conditioning units, was so humid because the units were not being turned on in time for the prayers.

Uthman ibn Affan Masjid, Hurghada. ©Aishah Schwartz

One evening, I think it was after my July 13 visit for taraweeh prayers, oh, yes! I wrote about that! It was the evening I took photos from inside the men's prayer hall.

Anyways! It happened that the masjid's Imam, Sheikh Ahmed (who snapped that fabulous photo of me standing beside his recitation Quran), invited me for tea (with a few other people, of course), and so, I collected his mobile number. #SansMotive

Aishah's July 19 suhoor journey; no kidding, it was a journey

Hey, I like the blurred lighting effect. *smile*

Where to begin. Oh, yes! Intentions! lol lol

Okay, so earlier in the evening, after Thursday's taraweeh prayers, I set out to spend the evening at my newest favorite coffee shop in front of the sea. Mission accomplished; in part.

You see, I intended for the second part of my evening–err, morning–to be spent taking my suhoor at the same coffee shop; however, as in all things Ramadan (in most Muslim majority countries), schedules change, and I did not know the usual open 24-hours-a-day had been cut back to a closing time of 2:00AM. Suddenly I was frantic to save the two draft Ramadan journal entries I was trying to work on simultaneously (no, I have not gone back to read how I might have pulled that off!), grab my check and, well, check-out!

A lesson on patience and positivity in Ramadan by MWA's Saba N. Taylor

While reviewing Be Positive, a children’s book that introduces how to be positive, my mind immediately went back to an experience that happened the night before. 

At around ten in the pm, my sister and I left home to go to the mosque. It was as we were leaving that she remembered that our usual route would be closed due to highway construction. So, we were going to be a little late by taking an alternate highway. “Ugh,” she said in frustration. I chose to stay positive. “It’s going to be a one and a half hour prayer, we will get there in time to join in,” I reminded her and off we went.

Aishah's fava bean suhoor - July 14, 2013

Fava beans, flat bread, cheese bread, figs, grapes and tea.

Dua at Suhoor
Transliteration: Wa bisawmi ghadinn nawaiytu min shahri Ramadan.

MWA's Asma Zaman shares her peanut butter and jam bars recipe

As a child I absolutely loved peanut butter and jam sandwiches.  Now here is a more 'grown-up' and sophisticated version of a childhood favourite recipe and trust me when I tell you... once these are made you will not want to share them with anyone!

PEANUT BUTTER AND JAM BARS

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 llb  butter
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar 
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 18 oz smooth peanut butter
• 3 cups of plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 18 oz raspberry jam
• Slightly chopped salted peanuts

METHOD

• Cream the butter and sugar with an electric hand whisk until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs whilst the whisk is still running.
• Add the vanilla essence.
• Add the smooth peanut butter and continue to whisk.
• Now sieve together the flour, baking powder and salt and add to the wet ingredients.  Continue to whisk until you get a dough like mixture.
• Grease and flour a large tin approx 30cm long (width may vary).  If you have grease proof paper then just grease the tin and place the paper on top.
• Put and pat in 2/3 of the mixture into the tin.
• Then spread the raspberry jam over the mixture with a knife.
• Crumble the rest of the mixture all over the jam.
• Sprinkle over the chopped salted peanuts over the mixture and slightly pat them down.

Now put the tray in a pre-heated oven for 45mins at gas mark 4-5, until golden brown.

Once cooked leave to cool for about 10-15mins then cut in squares.

* This can be enjoyed with a glass of milk or a cup of tea and can even be eaten warm with a scoop of ice-cream.

* You can use other flavour jams but raspberry is by far the best.

Happy Cooking & Happy Eating Everyone!
___

MWA Member, Asma Zaman.

ABOUT ASMA ZAMAN
Ms. Zaman, an MWA member since March 2007, is a London based law graduate currently pursuing theoretical and practical qualifications as a psychological counsellor/psychotherapist also striving to bring awareness to the issues of mental health and disabilities in developing countries. She was invited to work as a project director and human rights campaign coordinator for the NGO 'Muslim Parliament of Great Britain' where she produced a national report on 'Child Abuse in Religious Environments'. 

Through rigourous campaigning Ms. Zaman played a pivotol role in the release of an innocent British citizen on death row in Pakistan in addition to supporting other high-impact projects.  

Her aspirations of becoming a writer began at a very young age, but it was only after being diagnosed with a long-term illness did they start to become reality. Asma now strives to raise awareness in support of not only others suffering from Myalgic-Encephalomilitis (M.E.) and Fibromyalgia, but for their caregivers as well.  

Ms. Zaman is currently busy finalising her first collection of Urdu poetry and working on a set of novellas for adults, in addition to continuing her story-writing for young children.

MWA's Aishah Schwartz shares her August 6 suhoor

Eggs-over-easy with fried potatoes, apricot jam multi-grain toast, grapes, milk, ginger tea and water. 

MWA's Saba N. Taylor asks: to Suhoor or Not?

On a regular day, I don't often take breakfast. I know, I know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but for some reason, I always feel iky if I have something on my stomach early in the morning. I usually don't take breakfast until around 8:30 or a little later when my stomach is actually awake! So Ramadan is especially hard on me when I have to get up before dawn to have suhoor. What makes it even harder is that now, suhoor comes in really early in the Northwest, like 4+ hours before I have to get up to go to work. After prayer, I usually have 3 hours and often go back to sleep. Not good on even on a remotely full stomach.

This Ramadan, I considered skipping suhoor so that I would not have to feel the iky effects of an early morning meal through out the day. But I was reminded of the importance of the suhoor meal by a few hadiths I read regarding fasting.

MWA's Aishah Schwartz shares her August 4 suhoor

Click on image to view larger size.

Poached eggs over multi-grain toast, banana, lemon-date cookies, milk and a cup of cinnamon-ginger tea. I read that ginger tea is supposed to be good for helping you digest food; which is great for late night/early morning meals like suhoor!

MWA's Jennifer Infante shares a favorite Iftar recipe: Mediterranean rosemary herbed lemon chicken

Mediterrean rosemary herbed lemon chicken.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 whole chicken cut in quarters or 8 pieces
• 5 garlic cloves sliced
• 2 tsp of kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbs seven spices
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 small branches of fresh rosemary (remove leaves from branches and finely chop)
• 3 small branches of fresh oregano (remove leaves from branches and finely chop)
• 1 whole onion sliced
• 2 carrots cut in big chunks
• 3 potatoes thickly cut (quartered or halved)
• 3 lemons (juice 1 lemon) and quarter the other 2 lemons.

MWA's Aishah Schwartz shares her August 2 suhoor

PB&J, shortbread cookies, milk, mocha coffee topped with vanilla ice cream.

MWA'S Janette Grant offers insight on children's book 'Ramadan' by Farah Kinani

Farah Kinani.

When a friend of Farah Kinani's daughter, Leila, told her classmates that she would not be joining them during lunch one day, no one understood that Leila would not be eating with them because it was the beginning of Ramadan; the Muslim Holy month of fasting between sunrise and sunset, also known as one of the pillars of Islam. Leila's classmates, instead, implored her to hide and eat, or to at least drink. Some even thought she was being punished or given a time out.

Leila's mother, concerned about the confusing and stressful situation her daughter had fallen into – due to the lack of understanding among her peers – decided to prepare and deliver a small talk at the school on the subject of Ramadan.

During her presentation to the 4th graders at the middle school her daughter attended, Ms. Kinani answered basic questions about Islam, shared anecdotes about Ramadan's first-time fasters, and made a brief comparison between fasting traditions within various other religions.

The feedback Ms. Kinani received was both encouraging and inspiring.

MWA's Eren Cervantes-Altamiranov shares a favorite recipe, Kibbeh Charola

Growing up in Mexico City, one of my first interactions with Arabs and Muslims was through the Lebanese community in Mexico. Although Mexico is a largely multicultural country and its cuisine has been largely recognized as a mix of different cultures, the dominant identity discourse these days is the mix between Indigenous peoples and the Spanish colonizers (mestizaje). (Read More)

    Kibbeh Charola
    Ingredients:

    500 gr. Extra lean ground beef or lamb

    1 cup of corn semolina

    Half an onion diced

    Salt (according to taste)

    2 table spoons of olive oil

    1/3 cup of pine nuts

    2 table spoons of pomegranate molasses (if you don’t find them just use one spoon of regular molasses and one spoon of pomegranate juice)

    ½ cup of fresh mint

    Black pepper to season

MWA's Aishah Schwartz shares her July 29 suhoor; it was good, too!

Eggs over-easy, fried potatoes, toast, milk, cinnamon-ginger tea and water.

MWA's Saba N. Taylor shares her Ramadan day seven enchilada iftar recipe

Masha Allah, I love all things cheesy! Yesterday I was in the mood for enchiladas but did not have all the makings for it so I decided to stop by the store today after work to pick up some things. I have two different recipes that I go between, the more commonly version, meat/beans with cheese rolled in corn tortillas then topped with red enchilada sauce, cheese, olives and green onions. Then there is the newest version that I picked up from a friend that does not require enchiladas sauce. So Good! Masha Allah!

Before I add the recipe, I must admit, I lost the recipe my friend gave me so I kind of winged it from the last two times I made it. I also did not have enough corn tortillas so I stretched it a bit. Here is the recipe I used to make this tasty iftar dish tonight. :) Insha Allah I hope you enjoy it! (should you try it out :D)