Eat Mubarak!

A few weeks ago I was talking to my husband about Eid in Illinois.  I was a little nervous about how it would be for me, as it was the first time I would be celebrating Eid without my parents in a different state.  I innocently asked him, “What exactly do you do here?”  He grinned and said, “Nothing.”  Apparently Eid in Illinois consists of going for prayer and then eating Biryani followed by hanging around your own house.  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course:  to each his own.  But for me, I need a little something extra.

So I sat down and thought about what we do in Michigan, and figured,  if I couldn’t go to Michigan for Eid, I’d have to bring a Michigan Eid to Illinois.  I called up some friends and invited them over for an open house… Michigan style.  That meant tables of food and people coming in and out all day long.  Below are some food pictures from the event.

Pasta salad with chicken, carrots, corn, black olives, and mozzarella cheese

Homemade chocolate chip cookies

Homemade pudding brownies, more affectionately referred to as “atomic brownies”

 
Seven layer bean dip… I think though there were actually eight layers

Mini-sandwiches made with chicken, coleslaw, Russian dressing, mayo, Swiss cheese and rye bread

Spinach and feta cheese puff pastries

Chili with shredded cheese and sour cream

And last but not least, a new tradition for Eid ul Fitr, turtle cheesecake

The food was, in my biased opinion, good, and the company was even better.  We had a collection of out-of-state-new-to-Illinois girls, and a handful of Illinois veterans.  Alhumdu’lillah, I was laughing and well fed all day.  And really, isn’t that what Eid is all about?

Anyway, I hope you all had a blessed and wonderful day to cap off a blessed and wonderful month.  May Allah accept all our deeds from the past 29 or 30 days, and continue to increase us in our imaan and our ibadaat, ameen.

Eat Mubarak!