About a month ago my two parents-in-law left for India and to perform Umrah.  In their absence it’s just me, Saqib and Waasiq at home.  I’d basically been left in charge of cooking dinner everyday.  I got help from Saqib and Waasiq, but for the most part I was faced with the difficult task of answering “What’s for food?” every night.

Usually I don’t cook a lot of different things.  My standard rotation is lasagna or enchiladas, which are basically the same thing from different parts of the world.  Obviously I can’t cook those two dishes over and over again, so I’ve had to branch out a bit.  I think I’ve been rather adventurous, personally.  I’ve tried making dishes I never though I could, primarily desi food. (more…)

Ramadan Mubarak!   A blessed month is upon us.  A month in which the gates of Jannah are open, and the gates of Jahannam are closed.  A month in which any obligatory act can earn up to 70 times its normal reward.  A month in which there is a night worth 1,000 nights.  A month in which people are more generous and caring with one another.  And a month in which people over eat until their guts busts open, they can’t bend to make rukuh properly, and cannot focus properly in prayer, mubarak!  It’s time to bust out the Pepto (more…)

Remember last year before I moved to Illinois I started writing tribute posts to people, places and things I loved in Michigan?  One of them was about Meijer, the grocery store.  Well today, I got to reunite with my long lost love.

I had to go to a store in Aurora to return something, and on the way back I was planning on hitting up a grocery store to buy supplies for dinner, which I was planning to make later that day (chicken pot pie, another post, another day).  Anyway, there I was, driving down IL-59, looking out for Aurora Ave to make a left turn, when there it was.  On the horizon like a beautiful tree with red apples.  Only the apples were letters, and it spelled out… (more…)

I’ve been exclaiming those two words around my husband since Friday when I came home from school.  It’s my way of making sure everyone knows I’m on… Spring Break!

Since I came home on Friday I’ve been having a lot of fun, alhumdu’lillah.  Friday, Saqib and I started studying for the Rays of Faith exam that was on Sunday.  As boring as studying normally is, it was actually enjoyable to review the class material with him and jogg my memory of all the interesting points that Shaykh Waleed had mentioned more than a month ago during the class.

Saturday, Saqib went to class and I stayed home to get a few things done on my own.  I went to the gym, cleaned the bathroom, dusted the furniture and made kaana.  We had a bunch of mushrooms left over in our fridge so Ummy wanted me to make use of them.  I added some mushrooms to my normal recipe for lasagna.  It turned out pretty much the same, ‘cept the meat layer tasted a little more meaty.  That night after kaana we continued studying for the exam until it was a quarter to midnight and we were getting tired.

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My friend brought in magic bars to work about a week ago.  They were delectable.  For those of you who don’t know what a magic bar, it’s basically a seven layer bar that is so easy to make it’s like “magic.”  All it requires is some graham crackers, butter, condensed milk, and assorted toppings of your own choice.

My friend explained to me how she made the bars, and it seemed easy enough.  Melt some butter, mix with graham crackers, pour on the condensed milk and add toppings as needed.  She suggested chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, walnuts and M&Ms.  I decided to follow suit.

I tried to make the bars last Thursday but couldn’t remember exactly how much butter or graham crackers were required.  So I quickly looked online to find a recipe for magic bars.  I found what I needed and decided to follow the instructions listed on the site.  They were a little different from my friend’s instructions, primarily when it came to the layering.  She said graham cracker, milk, toppings; the website side graham cracker, toppings, milk.

Yikes!  The bars went from magic to tragic quite quickly   I shouldn’t have followed the website and just gone with what my friend told me.  I didn’t know switching the layers would make such a difference.  Because the condensed milk was poured on top, not only did it make the color run off the M&Ms (which made them look pale and gross) but it also bubbled over and turned brown and slightly warty looking.  Not very attractive when serving to guests

The bars tasted okay, and in the end I guess that’s what matters.  But for sure I’ve learned my lesson:  to avoid tragedies, listen to Aliya Hoda in all matters