Here goes...

Salaam World

I'm feeling a little anxious. Why? Well because I have been invited for an interview tomorrow at a school I may wish to work in. I gave up job hunting, as in formally applying for jobs a few months ago when I registered with a few agencies to help me find supply teaching work from September onwards. Since then I had accepted that it would take nothing short of a miracle for me to successfully get a full time job before September for a couple of reasons:

1) Impracticality - I am currently living in a different town to where I will be working/living in Sepetmber (iA) and so arranging the travel is very impractical, especially when I and the hubs are working through the week.

2) I have no personal contact with any of the schools - which although does not automatically equate to me getting employed by the school, it does help in getting to know the staff and students which can only be a good thing.

3) ... there was a third reason, but I'm incapable of remembering it right now.

Am I moaning? *nods* *grr*

I really shouldn't be because alhamdulilah, I have got a back up plan in-case I don't have a permanent job by Sept - which is to do supply. And did I mention some of the fab benefits of doing supply? No bringing work home, no stress of planning/marking etc (unless temp-perm) as I'm expected to just teach (or sometimes supervise/babysit) the lessons I'm covering for.

And so, anyhoo I should be okay even if this interview is one from hell. Buuuut, who knows right? It's all part of His plan and I'm happy to go along with it. Wish me luck peepz!

Dear Allah, The Most High Creator, if this job is good for me please allow me to have it and if it is bad for me please remove it for me.

Election day - just hang us upside down!

If you've switched on the news or surfed the news pages recently, you will know that here in the UK our political parties have been crazy off their feet with the elections which took place yesterday.

I'm not a very political person myself, but have admittedly been sucked into watching the live political debates (first time ever to be featured in history) for the past three weeks. Nothing however could really prepare us for this messed up outcome.

The three main parties - Labour (currently in power), the Tories and the Lib Dems are now fully under the spotlight, probably in equal measure since none of the parties have had a land slide victory. In fact, although the rightist Tory party have gained the most seats in Parliament, they actually haven't got just enough to be accepted as the victorious party. As such, Mr. Brown is still Prime Minister, for now, until something called a hung parliament is arranged.

For my sake, please don't ask me what that means, just yet anyway, as like proabably every body else in the UK, I haven't got the faintest of what is going on.

Oh Lordie.

Food Entry: Rosh Pitha

What is a phitha?

A pitha is similar to a pie. Pithas are hugely popular in Bangladesh and some parts of India, where they are made on special occasions such as Eid and Pujas as well as during other times where they are served as special treat.


What is a rosh pitha?

Well, I'm not entirely sure as I only came across the recipe on a website earlier today. From what I can gather, the rosh pitha is a sweet and juicy type of swirly pitha made from milk and flour.

What do you need to make it?

For the pitha:
Half a pan of milk
Plain flour (no measured quantity, sorry, just add as you go along!)
Grounded rice flour (same as above)
Pinch of salt

For the sheera:
Sugar
Cardamom
Bay leaf

For frying:
Oil

How do you make it?

I followed the recipe as provided on the website, but in short it sort of happened like this for me:

Making the dough

Fill half a saucepan with milk and boil it. Once boiled, add a pinch of salt and lots of plain flour and rice flour, more or less in equal quantity. Keep stirring. If the bottom of the pan catches the heat, remove the saucepan. Continue to stir until you have grounded most of the lumpy flour - BEWARE: it gets seriously lumpy. The desired consistency should be of a doughy one, so add more rice flour and plain flour until the ideal dough is reached, again making sure the lumps are broken down thoroughly.

Making the swirly pitha

Once the desired consistency and low temp has been reached, rub a little oil onto the palms of both hands from a small bowlful. Pinch a round of dough and rub into a dough ball shape. Roll out the ball further to obtain a long and narrow shape. When satisfied with the shape, swirl the dough into a small shape on the palm of your hand. Your swirly pitha should be secure and tightly coiled.

Frying the pitah

In a shallow frying pan, heat some vegetable oil before gently dropping the pitha in. As the pitha cooks, make sure it doesn't burn but achieves a golden colour. Flip the pitha over and fry the other side to get the same colour on both sides.

Making the sheera

In a separate pan (milk or saucepan), add about one to two cups of sugar with some cardamoms and a bay leaf. Pour in some kettle boiled water and allow the sugar to fully dissolve. Check by dipping in a wooden spoon to see if all the sugar particles have dissolved. When satisfied, gently drop in the fried pithas and allow to soak for five minutes or so. The longer the pitha swims in the sheera, the more the sugar will penetrate the dough.

How delicious are they?

Well and truly delish, I'm eating one as I type. I will have to go easy with these swirly treats though, oil and sugar - baaad bad combination.

Easy to make?

Have a try yourself and find out! This was my first attempt and I have to say, it was much easier than I thought it would be!

A Picstory: Honeymoon

For a long while now, I've been meaning to do a post on my honeymoon from two years back. Crikes. I've sat down numerous times to start writing something about it, anything, but have always put it off. To be honest, I don't think I could ever really write a proper account of what this honeymoon was for the hubs and I. The two weeks were spectacularly amazing and full of discoveries about not just a country we had only previously heard and read bits and bats about, but also quite importantly about ourselves as a newly married couple.

So, why Malaysia? Well way before we got married, the hubs and I picked Malaysia over all the other common honeymoon destinations for one main reason - the huge distance! We figured that it would be a seriously long time before we'd get a chance to fly out so far out and so Malaysia was booked! The four s's: sun, sea, sand and shopping - hah also helped clinch the deal! Other factors such as religion, halal food and the Grand Prix circuit the hubs wanted to visit also helped to put a stamp on our decision.

In total, we spent two weeks there, landing there on my birthday (as sweetly arranged by the hubs) in August. The pic-story will sum up what we saw and did much better than I could ever explain. There really is something very powerful about still images. Captivating snapshots of time, kept safe forever.

I can't actually remember a day when one of us (the hubs and I) don't mention something about Malaysia. Whether it's the delicious ALL HALAL food, politics, education, property or even the hijabs unique to Malaysia, we loved and still love it all. Not forgetting to mention the beautiful and warm people of Malaysia who made our stay there very pleasant. To the extent, actually, where we have a real strong desire to move out there one day. Seriously. One day soon, please God :-)

But that's a story for another day.

For now, I hope you have as much pleasure in looking through the collection of snaps as I did putting them together. Yes I am foodie, so be warned in case the pictures reduce you to salivate.

On a nicer note, Aimie darling, a personal thank you for making me write this post which has brought endless smiles to my face, reminding me of probably the most special time in my life yet. I actually felt quite sad uploading the last picture but inshaAllah, there is a whole life time of discovery left :-)

Good Morning Bloggies

Salaam and Good Morning world

Gosh, it feels like almost forever since I last signed into Blogger and typed out a post. I feel kind of guilty, even sorry for not updating my blog over the past couple of weeks...buuut, there has been tonnes going on, not to mention my laziness habbits too :-S

Anyhoo. I'm currently on my hols, got the rest of this week off for Easter! When I'm not busy procasitinating, or cooking or cleaning or just generally relaxing, I will be busy with marking...grrreat! :-)

Terminator voice: I will be back!

Ciao!

P.S. The title of this thread came about when the hubs spotted me playing around with the blog layout this morning. Instead of saying the usual "good morning sweetcorn" he instead greated me with "good morning miss bloggy"! Hahahaha :-D

Word up

Salaam world

 

My apologies for not writing anything in ages. Today, I'm having a go at writing a different style of post because quite frankly I don't feel up to writing a full and proper account of anything in particular.

Music: Jamming – Bob Marley

Location: Bedroom – shame on me for bringing the laptop into our boudoir, heehee!

Mood: Happy and mellow, alhamdulilah.

Feelings: A long one. Rather relaxed. I'm at home today as I don't work Mondays and Fridays, unless called in for supply work. Tired - as it's my TOM. Annoyed – parents evening tonight from 7 to 9pm, why so late?! Also annoyed at certain types of people whom we're all bound to meet in life. I'm talking about the gossiping and insecure types who make other people's business their own i.e. they don't think twice about passing judgment on your life, yet turn a blind eye to what's going on in their own lives. Anyway, I'm sure I'll get over this one inshaAllah!

Thoughts of wonder: (more utter randomness be aware)

1. The sky is so beautiful when it's mostly clear blue with soft woolly clouds. Reminds me of marshmallows, which in turn reminds me of hot chocolate, yum yum!
   
2. I wonder how things will work out for the hubs and I went we move home to a completely different place. Birmingham. I don't even like the sound of it, and nor do I have any love for the Brummie accent, but it seems to be the best place to be moving to compared to other expensive and resourceful cities such as London and Manchester. Apologies if I have accidently upset any Brummie readers! I am not a snob!
   
3. I wonder how much stuff I'll actually manage to take with us and squeeze into our one bedroom flat! I don't have enough space where I'm currently living with huge wardrobes and ample (I'm a big hoarde!) storage – hmm.
   
4. I hope we all have a fun time in Turkey – less than 3 weeks away, can't wait!!! Yes, we as in me, the hubs and all my siblings! Yay!
   
5. Umrah hajj. Lots of questions more than thoughts at the mo. More to come later.
   

Food: Not feeling up for anything 'cept for a sweet cuppa. Mmm. Just finished cooking tarka daal, that's tomorrow sorted!

What's next? An afternoon nap, oh the joys of working part time eh! Larve it! ;-)

Anything else? Sorry to everyone that has been replying to my posts. Thank you so much, it's great to know that you guys are still there and reading on. Let me also mention that I habitually read pretty much all the blogs on my list for updates and entertainment ;-) Please don't think I'm being an awkward so and so just because I'm not commenting as much as before. Truth is, I cannot be bothered to log in. I'm actually writing this post direct from Word so as to avoid logging in. I don't know why, but I prefer writing like this!

 

As for now, ciao amigos!

Testing testing – straight outta Word 2007!

Salaam world!

 

I've always logged into Blogger to publish a post but today, since randomly finding the "blog post" feature in Word 2007, I've decided to give it a shot. I'm not sure how this will appear when published since I can't see the usual blog post template but let's wait and see!

 

Ciao