It's not magic

Hi there, Natty honey.  How are you feeling?  I'm sure you are getting used to the all the power and excitement that is part of your business, and are learning to control your emotions better.  If so, that is wonderful.  It can get lonely at the top, but one can get used to that as well.  But you are not alone.  I'm always with you.  I love you, and I will marry you inshaAllah, so don't you feel bad.  Enjoy your success, and don't forget to pray.

It's been raining everyday lately.  Today it rained all day, and it's still raining right now.  No it's not magic, it's the Power of God.  I like the rain, because it cools everything down and I feel so very comfortable.  But I've gone and caught a fever.  I'm not out of action, I can still work.   InshaAllah.  As long as I don't get a stuffy nose or chest congestion, I can still work.  And I want to work, singing is very fun now that God has granted me awareness thereof.  Plus, the audience is gigantic.  Alhamdulillah.

Natty, the computer wants you to watch a movie.  Zoolander (2001) yes I know you've seen it, but please watch it again.  Hm, what was I doing in 2001?  That was when the World Trade Center came under attack.  They still haven't solved that crime.  New York, wasn't it?  Derek and Hansel were poorly cast.  They don't look anything like male models.  Too ugly.  The Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2001 is the same one as now.

Pepper steak and rice

Hi Natty honey!  How's it going with you today, Princess?  Are you having tons of fun, and sampling all sorts of delicious viands served at your convenience?  It must be nice.  Oho!  I get the sensation that you don't like any of the food I prepared this week with all my toil and sweat.  Well, I don't particularly like not having money to buy nice ingredients.  If I could afford quality ingredients, then I would truly eat like a king everyday, but instead I have to make do with what's in the cooler and try to make gourmet cuisine out of that.  Filling food that I am able to eat, that is.  Don't worry Honey, I won't be feeding you and the kids with what I have to eat now inshaAllah- being afford to marry you also means being afford to feed you properly.  Does that sound fair?  Although the pepper steak and rice I had just now was totally awesome.  Sorry, no snapshots.  It's a shame if you don't like steak.  Plus the home made dough is quite good too.  What kind of wife doesn't like dough... that's OK!  I can keep the dough all to myself if you don't want it!  Nah... I think I know what's best to feed you and the kids.  Especially if you consider ourselves normal folk, and have to eat on a budget.

It's the season for sweater dresses!  Why are sweater dresses so sexy?

Spaghetti again

Hi Natty honey!  How are you?  Are you having lots of fun?  I hope you are, and I hope you are relaxing a lot as well.  It's so wet over here.  Rain, rain, rain.  I can't do any yard work when it rains.  In a way I'm glad, because I enjoy being lazy.  What's for dinner?  I had spaghetti again for dinner.  These noodles I got are not so great, they feel a bit gritty.  I always thought all spaghetti noodles are the same, even the cheap ones.  I guess it's a bad batch of semolina, but who knows?  I'll just stick to other brands that I'm familiar with from now on.  The marinara sauce is a healthy one: tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic but this time I added a can of tomato soup.  Which isn't greasy enough I know, so I also cooked some chopped steak in the sauce.  It's a delicious dinner.  Needs cheese though, but I'm too poor for cheese.  Otherwise I would be having pizza as well.  It could also use my home made halal beef sausage, but I'm not budgeted for that either right now.  Oh well.  Want some spaghetti?

Qur'an 20180913

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

91.  When it is said to them, "Believe in what Allah has sent down," they say, "We believe in what was sent down to us," yet they reject all besides, even if it be Truth confirming what is with them.  Say, "Why then have you slain the prophets of Allah in times gone by, if you did indeed believe?"

92.  There came to you Moses with clarity, yet you worshiped the calf after that, and you did behave wrongfully.

93.  And remember We took your Covenant and We raised above you of the Mountain: hold firmly to what We have given you, and hearken.  They said, "We hear and we disobey," and they had to drink into their hearts of the calf because of their faithlessness.  Say, "Vile indeed are the behests of your faith, if you have any faith!"

94.  Say, "If the last home with Allah be for you specially and not for anyone else, then seek you for death, if you are sincere."

95.  But they will never seek for death, on account of that which their hands have sent on before them.  And Allah is Well-Acquainted with the wrongdoers.

96.  You will find them of all people, most greedy of life even more than the idolaters.  Each one of them wishes he could be given a life of a thousand years, but the grant of such life will not save him from punishment, for Allah Sees Well all that they do.

97.  Say, "Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel, for he brings down that to your heart by Allah's will, a confirmation of what went before, and guidance and glad tidings for those who believe..."

98.  Whoever is an enemy to Allah and God's angels and prophets, to Gabriel and Michael- Lo! Allah is an enemy to those who reject faith.

(The Heifer 1:91-98)
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The kitchen rules the day, again

Natty honey, you look totally awesome!  Great hair.  Great dress.  Great shoes.  Yes my beautiful darling, you look absolutely fantastic.  Incidentally, it did rain here today.  Right before voice training. 

Wednesday is laundry day for me.  But the kitchen rules the day.  It began when I stuck my clothes in the washer at 8 am, my Mom bought me glutenous rice with salt fish from Embun's restaurant at the crossroads.  I'm very fond of glutenous rice with salt fish, but only with fresh tomatoes, and since I had to go downtown anyway to pick up a prayer schedule (it was the Muslim new year yesterday), I decided to go to the market and get some tomatoes.  I also bought a bunch of cilantro, and decided to make marinara sauce.  When I got home, I blended up the marinara sauce, and also the coconut meat I harvested yesterday to make curry.  They were young coconuts and I controlled the amount of water I put in the blender, so I ended up with a smooth paste.  Sweet and thick, kind of like coconut flavored yogurt, but thicker.  I made the curry in the evening, which turned out smooth and thick.  It would have been totally sweet except for the chunk of salted fish I added for flavor.  A total success.  I also had some steak defrosting, so I cubed some of that up and marinated it to be used as steak, and I also chopped some up with a sharp knife to get some minced beef for my spaghetti sauce.  I needed to make room in the freezer, so I pulled out some chicken wings and legs yesterday to defrost, and today I precooked that in BBQ sauce for BBQ sometime later.  So for lunch, I had that glutenous rice with salt fish and fresh tomatoes, and for dinner it was fry bread with my super thick generic curry.

Suddenly I have a lot of food!  Alhamdulillah.  My fridge and freezer will be full!  Today I made:
1.  Marinara sauce
2.  Curry
3.  BBQ chicken
4.  Marinated steak
plus I have that curry flavored beef from yesterday, and when I get back from the mosque later, I will have to freeze most of that curry, then make a batch of dough.  So tomorrow's menu is BBQ chicken for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner.  Would you care to join me?  It's yummy!

 

The curry chase

Hi Natty honey!  Sorry, I'm running late again today.  It started this morning, after I did my morning chores, I decided to make my generic curry.  I use coconut milk, so I checked on the coconuts I already had on my porch, and they were dried up.  OK then, let's see if there were any coconuts on the ground under the tree.  But no, those were all dried up too.  I felt like I was being sabotaged!  I had a liter of milk that my Mom gave me, but I can't use that because I'm lactose intolerant.  Besides, I have plans to make alfredo sauce.  So I needed something to eat my bread with.  I had beef, onions, and garlic.  I yanked out some ginger root from the yard, not much there but enough.  I had brown gravy mix, but I don't really like brown gravy, especially when I had my heart set on curry.  So I diced up the beef, onions and garlic, browned them up, added curry powder, salt and water, then let it stew.  Good enough for my bread, without being too weird.

But I still wanted to make curry, so in the evening I decided to pull down some coconuts from the tree.  Getting to the point of actually pulling the fruit down took a while, all sorts of things to do, then opening up the coconuts and extracting the meat.  By that time I had to cook my dinner, and I also needed to eat my dinner.  No, I can't do both at the same time.  I had that curry flavored beef I made in the morning, so all I needed was fry bread.  Then I had to make haste to the mosque, because I always try to be there to every Tuesday night to listen to the elderly Qur'an teacher talk.  And I just got back.  I haven't made my curry yet.  Maybe tomorrow.  How are you today, Honey?  If you are busy, please make sure you take care of your health and your heart, OK?  Please remember to pray.