Water

Juice is nice, and it's made out of filtered water.  A beautiful and sensitive girl like you must surely hate the flavor of tap water, and so do I.  I use only filtered water for drinking, and I buy it in 20 liter portions which come in reusable bottles.  I always try to keep an extra bottle around, perhaps more in the future.  I just use tap water for cooking rice and making dough, after all, who can tell the difference?  Rain water here is fairly clean, but I don't have a catch water system.  I'm sure the rain water in NYC is pretty gross.  What to do for emergency water?

Natty, you tease!  Do you like Paris?  How about you live in Paris instead of New York?

Doutzen and the 20 liter drinking water bottle.

Qur'an 20161119

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

106.  And most of them believe not in Allah without associating with God!

107.  Do they then feel secure from the coming against them of the covering veil of the wrath of Allah, or of the coming against them of the Hour, all of a sudden, while they perceive not?

108.  Say you, "This is my Way.  I do invite unto Allah, on evidence clear as the seeing with one's eyes, I and whoever follows me.  Glory to Allah!  And never will I join gods with Allah!"

109.  Nor did We send before you any but men, whom We did inspire, living in human habitations.  Do they not travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those before them?  But the home of the Hereafter is best, for those who do right.  Will you not then understand?

110.  Until when Our messengers give up hope, and think they were treated as liars, there reaches them Our help,and those whom We will are delivered into safety.  But never will be warded off Our punishment from those who are in sin.

Joseph 12:106-110
----------------------------------------------------------

Rice

I won't abandon you Erin, inshaAllah.  You're my girl.  So please have faith and pray.  I don't do acupuncture, but I can give a fair massage.  Musician's fingers.  I don't have the luxury of others doing relaxing therapy upon me, I have to doctor myself.  Plus this music gives me a spiritual responsibility that nobody else has, so I have to get my assurance and instruction directly from Allah via the Qur'an.  The Prophet (peace be on him) has visited me 6 times in my dreams already, so I have also received instructions from him.

Speaking of spirituality, I was putting around on the roof this evening, adjusting the shingles and covering up the holes.  Then an eagle with a white head flew low above me from the west.  No, it wasn't a bald eagle.  We don't have that here.  But an eagle with a white head here is most likely a sea eagle.

Natty, if you choose to stay in New York then you will be subject to what other New Yorkers endure.  The best way to avoid the crash is to stay away from America when it happens, and since you are Canadian then you have an easy escape.  No, I don't know when it will happen.  God always tests humans from directions they do not perceive.  If you choose to stay in New York, then please make preparations for crisis like I have been instructing Erin.  Have your bosses relocate you to London or France or something.

Before you start cooking, say "In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful."

Lunch today was pan-fried hummus with eggs and sauteed onions.  I prefer hummus fried in oil in some way, because it tastes nuttier.  If you were to make hummus cakes like I did today, then you must cook it with the lid on so they cook all the way.

My rice pot is to be part of an electric rice cooker, but the power cord shorted out.  Darned technology.  So I just cook rice in it on the stove top.  It is about 7 inches wide, and has a lid that fits snugly.

One cup of rice.

I wash the rice 3 times (mostly to remove debris and bugs if any), then measure the water level with the first phalange of my index finger.

On a medium-low fire, cook off the water without the lid until the water level reaches the rice level.

Then put the lid on and reduce the heat to low.  Cook it until it stops steaming, then shut off the heat.  Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

The Ark

I saw in Yahoo today that millions of fish washed up in NYC canal.  Bait fish, which is small fish.  Poor things.  They got trapped.

Wow Erin, rock climbing looks hard.  Way to strengthen your mind and your body.  What you will need is to strengthen your heart.  In crisis, many small fish will get trapped and die.  Remember you can't save everybody.  My concern is to protect you.  Do your best to keep your Internet so when the time comes inshaAllah, I will be able to contact you, sweep you away and marry you.  Join me on my ark.  You seriously need to learn how to cook.  You will need to feed others, including me.  Flour is easier to store than bread.  I just made a batch of dough and I need to use that up, then I'll show you how to make a batch of dough.  I showed you before, I'll show you again.  You can deep fry, bake, dry pan cook and all sorts of things with dough.  A portable gas stove should provide for warmth as well as for cooking, but you will need to have extra canisters of butane.  Gasoline, too.  Rice is also easy to keep.  I'll show you how to cook rice.  I'll also show you how to make hummus.  I use lentils instead of chick peas, tastes the same.  Remember this Erin: spending in preparation of crisis is cheaper than spending during crisis. 

Hi there, pouty girl!  You're so sexy!  You can ride on my ark too.  You're not an American so you won't have to worry too much about the financial crisis, inshaAllah.

Flowers in my garden

Mmmm... that hummus makes my cooler smell so sweet.  It would make a great air freshener if it didn't go moldy.  Erin, did you buy gold bars for yourself like I asked you to?  It's not for short term profit honey.  It's to keep you afloat in case of a financial crisis in your country.  Plus it's better than cash or a savings account.

I have the same type of flowers growing in my garden year round, all wild.  Well, some vegetable flowers.  I thought you would like to see what's flowering right now Natty.

Piene, you're in Italy?  I read somewhere that the Mafia hold common businesses and positions in Italy nowadays.  Particularly, a piece I saw where they dump toxic waste in agricultural areas, because they own both I guess.  It's a shame, because a lot of good cheese comes from Italy.  Watch your tummy dear.  You should practice cooking.

Creativity with hummus

Hi Erin!  How are you feeling today, my beautiful Erin?  Staying warm?  It's definitely warm over here, and my a/c isn't working properly.  It cuts out when it gets too hot.  Sigh.  Have you ever eaten a a Greek restaurant, and had those stuffed grape leaves?  Do you know what I'm talking about?  Well, I thought I would experiment with hummus for lunch today.  The kale grows well in my garden, so I thought it would be great to stuff kale leaves with hummus and ground beef.  The result wasn't very photogenic, so I didn't take any snapshots of my lunch.  I think the mistake I made was to precook the hummus to dry it up, but that made it fall out of the rolls, and made the rolls unravel.  The flavor was a success, and a couple of the rolls turned out well.  I think I know what to do the next time to get a better result.

Hey Thrasher!  Have you been practicing your patience?  Mastering this skill will make you feel better more than ever before, I promise.  And remember that true patience is from God.  I'm sure your lockout ended soon after you posted about it.  No, it's no coincidence.  Not even the emotional swings are coincidence.  It's more like a Rube Goldberg machine.  One thing I have to tell you Nat, is that you look great as a pouty girl.  Very sexy.

Hello, my Darling

How are you today my beautiful Erin?  It's raining heavily right now, and the wind is howling.  I was about to do some yard work, but God gave me an excuse to be lazy.  Alhamdulillah.  I can't do anything outside while it's pouring like this.  There's nothing special on the menu either, just hummus and eggs for dinner.  I could cook up something fancier, but one thing you must know about kitchen economics Erin, is that food in the cooler must be rotated.  Leftovers and older food must be used up.  Sorry kids, nothing exciting today for dinner.  The Lord does not love those who waste.

How are you Natty?  Are those emotions calming down?  One would think that emotional swings come in cycles, but I don't know about that.  They come when they come.  I used to wish I had no emotions when I was younger, but I can't sing without them.  In fact, I sing best when I'm emotionally thrashed.  But I believe that it's more important to control one's emotions.  Patience.  If you don't feel absolutely great, then patience is the next best emotion.