Eid Al Adha And The Hajj

It's that time of the year again . The time for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca by those lucky few Muslims that are chosen through their country's lottery to make the Hajj . Each country has a certain limit of people in which they are allowed to send to Saudia Arabia to make the Hajj .There are millions that want to make their obligatory pilgrimage ,if they are physically capable, or are lucky enough to be able to afford it  .But not all are chosen .Some wait years for this opportunity , saving and planning for the time when they will be chosen.

During the Hajj, the Eid Al Adha is celebrated . That is the day that Muslims believe that Abraham , or Ibrahim as the Muslims call him, was asked to sacrifice his son to to show his obedience to Allah's (God) command . Instead , Allah gave Ibrahim a ram to sacrifice in the place of his son once Allah saw his willingness to submit to His Will .Most Muslims will sacrifice a animal on the day of  Eid Al Adha if they are able, to commemorate this act of  Ibrahim's submission to Allah's Will .Usually it will be a sheep.

Here in Libya it can become quit costly , with the average sheep costing anywhere from 350 Libyan Dinars up to 600 .Imagine this .... some families have , oh ,let's say as many as 8 sons . The sons are all married , which means they have to sacrifice a sheep for their individual family .So , that will be 8 sheep .Then the parents need a sheep for themselves as well . Now we have 9 sheep being slaughtered .Of course while all this killing is happening , people work up an appetite , so they might have a special sheep just to Bar BBQ and eat  while they butcher the 1st 9 sheep .So , they now have 10 sheep to kill , but wait , hold on , if they eat one as they butcher and chop up the other 9 to make various other dishes like stuffed stomach , or  intestines (that would be your basic sausage) , or other tasty tid bits that are cooked in their own juices until they fall to pieces and are eaten with fresh hot french bread, or made into other mouth watering dishes , what will there be left to give in charity ? Ok , we need one one sheep for that purpose, also to make into dried sheep jerky .That makes a total of 11 sheep. Add that all up and you see how expensive it can become.

You might think that is a bit excessive, a waste , but not really . The skins will be dried and scraped , made into throw rugs or used to make pillows . The heads will be chard and scraped of all hair so that they may be cooked in a typical Libyan sauce as a delicacy .The lower legs will make fantastic meaty bones for a scrumptious dish of home made beans . Anything that remains will probably be made into dried sheep jerky . That is used as a bacon substitute or in another special Libyan dish that only taste good if it is made with this "gahdeed" .A large portion of the sheep is to be given to those in need as a charity.

After reading all this , you can imagine what happens typically on the 1st day of the Eid ( it is a 3 day affair).... a whole lot of work ! Chopping , slicing , dicing , washing , scrubbing, cutting ,the cleaning of this and that ,and last but not least, THE COOKING !!!!! By the end of the day , after all the work is finished , the food eaten , dishes washed , and the meat stored away , baths taken , clean clothes replacing bloody ones, everyone collapses from sheer exhaustion !

The next 2 days , everyone visits each other to brag on all the work they did the day before.How exhausted they are.They can hardly move because all their muscles are sore from all that work .They feast some more as they go from house to house, on sweets which are made days before ( or as in my case ... bought) , drinking tiny dimi tasse cups of Arabic coffee or hyper sweet tea that is so strong it is guaranteed to grow hair on your chest .Many times you will be served a soft drink along with chocolates 1st , before the coffee or tea . A good time is had by all .This is what will happen on Tuesday , Wednesday , and Thursday of this week here in Libya . Other country's have different customs , but the sacrifice is a mandatory thing , if at all possible .

I used to HATE this Eid . I would dread it's coming like the bubonic plague ! The men and the children would be jumping up and down for joy at the prospect of all these delicacies to come , but not me .I KNEW WHO HAD TO DO ALL THAT COOKING ......... ME ! Then when my daughters grew older , they were "blessed" to help me , along with all my sister in laws and their daughters .Now our family's are all grown , married with children of their own , scattered to the 4 winds around the world making their own traditions .

These last several years we have spent the day with our son and his family .It is nice to be the mother in law .I get to play with the babies ,piddle around LOOKING BUSY, while really doing nothing much .Life is good .I am looking forward to the Eid this year .I will cook several dishes ahead of time to take with us to my daughter in law so she doesn't have to spend the entire day in the kitchen .It's a day for all to enjoy , not just the men and children .

Somewhere in the middle of all this mania over food , we have to stop and remember the WHY of this holiday. To give thanks to God for blessing us with such bounty , for the fellowship of family, and to remember we are here on earth to serve God .

Painting " Funny Fun Family Sheep" by Diane Whitehead

Shrimp Foulard ,Yummo !

You are NEVER gonna believe what I did yesterday ! It wasn't Earth shaking ,but all the same .... pretty stupid of me to do it . I have never done it before , and I hope like heck never to do it again !!! I was cooking Shrimp Foulard for our supper last night and managed to burn it into the pan ! The amazing part was that the pan was a heavy Teflon pan that shouldn't have burn food stuff stuck on to it . Not only was the sauce burned into the pan , but I couldn't get it to come off when I went to wash it .This is Teflon we are talking about here , you know , the NO STICK stuff ???

First , I let it soak in hot soapy water , for about 8 hours , lol ! That didn't work . I tried to scrape it out with a spoon . I was despite . That didn't work either . I soaked it some more in more hot soapy water . That didn't help any .I remembered a old friend of mine from high school days used to put soapy water in a pan and boil it on the stove until the burnt stuff came up from the bottom of the pan . Well , I tried that too . No love . SIGH !!!!  I boiled it one more time in hopes that this time it would work . Guess what ? It didn't .

I didn't want to take a steal wool pad to it , since that would scape off any of the now useless Teflon that might be left on the pan .SO , I tried several other methods , that of course didn't work either .By this time I am ready to just throw the dam pan away ! So what if it belongs to a matching set . I only looked for this set of pots and pans for 4 years before I found them . Who cares ? I had to get the thing clean .I fleetingly contemplated voodoo but I didn't know who to call , lol !

I talked to the thing , made a bargain with it , that if it would only come clean this time , I would never again boil milk in it .Do you think it cared ??? Oh , no ! The stuff was stuck like Chuck on to the bottom of that pan for good , like cement . I had to do it . I had no other choice . Really I didn't . I went to the kitchen drawer were I keep the soaps and sponges , and drew out the deadly " steal scrubber " .I brandished it before the pan in a menacing way . It wasn't scared at all . It just sat there in all it's burned glory taunting me . So , I did it ! I scrubbed it with the steal pad . I scrubbed and I scrubbed , and I scrubbed some more . After some time passed by , I began to see the bottom of the pan again . My arm was aching from the scourging but at long last that pan was cleaned of all the burnt milk . Sad to say only remnants of the Teflon remain . But at least I didn't have to throw away the pan . I think it learned a valuable lesson ... never let me cook Shrimp Foulard again in that pan . It has a bad attitude !

Here is the Shrimp Foulard recipe from our flagship restaurant we had in Houston .

Shrimp Foulard
4 tbs. butter
1 cup of crab meat chunks uncooked
2 cup of  medium size shrimp uncooked
4 cloves of crushed garlic , more if you LOVE garlic
1 quart of half and half cream ( if you live where there isn't any half and half you can subsistue 2 cans of evaporated milk with a can of cream added to the milk .)
1 pinch of salt
several loaves of french bread

Step 1.... melt the butter in a heavy sauce pan.
When the butter is melted and hot, BUT NOT brunt , add the crushed garlic.Stir garlic until soft and tender .

Step 2... Add the cream/ half and half/ canned milk ( which ever one you have ) . Add the pinch of salt . Stir  the sauce constantly  until it thickens over a medium low fire . Be careful it doesn't boil over .

Step 3 ... When the sauce is nice and thick (If the sauce is too thick , add a little milk to it ), add the shrimp and the crab meat . Stir  occasionally a additional 3 to 5 minutes so that the sea food may cook . Don't over cook the sea food . Now it is done !

Step 4....Serve in individual bowels . Eat by dunking the bread into the sauce and eating it with your fingers .Or you may break the bread up into the sauce ( not too much of the bread at one time ) and eat with a spoon , as you prefer .
Bonn Appitte !

Surviving The 1st Day Of Ramadan

Yesterday was the start of the month of Ramadan in Libya .What a start I got off to, let me tell you! First off I woke up early so that I could go to the store to buy fresh ristah pasta (this is very similar to angel hair pasta, nice and fine, that is steamed and served with a tomato sauce on top of it) that almost everyone in Libya has the first night for dinner.

Moe and I went down the stars in a silent building. I was thinking to myself HOW quite it was with all the men at work, when we walked outside the building to find that every single car was still parked. It looked as if no one had gone to work. Now that was odd. Sometimes during Ramadan the government and some private businesses will allow their employees to come in an hour or even two later than normal because of the custom of staying up so late during Ramadan. But even so, 11:30 A.M.? No one was at work yet? Hum? Then Moe said maybe since this was the first day, just maybe, everyone had the day off from work.

We got in the car, drove down the deserted street. It was so eerie! Not ONE SINGLE SOUL IN SIGHT!!!! Not a one! OMG! What was going on here? Had the Rapture come while we were asleep? Some Christians believe that before Christ returns to Earth in the Second Coming , all the true believers will be taken up to Heaven and only the wicked people will be left on Earth to suffer through the trails and tribulations of the Anti Christ's coming .I was beginning to think they might have been right after all since no one was outside but us ! We drove down our street, then another before we saw one other car besides our own. Ok, so there were some other sinners left on Earth besides Moe and me. I wasn't too sure whether to be comforted by that thought or not.

We made it to the store with out seeing another person until we saw the clerk inside the store. Get this; there weren't any other customers inside the store. Now, this is getting down right spooky! We bought our pasta and drove on over to down town Tagura where little boys sell bureek skins. They are made from wheat and are similar to wanton skins. You put a stuffing inside, roll them up and fry them like an egg roll or a spring roll. So GOOD! Their mothers make the skins for them to sell. That done, we drove back home, only seeing a few more cars on the road. Then brilliant Moe looked at me, started to laugh and said," you know don't you that today is Friday?" In Libya Fridays are like a Sunday everywhere else, a week end day.Oh, thank God! That mystery solved, we came home where I went into the kitchen to begin cooking.

Later in the afternoon our son and his wife, with Haroun came over. That's when most of my troubles began. I almost burned the onions that go on top of the pasta sauce … twice. The sauce was the next victim, it nearly scorched beyond saving, but I rescued it after all. As if that wasn't enough near disasters, I burned the coffee grounds as I tried to preheat them before making the coffee. THEN ….. I compounded that mistake by dumping the very hot smoking coffee grounds into the plastic garbage bag in the trash bin slamming on the top to keep all the smoke fumes trapped inside the bin, so I thought. My daughter in law helping me in the kitchen opened the trash bin to put trash in the bin, what else? LOL! Only to discover that the trash bag was on FIRE! OMG!!!! Dare I ask what next?

I just proceeded to go down hill from there. The oven was called the refrigerator. The TV I called the oven. I won't tell you what I called the refrigerator! I was fasting, NO COFFEE, trying to speak comprehensible Arabic, and think all at the same time, a very dangerous combination! We made it the time to break our fast all in one piece, without me burning down the Condo.

Today before I went into the kitchen to cook, I sat and read the Quran for an hour .I felt a sense of calm before entering into battle. Hum, maybe I spoke too soon, I think I smell something burning. Gotta go check it out!

How Ya Doing ?

Hey ! Sorry I haven't posted recently OR even had time to read any of your wonderful blog posts ! It has just been crazy around the Condo these last few weeks what with being sick , lazy , lazier , and then super busy procrastinating ..... well, I haven't really had much time to do anything else! But hey , I have put that all behind me now , moved on , and have " JOE " ( the atmosphere / weather ) for Ramadan . I am finally ready for RAMADAN and not a minute too soon since it starts tomorrow .

Yep , I stayed up until 4 A.M. last night cooking the stuff that I can freeze ahead of time . Yeah ! We got the shopping done last week before they jacked up the prices in the stores .Today I spent cleaning , ugh ! Tomorrow all I have to is survive the 1st day , cook dinner and try to remember to be nice ! Hum .... oh , and pray that I don't break my fast with a bad thought or word .Phew ... looks like I am in for it !

I want to set aside a time to read the Quran this year with Moe ,everyday to remind us why we fast , to renew our faith , and strengthen our resolve in Islam . It will be good . I am looking forward to this since we tend to lose sight of what Ramadan is really about, what with the visiting, cooking , and the special TV shows brought on TV only during Ramadan.

To tell you the truth , these are the very things we should practice year around ; Muslims , Christians , and Jews , alike . Remembering Allah / God / Jehovah , paying HIM homage in our deeds and prayers .Not just something we bring out of the closet like special clothes for special occasions such as Ramadan, Passover, or Christmas , but every day .I am ashamed to admit that " I have to TRY to make TIME for reading the Quran " . What does that say about me ? That I am a slackered that needs to get back on the Straight Path .Wishing you well , Peace out , OTE

Beach Weather

Oh it is hot , hot , hot here and I am already sick and tired of it ! The other day it got to 107% . The next day it was 106% . Today we are having a cold front with the temperature a cool 103% .

I hate it when it gets like this here . The humidity shoots up to 1o0% . I have the AC going full blast , set on Arctic and it is still hot in the Condo! You take a bath to cool off and before you can even get dressed you are sweating again .I can't imagine sitting on the beach in this heat .

And speaking of the beach , I think I mentioned that the Boy Scouts were camped on some of the beaches here in Tagura . I passed by them the other day when it was 107% and felt so sorry for them . They are bivouacked in old army tents and sleeping on the ground on top of mendars( cushions that Libyans sit on the floor with ) . They looked so hot and listless . At least they can go jump in the sea when they can't take it anymore .


My daughters sent me photo's of our granddaughters from this past week . They are growing so fast !!! And so cute too . Of course they are super smart too , they are MY granddaughters after all ! LOL ! Gail just celebrated her 1st birthday . Here is a picture of her eating her cake . Sophia is sitting up all by her self now, in this picture at 7 months .What personalities they have too ! Now I sound just like your typical grandmother but can't help myself .

Ramadan is only a short 6 weeks away and I am already trying to get somethings organized and out of the way before it starts this year . It will begin in the middle of August this year and I am really not looking forward to it this year to tell you the truth . I think it will be a much simpler Ramadan than we have had in the past . The focus on the contemplation of the holy month and not so centered around meals as in the past .I say that now , but we will see . Things have away of getting out of hand during Ramadan .

Got Gas !

I guess it has been a while since I last posted huh ? Been doing some of this and some of that , but not a whole lot of any of it , if I can get by with it .

The big project of the week was grocery shopping this past Saturday, which of course , my luck , wasn't so cut and dry .When ever I have to buy grocery's or have a ton of shopping to do , I try to get one my friends sons to carry the bags up the many stairs for me since that is way beyond my ability anymore .I of course bribe them shamelessly and they accept happily .BUT ..... they are growing up and are becoming too proud to do this much anymore . Their mother nags them into Thank God !I really don't know what we would do with out them to tell the truth .But in order to use their services , I have to do these errands on a Saturday when they are off from school .They like to sleep late and so do I , so that works out fine most times , BUT this last Saturday was different.

I needed a new tank of propane cooking gas, as the one I was using ran out in the middle of baking a casserole ,of course ! So ? You say ? Well , you see , the petrol station has tanks of propane gas , but they come only on certain days of the week and go quickly . That day isn't a Saturday , of course . Wouldn't that make my life easy ? There is a little hole in the wall place that sells the gas tanks not too far from the Condo.Most of the times their tanks are fairly newish and do not leak .This is important as there is nothing worse than NOT waking up in the morning due to dying in the night from being gassed to death by a leaky gas tank , right?

One problem with this little place,the man that works it takes his siesta to heart and has one everyday promptly at 1:30 in the afternoon . He doesn't reopen until around 5 P.M.ish . Ok , well.....the boys don't like to wake up before 2 P.M.ish and are not very happy with me when I make them wake up earlier .Especially when this involves carrying very heavy things like gas tanks up flights of stairs .

My friend and I managed to convince one of the boys that it would be well worth his while to wake up early on his day off and do the gas tank for me .I go get the guy . Drive to the Condo , wait in the car while he goes up and gets the old tank , brings it down to the car , puts into the trunk of the car and away we go to get the new tank from the hole in the wall place. Sigh !

We get there . The pickings are slim this time around , which means the gas station didn't get their tank supply this past week.The man has had a run on his supply's . I remind my guy to make SURE the tank doesn't leak . Be SURE to check it . Ok he says !He picks one puts it into the car trunk and away we go to the Condo .By the time we get there we can already smell that distinctive rat poison smell that the gas has pouring out of the car trunk when it was opened .Oh DAM !So .... we get back in the car and dash back over to the place to make an exchange of tanks .The man was closed . Gone for siesta time and not coming back until early evening .Double dam !!Now what to do ?

If I have managed to get one of the boys so early in the day , it is a cinch I won't find them anywhere after 5 P.M. when the place will have opened back up .What to do ? I think about it for a few minutes and come up with what I think is a fool proof plan .I tell the guy I will pay him when I pick him back up around 5ish to change the gas tanks and he agrees . Yeah !!!Problem solved .

5 P.M. rolls around.I go down to the car and smell that smell . I open the car door and wave after wave of gas comes pouring out of the car .Thank God no one lite a cigarette near my car !It would have blown up like a terrorist car bomb!After I air the car out I drive to the boys house to get the boy . I honk my horn , which is the signal to come down to my car , and no kid . Shock horror !I honk again and still no kid .Finally after a 15 minute wait a different kid comes down to go with me.Ok , whatever , a kid , that's all I need .We drive back to the place . The guy there laughs when my guy tells him our tank leaks and we need to exchange it .He points out one he thinks will be ok .We take a chance and get it .

We get to the Condo. He hauls it up all the stairs . We connect it to the stove . The I light the burner to see if it works .I then found out why it doesn't leak .... hardly any pressure ! Oh well , at least it sorta works .I have a tank and am not complaining at all ! It only takes 3 hours to cook a meal now , as opposed to 1 hour before ,but hey , who cares . Another adventure brought to you by Life in Libya !

Thank You & News

I just wanted to thank all of you for the Happy Birthday wishes . It was a exciting day . A good friend came over with balloons , chips , beer ( non alchoalic kind ) and candles . No we didn't set the place on fire , lol ! We did have a lot of fun though with those balloons .

Ramadan has finally settled down into it's retuine now . I am abale to get more than a meal cooked these days .Have done some reading of the Quran that I had wanted to do . A little visiting , and managed not to burn or otherwise , destroy a meal .That's big progress because for a while there it was pretty touch and go whether or not any of these things would happen .

My daughters called me on my birthday and I didn't even have the time to really talk to them and that made me feel so bad . I miss them and look forward to their calls when they get the chance to call .

I kicked Moe out of the house after he had started to grow roots into the floor in front of the TV the other night . I told him it was Ramadan and he HAD to go outside after dinner and talk to the " Jahmah " ( the group) and have some "Joe " ( weather or your state of mind ) because I was tired of having him under my feet 24/7 .

Just read where the IMF ( International Monetary Fund) organization is suggesting that Libya slow down it's public spending and decide which programs are the most important to support because of possible rising inflation from government investments outside Libya .For more on that story go to this link by Reuters .

More on the new ambassador .....A US Senate committee has decided to postpone the diplomat Gene Cert's appointment as the new ambassador to Libya because of US concerns that Libya still hasn't deposited the funds agreed upon for the victims of terrorist acts. Libya admitted to set up a account set aside for that propose . Read the rest of that story here .

One last article I found reports Gaddafi LOVES Condoleeza Rice after her visit last week to Tripoli . How the American the oil companies want this settlement deal to be finalized and finished with so " business as usual " can continue on a more secure footing than now; with a more completive edge against the European oil companies .

Count Down To Ramadan

This is what Moe looked like when he came back home last night after spending all day at the beach with his sister and his brothers and their family's , lol . He was tired out but so happy .

I stayed home to spend the day in the kitchen cooking food to freeze ahead for Ramadan . Ramadan is only a little more than a week away . I think it will start in the 31 of August this year , but will have to see what the moon says .And I still have a appointment with Sheila this week sometime too , OMG , rush , rush , rush .

I am hoping that by cooking as much as possible before hand , I won't be spending ALL my time in the kitchen this year . It remains to be seen and we all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions huh ?LOL ! Seemed like a good idea at the time . Today I did some more cooking by preparing all the pickled veggies by setting them to start marinating . Tomorrow I hope to finish up with baking the pizzas . I also cooked up the soups too . All this goes into the freezer to be taken out as needed for dinners . Next I have to tackle the house cleaning ...ugh ! I hate that part more than the cooking .

Ramadan is 90% preparation and 10% doing what needs to be done . This isn't the correct way to celebrate Ramadan but it helps to get these things out of the way so you can devote your time to prayer , charitable acts , good deeds , good thoughts , and being good . Behaving well , being the operative words here . That's why prayer is so good , it keeps you on track when you want to scream at the idiot in front of you at the bakery , the store , in the traffic , moving so slowly when you still have 10,000 things to do for dinner time at sunset . Well , this idiot has to go and do some more stuff for preparing for Ramadan . Bye !

More News From Me

So much going on I'm not really sure where to begin but I guess the biggest and most talked about here in this part of the world is the deal between America and Libya settling a fair compensation for victims from the bombings of Pan Am Flight over Lockerbie , Scotland and the USA's bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi that ended diplomatic ties back in 1986 . Secretary Rice is actually saying she will make a diplomatic visit to Tripoli before the end of her term as Secretary of State .

More on the diplomatic front ...... Libya and Bolivia are establishing relations . It seems both countries have the development of energy resources on their minds for mutual benefits of each other . I don't know if I have mentioned this before but if I have , please forgive me , lol , but when I met Moe the very first time I asked him which country he was from . He told me Libya . I thought , poor thing he doesn't even know how to pronounce his own country's name and kept correcting him by telling him , no you mean Bolivia every time he said Libya . He finally smiled at me and just nodded his head . It wasn't until several days had gone by that I realized there was a real country named Libya ... all the way in North Africa , not Bolivia in South America ! OMG , that man has some patience huh !

I just watched the movie " Cold Mountain " with Nicole Kidman and Jude Law. I normally won't watch a movie that covers the American Civil War . Nor do I like to read any books pertaining to that subject . It was a terrible time in American history that to this day you can still see and hear the scars if you look or listen hard enough . But this movie was so good that I became lost in the love story it told instead of focusing on the war it was placed in . The acting was very moving . If you haven't seen it , I recommend it .

I broke down and bought myself some reading glasses , along with a new pair for everyday . It is so amazing when you get new glasses all the things you notice that you hadn't seen before , lol ! Like dirty windows . They never bothered me all that much before . Now , I think I will have to break down and wash the rest of the ones my nice daughter in law didn't do when she was visiting us !

And now that I have reading glasses I am begging for books to read from my friends again . After I read "The Pillars Of The Earth " I realized how much I have missed reading . Used to you could never get my head out of a book but when I started to need reading glasses , I just stopped reading rather than buying the glasses . Isn't that stupid to give up something so wonderful for a silly reason?

So now I have a large stack of books waiting for my attention . I don't know when I will find time to cook this Ramadan for all the reading I have waiting for me ! Right now I am reading " The Secret Life Of Bees " by Sue Monk Kid . I like it . It is bringing back forgotten memories of my childhood times , even though my childhood was nothing like the girl in the book . It was in the same time period as in the book. Yes I am all that old , lol !

Some sad news to report to my family and friends that read my blog to stay in touch , our daughter in law has miscarried her pregnancy of two months . She is alright and the doctor says she can try again in the future .