Dubai Diaries: Dancing Fountains

One of the things I noticed in Dubai, even just from the airport, is that Dubai loves a water feature. There was a big waterfall in the airport, when we were coming out of the airport and everywhere else that we went. The most impressive one would have to be the fountain show that takes place outside The Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa (the biggest mall in the world and the tallest building in the world). Throughout the day and night the fountains put on a show to a different song every time and 'dance'. We went at night and the fountains were lit up. Here are a few pictures of other water features and the video of the 'dancing' fountains.

Fountain's at a hotel 

Fountain at Jumeirah Beach walk

The diving men fountain in Dubai Mall

A fountain in the Mall of the Emirates 

Dubai Diaries:The beach

Going to the beach in Dubai was one of those 'taking advantage of the amazing weather' kind of things. We knew we weren't really going to get another chance like this any time soon, so we sun creamed up and off we went. The beach was called Jumeirah beach and it was perfect because they do a ladies only day. With the sun glistening on the water and the warm sand between your toes it was easy to forget about the rainy days back in England. So here are some pictures that I took at the beach:

Umbrellas 

Dubai in the sand

Beach toys

Sun and the sky

Waves coming in 

The sun glistening on the water

The water

Palm trees and probably the only cloud in the sky 

Rubber dingies 

Dubai Diaries: Travelling

At the end of august my sister and her family got to go to Dubai for a month. I was really happy for her but there was small part of me that wanted to go as well seeing it had been about 6 years since I had been on a holiday. About a week before they were going to go my mum suggested that I should go and see them while they were out there. So next thing you know I'm booking my plane tickets, hotel room and getting very excited to go to Dubai for a week. This was the first time I was travelling abroad on my own and I was rather excited. I watched a couple of films, read my book and had some surprisingly good plane food and before I knew it I was in Dubai. So here is just a little video of my flight and getting to my hotel.

Something Light and Fresh

As stated in the previous post there was a lot of eating done on Eid-ul Fitr and the majority of the food contained some form of lamb or chicken. So after a weekend of eating a lot of carnivorous food, we wanted to cleanse our bodies and have some vegetable goodness. What was even better was that some of these vegetables came directly from our garden. This Spring Summer Minestrone recipe is perfect for having a lot of vegetables in one dish and its really easy to change the vegetables that you use and make it your own. The recipe I used was from the Jamie Oliver series Jamie Does....Venice (you can watch the full episode here). The soup was delicious and fresh and was exactly what was needed after a heavy food weekend.

Home-grown peas (and mums hands) 

Home-grown green beans 

A pot full of vegetables

Soup bubbling away 

The recipe

The book

The finished product

The Instagram picture 

Eid and Bithday celebrations

The day after the blessed month of Ramadan is over it is Eid (specificly Eid-ul fitr). One the day of Eid it is custom to pray a special Eid prayer and spend time with family, friends and loved ones. It also seems to be an excuse to eat food all day and have a permanent food coma :-). A tradition in our family is to always have seviyan (sweet vermicilli in milk) and boiled eggs; and the we spend the rest of the day with extended family at my grandma's house. On Eid-ul fitr there are also gifts or money given to loved ones as well. Also coincidently this year Eid landed on my dad's and cousin's birthday, so there was a lot of cake consumed. Here is a short video of the day.



Hope you all had a prosperous Ramadan and a wonderful Eid xxx

Ramadan gifts

As many of you know the holy month of Ramadan is in full swing now. In this month of Muslim's will fast from sunrise to sunset. Also in this month Muslim's increase their worship (through praying and reciting the Qur'an etc) to the all might Allah and increase their good deeds. Doing all of this helps Muslim's build their patience, be grateful for what we have that others around the world may not have, and most importantly to get closer to Allah in our hearts and on a spiritual level. The month of Ramadan was also the month in which the Qur'an was revealed and sent down to the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

It is custom in Ramadan to take gifts when visiting  loved ones and neighbours, and normally these gifts include a box or tray of dates (which many Muslim's open their fast with at sunset). However I wanted to try something different with dates this year. I made mini almond date truffles and mini coconut macaroons instead. I saw the recipe for almond date truffles about a year ago and thought they would make perfect Ramadan gifts, and my recent love for making coconut macaroons can be read about here. In the recipe for the truffles it does ask for medjol dates (which are quite sweet) however I didn't have any at the time so I used the dates I had and the added a bit of honey for some sweetness. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of the process of making them but I did take a picture of the finished product.

Finished product tied up with ribbon and a home made gift tag

Close up  

The tags I made using parchment paper and washi tape for the decoration. On the other side of the tag I wrote a sentimental message, 'May this Ramadan bring you peace, prosperity, good health and brighten your life forever Ameen xx'. For your Ramadan gifts you can put whatever message you want, whatever feels right. Hope you all have a blessed month and may this Ramadan bring you peace, prosperity, good health and bright your life forever, Ameen xx

'They aren't macaroons, they don't have two sides'...

.....Was a direct quote from my cousin when he saw these coconut macaroons. Obviously he was thinking about their more fashionable and popular cousin the French macaron. I said to him 'just because it doesn't look like a typical macaroon, it doesn't mean that it isn't a macaroon'. Anyway the recipe and the method couldn't have been easier and the outcome of it all is even better. They had a wonderful marshmallowy taste to them and were just scrummy. The recipe I used was from here, but at the end I did dip each macaroon into dark chocolate just to add a little extra to them. I actually made mine quite big, I think I might try and make them a bit smaller next time, but you can make them whatever size you want. 

All of the ingredients that were used

Getting ready to mix

Mixing away

Ready for the oven

Baked and dipped in dark chocolate

 

First Birthday Party

Now we all know that children never remember their first birthday party, so bearing that in mind my sister really wasn't intending to do anything for my niece's first birthday. Also it did come a day before my cousin's wedding and everyone was busy with that. However my mother, brother in-law and sister's father in-law started talking about do something for the occasion. On the actual day we just had an impromptu lighting of candles on a bakery bought cake with just the people who were already over at our house. Then a week later we ended up doing a proper thing at my sister's in-laws. This was an excuse to make up a dessert table, which to be honest me, my sister and her sister in-law were more excited about putting that together than anything else. Here are some pictures from the occasion.

I wasn't going to put any pictures of the impromptu thing but I like this
 picture of my brother in-law light the candle

On the party day, barbecue on the menu

It was lovely eating in the garden 

For the dessert table: Brownies with hearts on made by me 

Biscuits made buy my sister's cousin in-law 

Vanilla cupcakes with strawberries and Thorntons smiles on top of buttercream
made but my sister's sister in-law

The whole dessert table 

Buttons, paper straws and mini spinning wheels  

Chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream and gold glitter covered cherries, also made by my sister's sister in-law

Even though my niece was actually asleep when we did the actual cake cutting a lot of fun was had. I can't believe my niece is actually 1 years old mashallah, it just seems like yesterday my sister told us she was expecting. Here's wishing her a long, happy and prosperous life inshallah.

The Untimely End

As you can tell from the title of the post there had been some bad news. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that one of our new chicks has passed. It was the youngest of the brood and we think it was attacked by a bigger bird (maybe a magpie). My granddad found it under one of the trees with injuries and wounds. I can just imagine the horrific struggle that it went through to try and get away, but it just wasn't enough. Even more bad news is that four of the eggs that the other hen was sitting on have been broken. We think this must have happened when the other three hens have wanted to lay their own eggs. So all in all it hasn't been a good week for the Big Chicken House. Here is the last video I made of all six of the chicks together when they ventured outside on to the grass and just enjoying life.

The Wedding

A couple of the days after the mehndi is the wedding which took place a Tatton Park in Cheshire. There was a beautiful garden and mansion and the weather stayed well so the whole day was a delight. There was a sweet station, a dessert table and of course wedding cake. Also a message board where people could write their well wishes for the happy couple which was sweet. I was running around taking loads of pictures and video footage so here is a selection.

Wedding favours from the grooms side 

Car ribbon

Wedding favour form the brides side 

Drinks

Stage

Sweet station (Thank you to my sister for letting me use her hand )

Wedding cake 

The happy couple 

Message board

Dessert table

Me 

The dress that I was wearing was from Debenhams but it was sleeveless so I had sleeves put on to make more hijab friendly. The scarf was also from Debenhams, the necklace that I on top of my scarf was from Accessorize and I am also wearing a hand chain from River Island.

Here is the video:

Mehndi

So as you know I have been fully involved in a family wedding which is now over and now its picture time. Starting with the Mehndi occasion which is a bigger and more extravagant than a mayoon. Again the candles,  corsages and the bangles sets were made up by ourselves. The mehndi took place at Eastern Pearl in Manchester and all of the pictures were taken but me.

Corsages

Henna and candles

Bangle sets

Decorated tea lights

A lovely golden scarf

The stage

The Bride and Groom to be

Me 

Candles from the brides side