My favorite desert and Tea Time snack

Asalam Alaikum,
Jelebis are my absolute favorite sweet snack. They are sort of like a funnel cake that you find at a fair, but after being fried they are immersed in a cardamom flavored sugar syrup. The outside stays crispy but the inside soaks up the syrup. Sometimes they are a light brown color and sometimes food coloring is added to make them a bright orange.

When we were still in the US it was possible to find jelebis but they weren't always very fresh(although I couldn't tell, they tasted great to me). When we got to Abu Dhabi it was a bit easier to find them but the Tariq kept saying to wait because the jelebis in Pakistan were better. The first time I had a jelebi in Pakistan I couldn't believe how delicious it was. Here in Karachi jelebis are freshly made in the afternoons just before Tea Time, so when Tariq brings them they are crispy and hot.

Here is my favorite Tea Time snack-a hot cup of chai, some poppers(another day another post, InshAllah), and of course jelebis-

Its a trunk!

I wanted a storage idea to put in all of my daughter's stuff animal and whatnots. So my dear and talented friend A made this trunk for my lil' girl Maya - who loves cats!

Its one of the box/trunk with a lid that one can find in IKEA's children's section. She puts a brass handle on both side to make it easier to carry, found some lovely cat prints from her huge collection of decoupage paper and got to work.

I wanted a girlie colour of pink/purple and am happy with the background colour here. She's done a good mix and painted the whole trunk inside out. This is a close up from the side.

The inside is spacious and I love all the pictures she has chosen to put on the trunk.

Best of all - Maya loves it! Thanks A!

She does take orders / custom make for anyone who is interested. Just tell her your colours and what type of picture you would like on it.

Measurement : L 27" X H 11" X W 14"

Made out of 100% wood, decoupage paper & non-toxic paint & glue

Price : RM450

The Most Beautiful Sight

A few projects from last week.

The project creating is slowing down a bit around here. It is nice to do some relaxing, playing of games and things like that instead for a bit. But there were several projects that I hadn't gotten around to sharing and I thought I would tell you about a few today.

This is one of Mara's projects. It is a a little house made out of a small matchbox, that hangs around your neck and a little tiny doll has a bed inside of it. Mara made this all by herself for Megan for Christmas. We got this very sweet idea from Colored Buttons. Megan liked it very much and wore it around all Christmas day.

Christmas Dresses for Mara's dolls were one of my fun projects to fill her stocking. Doll clothes are so fun to sew as they take so little fabric and can go together so fast! It is fun being able to use up odds and ends of trimming too. (The green dress looks a little funny in the picture as there is a big wet spot on it but I forgot to take a different picture later.)

Mara made one little boy quite happy by making him a play "silk" which he can use as a cape. He had enjoyed playing with one at his cousins and was delighted to get one of his own. Play silks have become quite popular but aren't what I consider cheap. For this one was used some silky (not silk however) fabric that we had on hand and she hemmed around the edges.

Another Christmas project was homemade noodles. This isn't something I normally make so they made for a special Christmas meal. (Our now 2 year tradition is to have pasta for Christmas Dinner.) Noodles are really very simple, basically just beaten eggs, a pinch of salt and then as much flour as you can work in. Roll them out as thin as you can and then fold up and cut in strips. Unfold and hang up to dry. Use them in soup, with alfredo sauce or however you like best. Be prepared to find them much more tasty and filling then store bought noodles!

Have you been busy making anything lately? What were some favorite homemade gifts for Christmas at your house? I would love to hear!

For lots and lots more projects visit A Soft Place to Land!

The gift of snow and so much more.....

"Give thatnks to the Lord with the lyre;

Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings."

Psalm 33:2

Christmas time is a time of giving and getting and the saying of "Thanks" is pretty common, but this time can be also one of stress, grumpiness and dissatisfaction. Today and always I want to choose the road of thankfulness. I have been given many opportunities to say "Thank you" to many well deserving people, I want to remember to do that even more, but today I want to say "Thank you" to the Giver of ALL good gifts, The One who made ALL things!

 So Thanks be to God for......

173. Last night at church... A time of music. Getting to play and sing. Worshiping and thanking God.

174. Surprises coming in the mail. A REAL box finally (to quote Mara) after all the ones from businesses.

175. Ken's help in the kitchen. Normally that is my domain, which is fine, but it is lots of fun to do things together once in a while. He will help me with dishes now and again but having him help make our Christmas Bread was extra special.

176. Little boys delighted (they were even though their faces look very serious in this picture) with their new head lights from Granddad and Nana.

177. Hot chocolate stirred with a candy cane. Yummy!

178. Beautiful, wonderful snow! What a great Christmas gift!

179. Making it sticky so we could really play with it.

180. Warm clothes to wear out to play in the snow.

181. Simple family fun!

182. Walking in a winter wonderland.

183. Lots of great exercise and fresh air.

184. Fun playing "Apples to Apples" with my family (including my parents, brother and sister.)

185. Getting to tie for first place with Jonathan.

186. Lots of chocolate! :-)

187. Hugs from my Children.

188. Seed catologs coming in the mail.

189. A warm home.

190. Hot water.

191. Friends.

192. Time to clean, organize and de-clutter and the fun we can have doing it!

193. Everything we need plus so much more!

194. Laughter shared while reading together.

195. God's kindness and mercy.

Flowers on our Anniversary

Asalam Alaikum,


Yesterday was our official Third Anniversary. To celebrate we went out to dinner, then went for ice cream. On the way from dinner to the ice cream parlor Tariq stopped at one of the flower shops and bought me some gajra for my wrists, and a rose. The scent is wonderful! The white flowers in the gajra are jasmine and the red are roses. The ice cream was delicious, chocolate swirl with chocolate coating MMMMM!

Speaks-to-me-Sunday

"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;

Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.

Cease to do evil, Learn to do good;

Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless;

Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.

"Come now, and let us reason together,"

Says the Lord,

"Though your sins are as scarlet,

They will be white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They will be like wool."

Isaiah 1:16-18

When reading this verse lately what jumped out at me was the admontion to Learn to do good, to defend the orphan and plead for the widow. I am feeling more and more burdened to figure out ways to help those that are hurting. This is an area that I reallly want to grow in! It is something that I want to be an example in to my children- they are at a point in their lives where they are learning so much. I want them to learn to do good and to help others.

The last verse is such a beautiful one and one that is brought to mind with our weather lately! I love all of our snow and the fact that it reminds us that God takes our lives which are red with sin and makes them white, pure and clean like snow! 

What do you glean from these verses?

Look what I found!

Saw these lovely "coffee fabric" and fell in love with it. It came in 4 different patterns & colours. Took 'em all.

Then read the selvage and it said 'moda fabrics - 100% cotton' - YEESSSS!

Already have plans on what I would make out of them :-)

And then, found some 'Alexander Henry' fabrics too - from its "paper dolls collection".

Simply gorgeous! Don't you just love 'em all. What a find! Its been one happy day for me :-)

It Was A Great Day!

The kids got up at 7:15. Look at Charlotte's sleepy eyes.

Both kids got bikes from Santa. They were so excited!

The kids and I got Hippity Hops from Santa. Santa must have known how much I loved these as a kid and included one for me.

I don't remember when I've had so much fun! I was hopping all over the living room. I had Jon try it but he kept falling off.

Nana and Grandpa came over to help celebrate the day. Why does it seem Evan is missing pants in half of the pictures I take of him?

Jon had fun working on several of the new puzzles he got for Christmas.

Mmmmm.... turkey!

Gravy is almost ready.

MMMMmmmmmm......

.

It was cold and rainy yesterday and soggy today. Jon had the great idea to take the kids to his school to be able to ride their bikes up and down the hallways. They had a great time.

I'm sad that Christmas Day is over. I love the anticipation of it. I love the wrapping, shopping, baking.... then in one short day it's over. I'm so happy that my siblings are coming to visit this week. It'll make it seem like Christmas is lasting that much longer.

Twas The Night Before Christmas....

Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls were prepped and put in the fridge so they can be put in the oven in the morning.

Pumpkin Cheesecake was baked then put in the fridge. (Note: Wearing a comfortable and unbelievably huge, flannel nightgown is imperative when baking for the holidays)

Cookies were set out for Santa.

See the cookie in Evan's hand that he stole from Santa's plate?

Carrot for Rudolf, Cheerios for the other reindeer, Cookies and milk for Santa, and Charlotte wanted to see what kind of candy cane he liked better so she put out one of each so he could choose one to take. I wonder if Santa likes cherry or peppermint better.

I can hardly wait until morning.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!