The charter for compassion

Assalam alaikum & Peace to all

I like Karen Armstrong's books and just found this video...it is long but quite worth it to watch!

The Omnivore's Hundred

Assalam alaikum & Peace to all

I wanted to post something fun for a blog...been to emotional lately (all I'll say is that Alhamduillah things are getting better and I pray they will continue that way!)

I saw this food game on Simplicity by the Sea blog  
and thought I would post mine answers as well! Feel free to join in!
** Note any pork or alcohol on the list, I've tried 'before' I was Muslim - just in case someone was wondering** 



Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food – but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.


Here’s what I want you to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile ( I don't think I would try it but maybe)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (accidently swallowed a fruit fly and thats as close as I want to eat an insect YUCK)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (not a chance)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (Nobody should eat that stuff)
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Things getting worse before they are better?

Assalam alaikum & Peace to all


Thank you to everyone who commented on my previous post - all of your words really helped. 
Unfortunately things have gotten worse ...not better, yes I did blow up a bit  but it was for something different, I admit I reacted a bit quick and abrupt but it just happened and I have been 'paying' for that ever since. Not to seem like I'm back-biting (maybe I have already - may God forgive me if I have) but I over-heard my Mother talking badly about me and my husband to a friend of her's.  After that I have not been the same, it's just too many times I have heard her say one thing to me and then go behind my back and talk badly.  I am just deflated right now, I feel lost and don't know how to fix things.  Hubby is very upset at the situation and I feel I am caught between the two of them.  It's not like I have to make a choice between the two (I pray that it will never come to something like that) but my husband is right as well, the whole situation is too tense and my Mother is not realizing how much strain she is putting on us.  I admit wholeheartedly that she is too in a difficult situation but having background history about this I can tell you that this is her personality - only it has gotten worse.  

I prayed that God will show me out of this situation so that we can all be healed of this anger and frustration, but I just don't know what to do. 

I know in Islam parents are held in high regard and God knows that I am trying to do my best but what about that parent not making things difficult? What about not hurting their own child?

May Allah forgive me and give me strength, as I will Inshallah have a child but I just can't imagine doing this to my child, I sit here almost in tears and in the morning when she says 'dear daughter' I feel a little part of my dying away because all I can hear are her harsh words that were spoken behind closed doors. 

Does anyone have any prayers I can recite to calm me down, to give me patience? I just don't know how to handle all of this. 
Forgive me if this sounds so dramatic...and I understand if nobody responds, I think I just need to get this out in the open.

Thank you

Am I being insensitive?

Assalam alaikum & Peace to all

For a few days now I've been irritated with my mom and I can't figure out if I am being rational about it or just emotional?  So why not ask all of you out there? Here is the story.

My mom is living with us now for a few months, we are going to be moving into our new home in about a month (inshallah) and we have so many things to do in the apartment before it can be put on sale - massive cleaning and some structural work too (ie. finishing the flooring off and painting) So for these few months it has been a real struggle with my mom in terms that I find myself telling her 'what to do' everyday.  She was living on her own for about 2 years and has taken care of her family (my Father and myself) for over 30 years so it's not like she does not know how to run a household, or cook, etc.  I really looked forward to having the cooking done by her and her helping out with the household cleaning.  Ok, I know that sounds harsh but it's nice to have some help (I work far from home so by the time I get home I feel so drained that the cooking and household chores suffer a bit - at least until the weekend) so thankfully my mom being healthy and capable to help out I was happy.  Well, it has not really worked out that way at all. 
She constantly is asking me what to cook and how to cook it...etc.  She does not really take the initive to clean the house if she sees something a mess, instead she will say 'oh why are you doing that, when I can do it?" (huh... why didn't you do it then in the first place?)  Once again is this harsh of me?  Maybe it is, but she is always saying to me 'Don't do things, relax and let me do them.' Ok, thanks Mom but YOUR'RE NOT DOING THEM! (blush) I just can't tell my mom, oh go clean the bathroom, do the laundry, cook, etc. I feel as if I'm treating her like a maid. 
Hubby is getting a bit frustrated with the situation as well, and so am I.  It's just not easy to adjust to this life with her living there.  It is a small apartment and she has her own small room and she will just go in there and watch TV, read, etc.  So I feel strange, like I've shut her off from us, but it is her that closes the door and shuts herself off from us.  So many times we've said come and sit with us, or don't close the door, etc.  So I just don't know but it is all getting on my nerves, all these little things are pilling up and making me stressed, and I know I'll just blow up at her and that won't solve anything.

So, dear bloggers out there .... am I just a horrible insensitive daughter?? I would appreciate any comments or advice you may have.

Also I've started a pregnancy/baby diary  so if you want to check it out
A mommy in training

I guess I'll find out what it's like to be a mom one day (inshallah)

Some fashion fun

Assalam alaikum & Peace to all

I had way too much fun with this new Fashion designer program

I saw the link on Hegab-rehab

Have some fun and try out some new things!

MIllions wasted... we are a sad example of humanity

Assalam alaikum & Peace to all

Yesterday as I was driving home I was listening to the news broadcast, something I don't really like to do too much as it is always filled with negative stories, crimes, etc but then again I realize I can't be living in a bubble and I need to know what is going on around me, so anyway. There was a blurb about the Cirque du Soleil founder who traveled to space by spending $35 Million dollars (yeah that is not a mistake) he says:

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte said the US$35-million he paid to spend nine days on the International Space Station is "worth every penny," even with the physical challenge of being in orbit.

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2072115

I usually don't care what people will do with their money, I am not one to judge or criticize BUT all that ran through my head when I heard how much he spent was: it's such a waste.
I'm sure there are so many people who, if they had the money, would jump at a chance to go to space - I'm sure it is a life altering experience. I just couldn't help but feel sad at the thought of all that money going to waste and not going to charity, the poor, or any other number of good places that can use $35 million dollars! I mean really when you think about it, how much food and medicine could that buy for the needy of the world?

Now don't think that I am on my high horse looking down and on people who don't give money to charity, etc. I include myself in all this - as I know I could be donating more and helping out more, but I would like to think if I had an extra $35 million kicking around I would put it to better use, inshallah.

I can't help but think that so much money is wasted in this world. Look at all the sports athletes who earn millions a year, or the actors/actress' - do these people really need all that money? I guess it's just the way of the world right now... all I can do is try to change who I am and how I behave and perhaps other people will do the same...and so on and so on!

Niqab ban... why is it always about clothing?

Assalam alaikum & Peace to all

Came across this article on the banning of Niqab in Egypt

Egypt cleric 'to ban full veils'

The niqab has become increasingly popular among Egypt's Muslim radicals

Egypt's highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women's veils, known as the niqab.

Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith.

Although most Muslim women in Egypt wear the Islamic headscarf, increasing numbers are adopting the niqab as well.

The practice is widely associated with more radical trends of Islam.

The niqab question reportedly arose when Sheikh Tantawi was visiting a girls' school in Cairo at the weekend and asked one of the students to remove her niqab.

The Egyptian newspaper al-Masri al-Yom quoted him expressing surprise at the girl's attire and telling her it was merely a tradition, with no connection to religion or the Koran.

I don't think this is a good idea... I don't like when people start banning things - headscarf or niqab or anything. Don't we have a right to wear what we want? Be it a full or half or no covering (I'm just trying to make a point) it's ultimately between me and my creator what I wear or don't wear? Ahhh sigh why is it that women and Islam always come down to what 'we are wearing/or not wearing' ?? I would love to see articles that promote the 5 pillars, and celebrate when women live up to those instead of hijab, niqab, etc!

I would love your thoughts and ideas on these topics!

Guarding each others's honour - Husbands and Wives!

Assalam alaikum & Peace to all

I got to thinking about something I read online a great article about guarding your husbands honour on the blog Ignite the light within

It talks about how women should guard the honour of their husbands. There are some excellent points in it to remember and keep in mind always. I have seen so many women who really 'bash' their husbands to their friends, some are just vicious about it - I always feel sad when I hear things like that because I believe that problems like that should not be out in the pubic. I think perhaps talking with a close friend or relative is a better way than to engage in gossip with your girlfriends. Now, to be honest I too have talked a bit about my husband, but I know that it will not go any farther than that person I talked with, and really it wasn't something bad he did more of an annoyance that I had to 'get' out and by doing that I got over it.

As I was reading it though I also thought how I never really see articles like this pointed towards men. Hmm? Now why is that? (or have I just not gone on the right sites or read much? Don't know but if anyone can point me in the direction of some good articles for the 'brothers and husbands, I would appreciate it!)
Why could the article not focus on both husbands and wives. I mean really I have heard lots of husbands complain just as much about their wives to their friends, etc. It really is human nature but that does not mean it is an excuse. I would love to see some good articles for men/husbands by men/husbands - now wouldn't that be great?

There is one part of the article that really touched me and gave me hope and inspiration.

Remember that in every command of Allah lies a potent hikmah, a hidden wisdom that is beneficial for you. He loves you seventy times more than your well-wishing mother. Run to Him – in salah [regular Islamic prayer], dua [praying to Him], dhikr [His remembrance by the tongue and heart], and istighfar [seeking His forgiveness for sins] – whenever you have a bone to pick with your husband. For the solution and the solace after the storm, trust in Allah. If you keep your duty to Him, He will never relinquish you – rather, He will fill your home with unbridled peace, harmony and tranquility.

Ok I've gone on long enough about this...I want to know what you all think?