Moving to Tunisia, Part II

Some old-school baggage!

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll. Soooo about moving overseas. I realized I forgot a reallllly important thing: what to pack and what NOT to pack.

What did you take that you ended up thinking, daaaang you were a waste of space? What did you NOT bring that you really wished you had of thought to pack? I want to be frugal in what we ship over.

1. I really want to bring alot of Aaminah's books and toys, enough so that I am willing to pay freight. Do ya'll think that's necessary in your experience?

2. What about personal products? Anything you can't get overseas that you miss?

3. Food stuffs? Just your thoughts, again.

4. I am thinking of bringing an e-reader. Any ideas on which ones work overseas (for purchasing books)? Anyone overseas currently using one? If so, which?

Any other information/ideas/what to do or not to do, I would really appreciate it!

Ma salaama...

Moving to Tunisia?

Very traditional Tunisian building with blue doors

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll. A applied for his citizenship in 2007. Alhamdulillah he finally received notice it had been denied. Yes, denied. After waiting over THREE years. Subhanallah. He was admitted as a refugee in 2002 and apparently a translator mis-interpreted (literally!) one of his responses. Which had no material benefit to him, btw. Now he is considering, seriously, moving back to Tunisia. Where does that leave me, the southern muslimah?

That leaves me moving to Tunisia with my husband, that's where. It's a difficult decision in some ways; missing my sons, my country, my language. As most of ya'll know, Arabic and French are the two main languages there. My husband's family also speaks Arabic and French but hardly any of them speak English, especially not fluently. Hmmmm. I like to talk. I can see an issue. :-)

OK I think I'll resort my to listing the pros and cons. Which isn't really that helpful because of course, wherever my husband goes, I will follow insha'Allah.

Let's list the good points first. I like to be positive. These are in no particular order, btw.

1. Aaminah will insha'Allah become fluent in Arabiy. Big plus!

2. I have always had this restlessness in me, this drive to travel, see more, do more. I think living in North Africa will be exciting in many ways.

3. I will no longer be solely responsible for my stepchildren. This is a big relief to me in many ways, may Allah forgive me. It's been trying for me and I would be happy to have more of an aunt-like role with them.

4. I will insha'Allah be able to forge true relationships with my new family overseas.

5. Insha'allah I'll be able to learn Arabiy myself and also take many different classes.

6. I can be involved in dawah efforts as this is a huge interest of my husband's.

7. I'll have more free time to pursue things which I enjoy and also just to spend with Aaminah.

8. We'll have a true home with room to grow and have some privacy.

9. Easy to find Islamic clothing. OK sounds flimsy but it IS nice to not search high and low for modest clothes. :-)

10. Being in a Muslim-majority country where you don't have to explain what Eid is or why you fast Ramadhan. Oh so many reasons!

11. My husband would be so happy to be home again.

12. Paring down and living more simply. See #7 below for the con of this. lol


So here are the less-than-idea points:

1. Lack of privacy. Not sure if our house is connected to the "big" house or not. I think there would be communal meals, etc. Which would mean my husband sitting with the men and me with the women. I wouldn't like that.

2. Missing my family and my country. Also my freedom. It just won't be the same overseas as it is here (duh) and I would miss a lot of what I take for granted.

3. Language barrier. Yeah. India was difficult as I only had Abu Aaminah to communicate with for 6 weeks. And he was with me 24/7 for those 6 weeks. Not looking forward to it.

4. Healthcare. As ya'll know I have health issues that require hospitalizations and lots of medications.

5. Food. I am weird about milk, cheese, and meat. I can forsee a vegetarian future for me. Waaaaah!

6. Not sure if I would be driving and if it's similar to here.

7. Going through all our stuff and getting rid of sooo much. It will be hard and a little difficult for me to part with sentimental things; an antique wooden trunk, a favorite platter, handmade momentos. Ya can't take it all!

8. Not living in the green hill/valley/lake/river/woods/stream landscape. THIS will be difficult.
I know many of these can be put to rest by more talking between me and A. We have only spoken about it in general terms so far and these are some of the things I've been thinking of that I need to clarify. It's definitely a life change and one I am, despite the possible issues, looking forward to. At least for a year or so, long term.... I just don't know how I will fit in.

Any of my sisters who have made hijrah/moved overseas, please share some of your most trying AND most rewarding experiences. Jazakum Allahu khair!!!

I'm still a cookin' mama (2nd post of the day)

A light mediterranean style lunch for A. Hummous tahini, mixed salad with lemon juice and olive oil dressing, boiled egg, olive medly with pickled garlic (YUM!),  Syrian bread and fresh strawberries. Please notice how the strawberries looked like a heart inside when I cut them. Masha'Allah! :-)

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll. I haven't posted any new recipes in a while but I've been cooking. :-) Let's see, I made a lovely homemade (from the sauce down!) lasanga that really knocked our socks off.

Please forgive the crappy cell-phone pic. Honestly it deserved a real photo. Also, please note what I think is my face, mirrored upside-down in the spoon. LOL

Recently A and I made "lef lef" but really the name is longer just can't remember it. Dejaja is chicken right? So dejaja lef lef but I forgot the rest of it. :-D Lef lef means rolled up I think. I can't find a picture of it online and I forgot to take one myself so... :-( Boo hoo hoo.

Anyway it's a Tunisian dish with pounded chicken thighs, stuffed with a mixture of parsley, cilantro, tomato, carrot, onion, little salt and pepper. We also put just a smidgen of cheese in it to placate my Amreekan tastes. lol Then roll it all up, secure with a wooden toothpick, fry til brown on all sides and then bake in preheated 350 oven for at least 35 min. Be sure and cover with foil to keep it nice and moist. We served it with rice and the cooking juices poured over individual servings.

This is a really healthy dish and the taste was...ok. :-( I'm not used to such herb-y tastes; I mean this uses ALOT of parsley and cilantro! My husband loves it though and as I already said, its a very healthy dish so I am happy to make it and insha'Allah one day maybe my southern-cooking trained taste buds will come to crave this type of fresh fare. One day... lol

We also made (join effort between hub and I) a very traditional winter-only Tunisian breakfast food called leblebi. You use extra-stale bread which is great cause I had bought a loaf of french bread that was very hard. You make a spicy chickpea broth/soup, heavily spiced with cumin, to soak the bread with thoroughly. The most interesting part, besides the harissa (spicy Tunisian hotsauce) was a barely-boiled egg cracked onto each bowl. Hmmmm.

I don't even eat RUNNY eggs. So after boiling eggs for maybe 5 minutes (it takes 15 left in just-boiled water to fully cook an egg) we cracked them open into the bowls. Yep. Then stirred the mixture all up and topped it with the hotsauce.

Honestly I could feel my gorge rising just at the thought of the raw egg, which is stupid because I ALWAYS like the beaters when making cake and duh, it has raw egg in it! I took a few bites but could feel the heat coming to my face like I was going to be sick; just like the time I tried bona-fide sushi. The taste was ok it was just the thought of slimy raw fish that made me feel ill. :-D

My husband, however, was super happy so I was happy he was getting a taste of home. His kids liked it for the most part; until I came they usually only ate Arabic foods in the house so they are more acclimated to it.

Before, when it was just Aaminah and myself, I always had a spotless clean kitchen (for the most part) and could take pics step-by-step even (see previous blog posts!). I had time to plate it beautifully and take pictures. Now it's just a rush to get food on the table and the eating begins before I even remember the camera! So I guess until I get my act together, this'll be what we get: half-way remembered recipes with no visuals. Yep stunning huh? lol

Oh and for an iftar snack in Ramadan I made homemade basboosa. You know the yummy semolina cake soaked in honey with nuts on top? Well mine was masha'Allah AWESOME I am happy to say. The only fault was it was a bit crumbly. I mixed 'n matched some recipes. It was a little involved but well worth the happiness A felt when eating it. He was so proud of it he took a dish to share with our Iraqi neighbors who live down the hall. Score one for the non-native Arabic cook!!!!! Here's a pic; I don't really wanna post the recipe right now because I can't find the use I used (sniff, sniff) and there are soo many available online.

Alright well it's late and I'm off to .... not sure what but the kids are in bed and I loooooong for a deep, spa-like tub I could soak my cares away in. Maybe in Jannah, huh? :-) Ma salaama......

Hmm hmm good!

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll! This is an overdue food post. I decided (from my backlog of yummy recipes) to pick the Tunisian feast my husband prepared for me shortly after I arrived in Massachusetts.

My favorite part was helping A in the kitchen. It was really fun cooking with someone instead of being in there all alone while everyone else has a good time watching me sweat it out! :-)

This was a traditional Tunisian feast. Of course the meat of choice is lamb which I am not a fan of to be honest. It has a heavy aftertaste to me. I grew up in the south and you couldn't even find lamb in the grocery stores until about 10 years ago!

So let me run through what we made and a brief list of ingredients. My husband cooks by intuition, not recipes so it was a handful a pinch a smattering. lol His spices will change with his whims. Really he is fun to cook with masha'Allah. Oh I will also double check all the ingedients with him and will update my blog tomorrow to reflect anything I might have left out.

First I'll tell you about the tagine. This is Tunisian tagine not Moroccan so get the idea of a meat/veggie stew out of your mind. :-) You take cooked lamb cubes and grind them til they are almost a paste. Yes really a paste. Interesting concept. Then mix that with a couple of eggs and some finely diced cooked potato. This is kind of like an American hash. When I say finely I mean tiny uniform cubes. Really small. :-)

Anyway you take a large bunch of parsley and another of dill. Also some green onions. Trim the root ends and weed out obvious nasties. :-) Chop finely. I mean fine. Really really small pieces. Mix the cooked lamb paste, the eggs, potatoes and herbs. Then layer a nice thick covering of mozzarella cheese on top. I was surprised by that ingredient; I guess I thought it was only us danged old yanks that smothered everything in cheese. lol Spread into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 30 min.

We also made shorba or soup. Very simple, rustic almost in its simplicity. Sorry I didn't get a photo of it; it's not really photogenic but it's oh so good! Boil the leg bone (hacked into 2 or 3 pieces) in a large stock pot of water. For the Arabic food purists out there, save the leg bones to disgust your non-Arab dinner guests by sucking the cooked, gelatinous marrow out of the center of the bone with a loud slurping noise. Lovely, really.

Throw in any array of veggies coarsely chopped. I think we used carrot, turnip, assorted squash/zucchini, garlic, onion, tomatoes, a large bunch of dill, spinach and some other things. Salt to taste, pepper and really I am drawing a blank. lol Anyway you boil it all together til soft then puree it in batches in your blender. This is yummy and healthy and makes popular iftar fare.

We also had a lamb salad for lack of a better word. Cubes of cooked lamb tossed with parsley, onion and tomato. Little olive oil thrown in for good measure never hurts! I enjoyed this as much as a non-lamb lover can which says alot!

Now..onto the star of the show, my new all-time favorite Tunisian food: salata mishwaya. Oh y hee!!! My taste buds do a little victory dance every time it appears on our table. Insha'Allah your family will enjoy it too!

Take about 5 plum tomatoes, 3 of the long green peppers (medium heat NOT jalapenos!), 5 or so small eggplants, and several cloves unpeeled garlic and roast them til black and blistered all over. Hint: after roasting place in bag or covered dish and let steam for 15 minutes; the skins will slide off! You do NOT leave the skins on as they should be nice and burnt by this point. Charring the veggies gives the whole affair a smoky sultriness that is incomparable!

Mix these all together, throw in a little salt and a good measure olive oil. Should use enough to cover the vegetable mixture completely and have some pooled up on the top. Soooo good with crusty french bread, ya'll don't KNOW how yummy this is. As a matter of fact I had some tonight. Hmmmm!

The last time A made it he used our little grill on the patio because we are having a warmish spell; however in Jan. he just turned the stove eye on "High" and roasted them inside. Really very good idea, I wouldn't have thought of in a million years. :-)

Ok so recap: salata mishwaya, lamb salad, and tagine. Don't forget the shorba! Such a yummy meal but of course I thought how divine the tagine would be with ground beef. Hey shoot me, I like my cows.

Medium well that is. :-)

Ma salaama...

I am humbled...

*This is the website where I found the photos of the Atlas Mountains in Tunis.*

As a convert, we always hear (and agree in our hearts) that we have given up so much to become Muslim. Often we lose family and friends, sometimes our livelihood, and are treated like strangers in our own country. Alhamdulillah we are happy and grateful to make that sacrifice but really inside we feel pretty proud of ourselves, looking at what we have given up for Islam.

My husband was just preparing for Jumah prayer and he said, "Alhamdulillah. Sometimes we forget the mercies of Allah." Of coures I asked what he meant specifically by that. He related the following story to me:

"When I was a young man in Tunis a group of like-minded brothers and I went around the countryside, giving dawah. Many times we had to sleep in inhospitable conditions. I remember sleeping in the mountains once in the winter and all we had to cover ourselves were plastic bags. We lay there, shivering all night long. When fajr came I was washing myself with water and by the time I finished the water around me had started to freeze. Just now, as I was taking my hot shower, I remembered that cold morning and and it reminded me how ungrateful we are for the bounties from Allah."

Subhanallah.

As my husband was telling me this I was thinking to myself, I am sure I would have just made tayyamum (ablution without water) and begged the rahma of Allah. I would not have doused myself with near-freezing water on that frigid morning. I would have never slept on the cold, hard ground and risked my freedom and life to bring the word of Allah to those who had forgotten it.

Of course he related more than that to me; look up human rights in places Tunisia, Syria and Libya and you will find stories of torture and state-sanctioned police brutality. These atrocities occur in so-called "Islamic" countries. This is the price you pay for being a practicing Muslim and daring to remind others of their responsibility to Allah.

May Allah have mercy in this life AND the next on those who suffer in His cause, who put the eternal souls of their brothers and sisters above the comforts of this world. Amin.