All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others – Tous les animaux sont égaux, mais il y en a qui le sont plus que d’autres

This post is actually part of an email I sent to my mom this morning – again, we’re discussing what’s going on in Québec and the charter and her reply to a video sent to her by someone she knows. I won’t get into details about the original e-mail nor the response my mother sent back.

I am forever thankful to have a family that is open minded and won’t be duped by ignorance being spread about in order to create distrust, hate and division for political gains. Alhamdullillah.

Warning – it’s in “Franglais”. 😉 Translation into English will follow the french text and will be in italics.

*****

Cet article est tiré d’un courriel que j’ai envoyé à ma mère ce matin discutant de ce qu’il se passe au Québec et de la charte. Quelqu’un lui a envoyé une vidéo et, semblerait, qu’elle en a eu assez. Elle leur a renvoyé une réplique et m’a mis en BCC. Je ne vais pas rentrer dans les détails ni du courriel original ni de la réplique envoyé par ma mère.

Je suis tellement reconnaissante envers Dieu et ma famille. Alhamdullilah (Dieu merci), ma famille ne se laisse pas influencer par l’ignorance, la haine et la méfiance qui est encouragé de ces jours ci, question de gains et enjeux politiques.

Avertissement – ce courriel est en “franglais”. 😉

E-mail / Courriel

“…Je suis déjà tellement bombardé par toutes sortes de choses négatives au sujet de ma religion est des préjugés que ça fait plusieurs semaines que je n’ai pas écouté la radio.
I am already bombarded with all sorts of negative things and prejudices pertaining to my religion that it’s been a few weeks since I’ve tuned into the radio.

Les gens seront toujours mal renseignés et je crois qu’il y a parfois rien à faire. On peut leur parler et tenter de les renseigner, mais s’il ne veulent rien entendre ou comprendre…
People will always be misinformed and I think that, sometimes, there’s nothing to do. We can talk to them and try to inform them but if they never want to listen or understand…

Ce qui compte pour moi c’est que mes proches considèrent que, dans notre société, les droits sont garantis pour tout le monde; peu importe leur race, religion, langue, etc. Ce qui me fait de la peine c’est que des “Féministes” veulent enlever le droit de certaines femmes, voir même les isoler et les rendre plus dépendantes sur leurs maris. Comme si une femme était trop niaiseuse pour décider d’elle-même ce qu’elle veut porter. Et si une femme est forcée à le porter ou est dans une situation abusive, pourquoi ne pas s’assurer qu’elle a recours à des services ou ressources pour se sortir de cette situation? Bien non! Le problème n’est pas le manque de soutien pour les femmes, mais c’est la religion! BULLSHIT! L’Islam à donné plusieurs droits aux femmes au 7e siècle quand elle n’en avaient pas! (Je pourrais t’en reparler une autre fois) Toutes les femmes de notre société pourraient profiter de plus de services et soutien. Au lieu de diviser le monde, pourquoi ne pas tenter de tous nous rapprocher et de s’entraider?
What’s important to me is that those closest to me believe that, within our society, rights are guaranteed for all – regardless of race, religion, language, etc. What makes me sad is that these “Feminists” would like to take the right of some women, even go as far as to isolate them and make them more dependent on their husbands. As if a woman was too stupid to make up her own mind about what she wants to wear. And if a woman is forced to wear it (the veil) or is in an abusive situation, why not ensure that she has access to services or resources to get out of this situation? Of course not! The problem isn’t a lack of support for women, it’s religion! BULLSHIT! Islam gave women many rights in the 7th century, a time when they had none! (I can talk to you about this some other time) All women in our society could benefit from more services and assistance. Instead of dividing people, why not try and bring us all together to help one another?

Je vais terminer mon courriel avec une théorie et une citation (la dernière m’est revenue après plusieurs années).
I’ll end this e-mail with a bit of theory and a quote (the latter coming back to me after many years).

Théorie : Divide and conquer – wikipedia

In politics and sociology, divide and rule (or divide and conquer) (derived from Greek: διαίρει καὶ βασίλευε, diaírei kaì basíleue) is gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. The concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures and prevents smaller power groups from linking up…

…In modern times, Traiano Boccalini cites “divide et impera” in La bilancia politica, 1,136 and 2,225 as a common principle in politics. The use of this technique is meant to empower the sovereign to control subjects, populations, or factions of different interests, who collectively might be able to oppose his rule…

…Elements of this technique involve:

1. creating or encouraging divisions among the subjects to prevent alliances that could
2. challenge the sovereign (oui – la charte elle-même –yes, the charter itself)

aiding and promoting those who are willing to cooperate with the sovereign (oui – voir le Conseil du statut de la femme – “Le Conseil du statut de la femme (CSF) n’est pas un organisme indépendant du pouvoir politique” – Pauline Marois –yes, the Council on the Status of Women – “Le Council on the Status of Women (CSF) is not an organism independant from political power”- Pauline Marois)

3. fostering distrust and enmity between local rulers (oui – encore, la charte et la division “Pur Laine” vs “les autres” – yes, again the charter and the division between the “Pur Laine” and “the Others”)
4. encouraging meaningless expenditures that reduce the capability for political and military spending (oui – 1,9 millions $ pour publicités pro-charte, etc –yes, $1.9 million spent on pro-charter publicities, etc)

Citation / Quote
Et maintenant pour la citation, ce qui me fait un peu peur, mais je ne suis pas surprise.
And now for the quote, which scared me a it but I’m not all that surprised.

« All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others »
“Tous les animaux sont égaux, mais il y en a qui le sont plus que d’autres.”

-Animal Farm, , George Orwell, 1945. Bref: les droits de certains priment au dessus des droits des autres… Basically: the rights of some are more important than the rights of others.

Un très bon livre qui commente sur la révolution en Russie (Stalin) et que je devrais relire un de ces jours. Voici ce que Wikipédia dit au sujet de ce livre, certaines choses s’appliquent à notre situation :
A very good book that comments on the revolution in Russia (Stalin) – which I should read again one of these days. This is what Wikipedia says about the book, certain things apply to our situation:
«The novel addresses not only the corruption of the revolution by its leaders, but also the ways wickedness, indifference, ignorance, greed, and myopia corrupt the revolution. It portrays corrupt leadership as the flaw in revolution, rather than the act of revolution itself. It also shows how potential ignorance and indifference to problems within a revolution could allow horrors to happen if a smooth transition to a people’s government is not achieved. »

I think I’ve said all I have to say. ;)”

Changements à la charte des droits et liberté au Québec – La charte “des valeurs québecoises”

Bon, je ne suis pas certaine si je vais traduire le tout que j’ai écris hier en anglais; ce n’est pas mon meilleur texte et j’ai les émotions qui courent un peu partout. Que ressens-je en ce moment? Je suis triste, déçue, fâchée, même enragée par temps… D’un sens, je me sens aussi trahie par certaines personnes dans mon peuple, la culture dans laquelle j’ai été élevée. Bref, j’ai le cœur brisé…

C’est drôle, mes parents m’ont toujours dit d’être tolérante et ils m’ont élevés avec un esprit curieux, ouvert. Ils ne m’ont jamais montré comment différer entre une personne ou une autre basé sur la couleur de leur peau, la manière dont il(elle) se vêtit, leur pays d’origine, leur religion ou leur langue maternelle. Non, on m’a encouragée d’apprendre à connaitre et apprécier le monde basé sur leur caractère, leur personnalité, leurs valeurs.

Certains dirons peut-être que je suis naïve, mais j’essaie toujours de vivre ma vie de cette manière, de percevoir le monde à travers cette philosophie. Je ne peux m’imaginer à quel point ma vie serait limitée et vide si mes parents m’auraient inculqués avec une vision intolérante et fermée d’esprit.

Alhamdullillahi rabbil ‘alamin! (Louange à Allah, Seigneur de l’univers) En grande part, c’est grâce à eux et à la manière dont ils m’ont élevés que j’ai retrouvé mon chemin vers Dieu, que j’ai trouvé l’homme de ma vie, que j’ai eu la chance de m’entourer de gens magnifiques. Même si j’ai le cœur brisé avec ce qu’il se passe au Québec, je leurs suis infiniment reconnaissante de m’avoir appris que tout ce que je sais, y incluant que tout le monde est égal et que nous avons tous des droits; peu importe notre nom, sexe, origine, langue, foie, mode de vie, etc.!

Un positif dans toute cette situation; il semblerait que l’île de Montréal ferait une demande d’exemption pour cette nouvelle charte. Ceci m’a tellement remonté le moral. Toutes les municipalités et la grande Ville elle même, toute l’île, à l’unanimité s’oppose à la charte! Subhan’Allah! Voir l’article dans La Presse.

Je vais terminer ceci avec un lien vers un manifeste en français, écrit par un groupe surnommé Québec Inclusif. C’est un long texte mais ça vaut le temps de lecture.
Lien vers le manifeste
Et si vous aimez ce qu’ils ont à dire, je vous encourage à signer leur manifeste en cliquant ici.

Merci.

Our trip to Varadero – Days 3 & 4

Tags

Cuba, travel, varadero

Morning
And this is where the fun started – I woke up with a sore throat which I thought was simply due to the air conditioner but soon turned into a full-blown cold (one of the worse I had in a long time). Breakfast was at the buffet and then we decided to make an excursion to Downtown Varadero. Thankfully I have a good looking husband to cheer me up!

He makes me feel so much better! Ce beau gars me fait oublier mon rhume!

Caro posing outside of our room – the grounds are amazing. Caro prends une pose juste à l’extérieur de notre chambre. C’est un très beau terrain.

Downtown Varadero
Varadero is equipped with public buses that cost 5 pesos for the whole day – you can then take the double-decker bus to the city. Sit on the top if you like views but don’t mind the wind. It’s a 40 minute ride with stops made at what seems to be every resort, and then for a good part of the way you have the shore to one side. It’s actually quite an enjoyable ride.

Riding on the double-decker! On se promène au 2e étage!

The coast along the way to Varadero. La côte le long du chemin vers Varadero.

We got off around Caille 52 and proceeded to walk west along their main street. A few words of advice: bring sunscreen, bring cash, be mentally prepared to be honked at every minute or so by taxi drivers, caleche drivers and cocotaxi drivers, as well as being offered a spot at a good restaurant. Go and check out the little arts and craft shops. The artisans will try and chat you up, sell you some of their wares, etc. That’s fine, just be polite and if you find something you like, there’s nothing wrong with bargaining. Now, a word on these arts & crafts – are the people in the stalls really the artists themselves? Darn good question! To this day, I am not so sure myself. I don’t really think the items are imported but perhaps produced in more remote areas of the country and then sold in larger tourist centers. Either way, these people will do what they can to make you a happy customer but also make a living for themselves. Please, don’t bargain too hard though – help stimulate the economy a bit. What we bought: a wooden classic car for my dad, some wooden jewelry and a wooden vase.

An old house in Varadero – people live here, they had plants on the porch! Une vieille cabane à Varadero. Des gens y habitent; il y avait des plantes sur la veranda.

A classic car for Dad! Une auto ancienne pour Dad!

All methods of transportation which love honking at or heckling you while you walk along the main street. Tous les genres de véhicules qui vont vous claxonner après lors de votre promenade.

Can you feel the love between Salem and the CocoTaxi? Ça se voit que Salem aime bien les CocoTaxi.

A note to travelers: While we may not be used to people being so forward, please be polite. Many locals survive on tourism dollars. If someone offers you something you are not interested in, a simple “No, gracias” is enough. Also, people will often ask you where you are from “Where you form, frien’?”. It’s up to you if you want to answer or not. They will try to conversate with you and there is nothing wrong with that, but keep in mind that these people may hope to get you to buy something. We see the same thing here, but I find the way the Cubans go about it is much more interactive. Also, please try not to get into a pissing contest with the locals, it’s just a waste of time – just keep walking and ignore them.

A windy afternoon
We made it back to the hotel just in time to catch the last few minutes of the lunch buffet. By then my pain killer had worn off, my throat was hurting and the sunburn had reached the whole “feels like my skin is paper” stage. Our regular waiter wasn’t there but our waitress was kind enough to get me tea with honey. All spots by the pool were taken when we got out so off to the windy beach we went (which didn’t last long). Thankfully though, Salem was able to find a basketball and got to play for a while (yes, they have a basketball court!). We finally found a spot by the pool later on and swam a bit before freshening up for dinner.

Our first dinner reservations: Sakuro – the Japanese restaurant
Unfortunately, the dinner service started off somewhat badly and it was pretty much the worst experience we had during the trip. For years I have wanted to go to a Japanese restaurant – the type where they cook on a giant grill right in front of you. I had the experience once, while in Germany, many years ago. I had seen pictures of the shows they put on at the restaurant and it looked great but it seemed it was a set menu (which we weren’t shown) and I knew they used lots of alcohol for the flambés. We were more than willing to sit there and watch the show, but all we wanted was to eat sushi. We called over our waitress and told her of the issue and she said she would talk with the chef. We wanted to have this resolved before the chef came because it certainly had nothing to do with him, we didn’t want to insult anyone. After waiting a few minutes and not getting an answer, we asked another waitress and she said she would check. The spots started filling up and I was on the verge of a panic. Finally, Salem called over one last guy, he went over and talked to our waitress and finally they took us to this little sushi-bar area (they had 2 spots) and we ate there, just the 2 of us. I was a bit sad we got to miss the show, but the other chefs in the place took amazing care of us – they actually made our night! While we were made to feel like we were bothering our original waitresses, the chefs were super kind with us. We told one of them (Adolis) what had happened and he told us to forget about it and that he would take care of us. All the chefs that came chatted us up here and there and really made quite an impression on us. One of them, José, stayed with us for a bit. We ended up having mixed sushi, tempura veggies (one had pumpkin and Salem was crazy about it, he even got seconds) and ice cream with papaya for dessert. We tipped the chefs… I guess they weren’t expecting it as they thanked us a lot and even recognized us and chatted us up again a few days later when we saw them working at the buffet. They saved the night! Thankfully the waitress we had while we were seated at the sushi bar was quite nice as well.

Salem is a happy boy when you give him tempura! Salem est instantannément content quand on le nourrit du tempura.

Simple desserts can sometimes be the best. Un dessert si simple, mais si bon.

On our way back to our room, we happened upon Perro. I asked Salem to go ahead to our room to get my pashmina and the second half of a wrap we had bought at the airport. While I waited for him with Perro, we encountered a fellow Canadian and him and I ended up chatting about how animals are being treated in the area. Somehow, we got onto the topic of tipping while staying at all-inclusives – the man was quite disappointed in people not tipping the staff. Turns out he had just dined at the Japanese restaurant as well and out of a table of 8-10, he was the only one to leave a tip. Honestly people! No worries, I’ll stay off of my soapbox since you already got to hear about it once before in this post. We chatted for a few minutes more when Salem came around. Once he left, I fed Perro the leftover lox wrap and we were on our way to watch the “Rock” show.

An amazing concert – now if only they had kept playing longer!
Unfortunately, I do not know their name, but they were great! They had a male and a female lead singer and they played a lot of the more retro Rock songs (AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Guns N Roses, etc). It was great! Even though I was really starting to feel like crap from the cold, I wanted to dance. Thankfully, the audience seemed to really enjoy dancing. I honestly wish they could’ve played for another hour. The energy was great and the singers were really talented as well as the rest of the band. It seems they had won some kind of competition they held in Cuba. I can see why. I really hope they find even more success in the future.

We stocked up on mojitos and pina coladas while in Cuba. Still virgin though – be good! Nous en avons consommé des mojitos et des pina coladas lors de notre visite. Mais sans alcool; il faut être sage!

Amazing band! Ayoye!

Looking suave Habibi! Ah que t’as l’air bon mon homme!

Caro, pooped and ready to hit the hay momentarily. Caro, épuisée et sur le bord de se coucher.

Awwww! I love these little touches. J’adore ce genre de petit extra.

The night ended with a trip to the lobby bar and then off to bed I went – I could barely talk at this point and was shivering under the blankets when falling asleep.

Day 4
A day to relax
Yadrian, our waiter at the buffet, seemed quite worried about me because of my cold. But that’s life! Always nice to get good service though. We basically relaxed by the pool all day – unfortunately, it was very windy on the beach. My throat was better but this cold went into my sinuses. Hello mucus! *sigh*
A note to travelers (an a note to myself): don’t just pack meds for tummy troubles, also pack meds for colds! Duh!
Lunch was at the grill, we had fish – it was very good! Our buddy, Perro, was there too so she had fish as well (shhhhh, don’t tell anyone). But, in my defense, I did not feed her from the table. She would go from table to table, making sad eyes but staying quiet, then she would grow tired of being ignored and would curl up in a corner. I fed her fish on the grass, next to the restaurant. It’s quite interesting to see an animal rely on their instincts – she wouldn’t eat on the open grass, she would rather bring the food to a more secluded spot, usually near bushes and then ear it there.

The fish dish all 3 of us had! Le poisson que nous avons mangé, tous les 3!

Our second dinner reservations: Bamboo – the Asian restaurant
Again, true to itself, the service in Cuba is great, this restaurant was no exception to the rule! We started off with a soup, which I was really happy with. I also really liked the plates simply because they were not the normal round or square variety we often get.

Soup, it’s good for the soul. La soupe, que c’est bon pour le morale.

Waiting in between courses. Entre 2 plats.

Salem ordered a battered fish on seafood and veggies. Yes, the little pyramids you see are fried rice. So cute! I had the chicken with veggies on crispy noodles and rice. Dessert was vanilla ice cream atop pineapple.

Habibi and his meal. Salem et son assiette.

Caro loves this kind of dish! J’adore ce genre de mets!

Bamboo had a nice atmosphere and decor. It was actually quite nice. The walls were all a bamboo tapestry. Le resto Bamboo avait une bonne atmosphère, un bon décor. Les murs était recouverts de bamboo.

Gibby’s in Old Montréal (le Vieux port) – our first experience

Alright, this post has actually taken me a week to write – things are busy and I am currently under the weather with my ever so lovely flare-up I get from time to time. Just great! Oh well, I am dealing with it.

For Salem’s birthday dinner (en tête-à-tête), we decided to try out a restaurant we had never been to. A restaurant I hear about every single day thanks to CJAD talk radio. We went to the ever so posh Gibby’s in Vieux Montréal (Old Montreal).

I knew it would be expensive but I figured “what better way to celebrate my Habibi’s birthday than with a nice, expensive dinner”. With reservations made a few days earlier, all dressed up and perfumed, off we went to the resto.

There’s one really nice feature about this place, which you can enjoy from the moment you arrive: valet parking. Of course, Salem being as paranoid “cautious” as he is, decided he didn’t want anyone else driving his car and parked a block away and supported the greedy city of Montréal by feeding a few bucks into the parking meter. Thankfully, it was very mild outside and the sidewalk wasn’t covered with its usual winter black ice just yet.

Gibby’s is located in a nice, old stone building, which seems to have been stables at a point and time. Don’t worry, it doesn’t smell like horses anymore – far from it. There’s a coat check in the basement and a smiling hostess to receive you when you come in.

We were seated in a corner which is great considering how much I dislike being bombarded by the noise from tables all around me. This is when the hostess hands you your menu and the “catch of the day” card. Brought to our table: a fresh loaf of bread (it was still warm and covered with a cloth), butter, bowl of pickles and bacon bits (the waiter promptly took them away when informed we were allergic – the poor guy seemed embarrassed; it’s ok, no worries). The bread was great, but we were quite perplexed by the pickles – are you supposed to eat them alone? Or does it have something to do with the whole “bread and butter pickles”? I told Salem to take a look and see what the people seated at the other tables were doing, he found no indication. We had only ever been served pickles with coleslaw or smoked meat. We decided to slice the pickles and sneakily tried a slice with some buttered bread – “Act like we belong here!”. Not bad, but I’ll just eat my pickle as-is next time.

Salem at his birthday dinner. Boy do I have a handsome husband!

Our waiter came around and, of course, we refused drinks and just stuck to water. He didn’t even bat an eyelash when we said no alcohol, which was nice. I sometimes feel awkward or wonder “how much will the service suffer” when we don’t order alcoholic beverages. The waiter made a joke about “Château de la pompe 1968” being a very good year. I liked that he had a sense of humour and didn’t just rush off right away.

For the main course, Salem ordered the grilled arctic char (fish) with the marinated tomato and onion salad. I ordered the chicken Kiev along with the Gibby’s salad. Also available is the gazpacho. Here I thought the salads were side dishes, but no, they are more like starter salads. That was a nice surprise! Oh, and I have to mention the stance the waiter takes when he offers you freshly ground pepper; it’s like they are presenting you with a bottle of wine! It made me smile, maybe even smirk a bit. As we were finishing off our salads, the waiter brought us 2 little bowls with a ball inside and a small spoon. Salem “What’s that?”, Me “I’m not sure… margarine? *looks closer* It’s crystallized! Oh! I think it’s sorbet, you know, to cleanse your palate”. Indeed, it was a lemony-limey sorbet. “Don’t look at it too much, just eat it and act like you belong here!”

Salem opted for the tomato and onion marinade.

Caro and the rustic decor. I love it!

The Gibby’s salad: mixed greens with tomatoes, croutons and a light garlic dressing.

Cleansing our palettes with a little lemon sorbet. A pleasant surprise.

Our main course came soon after. Along with the arctic char and chicken Kiev, the plates came with asparagus and a baked potato (you can opt for sides other than the baked potato such as the Monte Carlo potato, etc). Salem’s fish was actually quite a large piece given what we’re used to getting in restaurants; and my chicken Kiev came with 2 pieces, not just one. It turns out that arctic char is somewhat similar to salmon, but the flavour being a hint more “meaty” while still being light and fluffy in texture. The chicken Kiev (chicken breasts stuffed with herbs and butter, breaded and topped with chives) was excellent! I wasn’t able to finish my plate so the 2nd piece and half of my potato were taken home in a doggy bag. I’d like to take a moment here to mention the other waiter that was also serving our table. He took my plate to prep the doggy bag and I was just surprised at the absolute care he took when bringing the doggy bag back to our table. I don’t know why it struck me, but he put the container in a Gibby’s bag and folded the bag over and then placed it on the table (almost as if presenting it). Man! I’m just glad if most places don’t just throw the half-closed container down on the table!

Gibby’s chicken Kiev: pan-fried chicken breasts stuffed with herbs, butter and chives. With baked potato and asparagus.

Salem telling me to take the picture quickly. On his plate: the grilled arctic char, baked potato and asparagus.

Caro ready to dig into her chicken Kiev.

We were having a hard time deciding on dessert and had to ask our waiter for his opinion. His description had me going for the hot apple croûte. I was thinking apple crumb à la mode but boy was I wrong. 2 forks are a must for this dessert! It’s basically a puff pastry topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, apple chunks and drizzled with a savory (not overly sweet) caramel with a bit of whipped cream on the side – AMAZING! Salem had a coffee and I opted for a cappuccino. The waiter chatted us up as we were finishing our meal – very nice fellow. He talked to us about the restaurant and the owner and the culture of the restaurant (ie customer service and care). It was really nice – I can’t remember the last time a waiter even chatted us up.

A nice, foamy cappuccino for me and our dessert… Mmmmmm.

Hot apple croûte – a puff pastry topped with bits of apple, vanilla ice cream and rich, hot caramel. 2 forks please!

All in all, yes, it was expensive but I think the food and experience were well worth the price tag. I guess I can say that I have fallen for Gibby’s. I wouldn’t fail to recommend it for special occasions and hope to return sometime. Total for 2: just under $100, plus tip.

Happy Birthday Habibi!

Tags

ballon, basketball, birthday, cake, fête, gâteau, Salem

Today is Salem’s birthday. – Happy birthday Love of my life! – He’s turning XX years old and he’s been so-so about his past couple of birthdays. I think he’s just crazy. So it’s my job to do my best to make him happy on his birthday.

For some reason, I got it in my head to try making him some crazy, amazing cake I saw here. Wow!

I’ve never worked with fondant, made my own buttercream (or at least I don’t recall) and I think I never went over 2 layers… So of course I had to go ahead and make him a life-sized basketball cake!

It was hard work, a long day and I hit quite a few bumps in the road (watermelon-flavoured marshmalows for the giant Rice Krispie that makes up the bottom half, colouring the fondant, covering the ball with the fondant without tearing it and getting too many folds – F****CK!!!, and the cat trying to lick the cake). In the end, it was worth seeing the happy and surprised look on his face when I came out with the cake.

Happy Birthday Habibi – I hope to see you this happy for every one of your birthdays.
See pictures after the French post.

C’est la fête à Salem aujourd’hui. Bonne fête à l’amour de ma vie! Il a maintenant XX ans et, depuis quelques années maintenant, il n’est pas trop positif quand à ces fêtes. Je croîs qu’il est fou, quoi, alors c’est à moi de faire de mon mieux pour m’assurer qu’il soit content le jour de sa fête.

Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais je me suis fait l’idée que je devrais lui faire ce gâteau que j’ai trouvé sur ce site. Ayoye!

Je n’ai aucune expérience avec le fondant, n’ai jamais fait mon propre glaçage à la crème au beurre (Du moins, je ne m’en souviens pas) et je ne crois pas avoir fait un gâteau de plus de 2 étages… J’ai alors eu la magnifique idée de lui faire un gâteau en forme de ballon de basket! Maudite folle!

C’était beaucoup de travail, ça a fait une longue journée et il y a eu quelques pépins (guimauves au melon d’eau pour le Rice Krispie géant qui forme la partie du bas, colorer le fondant, placer le fondant sans trop de plis et sans le déchirer – merde!!!!, et la chatte qui a tenté de léché le gâteau). Mais, en fin de compte, ça valait le coup quand j’ai vu à quel point il était content et surpris quand je lui ai présenté son gâteau.

Bonne fête Habibi; j’espère te voir aussi content à chaque année pour ta fête.

My workstation. Have I ever mentioned just how much I can’t wait to get a decent kitchen?

The cake, 5 minutes after completion. It’s not perfect, but I’ll just have to shut up and take it.

The cake from a different angle.

Salem’s 2012 Birthday Cake – yes, it’s the size of a real basketball. No, you cannot go shoot some hoops with it.

Salem and Caro with the cake – Caro is exhausted at this point.

Yes, there’s cake inside!

Damn you cantaloupe!!! Damn you!!!!

Alright, so I am sorry I have no picture to go along with this, but such is the monster of early-morning smoothies consumed in the train!

The story: I went out and bought a cantaloupe to serve up for when we had my parents over for dinner last Saturday. I took out the melon-baller (melonballer? melon baller? gah!!!) and all and got to work. Come dessert time – I forgot to put the bloody cantaloupe out! TYPICAL!

Fast-forward a few days, we still have round-ish (now somewhat soggy) cantaloupe in the fridge. I needed to do something with this…

Solution:

Cantaloupe-mint smoothie
Serves 2
Ingredients
-1.5 cups cantaloupe, chopped into 1-2″ pieces
-1 banana, broken up into pieces
-2 sprigs of mint, leaves only
-1 scoop protein powder (vanilla or unflavoured)
-1/2 cup almond milk
-1+ cups cold water (adjust to your liking)
-1 Tbspn honey
-pinch of salt
-vanilla (optional)

Putting it together:
1- Throw it all in the blender and GO – GO – GO!!!

Eid Mubarak! … and an Alfajores recipe

This post was a while in coming. We were all very busy for the end of Ramadan, Eid and now with life getting back to “normal” for a week, just in time to welcome some guests over to our place for nearly 2 weeks.

I at least wanted to share the recipe for the alfajores I served up when our friends came over a few weeks ago. I’m not too sure how much time I will be able to dedicate to posting when our guests will be over as we are working at our regular jobs and then coming home to entertain our guests in the evening. So, I make no promises but I will try to post a bit more often.

I’m also currently working on a “healthier” version of date squares. My mother-in-law wants to take something to my father (which it seems is customary after a surgery). He loves dates, we want to give him something healthy, and I would like to teach her a recipe for once. I was thinking of making them “raw” but decided not to push it too much. We’ll see if the recipe makes it onto the blog in the next little while. I also have to work on a post for all the food we prepped for when we had my parents over last weekend.

I’m also trying to make up a recipe for lemon-mint bars that are also healthier. My God! The amount of butter and sugar used in most recipes!!!! Holy cannoli! That’s one’s going to be tough.

Without further ado, I present to you a recipe for Alfajores!

Alfajores

Alfajores
Yield = about 15-20 cookie sandwiches
Ingredients
-1 cup corn starch
-1 1/4 cup flour
-1 tspn baking powder
-1/2 tspn baking soda
-1/4 tspn salt
-1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (if semi-salted or salted, omit the salt)
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 egg yolks
-1 Tsbpn water (adjust once you mix)
-1 tspn lemon zest
-1 tspn lemon juice
-1/2 tspn vanilla extract or ground (ground will not be as strong in flavour and will add specs in your cookies)
-dulce de leche (recipe posted below this one)
-coconut shavings

Putting it together:
1- In a medium bowl, sift together corn starch, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg yolks one at a time. Add in water, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Mix well.
3- On slow speed, add in dry ingredients until a dough forms. Do not overmix.
4- Take dough out of bowl, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5- Preheat stove at 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
6- Roll out dough to about 1/4″ thickness. Cut out cookies with a round cookie cutter (about 2 inches in diameter). Place on cookie sheets. Some advise not to roll out the dough more than twice.
7- Bake for 10-15 minutes until bottoms start to brown but the tops are still pale. Transfer gently to cooling rack – the cookies tend to crumble if you’re too rough.
8- Once completely cooled, spread dulce de leche on the bottom of one cookie, top with another. Do not overfill, the dulce de leche will ooze out the sides and make a big mess. Take a bit of extra dulce de leche and spread along the sides of the cookie. Dips this into the coconut shavings to coat.
9- Store in the fridge to prevent the dulce de leche from running. Enjoy!

Dulce de leche
Yield = enough for 2 batches of alfajores, or one batch and leftovers for ice cream or other piggy foods
Ingredients
-1 can of sweetened condensed milk (such as Eagle Brand)

Putting it together:
1- Stand unopened can in a large pot (that will go on the stove). Make sure there are a few inches of space between the top of the can and the top of the pot. Fill the pot with water until there are a few inches of water completely covering the can.
2- Bring water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to gently simmer. For a thick caramel (good for Alfajores), let simmer for 4 hours. For a thinner caramel (for other things), simmer for 1-3 hours. The longer you simmer the can of milk, the darker and thicker the caramel will be. Make sure that there is always plenty of water covering the can. If water levels drop below the top of the can, the can could explode!!!!
3- Once done, let can cool (unopened) in the pot of water. This may take a few hours.
4- Open and try not to eat the whole can the second you open it.

Other ways to cook up the dulce de leche: open the can, pour it into a shallow oven-proof container, cover in foil and place into a larger oven-proof container. Fill 1/2 way up with water. Bake for a few hours at 425F. You can also pour the can into a microwave-safe container (such as a Pyrex measuring cup) and microwave at 30% for 3 minute increments.

Our Latin American fiesta recipes

Tags

avocado, chicken, cilantro, fajitas, lime, potato salad

Assalamu alaikum everyone! It’s Friday, we’ve gotten through another week, I hope you are all smiling because it’s the weekend!

Salem and I had some friends over for iftar on the weekend and I decided to make them eat outside of their comfort zone. While the wife is an amazing cook at all things Lebanese (and boy does she ever serve up a storm every time), I jumped at the suggestion that we make them try something different. last year, we had them come over and try out butter chicken. This year, I went with the Latin American theme.

Tout le monde à table!

Supper consisted of: a spiced bean soup for starters; slow-cooker chicken fajitas; potato salad with a South American twist, an avocado and cilantro salad; alfajores and a chocolate mousse for dessert. I am fully aware that chocolate mousse doesn’t totally conform to the theme, but I had to at least give them something safe.

I’ve written up the recipes for last Saturday’s dinner. Without further ado, here’s a little food porn and the recipes that go with it.

On the menu: slow-cooker salsa-lime chicken fajitas. Latin American inspired potato salad and an avocado-lime salad.

I must admit, I was inspired by some of the recipes on this site. I added some of my own little things and adjustments and may revise a few things again at a later date.

If you’re wondering what we served for the fajitas, here’s a quick list: sautéed peppers and onions, sliced avocado, regular salsa, salsa verde (which I LOVE), sour cream and aged cheddar. You can also opt for some lettuce and tomatoes – I skipped out on that this time because we had a side-salad and the chicken is cooked in salsa so that was enough tomato-related stuff going on.

Slow-cooker salsa-lime chicken
Yield = 4-6 servings
Ingredients
-1 jar of salsa
-juice of 1 lime
-1-2 cloves of crushed garlic
-1 Tbspn cumin
-1 tspn paprika
-1 tspn oregano
-1/2 tspn garlic powder
-1/2 tspn onion powder
-Fresh cilantro, chopped
-1-1.5 lbs chicken (we used chicken breast)

Putting it together:
1- Wash and dry chicken, trim off any nasty bits (yes, I am picky like that). Simply set aside – no cutting needed.
2- In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients except for the cilantro. Place chicken on top and spoon some of the mixture over the chicken. DO NOT ADD WATER!
3- Set your slow cooker to low for 7-8 hours.
4- Once it’s done, you can either pull the chicken apart with 2 forks (for pulled chicken), or you can take it out in small chunks. The chicken does tend to fall apart because it was slow cooked. Spoon some sauce over it and top with fresh cilantro.

Latin American inspired potato salad
Yield = 6-8 servings
Ingredients
-1 can of corn, drained
-3 large potatoes, diced and cooked (about 3 cups)
-1 head of broccoli, cut into florets (use the stem, cut it into small pieces)
-1 cup red onion, chopped
-1 pepper, chopped (this I will be adding in next time)
-3 Tbspn mayo (I used low-fat)
-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
-3 Tbspn lime juice
-2 Tbspn olive oil
-1 tspn wasabi
-1 tspn paprika
-1/4 tspn cayenne
-3 Tbspn Fresh cilantro, chopped
-Fresh cilantro, chopped
-Salt and Pepper to taste

Putting it together:
1- Mix together the corn, potatoes, broccoli, red onion and pepper.
2- In a jar, mix all other ingredients, put on the lid and shake!
3- Mix the salad and the dressing. You can let it sit together for a bit, that works just fine.

Avocado-lime salad
Yield = 4-6 servings
Ingredients
-1 head of lettuce, torn
-Baby spinach
-2-3 Tomatoes, chopped
-1/2 cup red onion, chopped
-1 avocado, cubed
-2 Tbspn fresh cilantro, chopped
-2 limes, juiced
-2 Tbspn olive oil
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Fresh cilantro, chopped

Putting it together:
1- Mix together the lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onion and avocado (try to add the avocado last so it doesn’t turn brown).
2- In a jar, mix all other ingredients, put on the lid and shake!
3- Mix the salad and the dressing. Serve immediately.

A quick look at my fire escape garden

This year, I decided to finally make a mini-garden on the fire escape, right outside our bedroom window. Unfortunately, we don’t have a balcony so I am limited as to what I can plant out there.

The garden is pretty low maintenance and includes the following plants: 1x cherry tomato, 2x green peppers, 1x lettuce, 1x lavender, 1x mint, 1x tarragon, 1x basil.

I have quite a few cherry tomatoes coming out but they have yet to start changing colour. I had one pepper coming out but some bastard squirrel decided to rip it off, tape a few bites of it an abandon it a foot away. It taunts me every time I look out my fire escape, just outside of my reach so I can throw it out. Bastard squirrel! Maybe I should send Pumpkin after him… I bet you it’s that furry rodent that keeps walking by on the fire escape railing while I’m in the shower. Scared the crap out of me once! I think my shout of surprised scared him too.

I’ve had some mint and basil a few times. The mint might be transplanted at some point since it’s quite invasive and I would really like to have the lavender grow a bit more.

So, while I wait for my lilliputian crops to grow, I get lots of veggies from my dad’s garden. We just came back with 4 bags full of veggies last night – pictures to come soon.

A look at my garden from our bedroom.

Top box: cherry tomatoes, green pepper, lettuce, green pepper.
Bottom box: Lavender, mint, tarragon, basil.

Our trip to Alberta – part 2!

Alright, so I know that our trip to Alberta was 2 months ago and I RUSHED to get pictures of our nephew up once we came back but then, as always, laziness overtook me. I finally got around to going through the pictures, colour-correcting them and then resizing them so I could post them on here without anyone being able to complain about spinach in their teeth the size of Jupiter!

I’m also thinking about starting up on what I am doing for fitness but I’m not sure anyone is interested… If anyone wants to know what I do for food and physical activity please let me know. It may actually work as a bit of a motivator since I would be accountable to all those who come and read this (tiny) blog. I think it might also be interesting for people to see what I have planned for Ramadan – trying to reach a healthy balance between my religious duties, food, fitness and everything else! Which reminds me, I need to start working on a schedule. So, en bref, let me know if this is of (any) interest whatsoever.

Alright, enough yapping like a chihuahua, lets get to the pictures!

Caro, the silly wife.

The hot husband.

On the way to Banff.

Mother, daughter and son.

The brand new mommy and daddy. 🙂

Salem looking tough, Caro looking like a weirdo stalker. Nothing new here!

Residents mingle – Mr. Deer and Mr. Pedestrian.

About halfway up the mountain side.

Subhan’Allah! Art in nature.

I could sit here all day.

A beautiful mountain range behind my gorgeous husband!

The mountains, valley and river. Can I build my house here?

Salem in full hiking mode.

Beautiful view of a neighbouring mountain and the river and valley below.

There’s actually snow at the top! It’s not just an illusion!

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the patterns formed by the bark on this tree. This was taken at the top of the mountain on our hiking trip to Banff.

Chocolate-fondue and all the fixings!

Post-chocolate fondue get together with my sister-in-law and my friend, Anna.