Berries and Chocolate, mmmmm.....

So here's that yummy recipe as promised in the last post. You gotta serve it hot and with whipped cream for maximum nomness effect. Especially perfect for cold snuggle-weather :) Enjoy!

(Trying to get a larger image up for downloads, but Picasa's not co-operating :P Will get it sorted soon :)

Some rad, quirky, feel-good videos :)

Eid 2010

Some pics from Friday, which was Eid. Decided to go for a different look, something rather unlike me :) Loved it.

(Right-click and select "view image" to view larger images.)

Some background on Eid for you's who don't know...
Eid marks the end of Ramadan, the month in the Islamic calendar during which Muslims fast. It's a complete fast, as in no food or drink at all from sunrise to sunset, for a whole month. It's a really awesome month, coz we focus a lot more on prayer and trying to lead our lives the way we should, and it creates such a great feeling, spiritually. This year especially felt really significant for me personally.
Many people think it's tough and the fasting sounds rather extreme, but it isn't. It's really about self control, empathy, and obedience.
The first day after Ramadan is Eid, the day the fasting ends. We celebrate by spending the day with extended family and eating lots of delicious yummies. It's great :)
I made a delish dessert, a Very Berry Chocolate Tray Bake, that turned out amaaayzingly!
Recipe will follow soon ;)

Latest book

Sweetness in the Belly - Camilla Gibb

"Lilly, a young white Muslim woman, is eight when her British parents are killed in Morocco, and she is placed in the care of a Muslim disciple, who fills her days with the teachings of Islam. She later moves to Ethiopia, where she becomes a nurse, teaches local girls to recite the Qur'an, and falls in love with Aziz, a medical student who supports the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie. Lilly's tenuous ties to the monarchy force her to flee to London when Selassie is deposed, in 1974; there she immerses herself in a refugee support group and waits to be reunited with Aziz. Gibb adroitly flips back and forth between pre-revolution Ethiopia, where Lilly, though a foreigner, is admired for her knowledge of Muslim teachings, and London in the 1990s, where she feels stronger ties to Muslim refugees than to the British, who feel increasingly threatened by the refugees' presence. Gibbs' novel is a gripping and provocative addition to the post-9/11 genre of fiction exploring the many facets of Islam." Deborah Donovan

Do you ever find that when you're battling with an issue in your life or thinking a lot about something, everything you come into contact with seems to speak about what you're thinking? This book was part of that for me. 
I really enjoyed it, it gets 5 teacups! (out of 5)

Some thoughts for today...

(sent to me by my friend, Sam)

Words of wisdom from The Hundred Acre Wood

"Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

- Piglet 

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day."

- Winnie The Pooh

"You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes."

- Piglet

"If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear."

- Eeyore

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you." 

- Winnie The Pooh

“If there ever comes a day when we can't be together keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever”

- Winnie The Pooh

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"”

- Winnie The Pooh

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."

“You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.”

- Winnie The Pooh

“I used to believe in forever, but forever is too good to be true.”

- Winnie The Pooh

"I wonder what Piglet is doing," thought Pooh.
"I wish I were there to be doing it, too."
- Winnie the Pooh

"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.
"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way."

“The hardest part is what to leave behind, ... It's time to let go!”

- Winnie the Pooh

Rather apt, I'd say.

(partly via Happiness is...)