February Daring Baker's Challenge!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

This challenge was somewhat easy to make, but I was not too happy with the results. The cake had an almost brownie texture which was GREAT, but it had deep cracks that made it look...not very apetizing... hence I covered it with some cherries.

Also I made it with semi-sweet chocolate and it was a little too strong for me... next time I do it (and I will!) I'll use 50% semi-sweet and 50% milk chocolate. I also ate the cake without the ice-cream so that might have made the difference... maybe with ice-cream it would taste better since the sweetness of the ice-cream will make up for the strength of the chocolate flavor??

That's all for now, but hopefully I'll be posting more detailed explanations next time!

Eclairs!

I obviously need to improve my blogging skills because I really don't know how to even write a link.

In any case, I joined the "Daring Bakers Blog" earlier this month and the challenge we had was to make eclairs.

I will post more about the challenge insha'Allah but for now I'll just say that they didn't turn as pretty as I had hoped for but they surely tasted good alhamdulillah!

The chocolate cream that they suggested was to die for.

Oh, also the weird "decoration" is just white and milk chocolate piped in that shape. It was not hard to do at all.

Sadness

Sometimes, my sadness and I become companions. It stays with me for days and days, refusing to let me go. I talk to it, I even play with it. We have lengthy debates, on why life is so good and why life hurts so much.


My sadness has many different shapes: sometimes it's the anxious one, the numb one, or the angry one; other times it's the "I don't think I can take this pain" type.


I look at myself in the mirror and see the tears rolling down my eyes, while I stay motionless, just staring. And I feel it... and I see it... the pain... in my swollen eyes, in face, in my chest... all over me, rendering me immobile. I scream. I cry and I scream loud, bending forward, imagining the pain goes out with each breath. Can anyone out there hear me? Can someone come and rescue me please? I imagine my mom, holding me, stroking my hear and just telling me that everything will be fine. And me, resting in her arms, feeling safe and loved. God willing my companion will leave. I just need to wait patiently for the sun to come out again.

Have We not expanded for you your breast;
And taken off from you your burden,
And exalted for you your esteem?
Surely with difficulty is ease.
Surely with difficulty is ease.
So when thou art relieved, still toil
And strive to please thy Lord.

(Quran, Chapter 94)

Asi somos las mujeres musulmanas This is how a Muslim woman looks like

Altas, bajas, palidas, rozagantes, robustas, delgadas, rubias morenas, con hijab, sin hijab, con niqab, con rulos, con pelo lacio... asi somos las mujeres musulmanas.

Tranquilas, inquietas, serias, payasas, activas, deportivas, musicales, ocupadas, relajadas.

Vivimos por todo el mundo, tenemos distintas costumbres y hasta agunas distintas creencias. Pero nuestra creencia compartida en el Dios Unico, Creador de cielo y tierra y de todo lo que existe, es mas grande y pesa mas que cualquier diferencia que podamos tener.

O al menos asi deberia ser. Hay algo mas grande que Dios? No. Entonces por que pensamos que nuestras diferencias en, por ej., el vestir, son mas grandes que nuestra coincidencia de alabar al mismo Creador? Por que dejamos que estas cosas nos desunan, si tenemos el Ser mas grande que nos une?

La illaha illa llah, mohammadun rasulu llah. Testifico que no hay dios, sino Dios, y que Mohammad es el mensajero de Dios. Hermanas, esta es la verdad mas grande e importante del mundo! Es tiempo de unirnos!