This year my son wanted a dinosaur birthday party. And so we had one! Here I share some of the details of that celebration with you. Decor The backdrop featured a jungle scene with a waterfall. The “jungle” was created with light green, plastic tablecloths pinned to the wall. The “vines” were hand twisted brown wrapping paper. I cut out little leaves from dark green streamers and hot glued them to the vines. For the top foliage, I used two different leaf templates on construction paper and once cut, just randomly hot glued them on the top. The “waterfall” has two elements – the “rocks” and the ..read more

I’m not a cook by any measure. I spent my life studying or working and surviving on Tim Hortons and take outs. But getting older and having kids is forcing me to learn to cook in order to be healthier and set an example for my kids. And so I am taking a slow and sometimes frustrating journey towards discovering the basics of cooking. And part of that is finding recipes that are healthy and delicious but also simple and fast to prepare. This is one of those recipes! I found the inspiration on cleanfoodcrush.com’s Instagram page. I love their recipes and the clean and crisp photography of the fo ..read more

Today I would like to share with you a very simple baby food recipe. But don’t be fooled by its simplicity, it is nutritious and delicious! Semolina is a well-known early baby food in many cultures. I read about it for my first kid but never actually got around to buying or cooking it. I had never made or even eaten it myself and so I was kinda scared, to be honest. But for my second child, I was determined to introduce it as a main food early on and so I bought a pack of Semolina at the local grocery store and read up on some recipes. I adapted the recipe I’m about to share (basically simplif ..read more

Alhumdulillah I gave birth a couple of weeks ago to the newest addition to our little family. Following months of balancing being pregnant, full time work and caring for a toddler – it’s amazing to be on leave. I finally have some moments to refocus inwardly and think about self care a little bit. One thing that many new moms can appreciate is how much love our tummies need post baby. Our stomachs have been stretched and emptied all in a very short span of time. And so it’s important to recognize that the skin needs careful moisturizing and the muscles and ligaments need support in the “return ..read more

I am a practising Muslim who immigrated to Canada as a teenager. My parents struggled and eventually got us settled into life in a new country (details on the immigrant experience will likely follow in a future post). For today I want to talk about my journey to this point. This post will focus on the professional and public life we lead. A future post may deal with the personal struggles of being a modern Muslim. I was fortunate to have had English as a primary language of education and so adjustment to life wasn’t as drastic as it would have been had I not been a native speaker. I attended h ..read more

Memorize Juzz 30. I have been trying to do this for a few years. I start to make really good progress but life gets in the way. Like the year I started, I got pregnant and the early pregnancy sickness just knocked me out. Then I had a baby and had no time (or so I told myself). Following that I went back to work…and working while having a small baby is time devouring. And so I have always had an excuse to not finish what I started. But this Ramadan I am challenging myself to complete this, inshallah. I am working backwards and so far have reached Surah 98, alhumdulillah. This is mostly from al ..read more

We recently took a three week trip across the Atlantic with our four month old baby and our three year old son. It was our first real travel experience with a child, let alone two – with one being a baby. This trip took us to Germany and Turkey and involved two transatlantic flights, many regional flights, layovers and connections in addition to trains, car rentals and streetcars. We chose Germany (Munich, in particular) because my husband has spent time there as a kid, speaks some German and because he absolutely loves the German carmakers. For those who don’t know, Germany has the BMW, Merc ..read more

I had my first brush with Islamophobia today. I have lived in Canada for nearly two decades, gone to university here, worked at a major financial institution in a front line job while being visibly Muslim and now work at one of the country’s largest employers. And in all this time, I can honestly say I have never experienced even the slightest bit of prejudice – until today. I’m a bit shaken about it. I’m shaken because it fills me with a sense of foreboding. You read about the increase in hostility towards Muslims across the globe. You sense that more and more people hold prejudices against M ..read more

I absolutely love breakfasts. It’s my favourite meal of the day and I’m a grumpy ogress when I don’t get to have any. Needless to say it’s a very important part of my day. And today I will share with you what I have been having for breakfast two or three times a week lately. It’s an omelette that harks back to the kind my father used to make for us on weekends when I was younger. I still can’t quite get the taste exactly like he would make them, but it’s close. I have been loving it especially because it’s: Full of vegetables: who doesn’t need more of those? Filling: so keeps me from reaching ..read more