Fahiima Speaks Somali #2

While I was at my friend's house tonight her husband decided to do an impromptu interview with me in Somali.
If you understand Somali, enjoy! Otherwise, have fun listening to us speak gibberish language together.

This is the first half of the interview, hopefully the 2nd half will be up sometime tomorrow :-)




Here is the 2nd half:

Eid Party!

I just got invited to an Eid party on Saturday! I'm excited, but neither my friend or I know what to wear. The girls having the party are Somali, but we don't think that they will be wearing traditional Somali clothes. Basically we don't want to look like weirdos showing up in a dira' while everyone else is wearing formal dresses or something else. We don't think they'll be wearing abaya either since its a ladies-only party.
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Any suggestions?

Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaks...

There has been a lot of chat about a blogger who has publicly left Islam. There have been a lot of people supporting her and showing her love, both Muslim and non-Muslim.

However, there have also been people leaving comments that will probably cement her reasons to leave Islam. 

She started a new YouTube channel and I noticed this comment on it:

User: HanbaliMuslim

ResulAllaah (alehi selam) said "kill the one that changes his religion"
so to the retarded Muslims who claim its only a personal choice and we should leave her alone.. ResulAllaah (As) commanded the killing of Apostates. you left islam because of your retarded dog? to hell with your dog. may allaah guide you or curse you! Amin


I don't even know how to respond to this, it just breaks my heart.

Basically, I will confidently say that any person who says things like this is not a worshiper of God. They are filled with anger and hatred, which do not come from God, because God is love.

May the God of peace bless you all, especially my dear sister KimDonesia

How To Eat a Pomegranate

It's Pomegranante season! I just got 8 of them for $2 at this great bargain grocery place near my house.

I thought I would share this great fruit with my readers along with an easier way of opening them.
Some people cut the pomegranate in half to remove the seeds. Don't.
Its messy and destroys a lot of the seeds in the process.
Instead, score the blossom end like a plus sign (+), but only go as deep as the outer skin.

You can see the lines if you look closely

Next, pull the top of each section, and it will begin to split along the membranes. After you pull a few of the seeds away, you will able to break it in pieces from the outside with very little pressure. When it breaks this way you will be able to brush off the seeds section by section into a bowl very easily.

 This is where it starts to split easily
Notice some of the seeds are brown, maybe thats why they were so cheap!

If you find that there are little pieces of the membrane stuck to the seeds, you can rinse them in a bowl of water and the membranes will float away.

Do you eat the whole seed? Of course!
I think its wasteful to just suck the juice out and throw the seeds away. Plus, the seeds give you all the vitamins and fiber too!

Enjoy

Food Diary Day (In progress)

After reading this post on Steve and Paula Runyan's blog about the food pyramid, I was curious to see how many calories I consume in a normal day, as well as the ratios of certain nutrients, and servings of various types of food. Of course, the actual things I eat vary from day to day, so some days I probably eat healthier, and I do occasionally eat some junk.

 According to the USDA my pyramid site, I should be eating about 2200 calories a day for my activity level.

Here's what I actually ate, with individual numbers provided for calories, fat,  protein, and carbohydrate grams.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 low-carb toast slices with about 1 Tb. real butter, weak coffee with whole milk and sweetened with stevia (didn't count the coffee as anything though.)

Calories: 280
Fat: 15g
Protein: 17g
Carbohydrate: 18g

Snack: 1 mozarella cheese stick and cheese-filled pretzels

Calories: 220
Fat: 13g
Protein: 9g
Carb: 17g

Lunch: 1 turkey corndog with mustard, 2 cups salad greens with 1/2 avocado and 1 Tbsp dressing.(I don't like much dressing and think ketchup is gross on hotdogs.)


Calories: 400
Fat: 27g
Protein: 15g
Carb: 33g


Snack: 1 crunchy granola bar, Somali tea with milk, sweetened with stevia

Calories: 95
Fat: 3.5g
Protein:: 2.5g
Carb: 13.5g

Totals so far before dinner: 
Calories: 995
Fat: 58.5g
Protein: 43.5
Carb: 81.5

Dinner: Beef chili with beans (2 cups) and 1/4 cup shredded cheese
I didn't have an exact calorie count of my chile recipe because I didn't really use one. I am using the calorie information for this recipe from Fit Day that has almost the same ingredients. 
Calories: 730
Fat: 35g
Protein: 50g
Carb: 55g

After Dinner totals:
Calories: 1725
Fat: 93.5
Protein 93.5
Carb: 135.5


Snack: 2 cups fresh cranberry salad, 4 dates
Calories:300
Fat: 0
Protein:2
Carb: 55


Final Totals: 
Calories: 2025
Fat:93.5
Protein: 95.5

Carb: 190 (prob. about 40 of this was fiber)



Well, that was fun wasn't it? This is something that would get really tedious if I had to do it every day, but I was always curious about how many calories I eat in an avg. day. Its a little less than the 2200, but I think I eat like this most days, then on occasion eat more when I'm out to eat or buy something I really like.

Fall Leaves

I don't know about you guys, but fall is one of my favorite seasons.
I just wish it lasted longer. . .
If we were to eventually move to the Middle East, I think fall would be one of the things I miss most.

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Layla had fun the last week or so playing in the leaves just outside our apartment. We've also been getting lots of time outside for walks and playing in the cool weather. The rain has just started here, so now we enjoy every bit of sunlight we can soak up.

I am still teaching the kids and translating Somali 1 day a week during the ESL classes. I would love to add another day, but the school is on the opposite side of the city from where we live. I also met another guy at my friend Leila's restaurant who wants me to volunteer for another organization called Africa House.
I would love to do it, but I'm just trying to make sure I still put Layla and my hubby first. I feel like I'm lazy sometimes, but I just don't think its a good idea to be running back and forth doing different committments every single day.

My hubby is still looking for a full-time job, so once he gets that it will be a little easier to invite friends over to the house and such. I would love to have some ladies over for tea, but its a little strange when your hubby is sitting there working on the computer doing his homework all day. It has been really wonderful being able to spend so much time with him though.

Young Women Discuss Hijab

This video was made for the Minnesota Historical Society in 2004. You will see a lot of the girls aren't wearing what is technically proper hijab, but more the cultural versions that are popular among Somalils.
I think it gives good insight into the variety of factors that influence a girl's decision to cover, as well as to what extent she covers.

Some of the terminology they use is Somali too.

Indho-shareer=niqaab
shuuko=long slip-over khimar or sometimes an open abaya