a bog standard djouez, onions, garlic, paprika and some veggies rescued from the cupboard that masquerades as a fridge…today it was potatoes, lift (mooli) and broad beans..all reduced down till the veggies are tender and a satisfyingly thick sauce has formed…a big bowl of that and some fresh crusty bread and what more could you want eh?
Nothing much else going on here at the moment… getting ready to wave dh off to the UK for two weeks on Wednesday insha’allah… and just about to pop off and get some brioche on the go for tomorrows brekkie insha’allah and then I need to get my lesson plan together for the masjid, and another for the student coming to the house on Friday… all pretty placid stuff…which, to be honest I’m more than grateful for…got all the younger children on board for extra english lessons with me on various days during the week…After a glance through my elder boys English books I just felt I couldn’t leave it to the school anymore… it’s just too depressing to see how many mistakes a qualified English teacher can make..and how many mistakes she can fail to correct for her students!!
And the rest I hope will fall into place as and when it should..I’m not really looking forward to the hubby being away but it’s a journey of necessity, so I’m praying for a quietly uneventful fortnight while he’s gone insha’allah…
DD18 is making me a little something to go with the shawl I made last week, so there are yarn pics waiting on the horizon, and I’m hoping insha’allah to catch up with some of my lovely friends while the dh is away… hint hint!!!
off to get the brioche done…otherwise I’ll be watching dough rise as the sun comes up!!!
xxx
I know…how unlike me lately to turn up and do what I said I would do ON the day I said I would do it….
Here’s the weeks menu…taking into account the fact that dh probably wont be here (due to travelling) which means our eating habits change a bit more than a wee bit and we tend to indulge in things we like and miss…rather than eating all things DZ…
We sat down and all had a say in what we wanted on the menu, which means everyone gets something they like over the week, it also means I can plan my buying without creating waste, and saving money…
It also has the added advantage of making sure if I can’t be here for any reason then dd’s 18 and 19 know what needs to be done… as I said before it’s never a strategy I used in the UK, but feeding people here can be so time consuming that it really does make more sense to be at least a little organised..and believe me my organisational skills are not something I get rated on very often!!
We’ll try and post recipes and pics up this week as we go along..but DZ tummy bug seems to be rearing it’s ugly head again in our house…so watch this space eh?? You can rest assured my tribe WILL be eating, we may just not get the pictoral or written evidence we need, depending on the health of the blogger and resident photographer…
Sunday:B/fast: Porridge Lunch: Tuna mayo sarnies Afternoon tea: gifted cakes Dinner: Sardines in sauce, chips and salad
Monday:B/fast: scones and hot chocolate Lunch: Liver in sauce, Mash, pepper salad Afternoon tea: leftover scones from brekkie Dinner: Veggie djouez and salad
Tuesday: B/fast: Brioche Lunch: Home made pizza, coleslaw and garlic bread Afternoon tea: Itto’s doughnuts!! Dinner: chakchuka (from the freezer) and salad
Wednesday: B/fast: May’s banana breakfast bars Lunch: veggie filo pie and salad Afternoon tea: carrot cookies and milk Dinner: Minestrone soup
Thursday: B/fast: Twisted cinnamon and sultana buns Lunch: Umm omar’s tuna lasagne!!! and salad Afternoon tea: Drop scones Dinner: split pea soup and cheesy scones
Friday: B/fast: soda bread and scrambled eggs Lunch: Veg biriyani (from the freezer) cucmber raita and salad Afternoon tea: Toasted tea cakes Dinner: home made baked beans on toast
Saturday: B/fast: French toast Lunch: veggie shepherds pie, salad Afternoon tea: Flapjack Dinner: spicey cabbage and potato soup and soda bread scones
Part of making life easy in my house is cooking things up while we’re cooking anyway and throwing it in the freezer for later in the week for when we really can’t be bothered…today we had a giant sized tin of tuna and no working fridge to deal with, so we had a little in lovely tuna mayo sarnies (which all the kids raved about!! …yeah, I know, a sarnie!!!) and cooked the rest up chakchuka style with onions, tomatoes and parsley…when we thaw and reheat we’ll scramble some eggs into it insha’allah…and no doubt sit back and watch the children attack it with lots of crusty baguettes…
The tuna is fairly expensive to be honest and we dont have it alot, but I manage to eek about three meals out the tin we get…the rest of the tin will go into my lasagne later in the week insha’allah….
you can blame it on my cervix ..of all things!!
My well-intentioned post for sometime back in the week was scuppered by the news that my body seems readier to give birth than I would like it to be… so meds and bed rest it was for most of the rest of the week, at 29 weeks tomorrow I’d be alot happier if this little person were to stay put for a bit longer.. This is my fourth pregnancy in as many years..and I can’t explain what the loss of pregnancies and children do to your sense of self… other than to say pregnancy and childbirth are never quite the same again… I simply don’t think in terms of babies anymore…each day comes and goes and thats all you can deal with, all that seems realistic to cope with…which isn’t meant to sound grim…it’s just a fact of life when you’ve had, and come to terms with loss.
So I’ve gone through a kind of transition over the past few days…sorting things out in my head..semi preparing for what may or may not happen next…and life is full of those kinds of phases…for whatever reason..they come upon us and we reflect and deal with whats going on, and at a time that feels right and we’ve readjusted, we move on…I have about 9 weeks of pregnancy left insha’allah…and the post about c/sections in Dz will be a post and a half I’m sure!! Although, on an encouraging note the clinic I visited were very professional..it was clean!! (never a bad thing here!) and the system as far as c/sections go seems to be the same as in the UK… insha’allah this will be my fourth c/section but my first over here..and nothing I’ve discussed with the gynae worried me anymore than it would have done in a bog standard NHS set up…
And then back to other things…
because other things have indeed been going on… there was another masjid class..my biggest yet masha’allah…and the feedback we’ve been getting has been uplifting to say the least… we’re even having to try to set up a second day per week for the older girls insha’allah…so things are really picking up alhamdulillah..
and then there’s just the every day mechanics of living here in DZ…trying to budget our way through the days and squeeze as much out of our dinar as we possibly can…
One of my biggest changes since I started budgeting was planning my menu’s, trying to work with what I could both find and afford and cutting my cloth accordingly… which might sound like a bit of a no-brainer… but it’s been another of those learning curves!
So for the benefit of any of the sisters living here in DZ and also working on a tightwad budget..or just being good intentioned and frugal.. I’m going to post up my weekly menu/grocery list each sunday (beginning of the week for us!) Allah and cervix permitting of course….
You can have my menu from last week….and breakfasts were really unimaginative baguette and hot chocolate this week unfortunately….and I haven’t added afternoon teas either cos they were a bit hit and miss this week too!! All meat in dishes was happily salvaged from the freezer and not bought!!
Sun: Lunch; lentils (with meat from the freezer) and mash … .Dinner; Tbikha, salad and bread
Mon: Lunch; tomato chakchuka with eggs, chips and salad … Dinner; Lamb curry & Rice (from freezer)
Tues: Lunch; Rice and left over lentils … Dinner; Djouez with meat, potatoes and carrots
Weds: Lunch; Egg sarnies … Dinner; Lissan al usfoor (With a bought chicken)
Thurs: Lunch; Sardines (from freezer)in tomato sauce, chips and salad … Dinner; pizza and salad
Fri: (today!) Lunch..tomato tadgine with eggs and salad….. Dinner; chicken djouez with broad beans and potatoes..
Sat: (tomorrow) Lunch; sardines (using up a big stash masha’allah!) and salad… Dinner; mesfouf & laban
and there you have it.. a bit shambolic this week due to circumstances..but will try to improve…honet!! frugally speaking tho it’s been a good week..veggies only needed to be shopped for twice and my biggest saving was the meat we unearthed in the freezer…a chicken was bought, but that was down to my sudden craving for lissan al usfoor.
In the UK I wouldn’t have ever bothered to plan a weeks meals out..but somehow here it’s helping…alot of time gets wasted here thinking about what to cook… especially as my day now involves two cooked meals per day instead of one with sandwiches thrown at children at lunch time…
And thats me signing out…there are pics to upload… of Algeria, and food stuffs….you never know I might even stun you by coming back with a second..YES!! second post!!
xxx
In the midst of what is well-known as my own special brand of madness..I didn’t forget that I was supposed to be Frugalista-Queen of the cheap skate recipe last week, but life came careering at me and took me hostage at the 11th hour leaving me unable to do anything but stand back and watch it all happen for a while….
I am happy to report I am back in control…ahem…ready and armed with some cheapo meals Dz style…
I am unhappy to report that I was supposed to be joining my pal nourished mama on her wheat free challenge and only remembered as I was blog browsing whilst also grazing on baguette….what can I say???
I could blame it on hormones…. I could blame it on being 40….but anyone who knows me will just tell you i no doubt just plain forgot!!! Thats the way my brain works (or indeed doesn’t) folks…..
Anyway back to frugality…..it’s been a topic thats cropped a few times over the course of the week past, and for anyone living in Dz and working on a budget of any description it is one that will have some definite meaning…
I’ve always been concerned by consumerism and materialism and just about any other ism you might care to name…but I’ve come to find that being frugal here is alot different from being so back in the UK..
In the UK it was a lifestyle choice..in Algeria for most people it’s simply a fact of life…
So this week insha’allah I’ll try to give you an insight on what frugal means to my family in particular..because of course ,as much as my runaway mouth would love me to..I can’t actually speak for everybody!!!
see you tomorrow folks…insha’allah
xxx
Okay so I’m no Meryl Streep..and strictly speaking SHE had a farm…but I do have a class in Africa…..
wanna see it?????
after my last post I was asked about frugal healthy eating in Algeria and whether we felt we were achieving it or not.
To be honest feeding a family of eight in Dz is a challenge all its own, and so far removed from the reality of feeding a family of eight back in the UK that I feel I can’t really compare the two… even though feeding a large family back there wasn’t always without its problems.
Like anywhere else, running a home and family is a personal business and not a one size fits all operation. What works in one home wouldn’t necessarily work in another, although admittedly we might take ideas from other people and try them on for size sometimes…
Learning how to cook and shop in Algeria with what’s available on an Algerian budget is very definitely an ongoing process… and one you can be quite removed from if your husband is the shopper of the house, as is common here… It’s important to get to grips at least at some level with how expensive things are so that you can adapt to suit not only what might be on offer, but also what you can afford.
So here’s the idea for this week… in the spirit of frugality… and because I’m a huge fan in “using what I have” as opposed to relentless buying..I’m going to do a stocktake of what I already have and see what frugal/healthy delights I can conjure up for the week insha’allah, not to say that i won’t have to add slightly to what I have already..but at least keeping to a minimum…
Wish me well folks…..
once the children had all drifted off to school and the house was almost still..(teens were still around!)
I got to settle back, catch up with blogworld and have some much needed tea and choccy….it’s been a long time! And believe me, when you know it’s going to be a long time before you’re going to get your hands on any sensible quantity of Brit choc, it makes it all the more enjoyable…I didn’t eat the whole block myself I might add..the teens shared it…mores the pity!!
I’ve been browsing alot of frugally minded people lately, in the hope that I’ll catch some tips here and there.
Running a home in Algeria is so NOT like running a home in England, where I believed I had frugal down pat!
I realised pretty quickly after getting here that I was going to have to approach things differently, and it’s been quite a learning curve…
Our meat consumption for one thing has been reduced drastically, and I’m finding more and more ways to not only stretch a meal but am adapting meals I found easier to make in England to suit my now very Algerian budget! & added to that is the reality that not everything is available when you’d like it to be.
Dh went to a local-ish veg market yesterday where things can be had for about half the price sometimes of normal market price here closer to home, and now I have a huge glut of torche (green peppers)..not that ANY ALgerian home EVER runs short of those, and tomatoes…we got a huge sack of spuds too, so I’ll be googling a 1001 things to do with the humble potato before long Iexpect…
For a quick lunch today we cooked a huge batch of torche and tomatoes with an onion, just all thrown into a big pan with a little olive oil and salt and reduced it down till it was nice and saucy, and then threw a generous load of chips in at the end…and I would have had a photo to show you had it not been for the fact that the children flew in from school and devoured the lot before I even had time to draw breath.
There was quite a bit of this going on today too….
It’s nearly finished, and it’s been a lovely project masha’allah…
This one is being gifted insha’allah for a new arrival, though I’d love to tinker with the dimensions and do a bigger size…
And now off to tidy my VERY untidy sitting room before hitting my pit running…
that made me happy this week masha’allah….
Rice, the way I like to eat it best!! Made this time round by dd19, mainly because after my mammoth walk to bachhjarah the day before yesterday, I was left quite literally left fit for nothing and had to spend all day yesterday with my feet up…not that I’m complaining!!!
It’s nice sometimes to be able to sit back and let everyone else get on with things…
anyway..the rice is simply plain boiled (3 mugs) and added to that are half a packet of lissan al usfoor, which gets fried in a little oil till they’re dark brownish in colour and then boiled as normal…
and then as many onions as your heart desires…which for us tends to be ALOT…caramelised and crispy..tossed into the rice and lissan al usfoor at the end…salt to taste, and away you go…
We quite often have it on the table to accompany a main meal..or sometimes we make a spicy tomato sauce to throw on top and eat it on it’s own..either way it’s deliciously simple and deliciously tasty masha’allah…
and then there were the yummy choc chip cookies dd18 made yesterday…
which was just our oatmeal cookies from the other week with a sub standard bar of Algerian chocolate generously thrashed about and tossed into the mix before baking…
and then there was today… a slow and not to easy walk to the masjid was rewarded with an afternoon of pure delight masha’allah…
Today was my first afternoon with the 11 year olds I’ve agreed to teach English to, and what a lovely bunch they were masha’allah.
It was heartbreaking to see how little care and effort had been put into their learning, and all they are really expected to do at school is turn up to lessons, copy from the board and be quiet…
The response from them was so satisfying masha’allah…
They were just so eager to communicate and learn properly!
We spent our time together just getting to know each other and for me it was an excercise in finding out what help they needed and what direction we can go in with their lessons insha’allah..
Now, armed with a clearer idea of their needs it will be easier to plan lessons to suit them. I’m really looking forward to showing them what learning CAN be like when people value the children in their care…
And then…as we were leaving the masjid we caught sight of four classes being held inside the musallah masha’allah…two for Qur’an, one for Arabic Language and one for teaching illiterate ladies the basics of reading and writing…
So I’m planning insha’allah on dropping in and joining the Arabic class, not that I’ve given up the idea of joining the classes in bachjarah…but I’m eager to get more involved in my local masjid and the community and see this as an ideal stepping stone…
In the meantime…insha’allah…tomorrow will be all about catching up….
I started a lovely baby shawl, that could get finished fairly quickly with a bit of effort!!
and there’s the pairs game that dd’s5 and 9 are patiently waiting for…so I have no excuse to feel bored..and every excuse to spend time tomorrow with my feet up!!!
Okay..so it’s only taken me seven months..and wasn’t only just there in my last post complaining about my lack of motivation? …well, alhmdulillah dh took the bull by the horns..or rather the wife by the hand and walked her into town to a local womens education centre to sign up for some classes…progress?? I should say so!!
So, Arabic classes to begin with cos I’m afraid of overloading my poor sad pregnant brain, and then maybe later some hifdh and french… the women were wonderful, and as always very welcoming to the ajnabiyah in their midst..and only too happy to offer help and support masha’allah.
erm, (struggles to harness a wandering train of thought!!!) what else??
Oh..dd18 found this… and I just can’t resist it….my fingers are twitching as I type, and this time it has nothing to do with the leccy surge running through the keyboard!!! So I’m going to try (desperately) to stay awake long enough to at least cast on…
Tomorrow I’m hoping for a lazy day insha’allah….children at school/ nursery..tea on the desk in front of me…choccy by my side (No! I still haven’t managed to have any yet!) get a lesson paln sorted for Tuesday when my English class starts at the masjid…and the rest? The baby shawl..Wuthering Heights, and some good old comfort cooking methinks…
Of course we know what happens to the best laid plans sometimes, but you never know…..
