Baby, baby, baby!!

Nowadays I can't stop thinking about my baby who will be coming late September early October. I can't stop looking for a name, buying new clothes, and looking for baby shower ideas. I really can't wait to see him, take him in my arms and hold him tight!

Baby names: I have been looking for a name since we have known the gender of the baby six weeks ago. My husband has already picked a name that he really likes so much. The name he has picked is Abdurahman. I really love the name but I find it a little bit long. Unless we find a nicer name in the remaining couple of months, Abdurahman will be the name of our baby, inshallah :)

Baby clothes: I really can't stop clothes shopping for the baby! Since I have two girls, I don't have any clothes for the coming baby boy. I'm trying to get the things that I really need and trying to convince myself that the baby will grow fast so not to buy too much! I took shots for some of the stuff I got in the last few week. Aren't they so cute? :)

Baby favors: I haven't started working on those yet. I still need to pick a theme, and make the decorations. My sister got me the chocolate from Amman but I still need to decorate them. I found some incredible ideas for baby favors online.

Can't agree more :)

Home design - Living room (Cont'd)

This is the fireplace wall in my living room. I finally found the sunburst wall mirror I was looking for to hang over the fireplace. My next project is to mosaic the fireplace. As you see in the picture, it has those big black slates, which are really ugly and hard to clean. I'm thinking about getting multi-color mosaic that contains green, orange, and brown patterns. I will surely post a picture as I'm done with this project.

I'm working on decorating the guest bedroom now. My sister is visiting us this weekend and I want it to be ready by the time she is here. We painted it last week. Now I need to buy new drapes, bedding set, and some wall paintings. I'm also planning, if I get time, to build a headboard for the bed. It's a big project, I know, but I will try to finish it in the coming two days. I will post a picture for the whole room when it's ready. I'm so excited :)

Sayadeyeh (صيادية سمك)

I cooked this dish last Friday. It was really good! I'm sure there are many other ways to make the Sayadeyeh, but I always try to make the dish appeal to me better. And as always I'll be glad to hear from you. Enjoy :)

Ingredients:

2 pounds fish fillets (I used haddock fish)
2 cups rice (I used Basmati rice)
5 medium onion, sliced
1 cup flour
vegetable oil
salt and pepper
all fish spices
water (about 4 cups, note that this amount depends on the rice you're using)
2 fresh lemons

Cooking instructions:

• Soak rice in warm water for 30 minute.
• Wash the fish and dry it good
• heat 1 inch of oil in a skillet
• Dip fish fillets into flour mixture.
• Fry fish for about 3 minutes on each side; remove to a platter.
• In another skillet heat one tablespoon of oil and fry sliced onions until they are brown.
• In a deep pot arrange fried fish in the bottom and then add the fried onions until it makes a a layer over the fish.
• Wash the rice and rinse it, then add it to the pot over the fried onions.
• Add water, 2 tablespoon of the oil you used to fry fish, salt and pepper, and all spices. Bring it to boil and then cook the rice on low heat as you usually cook your rice.
• When the rice is ready flip the pot in a serving plate (so the fish will be on the top).
• Serve with sliced lemon

Note : If you want the rice to be darker you need to use more onions.

Kofta with tahini sauce (كفتة بالطحينة)

Yesterday I cooked kofta with tahini sauce. This dish is popular in Sham countries (Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria). In my recipe below, I do it differently than the traditional recipe, which I will summarize at the end.

Ingredients:

Kofta:
2 lb lean beef meat, minced
2 big onions, minced
1 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon all spice
salt and black pepper

Tahini sauce:
1 cup tahini paste
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt salt
3 cups water

Optional:
Two large potatoes, sliced


Directions:

• Mix meat, parsley and onions in a big bowl. Add spices and salt and mix them all well using your hands
• Mold the meat mix into finger shapes and place into a large pan
  
• Bake them in a preheated oven (350 degrees) until it's brown (I do this step to get rid of all the fat)
• Mix tahini, yogurt, salt, and lemon juice together well until it forms a smooth paste.
• Slowly add the water while stirring to keep the mixture smooth.
• Pour sauce in a cooking pan and put it on the stove at medium heat until it boils
• Add meat fingers to the sauce and let cook at low heat for about 30 minutes
• Pour in a serving plate
  
• Serve with white rice
  Optional:
• Slice potatoes and fry until lightly golden on each side
• Add them to the sauce when you add the meat
  

In the traditional recipe, the raw kofta is spreaded in a pan and then covered with sliced potatoes and some water, baked in the oven until the potatoes are cooked, then covered with the tahini sauce and baked again until it absorbs most of the sauce. At the end it's going to be thick and it's served with pita bread.

Home design - Living room

We bought our current house in Spring 2009. It's the first time we own a house here in the states. Since we have bought it I'm trying to add my own character to every space in it.

Starting from today I will be sharing with you some of the things I have done to my house. I still have a lot to do, so it's gonna be a good chance to also show you some of the new designs I'm making.

The first thing we did when we moved in was repainting. I started with the living room and the kitchen. I then finished the whole first level. I'm still working on the second level; I have the baby's room and my bedroom left.

The wall in this picture is the TV wall in the living room. I recently bought those two shelves from Lowes and put some old pictures for the girls on them. As you see the room color is green (like pistachios color). I tried to add some colorful accents like those orange and red vases to give that warm feeling.

Now tell me how do you like this part in my living room. I will be posting more pictures for my home designs soon, so stay tuned :) I will love to hear your opinions!

Getting a cold and "flowers" in hot summer!!!!

I'm not feeling well today! I'm having a cold. I find it weird because it's extremely hot these days. But I guess the air conditioner is behind my sickness. It's hard to have a cold in summer, and it's even harder when you're pregnant. I only can take Tylenol, nothing else to help me feel better.

Yesterday I was not feeling well too, so my husband took the girls to the swimming class. On the way back home my older daughter asked her dad to get me flowers. It was so nice. It seems like kids are copying everything you do, even those small things you're not paying attention to. She used to see her dad getting me flowers in different occasions and now she wanted to do the same. I was proud of her.

When you have great husband and kids what else could you ask for?

I'm not fat... I'm growing a baby!!!

When you are pregnant, it can be sometimes depressing to watch your weight go up, up, and up!! I've gained 20 pounds so far and I still have 17 weeks to go which makes me wonder how much more weight I will put on by the time I deliver my baby! I know dieting is never an option when you are expecting and so instead I'm trying to eat healthy as I can because it's really hard sometimes with all those food cravings.

I'm using an application to track my pregnancy week by week on my iPhone. It's called: What to expect. It's really cool, and I really love it. It gives really good information about what to expect when you're expecting. I was checking it yesterday when I read this about the worries I should have now about the weight gain. It asked me to repeat this sentence which I just wanted to repeat all the time: "I'm not fat, I'm growing a baby".
I'm not fat, I'm growing a baby :)

17 weeks to go...

I'm back! I know it has been a while since my last post, and I guess I just didn't feel like blogging. I even started writing this post few days ago and I never finished it!! I'm even not posting new recipes, I know!! But this summer I'm not in the mood for cooking or baking! Maybe the last dessert I made was the apple tart! But I will try to come back with some good recipes for summer soon, inshallah.

By the way, I'm pregnant! Yes, I'm 23 weeks pregnant. May be this is why I'm not that productive these days. I'm sleepy all the time. I barely can work on my research or at home. I'm excited though, we are all excited especially the girls. They can't wait to have the baby :)

Regardless of all the side effects of pregnancy, I love being pregnant and try always to enjoy every minute. I try to ignore all the weight I'm gaining, all the acne I'm having around, and every unexpected unwanted symptom I'm experiencing now and just enjoy the little precious baby inside who is playing soccer all the time :)

I guess that's it for now. I hope it will not be too long before I come back.

Take care!