Pad Thai is essentially a stir-fry and requires little more than chopping and stirring. It comes together in less than a half-hour. Some ingredients in this recipe may be unfamiliar. The first are the noodles themselves: rice stick noodles, which are pale, translucent, flat and range from very thin to more than a quarter-inch wide. Unlike semolina pasta, rice stick noodles don’t need to be boiled; instead, you soak them in hot water until they’re tender. Meanwhile, make a sauce from tamarind paste, now easily found in larger supermarkets or online. The paste, made from the pulp of the tamarind pod, is very sour, but more complex than citrus. It can vary widely in its potency, so be sure to taste as you go. Fish sauce (nam pla) is another important ingredient. Made from fermented anchovies (and much like the garum of ancient Rome), it has an unappealing smell and a fabulous taste. Honey and rice vinegar round things out

• 4 ounces fettuccine-width rice stick noodles

• ¼ cup peanut oil

• 1 to 4 tablespoons tamarind paste

• ¼ cup fish sauce (nam pla)

• ⅓ cup honey

• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

• ¼ cup chopped scallions

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 2 eggs

• 1 small head Napa cabbage, shredded (about 4 cups)

• 1 cup mung bean sprouts

• ½ pound peeled shrimp, pressed tofu or a combination

• ½ cup roasted peanuts, chopped

• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

• 2 limes, quartered

• PREPARATION

1. Put noodles in a large bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let sit until noodles are just tender; check every 5 minutes or so to make sure they do not get too soft. Drain, drizzle with one tablespoon peanut oil to keep from sticking and set aside. Meanwhile, put 1 tablespoon tamarind paste, fish sauce, honey and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring just to a simmer. Taste and add more tamarind paste if desired. It should be piquant, but not unpleasantly sour. Stir in red pepper flakes and set aside.
2. Put remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when oil shimmers, add scallions and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add eggs to pan; once they begin to set, scramble them until just done. Add cabbage and bean sprouts and continue to cook until cabbage begins to wilt, then add shrimp or tofu (or both).
3. When shrimp begin to turn pink and tofu begins to brown, add drained noodles to pan along with sauce. Toss everything together to coat with tamarind sauce and combine well. When noodles are warmed through, serve, sprinkling each dish with peanuts and garnishing with cilantro and lime wedges.

• GOODLUCK yall

We all have dreams, some of them big, and some of them small.
Most of us make dua for these dreams daily and in every prayer because they are our hearts’ greatest desires. We wish and hope and pray for them to come true, InshAllah one day soon. But when they don’t come true, it can seem like they’re never going to. That Allah doesn’t want them to come true. And while that might be true for some of them, don’t give up on your dreams.
We are told in the Holy Quran, in Surah Bakarah, verse 216, “And it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know.” This is not just for the things happening in our lives, but also the things that we hope and pray for. The things that we so desperately want and pray for may not be good for us, even though we want them. We think they’re the best for us, but we don’t know. Only Allah knows.
With that being said, there is no harm is continuing to make dua and praying for those things. Even if years pass by, don’t give up. Because you don’t know when Allah will make them come true and in which form. As humans, we are so very single-minded and can only see things a certain way. Allah, the Almighty, is All-Knowing and Wise. He knows that which we cannot even fathom. So our dreams can come true in ways that we cannot ever imagine. Because we only think and pray for things to happen the way we want them. But Allah indeed knows what’s best for us.
So don’t ever get lost and drown in the sea of pessimism. You have no idea what the Almighty has in store for you, and which ways He can turn your hopes and desires into realities. We always want things now. We can only see our hopes and dreams taking place in the here and now, but we don’t know if maybe their timing is better suited to some point down the future. So whether it’s five, ten, or fifteen years of waiting, don’t give up on your dreams. Just keep praying.
We have no idea the twists and turns our lives will take, and which roads will lead us to places we could have never even imagined. Only He does.
So keep working hard at the things you want and be sincere about your efforts. There are some things that we can control, but so many we cannot. It’s a combination of hard work and dua that perseveres in the end. So don’t get caught up in having everything happen to you right now. Patience is truly a virtue.
And when your dreams come true and your duas are answered, you’ll look back at this time and realise that this was not the right time for things to happen. That was. And of course God knew best. So don’t give up.
With love Soph

Talk It Out
We're living in a world where there's too much talk--we've got talk shows,talking heads,and people who talk the talk but can't walk the walj. Funny,though,in a hyper-communicative society,many of us can't talk about anything other than sports ,soaps,or why the media spends so much attention on ( fill in celebrity scandal of the day ).The fact is, when it comes to reducing the effects of stress and depression,the biggest cure may not be in a pill bottle, but in making sure you don't stay bottled up yourself.Talk therapy probably works through the release of feel-good chemicals, including the bonding hormone oxytocin .Even just talking about your problems with your spouse,friends, or a taxi driver can help.Since women tend to speak much more than men , they may get a much larger brain chemical boost from hashing things out .

To be continued...

Bismillahi ‘rahmani ‘raheem
About a month ago, I was drowning myself into information concerning making dua’s for various situations. I got overwhelmed at some point and was about to stop altogether until I read an article where the author said, “The best du’a is the one prayed from the heart.”
I got a huge sense of relief from that statement.
Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love how practical Islam is. It is however, very easy to be caught up in the routine of doing certain things… leading to the reason for doing them in the first place. The obligatory and the Sunnah actions given to Muslims are designed to help us remember Allah and draw nearer to Him. Worship is supposed to be encompassing; bringing the body, the mind and the soul in harmony and in united submission to God.
When our bodies alone move, without mental concentration, it becomes routine. Even deeper than this, worship cannot happen without the participation of the soul… no matter how physically and mentally engaged we are in acts of worship.
We live in a society where a huge number of us mask emotions or suppress them, perhaps for fear of being hurt or being weak to other people. Our negative experiences with people can cause us to have a negative perception of Allah. If we have been rejected before, we could expect Allah to disappoint us. If we have been mistreated before, we could have trouble depending on Allah’s justice to save us.
We should remember that Allah is to His servant what she thinks she is. If she sees Allah as faithful, she will experience His faithfulness InshAllah. If she recognizes that Allah is All Knowing, she will be more likely to entrust Him with her affairs. Being vulnerable with Allah is evidence of trust in Him; trusting that He is good and kind and able to take care of His submissive servants. This is why du’a is such a key part of worship. It shows that we believe that there is a God that grants supplication.
To be vulnerable with Allah, one must allow oneself to be secluded, to enjoy the company of none but Allah and yourself for a while. Being in touch with yourself helps you to understand what is going on within you, so that you pray to Allah from a position of inner understanding and honesty.
I will end this post with two profound statements from Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

• Who knows himself, knows his Lord
• One hour of contemplation is better than a thousand years of worship

May our worship be pleasing to God. Ameen.
by Sophie

Bismillahi ‘rahmani ‘Raheem
One of the key things our religion teaches us is modesty; not just in our clothes but in our manners. Virtues such as retaliation, soft spoken speech, and gentle movements among others prominently feature in Islam.
In modern society, this way of living seems backward and even oppressive to some. Aggression seems more powerful in this day and age, especially in metropolitan nations. Let’s pause for a moment and reflect on this. What mental image do you see when the word ‘power’ is mentioned?
Do you see big muscles or the ability to lift very heavy weights?
Do you see sharp suits and a big office?
Or maybe even a king that issues whatever commands he desires at any time he chooses?
I totally appreciate how empowered this society has become, especially in terms of education. Though there is a place where exuding physical strength is a necessity, it is important for us to get acquainted with the power of our softer side. This is especially important for us Muslims because Allah has made it clear to us that He does not like aggression.
How is softness powerful? Let us imagine this. Have you ever seen a baby smile and end up feeling so happy as a result? Have you ever felt the wind blow against you making you feel like following it to wherever it is going? Have you ever seen a beautiful flower whose colour and scent you just couldn’t ignore? Or a river flowing slowly, making you want to sit there and watch it all day?
Allah has granted us so many signs through His creation to show us that gentleness is a powerful form of strength. Many times we feel the need to struggle and fight to have our way or have our opinions voiced. But what if we could achieve the same results in a more peaceful way?
We can make simple changes in our lifestyle that can help us be in touch with and express our softer side. We can condition ourselves to be aware of our softer side and proceed to express it.
Here are some practical things we can do today to achieve this;

• Move closer to someone while speaking instead of shouting from a different room
• Smile more (when the situation allows)
• Be vulnerable and present in our conversations
• Treat people with kindness and politely express displeasure
• Control our tone of voice when speaking
• Take time away from business and noise to be quiet and to reflect

This could be difficult for some of us to do because of being accustomed to aggression, and that is fine. Whenever we forget or fall back to aggression the best thing to do is to turn to Allah and ask for forgiveness. He is the Most Merciful and able to grant us ease in our efforts to be softer. When done with the primary intention of seeking Allah’s pleasure, it will be a rewarding experience inshallah.
May God increase us in guidance. Ameen.
by Sophie

Bad hijab days are just like having bad hair days. They are annoying and often make no sense. They can creep up on us unexpected. It could be from a scarf you’ve used countless times. So what exactly makes a regular hijab day into a bad hijab day?

• Your favourite scarf has suddenly transformed. You’ve worn this scarf countless times but suddenly there isn’t enough coverage in the back or the front or on the sides. Did it somehow shrink in the wash or shrivel up hanging in your closet?
• Getting those voluminous folds somehow seems impossible. Either your hijab is too flat, making you look bald, or too puffy, making you look like a muffin top on your head. Both are undesirable
• Pins. Enough said. You love ’em, you hate ’em. They keep your hijab together but they can somehow fall off randomly and disappear on you. They can lodge themselves in your scalp as you force them down to tame the fabric. They can prick your chin, forming a permanent mark, as you wrestle to keep it all together.
• You have nothing to wear! You might have a million scarves stashed in your closet or in your drawers, but somehow when you’re looking for a particular style or colour or fabric, you come up with zilch. Which means wearing an un-matching, unflattering hijab.
• Trying a new style. Sometimes you get bored with wearing the same style! So what’s a girl to do? Open up Youtube or check out your favourite hijabi blogger/fashion guru on instagram and try to somehow replicate their amazing style. The result? Definitely not something picture-worthy.
• Buying the beautiful scarf that makes a terrible hijab. Many of us know this already: beautiful scarves do not equal beautiful hijabs. And we’ve all bought plenty of beautiful scarves, whether it’s for their texture or print or colour scheme, etc. only to come only to try and wrangle it on top of our heads to discover that it’s not an ideal hijab. It could be too slippery or too small or have too many tassels. It might not be meant as a hijab, but it would make a perfect accessory around your neck!

Have you ever had a bad hijab day?

Parents are the biggest blessing in our lives. There’s no doubt about it. But so many of us forget about them, only to be reminded of all that they do and all that they have done, when they are no longer with us.
For those of us who have moved out of our parents’ home, who might live across the world from our parents, or those of us us whose parents are no longer in this world, this reality comes daily.
But for those of us who are lucky enough to share a roof with our parents, we often haven’t got a clue. We take the things they do for us for granted. We think they’ll be around forever. We think everyone’s parents do for them what ours do for us. We forget the completely unique relationship that we have to our parents, one that cannot be replaced with anyone else on this planet.
When you’re living with your parents, it can be hard to remember all of this. There are things our parents and our siblings do that annoy us, or bother us, or frustrate us. We forget the reason behind their nagging is often concern and love. We find their constant attention and question asking annoying and invasive. We forget that our parents have a lifetime of experience behind them with which they guide and chide us. It’s only when we are (often much) older do we realise how often our parents were right.
So don’t wait for a future where you live apart from your parents, whether it’s because you’ve moved out or if they’re gone, to appreciate them. Instead of being frustrated by the things that they do, think about the reasons behind them and thank them. Hug them before you leave in the morning and kiss them at night when you return home. Tell them to sit and rest, and that you will take care of things. Tell them the truth about where you’re going and when you’ll be back, so they don’t have to worry.
Because there might come a day when you wish this time back so you could just spend one more day with them. Because they truly are the greatest blessing of all

There are days when I question the value of social media, when I see how it has the capacity to make us feel less than, to feel that we are only what other people see of us.

But there is conflict because I also know it can be such an incredible way to connect to people, and I see for myself how much easier it is to be away from the people I love when I can see the beautiful things they make, and do.

So this is my pledge to swing the balance back into what is good. To #SaySomethingNice even if just to remind myself that it can make a real and actual difference in a person's life.