Ottawa

Well, we arrived to Ottawa on Tuesday. so far we are loving living in a hotel. I have to admit it is awesome having Someone to do my dishes and laundry.

We have been enjoying ourselves in our last few weeks in Canada inshallah. I'm really anxious to settle down and have my own apartment but I am trying to relax and enjoy my family.

I will update about food and Ottawa tomorrow. for now I am Very tired and I'm going to catch some sleep so I can document life here'in a video.

So much to do in so little time...

We're moving.

Not to Saudi yet. We're relocating to Ottawa to be closet to my brother, the whole family has been grumpy and emotional packing up the house we all grew up in. 11 years in this place, it's been a long time.
I loved seeing things I haven't in years, embarrassed by so many pictures. It's a lot of cleaning to do. We're all tired, especially with this terrible weather. The snow came down last night and all day today, it's literally up to my knee out there so we're trapped.

Eliana is growing so much, she's 8 months next week and I can hardly believe it. She's been so chatty, she loves to eat by herself, and eats 2 or 3 meals every day which is surprising. I don't know how it happened, but it seems to make her happier. So far she's had apples, pears, banana, tangerine, orange, potato, sweet potato, cucumber, cheese, bread, chicken, oatmeal, rice, yogurt, and squash. She loves it all. She's still breastfed though, not drinking water, and eats about 6 times a day and 3 times at night.

She sits all day and plays on the floor. She prefers not to be on her stomach so I don't push it, she's not crawling yet but shes making funny movements on the carpet and rolls a lot. She does much better standing up than she does on her stomach, so in the morning I give her tummy time on my tummy and the rest of the day is free roaming.

It's extremely difficult moving with a baby. Oh god. Every time I get into cleaning or packing I am distracted by her constant need for me to look at her and play with her. It's adorable, but it's taking me forever to get things done.

The diet has been alright, the bike has been going well. I wish I could do more, but I haven't got the time or energy. I guess I'm doing a lot of moving around, let's hope it counts. I need to do another update.

The husband has been stressed and so have I, I'm hoping once we're moved and got money again things will be looking up. With time there is progress in our trying to get to his country, so in the meantime it's really just about day to day life and living with what very little we have at the moment.

I'll update when moved!

Almond Filled Kunafah

I made this last night and it was incredibly easy and tastes great.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Mine was still on the bottom of the release pan I used, as you can see the sides and top cover the filling like a pie.

The recipe:
Large package of Kataifi or Kunafah pastry
1/2 cup butter melted
1/2 cup sugar syrup
2 cups almonds ground
2 eggs
1/2 cup suagr
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup water
2 tbs corn starch
2 tbs butter softened

First separate and shred the kataifi dough, mix in melted butter and 1/4 cup of sugar syrup. Pack 3/4 of this mixture into a pie pan and create a rim. In another bowl add water, corn starch, and eggs. Mix very well. Add sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and almonds. Mix well. Add the almond mixture into your kataifi dough shell, an put remaining dough on top. Bake 40-50 minutes and check the colour. When still hot out of the oven, pour other half of sugar syrup over the top and let stand for 35 minutes, or until cooled.