Yennayer Amazigh 2965

Assegas Amegaz,

Happy new year to all the Amazighs/Berbers in the world. We are now in year 2965.
This year we had a Kabyle ( a Berber tribe residing in North central Algeria ) traditional dish called: Asvan. Some other Kabyle regions call it Tikerbabine. It's samolina based hand rolled balls, simmered in light red sauce.
The sauce consists of veggies, such as, tomatoes, carrots, courgettes, radish and green beans, as well as some legumes, such as, chick peas, black eyed peas. I added chicken, cause the tradition to celebrate Yennayer is to have chicken for lunch or dinner.

Yennayer is the first month of the Berber year.
Yen = the first / number 1
Ayyer = month / moon.

We celebrate it every  12th January by making special lunch or dinner. Other regions bring a huge wooden round container and fill it with all sorts of nuts and sweets and sit their babies in it, or shower their kids with all those treats. In other Berber countries Yennayer involved more treats such as Tasmina (a samolina based dessert mixed with butter and honey), special dishes such as Rechta (this looks like noodles, eaten with a broth made with chicken stock, radish, courgettes and chicken.

I had the intention to make Rechta this year.. I got the machine and all ( offered to me by Gingerbeard) but I couldn't bring myself to doing it last minute I had a change of heart.

Pedro and Kiki (our furry adopted kids) enjoyed some Yennayer chicken. I sent Asvan some to my bestie who's from West Algeria and who had never tasted it before that time. In their city they celebrate Yennayer by preparing what they call Cherchem. (a mixture of many legumes steamed and added together in a thick sauce) So, she said Asvan tasted delish and that she's welcome another plate anytime soon. bless

Eid Al-Adh'a 2014 - part2

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We spent Eid's afternoon chillaxing at our friend's. We had green tea with mint, served in a gorgeous west Algerian tea pot. It was very traditional. Tifa made Makrout and tcharak and decorated the table with cute little plates fulls of nuts.

The tea helped our bloated bellies feel better. It is said to burn fat. So that was good. Alhamdulillah.

I made Mimoza a new pink cardigan for Eid. She put on her beautiful white floral dress and the crocheted cardigan. Here is an Eid card to wish everybody a blessed and a happy day. Amen.

May God accept our good intentions and sacrifice and may he forgive our mistakes and sins.
Our hearts were fully with the suffering people in the world, who may not have had the chance to have a joyful Eid day. We prayed and pray for them to have brighter days in the future. Amen. 

keep well. 

Eid Al-Ad'ha 2014

Eid Mubarak, Amen

Eid Al-Adha this year was different. Alhamdulillah.

We got to sacrifice a Somali sheep for God's sake, walking upon the steps of our beloved prophet Abraham who was ordered to sacrifice his son Ismaeel. As he was about to carry out God's command, he was surprised to see a sheep next to him. A sign from God's mercy to sacrifice instead.

We went to a Farm in Sanabis, where the local people had many beautiful cows and horses. There were chicken and goats, too. The sheep roams about aimlessly as we took smelling the cattle's poop and waving flies away from our faces. Our friend had helped us buy the sheep before we headed with him to the farm.

Mr Somali posing 

 Our friend did us the honour of sacrificing our sheep. The men workers then cut up all up and gave us the meat. I also asked for a small piece of skin to keep as a souvenir. I did what we Algerian do with sheep skin. I rubbed it with salt and left it to dry for many days.

We noticed that the Arab sheep were more expensive than the Somali ones though the latter were born and bred locally. The Arab sheep cost double, and most people were more keen on buying them.

The meat was a little too greasy. Gingerbeard and I spent a while trying to cut fat from meat and separating the pieces into bags to give away. We struggled a lot finding good sharp knives, but it was the first experience and we surely learnt a lot from it.

For lunch, we took some liver, lungs and some chopped meat and went to our friend's. We had a BBQ on the roof of the building. The weather was amazing alhamdulillah for everything. The kids played and enjoyed themselves. 

on the left is the grilled liver cut into pieces. It was delicious. On the second plate were some pieces of liver and bell pepper. And on the third one, my friend Tifa made some bbq skewers with some meat wrapped in small sheets of fat. I didn't dare try one. but she seemed to have enjoyed them. That's how they do them in her city - West Algeria. 

The kids didn't eat much. They were busy being naughty and getting their clothes soaked with water from the pool. They drove their parents nuts. 

Salad consisted of green leaves, tomatoes and a dressing of lemon and vinegar. 

On the second day, there was still some liver lungs and meat left. So Tifa made Bakbouka with potatoes in a form of a stew. It consisted of lungs, liver and kidneys cut into small pieces and simmered in a nice red stew. It was full of flavour. She had brought lots of spices from Algeria. It was the first time Gingerbeard and I tasted it. We didn't like the lung and kidney pieces and God we LOVED the sauce.

Our friend also prepared home made Algerian bread (matloa), bless her sweet heart.

We made more green salad and she and I had fried sheep testicles. Gingerbeard's face was priceless. He got grossed off.

Chickpeas swimming comfortably in the delectable dish. 

 More home made bread. kept coming out of the bags. we couldn't stop asking for it. It tasted amazing. Alhamdulillah

Meanwhile Tifa's hubby was busy grilling the BBQ skewers. and kids ate a little more this time.

Miscellaneous crocheties

Bookmarks

Your pink smoothie

All my best friends love avocado. I hated it until i read about it. I'm still not a big fan of the plain taste of it. I learn to enjoy it more with a dressing or mixed with other ingredients. 

For those who are like me and don't like the taste of avocado, but are fully aware of its benefits, try blending it with other ingredients with a better and stronger taste. Have it fresh that's the whole point! 

Yennayer 2964 - Berber Amazigh Calendar Asseggas Ameggaz

Asseggas Ameggaz 

Here we are, the new Amazigh/ Berber new year 2964 is finally here. It was heart-warming to see lots of Imazighen (Berbers) traditionally celebrating their new year accross Noth Africa, Europe and all over the world.

It comes on 12th of January. Our first month of the year is called: Yennayer. This is a Berber compound word, that consists of two parts: 

Your green smoothie

For your vegan days, I suggest this Yummilicious and energising all natural/organic drink. As I mentioned before in previous posts, I am not a big fan of fruit and vegetable but I eat them because, well, they are good, obviously. My friends Chantal and her other half are vegan and tend to go all raw from time to time for body cleansing and detoxing purposes. I learn so much about eating raw from them. So, I've started consuming more raw than before.