Numidya: 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.