The world has changed without giving us a chance to prepare. Personally I’m not really that annoyed about staying at home, especially at this time. As a Muslim I fast during the month of Ramadan which started on April 24th, we start our fast during sunrise which is usually around 4:40 till sunset which is around 7:30. The reason I actually enjoy staying at home during Ramadan is so I could spend more time with my family and spend more time connecting with god through prayers. As a person who has an Arab dad I get to enjoy all of the Arab food he makes.

During this month most Muslims put more effort into the food they make, we usually meet up with our families and have Iftar (break our fast) together. Unfortunately this year we cant go to our friends houses and spend the nights laughing with them, but we still do get to enjoy all the delicious Arab food. I’ll definitely start with the desert. One of my personal favorites is Kunafa, no matter what I say I still wont be able to describe how good it tastes, how the cream and honey melt in your mouth and how crunchy the sides are. one of the many good things about this desert is that you can even use fruits such as mangoes to add more flavor to it.

Another desert that is so close to my heart is basbousa. This one has always been one of my favorites.My parents always bring basbousa with them every time we get invited to have Iftar at a friends house. This is the one thing I wouldn’t mind eating everyday for the rest of my life without ever getting bored.The last one I’ll be mentioning here is the baklava, which I’m actually eating while writing this. I spent a few hours before Iftar making the baklava. Its actually pretty easy to make, I watched a few you tube videos before then I asked my parents for help and we made it in about an hour.

Now I’ll start talking about what we have for lunch. Today we had makloba which is a very popular Palestinian dish. Its made up of rice, eggplants, potatoes, and chicken or beef, maybe even both if you’re feeling like it. Another very well known dish in Egypt is stuffed zucchini. Thankfully it feels like the list of foods we make never ends.

This month is not only about the variety of delicious foods we eat after we break our fast but it is also about reconnecting with ourselves and becoming better humans. This month is about doing and saying good, we help ourselves and people around us. Meditating is also a pretty important part of this month and so is reading the Quran. I personally try to make sure I don’t waste my time and that I use my time wisely, this is something I’ve been struggling with this year because I cant really go out and actually meet up with family and friends. It has been pretty stressful but I’m sure this’ll be over sooner than we think and that we’ll be able to finally hug others around us without worrying about catching a deadly virus.