Black n White Café

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!

Maryam here again this week. I'd like to share with you a present I made for Sumayyah a couple of years ago. It is a bunny café made from two recycled shoeboxes. The café is called Black n White. So come on in for the tour!

 

The first shoebox I turned into the reception area and the outside seating area.

The second shoebox is the kitchen.

Do you notice the vegetable box and carrot basket?

It was great fun making all the little appliances and small details that make the room look and feel like a real kitchen. I really like the woven bin and the little spices on the shelves.

And here are the owners of the café.

I hope you liked the tour and that it inspires you to make something similar.

Love and wasalaam,

Maryam

    

Easy Fruit Cake Recipe

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!

Maryam here this week and I'd like to share with you all this 3-step, very easy fruit cake recipe. So lets begin!

Ingredients:

600g mixed dried fruit (I like to use a mixture of raisins, currents, sultanas and dates)

200g caster sugar

200g butter

1/2 pint of water

2 eggs, beaten

400g self raising flour (I like to put half wholemeal and half white to make it heavier)

Method:

  Step 1 : Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, 325 degrees Fahrenheit, gas mark 3. Grease and line a 9 inch square cake tin.

Step 2 : Place fruit, sugar, butter and water in a saucepan, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Step 3 : Cool, then stir in the eggs and flour. Turn into the prepared tin, level surface and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

And that is it! MashAllah it is that easy. I like to store it in a tin and have it after a few hours or the next day.

So that is it for this post. I hope you liked it and I'll see you next Friday Inshallah.

Wasalaam,

Maryam

 



4 Gothic Books I Enjoyed

Assalamu Alaikum!

Zainab here. Today I'll be sharing with you another book recommendations post. If you haven't seen my first one you can go here. This time I chose a set of rather dark and spooky books that I enjoyed reading. If you like horror books then you might enjoy some of these too!

1. Coraline

By: Neil Gaiman

This book is about a girl named Coraline who moves into a new house with her parents, which she finds dull and boring. Soon she discovers a door in the house that leads to another world which is exactly the same as her own, only nicer. However, the people in this Other World all have buttons for eyes. She even has an Other Mother and Other Father who give her everything she wants. But not everything is as it seems and a darker side to the Other World is soon revealed.

The book is rather dark and tense so I would recommend it for children ages 12 and above. I listened to this book as an audio and really enjoyed it, masha'Allah. There is also a movie of the book that is equally as scary.

A while ago I made a Coraline journal based on both the book and the movie. You can click here to see it if you haven't already.

2. Gustav Gloom

By: Adam-Troy Castro

This is a series of books about two friends: Gustav Gloom and Ferny What. Ferny moves in across the street from the Gloom mansion, which is a gloomy place filled with strange wonders and mysteries. All the adventures take place in the mansion which is full of shadows that talk and roam freely. There is an evil shadow who plans to take over both the shadow and human worlds and Ferny and Gustav must stop him.

I really like the illustrations by Kristin Margiotta as they are rather unique. The books are slightly humorous but dark and serious too. I would recommend them to readers ages 10 and above.

3. A Place Called Perfect

by: Helena Duggan

This book is about a girl named Violet who moves to a new town called Perfect with her parents. Perfect is as it's name suggests; the streets are clean, the people are happy and friendly and everything is perfect except that all the residents wear rose-tinted glasses. Violet's mum fits right in and is not very concerned when Violet's dad mysteriously disappears. Violet senses something strange going on and she and her new friend a boy named Boy are determined to find her father.

In my opinion the book is suitable for readers ages 10+. I think this book is going to have a sequel too and I'm excited to read it, insha'Allah.

4. Tales of the Peculiar

by: Ransom Riggs

This book is a collection of short stories about people born with peculiar talents. From people who can regrow lost limbs to a fork-tongued princess to a girl who can tame nightmares, these stories are definitely one of a kind. Some of them are rather gruesome, others are filled with dark humour, but all are certainly intriguing and unique.

 The illustrations by Andrew Davidson are detailed and beautiful. It's hard to recommend an age range but you should definitely not read them if you are easily scared. In general, it's not really a children's book and is more suitable for teenagers.

Well, that is all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed this post and we'll see you next Friday, insha'Allah.

Wassalam,

Zainab



Mint Lemonade Recipe

Assalamu Alaikum!

It's Hanifah here. The weather has been terribly hot recently, so I decided to make a refreshing lemonade to cool us all down. This is one of my favourite drinks as it uses two of my favourite ingredients: lemons and mint.

Ingredients:-

6 large lemons

1 bunch mint (around 16 stems)

1.5 cups sugar

1.5 litres of water
You will also need:-
1 large pan

a sieve
a funnel (optional)

a large jar


Begin by cutting and squeezing the lemons. You could save some lemon slices to garnish if you would like.
Next, pour the water into a large pan and add the sugar. Heat the pan on a low heat until the sugar dissolves.
Meanwhile, remove the mint leaves from the stems and chop roughly. Save a few to garnish.

Add the chopped mint leaves to the sugary water. Let sit for around 15 minutes on a medium-low heat. Up to this point, it's really just mint tea.

Then add the lemon juice and stir gently for a few minutes. Taste and add more sugar if needed.

Remove pan from heat and allow to cool. Sieve the cooled mixture into a large jar and place in the fridge to cool completely.

Serve cold and garnish with mint and lemon slices.

Enjoy!

I hope you give this recipe a try someday. If you liked this post, then you may also want to take a look at my recipe for Strawberry Lemonade, which I shared a while ago. See you next week, insha'Allah!

Wassalam,

Hanifah