Recipe (Sweet Vermicelli)

This very easy to make vermicelli is accompanied by rice to give it a special taste.
1. Put the vermicelli in a cooking pot without oil or anything. Heat it up over a low heat, stirring almost constantly, until it has become brown.
2. Then add enough water to cover the vermicelli. Add some spoonfuls of sugar (the cooking water should taste pretty sweet).
3. Let simmer until cooked. Drain. Serve the rice with the sweet vermicelli on top.

Ramadhan (kids 2)

Ramadhan is coming again; another two-and-a-half weeks or so and we'll be fasting, inshallah! I've looked on the Internet a bit and found this 'ibadah tracker' where kids can check the things they did each day (fasting, praying, memorizing Quran, etc.). I thought it looked nice:

http://islamicbulletinboards.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/ramdan-ibadah-tracker-olders.pdf

The Yemeni 'Azmeh'

More than a year after Abdu-Rabo Mansour Hadi became the new president of the country, you would think that the 'azmeh' (the unpleasant side-effects of the uprising, to formulate it simply) had finished. Unfortunately, this is not completely the case. Yes, petrol and diesel are available again, but the prices are extraordinarily high. In fact, all prices are still very high - although foreign currencies have dropped again. We also still experience major power cuts pretty regularly - in which we are without electricity for most of the day. And the number of roadblocks where soldiers search cars for weapons seems to be increasing instead of decreasing, giving citizens the feeling that safety has not yet been restored. Whatever the case, life goes on. It needs time for things to get back to normal.