Sher-Korma and Chocolate Cake Eid

It's a wet and cold Eid here in Islamabad. A light drizzle is falling from a gray sky, the tempurature is a very cool 45 degrees F. Hubby and Large Hulking Son are both in Karachi on business, so we girlies are feeling the loss of our menfolk.

This morning, I breakfasted on the wonderful sher-korma Hubby made before he left last night. This is a dish made with vermicelli, cream, nuts, raisins, saffron and sugar. Decadently delightful, and Hubby makes the best in the whole world.

The girlies got up early, went to Eid prayers and later stopped in for sher-korma at Chai's place where Abez dropped her bowl and turned dessert for one into a room decoration for many to experience. She's such a sharing girl. Now the girlies are napping and recharging for a quiet evening at home with friends. I'm putzing around the house, staring out he window at the activity around the mosque up the hill and watching the cold wet people go about their business. Occassionally, the bleet of a goat or sheep punctuates the heavy, damp air.

The very few sacrificial animals available this year, coupled with the ensuing high prices for an animal, make this the least beastie-ish Eid I've ever seen. Normally, a week before Eid the town takes on the feel of a country fair as countryfolk bring in the sheep, goats, cows, buffalo, oxen, and camels to sell to the cityfolk. We usually donate the cash to a local mosgue and avoid the hassle of buying and butchering an animal, but we take a lot of interest in watching the animals that have invaded the city. Every evening we amuse ourselves with stories of goats seen on the back of motorcycles, in taxis; cows running amuck down the main streets.

Just last night as I was sitting in my car in F-6 as young, frightened looking cow came running up the side street, turned left onto Atta Turk Ave and kept on going. I fully expected to see some young men giving chase, but no one followed. He must have evaded his buyers. I considered abandoning my car and giving chase. That would have been exciting!!! I wondered what the custom regarding claiming a stray animal would be. Hubby tells the funny tale of a man who found a stray goat and went to his rooftop the announce the find as the custom dictates, but instead of crying out in a loud voice, "Goat, I've found a goat. Come claim your goat or it's mine." He whispered out the announcment and kept the goat for himself.

This year the papers said 50% of all our animals were shipped to the ME, or smuggled into Afghanistan where druglords are celebrating a bumper crop. Also cited as a cause for the shortage was the crack-down of cross boarder smuggling of cattle from India. Whatever the reason, it is apparent that very few animals were available and those that were here were out of the price range of the middle class buyer.

Well, enough of my Eid ramblings. Happy Eid to one and all.

The muslims will remember Abrahim this day and how he was asked to sacrifice his beloved son, but God stopped the sacrifice and subistuted an animal instead. As a Christian, I know the reason that God stopped the sacrifice was to show that only He (God) would be asked to sacrifice His Beloved Son (Christ) and when the time came, it would proceed, without an animal exchange. God sacrificed the one, to save the rest. I look on today as a reminder of God's love for all his children to allow the necessary sacrifice to proceed. Christ loved us enough to give himself as the sacrifice. God is my Father, Jesus is my brother and Savior. And today, we have Sher-korma and German Chocolate Cake to celebrate that fact.