For days, we have been busy preparing for the International Food Festival and yesterday was the BIG day. We arrived at the Masjid car park at 9.30 am to set the tables and chairs and by 11.00 am we were ready for our customers. Here's a snapshot of Dussti serving a customer. Unfortunately, my face was not visible on her left side, except a portion of my scarf. Here is a write-up by the Evansville Courier.


Festival offers taste of Middle East
By Gavin Lesnick (Contact)Monday, October 20, 2008
Wayne and Brenda Schonabaum went to the Islamic Society of Evansville's International Food Festival on Sunday to experience a different culture and try some foods they'd never had before.
After making their way down a long table of Middle Eastern cuisine offerings, the retired Evansville couple sat down to sample tandoori chicken, tabbouleh, pakora and grape leaves, among a plateful of other authentic Mideast dishes.




Go Takayama / Courier & Press Jeanna Costello, right, asks Dussti Abdulrahman of Evansville, second from left, for tabbouleh as she moves past more than 20 kinds of authentic Middle Eastern and Mediterranean foods at the seventh annual International Food Festival at the Islamic Center of Evansville at 1332 Lincoln Ave., on Sunday. "We missed last year, so we had to come this year," Costello said.
"We thought it'd be a good experience," Wayne Schonabaum said, adding he liked most everything he tried. "We're game to try. It's different — and that's important."
Introducing Islamic culture and cuisine to people like the Schonabaums was part of the goal of the annual food festival, which donates its proceeds to the Tri-State Food Bank. Long tables of food options stretched around the parking lot at the Islamic Center on Lincoln Avenue. Children got henna tattoos and learned Arabic calligraphy, and an outdoor bazaar sold jewelry, clothing and artwork.
Looking on as a steady stream of patrons made their way down the buffet, Mohammad K. Azarian, a member of the center and one of the festival's organizers, said the event brings the community together in a positive way.
"It is heartwarming to see that people are really enjoying diversity, appreciating diversity," he said. "They are trying to understand each other and trying to know each other."
Among them was Evansville resident Paul Hoehn. He stopped by the end of last year's festival and, after enjoying much of what he tried, decided to come back again.
He wasn't exactly sure what everything on his plate was Sunday afternoon — chicken, a rice-based dish and another with cheese — but he knew it was good.
"I never would have expected that," he said of how much he enjoyed it.
The festival's overall aim was to collect money for the food bank — an effort that last year raised more than $1,500.
This year's fundraising was boosted substantially by a donation presented at the festival's opening by Wal-Mart. The company gave $20,000 to the food bank's backpack program, which provides food for the weekend to children on the free-lunch program.

Suing God? What in the world....

I was reading the usual current political happenings in the US and I came across 'Chamber's suit against God tossed out'! That really caught me off-guard and I told myself, 'What in the world is going on here.....'. If you have not read it yet. Here it is.


Published Wednesday October 15, 2008Chambers' suit against God tossed outBY CHRISTOPHER BURBACHWORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

You can't sue God if you can't serve the papers on him, a Douglas County District Court judge ruled in Omaha Tuesday.Judge Marlon Polk threw out Nebraska Sen. Ernie Chambers' lawsuit against the Almighty, saying there was no evidence that the defendant had been served. What's more, Polk found "there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant."Chambers had sued God in September 2007, seeking a permanent injunction to prevent God from committing acts of violence such as earthquakes and tornadoes.Although the case may seem superfluous and even scandalous to others, Chambers has said his point is to focus on the question of whether certain lawsuits should be prohibited."Nobody should stand at the courthouse door to predetermine who has access to the courts," he said. "My point is that anyone can sue anyone else, even God."Chambers, an avowed atheist, said he decided to make that point after at least two attempts in the Nebraska Legislature to limit "frivolous lawsuits."The senator did have a day in court on the case. In August, he argued that Polk should take judicial notice of the existence of God. The senator cited the facts that U.S. currency says "In God We Trust," God is invoked during oaths in court hearings, and chaplains offer prayers before legislative bodies."If God is omnipresent," Chambers said in that August hearing, "then he is here in Douglas County and in this courtroom."Polk was not persuaded.His Tuesday ruling said Chambers' motion to take judicial notice of God "is denied as moot."Chambers, reached at home Tuesday evening, said he hadn't yet seen the court order. He declined to comment until he could review the document today. • Contact the writer: 444-1057, christopher.burbach@owh.com

Working from home

I have recently applied to a few work-at-home jobs online and have sat for some assessments and testings and just recently I have been called for over-the-phone job interviews.

Initially I was pretty skeptical about the jobs that I was applying for because of the so many scams out there. I began to do some research on most of these companies and also verifying them with sites such as wahm.com or clarkhoward.com. Obviously, there are a number of legitimate work-at-home companies out there and I have found some of them. I applied to a few others, but some are not available in certain cities and some responses will take weeks and others are within a week or so. If you have the talents, there are so many work-at-home jobs out there. On the wahm.com website, you can also email them if you have questions on the legitimacy of the job or if there are any fees involved. DO NOT accept any jobs THAT REQUIRE CASHING CHECKS, ACCEPTING PAYMENTS (OR SHIPPING PACKAGES) AND TRANSFERRING MONEY FROM YOUR BANK ACCOUNT TO ANOTHER ACCOUNT. There are a lot of these scams posted on the net now.

Well the good news is that I have been hired! I will have a 1 day orientation and my training will take around 3-4 weeks and right after I will be on my own. I am pretty excited because I will work from home for Directv, 30 hours a week, but most of my schedule will be in the PM hours. The other great news is that I will have the usual insurance, 401k, tuition reimbursement, paid time off and holidays, short-term/long-term disability and of course free directv!! Isn't that awesome? I can also work in my PJ and also be at home to prepare food and save money on gas and work clothes! It's also an ideal set-up for me because I can drive my son to school in the morning and my husband can pick him up after school.

My Raya Card

I had this card done even before eid and I totally forgot all about it until today.This card was meant to be put on my blog too.

Happy Eid/Selamat Hari Raya/Selamat Hari Lebaran

I woke up in the wee hours of the morning on October 1st 2008 just to prepare food for our 1st day of Eid celebration. I made some 'nasi minyak', chicken rendang, beef curry, 'kuah satay' with 'nasi hempit' and not forgetting sliced cucumber. A couple of days before Eid, I also made my favorite cookies, pineapple tart, cornflake cookies and a colorful vanilla cake to add to this joyous occasion. Around 8.30 a.m, my son and I, (my husband could only take a half day from work) we went to the masjid and he was excited to see that they had this pump-it-up play area for the kids to play and also they had the open-air breakfast area set up in the parking area of the masjid. It was pretty chilly that morning and I was worried that my son might catch a cold because he refused to put on a coat which we had left in the car. Here are some pictures of the scene outside the masjid and also at my house, but unfortunately, I forgot to take a close-up of the food that we had.

I had invited a few friends for lunch and we had it set up in the garage so the kids can run around outside and enjoy the food too. It was a great Eid celebration because we have friends who celebrated it with us and share with us this joyous day.


Throng of people enjoying their morning breakfast outside the masjid.
People standing in line to get their food.
These ladies are probably from UAE, Pakistan or India
Wanda rounding up Ramzi and Axel so they can eat their food instead of playing.

Here's where the kids are enjoying themselves, while their parents looked on.Still standing in line waiting for their food
Here is the scene at my house. A few friends enjoying my cooking.

The host looking on!
My favorite, pineapple tart
Jamal chatting with Wanda's mom

Lena, Wanda and their mom smiling for the camera. Also showing here is the cake that I had baked.
AZ and Jamal enjoying their food