Peace, Love and Understanding

I have been MIA for a while. Studies, life and the universe getting in the way. The usual.  Now things are progressing in a mellower mood and just maybe I got away this time with just a warning as to take things easy or else. So, haven't been trying any new and wonderful recipes really, and, gasp, the store bought bread made its way back in our kitchen this week. Only joking. About the gasp part, that is. Although nobody seems to be eating the bread, and the Daughter keeps complaining about the bread not being " soft and warm" , I am capable of giving myself some slack should slack be called for. Some things one should not mess around with, health being on the top of the list of those things.

So I've also been eating out quite a bit. Not an easy task in a town this size that seems to pride itself on offering either dirt cheap generic pizza or overpriced restaurant food that you feel an idiot for paying for because you know for certain that you yourself could make whatever they're offering much better at home. Until this spring when I found my way into a little cafe that for a long time was virtually hiding behind a load of scaffolding that had now finally been removed. It was a cafe owned by a very young woman from Afghanistan (you can see where this is going now, can't you?) and I instantly fell in love with not only the lovely pastries on offer but also the friendly, cosy atmosphere provided by the people working there. One of whom I later found out to be the young woman's mother.  And when they started serving lunches, well, I was sold. I will not even attempt to describe the dishes on offer, if you're interested there are some Persian recipes available for example here at allrecipes.com.

But besides giving me a full belly, going there also got me thinking. It got me thinking about what did I actually know about Afghanistan, or come to think of it, that region in general. If you're like me, and not like my Sister-the-International-Politics-Genious, you've probably seen the news, read the papers and that's it. Or maybe not even that much. So, going there also got me reading, and for starters I read my way through these

and continued to this

At this point I did some research and ended up at this site where I was able to learn more about the life in Afghanistan, and especially the life of the women and children of Afghanistan. I was shocked and I'm not embarrassed to say I might have even cried. And I must say, I felt absolutely desolate and hopeless. And yet, these women do have hope. They are continuously working for peace in an environment that has not seen such state for decades and decades. They risk their lives every single day in doing the simplest of things you and I take for granted, things necessary in order for them and their children to survive. I'm even feeling like such a hypocrite writing this, because what could I, born and raised in such priviledge, really know about life such as that. Nothing, I tell you. And that is why I try to learn what I can.

Because ignorance breeds hatred. It breeds conflict, violence and prejudice. And even if we can't fix the wrongs in the world as it is, we can certainly try to do our part in not bringing about more of them.

                             

                                          My kitchen birdie.

Which brings me to a much lighter subject. Next week I am planning on arranging some study related issues which means some travelling and as all work and no play does indeed a dull person make I am inteding to meet up with people I haven't seen for a long long time. Some I have just lost in the general whirl of life of the rush years, and am now happy to have reconnected with. Some I have never really lost in the same sense since these are the people I have always carried with me in my heart wherever it is that I may have been. I firmly believe that some people just simply enter your heart and never leave, and even though you might not share the same physical environment, they are a part of you and a part of your life regardless. So today I take leave on that note. No light as air cakes or cute as a button crafties, but this is, after all, life as it is lived by me.

                                So, live and let live.

The first image is courtesy of Alyssa Nassner Illustrations of which you can find more at her site here.