Day 22: "Leftar"

"For it is He who has brought into being gardens [both] the cultivated ones and those growing wild -- and the date palm, and fields bearing multiform produce, and the olive tree, and the pommegranite: [all] resembling one another and yet so different! Eat of their fruit when it comes to fruition, and give [unto the poor] their due on harvest day. And do not waste [God's bounties]:  Verily,  He does not love the wasteful".  Quran 6:142

Tonight, we had a "leftar" -- a wonderful concept that I read about in Green Muslims Ramadan tool-kit, where you use your leftovers to make iftaar and dinner.   My father revitalized my previous night's roast chicken, with some coconut milk and spices, and the red pepper and snow peas that were starting to look a bit pale in my fridge.  We had the biryani left over from a friend's iftar party; polished away the various tupperware-filled items occupying shelf space for too long; and tossed the two too-ripe bananas into a milkshake.  It all tasted delicious, especially after a day of fasting, and all the more so because it didn't get wasted.

My father-in-law is the best reminder of how precious each morsel is.  He lived through the Bengal famine in 1943.  What he saw -- people literally dying of hunger on the street -- is etched in his heart, and in his habits. He never takes more than he can finish; his plate is always polished; and he has no issue eating leftovers for days.    He is one of 10 children; growing up, there was rarely seconds to go around.   My kids need to learn these lessons; and so do I.  I felt terrible throwing away fresh basil this morning that had turned limp and brown; I had only used a few leaves.  InshAllah, I'll plan my meals better, be more organized when I shop, and learn to make a mean meatlof.  Day 22: Deed 22: Trying not to waste.