Our special Ramadan memory and first anniversary

This Ramadan is a bit special for me and my family.

My wife is a Saudi National and I’m a French citizen. We met a couple of years back and got married last year in July in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As far as I’m aware, we were the first mixed Saudi/foreigner couple to be married online (yes online!) in the Eastern Province, and maybe even in the entire Kingdom!

So, as you can guess, this Ramadan is our first Ramadan as a married couple, and just this is an amazing feeling and memory! We recently moved in our new house and managed to get everything setup before Ramadan so we are in our cozy nest together.

I want, at this point, to praise my wife to be honest.

Simply because aside of working from 7 a.m. to late in the afternoon for her day-to-day job, she also managed to cook a delicious and healthy homemade meal for our Iftar every day.

All of this while fasting and being tired like all of us.

Our Iftar usually include soup (mainly chicken corn soup or pumpkin soup – the best pumpkin soup you could dream of!), sambuusas (OK, those one are prepared by my mother in law, but they are still delicious!), salad, and a full dish.

So far, my all-time favorites are teriyaki sauce glazed meatballs (low sodium sauce to avoid being too thirsty later) and a mixed foul/rice/minced meat (the one we had yesterday! – see photo).

Just after Iftar, my wide will usually disappear in the garden to enjoy her first coffee of the day while the weather is still very nice (and I’m sure all the coffee drinker reader can rely to this feeling!)

The rest of the evening is usually spent watching Ramadan edition of TV programs and series, workout, reaching out to friends and family both in Kingdom and abroad.

Then around 3 a.m. we rely on each other alarm to wake up for Suhoor. Water for everyone, banana for my wife and oatmeal, with banana and protein for me.

Like, I guess, everybody, we both miss Iftar with our friends, family gathering, going out for dinner, etc.,

but in the end, we are together for this Ramadan, our families are in good health and that’s already amazing.

Ramadan Kareem to everybody, stay safe.