Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts

Cake: A Study


Again, I'm not going to say much, except to tell you that the cake in question (or in study) was this amazing one, which is a family favorite of ours. And the best part about it is, it has only five ingredients so you can whip it up in no time. (I usually overbake mine just a little bit, resulting in THE MOST RIDICULOUSLY EASY brownies EVER!!) (and you don't need cooking chocolate omg??!!!)




In other news, this winter business has gone on long enough, i want summer nowww. I really don't like these foggy, biting-cold-wind kind of days. Me and winter, we just don't get along :/ Sorry House Stark, but Winterfell just seems like a huge no :/ 





What I find somewhat funny (and irksome too) is that I took exactly zero pictures of the cake itself :))))) So I guess a more apropos title would have been 'Cake Batter: A Study'. But oh well, you win some you lose some. (?????) Although to be fair, by the time it finished baking, there was no decent lighting left (i love natural light), and also v v hungry :}






 I find this short sporadic rambling/posting really refreshing, to be honest. Also, I was about to write 'tbh', but then I thought of how my Communication Skills teacher would disapprove, and thought better of it. Do I get points/cookies/edible-rewards for being an awesome student? I really should.
xxx

Khadija The Model Student O:)

Carrot & Walnut Cake


Usually, I don't eat carrot cake. When I do, I like it with cream cheese frosting. BUT. I had a major mind blown moment the other day when I learnt how to make this cake. To be fair tho, I feel like its more like banana bread, but with carrots, as opposed to actual cake. Prolly cause of the walnuts and brown sugar. But who cares as long as it tastes like heaven??

Sugar Cookies with Pink Royal Icing


You know how you see those big beautiful cookies with lovely designs on them? I was like 'Yeah, I wanna try my hand at those.' Turns out, its not easy. You need a steady hand and a better paper-cone making ability than I have. That being said, it isn't difficult either. No really. The cookies are your basic roll-out sugar cookies that you cut into shapes with a cutter. And the royal icing needs just two things. Making both these things isnt rocket science. What does require practice, however, is piping them so that they look pretty. You don't need to be goddamn Da Vinci, but you do need to be able to draw a circle or a square.

Honey Soy Chicken Wings


Hey there! How've you been? Do you have your CIEs? Poor you. I'll be praying for all you poor souls, especially those ones that don't try these wings right away. Seriously. The first time I made these was a couple of weeks ago when my father had a bunch of his work associates over for dinner. Both my parents were swamped that week, they were hardly ever home, poor things. As my mother rushed off to her 5797th Ladies Club meeting that week, she told me "You're in charge of the wings" anddd she was gone. I was like...yay?



I knew what I wanted though, something savory with a hint of sweetness. It's always that, really. Sweet'n'sour is my thangg. And so these babies were made. And once the work friends left the dining room, I attacked the wings. I didn't even wait for them to leave the house. Silly KD. I made these a few more times over the weeks because HELLO? These are really good. Like reallyyyy good. And they only take 20 minutes to go from box to belly, so thats always a plus. 


Ohhh and I tried using a black backdrop too :D Except for the part where I didn't know what to use, so I propped up a folding table on its side on the counter, and used a black oven tray as the base....
I don't know though, I'm going to have to figure this out, because my kitchen has meh-ish lighting and also I do most of my cooking at night...so no sun..so yeah..ok. 

Anyway, moving on to the recipe, which is totesss simple. (I'm harnessing my inner valley girl these days, like omg) Whatchu need is this:

Sauce (enough for around 30 wings):
4 tablespoons Soy Sauce
3 tablespoons Honey
3 tablespoons Chili Sauce
3 tablespoons Chili Garlic Ketchup
3 tablespoons oil + enough to fry the wings
1 1/2 tablespoon White vinegar (the synthetic kind) (is there any other kind tho?)
A box of wings. Or a packet. Or just get wings, whatever, I'm not your mom. 

Fry your wings. I usually fry them for 5-6 minutes, and they finish cooking up in the glaze. Next, in another pan, add the two spoons of oil. Use the frying oil if you want. Add all the sauces, the honey and the vinegar. Stir well. TASTE. If it needs more of anything, add it. It should be a balance of sweet and salty, and have a hint of heat from the chili sauce and a little sting/zing from the vinegar. Adjust accordingly. Then add your wings, stir them to coat them evenly. Cover the lid and let it do its thang. Keep checking on it though, you dont want the sauce to dry up and your wings to burn, that would be tragic. In about 2-3 minutes, the sauce will have thickened and turned into a lovely red-brown sticky glaze. Thats when you take them out and eat every single one while watching The Mentalist on tv. You done good kid, you deserve it. 

Also my dear readers, I would urge you all to check out this lovely page! Craftoos is an arts and crafts store run by a very dear friend of mine! I think she's doing lovely work, and that too at such a young age. Craftoos provides you with illustrations, posters and soon enough, stickers!! All customisable too! So definitely check this out, its verryyy cool. 
Stay happy and stay safe!
xxx
Khadija.

Three Ingredient Pasta


Hey guys! Soooo as per request, I changed my font today. Big day T_T 
Anyway, summer is right around the corner and I AM SO FRICKIN' HAPPY :') I'm not a winter person, as you can probably tell, buttt i can handle heat pretty well. Apart from the change in weather, I'm looking forward to summer cause of summer food and summer drinks and summer fruit and strawberries and cherries and an angels kiss in spring. (PLS GET THAT REFERENCE) So, think lemonade and sangria and lazyyy daysss and teaching my dog how to swimmm.

Which is why today I'm writing about this pasta. I think this pasta should be the very symbol of summer on account of how light and refreshing it is. Oh and did I mention it has just three ingredients?? It just goes to show you how sometimes simple is all you need. And really, tomatoes themselves are so wonderfully fragrant and flavorsome that you dont really need anything else. In fact, this sauce can be used to top pita bread for impromptu pizzas, or grilled bread slices to make pizza toasties, or it can be used as dip or like a member of the salsa family. And it is really SO simple! You can get this baby done in fifteen minutes! Here's how its made!

You will need:
3 large tomatoes, cut in chunks
Ketchup
Herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano)
Pasta of your choice

Get a large pot of water boiling. Once it starts to boil, add 4 teaspoons full of salt. This helps season the pasta and you dont get boring bland pasta. Also add a teaspoon of oil to prevent pasta clumping together. Add the uncooked pasta to the water and cook until soft (or if you like, al dente)
In a pan, add the 3 chopped tomatoes and add 1/4th to 1/2 a cup of water. Basically just enough to cover the base of the pan. Let the tomatoes soften up in that water. After a few minutes, you'll know they're soft because you'll be able to smush them with a spoon. And smush them you will. Press the chunks with the back of a spoon till it no longer holds a particular shape. Mash them basically, but no need to be toooo thorough. Once all the tomatoes are smushed up, add two tablespoons of ketchup for added sweetness. You can use the regular kind or chilli garlic, whichever you want, or you could do both. I usually like to add a cap-full of Apple Cider Vinegar too, but thats optional. Then add your herbs, just random pinches of it. Stir to combine, and cook until the water has been absorbed and there you go! 

Drain the pasta and place it in a bowl. Spoon the sauce over the pasta. Grate some cheese over it, if you wanna get fancy, although seriously, this pasta doesn't even need cheese. And there you have it! Beautiful light pasta. Minimum fuss, maximum flavour, as Nigella says.



Let me know what you think!
xxx
Khadija.

Wait, WHAT is happening??


Hello. Hey. Hi. Hola. What's up? What's happening? Did anyone get married? Did any of you give birth? Did someone have a birthday?
What is newww guysss? I've been so busy, I haven't had time to ask. Silly KD, where them manners at??

You see, I've been SO swamped, SO SWAMPED, I can't even get my act together. It's sad really, since tenth grade, all I've really been doing is taking exams :/ O and A Levels is nothing but exams. Two, then six, then four, then three again and then three more to follow. And then, after that. Five more years of soul-draining "EDUCATION". Why? WHY are we doing this? Just why?

Oh and in case you're wondering what's with the freaky picture, that's Caramel, who looks oddly unkempt in the picture, but she's a lovely gal in real life. We were bathing her with this medicated shampoo that was supposedly toxic for her, and we didn't have a cone, so I made one out of chart paper, and she looked like a flower, and she looked so confused, poor girl.

Anyway, tomorrow we're having a Lasagna Party with a few relatives. I love these kinds of gatherings <3 I promise I'll do a post on kick ass lasagna and amaze fish. Promise. There's something about Winter Parties that I just adore. As a rule, I hate winters. Why? Let's evaluate.
  10 Things I Hate About Winters.
  1. It's so cold.
  2. Going to bed is a torture.
  3. Ice-cold clothes.
  4. SHOWERINGGG.
  5. Getting out of the shower.
  6. Trying to tell yourself that no, it is NOT cool to just sit in front of the heater and yes, you have to put clothes on.
  7. You put on THREE pairs of socks, and your feet are still frozen.
  8. It's SO FRIKKIN COLD.
  9. How do you even wake up at seven? 
  10. You edd ub soudig like this. 
I mean, there's not even snow here to make it all worth it :/
BUT. To be fair, there might be a few things I like about winters. 

 Things That Make Winters Less Sucky.
  1. Winter Sunlight <3
  2. How winter parties are so much more cosier.
  3. How hot chocolate tastes infinitely nicer when it's cold outside.
Umm, that's kind of it. But hey, something's better than nothing, right? So anyway, next post will be about our Lasagna Party so yayy :D

I wanna do what Tracy Shutterbean does and post pictures of my 'Everyday Life'. But will that seem too self-obsessed?? Anyway, here's a picture for now. This is from our foyer. I love the plate with mama and baba's names on it. Tres romantique <3



Gaahh I'm a total sucker for any kind of romance (pls no awara ashiq majnu things pls) The red plate says 'Muzaffar and Ayesha' btw. (As if you can't read.)

Also, the other day mama and baba brought back this delish slab of something something chocolate, from a place called 'Burning Brownie'. Now, as unappetizing as the name sounds (it sounds a little cute tbh) the Chocolate Thingy was so good <3 Not sure what they call it, but it was basically two kinds of mousse topped with a thick layer of ganache. I normaly don't like mousse, but this ganache made it AMAZE. I especially loved the retro and minimalist boxes they had. Looks so nice. Have a look.



This weekend, I'm planning on reading some Tolstoy and Nabakov. I'm planning on unwinding just a little before I take A2 by the horns. I'm planning on posting sad depressing poems about love on Tumblr. The usual, no biggie.

Before I go, dear readers, I made you guys a poll. I don't know why, but I just did, okay? Be a bakra and cast your vote. *bats eyelashes* (I don't even knowww.)
Hahahaha you guys just might kill me someday :')


Anyway, do let me know how your lives are going, feel free to talk to me about anything (you know I have an ask, right?)
Love you all to the moon and back and then some.
Thanks for reading this :') Seriously.
xxx
Khadija

PS. A special shout out to Aimen Ahsun for leaving suchhhhh a lovely comment on the blog! Totally made my day, love you loads Aimen <3

The Chinese Afghan.




So it's a pretty normal thing for us to see Chinese people in Islamabad. It's equally normal for my sister to remind me that I am related to them. And it's inevitable that we stop for Afghani food. We love Afghani Food. Who doesn't? So right next to the Afghan restaurant- was an Afghan Bakery! I KNOW RIGHT?! Apparently my parents already knew about it, but it was completely new to me so yay. It was such a cute place. And the person behind the counter looked so Chinese, but he was in fact Afghani. Cool. Afghani people are pretty. 

Also. I know you were expecting a post about the horrors of shifting. But that's life. Unexpected. And now you have this. You have a place to visit next time you're in Isloo. And you too can see the Chinese Who Wasn't.
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