Pavé - My Sweet Tooth goes Brazilian

You know how there’s always someone at a gathering who drops the bomb by saying, “Me meetha ni khati. (I don’t eat sweets.)”. Well, I don’t get such people. What do they have against sugar/sweet stuff? In my opinion, anyone who can’t handle a bit of a sweet thing isn’t worth my time or attention. It’s just as simple as that. All my friends are people who love eating, and they love eating sugary stuff. Hand one a pack of Galaxy Minies and they’d start dancing (albeit awkwardly) with joy.

I came by this post a few days back about a bunch of Brazilian dishes that should be tried out. And the one that caught my eye turned out to be layer-after-layer of pure sugary pleasure. It takes a little time to make, and since it has a lot of layers, you have to spend some time on your feet and there are a lot of dirty dishes in the sink in the end. But trust me, it’s all worth it.

The original recipe didn’t call for it but I added a cheesecake layer in the middle just to balance out the dulce de leche on top. Turned out amazing, if I don’t say so myself. :-P

8 Layers of Awesome

Ingredients

Dulce De Leche
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (lowfat or fat-free okay)

Cookie Layer
3 (7 ounce) packs Marie biscuits or plane tea biscuits
1 cup milk (I use skim or fat-free half & half)

Cheesecake Layer
1 sachet Whip Cream or 1 cup Whip Cream
½ cup Milk
1 cup Heavy Cream
6 Kiri Cheese squares

Pavé
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 ounces butter or 4 ounces margarine
4 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
Maraschino cherries, for decoration

Directions

1. Remove label from condensed milk can. Place UNOPENED can in a large saucepan and cover it with water. Boil for 1 to 1. 5 hours, making sure that the top of the can is always covered with at least a half-inch of water to prevent an explosion (if the water level becomes too low, just add some more hot water to the pan until can is sufficiently covered). Remove can from water with tongs or a strainer and set aside to cool. Allow can to come to room temp before opening (WARNING: hot can is under pressure and will spray you if opened).

2. With a mixer, beat the butter/margarine and sugar until well-mixed (3-5 min. depending on strength of your mixer). Add yolks, one by one, beating well after each addition. Add cocoa powder. Beat in vanilla extract and heavy cream (beat only until mixture is homogeneous and fluffy- it will become grainy if over-mixed).

3. In another bowl, empty the sachet of whip cream, pour in the milk and beat until peaks form. Pour in the heavy cream and beat until well-mixed. Then put in the Kiri squares and beat until the cheese is mixed in with cream.

4. Pour milk or half-and-half in a shallow dish for moistening cookies.

5. In a 2-quart glass casserole or 8x8" dish, dip cookies one by one and form a layer to cover the bottom of the casserole. Next, spread half of the butter-cream mixture over the cookies. Top with a layer of softened cookies. Spread the whole cheesecake mixture. Top with another layer of moistened cookies and rest of the butter-cream mixture, ending with a layer of moistened cookies. Spread entire can of room-temp dulce de leche over the dessert.

6. Sprinkle with roasted peanuts, and decorate with maraschino cherries that have been patted dry.

7. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to allow layers to fully blend.

What's for Brunch?

Mollet Eggs Florentine

I’ve always been one for an elaborate breakfast. I believe the first meal of the day should be a big deal, especially considering how important it is. Normally I don’t have a lot of time on my hands to make an elaborate breakfast. But when I see a recipe online that I just have to try, I make time for it. Plus Fridays in our home are all about sleeping in a little, going for Jumah prayers and brunch. So that gives me even more time to cook up something elaborate.

I found the recipe for Mollet Eggs Florentine a few months back. But I just couldn’t find time for it. And turns out, my Mom isn’t a really big fan of the soft-boiled eggs. The thing is, “mollet” means soft in French, or so the site said where I found the recipe. The eggs are supposed to be boiled so that the yolk is solid but not completely cooked through. So if you’re not a big fan of raw or raw-ish eggs, just forget the “mollet” part and make a simple Eggs Florentine by boiling the eggs completely through.

Ingredients

8 large eggs, preferably organic

SPINACH
2 pounds spinach
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper powder
3 tablespoons grated Mozarella cheese

MORNAY SAUCE
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated Mozarella cheese

Directions

Bring 4 to 6 cups water to a boil in a shallow saucepan (about 8 inches wide and 3 inches deep). With a pushpin or thumbtack, prick a small hole in the rounder end of each egg (this will help prevent the shells from cracking during cooking). Using a small sieve, lower the eggs into the boiling water, and let it come back to a simmer. Cook for about 6 minutes. Pour the water out and shake the pan to crack the eggshells. Cool thoroughly.

Gently shell the eggs (to prevent breaking them) under cold running water.

FOR THE SPINACH: Bring about 1/2 inch of salted water to a boil in a stainless steel pot. Meanwhile, remove and discard the spinach stems. Drop the leaves into the boiling water and boil, covered, for about 1 minute, until wilted. Drain the spinach in a colander and immediately refresh under cold running water to stop the cooking and keep the color. Drain again, pressing on the spinach to extract as much water as possible.

Put the spinach on a chopping block and coarsely chop.

Melt the butter in a skillet over high heat and cook until it turns brown. Add the spinach, salt, pepper, and red pepper, mix well with a fork, and cook for 2 minutes.

Arrange the spinach in the bottom of an ovenproof dish large enough to accommodate the eggs. Arrange the cold eggs on the spinach, with a little space between them, and sprinkle the cheese on top.

FOR THE SAUCE: Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the flour until smooth and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute, until the mixture froths, without browning. Add the half-and-half, whipping constantly with a whisk, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Stir in the seasonings and continue cooking over low heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly with the whisk. Cool for 6 to 8 minutes.

Preheat the broiler. Add the egg yolk to the sauce, whisking very fast and hard.

Coat the eggs with the sauce and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Place under the hot broiler (not too close, so the eggs have a chance to get hot inside) for 5 minutes, or until the sauce is nicely browned. Serve immediately. (This recipe serves 8.)

Original Recipe: http://blogs.kqed.org/essentialpepin/2011/09/10/mollet-eggs-florentine/

All That Fudge

I've been looking for a good fudge brownie for ages and have tried a bunch of recipes but never really got the feel. But today, I finally found a recipe that worked wonders and yielded the best fudge brownies I've ever tasted - soft, rich and absolutely fudgy!

Ingredients
4 large Eggs
1 1/4 cups Cocoa
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Espresso Powder
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Unsalted Butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 cups Chocolate Chip

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9"x13" pan.
2. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder and vanilla until smooth.
3. In a saucepan, melt the butter & add the sugar. Keep heating and mixing the butter/sugar mixture. Don't let it boil. The heat will allow more sugar to mix into the butter and this will yield a shinier top top-coat on your brownies.
4. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture to the egg/cocoa mixture, stirring until smooth.
5. Add the flour and the chips. If you want the chips to stay whole, wait for the batter to to cool, about 20 mins, and then fold them into the batter.
6. Spoon the batter into the greased pan and bake for 30 mins or until the cake-testing toothpick comes out either clean or with only a few crumbs on it.

Best eaten hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top! :-)

The French Connection

I never really liked soup. I didn't understand the point of soup really. Until one day when my Grandfather and I were discussing culinary specialties & he told me that he loved French Onion soup. From that day onward, the name was stuck in my head. I have been looking for some place promises me a good French Onion but couldn't find any. The restaurants were either too disappointing as a whole or too expensive. So I decided to make it myself. The recipe I found on the internet looked good and easy but it called for red wine. Can't just pour in some alcohol into a bowl of soup and serve it to my Muslim family now can I? lol

But I substituted it with some vinegar to deglaze the pan and some honey for the sweetness. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
4 Onions, sliced
2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
2 Bay Leaves
2 fresh Thyme sprigs
Kosher salt & freshly ground Black Pepper, as per taste
1/4 cup Vinegar
1 teaspoon Honey
3 heaping tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
2 quarts Beef Broth
5 slices Bread, cut into quarters
1 pack mozarella, grated

Directions

1. Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and salt & pepper. Cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 mins.
3. Add the vinegar and honey, bring to boil and reduce the heat. Simmer until the vinegar had evaporated and the onions are seemingly dry, about 5 mins.
4. Discard the bay leaves and thyme.
5. Dust onions with flour and give them a stir. Turn heat to medium-low so that the flour doesn't burn and cook for 10 mins to cook out the raw flour taste.
6. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer and cook for 10 mins.
7. Arrange the bread pieces on a baking sheet in a single layer and top with mozarella and bake for 15 mins or until the mozarella had completely melted. (Alternate method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top with a slice of bread and then top that with some grated mozarella and pop the bowl into the oven for 15 mins.)
8. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the mozarella croutons & enjoy.

Chinese Time: Chicken Chow Mein!

I have a thing for noodles or pasta of whatever you want to call them. My love for them keeps me looking for new recipes that I can try; the most recent noodle adventure being Chicken Chow Mein. I found a very easy recipe on the internet & made a few changes. Didn't get quite the results I was hoping for but still it was worth the try. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
250g Medium Egg Noodles
2 tablespoons Oil
1 tablespoons Sesame Oil
2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
4 Chicken Breasts, thinly slices
1/2 cup Chicken Broth or 1 Chicken-Flavor Cube
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons White Pepper
1 large Bell Pepper (whatever color you want), thinly sliced
110g Sweet Corn
8 Spring Onions, cut into thin strips
3 tablespoons Soy Sauce

Directions:

1. Put a large pan of water on boil. Add noodles and cook until al dente.
2. Heat both oils in a large saucepan, add garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
3. Add chicken broth, salt and pepper to the oil.
4. Add chicken and stir-fry for 5 minutes or until cooked.
5. Remove from pan with a draining spoon and set aside.
6. Add bell pepper and stir-fry for 4 minutes, then add corn and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add spring-onion and stir-fry for 1 minute.
7. Return chicken to the pan and add the noodles.
8. Add soy sauce & heat through, tossing the mix for 2 minutes.

Original Recipe: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/8458/chicken-chow-mein.aspx

Apple Pie!

I love autumn. It is probably my most favorite season of all. It's not too chilly and it's not hot. Plus the leaves are changing color and they go all crunch under your feet. What's not to love?

Also, when I think about autumn, the first thing that comes to my mind is cinnamon. I LOVE cinnamon! It is my absolute favorite spice. And cinnamon tastes best with apples and that's where you get apple pie with loads of cinnamon in it - perfect autumn dessert.

So, I got around to looking for the perfect Apple Pie recipe but all the recipes that I found asked for a pre-baked pie-crust. Then I had to go and look for a pie-crust recipe. But in the end I found easy recipes for both & combined them. Here goes:

For the crust:

Ingredients:
4 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 3/4 cups Shortening (or Oil)
3 Tablespoons White Sugar
2 teaspoons Salt
1 Egg
1/2 cup Water

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, shortening, sugar, and salt. Blend together with a pastry cutter until crumbly.
2. In a small bowl, mix egg with water. Blend into flour mixture. Knead through until slightly firm. Divide into 2 balls and roll both out to 1/2 cm thickness.
3. Once rolled out, take a knife and cut 1-inch thick strips out of one of the crusts.

Original Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ruths-Grandmas-Pie-Crust/ 

For the Filling:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

3 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Water

1/4 cup White Sugar

1/4 cup Packed brown sugar

8 Granny Smith Apples

1 Lemon

2 teaspoon Cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

2. Core & slice the apples and squeeze the lemon juice on them so that they don't go brown. Put in the cinnamon and mix gently until apples are coated well with the cinnamon.

3. Place the bottom crust of in a 9-inch pie pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover by placing the dough strips in a crisscross manner. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it doesn't run off.

4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 dergrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35-45 minutes or until apples are soft.

Original Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-pie-by-grandma-ople/

Checking Out Centaurus

There aren't many things that I would say make me absolutely-happy-beyond-belief. But a few days back, when I was walking through the not-so-crowded corridors of Centaurus (it was afternoon on a weekday), there was a moment in which I thought all my prayers have been answered - The moment I saw a Mini Melts kiosk! <3

For those of you who don't know what Mini Melts is, it's an ice cream parlor which is unique in how it serves the ice cream. For more information, check out the picture below:

They're like these little bits and pieces of ice cream that just melt in your mouth and for the little while that the cup lasts, you're in Heaven! I would personally recommend a cup of their mix-of-all-flavors. It is divine!

Apart from this, Centaurus' food court has all the makings of it's counter-parts in the malls I've been to in Saudi; fast food chains, some cultural outlets and the likes. The only one I'm now desperately waiting for is TGI Friday's!

On Spot @ Des Perdes (Saddar)

It is very rare that I go to the uglier (read broken streets, too much traffic, too much pollution) of the Twin Cities for anything except a movie. But when the majority of guests had to come from Rawalpindi, we decided it was best for us to drive there instead of all of them to have to drive out to Islamabad. Plus it was a treat from another family - so free food anywhere is good. lol

Des Pardes is probably the only place in Islamabad where I would go willingly to eat desi food. And it never disappoints. The naans were fresh, the kebabs were juicy and the atmosphere was very comfortable. The only thing Des Pardes needs to lose is their blue plates. Blue crockery dissipates hunger because the color doesn't go well with a lot of the natural food colors out there, especially when it comes to desi foods with their haldi yellow and all. Restaurants should always go for white plates and red table clothes or a vibrant red somewhere in the setting as it triggers hunger and the customers are bound to eat more.

Apart from the blue plates, Des Pardes is a must for those desi-mood nights!

On Spot @ Chinatown

I've lived in Islamabad for about 6 years now. & yesterday was the first time I went to Chinatown. I'd heard a lot about it but never had the chance to actually dine there - until a "fate-changing" call yesterday told me to  get there "as soon as possible".

As soon as I entered the doors, I was impressed. The ambiance of that place is amazing - they have cherry blossoms painted on the walls in every booth!! (Well, yeah, I guess it doesn't really take a lot to impress me when it comes to interior design!)

The food, unfortunately, wasn't really as impressive. The 'chicken chow mien' was probably the only thing that we ordered which was just the way I would want it. The 'sweet & sour chicken' was more sweet than sour and the 'Szechuan chicken' was more of a vegetable dish with very little "Szechuan" in it!

If you're in Islamabad & in the mood for a good Chow Mein in a very ethnic environment, then Chinatown is the place to be!

But if you're interested in a better "Szechuan Chicken", I'd suggest Cafe Incantare or for a better Chinese experience, I would suggest Heng Chang, although it lacks the ethnic ambiance that Chinatown provides.

On Spot @ Chaaye Khana

In my experience, chocolate cake is the most simplest of delicacies. Yes, very few people tend to get it right. Especially if it's Chocolate Lava Cake.

But the people at Chaaye Khana know exactly when to turn up the heat and when to turn it down. Because their Chocolate Lava Cake was diviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!

I've always loved Chaaye Khana, for its variety of teas on the menu and also for the ambiance. Sipping good tea sitting among a shelf upon shelf of books, there's never a dull moment. And talking about tea, whoever is planning on a visit to Islamabad or whoever lives here and still hasn't been to Chaaye Khana, I urge you to drop in and try their Caramal Pear Gold Rooibos or their Strawberry White tea - both are amazing!

Plus, for the early birds, they have a wonderful breakfast menu to choose from - which I'm itching to try.

The prices are reasonable, the ambiance is great & the menu is worth more than a few visits.

Happy dining! 

On Spot @ Coffee Planet

As soon as I got back to Islamabad, me and my friends decided to drop in on the new cool-people haunt and check out what the hype was all about. And we soon found out.

The new coffee house had a lot to offer on the menu but not everything was as easy on the taste-buds as it sounded. But some things were above expectations. So if you haven't still dropped by Coffee Planet, please do, if only for the sake of their Caramel Latte and their Twix Delight.

Tea Love

I've recently discovered that I love flavoured tea. There are just too many possibilities. So one fine Friday morning (which is "Sunday morning" for Muslims) I decided I needed to infuse some Earl Grey into my life. And of course, I couldn't have JUST Earl Grey, so there had to be pancakes, the apple-cinnamon kind.

And VOILA! - Breakfast is served.

Of course there was no syrup in my house. So I just slathered some jam in between the cupcakes and forked them all up.

Lipton's Russian Earl Grey was amazing! It's definitely not as good as Twinning's Earl Grey but amazing nonetheless.

And speaking of flavored teas, right now I'm downing a cupful of Lipton's Pink Citrus. Love it!

Here's the recipe for the pancakes. It's in Polish, but Google is always nice enough to translate it for you - if you're using Chrome.
My only change was using AP Flour instead of the whole-wheat flour the recipe calls for.

On Spot @ Eastern Gate

I've already established how strong my love for Lebanese cuisine is, and that's justified seeing as I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. And considering that love for Lebanese cuisine, last night my parents decided to take me to a new restaurant they'd discovered. That was probably the best decision of the day!
My sister kept voicing her evident doubts on taking me there, since they'd only there once and she wasn't sure about their quality control. But after one small taste of the food, I didn't know why she was so unsure about it. The food was perfect.
My Mom had a great time picking out items from the menu. First, we couldn't decide whether how to order the mixed grill as there were 9 people with huge appetites, then we couldn't stop laughing because there was a dish named "Maryia" (pronounced like "Maria") and then my sister couldn't figure out whether to order the Chicken Elizabeth or the Chicken Breast Fillet - there were obvious puns there.
Here's what came to out table...

The Famous Lebanese Mixed Grill

The Maryia

 Maryia, we came to know, was a classic flat-bread stuffed with garlic minced meat. It was light, crisp and delicious.

Chicken Elizabeth

Athena's Fish

Kofta Tagine with Tahini

Everything was great. But the Kofta Tagine was probably the best! My Mom later told me that 'tagine' means that the dish has a gravy. This Kofta Tagine was meat kebabs in a tahini gravy. 'Tahini' is a sauce made from sesame seeds. The whole dish was perfect, I couldn't stop eating and I did NOT want to share this one!

So here's the scores:

Ambiance: 4/5 (The waiters were dressed in traditional Lebanese clothes & they had a fountain in the middle of the restaurant!)
Presentation: 3.5/5

Serving Size: 4/5

Taste: 4.5/5

Overall: 3.5/5

To top off a great evening, there must be ice-cream. And when people say ice-cream, all I hear is Baskin Robbins. Do stop by and try their Flavor of the Month "Sugar 'n' Spice".

Always a delight!

Attack of The Baking Bug (Part 2)

One fine day, I opened the door to the fridge and there were carrots, carrots, CARROTS everywhere! It was as if Bugs Bunny had been put in charge of the groceries. I couldn't figure out what had happened at first. But then I started raking my mind for all the things I could do with a bunch of carrots. And I made the first thing that came to my mind...

Carrot Cake!

I love food, but there's something about carrot cakes which makes my drift off to a Winter Wonderland, with my sitting in a glass covered veranda, watching the snow drift down from the sky in its beautiful white perfection while drinking cinnamon-spiked coffee and munching on an ooey-gooey carrot cake. Sigh

*drools*

Check out the recipe. The only things I changed about it were;

1. I used AP Flour and added a teaspoon of baking powder.
2. I didn't have walnuts so I threw in some raisins instead.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

For the icing:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 1 pound confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9 inch round cake pans.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon and sugar. Add the oil and eggs, mix until blended, then stir in the carrots and nuts. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven. A toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean. Cool cakes on wire racks before removing from pans.
• To make the frosting, use the second set of ingredients. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese; add the sugar and cream well. Stir in the nuts and vanilla. Use to fill and frost the cooled cake layers.

Pizza!

I have urges; I think of something and then I just have to do it. I'm also very lazy. So the urge to do something has to be much MUCH more stronger than my primal urge to not get off my ass.

There was one urge like this, recently, and that was an urge to make pizza - all by myself, from scratch - which I did.

Cheese! <3

I remembered my Mom making pizza once when I was a kid and the dough looked fine but when it came out of the oven, the base went all stiff after 5 minutes. So, I decided I needed to try something new. And hence I found a dough recipe on the internet which didn't use any yeast. Instead, there was yogurt. And the base was fluffy soft even after 30 minutes out of the oven (YES, I waited that long to eat pizza. Sigh).

The flavors I went for were Traditional Pepperoni (because my brother likes no-fuss kinda pizza) and Alfredo (because I have a strong affinity for anything Alfredo). And they both turned out great!

Plus, there HAS to be dessert, there is just no way that my brother and sister let me walk out of the kitchen without making something sweet. And hence came the Vanilla Latte cupcakes.

This is what happens when you pour chocolate syrup on cupcakes that haven't  had a chance to cool down.

Here's the recipe for the cupcakes!

With a whole lunch and then with the cupcakes with tea, it was indeed a great day!

Happy eating! :)

The Arabian Experience

The best part about being back home is being able to spend time with family.... Eating kabsa.
I love being back in Saudi Arabia. There's just something about the food here; a bland yumminess. Sigh.
My problem is I can never get used to desi (read Pakistani) food with all its spices and all the amount of water you have to drink to get yourself to stop breathing fire. My taste-buds are more tuned to the delicious blandness of Arabian/Lebanese cuisine.
My all time favorite would be hummus! I mean, who doesn't like hummus? It goes with everything!

• You can dip fries in it.
• You can eat it with falafel.
• You can eat it with grilled/deep-fried chicken.
• You can use it as a dip for Doritos.
• & if you're feeling diet-like, you can slice up a cucumber and use the hummus as a dip for that too!

I tried introducing a room-mate of mine to hummus once, brought from the Lebanese restaurant in F10.. Not only did she not like it, she made a face that made me go all defensive on account of the bowl hummus sitting in front of us.

But of course, that bowl of hummus was nothing compared to the REAL hummus that you can get here, in Saudi. Creamy perfection, indeed.

Hummus, my love. <3

And how can I forget the staple of Arabian cuisine, the one thing you can NOT miss when you're in any Gulf state: Kabsa. No Arabian dinner is complete without it. It's like as soon as the first spoonful goes into your mouth, you start hearing drum-beats and the image of Shakira belly-dancing suddenly appears in front of your eyes! But what's even better than kabsa is...

... Fish Biryani!!

Thanks to Shawaya House for an amazing dinner!

Stuff like this can only be found in the Gulf. And since I am here for only 4 more days, I ate much more than I should have and was at the point of exploding when my Mom reminded me I had the perfect thing to avert any food-explosion.

Excellent photography, indeed.

For those of you who can't read or speak or understand Arabic, this is yogurt, the peach and apricot kind. And it is very yum. The perfect dessert for when you feel like you're about to explode. It's like a blanket for the inside of your stomach; makes everything feel OK!

"Draw me, like one of your French girls."

In the end, here's a picture of my cat, to wrap things up.

Happy eating!

On Spot @ Roaster's

[On Spot will be a series of reviews of all the different restaurants that eat at & I'm hoping there's many of those. Happy eating! :-)]

Birthday's are a grand affair, especially when you're a university student and birthday's are just another excuse to party.

On a recent birthday of a friend, we decided to take the party to Roaster's, a cafe, bar & grill in Islamabad - which we later realized wasn't one of our best choices. Firstly, we couldn't figure out whether we were at the right place or not because there was no electricity and there was some issue with their back-up generator because of which most of the place was in the dark and their sign board wasn't lit up either. When the light finally came back on and the food was finally delivered, everything tasted the same even though it looked pretty. (Yes, I tried everyone's food!)

Steak # 1

Steak # 2

The steak I ordered was the Monterey Jack, which individually gets 4 stars out of 5 because it tasted good enough. But all the other steaks were just OK, nothing special.

What saved the day was the cake that we got from MJ's Bakery, a chocolate bundt cake...

...with a chocolate cupcake placed in the middle!

"Make a wish, deary!"

So, if you're planning on going to Roaster's, I'm sure the coffee is better than the steaks.

Ambiance: 4/5
Presentation: 3.5/5

Serving Size: 4/5

Taste: 2.5/5

Overall: 2.8/5

The one thing I loved about Roaster's though was that the lighting was perfect and with a new DSLR in hand, a friend took some of the most amazing shots of the whole gang and also the food. Check out his page on Facebook! (I would like to apologize to him because I picked probably the worst pictures of the food, probably because I didn't enjoy it a lot. lol)

The Attack of The Baking Bug (Part 1)

Every time I'm bake home in Saudi, I feel so full of energy and since there isn't much else where I can put it, I channel all that energy to one of my all-time favorite hobbies - baking. I started baking about a year or so go, and by that I mean I started to really bake, make my own cakes and cookies as compared to the cake-mixes I used to throw together and put in the oven before that. I still use cake-mixes (thank God for Betty Crocker!) but there's a certain sense of accomplishment that comes from taking a bite out of a cupcake that you've made from scratch!

So, on my current, almost at its end winter break that I'm spending at home, I've been baking my ass off, literally! My siblings are over-their-heads in love with me because of all the cupcakes and the cookies that vanish almost as soon as they come out of the oven.

The first item that I baked when I got home were a batch of plain Vanilla Cupcakes, a no surprises, no labor task that I took over because I was feeling too timid for an over-the-top dessert and also because my Mom doesn't like chocolate as much as I do.

Yes, they were as yumm as they look!

My Mom loved these cupcakes. She declared them to be one of my best cupcakes yet, even though I wasn't particularly excited about them. But well, "mother knows best!"

If anyone is planning to make these, here's the recipe I followed. The only changes I made to this were:

1. Replaced cake flour with AP flour because I didn't have any.
2. Used Hershey's chocolate syrup as topping instead of making the dark chocolate icing.

Happy baking! :)

Pinterest Pick

I recently joined Pinterest on the demands of a dear friend. And now I have to muster up all my willpower to get off it. But there's definitely some pretty good stuff on it, especially when it comes to easy recipes - which I'm a sucker for. So, "Pinterest Pick" is going to be a series of recipes that I find on Pinterest. It might not be daily or weekly or on any regular basis, might be just as random as the nest word that comes out of my mouth (DRAGON!) but I'll definitely try to document these easy recipes coming for everyone's convenience and for my own future references.

For the first Pinterest pick, I want to warn all of you that I'm a big Harry Potter fan. I might not be as big a fan as most kids who enjoy fandoms and all the fantasy writing that comes along with that. But I'm fan enough to have wanted, at one point in my life, to be as nerdy as Hermione Granger.

So, for the love of Harry Potter, I give you:

I'm fairly certain that if Harry had just offered Voldemort a mug of this latte, all matters could've been discussed in a much more peaceful manner and Dumbledore would still be alive. (sigh)

And from this point onwards, this latte will be the staple of my winter warmers.... Always!

What's more, I even found the perfect mug to drink this out of, also on Pinterest. Too bad I don't have it. (sigh) It's pale blue, hand-painted and costs $15.00, available at Etsy. This would definitely be a very awesome birthday gift!

This would be a great birthday gift.

So if anyone feels like giving my an early birthday gift, please know that I won't mind.

And if anyone wants to make me a cuppa Butterbeer Latte, I won't mind that either!

Disclaimer: If you don't understand the subtle puns in this post, then you've obviously missed out on the greatest literary experience of the 21st century. Better go and get the Harry Potter series today!

Chocolate Decadence

I've been blogging for quite a while now. But never on a regular basis. I blog consistently for a month or so and then for 6 months I totally forget about it! But for the past few months I've been thinking about this, a food (slash) perception blog. I'm always being asked by friends about where they should go for dinner or where is the best place to take their families for a quiet meal or what's the best item to order at a specific restaurant. I either have great taste or very common taste, either way my love for food and my humanitarian nature demands that I let people know where to go if they want a party in their mouth.

So on a recent stop-in at Karachi for a 24-hour stay before my flight to Dammam, I was stuffed with enough sugar to power a generator (that is IF generators ran on sugar!). There was so much chocolate that at a point I thought I would blow up and you'd find tiny nougats of chocolate instead of chunks of meat!

But the sad part about the mini trip to Karachi was that as soon as I reached at my Uncle's place from the airport and turned on the TV, someone somewhere had been shot at and Karachiites had been informed of a strike. So much for my excitement about the City of Lights!

But me being the brave and ever-resilient person that I am decided to go out the next day and me and Aunt and her tiny-tots ended up at the ever-famous Dolmen Mall - food court, to be exact!

And here's what I ate:

1. Chicken Stromboli from Lazzaro
2. Chocolate Decadence from Del Frio

The first one from the right on the second shelf - YUMM! <3

The stromboli was great, and I'm sure that was partially because it was fresh and I was as hungry as a whale on a plankton diet! But the cherry-on-the-cake was the slice of Del Frio's Chocolate Decadence. I mean, it was absolutely, doubtlessly the most wonderful slice of chocolate decadence I've had in my entire life. It was everything you'd expect a chocolate cake, chocolate cheesecake and Italian mousse bundled together to taste like.

The trip to Karachi would've been a bust considering I didn't get to see what all the fuss is about when people talk about Port Grand and I didn't get to meet all the lovely people I had planned to meet but it was saved by Del Frio's Chocolate Decadence. I just hope they can keep the quality standard maintained!

In case someone needs a recipe, here's one and here's another

Happy eating!