Butterfly heaven

just how tempting are these beaus? so tempting, Ive devoured 3 in the past 24 hours. healthy eating just took a rain check. yum yum.

Static but on track, I hope.

Hello/Salaam/Ola/Aye up World

Hope you're all fine and doing well. I've been off the radar for a while, busy busy with work and life outside the blogosphere, yes, seriously, I have got one one y'know! In the time that I have been away though, I have been constantly lurking through blogs that I enjoy reading and have been kept quite entertained by them. I mostly did this when I was suppose to be working on my thesis/dissertation but didn't because I've gone back to being a part-time time waster. Hence the post title.

Life is moving on, full on, firing on all cylinders kind of full on, yet, I feel still/static/in the same place as before, although I am fully aware that I have moved on and am continuing to move on so may levels.

I think the main issue for me right now that is making me feel static is my thesis deadline. The original deadline was 15th Sept which then got extended to 15th Oct and only a week and a bit ago, I found out that my caring and generous tutor wanted to grant me more time as she doesn't want to add to my workload and stresses. I was hoping to get it out of the way and done with for the October deadline as it would mean an end to all my Master's assessments, not to mention feeling relieved after submitting it. In our meeting a week ago though, my tutor was concerned that I would be over burdening myself, and with what has happened in my personal life plus the addition of being in employment, she asked me when I would want to hand it in. I have to admit, I was feeling really lucky to have such a wonderfully understanding tutor and was really touched by her generous act. However, despite feeling so overwhelmed by the good news, I decided to turn down her offer of six months (deadline date would be in May/June next year) and instead decided one month's extension would be more than enough. My new deadline date now stands on 27th Nov. My tutor, recognising how well I had done over the year, told me that I should consider the six months offer as it could mean that I will come out with a Distinction overall if I was given extra time. But for now, I just want it done with. Just a pass will do, a merit would be a bonus :-)

So there. The epic update on an epic project. Pray for me people, I just want it done and pass with okay to good marks. I get bored easily and so can't seem to spend too long on the same thing, not good when writing 15000 words on a project. Hmm. :-S

Anyway. Moving swiftly onto more simpler and happier things:

I gave myself a haircut yesterday. Don't worry I didn't chop all my waist length hair off (yup!). I just gave myself a fringe/bang over! I've always wanted one and the last time I got my hair cut at a salon, I got an over grown fringe which I have never maintained since. So yesterday, I went to the bathroom and tried to remember the steps the hairstylist on this video took, keeping in mind the look I wanted to achieve. See below.

The end result was something I'm quite happy with. The hubs and my mother in law (MIL) all seem to like it although the corners of the fringe are a little hmm, lets say raggedy! I'm hoping my hair stylist in my hometown can easily fix this next week when I visit my family up north. Word of warning to anyone contemplating doing the same: have a back up plan ready in case it goes drastically wrong. Alhamdulilah, mine didn't (I don't think!) but in case it did go wrong, I would've swept it all back as normal so no harm done, or noticed! Hah!

Another positive thing. I've decided to cut all the crap out of my diet, okay, well most truthfully speaking. This means, no more take outs scoffing greasy fried food: chips, fried chicken, fried fish etc. I'm attempting to practice control on what I allow myself to eat, because at the end of the day, you are what you eat. I don't want to suffer avoidable illnesses later in life because I couldn't keep a leash on my temptation control! Although Allah (swt) is the greatest planners of all things :-) More to be said on this later...

As for now. I'm back. Not gone for too long. Tapping my fingers to this song (pah, lame I know!)

Food for thought

Dear recipe writers and readers in general

Thank you to those of you who have been posting fab recipes for some really delish food for iftar and sehri. They really are so inspirational, and it's wonderful seeing a diverse range of recipes from all over the world especially during the month of Ramadhan. We're such a mixed fabulous bunch and there is so much to be learned from each and every one of us, if we want to that is. Remember, to learn is to share. Yaa, I think I just made that one up. So profound hey?! Hah :-P

Anyways, thanks to dear Aimie@The Knot, the hubs and I treated ourselves to a midnight indulgence (that's sehri to be precise actually) a few nights ago. Suffice to say, the recipe was great and the dessert was delishishousness, yeah, just like that (I think hunger is making me lose my marbles, just read the post title!).

Yumminess.

Yumminess with Wall's vanilla ice cream.

Pic of the day - Ramadhan 2009

A Pakistani Muslim arranges food stuff for Iftar, a time to break the fast, on the first day of Ramadan, as a child looks on at a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Hooow cute, and just how gigantic are those serving bowls! :-D

Iftaar special

A short and small showcase of my latest culinary delights. I have to admit, I do feel like I've come a loooong way in this field as only last year, I was struggling to make anything edible for my first iftaari with the hubs and co. Seriously, we were living off shop bought stuff everyday when the MIL was away in 'desh, I thought I'd never learn! Feel kinda proud.

Yesterday's iftaar. Home made chicken ceaser salad with olives and grilled halloumi. Everything was either baked or grilled including the breaded chicken and croutons :-)

Today's iftaar. My first ever attempt at making sun blushed tomato hummus with fried red onions! T'was yum!

Here's how we wrapped it up. Home made falafels (mixture from a pack) with kebabs, halloumi and salad. Gorg.

And now I'm off to sleep so I can forget about the pounds! Heehee. Laters.

My baby's done it!

Salaam dear readers

How are we all today? In good spirits I hope :-)

Something quite amazing happened yesterday and I feel this event alone deserves a whole post of it's own.

*Warning: Sick bucket may be required.

Sweet baby pie, also known as the hubs, got his results yesterday at 5.20am and alhamdulilah is now a fully qualified ACCA accountant!!! He has completed all his exams, icluding the last two which he sat in June and has not only just passed, but passed with flying colours mashaAllah! Neither of us knew what to expect as the last two papers he sat were the most toughest he had sat yet. The ACCA website was incredibly jammed as ACCA hopefuls the world over were all attempting to log on at the same time to check their results. When I finally managed to log in I quickly saw the words "Pass" "Pass" and gave out a little "ahhh you've done it" scream as the hubs continued scanning the page! My in-laws were over come with joy and called half of Bangladesh to let their families know of their son's success, mashaAllah it was a great feeling :-)

I am so incredibly proud of him and it really is so heart warming to finally see the fruits of his hard labour. When the hubs and I met all those many years ago (around 5 years ago now!), he was just starting off the ACCA course and now, all those many years later - he's done it :-D InshaAllah it will give him a new uplifting courage to go on to do even greater things and to make his, and our dreams come true. Even I feel free-er knowing that he is now stress free in that department and that we can now both move on in making our dreams come true iA :-D

To celebrate, I booked us a table at our local Slug & Lettuce (no I'm not kiddin'!) and yaa, indulged in some gorgeous food. The hubs even by that point still couldn't believe he had done it and was generally in shock, so conversation largely centred on work, ACCA, and work. Blah.

Yes, that is lettuce of some sort. And no, those fried things are not slugs, but king prawns! Haaoww! :-)

Oh well. My baby's done it! Well done you!

Food Entry: Vegetable Pakoras

Hola!

For the first time EVER last week, I set about to make home made pakoras for a final get to together with some uni pals. My friend had asked me to bring along some "traditional" food and after a little deliberation, I decided that taking fish and chips to a party, that too on public transport would not be the best choice and so I opted to make some pakoras instead - and guess what!? They came out fantastic alhamdulilah. I was soo soo so happy with how they came out, especially since I had no help in preparing it and only had my older sister's wise recipe words that she shared with me on the phone. Anyway. It is very simple so I'd recommend you all to try it out when the weather is damp and you want something spicy and warm :-)

And btw, for those of you who don't have the faintest about what a pakora is, click here to find out a little more about the deep fried snack!

Recipe:

4 medium potatoes - peeled, thinly sliced and then sliced again in quarters
1 medium onion - sliced into quarters
1 medium/large tomato - chopped
1 small bunch of coriander - chopped
1 egg
1/4 tbsp of turmeric
1/2 tbsp of chilli powder
1 tbsp of coriander powder (dhaniya powder)
1 tsbp of cumin powder (jeera powder)
Chilli-flakes - add as much/little as you desire
Salt accordingly
Some plain flour (have no measurements as I just guessed - sorry!)
A little corn flour (have no measurements as I just guessed - sorry!)
Some water for mixing.
Oil for frying

Okay. Here are the instructions:

1. Pour vegetable oil/cooking oil into a fryer and leave to warm up on the lowest heat setting.
   
2. Peel and chop the potatoes and onions and put in large mixing bowl.
3. Chop the tomatoes and coriander and then add to the mixing bowl.
4. Now begin to add all the dry spices and then mix with the veg.
5. Then add some plain flour. Put enough in to just cover the veg and no more.
6. Break an egg and mix with the mixture.
7. Now add some cornflour. The amount you use should be much less than the plain flour amount. The cornflour will add a crunch to the batter!
8. If the batter begins to get dry, add some warm water and mix again. The batter should not be too runny nor too dry and the veg should have a batter that just clings on.
9. Keep mixing until you are satisfied with the consistency.
10. Now add the salt and chilli flakes as per your taste and mix.
    
11. Once happy with the mixture, pour a tablespoon of mixture into hot oil (on a low heat) and deep fry.
    
12. Once cooked, remove from the fryer and drain the excess oil onto a kitchen towel plate.
13. Enjoy!
    

Every day is FOOD DAY!

Hello world :-)

Looking back at yesterday, it dawned on me that most of my entire day centred on FOOD! I don't know why I'm acting surprised since this is a typical weekend thing for the hubs and I when we spend time at home during a weekend. From morning to 'til dawn, food is one thing that keeps coming up in our conversations in our daily attempt on planning our menu's for the following week. Of course, we just become distracted by going off on a tangent, which yeah, you guessed it, is *still* food related! Heeehee...

Anyway, here are a few snaps of some of the yummy grub we munched through yesterday:

The Bolly (?!) seekh kebab meal was hubby's doing, for he *is* the grill man around our ways ;) The raita with onion, cucumber and tomatoes was my creation; and the mouth watering but fiery apricot chutney was my MIL's offering! The chutney was just soo delicious - I would have no trouble living off this for the rest of my life! Mmm mmm! You're probably wondering, fiery apricot chutney - wth?! Did I not mention my love for hot HOT fiery food? Well, this chutney was mouth hurting HOT and tear inducing HOT as MIL upon my request, added lots of crushed red chillies to a mixture of garlic, coriander and apricots! Yum!

**Note to self: stop thinking about grub if you're serious about becoming 'healthier'**

blood.tests.hurt!

I got back from giving three, yes THREE bottles of blood to the nurse at my surgery and *ahh* it hurt! I didn't actually anticipate so much pain but boy, it killed! Not to mention how it instantly made me feel light-headed thinking that I was doing 360° spins :| I'm such a big baby, I know! And yes, it's probably my own fault for having a sugarful breakfast: a cuppa tea, two rich tea biscuits and a Cabdury's chocolate roll; all to the look of complete disbelief on the nurse's face. Yes, I am 23 and I have a poor, poor diet, and it doesn't improve the slightest before a blood test! Doh.

So yes, I had a blood test. A simple, routine blood test as a follow up to an appointment I had with a doc a couple of weeks back. A fortnight or two back I had been feeling a strange tingling sensation in both my feet, particularly worsening at night. The nurse told me that the blood would be counted and a check for B12 and other important thingies would also be done before the results come out: either this Friday or two weeks later, when the nurse returns from her jollies! TWO WEEKS! Grr!

Anyway, I'm feeling a little better now that my sugar levels have normalised. I drank a glass of OJ and am now munching on a Greek salad dear hubs prepared lastnight (it's so delish!). Feta Cheese - I ♥♥♥♥ U!

Greek Salad, ala Hubs stylee

Yumminess! :-D



Right, I shall now return to the world of real, proper and important work! Ciao!

x

Hay fever and flu sufferers - get well soon!

The combination of hay fever+virus+general unidentified fever = one poor poorly person, namely my hubs.

Poor lamb has been off work for the past two days now as his usual hay fever tablets surprisingly stopped working, leading us to suspect something a bit more sinister. Alhamdulilah the nurse yesterday at the emergency doctor's clinic identified his illness as some sort of virus, causing blocked congestion and a high temperature. The medicine prescribed seems to be working, albeit slowly and the steam facials I've had him enduring seems to be clearing his airways. Oh another benefit of this steam session was that it gave me the perfect opportunity to remove the shockingly gross black and WHITE heads on his NOSE! Gosh it was satisfying! I mean, I never anticipated how great the results would be (yah, he had quite a few visible ones) but boy I was so pleased that I couldn't stop staring at his nose with amazement! Made my (yester)day :D

So yeah, the poor soul is off work today and since he's getting his stamina and good health back, he's been hooked on the Wii playing BoomBlox for God know's how many hours :|

Oh and he keeps poking his head round my laptop from time to time to see what I'm writing about [cuttieee!] claiming to do it because apparently I like it! Yeaah ;)

For anyone suffering from hay fever or such an illness, you have my sympathetics people! Remember, drink plenty of water and fresh and pure orange juice - wonder drinks!

Books, clothes, shiny lip gloss in a hot hot noodle soup

Hello world!

I've been meaning to update my little personal journal for a while now, but alas, things have been quite hectic recently so here's my update [ooh, btw, I shall write in bullet form as it helps keep my mind focused, eh]:

• I was at uni yesterday for a lil while and during my walk from the bus station to my building, I realised that I wouldn't be there for much longer and so, should utilise my handy camera to snapshot my surrounding since the weather too was on my side. Here's a glimpse of my uni area from yesterday:

Pic of the Law Building, Wills Memorial if I remember correctly. Awesome looking building.

My building! Oh the temple of profound wisdom! Hmm.

• Gosh, got sooo much to do for this final FINAL unit: the dreaded dissertation! Okay, so I have done before, but the thought of doing another, Master's level at that, is quite frightening. InshaAllah, it will be fine, I will put my sweat, blood and tears into it to turn it into a masterpiece and voila, I'll have the Master's under my belt in no time hah! Now to get to those books about educational research and communication technologies......

• Yesterday was also the final day of darling hubby's final exams! The poor love was ill-ish with hay fever as well, I only hope Allah will reward him kindly for his efforts, inshaAllah. Results out in August, fingers and toes crossed until then. But before then, drool over this delish looking supergrub....I say supergrub cos it was belissimo! Halal chicken is a rare treat in UK, non Indian, chain restaurants and we found it at Tampopo (yes, pardon the name, it means daffodil or something similar in Japanases apparently!) T'was a cool restaurant, serving pan far eastern dishes from Singapore to the Philippines to the people of Brizzle!

'Laksa' dish from Singapore was my choice of the day. Fiery cocounut broth and noodle thing with chicken, prawns and tofu - lush! HOT HOT HOT!!!

Hubby's dish, a Malay 'Kway Tweo' - quite tasty. Shame neither of us managed to use the chopsticks, guess we'll have to practise using the one's the waitress so kindly gifted me!

Vietnamese coffee - with condensed milk! Teh tarik nostalgia!

• Okay food indulgence aside I also bought three books, yes THREE reading books! I surprised myself actually, as although I do want to read more for leisure, I rarely find or quite honestly make the time. Will soon change I hope as the following books seem to good to miss:

1. Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi; have already read almost a dozen chapters, definitely a page turner
   
2. Beauty - Zadie Smith; blurb sounded intriguing
   
3. The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh; novel on the happenings in colonial India

• I also embarked on a style finding/developing journey with hubby yesterday as he has recently shown a deep interest in pleasing me wrt: fashion, to which I stressed that developing one's own sense of style is far more important than just following fashion. Bless! I don't know what has brought this on right now, but I'm not complaining! His wardrobe has (or had rather) three shades: black, white and blue: ahhh, I suddenly remember why he's doing it now! Shopping for him for hours on end, was definitely worth it :)

• I've also spent half of today shopping, again, and not for myself, again! Gosh. Self restraint or what!! Good feeling :O

• Finally lip gloss: I now have two cute tubes of pure lip shine! One peach the other pink, both very transparent and s.h.i.n.e.y! Perfect for summer!

So there. My update. I feel a need to do more often than before for some obscure reason: actually the thought of sufering with memory loss is quite scary and in case that ever happens, I have this for an extra memory aid! hehe

As for tomorrow, I am offsie to my parent's on a weekend visit, with a wedding squashed in, can't wait iA :)

As for now, I am SHATTERED! EXHAUSTED! SLEEEPY! Huuuge post huh. Right, I'm off! Nite all!

x

A picstory

Here are a few snaps of what went on in the Fatty domain earlier this week, Thursday to be precise:

In summary

1. Bust up with hubby resulted in a bouquet of flowers and a thank you card at 7am in the morning, followed by breakfast in bed. Sweet sweet sweet, I am a lucky girl, I know alhamdulilah.
   
2. On feeling quite silly and yes, guilty for the pettiness, I decided to cook up a treat for hubby and the family. I'd never cooked anything like this before, had only eaten the dauphinoise potatoes at a restaurant and so used recipes of the Internet as a guide. Outcome, well see for yourselves!

Fatty and pretty flowers



Cod & Pepper Bake with Dauphinoise Potatoes



Gosh, posting pics is such a farce, surely there must be an easier way! Please let me know what you guys reckon the easiest way is!