Gulab Jamun

This blogger describes my feelings perfectly: http://www.indianfoodforever.com/desserts/gulab-jamun.html

How do you describe the sensation when something just melts in your mouth and while it travels down your oesophagus, it leaves a feeling of such warmth and coziness... as if you are the most special person in the world?

How do write or even portray that soft fluffiness of the jamuns oozing with that delicious sweetness? As one of my Princeton friend's once said: "It's like a sugar explosion!!"

Back in college, I used to order these online: http://www.amazon.com/Haldirams-Classic-Indian-Gulab-Jamun/dp/B004XTCLU6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1324466178&sr=8-5

I'd anxiously track my order until the big day arrived. I'd take out a single gulab jamun and put it in a bowl, top it with lots of syrup and microwave it. Then I'd savor the smell and finally take a bite and go to heaven :)

Why I Like Germans

Everyone in office received a Season's Greetings card from our German ex-boss and his wife; handwritten and personalized. My envelope had a Christmas cookie stamp on it :)

I've pinned the card to my cubicle wall and it brings a smile to my face every time I look at it... I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside *happy sigh*

Lahore Again

Mr. F and I left for Lahore on Friday evening and had McDonalds burgers from the airport for iftar :). Things have been rather bleak... mom-in-law dearest has Dengue and she's in hospital. Haven't really been doing much except entertaining visitors who come to pay their respects. Waisay, I don't really get the whole concept of having a dozen people accompany you to the hospital... Not only do they get in the way of the doctors and nurses but end up creating a commotion in the hospital and disturb other patients.

I'd be traumatized by having 6 attendants speaking in none-too-soft voices and commenting on how haggard I look when my head's aching fit to burst.

People have been asking my if I'm expecting :P. Usually, the conversation goes something like this:

"So, it's been a year since you got married? I nod, yes. So, how far along are you?/Planning a baby yet?/Are you using contraception?/What methods?/You know, there's a new designer pill for people who want to conceive really quickly"

:P

So, happy news! I met up with a fellow Pakistani Princetonian after 3 years!!!! Twas amazing :) and we had a fine time reminiscing... *Sigh* I miss Princeton!

Almost a Year...

Around this time last year, I was busy freaking out about my wedding... I'd returned from my Bachelorette trip to Abu Dhabi and my parents were pretty stressed out with the wedding preps.

A year later, Alhamdulilah, I'm a lot more calm, generally wiser (at least I like to think so :)) and a lot more assertive than I used to be...

I've grown to love my husband and I think we've both gotten accustomed to our quirks and idiosyncrasies. My faith is stronger today... I'd agreed to this marriage more out of blind faith (that it was the right thing to do) than anything else and Alhamdulilah, things have worked out for the better. It could have worked out otherwise as well and for that, thank you Allah Mian.

Dear Mr. F,

I know I still don't let you read my blog, but I want to say, "thank you" for being a great husband/companion and for keeping all the promises you made to me at the time of our wedding. Thanks for not abusing my trust, for taking care of me and for being patient with me when I'm being unreasonable/difficult.

I've learned a lot from you over the past 11+ months and I'm looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together... hopefully, we'll manage to keep it fresh and fun and not fall into the marriage rut...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

June

When I was in school, June used to signal the beginning of the summer vacations... long days spent with my cousins from Jeddah, playing guns and robbers, having "midnight feasts", reading Enid Blyton, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley and going for our annual ride in the "victoria". We'd gorge on Mr. Burger and chips and Pakola, have carrom board and ludo championships and watch WWF (anyone remember Bret, the Hitman Hart??!).

We'd watch Johnny Quest and Ninja Robots and stay up till 5 am while our moms and grandmother watched old bollywood movies...

We're all grown-up now (N, A, S, Ai and myself), two of us are married, A recently got engaged, S has started his first job and Ai is about to graduate... The kids who came later have different experiences... My 13 year old sister plays badminton, hangs out with her friends and watches movies in the cinema... N's younger sister is now in Canada, the cousins don't visit as often since it's become more expensive and their holiday schedules don't match. Our priorities have changed; husbands and our own homes and jobs need to be managed.

I miss the good old days... Thank you Amima and NanaAbbu for giving us a grand childhood :")

Princeton's Religious Life Council

I was a member of the Religious Life Council at Princeton... Monday evening dinner, spring retreats, events at the chapel and Opening Exercises = good times :)

Here's an article by Dean Paul Raushenbush,

Religion evokes intense responses because it plays an essential role in our lives. Our beliefs reflect who we are, what we care about, our purpose -- what Tillich would call our "ultimate concerns." I serve as the Associate Dean of Religious Life and the Chapel at Princeton University. Much of my work involves encouraging interfaith dialogue between students of different religious traditions, including a group of 30 students called the Religious Life Council who have committed themselves to being part of a community of diverse faith traditions and beliefs (including atheists and agnostics) that acknowledges difference while maintaining respect and friendship. This stretches the students as Muslims and Jews, Hindus and Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists articulate their disagreements on questions of the existence of God, how society should be structured, the relation between religion and international politics and the nature of salvation. When speaking to someone from a different faith, we start out with the basic understanding that we will and should disagree, but we can sit down and have some tea and talk together.

Contd

Gratitude

This is a picture of my mom before she got married holding my baby cousin. She was trying to make the baby jealous by kissing the teddy bear but cousin dear was too busy concentrating on the camera :)

I haven't done this in a while, so here goes:

Thank You God for the world so sweet,
Thank You God for the food we eat,
Thank You God for the birds that sing,
Thank You God for everything!

And thank you most of all for a wonderful, supportive, loving family...

Amen

Whirlwind Weekend

On Friday evening, Mr. F and I left work at 5:30 pm to catch the 7 pm flight to Lahore... Luckily for us, there was minimal traffic after the attack on the politician, so we made it to the check-in counter in good time. Landed in Lahore at 8:45 pm, arrived at the family home at 9 and got ready in 20 minutes for Mr. F's friend's Mehndi (complete with heavy eye-makeup and bling jewelry!).

Next morning, I made kheer and zarda... my initiation into household duties. FYI, I don't even like zarda and my mom's never made it, so I wasn't quite sure what "good" zarda was supposed to taste like. Luckily, I'd practiced in advance and my jithanis helped me out, so both the dishes turned out ok (thank you google :-)).

On Sunday morning, Mr. F and I drove to Islamabad for his friend's afternoon Barat. We left at 9:00 am and drove non-stop on GT Road. GT Road or Grand Trunk Road is one of South Asia's oldest roads and connects all the major cities in India and Pakistan. It was built by Sher Shah Suri who designed it in a way that at no point during the drive was the sun directly in our eyes. I wonder what Mrs. Sher Shah Suri was like...

We drove through Gujranwala and passed by factories, fields and orchards... Gujranwala is a dirty little industrial town with an abundance of bananas and donkeys. The rice fields looked beautiful and orange trees were blossoming... lovely!

We reached the hotel at 2:00 pm only to learn that the groom was stuck at a toll gate! So Mr. F and I waited in the hotel lobby for 30 mins until the barat finally walked in. The wedding was segregated, so I sat by myself trying to look busy and then called a couple of friends to catch up... Sadly, none of them answered so I continued talking on the phone, having a pretend conversation :-( (yes, I know it sounds pathetic but that was my only resort in a roomful of aunties speaking a language I don't understand).

Next morning, I had my US visa interview. The officer asked me if I "was putting my education to good use" and that was it! She didn't look at any of my documents! Hopefully, inshalah I'll get it soon... Mr. F got me pizza from Rahat bakery and then we drove back to Lahore, this time on the National Highway listening to bollywood soundtracks :p. Later that evening, I boarded a flight to Karachi, Mr. F hopped on a plane to Colombo and so ended my eventful weekend...

Happy Birthday Mr. F :)

So, it was Mr. F's birthday last Saturday. At first I thought about throwing him a surprise birthday party but then, it's Ramadan and everyone's busy with Taraweeh, plus, I realized I don't really know Mr. F's friends all that well yet...

I gave him his presents at Sehri (a shirt, a sweater and our honeymoon photo album). I'm still not sure if he liked them since they didn't evince much of a reaction... (in my family, we get really, really excited over gifts). Later, we both went to work (on a weekend!). I left early to decorate our apartment with flowers. Mr. F walked in shortly before iftar and didn't even notice them!!!

His excuse: "Ali was blocking my view" hmph! (fyi, Ali is the guy who helps me with the cooking and he's 5'4 while Mr. F is around 6'2). Anyway, we had a mini-iftar at home, then I took Mr. F out for dinner (ok, so he drove us there but I paid :P). We went to Fujiyama for sushi (shudder..!.. but Mr. F enjoys it so :)). The wasabi went to my head but I managed to smile through it despite my watery eyes...

I wore the same dress I'd worn at our engagement coz I'm sentimental like that... Again, he didn't even notice!

Came back, ate birthday cake and watched The Ghost Writer (great movie!).

T-5

Last day at work before I leave for my official "shaadi break" (inshalah). I think the general cheesiness is rubbing off on me :P

The girls took me to Chatterbox for lunch... sweet :) It's nice being pampered and baby sis gave me a soothing back massage since Apa dear couldn't sleep... Mom and Dad are pretty stressed... I think they need the pampering more than I do...

Mr. F's gone to Lahore to finalize arrangements... he's so stressed out, I actually feel sorry for him...

I'm hoping and praying it doesn't rain on the wedding day and everything goes smoothly inshalah with minimal stress for my mom. And I hope Mr. F starts being nice to my parents :=(

Thoughts on singlehood (singledom?):

- I loved my life :) traveling, studying abroad, earning, spending and saving my own money, eating what I wanted, sleeping when I felt like and wearing what I was comfortable in...

- I loved the fact that I wasn't answerable to anyone except the daily phone call to my parents

*sigh* ? But I'm happy... I think... lol

Naseeb

In junior year of college, I went to visit my ABCD cousin in Peabody, Boston. She introduced me to the world of "Halal Hookups". Basically, this is a way for young Muslims to meet and greet and check out one another in order to find a spouse and eventually get married. Being young, naive and somewhat gullible, I signed up for an ISNA get-together (ISNA = Islamic Society of North America). Lots of single Muslim girls and boys, men and women along with their hopeful ammis and abbus attend this event so their children can meet "a nice Muslim boy or girl", "settle down" and give up their hedonistic lifestyles.

This was the first time I was introduced to the concept of Muslim speed-dating... Enjoy :)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/us/19dating.html?pagewanted=all

Of Donkeys

I love The National :)

NEW DELHI // Plans to remove all working donkeys from India’s capital in a bid to clean-up the streets ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games have left hundreds of families fearing for their livelihoods.

Across Old Delhi there are an estimated 2,500 donkeys and mules usually carrying bricks to construction sites or removing concrete rubble from demolished buildings. They are led by their owners or labourers employed for the day to tend to the animals.

“MCD officials surveyed the area recently and we have been asked to remove all donkeys and mules and clean up the stables because, they said, they don’t look good in a beautiful city,” said Saleem Mohammed, who keeps two donkeys in the Turkman Gate stables and is the son of 76-year-old Yusuf Mohammed, the union leader.

For Mohammad Nazar, who owns two donkeys and one mule, the eviction cannot work. The 50-year-old believes that as congestion in the old part of the city grows and roads and lanes becomes narrower, construction companies will come to rely more on the donkeys and mules.

“Eighty per cent of construction sites in Old Delhi are not adjacent to bigger roads,” he said. “Inside most of the narrow winding lanes and by-lanes even mini vans cannot enter to bring in the bricks [to a construction site] or take out the rubble. Donkeys and mules cannot be outsmarted by any other mode here.

“As the population is growing, roads and lanes are getting narrower. In this situation I think the utility of the donkeys and mules is in fact increasing in Old Delhi. You don’t need them in well-planned modern parts of the city where most construction sites are connected with wide roads. But you need our animals in Old Delhi, where congestion is higher.”

One-Year Anniversary

I know I'm a few days late but Yayyyyy! one year blogoversary :) Thanks for stopping by whoever you are and have a lovely day!

The Boys are Back!

Is it just me or do they seem a lot more girly than before?

Grandparents :)

They're the only people with the power to sway my mum and dad and spoil me to bits :). Once upon a time when I was around 5 years old, my brother and I were playing in our balcony and my brother somehow fell and fractured his arm. I being the older, more responsible sister should've taken better care of her baby brother and I felt guilty. My parents had to take my brother to the hospital to have his arm set, so I was dropped off at my nana's (grandfather's) house (grandma was in Lahore) for the night.

My grandfather made sure I brushed my teeth and put me to bed. He had a huge bed and I asked him to leave the lights on. But he did something even better... :) He used to keep a torch in his bedside drawer and he entertained me with the play of light and shadows, regaling me stories of his youth until I finally fell asleep.

In the morning, when I woke up, Nana Abbu made me scrambled eggs with toast (with the toast cut into perfect bite-sized pieces) and we ate in front of the tv while watching "The Wizard" on NTM. Good times :)

Ramadan'09

And so, Ramadan 2009 begins today! I feel like it came upon us really suddenly this year... Hopefully, we'll settle into the routine pretty quickly.

When I was a kid, Ramadan was a huge deal. My mom would wake me an hour before Fajr (around 4:30 am), force-feed me parathas and make me drink 6 glasses of water so I wouldn't become dehydrated. School would start early and end early too so students could go home and sleep until Iftar. My brother and I would watch Ramadan programs on tv while our mom cooked yummy iftar food (pakoras, samosas and dahi baray oh my!). My dad would make fruit chaat with each piece of fruit perfectly sliced, diced and cubed. We'd send food to our neighbors in a platter covered with an embroidered napkin and they'd send us food in return.

I never really "felt" Ramadan in college... It's no fun waking up for a solitary sehri when you've barely slept 4 hours all night :( but my friends were wonderfully supportive and we'd have dinner together. Usually, I'd grab a bearclaw pastry from Panera on my way back from class and eat in my room while watching Full House on youtube before starting a paper or finishing homework :p.

Anyway, these days I'm unemployed and basically home all day... it actually feels good!

Happy Anniversary!

Ammi and Abbu celebrated their twenty-fourth wedding anniversary last week. Next year inshallah will be the big 25 but we decided to make this one special too since the whole family was finally together.

My mom met my dad for the first time on their wedding day. Luckily, my dad was a good guy and it turned out ok :) He said "hi" to her when they finally got to sit together but she didn't reply, being the nice, demure Pakistani bride of the eighties, even though they both came from "liberal" family backgrounds :p

My brother and I would save up each year and buy a gift for our parents. We'd plan ahead and get our grandparents to take us shopping because we wanted it to be a surprise and neither of us was old enough to drive. I'd make a card, get flowers and bake/buy a cake and we'd usually go out for an (extended) family dinner. Now, my sister makes the card and I end up paying since I'm technically "grown-up" :p

And this is their song... cheesy, yes, but we're like that :)

Bun Kabab

Wikipedia describes the bun kabab as an "authentic South Asian sandwich" consisting of a spicy patty, onions, chutney or raita in a hamburger or hot dog bun warmed on a karhai.

I had one today after a really really long time. I usually avoid street-food on short visits but this time I'm here for a while so I decided the risk was worth it (the risk of food-poisoning/gastroenteritis/typhoid due to the dodgy hygiene conditions :p).

Boy, was it worth it :) My mom and I tracked down the old bun kabab-wala since he'd moved to another area and ordered four bun kababs. He served them fresh and hot and we devoured them hungrily, reliving days gone by when we'd stop by the bun kabab-vendor on the way home from school and have bun kababs for lunch.

*sigh*

Bagel display in Central Park (NYC). People do funny things in Central Park... (and I miss bagels)

A corner of my garden at home :)

My friend S has two of the cutest puppies: Bianca and Brownie... We've known each other since fourth grade (S and I)... and now she's moving to the US *sigh*

I'm tearing up... :'(

Il and M got me a cushion and a cookie: