High on baking….

Its been quite some time since I last sat and scribbled some thing new…. Guess the weather is taking its toll on me….From the never stopping, on going, pulsating, vibrating, and exciting, not to forget hot and humid Karachi to the spine-chilling, cold, gloomy, quiet Toronto-the difference speaks for itself….Just sometimes one has to decide, based on not what the heart says (Yes in my case its sometimes) but what the mind says or better yet what some one, who is a piece of your heart, wants….for no rhyme or reason of your own!

Karachi

Toronto

Here I am braving the temperatures, way below the freezing mark, waiting just to be back….. And before I start again on Karachi, or some tweet distract me or my phone rings, let me just stick to what I planned…. 

I had never been a baking person…Never loved baked goodies, never felt like doing it myself…. And then I met this woman….who was high on baking…She WAS a friend…Mind the WAS! She would bring me amazing baked stuff, and would talk about baking all the time. She always wanted to join these cake decorating classes that another friend of hers had gone to, and she was all ga-ga about it. 

One of the first cakes-Made for a surprise bridal shower

Then one day she called and asked me to join the class with her. In fact she told me that I have to. Being the kind of friends we were and just to try it out, I enrolled for the class, shopped enthusiastically for the basics. Found out just days before the first session that she had to leave for UK because of some emergency. Without much of a choice, I attended the first session, only to fall endlessly in love with this new form of art, so much so that even after two years, I am still looking for new classes, new designs and an opportunity to learn!

I remember the first time I baked a cake, it was over-baked, and hard and lacked this thing called “taste”. Same goes for the first cake that I iced and well “decorated”…. Duhhhhhh!!! Horribly sweet icing, unrecognizable pattern though I used a stencil to copy it and most of all-even I couldn’t tell if it was a circle or an oval shaped cake.

Well I got better at decorating out of my pure interest- And now I had this new issue: I was a soon-to-be pro at decorating but horrible at baking!

Cupcakes🙂

This time around though, I could not go to any school becasue of time and commitment issues. So I thought of giving it a try at home. And as Aristotle said “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” 

So I just practiced, not skipping a single opportunity to bake, treating every one around with my baked goodies on birthdays, holidays, Eid, Christmas parties, Easter, and what not, even without being asked for it.

Asim Jofa inspired cupcakes

Well, it worked. It worked a great deal to help sharpen and improve my skills. And two years later, I bake, and I get paid, and I get paid fairly good. Good because I can buy new decorating stuff, try new moulds, indulge in expensive brands for ingredients and so on… I bought a pantry exclusively for my caking stuff, but now one entire room is already spilling and I need more space…My teacher always says “When you become a cake decorator, you become a hoarder.” And I guess rightly so. 5 to 6 different tools to make one single petal of a flower. Visualize for a minute those multi-tiered cakes and fancy cupcakes and then imagine the tools and material required for each. 

Alice in Wonderland Cake and cupcakes

Baking and decorating for me is now more of a passion. When I am busy, am all drowned in flour, tinted in colors and I work straight 16 to 20 hours, sometimes even more. But end of the day, its the result, that custom designed cake, that gives me the sense of owner ship of each master-piece. Makes me high-it does!

Love it!

VCCCP Annual Vintage and Classic Car Show 2013

Did someone say Biryani??

After too many good reviews, an article in Express Tribune and then too many tweets referring to that article, I pushed my friends last Sunday to finally eat at BOTS. We reached reading all the rave reviews. Unfortunately the people with me, both of them are not into sea food, which I realized after reaching there. 

The first thing I liked was the real Awami or say dhaba touch of the place. The chairs are set on the pavement, fully loaded with fresh air;) 

We ordered a boneless chicken biryani, Fish fried, chicken malai boti, aaloo dossa. The dossa was the first to come. I did not get to try because I wanted to keep my hunger alive for Biryani:) My friend who ordered liked the taste though but the texture somewhat lacked, to which I reminded that this is BIRYANI of the seas and you should have ordered what the specialty is.

Then came the fried fish-excellent texture, great taste and fresh! The chutneys that came were also perfect.

The biryani-ahhhhh. Though very different from the typical deghi biryani that we get at Student’s or Food Centre, it had a different taste; spicy enough for a jolt to the taste buds. It was fresh as were told it was just brought in right then. Hot and spicy  and of course delicious is the word.

I didn’t feel like trying the malai boti as I got too full of the biryani. Our server did mention that their specialty is the Prawn Biryani. I was also dying to try the Tsunami Prawns but like I wrote; my non-sea-food lover friends!! For sure I will be there with some who have a taste for sea food.

The best of all was as we finished, the owner of the place Syed Ali Raza Abidi, came to us and asked if everything was ok and if we liked the food. Personal touch matters-for sure. All in all a 4.5 score out of 5:) Worth all the reviews and tweets!!

Well I did make a mistake. While I was busy gulping all the biryani and fish in one go, I somehow forgot to click!! And that gives me even more reason to try BOTS again soon, that too for Prawn Biryani;of course photographs too!!

Candle vigil for Malala Yousafzai at Karachi Press club

Living my life…..

As if being in Karachi wasn’t enough, add to it whole lot of food from around the world, bestest of company of people to remember every single moment and gallons of rain-That’s a special magical recipe one could use any time any where to brighten up any day or night.

PIA Boeing at Toronto Pearson International Terminal

I landed in Karachi after 5years 15 days 19 hours amidst scorching sun and humidity levels reaching 36degrees. Everyone before and during my 14 hours long, non stop flight kept trying to convince me that Pakistan specially Karachi is a mess, there is terrorism, there is street crimes, dirt, pollution, no electricity, unimaginable mehngai and what not…and that I am going to run back in maximum a month (Some even called it 10 days)….

Well the moment I landed at Quaid e Azam International Airport, Karachi, my heart skipped a beat. No literally it did! I looked outside the window and it felt like a scene out of the Johnny Depp starrer BLOW where he lands in Mexico for some drug trafficking.(Not that I matched his intentions in anyway:) I was confused-Let me say I wanted to feel at home being back in Karachi, however at the same time I wasn`t sure if I would. 

I got into the line at immigration looking at which I thought it would easily be another hour before I could finally get to the luggage belt. To my relief, I was offered an instant rescue by hiring a porter, who would push, pull, hurt, hit, drag, even slap any one to take me to the front of the row-just so he can get his money fast!!

Swiss Cheese & Mushroom burger at Hardees

Outside, the same sticky humid air hugged me, kissed me…..There is magic in this city…Or may be I only feel so because I have spent my life here….But I know a lot of people, in fact most people, who leave their birth place after ages and live happily ever after in one place or another…..For me, I could never pull myself out of the trance…..I’ve missed Karachi, every single day, that I lived away!

Shahrah e Faisal in rain

 My family told me that today was one of the hottest day after long. Ramadan has been cool and great but just today it was hot-May be it was mother nature’s way of giving me a jolt back to the reality. The moment I reached home, my cell phone started ringing….Yes my local Pakistani number…Thanks to my ever caring friends like Shakila, Sana, Anju, Aquil and my huge family who remembered I was in town now. My FB was also full of messages of those who didn’t have my number. Itni muhabbat aur kahan milegy??

The next day wasn’t any different. I’d planned (yes I really did) to go for some beauty routine-facial, mani and pedicure plus to buy some grocery stuff from the new local chains like Metro or Naheed and also to buy some trendy clothes from Zamzama for Eid.

Steak with Chardonnay sauce at Forty 4

 Not that I failed entirely. I managed to get a facial, reach the nearest Metro for some quick stroll across the aisles and finally picking up a little fight at the checkout counter and thats it. The heat wasn’t letting me move any single step more. So much for Zamzama or even Naheed’s!!

The whole day of Eid was spent confided in a room, with air conditioner and laptop. Thanks to KESC there was no load-shedding that day. The second day came. Barely eaten anything, I was still in the one Pakistani dress my sister got for me. That was the only one that would keep me cool. I waited for a friend to call as an escape-NO CALL!!

And then came the third day-Dressed in a 100% polyester chiffon dress, in full makeup, I landed at one of the Eid dawats at my uncles. By now, I was in full Pakistani swing.Garmi hay toa kia hua??

Today is my 26th day…Ahhhhh really?? My god….I am scared…Why is it passing so fast??? I have had a blast- From shopping at Bahadurabad for clothes to kachchay amrood, from Zahid’s Nihari to Forty 4, from Flamingo’s chaat to dhagay walay kebabs, from shopping in Hyperstar to Imtiaz, from endlessly and aimlessly driving just to stay out a little more, from Ahmer to Shakeela to Urooj to Prof. Moiz; from khala’s, phuphoo’s to tailors, from T20’s thrilling matches to the most beautiful rain in the world, I cant even count it all. The blessings are endless!! The joy is super! 

Crowd cheering in the Cricket stadium

To all those who warned me and still are warning that “Jub tumhari gaari gunpoint per snatch hogy toa pata chlega” (When your car will be snatched at gunpoint, you’ll know) or “Jub traffic main jaogy toa samajh aaega” (When you’ll go out in traffic you’ll know) or “Jub baarish k paani main gaari band hogy toa maza aaega” (When you’ll be stuck in the rain, you’ll enjoy then)-PLEASE STOP!!!

Karachi Beach

I have been driving in this crazy city with the craziest of drivers for about 2 weeks now. I am still fresh. I had a little diarrhea-I’m still energetic. I have been out thrice; I want to make it umpteen; I had been stuck in rain twice; I want more!

Nothing, absolutely nothing in the world can make me not like this city.This city gave me friends, family, education, knowledge, food, money, status, strength, confidence, charm, memories-simply myself!!

Karachi I am in love with you…all over again….