Review: Saint Anything

Saint Anything

Sydney’s older brother, Peyton, has always been the star of the family. Even after he gets into an accident, leaves a young boy paralysed, and gets himself arrested, Peyton is all her parents can talk about.

Sydney feels adrift in her family and insists on switching schools, in hopes of finding a new place for herself, away from all the accusatory stares her and her family get. She misses being invisible and longs to go back to it. At her new school she meets Layla and Mac, siblings who seem normal compared to her family. She begins to spend time with them in hopes of escaping her own problems.

But as she begins to adjust to her new life, while dragging along the problems for her past, Sydney realises that maybe she does want to be seen after all…

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Girl Eat World

GirlEatWorld-7-Sydney

So I’ve just finished marathoning my latest obsession on Netflix, a 10 episode documentary on food and travel called Girl Eat World, and just had to share how awesome it was!

If you love food or travel or BOTH this is the show for you. It beautifully combines both to deliver a fun, clever, and delicious documentary series that takes you around the world.

It follows Kamini Pather, the winner of Master Chef South Africa, as she travels to 10 top cities around the world and eats her way through them. Each episode focuses specifically on a city and its food history and culture. Kamini pairs up with a food blogger from the area to get a true food tour of the city. Some of the cities she tours are Tokyo, Bangkok, Dubai, Berlin, Johannesburg, and more.

As a food lover, I devoured this series. I discovered it on Friday night and marathoned the 10 episode series over 24 hours. It was that good!

I loved learning about the little tidbits of history that Kamini picks up along her travels. She’s a pretty open-minded traveller and was braver in her adventures with food than I would ever be. Her reactions was also priceless, as were her descriptions of the food. Not only does Kamini have a love for food, but also a love of language. She describes what she’s eating so beautifully that you can somehow just imagine what she’s eating even though you have no clue. I also enjoyed the variety of foods that Kamini experiences. It isn’t all street vendors or sit down restaurants, but a delectable combination of both.

That leads to my big problem with the show: it will make you hungry! Every episode made me want to jump into my computer screen and somehow arrive at the beautiful location where the show was taking place and eat all the scrumptious things I could see. Seriously, it was a feast for your eyes! I would highly recommend watching this after you’ve eaten (but you’ll probably still feel hungry) or with your plate of food beside you. It’ll help augment the drool (a bit).

As a history nerd, I did feel like I wanted more history from the series. The focus was on the culture and tempo of the city now, as it has developed and changed over time, so there was some history thrown into the mix. But I always want more.

So if you’re looking for a delicious new documentary that’ll make you eat with your eyes, you should definitely watch Girl Eat World. It’s a fun series that’ll make you want to either jump on a plane and travel the world or cook up a feast in your kitchen or both!

Thanks for reading,

Ikhlas

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Recipe: Tomato Basil Soup

tomato basil soup

Fall is finally here! After summer had an extended stay well into September and even October, the cool weather has finally arrived.

I don’t mind Fall. Obviously I prefer Summer, but even I know that Fall is a much better companion than it’s purely evil sister, Winter. So yeah, I’ll take those chilly mornings, crisp air, and falling leaves over below zero temperatures, thankyouverymuch.

Tomato Basil Soup

I’ve been dreaming of tomato basil soup for several weeks now. It’s come to my attention on Pinterest over and over again, and I literally had to pick which recipe I wanted to follow. There’s so many!

But with summer lingering well into October, I wasn’t exactly craving a hot soup. But now? It’s downright cold!

This recipe is super easy to follow and comes together in under half an hour, which is my favourite part! So pull up a chair and make this comforting, velvety soup to keep you warm.

Tomato Basil Soup Continue reading →

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Friday Things

Hello friends.

How are you all doing? It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Friday Things post so I thought it was time!

The past few weeks have been extremely difficult for me as my eldest mamu (mom’s brother) passed away. He had cancer and had had 2 strokes recently.

No one close to me has ever passed away before. My paternal grandparents both lived in Pakistan, and I didn’t have many memories of them when they passed away. My maternal grandparents are still alive, alhamdulilah, and so my mamu’s death hit me pretty hard.

What made it even more difficult was being away from my family at the time. I wasn’t able to attend the funeral or grieve with my family. Being so far away from everyone made the grieving even more difficult because there wasn’t anyone around me I could share those memories with who knew him. I wanted to hug and cry with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who were all able to grieve together, but I couldn’t. So it made the grieving that much harder.

Luckily my parents came down last week to see me and even though they only came for a day, it was great to see them. It had been almost 3 months since I’d seen them, and I missed them like crazy especially after my mamu’s death.

There’s nothing like death that puts things into perspective for you. No matter the challenges and difficulties I was facing, I knew there were nothing compared to the difficulties my mamu faced before he died or the challenges his family is facing after his death. It made me that much more grateful for my parents and all that they do. It was quite an emotional few weeks!

I still have moments where it’s hard for me to believe that he’s no longer in this world, especially since I didn’t get to attend the funeral. Being so far away makes it even more unbelievable as I realise that he won’t be there when I go back.

But I’ve been trying to distract myself and think of other things.

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted any recipes on here, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been baking! I made 2 things last weekend, but unfortunately, both flopped 🙁

It was my husband’s birthday so I wanted to make him some of his favourite things. He loves Snickers so I knew I wanted to make him some kind of Snickers dessert. Luckily I found a recipe for an amazing Snickers Cheesecake. I’ve made cheesecake so many times I thought it’d be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong! This recipe had a few different variables in it that I’ve never worked with (caramel and chocolate sauce) that really threw the recipe off. It tasted good, but there were elements that needed to be fixed.

IMG_20151020_151111

The second recipe were Snickers bars. The recipe included ingredients I’ve worked with before, but again, had both caramel and chocolate sauce (notice a theme here?). They too did not hold their shape as well as they should have and were a big sticky mess. 🙁

I was so excited to finally have 2 new recipes to share with you all after such a long baking lull but unfortunately they both didn’t work out well. That just tells you not to count your chickens before they’ve hatched!!

But luckily both recipes still tasted fine; they just didn’t satisfy the perfectionist in me 😛 More importantly, the person I made them for loved them!

Anyways, that’s it from me. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Thanks for reading.

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Growing Up

Unlike the popular movies
And the Shakespearean plays
Growing up doesn’t happen in a trice
It doesn’t give you wings
Or make you fly

It’s not a magic number that you reach
That ends sweet childhood
And ushers in ugly adulthood
But rather a phase, a pattern
A series of life-changing events

It happens gradually
As it’s vines slowly encircle your ankles
And wrap around your torso
Strangling you
Without you even knowing

It’s not one milestone
Of moving out
Or getting married
Or giving birth
Or losing a parent

But instead a collection
Of little changes
And big decisions
That ripple all around you
For years to come

It’s a slow and simmering realisation
Of the power you hold
And responsibility you have
Over your own actions
To affect lives all around you

It doesn’t mean that you’ve plundered
The mysterious depths of the universe
Or even the complexities within yourself
It just means that
You’re better at hiding it

It is always a nostalgia
And a desperate longing
For a simpler time
A sweet yesterday
And a paradise lost.

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