Recipe: Chicken and Spinach Pasta

by Ikhlas // 30 April, 2012 // 4 Comments

Hello friends!

So…it’s been awhile, eh? Sorry about that. Life has gotten a little crazier over the past week, what with my new job and then my volunteer responsibilities, which are only going to get a lot crazier until May 18th, which is when the convention that I’m planning is.

In other news…actually, I have no other news. I’ve just been reading through my box of books that I ordered last week. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like Masque of the Red Death, and wish I hadn’t bought it. I won’t be posting a review about it either, because I don’t have nice things to say about it. On the other hand, I absolutely loved Kill Me Softly, so expect the review for that tomorrow. That is if things go according to plan, which they usually don’t. -_-

Anywho! So this recipe is a bit delayed, but here it is anyway. I made this dish last week, and made my own adjustments, since I like my food a bit spicier than usual (what can I do? I’m South Asian!). So feel free to add salt and spices according to your taste 🙂

I wasn’t planning on sharing this recipe, so I didn’t take any pictures during the process. But it’s pretty simple, regardless.

Here you go…hope you enjoy! Continue reading →

Book Haul!

by Ikhlas // 25 April, 2012 // 6 Comments

So I ordered some books on Sunday, and before I could stare too much at the total and before my mom could walk in, I clicked submit!

I’m not a very patient person, so I kept checking on Monday, then yesterday and then all morning today for the status updates that Indigo provides when you order something, to see when my books would finally reach me, and they came this afternoon!

Aren’t they beautiful?!

I haven’t bought myself books in quite some time, so on Sunday, I decided to treat myself to some books that I’d been drooling over for quite some time.

Ok, so The Little Lady Agency is one that was recently recommended to me by a friend, who has also recently discovered Goodreads and has promptly fallen in love with it (hi, Ravneet!). It’s recommended for fans of Shopaholic, and what’s more, Sophie Kinsella is quoted on the cover! I don’t read a lot of ‘beach reads’, but since I am going on vacation in June, I figured I needed a beach read. I mean, it’s practically the law! (or so I told myself as I squinted at the total amount).

So technically, I’m saving this one for June and for my vacation, but my brother snorted when I told him this. “You’re going to actually wait?” he snidely asked me. Yes, I am (going to try).

So Kill Me Softly has been on my ‘dying to read’ list ever since I heard of it. I mean, just look at that cover?! Apart from that, it’s supposed to be a mash-up of several fairytales, which I absolutely love. Can’t wait to dive into this one!

The Book of Blood and Shadow has been touted as a teen version of The Da Vinci Code, which for all it’s bad publicity and controversies, I loved. It’s also gotten some great reviews, for being chock-full of mystery, romance, and intrigue, so I can’t wait to see if it lives up to expectations!

Another gorgeous cover! The Masque of the Red Death sounds spooky and creepy, and is also apparently both Victorian-inspired and dystopian. Might sound weird to some people, but sounds downright awesome to me! My friend Chelsey and I are going to read it at the same time (a sort of online book club, if you will), so look forward to both our reviews/updates! 🙂

I had to force myself to stop there, because even though I have a job now, I haven’t exactly been paid yet. Currently, I’m also salivating over Sophia Kinsella’s new I’ve Got Your Number (another fun vacation read!) and the new, gorgeous paperback version of Alma Katsu’s The Taker, which I know I want on my bookshelf. It doesn’t help that I walk by them every day at Wal-Mart or that they’re both 40% off (as per Wal-Mart’s book policy) or that I get an additional discount (as per employee policy).

I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist, but maybe this small stack will help me pace myself before I succumb to book temptation?

But then again, who am I kidding! I’ll have them done within a week!

Hope you’re all enjoying your week 🙂

Ikhlas

Recipe: Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Ikhlas // 24 April, 2012 // 3 Comments

So Friday, as is my usual custom, I got out my baking hat and got baking. I intended to make two recipes for this week to share with you all, but unfortunately, one recipe went so badly that I couldn’t post it. Think burnt when you’re thinking of bad.

It wasn’t anyobody’s fault, since I was using a recipe from a blogger, and everyone tends to have different grades in their oven, but I was so upset when they came out all burnt.

Instead of sitting behind the kitchen island and crying over my ruined cookies, I instead turned the volume up on The Devil Wears Prada, which I was watching for the 4756745 time in a row, kept saying the lines out loud, which my brother finds very annoying, and made these deep dish chocolate chip cookies instead, to cheer myself up.

And before you even think it, yes, my picture-taking skills suck. Before, I had been using my brother’s much cooler, better-able-to-focus Sony camera, but he kinda found out and told me that I used his camera more than he did. So I had to stop 🙁

By the way, these are adapted from this recipe. She may have better pictures…

But anyway, no matter how sucky my picture-taking skills are, these are GOOD. And I mean, sinfully good. If you use big ramekins like me, you might feel better about yourself after eating these if you share. Unless you’re one of my brothers and devour them within 5 minutes of me taking them out of the oven 🙂

Enough rambling! Here’s what you’ll need:

4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups softened butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 F.
First, you’re going to combine the flour, the baking powder and the baking soda. Set it aside.
Then you’re going to cream your butter and your sugars. Note: the original recipe calls for a cup each of regular sugar and brown sugar. I actually followed the original, and found the cookies a little too sweet (I didn’t know there could be such a thing!), so if you don’t want to go into a sugar coma, cut down the sugars to 3/4 cup each.
Add in your eggs and vanilla and beat them in.
Slowly add your flour mixture, mixing it in well before you add more.
Toss in your chocolate chips last, leaving a little bit to sprinkle on top.
Scoop your dough into pre-greased ramekins and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Let them cool (a bit) to maintain the ooey-gooey factor before you stuff yourself silly. Vanilla ice cream makes this even better, if possible.

And there you have it! These are so good right out of the oven, with a scoop of cold ice cream on top. The insides will be mushy and melt-in-your-mouth, while the cold ice cream will swirl together the melted chocolate chips for a party in your mouth.

I ended up making three deep-dish cookies, because I only had three ramekins, but if you have more, go ahead and make them all! I made regular old cookies with the rest, which were also very yummy.

If you don’t want to make it all at once, you can also freeze the dough and then thaw again before baking them.

So there you have it! I’m excited to try all my cookie recipes (except maybe sugar cookies) in a deep-dish format to see if they’re all as good as this one.

I hope you try this out, and do let me know how you get on 🙂

Ikhlas

P.S- In order to prove to you that I don’t just eat cookies and cupcakes and brownies, I’ll be posting a pasta recipe on Thursday! That is, if everything goes to plan. Which it usually doesn’t.

In Other News…

by Ikhlas // 20 April, 2012 // 10 Comments

Hello!

So I have big(ish) announcements to share with you all today! No, this news has nothing to do with writing, fashion, poetry, books, baking or cooking, which apparently is what this blog is about, and my sad, boring life. But I sometimes forget this.

Considering how random my posts are and how sporadic they are, I can’t imagine anyone really being interested, since I’m not sure who exactly reads this blog. I mean, according to my analytics, people do read it, but other than my friends (who I’m sure are just humouring me so I don’t keep pestering them), who else reads this?

If you read this blog, can you pretty please (with a cherry on top), head over to my new Facebook page and click ‘like’? If you do, I’ll bake you hundreds of cookies (chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, any type, you name) and will beam them to you via cyberspace 🙂

All right, now on to my news! So yesterday I had orientation for my job as a cashier at Wal-Mart! I know, I know, some of you might be staring at me, cross-eyed right now, thinking, ‘THIS is your big news. Lame, extremely lame, Ikhlas’. Yes, it’s not the most exciting announcement, like say, me announcing I’ve landed a five book deal with Penguin or finding out that I’m the long-lost heir to the Mughal empire, but it’s pretty up there, in my opinion. ^_^

All kidding aside, I’ve been trying to find a part-time job for several months now, but the market’s so hard for newly graduated students, that I just kept applying to anything and everything (clarification: anything and everything that a humanities grad qualifies for, which apparently isn’t much) and thankfully, got something now.

Even though I’m part-time, because of my new schedule, I’m going to be pretty busy and posts are going to be (even more) sporadic.

Something else that’s going to affect my blogging schedule (‘pfft!’ you say, ‘as if you have one’) is my volunteer commitment. I mentioned before that I’m part of planning an Islamic convention that’s going to be happening May 18-20th, which is less than one month away! Being the hospitality coordinator means that all I end up doing every day is reading emails constantly, watching the number of emails grow exponentially in my inbox, and running around shouting, ‘I have so many things to do!’ It’s stressful and time-consuming, but I absolutely love it. It’s so rewarding to put one’s time and energies into something that you enjoy doing, just for the fun and experience of it.

So what have I been reading these days? There is a particular book that hasn’t left my side, and travels all day with me from my bedside table to the kitchen table to the couch and then back to my bedside table.

Fodor's Walt Disney World 2011: With Universal, SeaWorld, and the Best of Central Florida

This is my second exciting announcement! I’m going on vacation to Orlando, Florida! I am so excited, its all I think about and dream about. Again, this might not be the most exciting thing, like say, travelling back in time or packing for a mission to space, but it’s pretty up there. ^_^

All joking aside, my family and I have never been on a vacation, unless you count muggy, polluted Pakistan (which I don’t), so this is going to be a real treat for us. 😀

Given how impatient and prone to over-excitement I am, it’s all I think about, when I’m not agonizing over that book that I’m supposed to be writing or the convention I’m supposed to be planning. Seriously, my family has on numerous occasions told me to calm down (not an unusual occurrence in my house) as I babble on about what clothes I’m going to take and the outfits I’ll wear, or the yummy treats I’ll make for the road trip there, or what fabulous reads I need to purchase, or what rides I need to go on (Harry Potter world, duh).

My family has appointed me as ‘vacation coordinator’, so between my volunteer commitment, a new job, and that book I’m supposed to be writing, I have more than enough to keep myself occupied.

I will also be baking this weekend and will hopefully have some yummy recipes to share with you all on Sunday or Monday! I know I completely shirked my recipe-blogging duties (bad Ikhlas!) but I have not one, but two recipes planned for this weekend, so you’ll all be in for a treat! 🙂

All right, this post has gone on long enough! Again, if you enjoy reading my rambly writings, please check out my Facebook page!

As always, thanks for reading,

Ikhlas

Review: The Flight of Gemma Hardy

by Ikhlas // 17 April, 2012 // 2 Comments

The Flight of Gemma Hardy Ten-year-old Gemma is an orphan and lives with her cruel aunt and merciless cousins in haunting Scotland in the 1960s. Tortured daily, Gemma is eventually sent to a boarding school where she works to maintain her status as a student, and is further bullied by working-students.

She eventually finds a friend at Claypoole school, but loses her just as quickly when the young girl dies of asthma and Gemma is alone and friendless once again.

Now grown up, Gemma tries to find herself in the world and earn her keep as she takes a position as a nanny to a difficult girl in the isolated islands of the Orkneys.

It’s there that she meets Mr. Sinclair, who is the uncle of young Nell and is more than double the age of Gemma. He is also the man she falls in love with as Gemma journeys into a world of passion and betrayal, lies and secrets. Continue reading →

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