Scrummy Sliders
Recently Arsalan has had a craving for sliders, cute little mini burgers that have become popular recently. (Also apparently originated from White Castle of “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle fame”).
In not as recent news, I don’t particularly need a reason to crave burgers (or pizza, while we’re on the topic), and can get quite annoying and whingey when I want one (but can’t, because of wheatiness).
And when our cravings align, we make for a very agreeable and accommodating couple for the other 5 people in the house.
As the mom in law is out of town for the next few weeks, the house is left to eat whatever I feel like feeding them, and on my last grocery shopping round, i found a pack of mini buns! (hmm, now where could this story be leading to…?)
I also recently discovered a breadmachine in the house, and attempted to make gluten free bread (as opposed to the store-bought gluten free rocks we try to render edible), and at the last minute decided to scoop some dough into cupcake pans to make…gluten free mini buns! (related note: father in law can’t have gluten either)
A couple of days later, when looking at my over-full to-do list, I decided that instead of crossing items off, this would be the perfect time to make burgers! (Further proof that procrastination breeds creativity). Thus I got busy and did the following:
- Defrosted the minced chicken
- Washed and cut many many sweet potatoes (= achey shoulders)
- Cried while dicing onions for the burger patties
- Teared some more as I sliced onions for burger toppings
- Washed and sliced mushrooms rather uneventfully
- Laid out sweet potatoes, onions, mushrooms on oven tray, drizzled with olive oil and popped them in the oven
- Made the burger patty mix, then scooped and cooked them into the stove-top mini burger pan (previously used in the house to help shape kebabs!)
- Realised too late that maybe I should have turned on the exhaust and lit candles before cooking
- Placed all ingredients separately on the kitchen counter, together with the wheaty and non-wheaty burger buns and various toppings and told people to assemble their own food.
The final product – cute little burgers!
(for size perspective, the slices of cheese on the burgers are normal slices of cheese divided into four)
And their gluten-free, but certainly not less tasty cousins:
The verdict: YUM!
(I know what I’m having for lunch today!)
Once upon a time
As some of you may know, sometime in February I entered a short story writing competition. Arsalan spotted it quite randomly somewhere and being the gentleman that he is, immediately brought it to my attention along with the words “you should enter!!”
So obediently I did.
And then the nerves set in.
The competition has two rounds, and goes as follows:
- You sign up
- The competition kicks off with a mass email that is sent to all participants indicating your heat number
- You look up the respective topic and genre for your heat, and then you’re given a week to write the story!
Considering I started to freak out before I even knew what I was supposed to write about, just imagine what I was like during the writing week itself. (Hint: it involved lots of whining, finger pointing and blaming a certain gentleman for putting me in this predicament.)
Anyways, the story was submitted, and then I had to wait a month until March 23 to see what happens next.
And so March 23rd came, and I saw the email alert pop up that the competition had sent me an email!
[insert more stressed out antics here]
Hesitantly I clicked on the subject header to open the message, and was informed that the results announcement would be postponed to Friday.
Argh.
Finally the results came in (Saturday morning SG time), and I wasted no time in clicking through to my heat number to see how I did. While my story wasn’t in the top two that progressed to the next round, it was highlighted as one of the top five in my heat!!
Me rather proud of myself *pats self on the back*
http://www.nycmidnight.com/Competitions/SSC/1st%20Round/15.htm
Based on a true story
Mom’s bday is also in February, so while zee and I had also arranged a gift for mom from London as well (a make-up item she’d been looking for), the gift didn’t seem complete somehow. So while browsing in Borders, I came across a book which I flicked through briefly and immediately knew I had to buy it for her. The material struck a chord with me, in fact it seemed like the author had based their story ON us.
The best birthday present….in the world
February is birthday month in the Hasan household, so for birthday #1 (dad’s), I conspired with zee and took advantage of H’s trip to the UK to have a gifty ordered and brought to Singapore.
Having already been patting myself on the back for my brilliance, as soon as midnight of dad’s bday rolled around, I bounded down the stairs and said “happybirthdayabbuhere’syourpresentopenopenopen!!”
Here’s dad’s first look at what he got:
Bemused, he opened it up further and discovered he’d received an imported T-shirt, and not just any T-shirt, buuuuuuuuuut….
(front)
(back)
I’m sure Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear host) would approve and really call it, “the best gift…….in the world!”
And being a Top Gear item, not even the tag was left unharmed:
Superstitions
We have all heard about random superstitions, such as what breaking a mirror or crossing a black cat does, which numbers are a must-have, or which stones are a complete no-no.
Our family is usually pretty unsuperstitious, with one giant, hulking exception: Live Pakistan Cricket Matches.
It is at these times when our (outwardly) sane family adopts some weird traditions and adheres to some interesting beliefs. So let me reveal the Hasan family cricket superstitions:
- Thou shalt not leave a TV showing the match unmanned
- Thou shalt not make sudden movements during a current ball (so as not to disturb the team)
- Uzma Hasan shall be made scarce during tense moments of the game (self-imposed rule)
- Thou shall only change the channel during an advertisement break
- Hurling abuse at the opposing team will distract them
- Similarly, encouraging chants for the Pakistan team will spur them on
Needless to say, we probably leave the match more drained than the teams on the screen itself, and the sheer amount of effort invested merits a nice reward after the game 
.
Any more strange spectator sport beliefs? Add on below!
Freebies!
I love freebies. Especially when all I have to do is be friends with people who do all the spending and then have more free gifts than they know what to do with! Case in point: The pack of Body Shop goodies I received earlier this week, accompanied by an ang pow, no less! (Please also note the colours of the set – very festive!)
So the next time you have spare little gifties floundering around the place, homeless, I’ll be more than happy to help you dispose of them. I know, I’m very generous and big-hearted that way.
And that’s the way the apple crumbles
Sometime last week, in the middle of the day, my mom calls me to tell me the day’s updates. This ended with an, “Oh by the way, my cousin called up this morning, he’s in town for a day for a conference, and I’ve invited him over for dinner. Please make dessert, thank you!”
With such advance notice (a couple of hours), I automatically fell back onto my no-brainer dessert solution: Apple crumble!
Luckily I had all the ingredients needed at home already (made it easier to maintain my laziness), so I got right to it!
I chopped up the apples and let them cook with a bit of cinammon and brown sugar
While the apples were heating up, I mixed the flour and stuff for the crumble (gee, I wonder where they come up with the names for such dishes). I rubbed in the butter by hand to get the “breadcrumb” look – see action shot below:
Then you put ‘em all together and whaddaya got? Yumminess in the ovenness! 
(While I was at it I made a little one with gluten free flour for myself, so I could get in on the fun as well)
Not only does freshly baked apple crumble fill the house with a very inviting smell, but it is a perfect way to end the meal: a scoopfull of crumble with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream. Yum!
Whoever said I’d be bored by now…
…was obviously lying.
I was plonking in some appointments into my iPhone calendar for the coming week, and realised my time is already filling up! Please see the below image for illustratory purposes:
(the dates with the little dots underneath are days where I’m already booked)
This means two things:
- Book your appointments with Mehreen early! (please note there are two appointments for next week still pending confirmation that aren’t in my calendar yet)
- I should have bet BIG money against the people who said that I’d be sitting around and twiddling my thumbs after I left work. Dammit.
Pakistan at the Olympics!
The ONLY reason why I watched the Winter Olympics 2010 opening ceremony was because I received an SMS telling me Pakistan is participating!
So I rushed downstairs to turn on the TV just in time to see the Pakistan team marching in! To put my excitement into context: This is the first time ever that Pakistan has participated in the Winter Olympics, so everyone got quite the surprise with this piece of news.
Muhammad Abbas (the one holding the flag – the others are his support people) is participating in the Giant Slalom (whatever that is), but because of his last name, is the first athlete to be listed on the Olympics list of participants. This means that no matter the result, we know we came in #1 in at least one thing 
Secret Surprise!
**This is one of many Karachi posts that you’ll see coming up in the next few days. I’d written a few while there and just never got around to fixing them up and publishing them earlier**
A familiar sight caught my eye while I was driving (ok fine, being driven) down a street during my previous trip to Karachi. Out of curiosity I’d dragged my cousins to check out whether this was the real deal or just a very similar looking rip-off. I can now confirm that this is indeed the real thing folks, and dragged my ever suffering cousins back there again, just so I could take photos for you guys! The things I do for you guys, you should feel honoured!
Presenting, the Pakistan leg of…*drumroll* Secret Recipe!!
And proof of its autheticity on the menu’s inside front cover:
The menu, which looked and tastes better than the fare we get at the Singapore outlets, also included Singapore Laksa! While I didn’t try it out (I got the Vietnamese beef noodle soup), I managed to exasperate my cousins enough by insisting to take photos of everything, and then refusing to tell them my blog address. Hee.
Oh, and I got them to foot the entire bill as well. If this isn’t skill I don’t know what is.
And this is already in addition to a dinner and movie I’d taken the liberty of enjoying for free, along with another movie date which took place later that week.
Not too bad a life you say? I’d say so too, if it wasn’t for the fact that their threats to visit Singapore actually seem to be materialising. That, and their insistence that I’m going to have to pay for all their activities while I’m there.
Gleep.
I think I’m going to have to go back to work just to be able to afford their holidays!!
