you owe me

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,

"You owe Me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.

-Hafiz

choc chip cookie, my own recipe!

1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup brown sugar + 3/4 cup butter + 1/2 egg, mixxx
add 1and half cup wholemeal flour, 1/2 tsp bp, pinch salt, + about 2 tbsp milk + 1 cup choc chips or more

190degrees for 15 minutes ish

used recipes, not to lose

Nigellas crumble

rub together 200g flour plus 1tsp bp with 100g cold diced butter
add 6 tbsp demerera sugar

frozen berries etc, plus 2 tsp cornflour plus 4 tsp sugar plus vanilla


Eclairs

These long, puffy buns are stuffed with cream and topped with rich chocolate icing. The buns are made with choux pastry, which is made by bringing butter and water to the boil, tipping in the flour and then beating in the eggs.
Ingredients
For the pastry
75g/2½oz butter, diced
200ml/7fl oz water
salt
100g/4oz strong plain flour
3 free-range eggs, beaten
For the cream
250ml/9fl oz double or whipping cream
For the chocolate icing
100g/4oz caster sugar
100ml/3½oz water
50g/2oz dark chocolate
25g/1oz unsalted butter



Method
1. Heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Place the butter, water and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon as the butter melts.
2. Meanwhile, sift the flour into a small bowl.
3. When the butter has melted, turn up the heat and bring the mixture to the boil. Switch off the heat and quickly tip the flour into the saucepan. Immediately beat the flour into the liquid with the wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients together. Stop beating when the mixture swells into a smooth dough that comes away from the sides of the saucepan. This should take only a few seconds.
4. Let the mixture cool for 3-4 minutes. Pour in a little of the beaten egg into the flour mixture and beat it in well. Keep adding and beating in the egg, a little at a time, until the dough looks thick, smooth and shiny and still holds its shape well. You may not need the last two or three tablespoonfuls of egg if your eggs are large.
5. Spoon the mixture into a freezer bag (you'll need to scrape it out of the pan with a plastic spatula). Fold down the top of the bag to squeeze the dough to the bottom. Snip off one of the bottom corners of the bag to give you a hole about 1cm long.
6. Line two flat baking sheets with baking parchment. Squeeze the mixture into chipolata-sized sausage shapes on to the parchment, allowing about 4cm between each one (they will at least double in size in the oven). You should be able to make about 12.
7. Wearing oven gloves, place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Take the éclairs out when they are puffed up, golden brown all over, and feel hard when you poke one with a knife.
8. Immediately take each éclair off the baking sheet (they will be very hot, so wear oven gloves) and, with the point of a knife, gently slit the side to let out the steam. (Otherwise, the steam sits trapped in the éclair and turns back to water, leaving you with a soggy bun.) Leave them to cool and dry out on a wire rack.
9. Whip the cream in a small bowl until it is just thick enough to hold its shape. Place it in the fridge while you make the chocolate icing.
10. For the icing, place the sugar and water in a small saucepan over a low heat. Heat gently, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil and boil fast for three minutes. Switch off the hob and wait for a few minutes for the syrup to cool down (you can speed this up by dipping the base of the pan in a bowl of cold water if you like). Meanwhile, break up the chocolate and cut the butter into chunks.
11. When the syrup is very warm, rather than very hot, add the chocolate and butter. Stir until both have melted and blended to a smooth, glossy sauce. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally. When the sauce starts to thicken, it's ready to ice your éclairs.
12. When the buns are cool, use a teaspoon to fill the inside of each éclair with whipped cream (you may need to enlarge the slit you made before). Then take a different teaspoon and smear the chocolate icing generously over each éclair. Leave the éclairs on the wire rack until the icing has set. In the unlikely event that you're not going to eat them straight away, you can put them in the fridge for a few hours.

Eggless chocolate cake

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vinegar
Directions
1Mix all ingredients together until moist and well blended.
2Put in cupcake cups and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F.
3Frost with your favorite icing.
4To make a layer cake, double the recipes and put in 2 round cake pans.
5Increase baking time to about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.


Dark choc cake

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup cold brewed coffee
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vinegar
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DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs, coffee, milk, oil and vinegar. Mix until smooth, batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.


Carrot Cake

Ingredients

4 eggs, lightly beaten
250g caster sugar
185ml sunflower oil
300g plain flour
3/4tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
400g carrots, peeled and grated
55g walnuts (optional)

icing
180g butter
250g icing sugar
180g cream cheese
3 drops vanilla extract

preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease and flour a 24cm tin.
Beat eggs and sugar together, then whisk in oil. Mix dry ingredients together and add to the egg mixture. Add carrots and walnuts. Bake for an hour.

Mix icing ingredients together, and ice once the cake is cool.


Shortbread

Ingredients
For the shortbread:
175g/6oz unsalted butter, softened
75g/3oz golden caster sugar
175g/6oz plain flour
75g/3oz rice flour or ground rice

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas3.
2. Place the butter into a large bowl and, using a wooden spoon, cream until softened. Add the sugar and blend together.
3. Sift both the plain flour and ground rice together into the creamed mixture.
4. Shape the mixture into a sausage shape, cut it in half and set one half aside. Squash the mixture down onto a large baking tray. Use a 20cm/8in plain flan ring as a guide and press the mixture around the ring. Use the back of a metal tablespoon to smooth the surface of the mixture.
5. Remove the flan ring and decorate the shortcake mixture by crimping the mixture with your thumb and forefinger to form scalloped edges. Prick the surface of the shortcake with a fork. Repeat the process with the remaining shortcake mixture.
6. Place the shortcakes in the fridge and chill for 30-40 minutes until hard. Meanwhile, reserve eight whole strawberries. With the remaining strawberries remove the stalks (or hull) and cut in half. Set aside.
7. Remove the shortcakes from the fridge and bake for about 30 minutes until pale golden brown.


Victoria Sponge

Ingredients
220g/8oz caster sugar
220g/8oz butter, plus extra for greasing
4 free-range eggs, beaten
220g/8oz self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam
600ml/1 pint 2fl oz double cream, whipped
icing sugar, to dust



Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
2. Grease and line two 23cm/9in cake tins.
3. Beat the sugar and butter together in a bowl until pale and creamy, then gradually add the eggs, alternating with a tablespoon of flour. Gently fold in the rest of the flour and vanilla extract, then divide equally between the two cake tins.
4. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly golden. Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
5. When cool, spread one cake with jam and whipped double cream, then place the other cake on top. Dust with icing sugar and serve in slices.

bahr

Sit with those of this world
and you become a speck in its sea
Sit with those of God
and the world becomes a speck in your sea

hmm

Today I just got up from praying maghrib to found myself encapsulated in a strange and unexpected sense of peace and contentment. It feels like a hot summers evening here, I can hear some of our arab neighbours sitting on their balconies chitchatting away. The atmosphere reminds me of Bangladesh. Both my dadas house and Nanas, on evenings without electricity, where the family, neighbours etc would leave their tasks and just sit around outside to escape the heat. There would be such a serenity about it all…or maybe its just the glasses I was looking through, coloured with childhood and youth and the minuteness of problems. But I like to believe it wasn’t just that.

From what I hear, the average Jordanian isn’t well off. Everyday is a struggle to make ends meet especially with the recent rocketing prices of fuel and groceries. A lot of men have a second taxi-driving job on top of their regular jobs. Just the other day we met a taxi driver who went to university in England and can speak nearly 5 languages and was probably in his sixties. Yet he was still having to work extremely hard to finance his grown up children’s’ university educations.
What amazes me is the strength and faith these people have in Allahs will and ways, even the average joe blog who’s not seemingly religious and is smoking and blasting the most ridiculous music out of his cab.

In Bangladesh too, its amazing how much resolve the average people can have amidst their material poverty and unstable environment.

Just makes me think how an atmosphere made of believers and people of faith (and I don’t mean the super religious, just the ‘commoners’) can be so much more enriched compared to one that is materially well off yet lacking in godliness

Tagore

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers
But to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain
But for the heart to conquer it.

Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield
But to my own strength.

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved
But hope for the patience to win my freedom.

Grant me that I may not be coward,
Feeling your mercy in my success alone;
But let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure.

- Rabindranath Tagore

snow snow, glorious snow!