Recipe: Chilli con carne

I tried out a recipe for chilli last night that was such a success that I felt I must share.  I must warn you that the quantities below are all what I think "just about looks right" (I have trouble following recipes). Pictured below is what it looked like about half way through the meal, when I felt the need to blog about it.

Chilli con carne: Adapted from BBCgoodfood

Prep time: aprox. 1 hour
Cost: aprox. Rs. 1250
Serves 4

5 big onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
250g tomatoes, chopped
450g minced chicken
1 chicken stock cube
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 can of  beans
handful of basil, rough chop
1 tbs oil
salt, pepper, sugar, cumin and chilli powder to taste

1. Prep your veggies. Dice, mince and chop as above.

2. Heat oil in your saucepan on medium flame and cook onions until translucent. Add garlic, bell pepper, chilli and cumin, and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add the chicken. Break up the mince while cooking until there are no chunks. Cook for 5 mins or until cooked through.

4. Make the stock using the stock cube and 1 cup of hot water. Pour into the pan. Add the chopped up tomatoes and tomato puree. Stir well.

5. At this point you can add the salt, pepper and sugar. If, like me, you're using baked beans instead of regular beans because you couldn't find any, taste the liquid in the beans. If it is already sweet, just omit the sugar.

6. Give it a good stir and bring the whole thing to a boil, turn the heat down, put a lid on it and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Check on it occasionally and give it a stir; the sauce may stick to the bottom. If it's looking too dry, add some water. The whole thing should look nice and juicy at this point.

7. Drain and rinse your beans and add them to the pot. If you're using baked beans, dump the whole thing in. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes with an occasional stir. Taste for seasoning and add what's necessary. Throw in the basil. Now replace the lid, turn off the flame and let it sit for 10 minutes for the flavours to absorb.

8. Serve* and devour.

*I served it plain with bread to mop up the sauce, but you can also serve it over rice.

Not Your Exotic - Suheir Hammad

Not Your Exotic

don't wanna be your exotic
like some dark, fragile colourful bird
imprisoned, caged, in a land foreign to the stretch of her wings
don't wanna be your exotic
women everywhere look just like me
some taller, darker, nicer than me but like me just the same
women everywhere carry my nose on their faces
my name on their spirits
don't seduce yourself with my 'other' ness
my hair wasn't put on top of my head to entice you into some mysterious black voodoo
the beat of my lashes against each other ain't some dark desert beat, it's just a blink
get over it.
don't build around me your fetish fantasy, your lustful profanity to cage me in
clip my wings, don't wanna be your exotic
you love it if my beauty ain't more than funky forniction, plain pink perversion
in fact, nasty necrophilia
because my beauty is dead to you
i am dead to you
not your harem girl, geisha doll, banana picker, pom pom girl, pum pum short coffee maker
town whore, belly dancer, private dancer, la malinche, Venus, hot and taut laundry girl
your immaculate vessel, emasculating princess
don't wanna be, not your erotic
not your exotic. 

Now that I am in Marid I can think - Frank O'Hara

I think of you
and the continents brilliant and arid
and the slender heart you are sharing my share of with the American air
as the lungs I have felt sonorously subside slowly greet each morning
and your brown lashes flutter revealing two perfect dawns colored by New York

see a vast bridge stretching to the humbled outskirts with only you
Standing on the edge of the purple like an only tree
and in Toledo the olive groves' soft blue look at the hills with silver
like glasses like and old ladies hair
It's well known that God and I don't get along together
It's just a view of the brass works for me, I don't care about the Moors
seen through you the great works of death, you are greater

you are smiling, you are emptying the world so we can be alone.

I ♥ NY

I miss New York. I really do. Even though the last few months I was there all I could think about was coming home, now that I am home, I miss it.

I regret not making the most of it while I was there. I regret not taking more time to explore, regret not breaking the rules a little more, regret not letting it in. I regret not going downtown more often, not visiting the East Village because it was too far away, not befriending strangers in the park and boys on the corner. I regret not having enough money to spend my 20s in a tiny studio apartment, drinking wine in the summer and watching the leaves turn in the Fall.

But the times I did, those times are crystal clear in my mind. Wandering around Times Square, window shopping on 5th avenue, watching my cousins' band play at a bar, going dancing at shady clubs, sitting in a random park and scribbling nonsense in my notebook, crawling on my hands and knees to get a perfect shot of tulips in Union Square, always taking about 15 minutes to orient myself after exiting Grand Central Station, shoe shopping at DSW, watching the parades, feeling spiffy in my Fall coat, sharing giant cupcakes and exploring tiny restaurants..

Sometimes I miss it so much it hurts.

Every movie shot in Manhattan makes me want to hop on the next flight out of here. I think I weep so much during rom-coms is because most of them are set in NY and I just want to be there. That city has so many possibilities, and even though the reality of it is harsh and material, (trust me, nothing destroyed my soul quite like job hunting for 6 months there), it's a place where you can dream. It's a place where you can be perfectly lonely and yet perfectly content; you can sit, stand or walk about on your own and not be bothered; even in the mad rush, you can be perfectly calm.

It's easier to dream of New York than it is to actually live there. But it is the only city I see in my dreams. And sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my life, sitting at my desk, dreaming of it.

Go here, here and here for photographs that got me particularly nostalgic. 

the 411

Time for an update! I bet you all are as excited as I am, which is to say, not much. I've had a busy week months? The days are starting to blur together. I often don't know which day of the week it is and wear my Thursday jeans on a Tuesday, that kind of thing.

So I went to Islamabad for a conference, which was informative and inspiring and all those things civil society conferences are supposed to be. My hosts were lovely, and I felt very privileged to be in the company of some very vocal and passionate female activists. Islamabad itself was nothing to write home about; a very organised and planned city, from the little I saw of it, which is to say, yawn. I happened to injure my foot during my stay so I only ventured out of my comfy bed for a couple hours on my free day, and really, there was nothing to see. More men than women on the streets, and I felt supremely uncomfortable, even though I was covered from head to toe, because everyone stares. The men, however, were much friendlier and more helpful in giving directions than the women who'd stare and scuttle away from me in fear, leaving me looking like O_O. Seriously, that was really weird. Anyhow, the highlight of the trip was when we were taken to a hilltop(?) restaurant, Monal, for dinner, which afforded a breath taking view of the city, and delicious food to go with it.

Moving on, I am pleased to announce that my Project 365 is more than 2 months in. I actually never thought I'd make it this far. There are a rather large number of pictures of my laptop and the view from my balcony, because I don't do or go anywhere very picture-worthy during the week, and nothing exciting happens at office, but I try to keep it creative, and the filters on my photo app really help.

Relatedly, I'm contemplating buying myself a very expensive camera within the next few months, and am trying in vain to justify spending that much money on something. The problem with photography is that so many people are doing it now, that if I don't find something ultra unique to do, I will quickly lose interest. The other factor is of course, the ever elusive time to do it.

My attempts at going vegetarian have been largely successful (except for last week in Pakistan where I literally ate only meat. I didn't see a single fruit! At least it was halal.). I find that it's actually not quite so hard at all, maybe because I still do eat fish. I did get a craving for a giant juicy burger the other day, but have resolved to concoct a meatless substitute. My only gripe is that I've largely replaced meals with meat, with desserts, which is doing wonders for my waistline.

I have, more recently, been baking somewhat profusely. My claim to fame so far is my pumpkin pie which got the thumbs up from  the sister, the boyfriend and the best friend, and well, myself too actually. I have no pictures, it was just that good. To continue on my culinary journey I acquired multiple cookbooks, among others, at the bookfair at a steal.

Speaking of which, I'm in the homestretch of my Goodreads challenge. 7 more books to go in 3 months, and I'm considering stretching that to 35 or 40 because I happened upon a whole lot of old and unread books in my cupboard. On the list are The Colour Purple, Caravan to Vaccares, the Harmony Silk Factory, Rounding the Horn, we need to talk about Kevin, Chinaman and a whole bunch of Discworld books.

I'm wondering if this is what my world has come to: work and back, and "challenges" to.. challenge me.. Good grief.

Keep calm and carry on.

Oh and um.. Stay hungry, stay foolish. RIP Steve Jobs.