By Syed Fahd Ali
Finally, the Pakistan cricket team's journey of pursuing the dream of 180 million people is finally over and they are expected to reach home by later tonight after losing the semi final against India.The Dream is over, hearts are broken and the question in mind is: Are we still supposed to love cricket and the Pakistan team or not?
They took a shaky start in the World Cup in the match against Kenya. The most brittle batting order has suffered collapses many times. After Amir Sohail and Saeed Anwer, nobody has been able so far to open Pakistan's innings. So the opening stand has been under experimentation; Shahzad was a failure. "Plan B", Kamran and Hafeez, also opened but didn't work and also failed to give a STRONG stand except once in the ONE-SIDED match against the West Indies. All batsmen were also unable to score a century in this mega event.
Now, as Pakistan lost their semi final to arch-rivals India, their 5th defeat in World Cup against them has had a great impact on the hearts of Pakistan cricket lovers. In fact, I cried like someone is dead to me. I was too much upset last night thinking about the shameful defeat against India.
OH! no man! Why shame? Our team has reached a semi final after 12 years. Before the start of the tournament, nobody expected that Pakistan could be a strong competitor for the cup. Is that the same team who has been in controversies for many years, completely white washed against Australia in all 3 formats of game? And remember all that happened in England,with Pakistan losing the test, ODI and T20 series and the match-fixing scandal! Remember Pakistan lost the T20 and ODI series against South Africa though they did fight well. Oh yeah!
It is this same team in the semis while Australia, England and South Africa got sent back home. The only reason behind this is our love and support to our team, we never stopped supporting our team though they disappointed us many times and this time disappointment is extraordinary but we are never gonna stop bucking up for our team. Hats off team Pakistan and all the especially our beloved captain Shahid ALPHA Afridi for being such brave and promising captain in all circumstances and leading from the front in all situations.
Last but not the least I want to give thanks again to my love, the Bullet Rawalpindi Express for his great services to the Pakistan Cricket team. Mr. Unfit performed way better than 100% fit bowlers. We'll miss you so much and will never forget you.
Pakistan Zindabad!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Malinga Slinga for the World Cup Final
Good morning, everyone! It's April Fool's here, but have no fear, this is going to be a real post. Tomorrow's the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup final between Sri Lanka and India, and I'm looking forward to seeing the fabulous Angelo Mathews, the great bowler Lasith Malinga and his malicious yorker, and the frightening and deadly spin bowler Muralidaran. Team Sri Lanka!
Now dont' get me wrong; I really like the India team, but Sri Lanka does have that special something that makes them extra fun to watch. That special something happens to be Malinga's slinging action when he bowls. Usually quick bowlers are supposed to have their arms totally vertical, at a 90 degree angle from the ground, when they release the ball. Malinga keeps his arm at what appears to be a 45 degree angle or lower. This bowling action, the slinging style, combined with his speed and accuracy and further combined with the visual of his alarming black/bleached blond afro hairstyle rattles even the best of batsmen. Seriously, if I were at the crease, and this machine of bowling maliciousness was running towards me, I'd cry for my mommy!
Because I like Slinga Malinga's yorkers and his hairdo so much, I've come up with a new cocktail named after him...The Malinga Slinga, based on the classic Singapore Sling, but instead of the usual amount of pineapple juice, I've reduced it by half and added some Coke. The pineapple and coke, yellow and black, represent his afro, and the cherry and grenadine represent his red-hot yorker! Yes! But, don't worry, if you're a non-drinker, you can also make the non-alcoholic version which will be just as delicious! For those of you who don't know, I worked for years bartending to pay for university and to pay the bills. I know what I'm doing when it comes to drink mixology! Don't use pre-packaged drink mixes, use the fresh stuff as much as you can. It makes the difference between a mediocre cocktail and a fantastic one that will make you feel like dancing with delight.
The Malinga Slinga
Now dont' get me wrong; I really like the India team, but Sri Lanka does have that special something that makes them extra fun to watch. That special something happens to be Malinga's slinging action when he bowls. Usually quick bowlers are supposed to have their arms totally vertical, at a 90 degree angle from the ground, when they release the ball. Malinga keeps his arm at what appears to be a 45 degree angle or lower. This bowling action, the slinging style, combined with his speed and accuracy and further combined with the visual of his alarming black/bleached blond afro hairstyle rattles even the best of batsmen. Seriously, if I were at the crease, and this machine of bowling maliciousness was running towards me, I'd cry for my mommy!
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| Slinga Malinga in Toe Crushing Good Form |
The Malinga Slinga
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
India Wins the Semi-final, but Wahab Riaz is the Superstar
It's a sad day if you're a Pakistan fan, like me. I stayed up most of the night to watch the battle, and I must say that Pakistan's fielding wasn't up to par. My lovely lads got their timing all wrong, dropping catches and letting singles go for boundaries. The pressure could have been a bit too much for them. Umar Gul, disappointingly, did not have the skillz to pay the billz; the poor guy was having a bad day. Lots of full tosses. He was the last person I would have expected to crack under the pressure.
Then there were the 4 missed catches for Sachin Tendulkar of India. He should have been caught out early on, but all the lovely lads had butterfingers and not the fingers of victory I was wishing for!!
So I'll say Good on India for their win over Pakistan, but I've got something even more important to say this sunny yet sad morning in Melbourne. Wahab Riaz ROCKED yesterday. Great BOWLING!!!! He was on fire, a superstar in a match that saw the usual stars struggle for form. And you know what?
He looked damned good, too. I bet no Indian or Sri Lankan bowler can get as many wickets and look so handsome at the same time!
Therefore, my fellow fans of the bestest team ever, don't feel down, don't be sad. Wahab Riaz is just a young fella who's still learning the complete art of pace bowling. He was magnificent in this World Cup semi-final...can you imagine what he'll be like in the NEXT world cup when he's in peak form??? YES! There's only one way to go from now Pakistan, and that is UP!
Chin up, everyone. Pakistan lost this one, but we all know very well that our lads are on their way to becoming the dominating force in cricket!
Now go get your kitchen ready for tomorrow. I'll show you how to make the Malinga Slinga cocktail (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions).
Toodles.
Then there were the 4 missed catches for Sachin Tendulkar of India. He should have been caught out early on, but all the lovely lads had butterfingers and not the fingers of victory I was wishing for!!
So I'll say Good on India for their win over Pakistan, but I've got something even more important to say this sunny yet sad morning in Melbourne. Wahab Riaz ROCKED yesterday. Great BOWLING!!!! He was on fire, a superstar in a match that saw the usual stars struggle for form. And you know what?
Therefore, my fellow fans of the bestest team ever, don't feel down, don't be sad. Wahab Riaz is just a young fella who's still learning the complete art of pace bowling. He was magnificent in this World Cup semi-final...can you imagine what he'll be like in the NEXT world cup when he's in peak form??? YES! There's only one way to go from now Pakistan, and that is UP!
Chin up, everyone. Pakistan lost this one, but we all know very well that our lads are on their way to becoming the dominating force in cricket!
Now go get your kitchen ready for tomorrow. I'll show you how to make the Malinga Slinga cocktail (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions).
Toodles.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Shahid Afridi, Show'em How Things Are Done In Pakistan
Dear Pakistan Cricket Team Captain;
That's right Shahid, this letter today is for you. I flipping love you and how you've turned this Pakistan cricket team around. You have taken a group of extremely talented athletes out of the quagmire of chaos, politics, scandal and heartbreak and have transformed them into a magnificent fighting machine, capable of going all the way to the top. All the way!
We have all seen your glorious transformation from impatient, hot-headed batsman to passionate, calm, collected, masterful captain and deadly, efficient bowler. You have furthermore taken each player's weakness and turned it into a strength. Every bowler can bat, every batsman can bowl, and everyone is dynamite in the field. With every match, the lads are getting better and better, and I have faith that today, in your epic cricket battle with India, you and the lads will show your full potential and blow away the entire world with your skills and superior cricketing ability. Furthermore, my captain, you and the lads will look fabulous while you're doing it!!!
Since I started watching cricket in June of 2010, you and the lads have been my favourites. Although at the time I knew next to nothing about the game, and you were losing matches, even I could see the enormous amount of raw potential in the squad which no other team seemed to have and I remember saying to my friends: these chaps are going to be legendary and we will be talking about them for years to come.
And now we are here, a few hours before the semi-final of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, playing against India, our fiercest rival. Shahid Afridi, you and the lads do your best, and have the time of your lives out there today. Blow India out of the water! Make them tremble in fear! Go give them the Heebie-Jeebies! Go show them how things are done in Pakistan! And people are indeed saying that Pakistan is a great team...but show the world that they ain't seen nothin' yet!
Shahid Afridi, my captain, you're my hero for never giving up, and all of us thank you for staying with the lads and taking them this far. Shahid Afridi you rock and may you point your victorious fingers towards the sky many many times during this historical match.
Yours faithfully in Cricket,
Kiki
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| Shahid Afridi and his Fingers Of Victory |
That's right Shahid, this letter today is for you. I flipping love you and how you've turned this Pakistan cricket team around. You have taken a group of extremely talented athletes out of the quagmire of chaos, politics, scandal and heartbreak and have transformed them into a magnificent fighting machine, capable of going all the way to the top. All the way!
We have all seen your glorious transformation from impatient, hot-headed batsman to passionate, calm, collected, masterful captain and deadly, efficient bowler. You have furthermore taken each player's weakness and turned it into a strength. Every bowler can bat, every batsman can bowl, and everyone is dynamite in the field. With every match, the lads are getting better and better, and I have faith that today, in your epic cricket battle with India, you and the lads will show your full potential and blow away the entire world with your skills and superior cricketing ability. Furthermore, my captain, you and the lads will look fabulous while you're doing it!!!
Since I started watching cricket in June of 2010, you and the lads have been my favourites. Although at the time I knew next to nothing about the game, and you were losing matches, even I could see the enormous amount of raw potential in the squad which no other team seemed to have and I remember saying to my friends: these chaps are going to be legendary and we will be talking about them for years to come.
And now we are here, a few hours before the semi-final of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, playing against India, our fiercest rival. Shahid Afridi, you and the lads do your best, and have the time of your lives out there today. Blow India out of the water! Make them tremble in fear! Go give them the Heebie-Jeebies! Go show them how things are done in Pakistan! And people are indeed saying that Pakistan is a great team...but show the world that they ain't seen nothin' yet!
Shahid Afridi, my captain, you're my hero for never giving up, and all of us thank you for staying with the lads and taking them this far. Shahid Afridi you rock and may you point your victorious fingers towards the sky many many times during this historical match.
Yours faithfully in Cricket,
Kiki
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The World Cup Semis, Jesse Ryder, and Pakoras for Pakistan
And it's foggy this fine Melbourne Monday Morning, but there's been so much cricketing sunshine in the past few days that the haze is barely noticeable. Here's a quick rundown on what's happened:
In one heckuva match, little New Zealand beat the pants off of South Africa. Ya heard me right. The Saffies, who were one of the favourites to win the WC, and are furthermore quite a deadly team, brought their "B" game (some say "F" game for "fail") to the cricket pitch and underestimated the Kiwis. In the end, the Kiwis scored 221/8, and bowled out the Saffies for 172 in 43.2 overs. Bowled out!!!
As you know, I've always made fun of the Kiwis. Well, no more. Pakistan are #1 in my heart and always will be, but New Zealand are my new second-favourites. A person who deserves a big old shout-out is the fabulous and fit-looking Jesse Ryder who hung in there, anchored the NZ innings and scored a nice 83 runs. Some of you may already know, some of you may not....Jesse Ryder is battling alcoholism, and it has been a real struggle for him.
Jesse, you're awesome. Don't get discouraged, keep on doing your best to quit the drink, and keep on playing great cricket. We, the cricket-watching public, love you, and good on ya for helping your team beat the Saffies! You can do anything!!! TEAM JESSE RYDER!
And in other World Cup cricket news, Sri Lanka beat England to make it into the semi-finals. Good on the Sri Lankans! Seriously, the English were like a cat in this World Cup...they had so many close calls that they used up their 9 lives. Anyhoo, Sri Lanka royally thrashed the English with a 10 wicket yes a 10 wicket victory!
So, in the next round of World Cupness, Sri Lanka will play New Zealand, and Pakistan will play India. These are going to be extraordinary matches; especially the Pak/India match. Seriously, watch this epic battle with people who know CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) because I know that Kamran Akmal drops a catch, there will be millions of people besides me having a heart attack. Be safe and smart!
For today's cooking, it's going to be something a little simple, some nice pakoras, something similar to what we call fritters in the west. But pakoras taste better and will put a spring in your step and a smile on your face. Hello, world, see the food that I'm cookin, c'mon get happyyyyyyyyy!
Pakoras for Pakistan
I've never seen anyone make pakoras before, so I did my research, all the recipes have the same basic ingredients and they all have the same methodology. Some recipes looked like they had an imbalance of spices and would be bitter. So here's what I've cobbled together and hopefully these should be just fantastic!
Ingredients:
Batter:
1 1/2 cup chickpea flour (Besan)
1 teaspoon lal mirch (chili powder) or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon coriander (cilantro), very finely chopped (use more if you like)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground anardana seeds (pomegranate seeds)
1 pinch of aamchoor (green mango powder) but only if you want a little extra tang
1 teaspoon yogurt
1/2 cup water
Put everything in a bowl, but gradually add the water, beating everything until it forms a thick, uniform batter. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes before adding your vegetables.
Vegetables:
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 potato, pre-cooked and cut into small pieces
1 clove of garlic, very finely diced
Spinach, finely chopped
cauliflower, cut into small pieces
(in fact, you can use any vegetable you like; but don't forget the onions because they add the right amount of sweetness and depth)
Put the vegetables into the batter and make sure they are all coated.
Heat enough oil in a pan to deep fry on medium heat. Do not overheat the oil or your pakoras will burn!
Drop the pakora batter by the tablespoonful into the oil and deep-fry until golden brown on both sides.
Drain on paper towel.
Serve with tamarind chutney : I don't have time to post that recipe now, but I'll post it tomorrow, I promise! In the meatime, you can use raita, basic chutney, or even ketchup.
Right on, enjoy the Pakoras, and keep up your strength for those semi-finals. And Jesse Ryder...stay golden, my man!!
Happy Cricket, Happy Pakora!
PS Visit my "other" lovely lads at SportPulse.net. Everything you want to know about World Cup Cricket and other sports!
In one heckuva match, little New Zealand beat the pants off of South Africa. Ya heard me right. The Saffies, who were one of the favourites to win the WC, and are furthermore quite a deadly team, brought their "B" game (some say "F" game for "fail") to the cricket pitch and underestimated the Kiwis. In the end, the Kiwis scored 221/8, and bowled out the Saffies for 172 in 43.2 overs. Bowled out!!!
As you know, I've always made fun of the Kiwis. Well, no more. Pakistan are #1 in my heart and always will be, but New Zealand are my new second-favourites. A person who deserves a big old shout-out is the fabulous and fit-looking Jesse Ryder who hung in there, anchored the NZ innings and scored a nice 83 runs. Some of you may already know, some of you may not....Jesse Ryder is battling alcoholism, and it has been a real struggle for him.
And in other World Cup cricket news, Sri Lanka beat England to make it into the semi-finals. Good on the Sri Lankans! Seriously, the English were like a cat in this World Cup...they had so many close calls that they used up their 9 lives. Anyhoo, Sri Lanka royally thrashed the English with a 10 wicket yes a 10 wicket victory!
So, in the next round of World Cupness, Sri Lanka will play New Zealand, and Pakistan will play India. These are going to be extraordinary matches; especially the Pak/India match. Seriously, watch this epic battle with people who know CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) because I know that Kamran Akmal drops a catch, there will be millions of people besides me having a heart attack. Be safe and smart!
For today's cooking, it's going to be something a little simple, some nice pakoras, something similar to what we call fritters in the west. But pakoras taste better and will put a spring in your step and a smile on your face. Hello, world, see the food that I'm cookin, c'mon get happyyyyyyyyy!
Pakoras for Pakistan
I've never seen anyone make pakoras before, so I did my research, all the recipes have the same basic ingredients and they all have the same methodology. Some recipes looked like they had an imbalance of spices and would be bitter. So here's what I've cobbled together and hopefully these should be just fantastic!
Ingredients:
Batter:
1 1/2 cup chickpea flour (Besan)
1 teaspoon lal mirch (chili powder) or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon coriander (cilantro), very finely chopped (use more if you like)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground anardana seeds (pomegranate seeds)
1 pinch of aamchoor (green mango powder) but only if you want a little extra tang
1 teaspoon yogurt
1/2 cup water
Put everything in a bowl, but gradually add the water, beating everything until it forms a thick, uniform batter. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes before adding your vegetables.
Vegetables:
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 potato, pre-cooked and cut into small pieces
1 clove of garlic, very finely diced
Spinach, finely chopped
cauliflower, cut into small pieces
(in fact, you can use any vegetable you like; but don't forget the onions because they add the right amount of sweetness and depth)
Put the vegetables into the batter and make sure they are all coated.
Heat enough oil in a pan to deep fry on medium heat. Do not overheat the oil or your pakoras will burn!
Drop the pakora batter by the tablespoonful into the oil and deep-fry until golden brown on both sides.
Drain on paper towel.
Serve with tamarind chutney : I don't have time to post that recipe now, but I'll post it tomorrow, I promise! In the meatime, you can use raita, basic chutney, or even ketchup.
Right on, enjoy the Pakoras, and keep up your strength for those semi-finals. And Jesse Ryder...stay golden, my man!!
Happy Cricket, Happy Pakora!
PS Visit my "other" lovely lads at SportPulse.net. Everything you want to know about World Cup Cricket and other sports!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Pakistan and India, Epic Battles, and Hoummus for the Meantime
WOW! Just...WOW! What a pair of matches; Pakistan beat the Windies the day before yesterday, and India beat Australia last night. Let's have a quick look at both the matches, starting first of all with my favourites, the gorgeous guys of Pakistan.
Pakistan, my lovely lads, bowled such a spell of merciless magnificence that no team could have survived such a brutal attack! Pakistan gave the West Indies the thrashing of their lives. Now some people say that the Windies played poorly; but I beg to differ. What happened was that Pakistan played some of the most glorious cricket I have ever seen and the Windies players, naturally, were left dazed and confused!
Each bowler was on fire that night. ON FIRE! Afridi scalped 4 Windies batsmen for 30, Mohammed Hafeez got 2 wickets, Gulzilla got 1 for 13 (oh he was gorgeous!) Saeed Ajmal got 2, Razzle-Dazzle Razzaq got 1 and "Mr. Handsome" Wahab Riaz did a great job containing runs.
And let's talk about the fielding! My lovely lads were looking so fit and athletic: obviously they've been training very hard and my goodness it shows. What catches! Afridi and Younis Khan rocked those catches and holy smokes it was beautiful to watch. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!! Congrats on winning by 10 smokin' hot wickets you magnificent bunch of glorious cricketers!
And let's move on to the India/Australia match. Hoo hoo hoo, India won by 5 wickets and 14 balls remaining. To tell the truth, I was a little sad when Watson got out, and I felt bad that even though Ricky Pouting played well and scored a great big 104, it wasn't enough to send the Indians packing. Bummer! You know why I was hoping Australia would win? So that Pakistan could give them a good beat-down in the semi-final! Ha!
So this means the semi-final is going to be a real showcase showdown between India and Pakistan...this is going to be EPIC. India is a great team, Pakistan is a great team, a clash of the titans!
The Ashes...pfffft!!! Nothing compared to the extreme rivalry of these giants! An epic battle shall ensue, the stuff of legends and our grandchildren will talk about this match, I'm sure. I'm going to do everything in my power to help my lovely lads of Team Green get that victory! I also recommend that you watch the match with people who know CPR...I know for sure I'm going to have several heart attacks watching this doozy of a game, and it's better to be safe then sorry.
All rightie, so I'm going to be busy today doing research and testing for some new pakistani dishes because I want my lads to be in tip top form in order to beat the Indians. In the meanwhile, though, I'll give you a nice and easy greek/mediterranean recipe for Hoummus, which you can eat with some nice naan or crackers or whatever you like. Don't buy the packaged stuff...make your own hoummus!
Hoummus for the meantime
Ingredients
about a cup of chana daal, chick peas, soaked for at least an hour.
salt
water
sesame seeds
olive oil
lemon juice
a clove or two of garlic
First of all, boil the soaked chickpeas in some salted water until they're totally soft.
While they're cooking, make TAHINI as follows:
get a few tablespoons of sesame seeds.
toast the sesame seeds if they are not already toasted by dry-frying them in a pan until golden.
put the toasted sesame seeds in a blender with enough olive oil to make a sauce.
blend until smooth, adding more olive oil if necessary.
Set the tahini aside.
Drain the cooked chickpeas, and put them in the blender with a clove or two or garlic, lemon juice to taste, and a bit of salt if necessary. Add a bit of water to the chickpeas if necessary; and add some olive oil.
Once blended, blend in a teaspoon full of your tahini, and adjust the amount of tahini in your hoummus to your taste.
Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top of the hoummus and serve with pita bread or roti chips, naan, or crackers.
And there you have a good snack, nice and nutritious, and home-made, and also very good to eat while you're waiting for something else!
Right...have a good one today, and think of Pakistan...Victorious and Glorious!
Happy Cricket, Happy Pakistan, Happy Epic Battle!
Pakistan, my lovely lads, bowled such a spell of merciless magnificence that no team could have survived such a brutal attack! Pakistan gave the West Indies the thrashing of their lives. Now some people say that the Windies played poorly; but I beg to differ. What happened was that Pakistan played some of the most glorious cricket I have ever seen and the Windies players, naturally, were left dazed and confused!
Each bowler was on fire that night. ON FIRE! Afridi scalped 4 Windies batsmen for 30, Mohammed Hafeez got 2 wickets, Gulzilla got 1 for 13 (oh he was gorgeous!) Saeed Ajmal got 2, Razzle-Dazzle Razzaq got 1 and "Mr. Handsome" Wahab Riaz did a great job containing runs.
And let's talk about the fielding! My lovely lads were looking so fit and athletic: obviously they've been training very hard and my goodness it shows. What catches! Afridi and Younis Khan rocked those catches and holy smokes it was beautiful to watch. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!! Congrats on winning by 10 smokin' hot wickets you magnificent bunch of glorious cricketers!
And let's move on to the India/Australia match. Hoo hoo hoo, India won by 5 wickets and 14 balls remaining. To tell the truth, I was a little sad when Watson got out, and I felt bad that even though Ricky Pouting played well and scored a great big 104, it wasn't enough to send the Indians packing. Bummer! You know why I was hoping Australia would win? So that Pakistan could give them a good beat-down in the semi-final! Ha!
So this means the semi-final is going to be a real showcase showdown between India and Pakistan...this is going to be EPIC. India is a great team, Pakistan is a great team, a clash of the titans!
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| Afridi: "I want Tendulkar's scalp!!!" . |
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| Tendulkar: "I'll do my best to keep my wig on" |
The Ashes...pfffft!!! Nothing compared to the extreme rivalry of these giants! An epic battle shall ensue, the stuff of legends and our grandchildren will talk about this match, I'm sure. I'm going to do everything in my power to help my lovely lads of Team Green get that victory! I also recommend that you watch the match with people who know CPR...I know for sure I'm going to have several heart attacks watching this doozy of a game, and it's better to be safe then sorry.
All rightie, so I'm going to be busy today doing research and testing for some new pakistani dishes because I want my lads to be in tip top form in order to beat the Indians. In the meanwhile, though, I'll give you a nice and easy greek/mediterranean recipe for Hoummus, which you can eat with some nice naan or crackers or whatever you like. Don't buy the packaged stuff...make your own hoummus!
Hoummus for the meantime
Ingredients
about a cup of chana daal, chick peas, soaked for at least an hour.
salt
water
sesame seeds
olive oil
lemon juice
a clove or two of garlic
First of all, boil the soaked chickpeas in some salted water until they're totally soft.
While they're cooking, make TAHINI as follows:
get a few tablespoons of sesame seeds.
toast the sesame seeds if they are not already toasted by dry-frying them in a pan until golden.
put the toasted sesame seeds in a blender with enough olive oil to make a sauce.
blend until smooth, adding more olive oil if necessary.
Set the tahini aside.
Drain the cooked chickpeas, and put them in the blender with a clove or two or garlic, lemon juice to taste, and a bit of salt if necessary. Add a bit of water to the chickpeas if necessary; and add some olive oil.
Once blended, blend in a teaspoon full of your tahini, and adjust the amount of tahini in your hoummus to your taste.
Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top of the hoummus and serve with pita bread or roti chips, naan, or crackers.
And there you have a good snack, nice and nutritious, and home-made, and also very good to eat while you're waiting for something else!
Right...have a good one today, and think of Pakistan...Victorious and Glorious!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
GET YOUR GULZILLA ON, PAKISTAN! RRRRROOOOOOAAARRR!!
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| I'm getting my bestest Gulzilla on! |
I am so excited about this match...c'mon Pakistan! Do the job and take those Windies to the cleaners!!!! I'll be cheering you on the entire time. Here is what I want to see in this match:
Shahid Afridi: Skipper, from you I want a Windies Scalp-o-rama! Do it for me, do it for Pakistan, and do it for all the cricket fans on the planet!
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| I will never get tired of Afridi's Scalpin' Pose! |
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| That's right, YK...there's a cake in it for you! |
Misbah ul-Haq: You are the anchor. From you, I want you to anchor the innings, anchor the squad, and anchor all of Pakistan. Be your strong, calm, beautiful self!
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| Fee, fi, fo, fum...ul-Haq smells the blood of a West Indi-an! |
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| Razzaq at a previous Razzle-Dazzle |
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| Umar Gul, make them SHAKE IN THEIR BOOTS! |
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| Kamran Akmal, do well today and I'll see to it that you get a hug, too! Woo hoo! |
Now, for today's food, I'm going to re-post an old recipe from October: Samosas. Tonight's match will be far too exciting to eat a traditional meal. All the jumping, all the shouting, etc etc and your dinner will end up on the floor, making a mess of things. So a samosa will be the perfect thing; filling, nutritious, and you won't make a mess, no matter how excited you get during the match! LET'S GO PAKISTAN!!!! LET'S GO SAMOSAS!
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of ghee or clarified butter
Water (approx 1.5 cups)
Pinch of salt
5 large potatoes
3 cardamom pods
½ cinnamon stick
4 cloves
5 black peppercorns
1 star anise
1 bay leaf
1 small piece peeled ginger
½ onion, finely chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon aamchoor (raw mango powder)
1 teaspoon anardana (ground pomegranate seeds)
½ teaspoon lal mirch (red chili powder), or more according to taste
Salt
Cooking oil for deep frying.
Mix flour with ghee and salt and water. Make a firm, smooth dough. Set aside.
Peel and cut the potatoes
Boil the potatoes with the ginger, bay leaf, star anise, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, cloves, and cardamom pods.
When potatoes are cooked, remove the whole spices, and roughly mash the potatoes.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan. Fry the onions until brown and almost crispy, then add the chopped garlic.
Add cumin seeds, coriander powder, turmeric, aamchoor, anardana, and lal mirch. Fry a few seconds.
Add the roughly mashed potatoes to this mix, and add salt. Mix well. Cook 7-10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave aside.
Divide the dough into golfball sizes. Roll out to 7-8 cm in diameter. Cut each circle in 2.
Wet the straight edge with water; fold into cone and seal the side well. Fill ¾ with the potato mix.
Wet and seal edges.
Deep fry until golden. Eat.
You may have noticed that there is no garam masala powder in my recipe; that’s because I find the commercial garam masala to be a bit bitter. That’s why I boil some spices with my potatoes to get the “real” garam masala flavour.
Some people like their samosas to be sour. You can add either lemon juice or tamarind water to the potato mix. Feel free to add peas to the potato mix.
Make up some of these, and let's hope our Lovely Lads get their fill of awesome pakistani food before the match so they play awesome pakistani cricket. GET YOUR GULZILLA ON EVERYONE AND LET'S MAKE THE GROUND TREMBLE WITH OUR CHEERS!!! VIVAAAAAAAAA PAKISTAN!
Happy Cricket, Happy Samosa, Happy Pakistan!
Monday, March 21, 2011
My Lovely Lads of Pakistan, and a Drama Coach for Bangladesh
Hi everyone, I've been out of town for a few days, sightseeing around Victoria and South Australia. I didn't have a laptop with me, but have no fear, we found a delightful hotel pub in Adelaide and they very kindly put the Pakistan/Australia ODI on the big screen for us! Right on! I would never miss a match involving my lovely lads, I'm loyal till the day I die!
And what a match it was, it had all of the epic elements that we all LOVE about cricket and Pakistan certainly brought a can of whoop-ass to the cricket pitch. Ricky Pouting behaved atrociously by not walking when he got caught by Kamran Akmal, even though he acknowledged he got a thick edge; and Brad Haddin momentarily lost his mind and thought he was an ice hockey player and started pushing and shoving the lovely lads when they appealed the umpire's decision. Anyways, the Australian team behaved badly indeed. Which makes me love my favourite team even more because they behaved like gentlemen as always! Younis Khan...what a class act! I'm so glad Pakistan won; it shows that bad behaviour gets you nowhere.
Bangladesh lost badly to South Africa for some reason. I'm always bewildered by the Bangladesh team; they have so much talent but then freeze with stage fright. They play well, they've got a fielding and batting coach; perhaps what they need now is a drama coach. That's right, these chaps need some acting lessons; as the saying goes, act confident, you'll become confident. Come on, Bangladesh, you've got the skillz to pay the billz, now you just have to act like it. Work on your stage presence and you'll see that after the world cup you'll be picking up victories like ripe blackberries in September...easy pickin's!
And India beat the Windies. Not too much of a surprise there; the Windies get easily winded at times. Smarten up, Windies!
I'll get back to the cooking stuff tomorrow, I've got lots of things to catch up on today. In the meantime, appreciate the humour in the pic below. We found this isolated little village in South Australia. Must say I loved the name!
Happy Cricket, Happy World Cup!
And what a match it was, it had all of the epic elements that we all LOVE about cricket and Pakistan certainly brought a can of whoop-ass to the cricket pitch. Ricky Pouting behaved atrociously by not walking when he got caught by Kamran Akmal, even though he acknowledged he got a thick edge; and Brad Haddin momentarily lost his mind and thought he was an ice hockey player and started pushing and shoving the lovely lads when they appealed the umpire's decision. Anyways, the Australian team behaved badly indeed. Which makes me love my favourite team even more because they behaved like gentlemen as always! Younis Khan...what a class act! I'm so glad Pakistan won; it shows that bad behaviour gets you nowhere.
Bangladesh lost badly to South Africa for some reason. I'm always bewildered by the Bangladesh team; they have so much talent but then freeze with stage fright. They play well, they've got a fielding and batting coach; perhaps what they need now is a drama coach. That's right, these chaps need some acting lessons; as the saying goes, act confident, you'll become confident. Come on, Bangladesh, you've got the skillz to pay the billz, now you just have to act like it. Work on your stage presence and you'll see that after the world cup you'll be picking up victories like ripe blackberries in September...easy pickin's!
I'll get back to the cooking stuff tomorrow, I've got lots of things to catch up on today. In the meantime, appreciate the humour in the pic below. We found this isolated little village in South Australia. Must say I loved the name!
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| My kind of town. |
Happy Cricket, Happy World Cup!
Monday, March 14, 2011
I Love My Lovely Lads of Pakistan! I love Vegetable Rice Pilaf and Tsatsiki!
Woo hoo hoo it's going to be a warm day in Melbourne today and it's already warm in my heart because my favouritest cricket team and the bestest cricket team in the whole wide world, Pakistan, defeated Zimbabwe to secure a place in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHH!
High fives and chest bumps all around! Yes!
So even though the rain interefered with play and shortened the match to 38 overs per side, it was a fun match to watch. Abdur Razzaq used some of his razzle-dazzle bowling to hypnotize the Zimbabwe side and scalped Brendan Taylor in the very first over, and soon after the bowling master known as The Gul took 3 Zimbabwe wigs for 36 and was named Man of the Match. Right on, Gul!
Another absolute awesome delight was Asad Shafiq, who scored a whopping 78 runs not out. Love this kid! He should be playing all the time. Triple "A" quality from this young'un. Well, to be honest, I love all the lads on the team today, even Kamran Akmal who managed to catch something other than a cold! Good on ya today Kamran, keep it up and maybe one day I'll get off your case!!
Anyhoo, today's victory recipe is something I'm going to post on http://sportpulse.net/, so keep your little eyes open for that. Here, however, I promised you a veggie rice pilaf and tsatsiki to go with yesterday's greek-style roasted chicken, and I keep my promises. Go put on an apron and a hair net, gentlemen; let's get busy in the kitchen.
The Rice Pilaf Of Gul-icious Glory
Ingredients
2 cups of basmati rice
3 cups of water
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, diced
1 or 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
5 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
1 small zucchini, diced
juice of 2 lemons
some fresh dill, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
about 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, or 2 tablespoons of fresh oregano, chopped
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
freshly chopped parsley
some olive oil for cooking
Heat a bit of olive oil in a pot on medium heat and sautee the diced onions, celery and carrots for a couple of minutes.
Add the zucchini and garlic, sautee a minute or two.
Add the rice, and sautee until it slightly starts to change colour.
Add the water and the rest of the ingredients except for the chopped parsley. Give a quick stir.
Bring everything to a boil on high heat, uncovered.
As soon as the rice comes to a rolling boil, turn the heat to very low and cover the pot.
Continue cooking on very low heat for about 20 minutes until the rice is tender and fluffy. Add a bit more water if necessary.
Once the rice is cooked, fluff it up with a fork and serve with the roasted chicken. Now some people prefer to make this rice with chicken broth instead of plain water; if that's something that floats your culinary boat, then go ahead. Furthermore, you can add more chopped vegetables to this rice if you wish to do so. Just always keep the carrot, celery and onion combo at the beginning because that is what gives the dish a good punch of flavour.
Right, now let's get on with the Tsatsiki of Victory. Tsatsiki is a greek version of raita made with dill, cucumber and garlic and tastes great with naan or or rice or on meat dishes. It's lovely mmm mm mm.
Ingredients
1 cup of yoghurt (full fat works best, but low fat works, too)
1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh, very finely chopped dill
a four inch piece of cucumber (peeled if it is the thick-skinned variety), very finely diced
salt to taste
Combine all ingredients and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. Some recipes call for a squeeze of lemon, but that might make it a bit too sour.
There you go my lovely kitchen people. Go out there and rock the food world the way my lovely lads rock International Cricketdom. Go Pakistan! Yee-ha!
Happy Cricket, Happy Cooking!
So even though the rain interefered with play and shortened the match to 38 overs per side, it was a fun match to watch. Abdur Razzaq used some of his razzle-dazzle bowling to hypnotize the Zimbabwe side and scalped Brendan Taylor in the very first over, and soon after the bowling master known as The Gul took 3 Zimbabwe wigs for 36 and was named Man of the Match. Right on, Gul!
 |
| Some say he dreams of wickets, some say he dines on them. All we know is ...he is The Gul. |
Another absolute awesome delight was Asad Shafiq, who scored a whopping 78 runs not out. Love this kid! He should be playing all the time. Triple "A" quality from this young'un. Well, to be honest, I love all the lads on the team today, even Kamran Akmal who managed to catch something other than a cold! Good on ya today Kamran, keep it up and maybe one day I'll get off your case!!
Anyhoo, today's victory recipe is something I'm going to post on http://sportpulse.net/, so keep your little eyes open for that. Here, however, I promised you a veggie rice pilaf and tsatsiki to go with yesterday's greek-style roasted chicken, and I keep my promises. Go put on an apron and a hair net, gentlemen; let's get busy in the kitchen.
The Rice Pilaf Of Gul-icious Glory
Ingredients
2 cups of basmati rice
3 cups of water
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, diced
1 or 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
5 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
1 small zucchini, diced
juice of 2 lemons
some fresh dill, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
about 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, or 2 tablespoons of fresh oregano, chopped
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
freshly chopped parsley
some olive oil for cooking
Heat a bit of olive oil in a pot on medium heat and sautee the diced onions, celery and carrots for a couple of minutes.
Add the zucchini and garlic, sautee a minute or two.
Add the rice, and sautee until it slightly starts to change colour.
Add the water and the rest of the ingredients except for the chopped parsley. Give a quick stir.
Bring everything to a boil on high heat, uncovered.
As soon as the rice comes to a rolling boil, turn the heat to very low and cover the pot.
Continue cooking on very low heat for about 20 minutes until the rice is tender and fluffy. Add a bit more water if necessary.
Once the rice is cooked, fluff it up with a fork and serve with the roasted chicken. Now some people prefer to make this rice with chicken broth instead of plain water; if that's something that floats your culinary boat, then go ahead. Furthermore, you can add more chopped vegetables to this rice if you wish to do so. Just always keep the carrot, celery and onion combo at the beginning because that is what gives the dish a good punch of flavour.
Right, now let's get on with the Tsatsiki of Victory. Tsatsiki is a greek version of raita made with dill, cucumber and garlic and tastes great with naan or or rice or on meat dishes. It's lovely mmm mm mm.
Ingredients
1 cup of yoghurt (full fat works best, but low fat works, too)
1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh, very finely chopped dill
a four inch piece of cucumber (peeled if it is the thick-skinned variety), very finely diced
salt to taste
Combine all ingredients and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. Some recipes call for a squeeze of lemon, but that might make it a bit too sour.
There you go my lovely kitchen people. Go out there and rock the food world the way my lovely lads rock International Cricketdom. Go Pakistan! Yee-ha!
Happy Cricket, Happy Cooking!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Illiteracy is a Bad, Bad Thing
That's right! This morning the "d-oh" prize goes to me for writing "Gooses" instead of "Geese" in the title of yesterday's post. I really should kick my own behind for that one. Ugh!
Anyways, here's a quick cricket catch-up: Canada lost to New Zealand yesterday, but who cares? My favourite wicket-keeper, Canadian Ashish Bagai, scored a great big 84 runs and Hansra scored 70 not out. Good on you guys!
And Kenya gave Australia a very good run for their money yesterday, losing by only 60 runs. Kenyan batsman C.O. Obuya scored himself a lovely 98 runs!!!! Yes! A very nice match indeed.
So tonight is Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe. My favourite lovely lads will hopefully play their best and show the world the great stuff that pakistani cricketers are made of! I'm parking myself in front of the TV tonight and I'm not leavin' till it's time to go to bed!!! Woo hooo....Pakistan Zindabad!
In the meantime, however, it looks like I need to take remedial English classes and learn the proper plural forms of nouns. Mouse- mice, house-houses, goose-geese, child-children, moose-....what the heck is the plural of moose? My goodness, maybe I should just go back to elementary school! D-oooooooooooooooooh!
Happy Cricket, Happy World Cup, Happy English classes!
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| One for me because I apparently can't speak English correctly, and one for Kamran Akmal because...well you know why. |
Anyways, here's a quick cricket catch-up: Canada lost to New Zealand yesterday, but who cares? My favourite wicket-keeper, Canadian Ashish Bagai, scored a great big 84 runs and Hansra scored 70 not out. Good on you guys!
And Kenya gave Australia a very good run for their money yesterday, losing by only 60 runs. Kenyan batsman C.O. Obuya scored himself a lovely 98 runs!!!! Yes! A very nice match indeed.
So tonight is Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe. My favourite lovely lads will hopefully play their best and show the world the great stuff that pakistani cricketers are made of! I'm parking myself in front of the TV tonight and I'm not leavin' till it's time to go to bed!!! Woo hooo....Pakistan Zindabad!
In the meantime, however, it looks like I need to take remedial English classes and learn the proper plural forms of nouns. Mouse- mice, house-houses, goose-geese, child-children, moose-....what the heck is the plural of moose? My goodness, maybe I should just go back to elementary school! D-oooooooooooooooooh!
Happy Cricket, Happy World Cup, Happy English classes!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
England Bangla-mangled, India Saffied Silly, Cooked Gooses and Roasted Chicken
What a grand old time in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup! Sorry I haven't been updating as often as I should, but here we go.
Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 139 runs on Thursday, March 10. Sri Lanka's batting was plain old magnificent with Tharanga scoring 133 big'uns and Dilshan scoring a dumbfounding 144. Awesome stuff, but I want to mention Ray Price of Zimbabwe...does anyone else think he's a better-looking version of Russell Crowe?
Anyhoo, he's just fabulous when he gets grumpy and gives batsmen a bit of attitude. Right on Ray Price, can't wait to see ya in the Test Cricket.
Ok ok ok, back to the serious stuff. On Friday, Bangladesh banglamangled England in one thriller of a match; thrilling because Bangladesh suffered such a humiliating loss to the West Indies on March 4. Great come-back, chaps, and good on ya for showing England that their goose was cooked! *
And then last night, after one of the most extraordinary batting collapses I've ever seen, India got saffied silly by South Africa. The batting was going so well for India; Sehwag bashed out 73, Tendulkar hit a gorgeous 111, and Gambhir got a very saucy 69. But then, all heck broke loose, with Pathan pummeled and gone for a duck,
Yuvraj gone for 12, cute Kohli gone for a single, Harbhajan Singh gone for 3, and then Khan, Nehra and Patel gone, gone, gone for ducks...all three of them!!! YIKES!
Well, South Africa literally got all their ducks in a row and cooked India's goose. Final score: The Saffy-side won by 3 wickets and 2 balls remaining. Right on, S. Africa!
Now talking about geese that got cooked in the World Cup has reminded me of a nice little dish I make every now and then; a greek-style roasted chicken. I've never made a literal cooked goose (although my goose has been cooked in many life situations), so you'll have to settle for chicken, I'm sorry kids, that's just the way it's gotta be. Right, so go get a chicken and let's show the kitchen who's boss.
Ingredients
1 chicken
a couple of tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt (use less if you wish)
black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oregano
some chopped dill
juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch (for gravy)
Preheat your oven to 375F or 190 C.
Melt the butter and oil in a pan on low heat, and then pour half into the bottom of the roasting pan.
Put the chicken in the roasting pan, breast side up, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano and dill.
Add the lemon juice to the remaining butter and oil mix, and stir.
Pour over the chicken.
Bake 1.5 hours at 375 F and baste 3 or 4 times. (Basting means pouring the liquid which accumulates at the bottom of the roasting pan over the chicken so that the meat doesn't dry out.)
Now once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the roasting pan to make the gravy.
Add some boiling water to the roasting pan where all the drippings are.
Add flour or cornstarch to the pan, and stir so that all the lumps are out.
Bake for 5 minutes at 450F or 220 C
Pour some gravy on top of the chicken when you serve it.
Serve the chicken either carved in slices, or cut the chicken into quarters. Serve with veggie rice, tsatsiki, and pita bread. And have no fear, I'll be showing you how to make the veggie rice and tsatsiki tomorrow!
Right, enjoy the roasted chicken, and have a good one. In the meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy watching the cricket and seeing many more geese get cooked!
Happy Cricket! Happy Cooked Goose and Happy Chicken!
*The expression "Your goose is cooked" means "you are in big trouble".
Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 139 runs on Thursday, March 10. Sri Lanka's batting was plain old magnificent with Tharanga scoring 133 big'uns and Dilshan scoring a dumbfounding 144. Awesome stuff, but I want to mention Ray Price of Zimbabwe...does anyone else think he's a better-looking version of Russell Crowe?
 |
| Ray Price, Being Grumptastic. |
 |
| Andrew Strauss's England Goose waiting to get cooked by Bangladesh |
Yuvraj gone for 12, cute Kohli gone for a single, Harbhajan Singh gone for 3, and then Khan, Nehra and Patel gone, gone, gone for ducks...all three of them!!! YIKES!
 |
| Pathan and Zaheer Khan yesterday. Cute to look at, but kinda useless at the batting crease. |
Now talking about geese that got cooked in the World Cup has reminded me of a nice little dish I make every now and then; a greek-style roasted chicken. I've never made a literal cooked goose (although my goose has been cooked in many life situations), so you'll have to settle for chicken, I'm sorry kids, that's just the way it's gotta be. Right, so go get a chicken and let's show the kitchen who's boss.
Ingredients
1 chicken
a couple of tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt (use less if you wish)
black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oregano
some chopped dill
juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch (for gravy)
Preheat your oven to 375F or 190 C.
Melt the butter and oil in a pan on low heat, and then pour half into the bottom of the roasting pan.
Put the chicken in the roasting pan, breast side up, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano and dill.
Add the lemon juice to the remaining butter and oil mix, and stir.
Pour over the chicken.
Bake 1.5 hours at 375 F and baste 3 or 4 times. (Basting means pouring the liquid which accumulates at the bottom of the roasting pan over the chicken so that the meat doesn't dry out.)
Now once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the roasting pan to make the gravy.
Add some boiling water to the roasting pan where all the drippings are.
Add flour or cornstarch to the pan, and stir so that all the lumps are out.
Bake for 5 minutes at 450F or 220 C
Pour some gravy on top of the chicken when you serve it.
Serve the chicken either carved in slices, or cut the chicken into quarters. Serve with veggie rice, tsatsiki, and pita bread. And have no fear, I'll be showing you how to make the veggie rice and tsatsiki tomorrow!
Right, enjoy the roasted chicken, and have a good one. In the meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy watching the cricket and seeing many more geese get cooked!
Happy Cricket! Happy Cooked Goose and Happy Chicken!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Roses for Umar Gul and his Five Roses Cheesecake of Magnificence
And a better morning to you. Yesterday was full of brickbats for Pakistan cricket and the focus was on the dropnacious wicket-keeper, so today let's balance out that negativity with a bouquet of rosy compliments, and I have just the player in mind.
UMAR GUL, Pakistan's fast bowler, is a bit of a rarity in the cricket world; not only does he bowl well and take scalps on a consistent basis, he knows how to belt out those runs when they're needed. Not only that, he is also one of the most graceful bowlers out there, an absolute delight to watch. Let's have a closer look at the man I consider to be one of Pakistan's national treasures.
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| Gulzilla is a weapon of Mass Destruction and a National Treasure. Let's love him and take care of him. |
 |
| Let's see Dale Steyn even attempt this Barishnikov-esque bowling manoeuver! Ha! |
Umar Gul, the master of Gullification and Gul-dozing and Furniture Breaking, aka Scalp-taking and wicket-taking, got 3 wickets for 32 in the disastrous match against New Zealand recently, and he furthermore scored a good 34 runs. That nice performance got eclipsed by someone's bad one. So Gulzilla, good on ya, you're a shining ray of light in the darkness. Here's an imaginary dozen roses for you.
And let's not forget his magnificent innings at the Oval on September 17, 2010 where he scalped 6 England batsmen for 42 in ten overs. As the profile on Cricinfo says, Umar Gul is the most consistent, yet under-rated quick bowler on the Pakistan side. Well, no more. I'm going to sing his praises from now on. This man is a treasure, and I'm dedicating my late Memere's (grandma) best cheesecake recipe to him.
Coincidentally, Gul means "rose" in farsi and peshto, and the recipe my Memere used is from the 1932 edition of the Five Roses cookbook, published in Canada. Therefore, it is Umar Gul's destiny to have a cheesecake named after him! Right, let's get baking.
Umar Gul's Five Roses Cheesecake
Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter
Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie plate, and refrigerate.
Filling
1/2 pound (about 230 gr) cream cheese
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
Topping
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon rind
Preheat the oven to 177C or 350 F.
Have the cheese at room temperature and cream well with lemon juice. Set aside.
Beat eggs slightly with a fork.
Add sugar to the eggs and mix well.
Fold the sour cream into the egg and sugar mix.
Combine the egg and cheese mixtures, and strain (I have found the straining step to be unnecessary, but go ahead if you want a very firm cheesecake).
Pour into the chilled crust and bake at 177 C or 350 F for 30 minutes.
While the filling is baking, prepare the topping.
Combine all of the topping ingredients and blend thoroughly.
After the filling has been in the oven for 30 minutes, remove from the oven.
Spread the topping over the cooked filling.
Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
Chill thoroughly before serving. This will make enough for 8 to 10 slices of deliciousness.
Celebrate Umar Gul. He deserves it because he's just so awesome. Keep it up, Gulzilla, we love watching you and you ROCK!
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| When he breaks furniture, he gets cheesecake! BOO YA! |
Happy Cricket, Happy Cooking, Happy Gul!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Butterfingers and Anzac Biscuits
And a BAD morning to you if you're a Pakistan fan like me. Old Mr. Butterfingers, aka Kamran Dropmal Akmal, dropped a couple of regulation catches last night in Pakistan's ODI against New Zealand at the ICC World Cup. Those drops enabled NZ's Ross Taylor to bash out an astonishing 131 runs. Ugh! Furthermore, the drops and lazy wicket-keeping demoralized and flustered the rest of my lovely lads.
But let's give credit where credit is due. New Zealand played well, and took advantage of Pakistan's flustered bowlers and fielders. In the last six overs, the Kiwis scored a gigantic 114 runs, with Taylor leading the way. Oh yeah, and it was also Ross Taylor's birthday. I sure bet he was happy! In the end, New Zealand scored 302/7 and beat Pakistan by a whopping 110 runs. Ugh! And I was so sure Pakistan was going to win, so I guess I'm going to be eating crow.
But have no fear, just because I'm going to be eating crow today, doesn't mean that you have to.
In honour of Ross Taylor's big bash, I'm going to show you how to make a delicious New Zealand / Australian treat, the traditional Anzac biscuit.
Anzac Biscuits
These old-school cookies were originally made by Australian and New Zealand women in WWI and sent to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers on the fronts in Europe. These biscuits were originally very simple and were meant to survive the long ocean voyage. These cookies keep for a long time, however they're so tasty you'll gobble them up almost as soon as they are out of the oven. They are also so full of goodness that you'll be bashing out sixes like they're going out of style, just like Ross Taylor! Get ready chaps, and go get your bowls, aprons and wooden spoons! The recipe is courtesy of http://taste.com.au/ .
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons golden syrup or treacle
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)
Preheat oven to 170°C or 338 F.
Stir the flour, oats, sugar and coconut together in a large bowl.
In a separate pan, melt the butter and golden syrup or treacle over low heat.
Mix the bicarb soda with 1 1/2 tablespoons water.
Remove the golden syrup mixture from the heat.
Add the baking soda and water to the golden syrup mixture, it will bubble up a bit when you stir it in.
Pour the syrup mix into the dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined.
Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on baking trays lined with non stick baking paper, pressing down on the tops to flatten slightly.
Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
So congrats again to Ross Taylor and the Kiwis for a match well-played, and to Kamran Akmal, I say...for cryin' out loud pull the finger out and do your job!!!
Happy Cricket! Happy Biscuit! and Bad Wicketkeeper phooey!!!
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| Pakistan Wicket-Keeper Kamran Akmal. |
But have no fear, just because I'm going to be eating crow today, doesn't mean that you have to.
 |
| Good on ya Ross! A good lad deserves a good Anzac biscuit! |
Anzac Biscuits
These old-school cookies were originally made by Australian and New Zealand women in WWI and sent to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers on the fronts in Europe. These biscuits were originally very simple and were meant to survive the long ocean voyage. These cookies keep for a long time, however they're so tasty you'll gobble them up almost as soon as they are out of the oven. They are also so full of goodness that you'll be bashing out sixes like they're going out of style, just like Ross Taylor! Get ready chaps, and go get your bowls, aprons and wooden spoons! The recipe is courtesy of http://taste.com.au/ .
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons golden syrup or treacle
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)
Preheat oven to 170°C or 338 F.
Stir the flour, oats, sugar and coconut together in a large bowl.
In a separate pan, melt the butter and golden syrup or treacle over low heat.
Mix the bicarb soda with 1 1/2 tablespoons water.
Remove the golden syrup mixture from the heat.
Add the baking soda and water to the golden syrup mixture, it will bubble up a bit when you stir it in.
Pour the syrup mix into the dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined.
Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on baking trays lined with non stick baking paper, pressing down on the tops to flatten slightly.
Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
So congrats again to Ross Taylor and the Kiwis for a match well-played, and to Kamran Akmal, I say...for cryin' out loud pull the finger out and do your job!!!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Oh Canada! Osinde's Bowling, Hansra and Bagai's Batting, and Cheema's Chicken Wings
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| Oh Canada, you won! |
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| The Canada Cricket Team...You're beautiful today! |
And in Canada's innings, Jimmy Hansra belted out a mighty fine 70 runs, and Bagai, the plucky little wicket-keeper captain, got a big ol' 64. Canada ended up winning by 5 wickets. Not too shabby!
So, in celebration of Canada's win, I'm going to show you a snack that Canadians like to eat while watching the ice hockey. But have no fear! This is also a great snack to eat while watching the cricket. Right on, Canada, let's eat some of Rizwan Cheema's Chicken Wings to Encourage a Winning Streak!
Ingredients:
1 kg chicken wings, split
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
6 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
1 tablespoon black pepper (again, adjust to taste)
Stir everything together except for the wings.
Pour the marinade over the chicken, making sure each wing gets coated.
Let sit in refrigerator for at least one hour.
Bake at 200C or 400 F for 45 minutes, turning once.
If you have any left-over marinade, boil it for a couple of minutes, the pour over the cooked wings.
Serve immediately.
Enjoy the chicken wings, and let's hope Canada carries on with a winning streak! Oh Canada, let's rock this World Cup!
Happy Cricket, Happy Canada
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| Cheema's Chicken Wings???? Hold the game! Stop the game!!! |
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Cricket Round-Up, and Tea Masala for a Bit of Zip
There's been a lot going on in World Cup Cricketdom, so let's catch up. First of all, Bangladesh lost badly to the West Indies on Friday, March 4th. When I say badly, I mean badly. In what can only be described as an extreme case of stage fright, the Bangladesh team could only muster up a measly 58 runs before being all out in only a handful of overs. It was heartbreaking to watch because these chaps are capable of playing so well! The West Indies team cleaned them out in a jiffy, which quite possibly made this the shortest ODI in history.
Some of the Bangladesh fans threw stones at the West Indies and Bangladesh teams' busses. A group of angry fans also attacked the Bangladesh Captain's house. How awful. Simply terrible; the Bangladesh team does not deserve this, and the Windies team does not deserve this. Hopefully security will be tightened up and those responsible for the stoning and vandalism will be dealt with harshly.
Then on Saturday, the Sri Lanka /Australia match was a total wash-out because the rain ...well...washed it out. Each team got a point, though. I was looking forward to the match because I really dig that Angelo Mathews on the SL team: nice batsman, nice bowler, and nice-lookin'. A triple threat to the opposition!
And yesterday, Sunday...wow just wow. England beat South Africa, which I did not see coming. Must be the fish and chips the poms eat! Saffy-side Hashim Amla looked a little tired at the crease, and Jacques Kallis didn't look like his regular big bad self, either. I suspect the saffies have been eating too many of the lovely sweeties that are available in the sub-continent. Saffies, put down the taffies!
And finally, India beat Ireland, but not by much! My goodness these Irish lads are playing well! Let's get them Test status! I want to see what these guys can do in the 5 day format. And a quick note to India: you must play better, or kiss an Irish person so that some of that "luck of the Irish" rubs off on you. Pucker up!
And now for today's culinary delight, I'm going to show you my tea masala for a bit of Zip. I usually drink plain milk tea (dhudhpatti), but when it's cold or if you're grumpy like the Saffies must be today after that loss to England, a good masala in your tea warms you up and makes you all happy inside. Right! Let's go.
Kiki's Zippy Tea Masala
I usually don't buy the commercial tea masalas because I like a different blend of spices, and I add turmeric because it's a cancer fighter. Furthermore, I do not put ginger in my masala. But you can if you want; just remember that powdered ginger can give some people heartburn.
Cinnamon bark
cloves
green cardamom pods
cumin seeds
star anise
turmeric
a little lal mirch (red chili powder)
Now use these in the proportions that you like, and just make enough for a few cups of tea at a time.
Dry roast the spices except the lal mirch and turmeric until the cumin starts to pop. Then crush them in a mortar and pestle until they turn into a fine powder;and don't forget to discard the shells of the green cardamom pods. You can use a spice grinder if you have one, again, don't forget to take the seeds out of the green cardamoms and discard the shells.
Add the lal mirch and turmeric. Now your masala is ready to go. You can add a few pinches to your milk tea while it's cooking, or you can add it when you pour the tea into your cup. Give it a stir and enjoy.
You can also add a pinch of salt along with the masala and some sugar; this will make your tea taste much richer and decadent!
So have a good one today, hopefully the Saffies will feel better after losing; and hopefully we'll see some good cricketin' tonight and tomorrow!
Happy Cricket! Happy Cooking!
Some of the Bangladesh fans threw stones at the West Indies and Bangladesh teams' busses. A group of angry fans also attacked the Bangladesh Captain's house. How awful. Simply terrible; the Bangladesh team does not deserve this, and the Windies team does not deserve this. Hopefully security will be tightened up and those responsible for the stoning and vandalism will be dealt with harshly.
Then on Saturday, the Sri Lanka /Australia match was a total wash-out because the rain ...well...washed it out. Each team got a point, though. I was looking forward to the match because I really dig that Angelo Mathews on the SL team: nice batsman, nice bowler, and nice-lookin'. A triple threat to the opposition!
 |
| Awesome Angelo, a real treat to watch! |
 |
| The Saffy Laffy Taffy, but the Saffies ain't feelin' too laffy today! |
And finally, India beat Ireland, but not by much! My goodness these Irish lads are playing well! Let's get them Test status! I want to see what these guys can do in the 5 day format. And a quick note to India: you must play better, or kiss an Irish person so that some of that "luck of the Irish" rubs off on you. Pucker up!
And now for today's culinary delight, I'm going to show you my tea masala for a bit of Zip. I usually drink plain milk tea (dhudhpatti), but when it's cold or if you're grumpy like the Saffies must be today after that loss to England, a good masala in your tea warms you up and makes you all happy inside. Right! Let's go.
Kiki's Zippy Tea Masala
I usually don't buy the commercial tea masalas because I like a different blend of spices, and I add turmeric because it's a cancer fighter. Furthermore, I do not put ginger in my masala. But you can if you want; just remember that powdered ginger can give some people heartburn.
Cinnamon bark
cloves
green cardamom pods
cumin seeds
star anise
turmeric
a little lal mirch (red chili powder)
Now use these in the proportions that you like, and just make enough for a few cups of tea at a time.
Dry roast the spices except the lal mirch and turmeric until the cumin starts to pop. Then crush them in a mortar and pestle until they turn into a fine powder;and don't forget to discard the shells of the green cardamom pods. You can use a spice grinder if you have one, again, don't forget to take the seeds out of the green cardamoms and discard the shells.
Add the lal mirch and turmeric. Now your masala is ready to go. You can add a few pinches to your milk tea while it's cooking, or you can add it when you pour the tea into your cup. Give it a stir and enjoy.
You can also add a pinch of salt along with the masala and some sugar; this will make your tea taste much richer and decadent!
So have a good one today, hopefully the Saffies will feel better after losing; and hopefully we'll see some good cricketin' tonight and tomorrow!
Happy Cricket! Happy Cooking!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Oh Canada! You Need To Keep Your Wig On!
Shahid Afridi of Pakistan gave Canada and all other opponents at the 2011 ICC World Cup a very clear message indeed:
That's right. There will be h*ll toupees all around because he's been taking so many scalps! He took so many Canada scalps yesterday that the Canadian lads are going to need wigs. So far, at this World Cup, Afridi has taken an astonishing 14 scalps total. What a man, and what a beast!
So, Canada started off nicely, containing Pakistan to 184 runs, but Pakistan unleashed the bowling ANIMAL known as AFRIDI and Canada had no hope left...none! It was crazy. It was pandemonium! Canada got all out for 138. Boo hoo hoo!
And...Balaji Rao apparently was rude and abusive! Come on, dude, keep that abusive attitude where it belongs....in the ice hockey rink! Yeah, that's where we love a good fight, but not on the cricket pitch! What's next...John Davison going up to Umar Gul, pulling Gul's shirt over his head and punching him in the gut? No way man! Cricket is civilized...let's show that we canadians can be gentlemanly, too!
Anyhoo, my lovely Canadian lads, when it comes to batting, you've got to keep your wigs on. The fielding was great, the bowling was good, and Nitish rocked my world with that catch on Kamran Akmal. Good on ya!
No cooking for today because I'm working on somethin' nice for SportPulse. Have a good one, and maybe today everyone should wear a hat because maybe Afridi will be comin' to getcha!
Happy Cricket, Happy Wig!
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| Afridi's Cruel Message to Canadians and Others |
 |
| Hansra and Baidwan of Canada, earlier today after meeting with Afridi |
And...Balaji Rao apparently was rude and abusive! Come on, dude, keep that abusive attitude where it belongs....in the ice hockey rink! Yeah, that's where we love a good fight, but not on the cricket pitch! What's next...John Davison going up to Umar Gul, pulling Gul's shirt over his head and punching him in the gut? No way man! Cricket is civilized...let's show that we canadians can be gentlemanly, too!
Anyhoo, my lovely Canadian lads, when it comes to batting, you've got to keep your wigs on. The fielding was great, the bowling was good, and Nitish rocked my world with that catch on Kamran Akmal. Good on ya!
No cooking for today because I'm working on somethin' nice for SportPulse. Have a good one, and maybe today everyone should wear a hat because maybe Afridi will be comin' to getcha!
Happy Cricket, Happy Wig!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
I'm Irish for the Day and Here's some Irish Soda Bread
Not only did he score an Incredible Irish knock of 113 runs, he scored the fastest century in the history of the World Cup. Well done, Ireland! Enjoy the victory and may you have many more! I'm telling everyone, and you should too, that today, I'm Irish in celebration of a great game of cricket!
Anyhoo, in other cricketing news, South Africa are playing the Dutch, and in a few hours, my lovely Canadian lads will be playing my lovely lads of Pakistan. What a dilema, who do I cheer for? Well, the Pakistan team is number one in my heart, but I will absolutely be supporting little Nitish Kumar, the 16 year old from Canada. Yes! May he score many runs today! And finally, the day before yesterday, Sri Lanka beat Kenya, but we all saw that one coming from miles away. Keep your eyes open because I'm going to do a little somethin' for quick bowler Malinga in the next few days.
Right. Now back to being Irish for a day. As we all know, the Irish are tough, adaptable and good looking and they also make some very nice quickbreads. Here's one of my favourites, great on a cold winter day, slathered with lots of butter and served as an accompaniment to soup; or you can put lots of butter and jam on a slice and have it with your afternoon tea. Either way, you'll agree that being Irish, even if it's just for a little while, is a very good thing indeed. Okay! Let's get on that culinary rainbow and let's make some soda bread.
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| That's right, but it's just for today! Not too much time left!!! |
Soda Bread for Celebrating a Day of Irishness
Ingredients
2 cups Buttermilk
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pre-heat your oven to 450 F or 233 C.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and add most of the buttermilk.
Stir outwards with a wooden spoon or use your hands to mix together and form a dough.
Add more milk if necessary, you want a slightly sticky dough, not too dry.
Put the dough on a floured board and pat it down into a round shape.
Flatten the dough so that it's about 5 or 6 centimetres thick.
Place on a baking sheet.
Cut a deep cross into the dough.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, then turn the heat down to 400 F or 204 C.
Continue baking at the reduced heat for about another 20 or so minutes.
Tap on the bottom of the bread, if it sounds hollow, it is cooked through.
Serve with lots of lovely butter and jam or however you like it!
So that's how you can start being Irish today, by having a nice piece of lovely, old fashioned soda bread. Next thing you know, you'll be playing better cricket, dancing the Riverdance, and singing along with Bono at the next U2 concert! Go Ireland! Go Soda Bread!
Happy Cricket, Happy Irishness!
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