The V-necks Won

It's been a while since I've blogged. Not that I haven't been eating out a lot(on the contrary I've been eating out like crazy and my current bank account stands at 58Rs) but because I've been channeling my efforts to a better cause, to find a good turtle neck sweater.

I have some self created taboos that I don't like breaking (a post on that later). One of them is wearing V-neck sweaters. Why? Coz then you have to wear a good shirt to match. With turtle necks you can just wear the sweater with a t shirt underneath and nobody notices. But besides this point, there's something about V-necks that just irks me. I don't know what it is but I just can't imagine myself wearing em.

Isn't that ironic coz here I am wearing one. And it doesn't look that bad now does it? I had to buy it coz it is the only V-neck sweater that has ever caught my eye. The shop keeper was quick to notice that and insisted that i try it on. And behold i ended up spending the last of the green notes in my wallet. Sigh no more lunches for me till I get payed again.

P.S I've been eating out at cafe lazeez over the last couple of weeks. Soon enough this phase of my life will be over and I will move on to a new restaurant. You still gotta try it though. Their thaali, tandoori fish and hazelnut cappuccinos are to die for

Al Forno - Just as good as Porn-o : P~

Winters in my thesaurus are synonymous to food and clothes. And because of the inflation and all, after spending on food I hardly have enough left for clothes. So like my recent posts, this post will be related to food as well.

A couple of month's back me and my friend with the red shoes (that he doesn't wear anymore),  along with a couple of other folks from office went to F-10 Markaz to grab a quick bite after an intense game of laser tag at the mega zone. That night we went to a small place called "Hyderabadi Chatkharey" and it was awesome! But this post isn't about the Hyderabadi delights (coz I don't have any photos). It was that night that we noticed a small place at the corner of the markaz which looked like an outdoor oven.

This week we finally went there to check it out during the wee hours of lunch. The first thing that amused us was the name "Al-forno". Thus started a series of jokes on the name that lasted for about 15 minutes. Then we finally started reading the menu which was really weird. There were pizzas with ingredients that I had never even heard of in my life. It could've been because of the rush of awesome bandis about but eventually we regained focus and ended up ordering some veggie pizza and a pepperoni one (guess who ordered the pepperoni) . The smallest one was 7 inches and the largest 12. Even though 7 inches sounded pretty impressive but it wasn't (in terms of size). Judging by the look of the place (an Italian kitchen) and the non-presence of customers we kinda had an idea of what we were up for. The second amusing piece of knowledge that the guy at the counter disclosed to another customer was that the pizzas are baked (cooked) in an oven over a wooden flame rather then gas (sounds impressive eh?). The order took around 15 minutes to make (we didn't really notice the time fly by because of the awesome bandis around) . We went back to our car coz they didn't have a seating area. I'l let the pictures below do the rest of the talking...

On a side note the Luciano's Pizza truck that hangs around in F-7 Markaz has some awesome Italian hot dogs. I didn't even know that the Italians made hot dogs. They are waaay better then their pizza, potato wedges and their Philly cheese steak sandwich. Sorry about the pic of the empty plate below, I couldn't stop eating once i started : P~

And can anyone tell me why my pics are uploaded side ways?

Bread and Beyond

Funny how the title reminds me of Buzz Light year's line "To infinity, and beyond!" from Toy Story, which I back then thought was "Owen Finity, and Beyond!". It didnt make any sense but it sounded really cool. Anyway this post is about a tiny little cafe called "Bread and Beyond" which sells stuff sold inside Metro's bakery section and coffee. For everybody who at this point is thinking that when did Metro open a bakery section, I'm not talking about the Metro shoe shop, I'm talking about the Metro cash and carry.


This cafe is intended for shoppers only coz its right at the entrance of the whole ware house type building. It has an assortment of sandwiches, patties, muffins and my favorite croissants. We ordered one of almost everything and the bakery type pizza and chocolate chip muffin stood out among the rest of the things. The cappucinos were pretty ok but all in all it was a good experience on a low budget (considering we had spent all our cash on the goodies inside the cash and carry)

It's Donut Season Again!

Winter is in the air and that means that the donut season has officially begun. Back when I was a kid 4 years ago, I used to hate winters coz I couldn't drag myself out of my warm and cozy bed every morning. I would also wind up a size or two bigger for my jeans by the time the season ended. Then there was the case of rogue ninjas attacking konoha village and my addiction to anime.

    

But around 2 years ago all that changed when i discovered Dunkin Donuts, their not so glorious but still good donuts and their excellent coffee. I suddenly had a purpose in life, to have donuts and coffee for breakfast which actually meant I would skip lunch hence maintain my figure : P and buy shippuden when it comes out. Dunkin had been providing good donuts for the last year and a half but then all of a sudden it closed all it's branches in Rawalpindi and their donuts started tasting like dough. Their coffee is still good, but coffee without donuts is like barney without a suit. I tried settling for something less, a cup of tea with 3 tea bags and cookies but even though that made me addicted to cookies, the tea just didn't cut. And then we found the Lazeez Patisserie (see previous post). I've already praised them for their cookies and planned to sue them for their name but now its time to praise them once again, for their donuts! Yes even though its a small little place and I was enlightened by Tazeen that cafe Lazeez is actually a franchise, their donuts kick ass! I still have to try them with Dunkin's coffee but I'm pretty sure that my winter will pass in peace and I will be a lot less angrier.

P.S - I have no idea why the images were flipped the way they were

Finally Something to Blog About

I don't have many readers but it still felt good when some asked that why I hadn't been blogging for so long. The reason was simple... I was angry. Angry at the frikkin' government for failing at everything that they did... The other more mundane reason was that i hadn't had good cookies for a very long time.

But all that changed the other day when we ran into the cafe Lazeez Patisserie (a fancy name for a bakery). In fact I should probably sue them for even using the word. Everything seemed pretty ordinary except for the cookies (though that was probably because they had the lid on backwards). I got a pack which i later realized was kinda expensive but it was totally worth it. Every bite had to be savoured. Thank God they werent biscuits coz i've just about had it with those lame brained bakers passing of biscuits as cookies.

And oh yes, I'm still angry.... I need more cookies!

Strolling in Springfield

I bumped into this while browsing randomly for an angry avatar.  That explains why i havent been posting as often as I do : P~. You can get yours as well by going to the Simpsons movie site. And just to give you a hint about why I'm angry, its because of some bloody egoistic SOBs

A not so Political Rant

This was originally going to be a Pro-Musharraf post for which I went to such lengths as smsing everybody in my address book at 3 AM in the morning asking them about their opinion on Musharraf. The reply i got was something that i never would've thought of... "Who are you?". Yes it's true, I had bought a new number but retained my old address book. Most of the people I smsed that night didn't know that. Any way once i told them who I was the second response was even more astounding... "Do you know what time it is?". I wonder why people don't keep watches at their bed sides like me. And that's when my good mood started deteriorating.

It's been a week now and my mood has been deteriorating slowly but surely. It should have been a good week considering I took one of my friends out for lunch on Monday, but on the contrary it was horrible. I brooded over that most of the week until the 14th of August arrived which brought some relief coz i was filled with patriotic fervour, either that or it was the frozen tomato soup kicking in. Then came the fifteenth and i was brooding again. What was really eating me was that the friend I took for lunch seemed to be in a world of his own and that is something that I don't take to nicely. To top it off my beloved watch broke while pulling on the hand brake too hard and it feels like a part of me has been ripped away. Then I ran into one of my best friends from school who as it turns out had stopped keeping in touch because I was the guy who was a little religious and he went on to become a bassist for a getup called "Saturn"! Everything just seems to get crummier and crummier.

The only good thing is that I've managed to do this week are read 3/4th of Bram Stoker's Dracula and discover that chicken meat balls are actually more delicious then beef meat balls.

Scrumptious Men : d~~

Disclaimer - The following suggestive post in no way reflects my orientation

I never thought I would be saying this but eating men is actually a very delicious experience. One bite and you are hooked! Now this may sound revolting to some people but I'm gonna continue rambling on about how much I love eating these small men to make this blog post eligible to be a blog post. Not everyone can make these little men, in fact there's only one place I know of that makes ginger bread men with actual ginger bread (or something that tastes like ginger bread). The other (so called) bakeries just sell biscuits with smiley faces drawn on them, which is not only revolting but a total rip off! I have been fooled by these ginger bread men look a likes almost all my life. Heck if you cant make ginger bread men then stop selling distasteful imitations!

Anyway the place that sells real ginger bread men is Kitchen Cuisine near the F7 Markaz in Islamabad. I only wish that they would hire a better smiley drawer and dress the men a little more nicely. And i cant wait for the ginger bread women versions to come out, I'm sure that will be a big success with the masses until the Taliban come along

Death by Habaneros

No Habaneros are not a new terrorist organization on the block. According to the Scoville scale they are one of the hottest type of chilis on this planet, and maybe the neighbouring planet considering that they dont have any farmers there. Recently me and my friend with the red shoes (I still havent hatched a plan to kill him yet) went to our usual lunch place to grab a bite or two.

After placing the order there are three things that a waiter usually does

1. Says thank you
2. Makes sure that the proper eating utensils have been provided
3. Brings all the sauces that can go with the food that you ordered

Our waiter did all these and as a gesture of appreciation (read omen of death) also placed a bottle of Tabasco Habanero Sauce on our table. Soon the food came and we both tried the new sauce a lil bit and voila! I was hooked. The darn sauce was so damn delicious that I just couldn't have enough. It read on the back that this sauce would make you teary eyed and it did, but these were not just tears of mouth sores but also tears of joy. I had a found a new favorite sauce. I gulped down drops after drops of the sauce with every bite and when I was finally done a smile of content appeared on my face(It was either that or an indication that I was about to pass out). It took me a few minutes to regain consciousness but i had survived. In fact i hadnt even passed out at all, just gone all blurry eyed and lost track of what my friend was saying.

Anyhow before heading back to office we decided to grab a bottle of this divine sauce from the near by store. The rest of the day at office was spent day dreaming about dinner... Later that night, when I got home, I showed off my prized possession to everybody but they didnt share my level of adrenaline rush. Eventually dinner was served and i again gulped down loads n loads of drops of this thing. My mom eventually had to stop me because she could smell its "spiciness" across the table.

Its around 1AM right now and my guts are on fire! And i dont mean normal fire, i mean fire from the deepest pits of hell. Is this the end of the line for me?

The guy with no red shoes

I've always had a thing for abaya clad women and shoes. Weird choice eh but there's something about shoes that gets me all tingly inside and its almost impossible for me to resist.

Recently a friend of mine wanted to buy some soccer shoes so we headed to the puma store. I was overwhelmed with excitement looking at all the Ferrari merchandise and everything red. The prices were as expected through the roof but Ferrari! who could resist? Unfortunately i was flat broke and couldn't even afford the shoe laces. My friend however bought these awesome looking red shoes that i would kill him for. But until i can hatch a plan to do exactly that, i'm the guy with no red shoes. That's even worse then the guy with one red shoe

The Lizard Slayer...

Have i ever mentioned how i hate summers. I guess not coz this is only my second post on this blog. Anyhow I HATE SUMMERS! they are God's way of reminding us how french fries feel when they are being fried, and how we should respect the potatoes. Gawd I hate summers, the body odor, the crazy marching lawyers in mid June, the power outages, the un-chilled tea and most of all - the most scariest things on earth - lizards!

Lizards are perhaps one of the most loathsome things on this planet. The only thing they are good for is scaring away girls and ahem.. koff* koff*... guys like me. I cant stand the site of those vile beings let alone kill one of them with a jharoo in one hand and a mortein in the other. If somebody saw me like that, they may think that sultan rahi has been resurrected.

But Alas! this Wednesday i had to do it. I came home from office only to find my Mom and Dad in a heated argument. Nothing new there but then when i noticed that our whole kitchen had been renovated (read been stripped of all the patelis and plates and stuff) i got a lil curious. I entered the kitchen and behold there was the culprit. A lizard was stuck (yes stuck) between the window. It looked like a scene right out of a cartoon (dare i say cute?). Ammi like me is scared out of her wits by lizards (now you know where i get it from... its all in the genes). She was arguing with Pop to kill it but my Pop wasnt lifting a finger. So i had to butt dive in as a hero of sorts... "the lizard slayer". After all the lizard was stuck what harm could it do? I took out the mortein spray in a Clint Eastwood type of way and started spraying the lizard like crazy. We would've had to evacuate the building if i had kept on spraying any longer. But i did it... I killed my first lizard. And to prove that you can check out my kitchen window... It's still there... I didnt have the guts to get it out and throw it away : $

Potato Patato?

Why did i name my blog that? Well because

1. Shoebox was already taken (Duh!...)
2. It rhymes with "tomato tamato"
3. Im a couch potato (does that count?)

but most importantly because the day i created this blog is also the day i fond out that it's the international year of the potato!


Well maybe this wasnt the right pic to get my point through but what the heck... I'm blogging!