Apple & Plum Pastry

Hello!


God knows how long it has been since I last posted a recipe post in my blog. I guess it's because I have generally been away from the kitchen and cooking in general. Since I made this pastry the other day with the leftover dough from the chicken pie, I thought I might as well share it as it is really quick and easy to make it. You don't need any fancy or expensive ingredients too so that is a bonus. Let me know if anyone wants the recipe for the chicken pie (before I forget it myself 😂).
Note: I made this recipe up without looking at any resources so if this thing already exists then well... I did not know, just in case :)


These measurements roughly make 4 pastries. Here is how I made this apple and plum pastry:



Ingredients:

- 5-6 apples
- 4 plums
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons of sugar (brown if desired)
- Knob of butter
- 1/2 block of puff pastry (jus roll puff pastry is the best and it's veg/Halal)
- Flour for rolling
- Egg

Method:



1. Peel the skin of the apples and chop them into small cubes. Chop the plums into small cubes leaving the skin on.

2. In a fry pan, melt the butter and add the plums and apples. Fry them till the juices come out.

3. Add the nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar and combine them together. Keep cooking the fruits till they get soft and paste-like.

4. Leave the fruit filling to cool completely.

5. Roll out the puff pastry dough to half inch thickness. Cut even number of same sized rectangles or squares from the rolled pastry.

6. Preheat the oven at 180 C (356 F)

7. Take a rectangle and add roughly a tablespoon of the filling.

8. Cut little slits on the top rectangle that will be placed on top of the and place it on top of the bottom sheet with the filling. Close the sides of the pastry by pressing them down with a fork.

9. Beat an egg and brush on top of the pastries.

10. Bake it for half an hour or until the crust is nicely golden brown.

Done!

It tastes delicious with the soft apple filling and the slight sourness from the plums with the essence of cinnamon. The crust compliments the filling giving it that contrast between the sweetness of the filling and the flaky pastry. The ingredients of the filling are completely your choice so you could make it differently like mango and coconut or whatever you desire. Also, you can serve this with some fresh double cream (liquid or whipped) or some vanilla ice cream in summer. Either way it is tasty on its own.

I'm sorry I did not get a chance to take a picture of them as my phone was away and I am just too bloody lazy to get my phone for a picture.

I hope you liked the recipe and let me know if you try this out. Make sure to check back every Saturdays.


And with this I conclude my final blog post of 2016. Happy New Year to my readers! From the bottom of my heart I thank you so much for those who have been reading my silly blogs from day 1 and here is to many more blogs in the future iA!

Take Care

Yours Nafiza

Thoughts on Contact Lenses

Hi!



Hope everyone is doing well. If you did not know, I have screwed up eyes and I wear glasses and I have been wearing glasses for the past 10 years. Recently, my eyes have gone worse and had to change my glasses, which also came with a random offer where I could try contacts for free. My whole life I have thought that they were pretty scary but I finally stepped up with courage and gave it a try. This is the process of getting into using contacts:


Initially, when you arrive to your appointment, you are given instructions on how to wear them. It is scary. The thought of inserting something random in your eyes is quite dreading, as you end up imagining whether you will ever be able to remove it from your eyes.

They tell you to take the contacts in the end of you palm and scoop it with the index of your finger of the dominant hand. It should be in the right way; which is the circular way (not the way it looks like a V). Open your eyes widely and insert it without blinking the first few seconds to adjust it to your eyes.

The first moment it does not adjust properly and it is painful and teary, but it settles down. When both of them are in your eyes, it is a bit strange and you have this internal sense of relief knowing you are able to see things clearly without wearing glasses after God knows how long. For me it was after 10 years!

The opticians should carry out some check-ups to see if they are suitable and will be given daily dispensable ones to try them on for a week and come back in a week for another checkup. They will check up again and any trouble should be discussed with them.

As I tried them on for a week, it felt quite good as the face felt lighter without glasses. But I had to constantly make sure I do not wash my face with them or suddenly fall asleep with them. They can dry your eyes out but I was told that you can use eye drops suitable for contact lenses.

There are two kinds of people out there, one kind is that they look the same with or without glasses, and the other is that they look like totally different people with and/or without glasses. I personally felt like the second group. I look totally different with and without glasses but when I am dressed to go outside. This is my opinion so I am not sure what others think.

At the end, I refused to take monthly contacts because I realised it is a lot of maintenance and there are risks. I will order some daily dispensable ones for any special occasions. Also, I missed my glasses so I will stick with them till I really start to hate them. I already hate the cleaning part of my glasses.


I hope this has helped you and I suggest you go and give it a try with contacts if you currently wear glasses. You never know, they might be for you!


Make sure to check back every Saturday



Take Care



Yours, Nafiza

We Are Blessed (Short Post)

Hey!

Initially I started working on another post and before realising I ended up being busy and after that being sick. I have lost all my stamina so I will keep this sort. I'm sorry it's late and short. This is also my 50th post so I feel even worse that it is not something special, but health comes first as they say...

My point today is to make you realise how lucky you are that you have so much in life. I can't even imagine how some people out there are still living in such poor conditions. Of course by now everyone must have heard of the state in Aleppo. Can you imagine being in their state? It must be devastating.

Take a minute to think about what you have been blessed with compared to those poor who are in desperate need of our help. Let's come together and appreciate for what we have and pray for those in need, or even take some action like charity.

Hopefully I should be feeling better next week and will be back with what I initially wanted to post. Till then...

Take Care

Yours, Nafiza

What Uni Has Taught Me So Far...

Hey!



I know my posts are so late and my typical excuses are just that I am too busy with exams and the damn assignments I have to do every weekend. Anyway...


The other day it hit me that after next week, it is christmas holidays for 5 weeks for me. Not only that, HALF OF MY UNI LIFE IS GONE! I cannot believe I am halfway through uni and I have bittersweet feelings about it. As much as students complain about how hard uni is, it is quite fun to learn new things that you will be using soon in the future but that is not what I am going to discuss about.


As you can see from the title, I have decided to put a list of stuff that my course has actually taught me and I found it pretty amazing to learn. Here we go:


Uni has taught me so far that:

1.       Drinking too much water per day (over 3L) or in one go is harmful for you and you end up suffering a condition called hyponaetremia or also known as water intoxication, it can be fatal

2.       If you get/have oedema (swelling around parts of the body), you probably have a heart condition and it can be quite serious, or kidney issues where they are not functioning properly

3.       If you are allergic to something like nuts or insect stings and eat/get attacked by them and leave it untreated, it can be fatal due to the anaphylactic shock. E.g. if you have peanut allergy and have peanuts, it is harmful to not get treated by A&E

4.       Changing genders is basically injecting hormones of the preferred gender and the person’s lifestyle change. People usually who undergo this process have gender dysphoria; feeling uncomfortable with their assigned gender

5.       If you get into an accident and a body part is severely damaged, it can cause death if it is not immediately amputated due to the release of ions in blood, damaging the heart and kidneys

6.       Breathing issues should not be neglected and should be checked by the GP as it can lead to the internal damage of the lungs, leading to problems with oxygen supply and then heart issues

7.       The main treatment for kidney stones is drinking water or fluids

8.       Type 1 diabetes is your pancreas not producing insulin and type 2 diabetes is your cells not using the insulin to regulate blood sugar levels

9.       Pain killers, strong spicy foods, alcohol, smoking and other things can cause ulcers in your stomach and they are quite hard to cure

10.   Scientists usually have a programme called IBM SPSS that will do what MS Excel does but with more functions to make data handling easier

11.   Scientists always aim to deny hypotheses of theories and it is allowed

12.   Cholesterol patients taking medication for control of blood cholesterol level have a risk of developing muscle cell damage

13.   Too much sugar will be converted to glycogen by insulin so if you need energy later, it can be used by breaking glycogen

14.   High blood pressure is one of the most common conditions around the world

15.   Alpha and beta cell receptors are the most crucial components when dealing with heart regulation and issues, along with calcium, sodium and potassium regulation

16.   Cardiac arrhythmia is when the heart beats out of sync and it can happen due to the damage of heart cells

17.   Half or a quarter of an aspirin everyday can seriously prevent the risk of developing angina; pain of the heart due to the damaged heart cells

18.   Overdosing with drugs will not cure you faster, in fact it will develop toxic effects in your body

I hope it was not too much information thrown at you. It could come handy at some point if you would like to use it in the future. I enjoyed learning all these things and more that I learnt did not mention it here. Everyday is a new day with new information to learn, but then exam season kills all the excitement.

Make sure to check back every (late night) Saturdays for a new post and feel free to suggest what you would like me to write about.

Take Care

Yours, Nafiza

Rice Extract Face Mask

Hello!


I have been experimenting with rice for the last couple of weeks. Yes! Rice!
I saw someone's Instagram where the beauty guru made something out of rice and applied it as a mask and it worked wonders on her. I thought I would give it a try myself and here I am, sharing the results to you so you can go away and try it out yourself. This technique is very simple and I am not joking when I say it requires 2 INGREDIENTS ONLY.

It is known that rice is used as a skin lightening method around Asia. It helps clear out your skin, slowly reduces those dark marks left from spots and helps with hyperpigmentation and just basically leaves your skin looking brighter and lighter.
Since I have been trying this out for the past few days, it has left my skin looking brighter, making it smoother and soft, reducing those horrible marks left from spots and reduced those horrible dark patches I have around the upper lip and chin. This is how you can rice for your skin:


What you need:

1. Rice
2. Water

Steps:

1. Take a cup of rice in a bowl. Add roughly a cup of lukewarm water.
2. Give it the rice a good rub with all your force, making sure the water is as cloudy as possible.
3. In a separate bowl, extract that water. Don't throw the rice grains away, it is still good so cook the rice to eat.
4. Let the cloudy water sit overnight or 3-4 hours. You will see the substance has separated into 2 things. There will be normal water at the top and a slime-like substance at the bottom.
5. Carefully with a soup spoon, remove as much water from the top as possible, making sure you don't throw away any of the white slime from the bottom.
6. Get the white slime into a smaller container to preserve it for a couple of days.

Applying it on your face:

1. Wash your face and pat dry, making sure there is nothing on your face.
2. Using your hands, or a face mask brush, apply the white slime rice extract all over your face or desired areas.
3. Leave it on for 15-20 minutes or until the mask is dried.
4. Rinse your face with lukewarm water and pat dry. Moisturise your skin and done!


You will the instant results of how your skin feels really soft and clearer instantly. You get better results if you do it everyday over a period of time and the slime from one cup of rice should last roughly 3-4 uses. I have made this extract with basmati rice and brown rice. I have seen better results with brown rice but not sure why.
I should also warn you that the rice extract smells a bit weird and the smell gets worse over time. If you don't like stinky/sweaty socks smell, then make smaller batches and keep it away from your room, better suggested in the bathroom, where you will use it.

Give it a try and let me know if it works for you too! Make sure to check back every (late) Saturdays for a new post.

Take Care

Yours, Nafiza