We are a week into September. Let that sink in folks. We are officially in the ninth month of the year, and my brain cant seem to even begin to process how fast this year has flown by. I feel like it was just last week I was thinking about what my 2017 New Year's resolution would be. But alas, it is September. And like every year, my resolution has remained unfulfilled. But that is okay, because I did some other cool stuff to make up for it! Speaking of which, I was going through my camera roll on my phone (to clear up storage, as always) and I found some pictures from this past month that I thought would be fun to share. Especially with pictures that made it to my Instagram because you usually don't get the backstory behind Instagram uploads, just a small caption and some hashtags. So I thought why not share them and talk about them a little more. 

In no particular order, here are my top 5 favourite pictures of August:

Pavlova Pancakes @ 'The Picnic' Burwood Park, Burwood:

Ah, The Picnic. One of my all time favourite brunch places in Sydney. Their food is consistently delicious, the vibe is awesome and their chicken schnitzel is to die for (its not as basic as it sounds) it is actually amazing. Here is it is in all it's glory: 

Celebratory Chocolate Cake:

It was my brother and my sister-in-law's first anniversary of their 'nikkah' (religious marriage ceremony) so I thought I would bake them a cake to celebrate, which was quite the hit! It was my first time experimenting with chocolate buttercream (I am really really new at this baking thing, so I usually stick to my basic vanilla sponge + buttercream combos.) However I thought I would branch out and give it a go, and honestly-I'm so glad I did! I wish I had a photo of the inside, but the layers of buttercream were perfect and the Ferrero Rocher chocolates were the perfect finishing touch. I will say I kind of regret adding the toasted peanuts to the top of the cake, it looked a little messy with the flake chocolate I had originally added but hey-you live and you learn. And I am still learning on how to get that perfectly smooth finish around the outside of the cake, so hopefully that just comes with practice. At the end of the day, I'm not too fussed because I mean, the buttercream tasted yum and really, who doesn't love a slice (or two) of chocolate cake?  

The 'Waiting for a saviour' Snapchat selfie:

M on the left (who stole my sunnies!) and MK on the right, yep I think that works for Identification purposes on this blog.

This photo may make it seem like a fun day with M (I have decided this what I shall refer to her as, for she will be featured quite a bit on my blog I feel.)----and yes, while that was part of how this day went down, I think it's apt to truly describe this day as a series of unfortunate events. I had driven us to Burwood to try out the Rusty Rabbit, (which was weirdly hard to find) so if you haven't been before, or maybe we were just puzzled by the location, because I remember looking at M and saying,"Well the GPS says we have arrived but all I see is like a taxation office?" So when we finally did find the place, I couldn't find parking on the street so decided to park in a carpark I had found and I naively assumed that perhaps due to it having no boom gates, that it was free parking. (lol, like as if that is a thing in Sydney.) So while in the carpark, I see other drivers entering and exiting and they seem to be loving life, so again, another positive sign to just assume I too, can come and go as I please. Big mistake. Huge. (Okay not huge, but it sounds better) So I park, and I look around for a ticket machine and the only one that I see is out of order. So while not fully convinced about the parking situation, we still went on our merry way for brunch, and I came back to find a parking fine. *Sigh* And if that was not frustrating enough, (mostly because I felt like a bit of an idiot for assuming local councils in Sydney suburbs were nice to their people. I can confirm: they are not.) A few hours later, my car randomly broke down in the middle of a random carpark. So the above photo is a result of me waiting for my mother to come save us. And boy, did she save us. 

My mum is honestly the biggest boss/machine/female-extraordinaire. I could honestly have played the theme song to Superman as she entered, lassoing the jumper leads in her right hand like some kick-ass cowgirl, but also gracefully carrying her handbag in her left. (Okay, so it wasn't that dramatic, but how's that for a mental picture.) And I know what you're thinking, that it isn't that hard to restart a car-but look, I was in a time of need and it was none other than my mum who saved me (as always) so let me be a little complimentary. And when I say a random carpark, I mean an empty carpark behind a McDonalds (don't ask.) So while we are trying to figure out the car trouble, there was a bus filled with some young teens and an old bus driver behind us, most probably on a Macca's pit stop on a school trip. The bus driver just sat in his seat, sipping on his thick-shake, munching on his fries. And I am thinking to myself, ''Hey buddy this isn't a free show-maybe come give us a hand?'' And like that, as if he read my mind, he sauntered over to have a look. Just to look. So my mum fixes the position of the jumper leads and basically has got it down pat, ready to start the car, when he 'adjusts' them (read: made sure they were secure, which they already were.) And then confidently says "go on, start the car now" and of course, it starts. So as you can imagine, the bus driver really did believe it was his magic touch that fixed the car. So, I will say thank you to the bus driver for letting his fries go cold in order to help us out, but we all know who the credit really belongs to, thanks mum! We did have a bit of a giggle that he truly thought he was the hero in this story, though. 

The 'They're so beautiful, and that's about it' Pancakes @ The Rusty Rabbit, Burwood.

The above photo is beautiful isn't it? It is what Instagram food-bloggers' dreams are made of. The colours, the fluffiness of the pancakes, the contrasting blue plate they're served in. Ah, perfection. Aaaand that is where it ends. So sad. 

This picture is following on from the last one, since I mentioned we had brunch at The Rusty Rabbit, and so I thought I would share what I ordered and what went down. *Sigh* these pancakes were so disappointing. They are known on Instagram for being fluffy and big but honestly, they were undercooked to the point where I got to the centre of my pancake and it was just...a doughy mess. The flavours of the different berries were too overpowering and I just felt like I was consuming some type of mixed berry jam straight out of its jar. The passionfruit sauce just did not make sense for some reason, even though I loved the passionfruit sauce with the blueberries on my 'Pavlova Pancakes' at 'The Picnic.' I will say, the ricotta helped cut through the sweetness, but there was not enough of it. Just a tiny scoop on top of two massive pancakes. I barely got half-way through the first pancake before feeling the need to steal a savoury hot chip from M's plate. It cost me about $17.00 which is a decent price for the quantity, but honestly I don't think I would have even paid 10 for it, unfortunately. You just can't get away with serving undercooked pancakes. And just to add to my underwhelming experience, the cherry on top was the guy at the register's behaviour, but that is a story on it's own for another time. (of-course, the parking fine made the trip out to find this place even more disappointing, but hey, I won't blame the cafe for my stupidity.) I do not think I will be going back anytime soon. 

The time I made Chicken the way my Mum makes it: 

And last but not least, and I apologise for the pathetic attempt at a photo but hey, when your dad wants to eat dinner you get 0.05 seconds to snap a picture, so this is the best I could do in that time frame! Anyhoo, this one might sound a bit random to include in my August review, but I wanted to include it because it is definitely something I am going to remember for the rest of my life. I know that sounds so extra/so cheesy/so lame and whoever is reading this will most likely be thinking, "What is the big deal? So you made some chicken?" But the thing is guys, I am really proud of myself.  The same girl who almost failed food-tech in high school, and was told she was 'confused in the kitchen' (Yep, this really happened. And honestly, I don't even blame my teacher. I was terrible) made one of her favourite Pakistani dishes, from scratch. That's right. My mum's Karahi Chicken recipe will always be a favourite of mine, and I was so happy when it turned out exactly like hers. 

Like I said, I am not a big cook and I only recently started getting into the baking world, so this was a big deal. If I am honest, I just felt that it was important for me to learn these recipes, not because I feel I have to, but because I want to. Even from the most basic one's (and hopefully the more complex recipes soon) because food is such an integral part of the way I appreciate and embrace my culture, and I don't want to lose that, ever. Okay, I don't want to turn this into a sob story, but listen, when you grow up in an environment where the other (all caucasian by the way) kids at school had 'spag bol' or steak for dinner the night before, and you have to either avoid the question from fear of being asked further questions, or just answer with your go-to response of "oh yeah my mum just made traditional Pakistani food" you just want to avoid being as different as possible. And as a young teen, I couldn't even fathom the thought of using the word 'curry.' I mean, you would be branded as a curry muncher for life. However, now that I am an adult, I realised that it is okay to be a curry muncher, (heck, I am proud to be one!) and I don't want to be last generation in my family to appreciate how special Pakistani cuisine really is. Trust me, it is already happening. I know family members younger than myself who would rather have noodles or pasta, which is fine, but I really do feel they should also learn to love the food from their own culture and the love that goes into making it. And because of this, I don't want these dishes to be just associated with my trips overseas or visits to my mum's place, but also from the comfort of my own kitchen in the future. I want to learn all the tricks from the women in my life who know their stuff, so that I can one day be just like them. Sure, you can have a stir fry or a pasta but I mean, at the end of the day a good ol' Karahi Chicken is where the heart is. (Atleast for me, anyway!) 


Okay, that is enough rambling about some chicken.  Hope you guys enjoyed this kind of post, I know it is slightly different, but I want to make this blog a place for me to share more of myself and my life. So be sure to let me know if you liked this and if would like a September Review! It is only the 7th and so much has happened already. But enough about me, how has your September treated you so far?

-M.K.