Thanksgiving '13

Today, we are celebrating Thanksgiving around the nation- and by the look of it- it is being celebrated around the world as well. I think Thanksgiving Day has become a chance to get together with your loved ones. Some say it is a day to give thanks for all the blessings in your life, but I don't see it that way.
I see many people recognizing their blessings and good fortune throughout the year and that practice is much better than reserving one day to give thanks. Thanksgiving has become more of a custom, where people get inside the kitchen and cook up all the traditional dishes like mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and of course, turkey. It is a holiday when people can take a break from their busy lives and do the things that matter-socialize and eat.
We, at the Naqvi household have a tradition of our own. We usually pick a cuisine from around the world and focus our cooking on that. For example, Hina has made lasagna a few years ago and we also have done Asian cuisines, if I remember correctly.
This year, we have picked Japanese as our cuisine of choice. Hina will make some kind of fish, mom will prepare tempura, but I will do something un-Japanese for desert. I have baked a Pecan Pie Brownie. I found the recipe on Facebook, when someone I know posted it on their page.
I purchased the ingredients a few days ago, yet I still needed to make a trip to Safeway today to purchase a few ingredients that we didn't have. I started preparing the desert around 12:00 p.m. It wasn't too difficult and the process was pretty straight-forward. I made a bit of a mess though, which mom was nice enough to clean.
The desert came out really nice and I am excited for me and my family to try it tonight. I hope it is as delicious as it looks.
Fo all you bakers out there, the recipe can be found here. 

Apple Picking-Swanton Apple Ranch

I planned for my friends and I to go apple picking today. Most of them said no or changed their minds the very last minute, but my very good friend Naziya and her husband joined us on our adventure.
The ranch I selected was in a town called Davenport, which is about twenty minutes north of Santa Cruz downtown. We drove on the beautiful, tree-lined freeway of 17 and then enjoyed the views of the ocean on 1-N. The ranch itself is reached after four or so miles of driving on the windy road after leaving 1-N, and had no cell phone service. We reached there finally after an hour worth of drive and Naziya and her husband joined us about thirty minutes later.
The whole ranch was brimming with life as many families were there to partake in the apple picking activity. There were rows and rows of apple trees of different varieties. I started picking them wildly without realizing that I didn't bring enough mullah to pay for them. Many of them were not in perfect shapes as one finds in Safeway or other grocery stores, but obviously, these were organic apples.
After we picked and paid for the apple, we drank tea and ate brownies in the parking lot while conversing about a variety of topics. We took pictures and jetted back to downtown Santa Cruz for lunch.
Yaseer found a Thai restaurant there and we settled ourselves in a booth. There was a really good lunch special-$6.50 for soup and an entree. We devoured the food and were done in 30 minutes with the food.
We thought about going to Santa Cruz boardwalk, but felt tired. We also had a dinner to go to in the evening so we opted out of that and drove back home. All in all it was a fun day!

Eid Mubarak!

This past Tuesday, on a perfect fall evening of October 15th, 2013, was Eid-ul-Adha. It was a workday so I had to work, but the night was reserved for festivities. One of my good friends, Farhana and I planned a dinner party at Shezan. We thought that since we are working during the day, we can celebrate this wonderful Muslim holiday at night.

Eid-ul-Adha is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims all over the world to honor the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim/Abraham to sacrifice his young, first-born son Ismail/Ishmael as an act of submission to Allah's command and his son's acceptance to being sacrificed before Allah intervened to provide Abraham with a lamb to sacrifice instead (Wikipedia).

We invited a few of our CalFriends families and enjoyed ourselves tremendously. The food was delicious and the company was even better. I had invited Hina, Hazem Bhai, and the girls along with mom to the event. Papa couldn't come due to an office dinner. Please enjoy the pictures!

Family Picnic 2013: Bayshore Park

Hello All,
It's been some time since I have posted anything on the blog. What can I say? Life got in the way. A lot has happened since I last wrote and God willing, many positives prospects are being lined up in my life.
Last week, the Naqvi clan got together for a reunion at Mountain View's Bayshore Park. Qamar Chacha, one of my younger uncle, flew in from Canada and his family flew in from Pakistan. So it was decided that we should plan a fun excursion for the whole family. I took the lead and after much deliberation and rejection of ideas, it was decided that we should have a picnic.
The site I chose is close to our house and offers many activities for the whole family. Besides being a well-maintained and spacious park, Bayshore Park offers water activities such as peddle boating, kayaking and sailing. Not to mention, a full-blown restaurant is part of the facility.
The whole gang was excited and after RSVPs from each family, the date and time was set for September 8 at 11:30 a.m. Incidentally, my sister's birthday falls on the same day so there were two causes for celebration. Food was decided to be catered by the one and only Shezan restaurant- our favorite Pakistani/Indian restaurant. Samina Aunty and Jamshed Uncle, the restaurant owners and cooks did a fabulous job preparing Biryani, Behari Kababs, and Choley for us. Hina and Hazem Bhai brought cake and drinks.
The whole day was filled with fun and engaging conversations and adventure. The food was to die for. Some of the family members, including myself, took in boating. There was another factor that made the day just perfect-the sunny weather. There was a minor concern that the day would get hot and we even got a spot under the shade, but we were gifted with a perfect Indian summer day.
The picnic was planned to end at 2:00 p.m. and a Niner's game was a cause to curtail the longevity of the event, but we persevered and stayed till well after 5:00 p.m. All in all it was a great day!

Alina and Mohsin Kayaking

Me on a Row Boat

Cyrus, Ali, and Mohsin

Seema Aunty and I