So recently my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary *woooot* and since my mother's real cute, she decided to have a party and since I'm real nice, I decided to help her while I have finals and ten journal entry papers to do but I mean who cares about school right? 

I wanted to share some of the decor that we did, but most importantly, the pretty little cake that my sister and I made and worked so hard on. 

I baked the cake, made custard and frosting, and decorated the bottom tier with rossettes
 and my sister decorated the top tier and stuck little edible pearls all by herself. I'd never have the patience to do that myself so kudos to her!

My mom bought some flower garlands to hang on our stairway, and I convinced her to buy lanterns and pom poms because they're cute. I also made a poster that my cousin and I (mostly my cousin) tried to tape somewhere so it wouldn't fall for the bajillionth time and basically everything that day was just really cute..

Despite it being quite a bit of work, I had a lot of fun and it was nice seeing my parents be so happy :)  

You smell good (TFAM #4)

I havent done these in a while because I've been busy with school and Im actually still busy but my brain is so fried that I don't want to do anything besides mindlessly type about random things soooo heres another fact!
I collect perfume samples and love things that smell good. If I walk through a row of candles or perfumes, I have to smell every.single.one.
TRUE STORY. It is also the reason why I usually end up losing my mom at Kohls lol... but yea my mom says I loooved anything that smelled good even when I was younger, and I think Ibraheem is the same way (or he just has a really strong sense of smell) because he'll come running to smell my lotions and perfumes and stuff.. hes a goob.
Anyways, I think one of the reasons why I love scents so much is because theyre linked to memories(right? idk) so a lot of scents instantly remind me of things, and they also make me either feel happy or calm or classy and sophisticated and if I can feel like a new person just by smelling a candle, or spraying perfume, why not right? Even if that means I look like a crazy person opening every candle down the aisle. But I only do that because I mean what if I dont smell one that could potentially be really good??
I dont know where I'm going with this because Ibraheem interrupted me because he wanted to smell some "lamender" aka lavender essential oil..told you he likes smells. He doesn't even like the lavender one (hes like his favorite sister and prefers lemon) but I tried to see if he'd like it so maybe I could diffuse some around him so he can calm the heck down..
anywayssss I was gonna do another blog post on my essential oils so I guess this'll kinda segway into that, but that'll be after I finish my dumb finals and stuff smh.. soo yea. Gooodnight!

Peace and perfumes,
Saba

So recently, some things have happened that I've been anticipating for a long time and I've gone through other small things that have tested my patience. All of these things led me to realize something really important: everything happens under Allah's timing. And as long as you pray for it and work towards it, it will happen. Just when Allah wants it to happen. 

It took me a long time to realize this because I kept doubting whether I would eventually get what I wanted. I used to think that maybe I was doing something wrong, or I didn't deserve what I wanted, or I was just being majorly tested on this and I was failing. Nonetheless, I still tried to make dua and have as much faith as I could. 

Upon trying to reflect on the situation and reading several inspiring posts on the interwebz, I realized that it is super important to truly believe that Allah will answer your duas, or even give you something better than you asked for. And that you have to do your part to make as much of it come true as you can *aka tie your camel*. Let's face it, if you don't believe that you'll get what you want and you just sit around waiting for it to magically just fall from the sky, why should it even happen in the first place then? The more I thought about this, the more I realized that I needed to have faith and work harder, and wait for things to happen in their own time, not the time I want. I have to leave the rest to Allah because He truly is the best of planners and handles affairs in the most perfect way possible. 

. 

Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

THIS IS THE GREATEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO POTATOES SINCE HOT OIL.

Cream cheese.

Yes. 

It is great.

See, I was never a huge fan of mashed potatoes. I mostly took it as an excuse to eat gravy, because lets be honest, gravy is the better half of the mashed potatoes. But since I've stumbled upon this recipe, I think I actually like mashed potatoes as much as I like gravy. (don't tell gravy)

I didn't like mashed potatoes mostly because of the grainy texture and just how plain they tasted. Since both my siblings loove mashed potatoes I always thought something was wrong with me and decided to search pinterest for a recipe to make smoother mashed potatoes that might make me change my mind and I SURE DID.

Most of the recipes included either whipping or blending the potatoes and adding cream cheese. Or lots of butter. Or both. The cream cheese doesn't alter the taste of it really, but it makes it smooth and adds a tiiiny hint of pizzazz that mashed potatoes really need. Basically it's like the potatoes finally hired a much needed personal stylist.

*Note:This recipe requires an electrical mixer OR if you're like me and you're afraid of your electrical mixer because it is way too powerful and will splatter everything everywhere, then you beat it by hand like a crazy person. I've made these three times and didn't bring up the courage to use my electrical mixer until the third time and let me just tell you USE AN ELECTRIC MIXER. It somehow didn't splatter and made the job 1000x easier and I didn't burn 1000 calories trying to make mashed potatoes. Which is actually a good thing though so that way I can regain those calories by eating said mashed potatoes. SO ANYWAYS here is le breakdown of the recipe.

Ingredients: 
2 pounds of potatoes( I prefer russet)
3 T. Butter
4 oz. Cream Cheese
1/2 cup milk
Salt

Peel and cube the potatoes and cover with water in a large pot. I fill approximately half the pot with water. Season with salt. Boil for about 15 minutes, or until tender enough to puncture easily with a fork.

Drain the water completely. Add butter and cream cheese and beat until incorporated.

Add milk and blend until you have reached your desired consistency. For thicker, fluffier mashed potatoes, use less milk. To make it thinner, add more milk. You probably knew that though.

*Note: Mashed potatoes will become thicker the colder they get.

 At this point, taste the mashed potatoes and add more salt if needed.

Recipe adapted from here.

Rant Diaries 1

Ok so a couple posts back, I wrote about how I've always wanted to be a mom. I wrote that I would continue about that later, so I am *finally* writing about it, no thanks to my excellent procrastination skills.  
SO. The reason why the whole being a mom thing has been such a big deal is because it really confused me about my career choice throughout my life. I never bothered to think about other possibilities because aside from not being interested in anything, I just always assumed that everything would work out the way that I wanted it to and life would be great. When I started college, everyone was always asking me the two most important questions of your entire college career: "What's your major?" and "What are you gonna do with THAT??" Being a psych major, there are a few options I have if I choose to do something within this field. Not being emotionally stable and mature enough to deal with other people's problems, I knew immediately that I couldn't be an actual psychologist. Also being quite lazy, I didn't want to do anything that required more schooling or lots of hard work. Soo that doesn't leave me with many options or answers I can give to people when they ask "What do you want to do with your life huh" setting aside the fact that you really don't know what you want to do at the age of 16-17.

For the few people that I did tell that I always just envisioned myself being a mother and not really doing anything else, people would just laugh and say "that's cute, dont worry you still have time to figure something out" as if being a mom just isnt. good. enough. Let me tell you, being a housewife and a mother (and a GOOD one) is JUST as important as anything else and required JUST as much time and effort as anything else, if not more. Who else gets up at 2:30 in the morning to put a crying baby to sleep?  It annoyed me that women who do stay at home to take care of their husbands and/or children don't get enough recognition and appreciation as they should. It's a lot of work. So what if they don't sit behind a desk, tapping away at a keyboard and instead are raising the people who could potentially make the world a better place! And honestly... why is it anyone's business WHAT SOMEONE ELSE CHOOSES TO DO WITH THEIR LIFE?! 

It reeaaally frustrates me when people make comments and share their opinions that aren't positive at all because it's discouraging, and for someone like me who tends to be a people pleaser(woops im a middle child) I feel like I have to make sure everyone that I care about at least approves of what I do. I was scared to tell people I wanted to be a makeup artist because people tend to look down on it, and people have expressed to me that I could "do better than that" as if it's not that important. Sure, you're not saving someone's life, but it makes people feel better when they think they look better. So what if I want to do something that makes me and other people happy?? Why should anyone care if its not hurting others?

I am really thankful that my parents, and especially my father, always told us we could be whatever we wanted, and if we ever wanted a job, to make sure it was something we loved. My dad always stressed this and how important it was to do something we enjoyed because work wouldn't actually feel like work. He always tells us how he could be at his job for hours because to him, it doesn't feel like work. So growing up, I never knew why everyone had opinions that made me question what I wanted to do. I enjoy cooking, makeup, taking care of other people and little babies. If I want to be around those things, why does it matter to anyone else? 

Someone pls tell me bc I really don't know and now I'm just a confused 18 year old girl who feels like she should get her life together but also doesn't want to at the same time. sigh. rant over and PEACE OUTT,
Saba

Amatuer's Kitchen Presents: Spicy Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Coleslaw

WHY HELLO THERE

Soo as you can tell by the title, I'm changing things up a bit around here and throwing in some recipes and other stuff and it'll basically be kinda like a lifestyle blog. Yea.

The first recipe I am bringing to ya'll today is SPICY FISH TACOS. Three things I love all in one recipe. Lord bless the person who decided to make this a thing.

 

I love fish tacos, and fish anything really, and usually make these cilantro lime fish tacos. BUT since I've been on a spicy food kick a little more than ever, I decided to spice things up and try a different recipe (wow did u see wat i did there) AND AM I GLAD THAT I DID. They were amazing. I want more. I didn't expect coleslaw and fish to be that good but it was.

The coleslaw adds a nice slightly tart, cooling flavor and crunchy texture and its basically amazing and my dad, mom, and myself all agree that it was good enough to even just eat it by itself and since both my parents agree that means it was good. Seriously. We got some food critics in our family.

Also I know I don't know how else to describe food without using the words amazing and good bc I have the vocab of a five year old but I mean whatever pft I'm surviving :P


*Amateur Chef's note: I had to make a large quantity of fish because I had to feed 5 grown adults and leave some for lunch the next day as well so I just increased everything and kinda eyeballed it. Also, for toppings, you can add some green salsa(my fave), chipotle mayo, sliced onions, sour cream, or avocados. My stomach is highly sensitive to avocados now and I cant eat them so pls eat some for me whenever you're eating them :(

Spicy Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Coleslaw
(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
4 tilapia filets
8 corn tortillas

Seasoning:
-1/4 teaspoon paprika
-1/4 teaspoon coriander
-1/4 teaspoon oregano
-1/4 teaspoon basil
-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/2 teaspoon onion powder
-1/2 teaspoon chili powder
-1/2 teaspoon cumin
-dash of crushed red pepper(optional)
-2 teaspoons of salt
-1/4 cup of olive oil

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix all the seasoning ingredients with the olive oil.
2. Pour over tilapia, combine/stir everything together until each fish is nicely coated in spices.
3. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the fish for about 3 minutes on each side until white and flaky.
4. Break the fish apart into small chunks or just cut each filet in half and place on warm tortillas and assemble your tacos!

    Cilantro Lime Coleslaw
*Cut this recipe in half to make a smaller amount for 8 tacos

Ingredients:
-1 bag of pre-prepared coleslaw cabbage mix (or slice your own cabbages and carrots)
-1/2 cup sour cream
-1/2 cup mayo
-1 handful of cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
-Juice of 3 limes
-salt to taste

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together sour cream, mayonnaise, chopped cilantro, lime juice, and salt.
2. Add in the cabbage and mix until well incorporated.

Recipes adapted from here and here.


All the laughter and love from my kitchen to yours,
Saba

Life's a beach

It feels like summer, I want to go to the beach, anddd I have yet to finish my essay that I've been trying to work on for the past week. Yes, the same essay that led me to restarting up this blog. I had this sudden urge to just write something while I'm in the process of writing something else that I don't know what to wRITE ABOUT SOMEONE TEACH ME HOW TO WRITE PLS THX. or just write this essay for me cause its due tomorrow *cries*

I think I have a serious procrastination problem tbh. And I'm pretty sure its an actual problem. If it wasnt a problem, I'd be finishing up my essay right now.. *cries again at the thought of essay*

Ok I seriously need to go but I want to post more pictures so here are some beaches cause I miss it so much

Lunch break in An Amateur's Kitchen

For those of you who don't know, An Amateur's Kitchen is my instagram account name for my food pictures! Since I just talked about food, here are some of my favorite food pictures:

citrus fruit is the fruit of all fruits

citrus and herb baked chicken which was lovely and the recipe for this is on my cousins blog

blubbery muffins!

Chocolate chip cookies are the best cookies

Mac and (real) Cheese

Cookie butter +nutella = match made in fat kid heaven

Mini blueberry pie

Homemade cinnamon rolls are life

Cake face part 2 (TFAM #3)

So my second obsession in that fact was food.

 I love food. Aside from keeping me alive, I find it very comforting. I eat when Im happy, sad, mad, or bored. I usually eat a lot when I'm bored. Growing up, I just had a pretty big appetite and I was never told not to eat so I now have a habit of always eating. I ate a whoole lotta lemons, spoonfuls of canned frosting, chips, cake, cookies, chocolate, noodles, hot cheetos, biryani, burgers(shoutout to my homies at in-n-out), pickles, tomatoes, and pasta with lots of cheese. Or actually anything with melted cheese really. And I used to lick butter bc why not. Im super healthy now so yea (jk my inner fat kid still parties every day). All of those things are still my favorite things to eat actually..

 My mom was almost always cooking something, so I grew up around a lot of food and cooking. I became interested in watching cooking shows and going through cook books, and loved being in the kitchen as much as I could. I think the first thing I ever made was these mashed potato volcanoes and I'm not even a huge fan of mashed potatoes tbh. Or actually I think I first learned how to make rice.. I love rice.

During my sophomore year of high school, I was homeschooled. Having nothing to do all day, I decided to take on cooking, and somehow eventually made dinners for my siblings from time to time, and then even for the whole rest of my family. When I first started cooking, I wasnt the most efficient and I tended to under salt things. (its always better to under salt than to over salt tho js) I would get a bit discouraged but luckily, I never stopped. My mom always told me to continue cooking because you only learn more by experiencing more. Thankfully, that was exactly what happened. Cooking became so much easier and fun and everything tasted good and I COULD EYEBALL THE INGREDIENTS LIKE MY MOM AND RACHEL RAY :O. I was so confident about and in love with cooking that I decided I wanted to be a chef... until I realized how much work that would be. So for now, I just enjoy cooking for my family if I get the chance. 

I can smell chocolate cake for some reason (??) so I'm gonna go cause Im hungry now

P.S. cake face= bc i like cake and also people who wear too much makeup are called cake face WOW saba you are a geniusss

Peace, love, and chocolate cake,

Saba

Coffee Break in San Fran

SO I decided to post something fun today yeay
PICTURES FROM TRAVEL! WOO
I lurve traveling. The world is so full of beautiful places and people and foods.. so I shall share some of my experiences with yall! whoever is reading(who IS even reading these things pls let me know)

First up is probably my favorite city in California:
SAN FRANCISCO!

Some art palace museum thing

China town!

Flowers from the botanical gardens at Golden Gate Park

View from Lombard

I love this place

Cake face part 1 (TFAM #3)

WE'RE BACK with another edition offf- Twenty Facts about MOI because I cant stop talking about myself. lulz

this is gonna be two parts cause it is also long im sorry i just have a lot to say

Soo. This is out of order, but another fact on my post was:

I've had an obsession with makeup and food since I was really young

Ahh yes. I have indeed. One of my earliest memories is actually going through my mom's makeup and trying to put eyeliner on myself but chickening out cause I thought I was gonna poke myself in the eye. When I got a litttle bit older, I used to have my older cousin give me makeovers and sometimes I would even just go in her room and stare at all her makeup. sigh makeup is so pretty. i have like this weird magnetic attraction to makeup aisles and stores.. i cant walk by without stopping and staring at everything.  

Anyways, like I've mentioned in the previous post, because of this love for makeup, I wanted to be a makeup artist for a while. It made me feel like my life finally had a purpose or that I had a goal to reach instead of just waiting for life to happen and to get married off somewhere or something idk. I became obsessed with buying makeup, partially just for wanting to look good (more on self esteem issues later), and also because it really was fun for me and I felt creative and artistic like I always hoped to be.I used to watch makeup tutorials on youtube(back when actual makeup tutorials by people who knew how to do makeup was a thing) and try to copy along. I would practice on myself mostly, and thank God no one stopped me and my horrendous eye makeup looks because that practice only helped make me better. I guess everyone(mostly my parents) just thought it was a cute girly phase that I would grow out of, but I would always insist that it wasn't and that I would be a successful makeup artist. I would tell my mom about my plans to success and all the hard work I would put into it despite the fact that I had little money to buy more makeup as I had already spent so much on useless products for myself, but I thought I would manage somehow. I then realized that I needed some work experience and to start practicing on other people, but I would never get the opportunities to because everyone lived far away, I didn't have a car or license, or everyone I knew was busy(or maybe they just tried to avoid me idk). 

Fast forward to about two to three years ago, I decided I was gonna be super hippy/crunchy and stop using as many chemical and paraben-laden products as I could and drink kale shots every morning and eat chia seeds with every meal bc superfoods!!1!*  This sudden awakening led me to be reeally picky about what I put on my face and what future makeup products I wanted to buy. I was afraid of most of the makeup I owned so I slowly stopped wearing a lot of makeup. Also I started getting reeally lazy, and  I wanted my skin to get better and breathe for a while. Eventually, somewhere along the line last year, I completely lost my interest in makeup. I went from being so passionate about this thing, to not caring at all and then realizing that I had no hopes and dreams to work towards. Sadly, as one of my cousins said, it really was just a phase after all. There's a part of me that still wonders if I should do it, or if I can, and whether or not I would be a teenage makeup artist prodigy by now like I wanted to, if I put in the effort. Another part of me just wants to move on and hopefully find something that I can benefit people with. Guess I'll see where life takes me then, iA. 

Thanks for reading if you did,

saba

*this is a slight exaggeration. kale juice doesnt sound very appealing tbh..

phone camera quality picture of a face chart I did once.
Inspired by Slytherin

I'm secretly a mother of three kids (TFAM #2)

SURPRISE
lol jk

*THIS IS KINDA LONG BTW. if you dont like reading, at least read the last parts k
Hi, I'm back again. No one's even reading these but its ok. I'm having fun writing. Ok so the next fact on the instagrams was:
I've wanted to be a mom since I was a weee little child, and I can't really imagine myself being anything else.
For some reason I find this one kind of personal, mostly because I decided to not tell a lot of people (I guess I changed my mind if I posted it on instagram?!) because the response I got from some people would make me re-question my entire life and existence. But I really want to talk about it because I'm really passionate about this so here it goes
Growing up, I looked up to my mom A LOT. I wanted to be exactly like her. Everything she did was the right way to do things. I never used to cook my ramen noodles according to the package instructions because my mom never did, so I thought it was forbidden to read the directions lol (again, I am naive and dumb). Since my mom was a stay at home mom, I thought that that was exactly what I had to do as well. I knew that I would just get married and have kids, never giving thought at the possibility of having a job or something. According to my mom, when she would ask my what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would always say, "I'm gonna be a mom." so yea. I always imagined myself being a super cool mom driving a black escalade with my two kids in the back while we all go to get some ice cream or something.
Somewhere along the line, I decided that just being a mom wasn't cool enough, because everyone's mom had a job so I decided I needed one too. That was hard though, considering I've never been interested in anything that required going to school for a long time, like being a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc. I never had interest in anything that we learned at school either. I never had too many hobbies either. Heck, aside from reading, watching TV and eating food, I dont really know what I used to do tbh. After a while, I discovered makeup and decided I wanted to be a makeup artist. I almost followed this career path for a while, but things happen and I decided it wasnt for me. I went through a couple phases in search of an actual career until I just gave up and didn't know what I wanted to do with my life anymore.
My mom ended up having my baby brother right around this time, when I was in my freshman year of high school. I loved holding my brother, putting him to sleep, watching him just stare at everything..I didn't mind changing his diapers or getting puked on, and I wanted to help out with him as much as I could. My sophomore year of high school, I was homeschooled, partially so I could help my mom with the baby(or at least thats what I told her to convince her to let me stay at home for school hehe) and even though I would complain about being trapped at home and sometimes I would get annoyed of him, I still enjoyed it. Over the past three years, I've babysat him A TON. And that's a fact, Im not even bragging :). My schedule for school has mostly been that I am at school for only two days, so that leaves me to have to spend a lot of time with the little babes. If my mom is out running errands or picking up my other brother from school, a lot of times I have to watch him. There have been many moments where I get extremely frustrated by him, whether its because I cant get him to stop crying because he just wants mom, or because he's so hyper that he's running around destroying everything(ah, the joys of boys). Through the madness of trying to feed him, get him to stop crying or throwing that dinosaur toy at me while I'm in the middle of being lazy and binge watching TV or on the social medias I would ask myself all the time if I still reeally wanted to be a mom. It's a lot of sacrifice. You have no room to keep watching your favorite TV show while the kid is sick or hungry or hurt or cranky because he just woke up from a nap riight when you got the good part of the show. Yet, I would always think, yes. Yes, I still want to be a mom. Because at the end of the day when he says "I love you" or when he runs to my room screaming "Apppiii!" and gives me a hug, it's worth it. I'm not even his mom and it's still worth it. And its also worth it bc children are extremely adorable when they talk, and babies are so so cuddly and warm and smell good and are the greatest things to happen to life (im obsessed with newborns k).
So yea, I cant imagine myself doing anything else because 1. that's all ive ever imagined myself doing 2. i love taking care of bbs 3. its hard for me to find hobbies that could be occupations that i would want to put my time and effort into (hey im lazy)
Since this is getting really long, I'll end it here and continue on in another post about moms and jobs and stuff.  but yea.
Live, laugh and love alllll the babies in your life,
Saba

My favorite subject (Twenty Facts About Me #1)

I have an essay to be writing, but since I'm the queen of procrastination, I decided to write a blogpost instead. Maybe itll help get my writing/creative juices flowing..? who even says creative juices idk ew. Anyways, a while back I posted 20 facts about me on my instagram. I really liked that for some reason and since I can't think of what to write about I decided to just elaborate on some of those facts, since a lot of them have some sort of stories or more facts behind them. SO the first one I started off with was:
I'm a second year Psychology major. Its the only subject I've ever enjoyed learning/studying.
I started college when I was 16 and I loved it. But I was young and naive. I originally thought I wanted to study Sociology, which is funny because I never really understood exactly what it was. Part of me only wanted to do it because I thought it was similar to Psychology, except a lot less people did it and I guess I wanted to be a hipster or something idk. I actually dropped out of my sociology class in the middle of the semester so I never really learned much about it.  I also happened to be taking a intro to psych class that semester and enjoyed and finished it, but still didn't think I wanted to major in it. Again, too many people did psych and I couldnt be like everyone else ya know?
Well things happen, I started hating school again, and then later FINALLY got an epiphany and admit to myself that I couldn't stand studying sociology because I didn't get it and didn't know what to do with it. I took another psychology class when I went back to school the next semester, which was Life Span Development with one of the greatest professors ever, and I fell in love with it. The more I learned in that class, the more I wanted to continue learning more (does that make sense even idk) and I realized how much I loved learning about people and how they work and all that good stuff. Psychology is so relevant and applicable, and for someone like me who needs to know the reason behind everything, it makes people make a lot more sense..
Soo yea thats it for the first one! Thanks for reading.
*Fun Fact:
When I was in 6th grade I wanted to be a counselor. I loved listening to people and their problems and giving people advice. And also bc it was a easy way for me to get in on all the drama at school ;D lol I kid!
Have a lovely day yall
Saba

I've been thinking about starting up this blog again for a while now. I have no intentions on making it a big deal or hoping that I'll gain tons of followers because I just need a place to write out my thoughts. I miss free writing and being weird on this thing, writing dumb things in that awful grammar, style, punctuation and whatever else that I used to do.. I guess this is more of an online diary for myself that I'll allow people to read and maybe someone will like to have a discussion with me about some of my posts or maybe not who knows.. I also think this is just a way for me to procrastinate on everything loll. Anyways, enjoy, who ever is reading this! Please excuse my terrible old posts, I'd still like to keep them for the sake of memories. 

live, laugh, and forever love,

 Saba