Shoes Ahoy!

Winter has finally arrived in k-town and all of us are excited to wear our long awaited winter collections. The jackets, the boots, the coats, the shrugs are all out waiting to be worn in the short season. A pair of well fitted jeans along with comfortable shoes goes well with most tops/jackets during winter months.

The other day I was window shopping in Zamzama and landed up at Stylo Shoes. Now I am always on the look out for casual and comfortable shoes for everyday wear and I was happy to find quite an extensive collection of very wearable and affordable shoes at their outlet. I settled for the navy blue and white striped flats from their Impulse collection. These shoes can easily pulling off the classic "Nautical/Sailor look" and the best part is they are very comfortable!



These shoes can be paired with everyday wear specially jeans and a simple checked or plain shirt.






Shoes: Stylo Shoes
Jeans: Demin Co. by Primark
Shirt: Tesco

Bling Factor

In my quest for a fashionable and reasonably priced "chronograph" watch, I finally found this beauty from Guess Watches. Actually I had already seen one of my friends wearing it a few days back in golden. Such shine and bling! I couldn't take my eyes off of it :) It was just perfect with the chronograph look, the bling factor and the fine detailing.


I checked out a couple of other brands stocked at Lifestyle Collection before getting this one from the Guess Glisten range. But since this watch was at the back of my mind all this time, there wasn't an inch of doubt when I got it. Mine is a two toned one in rose gold and silver.

This watch can be worn everyday,  at work or even while dressing up for a party or gathering. The best part is that it can be paired with almost any type of outfit. It adds just enough glamour to a rather sophisticated outfit and lifts up the overall look from elegant to exciting and alluring.

For a casual stroll in the city, I have paired a red shirt with blue jeans. The shirt has intrinsic lace details at the front. A sleek rust coloured belt adds balance and gives a more edgy and modernistic feel.



Watch: Guess Watches
Jeans: Levi's
Shirt & Belt: Yellow

DIY: CupCraze!

OK I know they are everywhere, and almost everyone is making them. Still I decided to give it a shot and see for myself what's the hype all about? Yes I am talking about the over whelming cupcake craze that has taken over our beloved city with a bang and refuses to let go. Here I am sharing my first hand experience of making cupcakes for a one dish get together. Despite all the hype they were pretty simple and easy to make. And since its summer vacations try to get the kids involved. Its going to be a fun activity and they would love to help and decorate them.


Here's a list of ingredients: 

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

Preheat oven to 180 C

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric beater or hand mixer until light and fluffy 

Add the eggs one by one and also the vanilla essence

In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and one pinch of salt

Now add the flour mixture and milk to the eggs mixture. Do it batches, first the flour then milk then mix

Repeat until all the flour is mixed and you have nice batter

Line baking tray with paper cupcake liners

Fill the cupcake liners with batter and bake for about 20 minutes 

Frosting: 

For frosting I melted some chocolate with butter, cream and icing sugar. To mix them evenly I used a whisk. Now I am not an expert or a pro and obviously didn't have any other instruments like those decorating or piping tips (Wiltons etc.) at home, so I just grabbed a knife and spread the icing on the cupcakes. They seemed fine, though not like the pretty ones you see at the shops! For kids you can have colored bunties, jello-s etc. to make them interesting. 

For those who are not choco freaks there is a simple lemon frosting which you can do. Mix 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of lemon juice into half a cup of icing sugar and simply pour over. It will harden a bit, leaving a nice sheen and give a nice fresh lemony flavour to the cupcakes.  

Leopard Queen

Amidst all the craze about animal prints, my favourite watch maker Guess Watches launched their leopard inspired collection in August this year. For me it was love at first sight! I got mine from Lifestyle Collection. There were 3 different designs to choose from so after much thought and lot of trials I finally settled for the gold toned stainless steel bracelet one. This watch is a beautifully crafted classic piece and a fiercely must have item for this season.

The important thing to keep in mind when wearing animal prints whether its a clothing piece, a scarf, an accessory, or shoes, is never to wear another print of the same family. Also do not merge too many prints together since animal prints do not actually go with any kind of prints. 

Stick to plain and solid colours. Shades of greens like teal, turquoise, jade and emeralds look very nice with yellow toned animal prints. Whereas other jewel toned colours (ruby reds, purples, navy blues) also look flattering with animal prints. And of course when in doubt always go for black, you can never go wrong with solid blacks and animal prints.

Home

This blog is about my favourite things to do, wear and eat in Karachi city!

I am a social media addict and love to explore new trends, hangouts and eateries. I am also very opinionated when it comes to social issues and politics so please bear with me when I go overboard in trying to be the intellectual keyboard warrior that lives in all of us. Thankfully that phase is temporary ;) 

I also like to share my thoughts and experiences on various issues faced by us as a society and would be happy to get feedback from my readers. 

Best,
Sameea Zafar

DIY: High Protein Breakfast

A lot of us skip breakfast on work days without realising how it can actually affect weight loss, mood swings and concentration level. A high protein breakfast is surely gonna keep you feeling fuller longer and eating less throughout the day. 

So how about treating yourself with some yummy breakfast that could be put together in a jiffy also on a work day.

This is a pretty simple breakfast of fried eggs,canned beans (Heinz) and mushrooms. For mushrooms I have sautéed them with a little butter and garlic and sprinkled some freshly grind black pepper. You can use either the widely available canned ones or fresh ones. 

Happy breaky :) 

Shades of Grey

Today we are doing another chic look for a casual get together and  fun evening with friends. A classic pair of blue jeans (an essential item in a girl's wardrobe) is worn with a flared black shirt and grey peep toe shoes and matching bag.

Bag: Charles & Keith
Watch: Calvin Klein
Blue Jeans: H&M

Notice how the accessories are kept minimum for a hassle free and neat look. The overall look is very wearable and can be easily pulled of by anyone. The oversized CK watch being worn as a single piece of jewellery/accessory, stands out and adds glamour to the look.   

The final verdict on pizza

I am literally surviving on pizza since morning! It started yesterday when we were coming back from a shadi. We grabbed a midnight deal from Pizza Hut. It was almost 2:00 am, we were so hungry and stopped at the first food place we saw. Now I don't need to give details about the pizza since all of us know how PH tastes like: good on the go, but that's it.

For lunch I was supposed to meet some friends at Bistro 76 (Dolmen City). We ordered some chicken dishes, a lasagne and their Four Season's and Margarita pizzas. The pizzas left me so totally impressed! They were hand tossed, thin crusts, perfectly done with crispy edges. The toppings were fresh and the cheese was abundant and melting in the mouth. A must must try for pizza lovers!  Loved the artistically done pizza box; reminiscent of a Paris bistro :)

Lasagne & Mediterranean Chicken

Choc Bounty Cake

The lasagne and Mediterranean chicken were both flavourful and a hit among the chicken lovers. Our little friend Rayan ordered a slice of Chocolate Bounty Cake that looked delish with a layer of coconut in between chocolate. I sneaked a bite from his plate and couldn't stop myself from having more so sneaked a few more :) It was just like Bounty itself. Good place for a late Sunday lunch with excellent pizza. 

Sundays are always overloaded. So more pizza was served at a small gathering for friends at dinner. Now here is the interesting bit, after going through all the ravings about Pizzo and their famous thin crusts, we decided to give it a shot. We went for the black pepper salami and veg thin crust ones and baffalo chicken and chicken tikka in thick crust. They arrived in about 40 minutes. Boxes were nice and hot. But the pizzas were way too salty! I could only taste salt and more salt. The crust was also not that crisp either. Thick crust ones were satisfactory and far better. 

Pizzo thick crust

Final verdict for day: If you want a freshly made, hand tossed pizza with customised toppings go for Bistro 76!

Meethaa!

Went to Koel café last night to have some desserts. I was a bit skeptic at first since I always thought of Koel as a food place and not some place for desserts. But I was proven so completely wrong and I am so glad!

We ordered the baked chocolate pudding and the banoffee pie. The chocolate pudding was warm and oozing with chocolate, the best I have had. Banoffee was freshly made with perfectly ripe bananas, caramel and the whipped cream. However it felt a bit too sweet for my taste and perhaps the whipped cream could go without the added sugar to balance sweetness. All in all good ambiance and great selection of music to enjoy with your besties.

Forgot to take pics hence sharing banoffee pie's pic from Koel's fanpage. It looked exactly the same!

Neon Rush!

Don't you just love bright vibrant colours! We all know that the trend of neons is taking over the world but when it comes to carrying them off, not all of us are comfortable. Now I am talking about tricky colours like bubble gum pink, fuchsia, coral, electric blue and green. While the key to wearing neons is to keep one of the pieces very understated and neutral, you can always mix and match accessories for added oomph. 

We are going to do 2 different looks on how to wear neon pants. One is with coral pants and the other is the electrifying blue skinnies.

Coral pants: Splash
Cotton silk shirt: Spangle
Mary Jane shoes: Stylo
Leather belt: Yellow

Blue skinny jeans: Splash

Shirt: Outfitters

Shoes: Charles & Keith

The coral pants are paired with a white cotton silk shirt; a leather belt and matching shoes complete the look. The electric blue skinnies are worn with a simple black shirt. Red kitten heals make it a bit more chic.