Of falsas and bulbuls

Sorry!! I have been AWOL from this blog for too long...but things have been happening, which we shall get to in due course.

Summer is here again- and every year I forget just how hot Karachi gets. But there are many things that make up for that perennially sweaty, sticky feeling.

First there are falsas!

And it just isn't possible to get too many of their delicious sweet tartness! I eat bowlfuls every day and stop for a quick falsa juice whenever I am near a juice wallah (making false juice at home is notoriously tedious and messy), or better yet a false shake at Flamingo. The first day they were available, I just bought way too many and had to do something with them. I thought I'd make falsa juice concentrate and freeze it in convenient ice cube size, but by the time I had boiled and pulped and sieved it through, the divinely purple liquid called for something a little more dramatic- so I just added some sugar and bunged it in my KitchenAid ice-cream maker.

And voila falsa sorbet!

The other thing I really like about summer is the waking up to birdsong. There have been dozens of koels singing away since the mango trees blossomed.  Given R's allergies, we try to sleep without air-conditioning most of the year, and the slightly clammy nights are more than made up for when you are woken by a regular bird orchestra in the garden below your balcony. Recently the chirping has seemed closer than ever. Turns out a couple of bulbuls have decided that the moroccan lantern hanging in my balcony would make the perfect nest.

And not only did they make a nest- they got busy!!

A perfect little nest

So now we have to wait and see when these little ones will hatch- and in the meantime Daddy Bulbul gets into a furious little flutter whenever we approach his nest.

Aah- the joys of summer...