These are some of the best biscuits in the world: Shrewsbury biscuits (oddly enough, Wikipedia has an entry on them here), which one will find at Kayani Bakery (vernacularly known as Kayani’s) in Pune, India.
Shoutout to Meris from Cheesecakeism for bringing me this batch – you’re a star, thank you.
As I lovingly dunk these gorgeous nibbles into a mug of hot masala chai, I think of something that happened twice in August 2011:
Yup, that’s me hitting “Leave Group” on Facebook. What group was I leaving (not once, but twice)? The erstwhile Famished in Arabia (FiA) group. For the uninitiated, FiA is the consortium of food bloggers in the UAE. We have a private group on Facebook apart from the public page, where we can speak freely about future events, make plans and share each other’s news.
As I bite into the made-soft-by-chai biscuits, I reflect on how I got them – I asked a fellow food blogger for them when she said she was going to Pune. Would I have got them if I left the group as I was driven to do? No.
Not satisfied with the name ‘Famished in Arabia’ (because of its charity connotations), a few started posting on an aggregate website called Table Talk UAE. Again not everyone was satisfied. Finally, a decision was made to stay with the now-popular initials FiA, but we had rebranded.
I know I posted about our one-year anniversary party a few weeks ago, along with a video – why would I do something with so much love and attention if I wanted to leave? Because it came down to how much the group meant to me, no matter what the reasons were that made me want to run away from it so very badly.
To like our fabulous group of cool bloggers, check out our Facebook page, and definitely visit our website. And be sure to follow us on Twitter…we’re kinda cool.
FooDee 
I’m speechless…I honestly don’t know what to say. Except that whoever it was that convinced you to stay, Yasmin and others, I’m really grateful to them all. I really truly am. It would have been a big horrid loss to have our FooDee leave.
Arva, I agree wholeheartedly. Devina is a gem!
I cant imagine why you would want to ever even think of leaving Dee… Cant imagine a Fia without the Foodee… Special thanks to Yasmin and all the others who convinced u to stay!!!!
@inafryingpan I don’t know what to say either
Believe me when I say I wouldn’t have thought about it unless I had reasons that seemed good enough to me. Still here though…still here.
@ChefandSteward Kari, your comment is much appreciated. Thank you.
@dinamurali š Thank you š
Can’t have FiA without Dee. It just doesn’t make any sense.I love you woman!