PEPPERMINT AND DARK CHOC CHIP ICE CREAM

The first time I attempted to make this ice cream flavor it was a big flop! I started out with my original vanilla ice cream flavor and decided I wanted it to have real peppermint in it - not fake peppermint essence but the real thing with real peppermint health properties and taste. I figured if I took my peppermint leaves (I have a plant in my garden) and blended the leaves in a blender until juiced/fine and sieved it into the cream mixture it would have the flavor I wanted. Boy was I wrong! It tasted earthy and green and not nice at ALL!
Then after stumbling across a few peppermint ice cream recipes on the internet I realized that in order to get the real peppermint taste I wanted I needed to infuse the leaves in the cream. (check out this cool peppermint ice cream recipe). I tried it out recently and it worked. *happy dance*

Sometimes we just need to persevere.... and good things happen

INGREDIENTS
7 Egg yolks
500ml cream - 2 tubs of cream (250ml each)
1 cup (250ml) milk
2 vanilla pods (seeds scraped out)
125ml organic brown sugar
3 tablespoons honey (optional)
1 - 2 large handfuls of peppermint leaves (well washed)
50grams - 100grams DARK chocolate (i use either 70% or 85% cocoa)



METHOD:
Place the milk and cream in a heavy based saucepan along with the peppermint leaves. Slowly bring to just below boiling point. While you are waiting for it to heat up separate the eggs and mix very well with the brown sugar and honey.
When your peppermint cream mixture has been heated to just before boiling point take off the heat and stand for a few minutes (it must cool and infuse) take out the leaves. Stir into the egg mixture.
Keep stirring. Once the egg mixture has been incorporated properly put it back in the pot on the stove and warm slowly until it has thickened slightly to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Take care not to heat to quickly as the eggs will scramble once it has thicken you can now place the custard in a bowl in the fridge to cool down for a few hours (atleast 3 hours).

Roughly chop up the dark chocolate.
When you custard mixture is nice and cold place in an ice cream machine and make according to your machines instructions. Add choc chips half way through :)
*If you don't have an ice cream machine place the mixture in a low sided metal pan or bowl and place in the freezer. Take out every 30 - 45 minutes and beat with an electric beater until nice and smooth and the ice crystals have been broken up - the more time u beat and return to freezer the smoother and creamier it your ice cream will be :)  You can add some choc chips after the first beating.

Enjoy

La Motte - Cape Winelands Cuisine Cookbook Launch

 
On Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending a cookbook launch of Cape Wineland's Cuisine at the La Motte Wine farm.
The idea behind the cookbook is to bring back some of the old family recipes our grandmothers used to cook in the Cape Winelands area ... traditional comfort food. Things like Offal Brawn, Rolpens and pickled tongue. I don't know what is comforting about Offal... I was yet to find out!


ARRIVAL SNACKS. We started in the old cellar with refreshments (rooibos tea, ginger beer with rose geranium etc.) and some snacks (Mosbeskuit, Mini ouma's loaf, oyster and marrow pies to name a few). After our snacking, drinking and chatting, the day proceeded with an interview style talk on a mini stage with the chefs and owners of the farm about how the book came to being. A very interesting discussion to say the least. Funny and informative. All was ended off with a lovely prayer  by Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg.

We then headed to lunch at Pierneef.

LOCATION. Pierneef is a beautiful building with a delightful mix of decor, chic and comfortable mixed together.
I loved how everything was mixed together from comfortable couches to beautiful chairs and hanging teapots.

FOOD. We all had detailed programs/menu's which told us what food we were going to be eating- Things like Offal, and pickled tongue and cape bokkom salad...To say I was apprehensive is an understatement! I mean eating tongue and Offal is really not my thing but I was determined to try everything.
And to my surprise - it was delicious. I really enjoyed quite a lot of the food. I had to consciously  turn off my mind and just go with the flavours I was tasting... and they were very good!

My favorite was the Sweet and Sour Pumpkin and Lamb Stew - I will be returning for this if it is on their menu. It really was so GOOD! I am still thinking about it a few days on. And of course all the food was paired with La Motte's wines. All perfectly complimented each dish and tasting.

THE FARM.  Having it been my first time to La Motte I really enjoyed finding out more about the wine farm. It has an art gallery, wine tasting cellar, restaurant, farm stall and walks on the estate.

The  Rupert-Koegelenberg family were very warm and welcoming - letting us onto their farm and sharing their beautiful food and wine with us. I felt at home and well taken care of. Thank you very much.





 *Cape Winelands Cuisine available soon in bookstores


 

ORIENTAL PARTY

In February this year was my daughters Oriental Party. To have a look at the invites I made, take a look here. I have finally got round to editing the photos.

low oriental inspired table to eat at.

 I started with the colour scheme of white as a base colour and then used red, black and different shades of orange as accents and touches of blue.

Oriental figurines

I found this cute Japanese figurine couple at a 2nd hand shop. They formed the center piece for the table surrounded by mirror boxes filled with red, orange and yellow flowers.

Each girl had a pillow to sit on, a square dish, a pair of chopsticks and an oriental jelly sweet that I made. For the candy/jelly sweet I made a version of this Agar-Agar Candy

Homemade sushi

For the main course I made sushi. (I had to get up really early in the morning to make it so it would be fresh for the party) maybe next time I will order it from a good sushi restaurant.

pink and white coconut ice AND pink and white home made marshmallows

In between the flowers were little white bowls of treats. As it was an all girls party - most of the food/treats were pink and white. Pink and white coconut ice and pink and white marshmallows (marshmallows were made by my sister in-law).

Party packs in Chinese take away boxes

I bought Chinese take-away boxes and filled them with pink and white sweets, a little Chinese purse, some hello kitty stickers and other cute things. Tied it up with black packaging ribbon and a black feather with a silver gem stuck on top. Label each box individually with the girls name with a picture of a Chinese lantern next her name.

Party packs ready for happy little girls to take home

alice band accesories

For our craft for the party the girls made Alice band/ head bands with feathers, flowers and jewels.

Other games played were fishing for paper koi fish were they won prizes of little silver rings- which all the girls seemed to love.
(I also had pass the parcel ready with little prizes wrapped in Chinese newspaper between each layer but never got round to playing it.)

my daughter picked jewels to decorate her cake - so I borrowed these from my mom, they were my grans.

And the cake - my daughter had no idea I had made her a rainbow cake, so when the cake was cut it was a huge surprise. I used Whisk Kids famous recipe for rainbow cake but i made mine gluten-free :)

Rainbow cake

It was very delicious cake :)



 

ps linked to a linky party at  http://lilluna.com

Radio Silence

  
Radio Silence ....



So here I am staring at the computer screen. Cursor flashing back at me, daring me to write something brilliant and worthy of awesomeness.

 But then I realized I should probably leave it to the pros for amazing writing and just be me :)

So hi. I'm back from our 3 week family holiday and ready to get my life back in gear.
Being away from the computer so long has made me lazy for writing and editing and organizing in digital world. I loved being in nature and seeing all the animals and the beautiful countryside ... but now I am home back in suburbia and needing to get back to work, life and routine.
It has its ups and downs... Ups like I get to have a morning cup of coffee all by myself and breathe the fresh smell of the morning and just think and plan *bliss*
Downs because its back to washing (clothes), sorting, lifting, homework (the kid), more washing (dishes) and just schedules of ballet and play dates and suppers etc.... and not enough time to take photos of food and edit and type out recipes - I need to get my groove back.

In short please bare with me... I'm trying and will be back.

WINNERS

 

 YAY! and the winners for the cookbooks of  Simple Indian by Atul Kochhar are...

Kathryn (Becoming you) and Bronwyn Howells  

 

Please email me soon with your delivery address.