Rooibos Cappuccino

I like coffee - like I REALLY like coffee... ALOT!
BUT.... sometimes drinking to much coffee isn't a great idea for me. Especially at night time when I want to be peaceful, chill out and sleep.

LOOT.CO.ZA 10th Birthday Bake Off

Recently my little one and I were invited to bake off against other bloggers and their kids at the SA Chefs Academy in celebration of Loot.co.za 's  10th Birthday.


We all baked the same recipe which was a chocolate cake. We then iced it with a chocolate ganache. And there after decorated it with any or all of the sprinkles that were on offer

HAPPY EASTER

Here's to wishing you a Happy Easter. May you spend it with the people you love and be blessed in all the right ways, especially in love and kindness. 

Life is busy and we all need time to relax, reflect and recharge.
Wishing for you (where ever you are in the world) a beautiful long weekend.
May it be Great!

Much love from me


A quick reflection of my happy thoughts right now: 

- There is bound to be chocolate in the weekend ahead
- Listening to music while cooking is a must ;)
- I think I may try my hand at some gluten-free hot cross buns (hopefully they work out)
- With the rainy weather ahead its a great excuse to watch a movie and eat some comfort food
- Seeing family is always nice (I'll be sure to tease my brothers)
- Making treats and little surprises can be a great way to spark some creativity and have some fun while unwinding

Have a great weekend - oh wait did I say that already? ;)

hugs

Silwood Kitchen & Le Creuset

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

What started out as a very organised  me on a thursday evening ready to join some food bloggers and a Silwood chef to cook, drink and be merry .... didn't happen as i hoped! 

After consulting the husband, google maps and maps on my phone, I headed off in the direction of Rondebosch set to attend a Silwood Kitchens cooking class - yay, happiness :) BUT.... what started off as a happy food blogger (me) driving and listening to music and in a good mood ended up very lost , sad and desperate to not be LATE. As the sun started to set and the traffic thickened I was starting to get desperate .... I so badly wanted to be there on time and I had left home early enough even to factor in the traffic. But after getting into the area and not finding the road I drove round and round and round... I kept convincing myself the next road would be THE road!

Now sad that I was definitely not going to be there on time -regardless of being in the area of Silwood Cooking School the husband phoned to check if I had gotten there ok (kind man). I informed him I was LOST! 

He logged into google map, while I moaned talked to him on my handsfree cellphone headset while he directed me where to go!!!! (Thank You husband)

At last i got there.... 40 minutes late - YES I was THAT Lost!!! I was so happy to just have arrived I wouldn't have cared what they told me to do! 

Jess a 2nd year student at Silwood Kitchens Cooking School

The lovely people helping with the class got me to my cooking station and set me up with all I needed and Gary (the instructor/chef for the evening) got me up to speed with the rest of the class who were merrily chopping and cooking. 

I eventually let out a sigh and relaxed. The evening was finally back to happiness and ended up in such bliss - teasing Cayley (from Love Bites Blog) everytime I misheard the instructor I would turn to Cayley and Ming (from Butterfingers) and ask did he say? umm the small portion of butter or the large portion of butter??? and when Cayley couldn't tell me I would tease her - you are supposed to know Cayley- you've been here before ;) Sidenote: Cayley had done a 2 night cooking class at Silwood before and they made this decadent looking chocolate cake (drool). so i kept asking her stuff with her previous Silwood experience ;)

Cayley and Ming

 

On this particular Thursday night we made: Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup, Stuffed Chicken with a Tarragon sauce and Cappucino Bread and Butter Puddings.

Le Creuset gave us some beautiful dishes - 2 Large Ramekins, a mini cocote and a 19 cm rectangular dish.

Stuffed Chicken breasts with a Tarragon sauce

Cappucino Bread and Butter Puddings (Large Ramekins given to us by Le Creuset)

I along with 12 other bloggers- we cooked and chatted and worked our way through the evening - it was great fun and something I would LOVE to do again! I would like to thank Le Creuset and Silwood Kitchens for a fab evening! A special thanks to Jess a second year Silwood Student and John a first year Silwood student who were so friendly and helpful along with the helpful and relaxed chef Gary. 

I am definitely contemplating going back with a friend for a fun and relaxed evening of cooking :)

Ishay from Food and the Fabulous

Matt Alison from Im no Jamie Olive

Ming from Butterfingers

Hope you enjoyed reading

READY STEADY COOK - Market Style

On Saturday 2nd July I had the opportunity of being part of a Cape Town Version of READY STEADY COOK! No there was no Ainsley Harriot but there was chef Ian Cawkwell and Chef Stefan Wessels as well as Sam Linsell from Drizzle & Dip.

To say that I don't like crowds and people staring at me is an understatement!!! I hate that feeling when you realise the whole room is looking at you and everyone has stopped what they are doing to hear or see what you are doing... say EMBARRASSING! but I must say the market kept its buzz in the background as some people watched and others shopped... and it was FUN! Yes I said fun... this coming from hermit crab me who wanted to climb under the table just minutes before it all started. Thanks to my team member and chef - Ian Cawkwell. We won! ;) YAY!

Sam and Stefan made a fish biltong salad for starters and a Kudo/gembok (or some other wild and exotic mince) into a spaghetti bolognese for their mains. The point of the exercise was to use ingredients from the market that people don't always tend to buy = unusual.

On our team Ian and myself- our dishes were Jerusalem artichoke, bacon and pecora(sheep cheese) risotto. And we got to do a dessert instead of a starter - a banana and almond Tartan. All this = Delicious :)
I really enjoyed working with Ian as he was very thorough and made sure I learnt while we cooked. It was a very enjoyable experience - even if having a microphone in your face every now and then with an MC asking you questions is a weird way to cook! I still had a blast.



Thanks to Jackie from Earth Fair Market organized this event and who has a very cool vision for the market and wants to try new and fun things .... and Fun is what I had!

This Saturday 16th July is the Earth Fair Markets 2nd birthday! Im sure it will be fun.

DATE AND ALMOND TREATS - WHEAT FREE

 This is one of those great recipes that can be made by young and old and is good for teatime with friends (or by yourself), good for lunch boxes or good for a easy gift for someone - no matter how healthy they are.
And the really cool part is even as young as a 2 year old can help you roll out little balls or logs and dip them in the coconut :) so it's good for bonding/baking together or for pre-school teachers to do with there class.

So this is a win - win recipe :)

 Now before making these please take note that you can vary the quantities of the ingredients to suit you and if you have more of one ingredient and a little of another in the house vary it with something similar (like you can swap almonds for some other nuts you have or use some peanut butter if you have only a few dates)

INGREDIENTS
200g dates - fresh sticky dates (you can use the hard block of dates but they are not as good)
50 grams almonds (ground or flaked or whole) which ever you prefer
50 grams pecan nuts
a handful of raisins
1/2 a cup of fine shredded coconut
Extra fine coconut for rolling in

First off pulsate the nuts in the blender until they are varying in size between crumbs and largeish chunks. You can finely chop with a sharp knife if you don't have a blender. Take out the blender and set aside. Take the dates and cut in half, take out the pips and then cut up into small pieces with a knife or place in a blender and pulsate (minus pips).Add raisins and pulsate a little more. Now add the raisins and dates to the nuts and mix with your hands. Add enough coconut to stop the mixture from being to sticky. At this point you could add some whole raisins/nuts/cherries/small copped up pieces of dried fruit or dried berries or dark chocolate and then squish/roll into small balls or logs.
place the extra coconut on a large plate and roll the balls/logs in it coating well.

Serve or package in an airtight container and refrigerate until needed