Sunday Caesar Salad

After our great Sunday morning mountain bike ride I was ravenous... My awesome man whipped up this delicious Caesar Salad for us for lunch :) How lucky am I?! The only variation from the norm was the addition of avo which we needed to clear out of the fridge.

Full Flavour Food

It will suffice to say that we eat out excessively... Not in the amount at each meal mind you, it's more the realization at the end of a week that we've eaten every evening meal and half our morning and lunchtime meals out for the last week-and-a-half that make me stop and wonder if we're still sane. I have to admit I was absolutely blown away by our final meal out for the week (and the next few weeks I hope!). I've got the mother-in-law staying with us from Joburg so we've been heading to a few places that are a little more out of the way than our once-a-week pizza and pasta spot (which is sooooo yummy and feels a lot like an extension of our home). 

Fillet on mash with mushroom sauce

Lazy Sunday lunch took us to the South Hill Wine Estate in the Elgin/Grabouw Valley. We are madly in love with the area and will hopefully some day call it home. It's not further to travel from Cape Town than the

Paarl/Stellenbosch/Franschoek Valley Winelands area which made it a perfect choice to share the splendor of the Cape with a local tourist! 

Chef Gordon Manual owns and runs the restaurant and his food is amazing! The menu is limited and there's a set price for either two or three courses. I chose the beef fillet whilst my man and his mom had salmon - both we equally impressive!

Salmon on Risotto

On the up side, I have got some brag pics from our first braai of the season (the braai's at my folk's house don't count as the fireplace is able to be used year round...) which I've been pathetic at downloading onto my MacBook Air (thank you baby!). 

We made the most deliciously exotic kebabs - lamb with warm spices, onion and dried apricots and chicken with courgets, chili in a lemon marinade... definitely worth the effort!

Sugar Sugar

I like sugar. A lot. I didn't realise how much it didn't like me though! You see, I (like much of the world) added a spoon of sugar to my tea and coffee without really thinking. I work from home most days and my mom and I probably have a minimum of 6 cups of tea or coffee a day... add a spoon of sugar to each cup and we're talking quite a lot of sugar every day - without thinking and without feeling like I was overloading in any way. After all, it's just one spoon of sugar in my tea, right?

A couple of months ago I stopped putting sugar in my hot drinks. I didn't really think about it and it turns out that I actually prefer the taste sans the sweet stuff! It wasn't for any specific reason - thank goodness it wasn't because I had early symptoms of diabetes, it was merely a flippant decision on the spot. 

The hard decision was to cut out super carbohydrate loaded drinks... I used to have a Grapetizer with meals out (we eat out a few times a week) until my dear man pointed out that there are enough carbs in 330ml to cover an entire meal's needs! Oh, dear... I will admit I miss Grapetizer terribly but given the facts, how could I possibly continue to drink them? This posed the problem of what can I have with a meal out? It will suffice to say that I have made friends with Rock Shandy's and sparkling water with lemon does the trick most of the time... I'm not a total kill-joy though. If I really feel like a sugary drink I'll have one but it's actually become easy to make the healthy choice :-)

The unintended consequences of cutting out sugar have been my waistline and energy levels... My friends know that I'm super sporty and I've never struggled with my weight in any way - I'm genetically predisposed to be skinny (this shouldn't be confused with healthy though!) but since skipping out on sugar I have noticed a MAJOR difference in my body shape: I have toned abs (without any extra training) and the cellulite I saw creeping into my bum has vanished (yes, it was there and it stressed me otu terribly but I'd made peace with it's existence) and all that for sacrificing a spoon of sugar in my tea and coffee! Best part was that i didn't even do it for that reason. Energy-wise I feel great: no mid afternoon slump and my mood is way more stable and I feel happier and less stressed. Again, this wasn't my reason for sutting out sugar - but it sure is a major benefit!

There are a few areas I feel I'm still sugar overloading: ready made foods, cakes and my weakness for sweets. In the beginning temptation isle (the queue area at Woolies) was pretty much impossible - all those yummy fruit gums and chocolates and nougat and jelly beans and yumminess... I was worse than a toddler (mainly because there was no mommy to say no and I was armed with my credit card!) and would start nibbling while I waited for my turn to pay. I'm pleased to say that the tempation is now limited to Lindt chocolates (chilli, pinch of sea salt and 60% dark) which I feel much better about adding to my basket because they get shared after dinner as a treat (I wouldn't dare to open one in the queue and thankfully I haven't felt the need!)

I managed to cut out the extra (high GI) carbs, so can you!

I know it's still winter, but.............................

Cape Town had a cold front last week (I know you're thinking "it's winter, of course you had a cold front" but we've had the mildest winter I can remember and most of it hasn't felt like winter at all...) which promted mom to light the coal stove in the kitchen. This is such a treat and all of our cooking and baking happens as it would have a hundred years ago with temperatures at the mercy of whoever takes responsibility for stoking the fire.


The house is divinely warm and we all spend most of our time crammed around the kitchen table. I still have to venture outside to feed the chickens and on one such morning the gardening bug bit. Hard. I dug the seed box out of the garage and finally put to use some of the toilet roll inners that I'd forced the family to collect for me for months! I only planted a small seed tray but it's got some basics that I can't wait to get into the veggie boxes once the threat of cold fronts has passed... the tray has pride of place next to the stove but gets moved around the kitchen during the day so as to catch as much sunlight through the skylight as possible.

Authentic Farm Experience

I'm not normally one for promoting stuff through my writing but it may just happen this time :) This is mainly because I had such a great experience that I felt I just had to share it!

Prompted by uploading photos from my camera (I have this nasty habit of forgetting to upload them as I have 6 massive memory card's which I swap in event by event...) I was reminded of an absolutely fabulous day we spent on a very special farm. Aunty Karen (coming from an Afrikaans family this just happens...) and Oom Michael have been family friends for many years - they used to live in Cape Town before they moved to Lelieblom Farm in Darling. Karen has an amazing sense of style and has translated this into a farm restaurant. We spent Father's day being spoilt rotten with the yummiest of plaas kos (potato and bacon soup with homemade bread for starters, roast goat meat with sweet potatoes, pumpkin fritters and veggies for mains and an amazing chocolate mousse and coffee for desert). The menu is decided based on what's fresh on the farm (yes, the meat is from Michael's goat herd) and in the village.

Lunch was a lazy affair - don't for a moment think you'll stop by for a quick meal! In the country there is no such thing... After lunch Michael decided to test my horse riding skills (he says I'm OK for a city girl!) and we were shown around the extensive property before being plied with yet another cup of coffee... The potbelly pigs get the lunch leftovers at the gate which was fun to watch and chickens free-range through the garden (they've been banned from the dining room!) The restaurant is open on a booking only system and Karen and her daughter Nicolette buy and cook accordingly. They're open every Sunday and are more than happy to open during the week for functions - the farm would make for an amazing small, exclusive wedding venue. All in all a fantastic day and a truly authentic farm experience. 



Check out Lelieblom Farm here or call Karen on 082 573 7736

Lamb Shanks (I say no more!)

So this blog post has been inspired by a best friend who asked for the recipe (a long time ago already but reminded me this morning), a man who devours my cooking and a trip to Namibia where no meal is complete without meat or fish…

I spent the morning wandering through Swakopmund, rustling through antique stores and drinking German coffee. Bought some presents for the family – all handmade knickknacks with no African inspiration. I’ve had enough carved soapstone animals and bowls to last a lifetime already! Instead I got my host a print on canvas – it’s set on a rough material background and I fell in love with the texture and subject immediately. Mom got a hand embroidered pashmina that was made by some local empowerment project – it’s grey with colourful flowers mad of neat daisy chain stitches. The rest of the family got pewter bookmarks made by the same project – very simple but cute.

It’s my last night in Namibia – I’ve been here a week and since I’m on holiday I’ve had all the time in the world to make all the yummy food I haven’t got time to make at home with my crazy training schedule and work… The guys have been spoilt with roast chicken, lamb and butternut bredie, chicken kebabs with all the trimmings on the braai, pasta, salads, roasted veggies, seared tuna steaks (the hungry man saw to these!), rusks, fudge, apple pie, pears poached in red wine syrup to mention just a few! Tonight, however, I thought I’d go all out: Lamb Shanks in red wine and honey served on crushed potato with veggies on the side (I’ve been spoiling them rotten but every meal has included a green and orange veggie – much to their disgust! Apparently veggies are for moms or girls… I love veg so maybe they’re right!) I’ve got pears left over from the last batch I did so I’ll poach some more of those in red wine but add a spicy twist with cloves tonight I think. I normally serve these with Bulgarian yogurt but tonight I feel like ice cream so that’s what it’ll be.

Lamb Shanks:

In Cape Town this is a real luxury as it’s so expensive to make which is partly why I left it to the last night’s treat dinner. I was pleasantly surprised however when I got to the till at the butchery that lamb in Namibia is just over half the price as it is in SA – big smiles all round! This is a rough guideline as you can’t really mess up this dish. It wants to be yummy all on it’s own!

1                      Lamb Shank per person

750ml             Red wine - I’m using about a bottle full (there are two open bottles left over from the weekend and these minus the glass I’ll drink while I’m cooking equal about a bottle!). You basically want to almost cover the shanks.

75ml                Honey

                        Rosemary (fresh if you have access to it – it just tastes that much better!)

                        Mixed dried herbs

                        Salt and Pepper to season

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan and brown the lamb on all sides. This locks in flavour and also develops a fuller flavour somehow… Season the lamb with salt and pepper at this point as you transfer it to an appropriately sized casserole dish. Add the red wine, honey and herbs to the casserole before covering securely and putting into the oven at 160^oC for an hour and a bit (this is a guideline – the more lamb you have touching the longer it will need to cook for. Should you need to cook it faster you can consider using a separate casserole for each shank – this sounds crazy but I’ve seen it done in those foil baking containers and it worked a dream). Once you’re satisfied that the lamb is cooked through, remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. If your gravy needs thickening, remove the shanks to a dish and add a little maizena to water before adding to your gravy. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

Serve with potatoes – mashed, crushed, baked, it doesn’t really matter – and a green veg. I also put mint sauce or jelly on the side as no lamb is complete without it in my books.

A word of warning though: Lamb Shanks are highly addictive… family and friends have been known to be rather a pain after I’ve made shanks for them – they beg for me to make them again and again! They are, however, a really good wow-factor meal if you’re looking to impress… Enjoy!

Perfect Fudge

So after many tests, I found the perfect fudge recipe. There are others with much simpler ingredient lists and instructions but the extra time and effort are well worth the effort here! I gave the simpler recipes a fair shot (tried them each twice) but the results were at best very average. Nigella Lawson’s recipe from “How to be a domestic goddess” didn’t work at all… Very simple recipe with very disappointing results. Here’s one that worked perfectly again and again:

900g Sugar

300ml Milk

30ml Golden syrup

100g Margarine

397g can Condensed Milk

5ml Vanilla Essence

1. Dissolve the sugar in the milk over low heat (the best results I got were from a batch where I put the milk and sugar in a pot over low heat and went to shower whilst it melted. It took about 20min for the sugar to fully dissolve. This is a little excessive but as I said, this happened to be the very best batch of very many batches!
2. Add syrup and margarine. Bring to the boil and boil for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the condensed milk and bring to the boil again. I found that if I stopped stirring for too long the bottom got brown really fast. This fortunately stirred back into the mixture ok but is obviously something to watch! Boil until soft-ball stage which is 118^oC on the sugar thermometer.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla essence (I never ever stick to the recipe amount when it comes to vanilla – the vanilla essence we get at pick ‘n pay isn’t very good I’m afraid so I add more)
5. Beat this mixture until it begins to set. Pour into a greased baking tin. If you beat it for too long you have trouble getting it from the pot into the tin… try to move the fudge from the pot to the tin as fast as possible and don’t fiddle with it once it’s in the tin – it makes it look yucky and messy!
6. Cut the fudge before it sets too hard. Store in an airtight container – it will last as long as the boys in the house can’t find it!