Recipes

What's Cooking Good Looking?

What's Cooking Good Looking?

Posted in Recipes / Meat Dishes / Videos

A few weeks ago Butch went off to the butcher to see what we could braai (barbecue), we regularly enjoy a steak, especially on Fridays. This time he returned with a Brazilian cut, PICANHA, recommended by the butcher.  Tender, packed with flavour.  Really hard to beat. Picanha is a cut of...


Greeky Portuguesy Chicken Espetadas

Greeky Portuguesy Chicken Espetadas

Posted in Recipes / Poultry - Chicken

On Sundays, if we're at home and have a desire to take things easy we do chicken. Ring the changes by smothering large Espetadas in a delicious easy to prepare Greek-style yogurt dressing.  Of course one can also use ordinary kebab or sosatie skewers too.  Just soak the skewers in cold...


Suffusing My Senses In Siena

Suffusing My Senses In Siena

Posted in Review / Recipes / Baking and Cakes / Travel

Most weekends, in fine weather, I enjoy a long walk along the cliff path in Onrus, I’m always touched by the names imprinted on plaques carefully laid in tiles dotted along the way.  These tiles of remembrance are mostly dedicated to loved ones or pets.  Sometimes it can be just a poem or...


Celebrating Effortless Summer Fare

Celebrating Effortless Summer Fare

I am so inclined to repeat my menus that it takes a luncheon with friends to inspire me to delve into old recipe books, files and faded food magazines, those I hoard. I always find inspiration as the clock ticks ever nearer and my “to do” list gets longer.  Our guests arrived dressed to the...


Bang! My Bubble Burst

Bang! My Bubble Burst

Like a shot in the dark. Unexpected, frightening and loud. That’s how 2017 set the standard. And look! A twelfth has almost gone, right before our very eyes. Fortunately I have no guilt feelings about not accomplishing one New Year’s resolution last year, I didn’t even try compiling a list for...


Simple Summer Salads With A Twist

Simple Summer Salads With A Twist

Posted in Recipes / Vegetables / Desserts / Salads / Fruit

When the sun beats down on the top of my head and I feel the need of a hat and sunnies know it’s time to dust off the platters and large salad bowls.  I find pleasure in digging in the napery drawer, flinging out the florals, stripes and coloured linens, the worn check napkins in shades of...


Winning Winter Warmers

Winning Winter Warmers

Posted in Recipes / Vegetables / Baking and Cakes

While we wallow with winter weather we wish-wash with water, wet, when willowy wind whistles.When we wake, winter withholds wondrously, while we wish weather would warm. Yes.I know. I'm trying my hand at alliteration. Reminds me of poetry slams with my son. This is the best I can do believe...


Stocking Up

Stocking Up

Posted in Recipes / Meat Dishes

In December all roads lead to Cape Town, Hermanus and Plettenberg Bay. But, in July, we take revenge and as soon as the school bags slam shut we flip our lids and head north to warmer climes, crossing the Orange River in droves as we migrate. Planning and packing the Engel (camping fridge) is...


Around The World In A Coffee Cup With A Storm Brewing

Around The World In A Coffee Cup With A Storm Brewing

Posted in Recipes / Vegetables / Meat Dishes / Desserts / Baking and Cakes / Fruit

A whirlwind weekend wandering is possible from home, one just needs to know how. When the seasons change as they do every Easter weekend we have four seasons in a day. It’s hard to pack considering the weather. The only certainty is that it’s time for comfort food. We travelled the world...


Hot Chick Spicing Up The Kitchen

Hot Chick Spicing Up The Kitchen

Winter food to spice up your life, add heat to your menu with colourful spices, bring out the tartness of Citrus with a saucy pudding, go tropical with a pod of Vanilla and pick up an exotic thread of Saffron.  Wrap up snugly in rice paper and fry up some Spring Rolls.  These multinational...


Lemons Lavender and Limoncello

Lemons Lavender and Limoncello

Lemons are abundant now.  Juicy, tart and full of goodness only knows how many Vitamins (I know C) to ward off winter coughs and colds.  I’ll squeeze them, cut them, peel them, store them, preserve them and our house will be filled with that fresh, lemony sweetness.  No garden should be without...


 Tittilating Tantilizing Teasers

Tittilating Tantilizing Teasers

Posted in Recipes / Desserts / Salads / Fruit / Fish

Are the delicious dishes that came out of our kitchen this weekend.  Besides the spicy, fruity, home baked Hot cross buns I gobbled up as soon as the oven door opened and the dozens of Easter eggs that disappeared down the hatch we also enjoyed delicious starters, salads and desserts. Precious...


Beach Bunnies Make Waves

Beach Bunnies Make Waves

Posted in Recipes / Vegetables / Salads

The sparkling wine on tap which has just been installed in Breë Street is the one I like best. For some reason I don’t fall for it but, this year I fell hook, line and sinker for a few April Fools jokes.   Imagine the genius who could put DSTV out of business with his R99 subscriptions and...


Move Mundane to Make Magic

Move Mundane to Make Magic

Posted in Recipes / Vegetables / Soups / Salads / Drinks and Beverages

Easier said than done you may say. It takes a mind shift and will power to move something from mundane to magic, but it’s not impossible, look at the guy on stage, he uses a plain white handkerchief to produce a beautiful white dove.  It's all in the magic we hold in our hands. Just read...


Friday My Day

Friday My Day

Posted in Recipes / Meat Dishes / Desserts / Soups / Salads / Fruit / Drinks and Beverages

The clock ticks, January draws to a close, not a day too soon either. It’s been a long month. A fortnight ago my bank balance passed zero. My tan’s faded and I’m not as diligent about counting calories anymore. Thank goodness its Friday my favourite day. To celebrate we’ll have dessert....


Scintillating Sunny Salads

Scintillating Sunny Salads

Posted in Recipes / Vegetables / Meat Dishes / Salads / Fruit

It’s a mellow-yellow Saffron day, it’s hot, sticky and slightly sultry. I awoke with melons,  songs and nasturtiums on my mind a Yellow song and it was Coldplay! A good theme for Thursday. This is a pedicure and cafe day.  Provence is yellow, reminding me of Les Girls, pottery and...


Tuesdays are for no ordinary fish

Tuesdays are for no ordinary fish

Posted in Recipes

“I love the way the color lavender smells, and the way the color salmon tastes. And if there were a  color called “fur”, I’d like the way it feels”!–Jarod Kintz, This Book is Not FOR SALE Painting of Fishmonger at Fishmarket: Bartolomeo Passarotti - The fish stall If you’re a fisherman and...


Rhubarbs reign here, Miss Figgy and Aubergine

Rhubarbs reign here, Miss Figgy and Aubergine

Posted in Recipes

People very rarely change and our nearly neighbours moved after a lifetime on the corner, quietly without making a fuss, not the slightest ripple on the pond, the only sign of their departure is their absence and the sense of loss the stately old homestead has taken on! No one is doing Thai-Chi...


Figs, Frogs and Red Onions

Figs, Frogs and Red Onions

Posted in Recipes

The countdown has begun only seven sleepies to go! If the dining room is anything to go by we’re going to need a pantechnican to get us to Tofo. There's no doubt we're all fatigued at this time of the year, although it’s gone like a flash, and the year is just a memory we’ve all had our...


Ta-Ta-Ra-Ta Tarte Tartin

Ta-Ta-Ra-Ta Tarte Tartin

Posted in Recipes

“A party without cake is just a meeting” ― Julia Child. Tarte Tatin - a type of upside-down apple tart consisting of pastry baked over slices of fruit arranged in caramelised sugar, served fruit side up after cooking. Every cook should go to a cooking class at least once a year. Besides...


Open Secrets Closed Books and Fishy Tales

Open Secrets Closed Books and Fishy Tales

Posted in Recipes

Speckled eggs, peanuts and raisins with Mustard leaves and ginger are my new addictions; if I didn’t know better I’d think something fishy was going on! I juggle the three in no particular order while I make a salad and think about Village life on a Saturday morning.  I love the bunch of...


Of Crowning glories Queen of Tarts and Family Jewels

Of Crowning glories Queen of Tarts and Family Jewels

Posted in Recipes

are none of the things I can boast of.  You could say I'm always the second runner-up or the Burntoutactress being a drama Queen, the reigning Queen says the family jewels are for the aging Queen.  Such is life.  But sit me down to Pudding and I'm in clover!   The real Queen of Tarts is...


Hydrangeas Hot Chicks and Old Favourites

Hydrangeas Hot Chicks and Old Favourites

Posted in Recipes

The hydrangeas are blooming, all cotton-candy pink and lacy blue. My Pecan nut tree is throwing off its flowers and my garden is swarming with bees, dragonflies and frogs. It’s old summer magic and there’s no time to waste experimenting with new menu’s, which suits me just fine. Last night...


Chocolate Champagne and Caviar

Chocolate Champagne and Caviar

Posted in Recipes

the star attractions leading all the wise men to your festive table. “Happiness, Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart, Bitter. Sweet. Alive.” - Joanne Harris, Chocolat. Don't invite the usual suspects, be brave and invite someone new; who'll breath new life into...


Five Fish and Four French loaves

Five Fish and Four French loaves

Posted in Recipes

Won't cut it if you're planning on feeding a multitude. This basic recipe for everything divine, double it up for a crowd. My motto is: Consistency is unimaginative, dress it up or pasta it down. Girls just want to have fun and preparing a meal must be  quite a quiet quicky.  Every time I serve...


Curry Flavour When It Rains In November

Curry Flavour When It Rains In November

Posted in Recipes

111 years ago on this day my Grandmama was born. How the world has changed, the only thing that hasn’t is the rain! Bob Hope was also born in 1903 and Konrad Lorenz (Austrian Zoologist 1903-1989) said "I have found the missing link between the higher ape and civilized man: It is we." George...


Fashionable Food for Fabulous Fridays

Fashionable Food for Fabulous Fridays

Posted in Recipes

Those are some of my favourite F words; fortunately it was a good week so I have no desire to stab someone with a cake fork. To celebrate the weekend there’s nothing better than having fab food lined up which won't keep you in the kitchen for hours. Try these when serving sundowners or as...


Pass Lee's Age Rose Merry and Time

Pass Lee's Age Rose Merry and Time

Posted in Recipes

These are some of my favourite things! It’s snowing in Canada and a fine mist covers my mountain. Comfort food is called for which is perfect as it stews in its own juices while I get spring out of my garden and prepare for Summer. Clay pots will be filled with culinary herbs, Parsley,...


Fat Plump October

Fat Plump October

Posted in Recipes

Now’s the time to get Grand’Mere off the shelf, dust her and riffle through her pages to the two stuck together when I baked last year’s Christmas cake. It’s eight weeks to go and that’s how long one needs to mature a cake. This fact struck me like a blow to the solar plexus this afternoon when...


Serenading Sundays

Serenading Sundays

Posted in Recipes

More lyrics have been written about a Sunday than any other day of the week. From Queen to Joni Mitchell.  Here Sundays are a day of worship, thankfulness and rest. Panama hats, cheesecutters and blazers, the old school tie, and Church Schools are still a firm favourite in our neck of the woods...


Cheese Souffles

Cheese Souffles

Posted in Recipes

There’s nothing nicer than waking up to a freshly mowed lawn, Cape White-eyes splashing in the birdbath and that special feeling of well-being when the sun shines. Perfect Porcelain blooms cover rosebushes; I spot the neighbour’s cat unwinding himself from his scratch-pole. All this calls for...


Green Mango Salad

Green Mango Salad

Posted in Recipes

Sing-song voices of ladies walking and the chitter chatter of birds wake me up on quiet mornings, summer's here, it's flip-flop-sunhat season and we need refiguring for the beach. Salad days are back, perfectly timed are the fresh summer fruits and vegetables appearing on our shelves. GREEN...


Lemon Grass and Turmeric Chicken Skewers

Lemon Grass and Turmeric Chicken Skewers

Posted in Recipes

When the sun shines evenings are balmy and a perfect reason to have a mid-week celebration, light a fire and barbeque something easy, fragrant lime and delicious. Sip cold crisp green Sauvignor blanc and listen to evening sounds. LEMON GRASS TURMERIC CHICKEN SKEWERS(this recipe has been...


Baked Pumpkin Pie

Baked Pumpkin Pie

Posted in Recipes

Here it's summer blue, sun-yellowed gentle days, which is  a reminder of the harsh weather many ex-pats are going into. Celebrate a table laden with the essence of summer with joyful Thanksgiving. BAKED PUMPKIN PIE - South African style.“without bread, without wine, love is nothing” Anon...


Zucchini and Oregano Quiche

Zucchini and Oregano Quiche

Posted in Recipes

 Celebrate the days getting longer and warmer with a family favourite. Simply serve a crisp green salad and Citrus Vinaigrette Dressing. Don't forget to pack a bottle of Bubbly and Strawberries.   PASTRY 500g Flour 2,5ml Salt 1,2ml Paprika 250g Butter 250ml Cheddar Cheese, grated 125ml...


Meditteranean Baked Tomato Salad

Meditteranean Baked Tomato Salad

Posted in Recipes

Nothing beats a beautiful plump sun-kissed bright red Rosa Tomato, in our house they're a staple and this recipe is a winner for it's versatility and simplicity.   Use a variety of tomatoes. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C On a lined (line with baking paper or tin foil) baking sheet spread out a...


Herb Crusted Pork Neck

Herb Crusted Pork Neck

Posted in Recipes

Be bold and ring the changes with this simply delicious de-boned Pork neck. The fresh herb crust is versatile and can be used successfully with either fresh fish or chicken breasts.  Lemon zest adds zing.   8 Pork neck steaks, trimmed into palm-sized portions 1" thick Salt and pepper,...


Nutty Carrot Cake

Nutty Carrot Cake

Posted in Recipes

This cake has stood me in good stead for 30 years, it never fails to please and I've shared it many times.  It's easy to bake and flavours improve with time which makes it perfect for weekends.   3          Extra large eggs 375ml   Sugar 250ml   Canola oil 750ml   Grated carrots...