Dear Jo’burg, if you want to know how to do markets right, then please, look further north to your sister Pretoria. The lovely city of Tshwane has a gem of a market called the Hazel Food Market, situated just off the Atterbury off-ramp on the N1 North (The same off-ramp you would use to get to Menlyn)
Having visited twice now, I was impressed both times. The sheer amount of different things available for you to eat/drink/buy are extraordinary. Also, people from Pretoria know how to enjoy a market. None of this “sit on a scratchy hay bale” kind of stuff. They come prepared, with table clothes and crockery or with picnic blankets and toys for the kids. They really make an experience out of it, and I was so jealous that I didn’t bring my picnic blanket when I visited the night market in early November. read more…
After testing out the Philips Jamie Oliver HomeCooker for a few weeks, the time came when I would have to give it back. Wanting to use it one last time, I decided I would test out if it was any good at making preserves. I made a cider marmalade, and yet again, that handy stirring function was the highlight. I know self stirring pots sound lazy, but man oh man are they convenient for laborious recipes that call for a lot of stirring. read more…
No one really needs a popcorn recipe, right? There is nothing complicated about making popcorn. Pop (haha) some kernels in a pot, or a brown bag in the microwave, and after a couple of minutes, the magic happens and you end up with a delicious and somewhat healthy snack. read more…
When Philips contacted me and asked if I would like to review the Jamie Oliver HomeCooker, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Ever since the launch of the Jamie Oliver range of products, I have been fascinated with this self stirring pot, with adjustable temperatures. I was never going to purchase one as they are quite pricey, (R3600 without the chopping tower) so having the chance to test one out for a few weeks was the next best thing.
When trying to decide what on earth I was going to make, my first thought was fudge. I hardly ever make this treat because it requires a very, very long time with constant stirring on the stove, so that it doesn’t burn. Self stirring pot to the rescue. The Philips Jamie Oliver Home Cooker should be renamed the Philips Jamie Oliver Fudge machine. It is perfect for making fudge, as it takes out all the effort of making it, and you still end up with melt in your mouth sugary goodness.
When @goodfoodSA tweeted about a competition for food bloggers to win tickets to the Joburg Good Food and Wine show, I responded rather enthusiastically. The prize included entrance to the show, a cook off at the Woolworths Real Food Theatre and tickets to watch one of the Chefs in action at the Chefs theatre.
Sometimes I’m crazy. Sometimes I put beetroot and lentils in a cake. And sometimes I’m even surprised by the success of the craziness.
You may be wondering why on earth I put beetroot and lentils in a cake together? Well those were the 2 ingredients I had left to make a dish in the PnP challenge I was participating in. I was going to make some sort of stuffed raw beetroot ravioli, but that wasn’t working out as planned.
Whilst I was washing the beautiful reddy pink colour of the beetroot off my hands, I suddenly thought woah, red velvet cake. So this cake is inspired by red velvet cake in terms of its colour, but since I wasn’t allowed to use cocoa powder, its just a vanilla beetroot cake. read more…
The Brief: Take a list of ingredients, a piece of art for inspiration and create something edible and beautiful.
This was the challenge set to us by Pick n Pay for Week 8 of the Freshly Blogged challenge. My art knowledge is somewhat pathetic, so I spent most of my friday evening googling famous artists. Feely very uninspired, I went to bed thinking I could do better in the morning. Then at 6am, that time when you moving between sleeping an waking up, a bolt of inspiration hit me. Tim Burton. Not only is he a fantastic director, but his dark illustrations are some of my favourites. With this in mind, I knew I had to create the iconic image from his book and movie “The nightmare before Christmas”.
With a bright moon of mashed potatoes, a mountain made of roasted purple cabbage, and sherry chorizo and chicken ‘pumpkins’, my dish was complete. read more…
So by some miracle I am still in the Freshly Blogged competition. There are 20 bloggers left, and the competition is getting tough. This week we were given rice, butternut, leeks, thyme, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a baguette. We could add one dairy item (I chose Feta) as well as one other item from the aisles of PnP (in my case, a whole chicken). read more…
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Everyone loves mini doughnuts. They are small enough to eat in one bite, and just look so cute you can’t help but want to eat whole platefuls of them. These mini doughnuts were made in a mini doughnut machine, but can just as easily be baked in mini muffin trays if you don’t have one.
Raspberry jam was swirled through the batter of these doughnuts, which were coated in cinnamon sugar and served with a caramelised white chocolate dipping sauce. Lets just talk about the magic that is caramelised white chocolate. Chocolate is roasted in the oven until it turns a beautiful caramel colour. It tastes like caramel and shortbread biscuits, and is really delicious.
