Blood, Sweat and Tears

Ok, well, there weren't any tears, but it makes for a good title. But it was hot, so plenty sweat. (overshare)
Friday was a good day. It marked the last day of work until the day after Boxing Day, so a chance to recharge the batteries.

Also, the world didn't end but, based on all the poor Apocalypse jokes, maybe it should have.
On the way to work Gareth Cliff played this awesome mash up of the hits of 2012 by DJ Earworm (An Annual event).

I had forgotten that we were hosting the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service in a blood donation drive. After Management Meeting, the management team decided that we would do our bit and go down and donate. So fueled by a cup of coffee, a cupcake and three biscuits pilfered from the pastry kitchen (hardly a breakfast of champions, mind you), I went to give the gift of life.

Donating Blood.

Being a first timer (I know..I know), I was surprised at how easy and painless it was. That was until after. That plaster hurts like a mofo and I now have an awesome bruise that makes me look like a junkie.
I did start to feel a tad light headed later in the day, drained even. I'm glad I did it though.

After I got home I had to start prepping my Christmas Ice Cream. Since last year's Ice Cream was a hit, the pressure is on. I've decided to be a bit more experimental this year. I'm going to make a Cherry Brandy Ice Cream for the adults and a Vanilla Ice Cream with blocks of Jelly (Cream Soda, Bubblegum and Candy Floss) for the kids. More to follow in a future post.

After watching our boys annihilate the Kiwis in the 1st T20 Cricket match (If NZ Cricket wants to be taken seriously, they should get Piri Weepu to teach the Haka to them. At least then we're guaranteed a show of sorts) I decided to head off to the Willowbridge Festive Night Market.

Festive lights at the Festive Market

 There was a much smaller selection of stalls than I had expected, but I was assured by one of the stall holders that tonight (Saturday 22nd December) will be a lot busier due to the regular Saturday Stalls being up during the day and then being joined by the Festive traders later in the afternoon. They had the usual suspects: handful of food stalls, clothing, jewellery, crafts and healing crystals..(this is Cape Town after all). They even had a Tupperware stall.

One of the keys to effective marketing is making use of catchy signage. I saw the sign below and immediately had the urge to buy some cookies for my two nieces to put out for Santa (I believe he favours Johnnie Walker Black in lieu of milk). The stall holder told me that they own a bakery and had completed delivery of around 6000 of these hand piped cookies. Wow. Imagine how much that hand must have cramped..

Santa likes a good cookie

I did a slow circuit of the market to see if anything else grabbed my attention and spotted a live band playing on the one side. They were playing laid back, background music but it was quite a nice touch. The folks sitting outside at Hussar Grill were enjoying the extra entertainment.

Live Band

I came across these wire crafts which I thought were pretty cool, although I'm not sure if I would buy one. Nowhere to put it.

Cute Bunnies

Wire Tree

I came across the Cape Mountain Charcuterie stall and tried some of their chorizo and saucisson samples. The chorizo is nice and spicy and the saucisson (french style dried sausage) is pretty tasty. Of course, I bought a piece of each. :D

Chorizo and Saucisson

They also had some oak smoked bacon, which I am about to try out. (now that's a breakfast of champions!) They are based in Porterville with offices in the City Bowl, so delivery to the City Bowl and Southern Suburbs is free.. I'm sure once they get their foot in the door in the Northern Suburbs, they will include free delivery for us too..

Finally, I walked past a T-Shirt stall with some nice designs. I have a weakness for t-shirts (I am getting better though) and I decided to have a look through their wares. The company is called May Bru (my broer) and is Cape Town based. They guy selling the t-shirts was a bru. A real fun oke who I, like, had a chat to.

May Bru

I tried on a green t-shirt, but there were no change rooms. It was the first time that I have taken my shirt off in the middle of Willowbridge mall. Luckily there were no small children to scare.

Authentic Cape Town

May Bru

All in all a good day. Now, let the weekend begin.
N.

Carols by Glow-Stick

One of the key indicators that it is Christmas in Cape Town is the annual Carols by Candle Light at Kirstenbosch. For those of you who were in a school choir (or enjoy singing in the shower..) it's a good time to dust off ye olde vocal chords. Unfortunately they are no longer using candles due to the mess this makes on the grass and pathways. Instead, you get a glow-stick with your song sheet.

Presented by Kirstenbosch Rotary, Carols at Kirstenbosch is now in it's 20th year and with Pick 'n Pay as it's main sponsor, it is a very well run, family friendly evening. Pick 'n Pay even had a stand where you could buy food and drinks.

I recommend getting there early so that you can secure a decent spot and also get to witness the pre-carols entertainment. I went on Friday evening with my sister, brother-in-law and friend and it was good fun.
I managed to catch the whole of The Brothers Streep's set, which is a laugh a minute. This Cape Town based acoustic comedy band is not only really talented, but it's hilarious too. They're doing New Years at the Brass Bell this year, so if you're not doing anything, head on down to Kalk Bay and enjoy. (You might also have seen them on The Graham Norton Show playing Anna Paquin)

It was an absolutely stunning day in Cape Town on Friday, perfect for a picnic, some bubbles (or your choice of poison) and some good old caroling.

Important to get a good spot

Make sure you get your song sheet

As mentioned, this was the 20th year of Carols at Kirstenbosch. The proceeds go to Kirstenbosch Rotary's many projects and beneficiaries. Being a former Interactor (Junior Rotary..I was president in my matric year) it's always good to support the Rotarians.

Service Above Self

Kirstenbosch Rotary's Beneficiaries

There is one important decision to make once you get settled. When it comes to singing Mary's Boy Child, are you going to follow the choir, or are you going to choose to sing the Boney M version. If you look at the lyrics below, you'll see that they make the decision easy. It has to be the Boney M version.

Them see a bright new shining star

My peeps

Glorious Cape Town Sunset

The Nativity is quite cute as well, as it is enacted by children from local schools.

Nativity Scene

More Nativity Scene

The evening ends off with a rendition of Silent Night, made even more amazing as everyone waves their glow-sticks back and forth in unison. It is an awesome sight (and I mean awesome)

After the carols end, it is always a mad rush to get to your car and get out before the masses..but that never works. We decided to avoid the stampede and have a drink at Moyo at Kirstenbosch. Not only is it a nice setting, but by the time we were done, our cars were the last ones in the parking lot. Perfect.

So, make sure that next year you keep your calender clear for Carols at Kirstenbosch. It's a good evening out. Remember, there are no bins in Kirstenbosch, so take your trash with you.
That's all from me.

N.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

Last week I got a call from a good friend, inviting me round for dinner last night.
After being surrounded by so many foodies the last few weeks, I decided to try my hand at making Ice Cream again. I last made Ice Cream when I made a triple layered Casata for my mom's birthday last year. (which went down very well, I might add...)

Two years ago I bought a Krups Ice Cream Maker for myself as a birthday present. (It's marked down at Dion Wired, in case you haven't figured out what you want for Christmas). Great for making small batches at a time. One drawback is that you have to re-freeze the bowl before doing a second batch.
The only thing left to sort out was what flavour I would make.

Vanilla is too easy. Make Crème Anglaise (from my trusty Larousse Gastronomique Dessert Book. Don't judge. I don't cook often enough to have these recipes committed to memory) and put in maker.. Et Voila.. No. Instead I asked those going to the dinner for inspiration. I got the brief to be creative..and Whisky would not be frowned upon. Capital!

One of my favourite sweets has got to be Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (or Reese's Pieces, or Reese's Wafers). To say I am partial to peanut butter would be an understatement. While browsing the baking shop for inspiration, I found a tub of chocolate ganache. I then found some peanuts and my mind was made. Peanut Butter Ice Cream. I blended the peanuts to a fine crumb and then added some smooth peanut butter and a pinch or two of rock salt. Blended again and came up with a sort of chunky peanut butter.

I poured my custard, which had been cooling in the fridge, into the Ice Cream maker and spooned in half of the peanut butter mixture. I let this churn a bit before adding a few spoons of ganache and then the rest of the peanut butter. The result was small pockets of chocolate and peanut butter spinning around. A nice surprise in your spoonful.

Peanut Delight

Once it was done, I scooped the final product into a container for further freezing.
Luckily, I made a double batch of Cremè Anglaise so I got to work on prepping my second batch. A quick rinse of the bowl and back into the freezer to prime it for it's next challenge. Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Ice Cream with bits of Sweet Temptations White and Dark Chocolate Toffee (The name needs a bit of work. Might be a tad too long..)

Love my Jack

After attending the launch of Jack Honey a while back, I have been advocating it's use as a social lubricant. Now Jack might not be to everyone's taste, but if you haven't tried Jack Honey, I suggest you remedy this oversight at your next earliest opportunity. With Appletiser it tastes like more, as a cold shot it tastes like trouble and served with Ginger Ale it tastes like hangover. It really is a smooth drink and I wanted to carry this over into my Ice Cream.

While tweeting my inspiration, I got some great advice from the Ice Cream Queen herself, Janine van Zyl. Boil the Jack to get rid of the alcohol. This would prevent the custard from splitting or not freezing. Sage advice.. if only I had seen it before adding three tablespoons of Jack to my custard. I mixed it in well and hoped for the best. By the time my bowl was sufficiently frozen, the custard was still looking good. And tasted amazing.

I poured the custard into the bowl and added in finely diced pieces of the toffee (the texture is similar to the Creme Caramels that you can find in any decent shop, more of a soft toffee than a filling remover). Again, after churning for a while i transfered the Ice Cream to a plastic container and put this in the freezer, ready for transportation.

I decided that I wanted some texture to the dish, so I bought some Stroop Waffels to serve with the Ice Cream.

After a lovely dinner of homemade lasagna and a bottle of David Finlayson Pinot Noir (really amazing stuff) it was dessert time. I'm proud to say that my friends enjoyed it, even though it was a bit on the rich side.

I was well chuffed with my handiwork.

Any suggestions for weird but wonderful flavours?
Leave a comment.

N.

Assignments, Hospital Visits, Ice Cream and Work. What did you do?

This past week has been pretty hectic. (I'm starting to sound as repetitive as the bloody twitch in my right eye)

Due to some very efficient procrastination on my part, I left my module 3 assignment to the last minute. Well, last half hour, but still. Thankfully it was a quiz and due to one silly mistake (rushing will get you nowhere) I narrowly missed out on 100%. I'll take it though.

That was Monday, which also included a visit to hospital, otherwise known as the B&B. The old man was in once again, thankfully this time it was just for observation while he was on a drip to get rid of some inflammation in his leg. Please make sure that, if you have a hyphenated surname, they put your full name on the board. Stupid male nurse nearly gave my dad someone else's medication which would have been catastrophic.. I hear he's in kak now..good.

The trouble is that after a long day at work, followed by visiting hours, you don't really feel like getting stuck into reading course notes. Besides, Mondays are reserved for Come Dine with Me SA. Trust me, you need to follow #ComeDineSA on twitter on a Monday evening. It makes for entertaining reading.

Tuesday and Wednesday was much the same, with the old man eventually coming out on Thursday. Just in time for Ultimate Braai Master. Possibly THE BEST reality show, cooking or otherwise, to be on the telly. And it's Proudly South African. I'm backing Rust 'n Dust all the way (@RustnDustCT). Karl matriculated the same year as me at York High. You go boy!

I'm off to dinner with some mates on Tuesday and I decided that I'd make some Ice Cream for dessert. I'm still pondering what to do to my creme anglaise base to make it magical.. After being surrounded by so many fantastic chefs last week, I fear my delusions of grandeur will lead to a flop. Best just to keep it simple, right? Nah.. So far I'm leaning towards mixing in some Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey to the mix to create a nice boozy ice cream. Any thoughts?

Month end is always fun when I'm weekend duty manager, but thankfully it's been rather measured. Everything is under control and while I'll probably have a late night again tonight, I'm on track to get done with all my paperwork.. Thankfully Module 4's SEO assignment is submitted (for better or worse) so that's one less thing to worry about.

Tonight I think I'll try out the new dinner menu. Lamb Shank or Rib-eye? Undecided...but it shall be Dinner for One once again.. Same Procedure...

Don't forget to check out http://derrycoffeecompany.yolasite.com/ and have a guess as to which coffee shop it's based on. There's a coffee in it for the first person to guess correctly.

Also, Marmite or Bovril.. Have your say in my poll.

Ciao ciao,

N.

Last Minute Invitation to the Eat Out Conference and Golf on a Sunday

I started writing this post last Sunday. It has been such a hectic week, that I'm only finishing it now. (Bad blogger...bad blogger)
Here goes:

By the time Friday came around I was ready for a nice quiet Saturday, filled with cricket, football and rugby.. and well, just general unwinding from the hectic week.
So when I saw the below tweet, I was in two minds about whether to respond or not.

What followed was quite funny. I replied to the tweet to both @Eat_Out and @Gabbles17 to say that it sounded like fun. A few minutes later I got a response from @Eat_Out asking if I was playing hard to get and if I wanted the ticket or not. I was caught a bit off guard. I hadn't seen anything about the Eat Out Conference, so wasn't sure what to expect. I decided that I would go. And with 45 minutes to get showered, dressed, drive from the Northern Suburbs to The Westin AND register to make the 9am start, I had to move it.

I made it on time and was more than pleased to run into an old friend who I hadn't seen in years.
I felt a bit intimidated as the room was filled with SA Culinary Royalty, as well as many well known food bloggers and critics (one of the critics felt rather strongly about the role of amateur food bloggers..).

I found the talks very interesting, particularly Margot Janse and Luke Dale-Roberts (actually all of them). I read a blog post from someone who attended who was less than complimentary of Luke's talk. Not being a fan of public speaking myself, I can imagine how daunting it must have been for Luke to get up in front of everyone and give a talk. I thought he did quite well and the videos that he showed were amazing.

During one of the breaks I took the opportunity to have a chat with Gabrielle. It's always good to put a face to a twitter handle. You can check out her work on http://www.deepfriedbananas.com/ .

After the event I found myself discussing the role of social media in the industry with some of the folk from The Culinary Academy. Thanks to my recently completed Social Media course, I actually made some sense. There's a first for everything.

Sunday brought my monthly round of golf with my social golf society. November was Mowbray GC and despite the greens being a little on the slow side (I mean slow), I had a decent enough round and shot a 92, which was good enough for my partner and I to claim second. Unfortunately, not everyone's wine knowledge is 'up there' and third place ended up getting a better bottle of red... Oh well. It's not about the prizes anyway. I had a lot of fun.

N.