Audrey's Birthday

On Women's Day the cherries celebrated Audrey Rose's Birthday. I have been dying to try out this vintage canapé maker I found and this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Here are some other delights from the party table.

Meat!

Let me start by saying I am a bit of a reluctant cook. I am sure most of you are superb chefs and these recipes are a bit passe. However that said, I am going to share my fail-safe roast recipes with you anyway, just in case there is another me out there.

For a fantastic meal you cant go wrong with slow roast lamb. My mother-in -law always does it for us and she is a superb cook so I just figured it was difficult, but it is not! So all you do is buy a leg of Lamb (for great prices I recommend The Bluff Meat Supply). Rub it in olive oil and salt. Put it in a roasting pan. Cover it with tinfoil and put it in the oven for 6 - 7 hours (depending on size) at 70 degrees centigrade. Don't touch it. You can crisp it at the end on grill for ten mins. You will be amazed by the result - it just falls off the bone. It is great that day with roast veg and potatoes and fantastic the next day with tzatziki in a pita bread.

For Fillet - the trick is hot and quick. Get your fillet and rub it with English Mustard and salt it. Heat Holsum in a roasting pan and then add the fillet and roast for 30min - 45mins (depending on size) at 200 degrees centigrade. slice into thick medallions and serve with green peppercorn sauce. Or shave it into thin slivers for a Fillet Ciabatta.

My friend Tom taught me how to cook gammon on the weekend and I tried it today and it is absolutely fab and easy. Get a gammon (Woolies or Mr Mozzies are good places). Place two liters of Coke-a-Cola  in a big pot. Bring the gammon to the boil in the Coke and then turn it down and allow to simmer for two hours. Drain and place in a roasting pan. Coat with any marinade you like (I used a mixture of teriyaki sauce, honey and spices) and roast for 20 - 30mins at 200 degrees centigrade to crisp and glaze.

Roast chicken rocks when you place flour and spices in a plastic bag and toss your chicken around in the mixture until well coated - then roast in Holsum at 180 degrees for one hour - basting in between.

MIFFY!

OMG how cute are these Miffy cheeses? Darren bought them at Pick n Pay Hyper, but I am sure all Pick n Pays have them. They are yummy too (have eaten three out of the six pack) - quite dutch in flavour - funny that.

Baking with a capital B

How cool is this edible poster by Anna Garforth. Come on ladies let's bake with purpose.

Anna also brought the world these wonderful moss graffiti works which I am sure you have already seen.

Durban Crafters Rock!

So often Durban is relegated to a creative backwater, especially by South African magazines that so rarely feature anything being made outside of Cape Town and Joburg. I cant imagine why that is - look at the talent in just one tent on just an average Saturday morning.

ohmygosh: grilled cheese

I just found a blog dedicated entirely to the art of making a really awesome grilled cheese sandwich. This is heaven. Seriously, there are some really cool recipes on here, and they're nicely laid out with pretty pictures. Perfect for a mid-afternoon snack attack, a chilly Sunday when warm and cheesy is just what's called for, or, hell, dinner for the kids when you really can't be bothered with the protein + veg + carb deal.

Comfort Food. Oh. Yes.

FUTURE ME = 1, PRESENT ME = 0

So I was introduced to the concept of future me by my lovely friend Chrissie while helping her sort out her kitchen. As we were trying to rationalise her kitchenware, she kept arguing that we could not get rid of the bread maker or the yogurt maker or the Moroccan tea glasses that she had found at the Milnerton Market as they were to be used by future me. You see, future Chris makes her own bread and yogurt and sips tea out of Moroccan tea glasses under a fruit tree in her future garden. I mocked her ever so gently but I must confess that I have realised that I too have a future me - in fact, I think we all do.
My future me is a calm, fun, over achiever who bakes with her children. My future me has bullied the present me into buying many cookie cutters and baking accessories. She even, on occasion, bullies me into actually baking (something present me finds stressful and irritating and results in present me shouting at the children, and then feeling like a crap mum).
Last night future me won. She is really chuffed with the out come. I just feel like a push over.

The recipe for these shortbread cookies comes from a great cook book by David Herbert called "The Perfect Cookbook". The recipes in this book are really basic but classic and work every time (even present me likes them). I scanned the recipe for the shortbread for you. If you click on the image, save it and print it, it will be readable enough for you to bake from. Please do not leave out the rice flour because it is difficult to find. Most health shops stock it and it really does make the shortbread taste like shortbread.

Rockabilly Cupcake Anyone?

This is for my wonderful partner in crime Sam, a huge rockabilly fan. These brilliant cupcake toppers are available from Lark but also from other on-line baking supply stores.

While trawling some other shops I also found these great cherry cutout cookies for you Sam. They were posted on what seems like a lovely site called the Layer Cake.

Two Green?

My two new favourite green things:

1) Wasabi Peanuts from The Food Lovers Market (photographed in a pink, 1950's melamine bowl from the lovely Kirsty's store MINT)

2) These fab leaf cable ties from Lufdesign. 

 

PS in the time it took me to do this post I ate the whole bowl of nuts!