Ebony and ivory

Live together in perfect harmony :-)

I made a yummy chocolate and vanilla dessert today. It was so much work though so I really felt I earned ever mouthful in the end :-)

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of cocoa
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

• Bring all the ingredients to the boil in a saucepan for approximately 2 minutes

CAKE

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 80g margarine

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180C and lightly grease 2 pans
• Add butter and sugar in a bowl and mix well
• Add the flour, eggs, vanilla essence and milk and mix
• Pour half of the mix in one of the prepared baking pans
• Add the cocoa to the left over batter, mix well and pour into the second pan
• Bake for approximately 25 minutes
• Once cakes have cooled, take them out the pans and place on a chopping board
• Using a cooking cutter, cut out a few shapes (I got six out of each cake)
  

• I started with the vanilla first and then added a bit of the chocolate sauce and then did the same with the chocolate cake

• Another layer of vanilla cake and chocolate sauce
• I iced the entire thing with creamed cottage cheese and icing sugar and dusted with cocoa powder
  
  

Cauliflower mash

This recipe is a slight variation of the one I found on the Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 large head of cauliflower (cleaned and chopped)
• butter
• 2 medium sized potatoes (peeled and sliced)
• 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
• parsley (chopped finely)
• salt and pepper

Method

• Boil cauliflower and potatoes in a medium sized pot and cook until tender (it should take approximately 15 mins)
• Add the butter (I used quite bit to make it a little rich) and mash
• Add the parmesan, parsley and pepper
• Add salt if necessary

It went down well with my chicken stew

Baker's block

I've had baker's block [writer's block for bakers] for the past few weeks and it has been rather painful. Today was the first time in a while that I've been really inspired to make something just for the hell of it. So I made cornbread :-)

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups self raising flour (you'll need more for kneading)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• teaspoon of herbs (I used oreganum and parsley)
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup canned corn

Method

• Preheat oven to 160C
• In a large bowl, sift the flour and salt
• add the mixed herbs
• In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, corn and buttermilk together
• Add this to the flour and mix well (I kneaded the bread for a few minutes until the dough was a smooth texture
• Roll into a ball and place on a greased baking sheet
• Bake for approximately 40 minutes

I had mine with a chunky beef and veggie soup. I died and came to with a smile... :-)

Agreed

Oyster, food and wine festival

Something happened this past weekend. I fell in love... with oysters! :-) :-)

The festival took place in Randburg this past weekend and was a little overwhelming. There were just too many people all a little too excited to be enjoying the slimy delicassy. We soldiered on nonetheless.


I've had oysters a few times before and never took a liking to them. I kept consuming them though, hoping I'd acquire the taste but it never happened. Not until this weekend :-). A bit of salt, pepper, Tobasco sauce and vinegar did the trick.

I must say though that I didn't enjoy them quite as much Kea did. She was all giddy, jumping up and down - in oyster heaven for sure. It really was quite a site and so cute to watch.

Dessert, as always, was the highlight. The Cupcake Lady was one the of busiest people at the festival and we soon discovered why. She had these gorgeous profiteroles and berries in a gooey chocolate sauce.
 
 
 

 
We each had two. They were that good :-)

Le Quartier Français

I finally made my way to this beautiful part of the country. Franschoek is breathtakingly beautiful and restaurants are fabulous.

Our first stop was Le Quartier Francais - an award winning restaurant run by executive chef Margot Janse. She unfortunately wasn't in that day but we still had a lovely experience.

I ordered from their tappas menu and thoroughly enjoyed all but 1 of my choices.

Delectable and fresh mussels

Goat and ham crumble, caramelized onion pizzette and Cesar salad

The crumble didn't agree with me at all. I only had one spoonful and had to give it up. The pizzette was great and the Cesar salad was the best I've had to date - I think it had a lot to do with the dressing.
 
My food buddy had a typical man's meal. Steak and veggies. He was pleased with it.

Sirloin steak with buchu bearnaise

 
 
The staff at the restaurant was great to us. They showed us around the estate which boasts a cinema, gorgeous rooms and an art gallery. We were even allowed to visit their kitchen where all the magic happens. Elrishka (the lady in the picture below) was particularly intrigued by us and asked for the blog details. :-)
 

 
What a lovely restaurant, setting and staff.
 
After lunch, we went sightseeing and took in the lovely scenery. We drove to one of the mountain slopes and got a full view of the town. This picture was taken there. Truly magical
 

We also made our way to the Huguenot Monument - Franschoek's very own Taj Mahal(I am quoting one of the locals we met at the monument) :-)

 
We agreed that we'll be making our way back there again very soon. Hopefully to stay a little longer next time
 
 

Le Quartier Francais

16 Huguenot Road Franschhoek 7690

021 876 2151

http://www.lqf.co.za/