Peppermint Crisp Ice-Cream

I spent Christmas in Australia, Rockhampton - Queensland to be exact.

Until now I thought Hell was a really hot place place deep under the earth, where evil people spend eternity burning and gnashing their teeth.

Rockhampton has a special tourist attraction for those wishing to experience the heat of hell, without being surrounded by pesky evil people and those with irritating teeth gnashing issues. It also has the added advantage of being only 20 kms from the sea and you don't have to go far (usually at least 3 rooms in your home) to find an air conditioner!

There are some strange customs in Australia. I say strange, because if your tried them in South Africa, you would be sent to hell, or at least told to pack your suitcase and make a quick start.

One of the strange things is that everyone takes off their shoes when they enter the house. It blows my mind when I think of some of the people I know walking bare foot on my floors - I still enforce the 5 second rule when I drop food. Obviously the 5 second rule would fall away pretty smartly, especially if you're as privileged as me to have 2 teenage boys in the house - using my floors.

My sister understood my dilemma and was very accommodating, as sister's are. A special new friend I made, actually kept her shoes on during my visit, as she understood that I just hate being without shoes, no matter how clean the floors are. No offense, I will wear slippers if you provide them.

Anyhow, back to being hot as hell - just prettier and with much nicer people. Rockhampton has great fishing and people really take advantage of spending time out on the water in their little boats (call tinnies). I spent the morning fishing and crabbing for mud crabs (they live in the mud, not taste like mud).

 The mud crab is Queensland's largest crab and one of five species found in the area. Unfortunately the 2 we caught (with crab pots) had to be thrown back. Only males larger than a certain size can be caught and no females may be taken out at all.

Crocodile Ribs

Like I said yesterday I got to eat some amazing food, even the crocodile ribs. But there are things in Australia which you just have to live without (unless you can get to the South African shop, which seems an institution any place more than 2 South Africans have emigrated to.) One such treat is Peppermint Crisp. How sad is that? A whole nation of people never knowing the delight of drinking milk through a Peppermint Crisp, no church bazaar with Auntie Sarie's Peppermint Crisp tart? All I can say is "Ag Shampies".

This last week in Cape Town has been pretty close to Rockhampton hell. But lucky for us we have Peppermint Crisp and an ice cream maker. So I pulled out all the cheating tricks I could find and made a really good ice cream, that I think even an Australian might like!

Peppermint Crisp Ice Cream

1lt Ready made custard
250ml Cream
10ml Mint essence ( I like the Butter mint essence)
100g of Peppermint Crisp chopped.

Mix the first 3 ingredients together and chill in the freezer for 2-4 hours.
After about 2.5 hours, whisk up the mixture, just to ensure you don't get any crystals.
Follow the instructions on your ice cream machine, or continue with the manual method of beating the freezing ice cream until it is almost frozen.
Add the chocolate before mixture is completely frozen.
Serve with a little extra Peppermint Crisp crumbled on top.

That's good mate!

Pecan Pie a Trip round the World

Well, what an adventure Homemade Heaven has had. I don't want to brag too much, but that would be impossible after the grand time I just had.

I spent the last month travelling around the world. I got to see my sister and brother - in -law and meet my new grand niece and my nephew in law in Australia. I also met some amazing people, new family and experienced life in HD full technicolour. It was a blessing to be with my family, everyone is so special to me and I wish we didn't have to wait 12 years between visits!

In Australia, I ate honey and soy marinaded crocodile ribs and caught my own dinner (thankfully not the crocodile)!

If that wasn't enough, I then moved on to Los Angeles. I dined at some of the best restaurants in the city, including Red O Restaurant, Mexican Cuisine by Rick Bayless. I have found the food I want to eat for the rest of my life - tamales.  

I tried real burgers, sweet potato fries, Red Velvet Cheesecake (from the Cheesecake Factory), King crab and hot dogs - just to name a few. And just in case you are thinking, yes I did pick up lots of weight, but every bite was worth it! 

To celebrate my return I used my authentic American pie dish, which I was so excited to find in a kitchen store. Watch this space for more American Pie recipes - Pushing up Daisies! 

This recipe is not traditional, as it does not contain corn syrup. The reason for that is that I have just finished watching this video Sugar: The Bitter Truth.  It is rather long, but will certainly change your thoughts on corn syrup and fructose forever.

Pecan Pie
1 unbaked 9″ pie shell
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon flour
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoons vanilla essence
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. 
Sprinkle nuts evenly in the chilled pie shell.
In a mixing bowl, mix sugar and add flour.
Add remaining ingredients, beating very well - until all the sugar is dissolved. An electric beater is certainly a must.
Pour mixture into pie shell. 
Bake until crust is golden and filling puffy but still slightly wobbly in center, about 40-45 minutes.
The filling will solidify as it cools.
 Cool completely, at least four hours.
Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy. 

All the people I have to thank that made this trip possible know who you are, but a special thanks goes to David - you know how special this was to me.