International Food Evening

On Saturday night our church held an mission's celebration and each bible study group was asked to choose a country, dress up in national dress, as well as cater a table with food from that country. It was such fun and very interesting, we had a talk from locak Pastor who was a missionary to Morocco for 6 years.

The countries were not randomly chosen, as in our church we have people from the 4 corners of the world. I was part of a group from the Cameroon. It was a great experience from the foodie side too, as I had to research a cuisine that is totally foreign to me.

The people in West Africa eat lots of fish, beans, peanuts, coconut, pineapples and chili. The most exciting part of this food adventure, was that I found a shop in Parow that only sells ingredients that are used in West and Central Africa. I didn't recognize anything, and kept asking the owner to explain - I think I was about 2 questions away from him saying "Lady, we cater to foreigners, if you want to understand everything in a shop, go to Pick 'n Pay!"! Next time I go, I'll have more recipes in hand, so I won't have to ask so much!

My attempt at Cameroonian food was this Suya, a kebab. It can be made with any kind of meat - I chose beef. It is marinaded in a dry spice mix and then cooked over hot coals. The flavours are subtle (except for the chili) and work remarkably well together.


Cameroonian Kebabs
Makes about 18

1kg Steak chopped into 1" cubes
10ml Meat Tenderizer (this was my addition)
60ml Chili Flakes
20ml Garlic Powder
15ml Paprika
10ml Onion Powder (I used 2 Knorr mini Stock cubes)
1 Cup Roasted Peanuts finely ground (but not into a paste)
15ml Ground Ginger
Salt to taste
Red, Green and Yellow Peppers, cut into 1" pieces

Mix all the ingredients together and marinade for a few hours.
Thread onto skewers with some colourful peppers.
Cook on the braai (BBQ) or in the oven under the grill.


I served this together with some grilled pineapple kebabs. This is inspired by Cameroon, but not authentic.

Take two whole pineapples and cut off the peel.
Slice into wedges and then into 1½" cubes
Make a mix with about 125ml hot honey and 10ml dried chili.
Coat the pineapple with the mix and thread onto skewers and grill over the flames or on a hot griddle pan.
Brush with more of the sauce before serving.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Strawberry Fields Forever is a song by the English rock band The Beatles. Recorded at the end of 1966, the song was written by John Lennon during the filming of How I Won The War and is formally credited to the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team. It is named after a Salvation Army house in Beaconsfield Road, Woolton, Liverpool where Lennon played as a child. (source)

For me the strawberry fields are very literal - they are just outside Paarl, at the Klapmuts turnoff! My darling Keith knows, come September, the people at the Strawberry Farm know him very well.

On Tuesday he came home with a 5kg box - just for me! What a treat. I was so inspired yesterday I made some strawberry jam with lavender.

It really should have been eaten on a beautifully fresh scone, but I said I was inspired not on drugs - so a thick slice of fresh white bread was an excellent substitute!

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

Please slow Down - I don't understand!

Life is changing so fast I can't (or rather don't feel like) keeping up anymore. I am not old, perhaps by my teenager's standards I am ancient, but I don't think 37 year qualifies me for any old age concessions. I feel like things in life have changed so much and every day there is a new word or acronym I don't understand.

I have been using the internet for 10 years now, one would think that in 10 years you can master a skill - if I were studying to be a doctor, I would be fully qualified to save lives - BUT NOT in Cyber world.

Iin the "old days" we used words like: etc, et.al, eg, i.e., inter alia. Abreviations which were taken from Latin, they had history and if you could throw in the occasional nem. con or op. sit., you were really being just snooty!

Now we have a new language, things like : HSDPA, URL, PRUSS, GPS, all of which sound like things which need an ointment! We have kids (and lots of grown ups) that send messages that no longer use vowels, which used to be something they only did in the telephone directory!

We have taken phonetics to a new level, and called it chatspeak , they even have a dictionary (a very long word for people who can't write "great") and an online translator!. Take these messages, "Av01d P30pl3 Wh0 Tallllk Lyke Th15" and " lyk wer did u get dat shrt!" and my personal favourite "lol dnt b dum im betr dan u "!

This is worrying for me as a foodie, what happens if this technology filters into cookbooks and then into kitchens. How are we going to tell someone to "beat the eggs until light and fluffy" or "slowly add the flour, which whisking all the time" - I would hate to see the results!

Yes, I guess you can say I becoming Technophobic and am starting to think the Amish have something going for them! I want to let go and just be, write letters in ink and post them (when the Post Office is finished their strike)!

So in my quest to slow down and " Tune out, turn off and drop out", I made a real British Classic. No nation does boiled quite like the British - but this is a real winner! Take your time, write a letter, read a book and smell the roses.


Boiled Beef and Carrots

1.5 kg Topside Beef Roast
2 Large Onions
10 Cloves - studded into the onions
20 black Peppercorns
Salt
1 Celery Stick (with the leaves)
5 -8 Bay Leaves (I used dry)
Water
Peeled Whole small carrots
3 Large Potatoes Cut in quarters
Oil for Roasting the Vegetables

Place the beef, the spices, the onion and celery stick in a large pot and cover with water.
Bring to a rapid boil and skim off any scum that might form.
Lower to a simmer and leave to cook for about 2/3 hours, until the meat is tender.
At the 1½ hour mark add the carrots and the potatoes and boil in the stock until just done.
Remove the carrots and the potatoes from the pot, and toss in a little oil and roast for 30 minutes in a hot oven until browned and crispy.
Remove the meat from the stock, wrap in tin foil and leave to rest for about 20 minutes.
Slice the meat and serve with the vegetables and a little of the stock poured over the meat.
Simple, slow and totally delicious.

Going Madhatter

People have always been mis-quoted, in life we all get mis-quoted from time to time. Some of the quotes, while accurate, can be totally out of context. Mis-hearing and mis-quoting often happens when people have been married for a while.

When you have lived with someone for a long time, you often finish their sentences in your head or hear what you think they said. These false memories are as real to the hearer, it is as if they were written in ink. Just like your eyes lie to you all the time, your (mine) ears are no different.

One example I have heard many a married couple argue about is when the husband or wife distinctly remembers confirming an appointment weeks in advance. No amount of arguing will ever convince the injured party that they have not said it or that the other didn't hear it -even after they have said "OKAAAAY, you right!".

So, you ask, how does this tie into me making Soda Bread? It doesn't actually, except that when I got home, I could have sworn there was bread in the box - and there was not. I had created a totally false memory of a loaf of bread that was actually two old stale slices!

I am guilty of remembering things that don't happen, and some of these memories are so clear I would go to the gallows for them (well maybe not, but I can whip a a good argument at a moments notice). There is either a HUGE conspiracy to have me institutionalized for dementia, or I am just living in a parallel universe!

After watching that stupid Demi Moore movie Half Night ( Limited release, straight-to-DVD - thank goodness), where thanks to the evil husband's plot, fears that she may be going insane, I have to start to carry around my camera and tape recorder just to check exactly what is going on around me!

I feel a like Alice in Wonderland when she says "If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

But lucky for my blogging friends, I did have my camera ready for this delicious Onion Soda Bread and I have the pictures to prove it. I will admit the recipe did come to me in a dream - so here you have where a dream becomes reality - no arguments please!



Onion Soda Bread

1¼ Cup Plain White Bread flour
¾ Cup Brown Bread Flour
2 teaspoons Bicarbonate of Soda
± 300ml Buttermilk (you have to check as you are adding how much you need)
2 mini Onion Stock Cubes , crushed
1 Teaspoon Salt

Mix all the ingredients together until you have soft dough (enough to hold it's shape, but still sticky).
Pre-heat your oven to 200°C (I used heated my pizza stone)
Place the dough on a baking tray of the pre-heated stone,
Cut the dough ¾ through into quarters.
Sprinkle with a little flour and bake for about 20 -30mins until done - and sounds hollow when you tap it underneath.

Enjoy warm with lots of butter and a bowl of homemade pea soup!


And this one from Alice is a gem - especially for me and those of you that know me :

Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope!
I think I could, if I only knew how to begin.

When Smoking is good for your Health

We all know the dangers of smoking, but yesterday I decided to try smoking - and it was great! Now don't get all worked up, this kind of smoking is suitable for children and breastfeeding mothers.

I smoked some fresh Mackerel. It is so easy, and the results are much better than any bought variety I have tried. It was soft and juicy, without any added artificial smoke flavourings.

This is how I did it....
It is best to do the actually smoking outside, unless the ventilation in your kitchen is very good. I just used our camping gas bottle.

Take a wok and line it with heavy duty foil. I then added some lemon rind, chamomile tea leaves and plum tree shavings (I had these after my plum tree was pruned early this year, but you can use any untreated fruit or even oak).

Place your bamboo steamer on the wood chips, put the fish in the steamer and cover with the lid and enclose the entire wok in foil, so there are no escape routes for the smoke.

Place the wok on a a high heat (a gas burner works best) and leave to smoke for about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave without opening for another 15 -20 minutes.

Throw away the foil - and open the steamer and you will have beautifully smoked mackerel in less than half an hour!

This might seem like a lot of work, but it literally takes 30 minutes from start to finish and I guarantee you will love the flavours. You can play around with the smoking mixture and infuse any flavours which you might like - I have heard that Earl Grey tea also works very well.

Give it a try - at least once, you'll never see smoking in the same light again - just don't get addicted!


I hope you are having a fantastic spring and getting ready for summer. We finished spring cleaning the garage and the storeroom this weekend, so now it's just the house and then we'll be ready for lots of outdoor activities and no more cleaning!

If the shelves are dusty
and the pots don't shine,
it's because I have better things
to do with my time.
This mess is a place!