Spring Rolls In

At last I am able to share all the things I have been doing for the last 2 weeks. I never thought I would miss blogging this much.

Yesterday I was the epitome of a domestic goddess, even if I say so myself.

As you may know I started taking orders for cake baking. I received an order for 4 carrot cakes, delivery today. I am so excited that this is turning into a good little business. Everything is made from scratch so it is rather time consuming, but definitely worth the effort, when people remark on how nice the cakes are.

As if baking 4 cakes in one afternoon was not enough, I decided to try my hand at making spring rolls. This turned out to be hugely successful and while the rolling is time consuming, once you get the hang of it, it goes quite quickly.

Spring Rolls - Rose Style

200g of minced Pork
1 shallot minced
1 garlic clove minced
1 teaspoon soya sauce
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 carrot grated
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh Parsley
white pepper
Spring Roll Wrappers defrosted

Fry the pork, shallot, garlic clove amd soya sauce gently until cooked. Stir while frying so that the mixture is crumbly. Take off the heat and put the mixture in a small bowl, add all the other ingredients (except the wrappers).

Place this bowl in the freezer for about an hour, it must be very cold before you start filling the wrappers.
And here is how I did it - The photographs were taken by Markwin, who did a very good job!

Place the wrapper on a flat surface and
put a small spoon (about 15ml only)
of mixture in the bottom corner.
Do not be tempted to put too much filling in,
as it will all pop out when you fry it
Wet the top corner and the bottom corner with a little water.

Fold the bottom corner over the mixture

Roll over 1½ times. Roll tightly, but without breaking the wrapper.
Be gentle.

Fold in the left and the right corners.

Now continue to roll until you have a sausage as above.

This is now ready to be fried in hot oil until golden brown.
Serve with sweet chili sauce and soya sauce.

These spring rolls went down a treat as our starter last night. I have 6 uncooked ones left which I have frozen, ready to be cooked as a tasty treat.

You have heard the expression - " Living on love and fresh air", which in human terms is impossible, but in the plant kingdom it seems to be quite possible. Here is a picture of my air plants which hang in the plum tree. They flower once a year for 2 weeks. The rest of the year they look like dead grey grass. It is truly remarkable that something so ordinary and actually quite ugly can produce such beautiful flowers.

Don't Forget me when I'm Gone

I have had a terrible computer week.

On Monday when I got to work, I pressed the on button for my computer and nothing happened. I rushed the machine through to the repair centre, but alas it only came back yesterday afternoon late. Unfortunately it is still not 100% operational, so I can't post all the lovely things I made this week.

Hopefully everything will be working by next week and I can share all the thrills and spills from my kitchen.

Thank you for your patience, please keep checking - "I'LL BE BACK!"

I just have to share this beautiful picture.

Muffin Tops

Muffin Top - This new expression perfectly describes the loose fat that sticks out over a pair of low-slung jeans, as per Collins English Dictionary in the ninth edition published in June 2007.

Before you wonder why I am on about muffin tops, I baked a batch of muffins yesterday, all of which had perfect tops.

The reason I love muffins, is that there are no rules as to the flavours you can make.

I have a basic recipe which I change, depending on what I have on hand.

Muffin Top Muffins
2 Eggs
240ml of Milk
120ml Oil
200g Sugar
375g Flour
4 tsp of Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt

Preheat oven to 180°C. Muffins bake for about 25 mins.

In one bowl mix all the wet ingredients together. And in another bowl mix all sifted dry ingredients together.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir roughly. You must not beat until it is smooth.

The fun part of making muffins is that you can add anything to the mix after it is combined.
Last night I did the following flavours :
Strawberry
Strawberry and Choc-Chip
Choc-Chips
Choc Chip and Walnut

I always use paper cups in the tins - it makes cleaning the pan easier. Fill the cups and bake for 25mins.

I found some very funny expressions that have been added to the English language. They say you should learn a new word everyday, and then find a way to use it. These should prove fun -

Cankle - A thickened area between the calf and ankle in an overweight person, obscuring where one ends and the other begins.

Hairdryer Treatment - The practice of shouting at someone at close quarters in order to express one's displeasure at something he or she has done.

Budgie smugglers - Men's close-fitting swimming trunks.

To Good Health

Good health is something we take for granted, just like youth.

My love for cooking is closely followed by my passion for nutrition and fitness.

I thought I would share some of my health tips, which are easy to follow and definitely help. I do not claim to know all the answers, neither am I a super model or anything close to skinny. I only want to share my tips, which have worked for me. My only reference is that I have remained a relatively constant weight for 20 years.

1. Don't eat after diner.
I mostly have my evening meal before 7pm, after which time I don't eat or drink anything other than water. While there are obviously exceptions to this rule, I try to keep them as few as possible.

2. Eat Breakfast
Always have a healthy breakfast.


3. Eat Fruit
I try as much as possible to have at least 3 fruits a day.

4. Drink Water
I don't like water, but I always have a 500ml bottle of water on my desk. I make sure that I always finish at least 2 before I leave work. At home I have another 500ml bottle which I also make sure I finish 2 before going to sleep. This way I always know I have consumed 2 litres of water that day.

5. Get some Exercise
This was and still is the hardest part for me. Four years ago I decided I wanted to get fit. I started running with the under 10 cross country team. I use the word "running" very loosely. I would run 20 metres and then walk, but soon I started to run on my own and within 18 months I completed my first ½ marathon!!

6. Cut back on Sugar

• 3 teaspoons of sugar contain 48 calories.

• Cutting out this sugar from your daily diet saves 17,520 calories, per year.

• 17,520 calories per year is the equivalent of 5 pounds of weight.

Giving it up is not an option to me, but I choose my battles.

I hope that you can try at least one of my top tips and see if it makes any difference to your health and perhaps even your waist line. The biggest thing for me is balance. I can't eat everything I like all the time and hope to be healthy or a reasonable weight. Save on the small things and the big things will take care of themselves.

To end off here is a picture of the most beautiful sister in the world

Peri Peri Nice

Some foods get very bad press. Most of the time it is because they are badly prepared. Chicken livers are one of those foods.

I was at the chicken counter yesterday and saw they had fresh livers, so I reached over and took two punnets. A young boy (about 13 years old) was standing next to me and asked what they were. "Chicken Livers" I said, his answer shocked me - "Oh Sick!!!". I guess his mother won't be giving him livers any time soon.

I serve this very simply with brown bread. No fuss food.

Peri Peri Chicken Livers

500g Fresh Chicken Livers ( Cleaned)
1 tsp Peri Peri
1 tsp Dried Chili
1 tsp Paprika
60ml Tomato Paste
1 tsp Fresh Garlic
1 tsp Sugar
Salt and Pepper


Fry the Chicken Livers until the are browned - Watch out for the spitting.
Add all the other ingredients fry for a minute.
Add about 1 cup of water and turn down the heat.
Leave to cook for about 15- 20 mins. (I don't like my livers pink)
Top up the water so you have a descent amount of sauce.

Serve with brown bread
I wish you all a lovely weekend. As Monday is a holiday I will not be here, but I hope that I will have the time to make something special to show you on Tuesday.

Markwin as the Wild Cat mascot in the school play on Wednesday Night