Am still here!!

In case anyone was wondering if i was still alive, I AM! Just been extremely busy, we moved house last week, before that i had gone away for a girl's weekend with my friends. I have been cooking up a storm but unfortunately haven't had time to take pictures. But best of all, i am going home in exactly 2 weeks and i can't wait! I will leave you to salivate over pictures of my beautiful island. I wil probably not have time to blog before 2010, so a Merry Xmas & Happy New Year to everyone. C u all next year!!!

If you are lazy, all you need to do is make a cake from a box

Not that it helped making me more active. Am still in my lazy mode....wakey!wakey! Even typing is a problem these days. I decided to make chocolate cake from a box and it turned out so good that even i was surprised. I think sometimes its ok to take the easy way out! WHich i seem to be doing a lot these days. Where's my energy, gone apparently! So back to my cake, it turned out nice & moist. Have you guys ever baked a box cake & it turned out nice? So i made this last Friday & am proud to report that on Saturday it was all gone... & i also made Falouda from a box! Again! + at least i have one good news, i have an award from Sangi. Thanks Sangi.

Award from Sangi

Creations cake

Chocolate Batter

Cooling down, getting ready for icing....

.....nearly there

Voila, all ready for me

Falouda

Sweet & Simple Bakes - St Clement’s Drizzle Cake

My second Sweet & SImple Bakes, i am getting back on track. I loved the first orange cake so much that when i saw that it was lemon & orange in a cake, i just knew that i had to do it. And the cake didn't disappoint, it was great, nice soft & moist. I made it on Friday, i didn't bring any this time to the office, more for me! The only thing that i substituted was the lemon, i had no lemons ready so i used lemon essence(both for the cake & the syrup, maybe thats why my cake looked more yellowish) & i also added some citrus mix peel. I still have some left, which am going to eat as soon as i get home. You can find the recipe on http://sweetandsimplebakes.blogspot.com/ . Thanks Rosie for another great recipe, & the name says it all...... Sweet & simple....

Lovely batter with citrus peel

Ready for the oven

Yummy, yummy cake

Stuffed paratha & the lazy person is finally back....

I have been extremely lazy! Lazy to blog, i mean. I don't know what happened but after i returned from my mini vac, which was nearly a month ago, i went into this lazy mode! I did cook, i did take pictures but i just couldn't find the energy to post everything. I mean all you fellow bloggers know how long it takes to reduce the size of a picture (actually it doesn't take that long, its my lazy side speaking & finding an excuse!) SO here i am again, this time i decided to make something that i normally prefer not to venture into. Anything to do with rotis, parathas i try to stay far away from but i found this nice recipe from (http://www.quickindiancooking.com)( there's a problem with my page, everytime i try to insert a link it doesn't go through.does anyone know why? and also the pics i load don't appear as pics but as writings).
For once, i was so proud that my parathas turned out so nice. Yay! I might do it again not just yet! Try it people, the recipe is so easy and uncomplicated.

Mashed potato

Dough cut into four

Can i at least have a round shape?

Funny shaped paratha but taste so good!!

M.I.A

Some of my friends......

.........More friends

My Very good friend Kavita who is from Kenya

Having my first potjie

Yummy

Stefan(Kav's husband) making the potjie


Hello lovely people,

I have been missing in action for nearly two weeks. Remember i was supposed to go away for a long weekend & what a blast! I had so much fun, i hadn't seen some of my friends for 2 yrs. I was extremely sad to leave PMB. I have only one friend in Pretoria since i just moved here & i miss going out with my friends. I have been feeling a bit low and in no mood to cook so thats why i haven't posted much. I had my first Potjie and of course we had the traditional South African Braai(barbecue). I got this from the net so that i could explain to you dear readers what it means. (http://www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/pot-food.html)

"Potjiekos" (literally meaning pot food) has been part of South Africa’s culture for many centuries.

When the first Dutch settlers arrived in the Cape, they brought with them their ways of cooking food in heavy cast iron pots, which hung from the kitchen hearth above the fire.

Long before the arrival of the early settlers in the Cape, the Bantu people who were migrating into South Africa, learned the use of the cast iron cooking pot from Arab traders and later the Portuguese colonists.

Hope you enjoy some of the pictures i took. I will definitely be making something this week.

Chocolate & Vanilla Marble Cake

Chocolatey part

Here comes vanilla

I just need to cool down now

Am ready

Eat me, eat me


Hello lovely people,
First of all before speaking about my marble cake, i know this is going to be a lovely week, wait, wait there's a reason for that and no am not getting married but am off to Pietermaritzburg to see my lovely friends for the weekend. My nice boss has given me friday & monday off, its MAJOR PARTY TIME! I will be seeing them after two years (except for Kav & Mel), am terrible ecited. I met them while i was studying there. So about the marble cake, we met a friend on the parking lot of the mall & invited him for tea, actually i did because then i know i will have to make something. Easiest thing to make was a sponge cake and i thought why not try a marble cake, cause i have never made any. I used a simple sponge cake recipe, divided it into two, one part chocolate and one part vanilla. It was lovely ..... as usual. Maybe i am getting a bit big headed! :-)

Making good use of the Book of Baking, hence Chocolate Eclairs

Making the dough

Putting everything in a ziplog bag

Piping the dough on the baking tray

Custard

White chocolate for the drizzle

Shells unadorned....they already look great

Voila, finally ready

And one for the baking girl

Surely if you buy your first baking book, you should put it to good use and this is exactly what i did yesterday. I went through the whole book with Ajay and we decided what to make. Well, we decided and i made Chocolate Eclairs. Cream & chocolate always goes very well. I am extremely sorry readers that i cannot post the recipe. But i took lots of pictures. I had 1 month ago decided to make Eclairs but when i looked at the process, of course while googling, it didn't seem difficult but just lengthy & i was worried that it won't come out nice. But The Book of Baking makes it look so easy that i decided to go ahead & give it a try. I was hoping that it would come out good and this is exactly what happened. Sure there was moments when i was thinking what am i doing but i followed the recipe properly and it tasted great. The shells rose perfectly, they didn't deflate, so i have finally found the recipe that am going to stick to.
Of course i was thinking will it rise, i had some concerns when adding the egg to the dough, i thought the eggs were cooking because it seemed lumpy but no fears when you have a good wooden spoon and mix everything together. I made 4 with the custard and the rest with whipped cream. I had some leftover ganache so i used it for the icing. Am no professional baker, as you can see from the drizzle that looks messy. And thats it, please enjoy & till next time. Would i make this again? Hell YES!