Condensed Milk Cookies for the Soul

There is nothing like a cup of tea and biscuits. The whole process of baking them and then sitting down to let one melt in my mouth with a cup of tea makes my soul happy! My sister used to bake these for her husband when he was in the army and they have always been a family favourite. I remember baking these biscuits from a very young age!

Ingredients

220g butter, slightly softened

1/2 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of condensed milk

1tsp vanilla essence

2 & 1/4 cup of cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla essence and condensed milk and beat well. Stir in the flour and baking powder until mixed well. It should have a crumb like consistency. Kneed the dough together and form a ball. Lightly grease a baking tray. Roll dough into small balls and place on baking tray. Press down on each ball with a fork. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 mins or until golden on the edges.

Life Happens While You're Busy Making Other Plans

It has been a while since I have posted anything, life has been a bit hectic over the last few months, in fact it feels like life has turned upside down! Jared's company wants to open up a branch office in Kenya, Nairobi. They employed me in July and want us to move to Nairobi to open the office!!! So we packed our bags at the end of June and moved to Joburg for training for two months. Since we have been in Joburg we have traveled to Kenya and Namibia. Things are not happening as quickly as we thought they would with regards to Kenya, which can be frustrating at times, however we have to remind ourselves to take each day as it comes. Our boss has a saying: "Life happens while you're busy making other plans". So we are trying to just let life happen, all the "plans" we seem to make end up changing, so it's best to enjoy each and every moment and soak up as much as we can from what we experience on a daily basis. So far it is working out pretty well for us! We have experienced some amazing things since we have been in Joburg, and although I miss home terribly, I am REALLY enjoying my job for the first time since I started working. Life can be BITTER SWEET :)

More on our Namibia trip soon....

Surely I don't need a bigger size!!!!

For any woman reading my blog I am sure this has happened to you at least once....

I decided on the weekend to run into Edgars quickly and buy myself a pair of black tights. In my mind this would not be a long procedure at all, except I got a little side tracked in the store...there was a really nice short skirt to wear over the tights as well as various different colour's, styles and so on. So my 5 minute run into Edgars ended up taking a little longer than expected (much to my husband's horror). He lost interest after 5 minutes and said I should call when I'm done (so typical).

So off I want to the change rooms with 3 pairs of tights and a skirt that looked like it belonged to my 16 year old niece (yes I thought that it may look good on me, how foolish!) I stood in a long cue waiting to get into the change room, sweating my ass off in the Durban humidity. I finally got into the change room, stripped down and started pulling the black tights up me leg. I think I made it to just under my knee cap when I realised that they were so tight that I would have to cut them off if I ventured any further! I then proceeded to try the skirt on which looked totally ridiculous! So my shopping spree was a complete failure!!!!

I don't exactly consider myself to be large. I know that I could probably do with dropping a few kilos and toning up a bit, but I really did not think that I was large! After the "tights debacle" I am a bit concerned. You see, I had a choice between a small/medium pair or a medium/large pair, so naturally I went for the small/medium. I am only about 156cm tall....so the medium/large would have had to be pulled up under my arm pits to look anywhere near normal! So with the smaller pair not going anywhere higher than my knee and the larger pair being so long, I walked out the store with nothing! My husband, being the good man that he is, insisted that the tights were obviously made for small Chinese people and that I should not be concerned at all that they did not fit. So, instead of getting depressed about it, I am going to go with that theory!!!

I say we boycott small Chinese made tights...because surely I don't actually need a bigger size!!!!!

Peppered Fillet Steak

Every weekend I seem to get an urge to find a new recipe and cook! I don't know if this is what they call "nesting" or whether it is just an obsession to eat seriously good food! Last weekend I went searching the internet for a fillet steak recipe. As usual I stumbled upon Jamie Oliver's website... (I can't help my love for his recipes!!!!) So this recipe is inspired by one of his recipes. It tasted really good, but is not something you could eat often. First of all fillet steak is very expensive, and secondly the creamy sauce is extremely rich. In saying that, if you want to spoil your selves this is an excellent quick and easy recipe!

Peppered Fillet served with roasted baby potatoes and a garden salad.

For two people  you will need -

For the Peppered Fillet -

Two pieces of beef fillet (about 250g each depending on how hungry you are)
1 Packet of mixed peppercorns
100ml Fresh Cream
A few sprigs of Rosemary
Canola Oil
Butter
Salt & Pepper to season

For the side dishes - 

10 baby potatoes

Lettuce

Cucumber

Smoked Pancetta / Bacon

Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar

Method -

Take the meat out the fridge and allow to stand for at least an hour so that it reaches room temperature.

Cut the baby potatoes in half and par boil them until they are slightly soft. Then drain off all the water and pat dry with a paper towel. Put them into a roasting pan and toss with canola oil, chopped up Rosemary (Season with salt and pepper). Roast in the oven until golden brown and crispy.

Season the fillet with salt and pepper and rub with canola oil. Allow it to stand for 5 minutes. In the meantime heat up a non-stick frying pan, add one teaspoon of oil and two sprigs of Rosemary. Allow the Rosemary to fry in the oil for a few seconds and then remove it from the pan. This gives the oil a lovely flavour which transfers to your meat. Coat your pieces of fillet with pepper corns. Don't be shy with this, you can literally completely cover them with peppercorns. Then lay them in the pan with a knob of butter and fry. You can leave them for about 5 minutes on each side, depending on how your like your steak done. We like it medium so about 10 mins in total is usually okay. Once the steak is cooked remove it from the pan. Turn the heat down and add your fresh cream to the pan. Allow it to simmer for about a minute then pour over the fillet steak to serve. 

For the salad simply chop up lettuce and cucumber. Fry the Pancetta or bacon until brown and crispy, serve on top of your lettuce leaves. Dress with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

Enjoy!

U2 360 Tour Johannesburg

People have described the U2 concert as "a religious experience" - religious or not....it will definitely go down as one of my most memorable experiences! We cued for ages, drank loads of beer, ate lots of junk, walked for miles, screamed till we were blue in the face  and felt worse off for it the next morning!!!! BUT ...it was well worth it, and I would do it over again in a heart beat.

There has been a lot of negative feedback around the organisation of the concert. People have complained about terrible cues, beer running out, food running out, transportation issues (just to name a few things). I think if one considers the fact that this is the biggest concert that South Africa has ever seen (nearly 100 000 people) it was a phenomenal feat to put on a concert of this magnitude. The logistics that go into it must be scary! It wasn't great having to cue for things, but then what did people expect??? This is a learning curve for the concert organisers and perhaps next time things will run smoother. I know that I am so grateful to have been a part of this experience and despite all the negative aspects, I thought it was worth it.

Although I did not know all the songs that U2 played, I enjoyed every one of them. Of course they played the favourites like "With or Without You", " Beautiful day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday", but ALL their songs were amazing! There is something to be said for a band that has been going for over 3 decades! This was evident from the diversity of the crowd - there were very young people as well as very old people and everything in between. This just shows that U2 has captivated that attention of a very wide audience. Not many bands can say that. For me they are right up there with the legends - The Beatles and Queen.

I think one thing is clear - U2 have a message.

They have become very political, and Bono is a well known activist, and I must say that I never quite understood it until I watched him in action. On Sunday night as I sat there watching Bono speak and sing to thousands of people about Mandela I got goosebumps. I felt a sudden surge of patriotism, I felt proud in that moment to be South African, if he could rouse this feeling in me, imagine how many people in the audience must have felt the same way! I understood in that moment that U2 have this amazing opportunity to reach millions of people around the world, why wouldn't they have a message more meaningful than music alone! They have a platform from which they can send a message out to people all over the world, and I think that it is commendable and wonderful that they do so!!!!

For me the most memorable moments were seeing the picture of Mandela on the screen and hearing Bono sing Amazing  Grace, these two moments brought me to tears and made me realise that I am a proud South African, Christian woman!!!!

U2 ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I will try post some pics later)

Melancholy Wednesday.

"Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other."
-- Stephen L Richards 

This was the quote at the bottom of the page in my diary today. Normally I would read over this quote and think to myself "well that's quite profound" and then move on. For some reason today was very different. This quote got me thinking! It was probably due to the fact that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and was feeling sorry for myself that I let my mind dwell on the meaning of life. 

I don't cope very well when things in my life are uncertain or when I am required to relinquish control to a higher being. (Yes they say that being a control freak is a problem...) Unfortunately there are just some things in life that we have no control over...this drives me insane. I like my life to have some sort of plan...that I have thought out and can manipulate. However, I realised today that there are certain things that require me to dispel all doubt and just take a leap of faith. As difficult as this is for the control freak in me to handle, I am beginning to understand that my happiness depends on it! 

This brings me to my melancholy mood today. You know when you just wake up feeling that you are somehow hard done by, that your life could somehow be better or more certain? As selfish as that sounds, everyone feels like this at one point or another. I know that I am not the most positive person, hence i like to surround myself with people that can pick me up when I am down, because I do tend to dwell on the negative a bit. Today I woke up, feeling like  I had the world on my shoulders. I walked into work this morning and you didn't have to ask me how I was feeling to know that I was unhappy, my face says it all! I have never been the best at hiding my emotions. However, I realised as the day went on, that as much as other people can shed some light on my dark moments...it is really up to me to change my mindset. You can't always rely on other people to pick you up.  

So when I read this quote I didn't just brush it off as "just another profound quote to make us all feel better for a brief second", I actually pondered on it. It is true that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, because doubt creeps in slowly but surely and before you know it you have no faith left at all! 

The dictionary meaning of faith is a confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing OR secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.

I think to have faith would mean that you would automatically dispel any doubt that you may have in your mind. It is doubt that makes us fearful of change, it is doubt that makes us scared to let go. Only by having faith can you let go of all your doubts and start believing that although life may be uncertain and change may be scary things will turn out okay. It is this "secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of His will" that will allow us to embrace life's uncertainties and challenges. 

I think I sufficiently managed to change my mindset today. Although things can seem tough when they are happening, there will always be someone out there experiencing far greater challenges in their life! 

So heres to "blue Wednesday" and waking up on the RIGHT side of the bed tomorrow :)  

Ham Tagliatelle Recipe

This recipe feeds 6 people. I made this the other night for dinner at my parents place so I had to cook for more people than I am used to. It is quite a rich meal though, so suggest having it with a side salad.

Ingredients:

500g Tagliatelle Pasta

500ml Fresh Cream (reduced fat if you can get it)

1 packet of diced bacon (optional, adds more flavour)

10 slices Cooked Ham

! red pepper

1 green pepper

2 Tsp crushed garlic

Buttom Mushrooms ( I used about 6, but you can use more)

Paprika 

Origanum

Black Pepper

Parmesan to season

Method:

Chop red pepper, green pepper, mushrooms and ham into pieces. Use a large non-stick frying pan. Put a teaspoon of oil in the frying pan and then add the red peppers, green peppers and two teaspoons of crushed garlic. Fry them up a little and then add the paprika. You would use quite a fair amount of paprika as it gives the dish some flavour, I would say about 4 heaped teaspoons. Frying the paprika in the beginning with the peppers brings out the flavour. You can then add the bacon and mushrooms and fry up until bacon is golden. Then add the cooked ham (the ham doesn't need to cook, so it can be added last). At this point you can start boiling your pasta in water, with a dash of oil and a pinch of salt. The oil helps the pasta not to stick together or to the bottom of the pot, and the salt just makes it taste good. Make sure the heat for the frying pan is now turned down. Then add the cream to the frying pan with all the other ingredients. Let it simmer.

Once the pasta is cooked al dente I would suggest draining the water and then putting the pasta in a Pirex dish. If you were only cooking for two you could add the pasta to the other ingredients, but in this case there is just far too much food! Once the pasta is in the Pirex dish you can pour the ingredients from the pan over the pasta and mix it up a bit until all the pasta is coated with the creamy sauce. I then sprinkled the top of  the pasta with some grated Parmesan.

Serve with a side salad or Ciabatta bread (if you are really hungry)