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!