Brooches

As a child i spent many hours with my grandmother playing dress up, wearing her shoes (she only had a size 3 foot), strings of pearls and her brooches, which she had such a beautiful collection of. Thats were my love of "things" began.
My definition of "things" accesories!

One of my favourite "things" to accesorise with at the moment is brooches. They are such amazing little or big things that can add a touch of class, fun or color to any outfit. They can be worn on any item from the classic jacket, t-shirt, blouse or scarf.

This is an ultra modern brooch which paired with a crisp white shirt and a pair of jeans would bring a different twist to a classic outfit.

This brooch gives a whole new meaning to name tags!!!! Very cute.

I have many brooches like this one in different colors and I love wearing them on the lepel of my denim jacket. They so fun and bring out my quirky side without being to out there.

This is a modern take on a classic brooch which reminds me of my gran.

I have been on the look out for a brooch like this but havent found one as yet :( Its gorgeous and quirky and so fun and kinda makes you feel like a child again. I love it!

This brooch screams Cassidy to me. Cassidy is my BFF and one of the most up to date stylesters I know. When it comes to fashion she knows whats hot and whats not. She made a range of brooches which I love and often wear and are infact very much like this one. Check out her blog http://bespokelifestyle.blogspot.com/

For the girly girls, add a polka dot bow to your outfit.

 

 I had to end off with this classic 1980's Karl Lagerfeld brooch. Gorgeous and I'm sure worth a small fortune!

Happy "things" shopping

Avocado Curry

While going thru one of my fav foodie blogs yesterday I came across a very interesting recipe for avocado curry. Avo and curry are 2 of my favourite things to eat but never ever did I think about combining them.

I havent made this curry as yet but I plan to this evening and im very excited about the outcome.

See recipe below:

Ingrediants:

1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 small green pepper
1 can of tomato paste
1 can coconut milk
1 ripe avocado
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tbsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp paprika

In a food processor blend all together into a sauce consistancy. Heat up the sauce on the stove top and serve over your choice of sauteed veggies, meat, poultry or even rice.

The joy of this recipe is that its so simple and fast and its vegan as well. You can make a big batch and freeze it for those evenings when you dont feel like cooking. take it out the freezer warm it in a pot and pour over some stir fried chicken strips and veg!

Happy curry cooking!

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2011's Hottest Food Trends

Industry trend watcher Andrew Freeman is at it again. He is back with his fourth annual list of picks for the food and restaurant trends with the most promise.

Freemans latest list resulted from "a combination of close industry observations, coast to coast travel, discussions with industry experts, regular meetings with hotel and restaurant clients and extensive media research.

Without further ado:

• The pie:  Move over cupcake, make way for the pie. Pies in all sizes, sweet or savoury, individual bite sized and even pies blended into shakes. Yes this little guy is moving up from the state fair to Hollywood!

• New mom & Pop Shops:  Realizing the time is now, and if you going to do it, you might as well do it your way, partners are opening self financed and self built restaurants. These are small establishments, fewer than 40 seats, designed by friends and family.

• You're the one: Single purpose restaurants which are serving variations on one item. Not a trend I'm convinced will take off but don't be surprised if you find "The peanut butter palace" selling biscuits, sandwichs and egg benedict.

• Shrink Wrapped:  Traditional meals are going way of the fun sized snack. Smaller portions are perfect for smaller wallets and eating on the run. Keep a look out for mini pizzas and bagels, two bite hot dogs, mini tacos or burritos and even down sized pot roasts. Small is big!

• Marketing 101 Night & Day:  Restaurants and high end quick service operators are joining with farmers, artisans and specialty purveyors reinventing the food hall. Restaurants are also expanding by opening quick service windows. Opening a window of opportunities.

• Desert Menu:  Restaurants are abandoning descriptive marketing jargon (liking cooking methods, sides or adjectives) instead highlighting only key ingrediants. You may not know exactly what you getting, but that will make your dining experience so much more exciting.

• Talk dirty to me:  In search of simplicity and pure flavours, chefs are abondoning sauce, instead using powders, crumbles, dustings and "dirt" crafted from cookie crumbs, dried mushroom powder and dehydrated beet to name just a few. This is not a trend I will follow, I cant eat anything without sauce!

• Fire it up:  Extending way beyond wood fired pizza, restaurants all over are roasting vegetables directly in embers and slow roasting whole animals or large cuts of meat over wood burning fires.

• Haute Dogs:  Hot dogs are the new hamburgers as chefs reimagine them with boutique style sauces and gourmet toppings. Hot dogs wioll escape from speciality stands and venture into restuarants as chefs dress them up.

Hot ingrediants for this year:

• Pimento cheese
• Necks - Lamb, Beef, Goat
• Whey
• Kumquats
• Smoked oils
• Hay
• Popcorn
• Hummus
• Pretzels
• Honey

Mmmm Soup!

Leather boots, chunky knit jerseys, slow cooked meat stews, warm baked puddings and of course soup are some of the things I love about the colder months.

Winter has barley started and already I've gotten out all my soup recipes and made 2.

Last winter a friend e-mailed me a ton of soup recipes which I never got round to making due to my obsession with Woolworths slow roast tomato and marscapone soup. This winter i see they haven't brought it out which is a blessing because I made my own tomato soup.

This variation of tomato soup is not only extremely delicious and super easy but also almost fat free!

What you need:

A glug of olive oil
onion roughly chopped
1kg tomatoes roughly chopped
1 liter good veg stock - its always good to make your own and freeze them
2 Tbsp sugar
125g ready made sun dried tomato pesto - Robertsons has brought out a fantastic pesto range or Woolies always has
a few basil leaves finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

• Fry onions in olive oil until almost translucent
• Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 40min.
• Remove from heat, use a stick blender or food processor to blend the mixture.
• Add the sugar and pesto and bring to the boil again, simmer for about 10 min.
• Add the basil leaves, salt and pepper,

If you want to serve this as a more substantial meal serve the soup with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Its that simple to have a delicious hot soup on those cold lazy winter days.

Whats your favorite winter warmer recipe?

Giant Cacao Beans Rediscovered.

Rare football sized cacoa beans rediscovered in Ecuador

CBS News rerports that a rare cacao has been rediscovered in the wildness of Ecudor. The rare cacao
be4ans were thought to have been lost to the world. They grow on trees named the National Cacao. The white beans on the tress are football sized. They are said to produce the purest expression of national cacao on earth. Chef Michelle Tampakis, a seniour pastry instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education, says the cacao is not bitter at all. This means wonderfully delicious chocolate can be made from them.

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Book Review - Franschhoek Food - Myrna Robins

Browsing through the cook books section at the book store yesterday I found the most divine book. Its called Franschhoek food and details all there is to know about the must see restaurants there chefs and signature dishes in Franschhoek. 

Nestled between the towering mountains of the Cape wine lands you will find the beautiful Franschhoek Valley. Well known as the food and wine heartland of our country. Here some of the worlds best wines are grown and our top chefs create beautiful international cuisine.


In 1685 when Protestantism was outlawed in France hundreds of so called Huguenots fled their homeland and 277 of them arrived by ship at the Cape of Good Hope. Many of them were given land by the Dutch government in a valley called Oliphantshoek, named due to the vast herds of elephants that roamed the area. This is where they settles and it became known as Franschhoek - French Corner.

Although it varies year on year up to 8 of South Africa s top 100 restaurants are situated in Franschhoek - the gourmet capital of South Africa. Franschhoek Food is a celebration of the cuisine found in this area. Some of the establishments that are included are: Haute Cabriere, Le Quartier Francais, Grande Provence, Reubens, Genot. A few of each restaurants signature dish recipes are included as well as the suggested wine to accompany the dish beautiful color photos, information on the location and people. 

As a chef I want to find cook books that are visually appealing and challenge me as a cook. The joy of this book is that it not only has recipes that will challenge me and my cooking skills but also has recipes that are easy to put together but still gorgeous to present at a dinner party. There is also such a variety of recipes and cuisines all of which still keeping to the basic French flair. Although Franschhoek is a French country inspired town and the restaurants have followed suit each chef has added there own inspiration and this shows in the recipes and food. I love paging through a book and finding so many recipes that I must try.

Some of my favorites:

• The filled lamb loin and white chocolate spring rolls - Haute Cabriere - Mathew Gordon
• The salmon and prawn Yakitori - Salmon Bar - Judy Sendzul
• The Parmesan crisps and spring vegetable and nettle risotto - Le Quartier Francais - Margot Janse
• Blue cheese tart and waterblommetjie souffle - La Basserie and La Fromagerie - Melize Oliphant
• Chicken pie - Kalfi's - Sandra van Zyl
• The sweetcorn soup with truffle popcorn - Reubens - Reuben Riffel
• The feta and dried tomatoe focaccia - Bread & Wine - Niel Jewell

Franschhoek food is an inspiring and beautiful tribute to the top culinary corner of South Africa and a must read for anyone who has loved Franschhoek, food and wine.

ENJOY!!!

My fave fashion trends

Loving the winter fashion trends for 2011 and wanted to share some of my favorites with you.

1. Gum boots:  These little baby's give a whole new meaning to comfort and they are so stylish. Running around       in a restaurant all day requires comfortable shoes but being me I put the look ahead of the feel so the latest craze of gum boots is perfect for me. I bought mine from Woolworths in Grey at R499, 00. Pair them with a leggings and a chunky knit jersey and scarf and you are good to go for the lunch rush!

2.  Brooches:  They have been around since the early 1800's and have made a huge come back this season. They add a little bit of glamor and style to any outfit! you can go vintage or bling, big or small. Add them to jackets, jerseys or scarves. They are just such fun and a cheap way to turn a plain looking outfit into something fabulous!

3.  Scarves:  Loving scarves this season, I know they've been around for a while but I've found that with layering being so in for this season scarves are fantastic! I have found so many awesome patterns on scarves from stripes to animal print to damask and in all sorts of colors and I feel like I'm drawn to them and just have to buy them. I love neutrals for this season and adding a colorful scarves to my neutral outfit takes it to a whole different level. Love them!

4.  Khaki:  Without a doubt the biggest color trend of the season. It is a must have. Wether it be khaki leggings, my are from woolies and are thick, warm and just gorgeous or a khaki military style jacket it doesn't matter as long as you have something khaki for this season.

5.  Capes:   yes capes!!! Not the ones superman uses to fly but the latest in European fashion. Words cannot convince you, you will have to just see the pics, i know you gonna love it!!!

"They think they know it all"

The restaurant industry must be one of the toughest.
It is virtually impossible to please everyone because we all have such different ideas on flavours, taste and service. So here I have 3 points on how to deal with those difficult customers who always seem to know best!

1.  Silence is golden
Its our natural human instinct to want to argue when people say unreasonable things. DON'T!!! Keep quiet and listen (or pretend to) not only will the raving lunatic of a customer be embarresed by there own behaviour but you will save yourself the embarrsment of looking like a fool for arguing with a fool.

2.  Retain your humour.
Dont take the situation to seriously, try find the funny side.

3.  Goodwill.
If we can offer goodwill even to difficult customers, we will make tremendous progress. Unpleasant people may deserve criticism, but, this will not help the situation. Even the most difficult person may have one or two good qualities. Try to mentions these; subconsciously they will appreciate our goodwill. This remains the most effective way to bring out the best in others – even if it may seem to take a very long time.

So today if you encounter any of the "they think know it all" customers remeber to just smile quietly, find the humour and lie sweetly to them about the good qualitys they may posses that we cant seem to see.

Chef of the year 2011

Its Chef of the year time again with Unilever.

Send entries to:
Fax (031) 570 2395
Email coty@unilever.com


GOOD LUCK TO ALL

Welcome

And so after much deliberating on whether or not to start a blog....here I am blogging! Its pretty fun really.

After 10 years playing in a mans world of trucks and transport I decided it was time to do something I loved and I got my international chefs qualification. My husband, cousin and I then landed up as the very proud owners of a Portuguese Restaurant in Benoni, Trinchados. Strange how things work out. Needless to say I left my job in corporate and along with my two best friends am following my dream of creating gorgeous food in a warm homely atmosphere. So much of fun!!!!

So in the blogs to come you'll hear all about the fun we have in the restaurant, the cupcakes I LOVE baking, the experimenting we do in the kitchen and about the fashion we find wondering around at our little Trinie (cocktail bar) outside.

Hope you enjoy.....