I know a place inspired by a library book my 5-year old brought home: I know a place by Karen Ackerman I know a place where vanilla and cloves meet And embrace with warm, heady scents Where citrus and nuts mingle in a pungent dance Where ginger and cardamom, black pepper and coriander come alive...
Category: Recipes
Technique: How to Bake Authentic French Bread, Pain a l’ Ancienne
I’ve been searching for the easiest way to turn out sticks of beautiful bread in the manner of le Francais. For I equate French breads with a gorgeous tan, exterior; a soft, chewy interior and well developed flavour. Pain a l’ Ancienne. Bread made in the ‘old-fashioned way’. t6p says: They might look like a true baguette...
Cooking & Baking with Tea: The Spice, And Drink
I’ve always loved tea, but never considered it more than a drink, hot or cold. Recently, that has changed. And two things have done that for me: a book – ‘The Art of Blending by Lior Lev Sercarz’ which has nothing to do with tea, and everything to do with spices and one man’s passion;...
Green Pawpaw (Papaya) Salad
I love the very idea of combining fruit and savoury flavours, especially in the way Asian cuisine knows how. I’ve watched Luke Nguyen cook with ingredients that are tropical and easy to find in Nigeria. But cook with them in a way so different, so foreign and appealing in that way ‘exotic’ cuisine is.
Fried Prawn Heads
When I watched Justin serve up fried fish bones, in ‘The Next Food Network Star’, I cringed. ‘Another one of those recipes’. Someone was bound to write an open letter to the world about how fried fish bones make you a star. Or how instagram makes you the photographer of the year. Warner is referring...
Popcorn Cake: The All-Round Party Favourite
Neighbours. They’re the angels next door – not quite family, mostly friends and altogether special people, without wings. The ones God uses to teach us, to give us salt and sugar when we run out, to learn new dishes and how to hold a pencil correctly, share stories, talk about life and growing children, about...
Our Gingerbread House – Breaking into 2013
‘Make a gingerbread house. In February. Or at Easter. Whatever happens, before Christmas 2012!’ Well, we didn’t make it before Christmas 2012, but we certainly did it before January the first, 2013. I think it crowned the year for my entire family – as in husband, myself and the children as we built the gingerbread house from...
Twelve (12) Dishes For a (New Year’s Day) Brunch
…And a few more. Happy New Year (English). Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar (Dutch). Bonne année (French). Have a wonderful ones dear friends. I hope 2013 brings us closer, forges new relationships and sees us fulfilled. I’m drawing up my resolutions, which must include partying. As in hosting more parties, and get-togethers with families and friends. And so...
Filipino Fruit Salad: Virtue in a Can
I know, tinned foods aren’t virtuous, especially from ‘self-proclaimed’ foodies. Mind you, that’s not me talking, that’s the ‘Voice of the world’. Because I know better. I know that virtue can be earned in a myriad of ways: fresh, frozen and canned. Like everything else, they have their time and place, their season.