Daily challenges

...like after getting up early 8:30AM, having a quick bowl of cereal, and going for our walk on the beach.

Bernd & Rassie posing for the photo.

After getting back to the house, it's time for coffee and croissants, or something healthy, and reading the paper. To our surprise without warning, lunchtime has come, and we eat again.
If there are any tasks that have to be done, with all our strength restored after lunch, we attempt them.
Topping of the day is usually accomplished by either having some cold cuts or going out, like last night, we were invited to have dinner at Miriam and Franziska's house.

Patricia and I met Miriam last year in Stuttgart where she had a stand at the Weihnachts Markt in Stuttgard.

Franziska, one of her two daughters, is studying hotel management here in ZA.

They prepared a great dinner for as.

Starter

Roasted Cauliflower & Broccoli with Garlic mousse and Salmon

Main

Homemade Spaetzle with an Oxtail sauce & Kudu-Fillet  (Antelope).

I have no picture, because it was eaten before I had a chance to take one.

Dessert

Honey mousse, Plum ragout, Honey-Salt-Cashew cream & a Orange-Cherry sauce

Accompanied by a lovely South African red ;) and great conversations, 

we also got to meet Rassie's friend Tommy

This is only the beginning of a three month long journey.  I hope I survive this challenge.  

Cookies

I do like our desserts, so in order for me not to feel too guilty, Patricia  just changed the recipe a bit.

After Valentine's Day, we had a box of Red Velvet cake mix left over, and on the side panel was a recipe for some cookies.  I wanted to make them. We changed the ingredients just a bit so I can now eat one a day and freeze the rest.

Now that you have seen what they look like, 'see what goes intothem.

One box of Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix, (or any other cake mix)

6 tablespoons of soft butter, (here we used coconut oil from Trader Joe's instead)

2 large eggs, and a teaspoon of lemon zest.

Mix all of this together - best use your hands for that - and make a somewhat firm dough.

In a separate bowl, mix a cup of powder sugar with a teaspoon of cornstarch,( we used Kuzu Root Starch) or instead of the sugar, you can use cocoa or nuts or what ever.  If you do, you may not need the starch.

With the dough, form 1 inch balls, roll then in the sugar and place on a baking tray about two inches apart, as you see above.

Then place the tray in the 375 F preheated oven and in 12 to 15 or so minutes, you can start eating them.

Chef Kendal cooking at Native Foods Encinitas

There was a full house at the Native Foods Vegan Restaurant in Encinitas on Saturday as Chef Kendal Huff gave a very spirited cooking demonstration of several delicious recipes. Chef Kendal must be the best kept secret at Native Foods. The place was packed, and we were very impressed with the organization. Patricia took a video of Kendal making Tiramisu, which I posted on YouTube.
You can see the atmosphere and get an idea for registering early next time, as the seating is limited.

There was no room to swing a frying pan, and the samples kept coming.

Thanksgiving

Giving thanks surely is an international thing, and to make it a holiday is a typical American thing.
Yesterday, we had a great day with our new family eating, drinking and being thankful.
Most of all, we are thankful for our new grandson, Gavin.  Patricia is seeing new expressions and better eye contact every time she holds him.

One day this pictures will be shown to his girlfriends

It was a very relaxing and gorgeous day. The weather was totally Southern California style, sunshine and 70ish.  Best of all, we didn't have to do all the cooking for the feast of the day.  Aariel claimed that privilege this year and did a fabulous job.

Turkey and all that goes with it.

There is a new turkey carver in town who's doing a fine job.

 Finally, it is time to sit around the table and stuff ourselves.  This year, the turkey didn't get stuffed; we did the stuffing in the slow-cooker; it tasted great, and the turkey cooked without drying out.

Not to worry; the dogs aren't going to be forgotten.  In fact, I took them
for four walks, and they got some Turkey scraps as well. 

So now the serious business of Silly Season, as we call it in Australia, can start.
In concluding, I want to thank Patricia for editing my Blog to make it easier for everyone to read and, of course, thanks to anyone coming across this blog, reading it, leaving comments and coming back time-and-again.

Autumn is almost here

As I remember, this is the time of year when my mother spent lots of time cooking down all the fruit we had collected and made jam and other stuff out of it.
So here we are, having an over abundance of figs from Aariel and Ryan's garden, and we've decided to make chutney.  After exhausting all possibilities for a recipe on the internet - either we did not have all the ingredients or it did not sound right - Patricia decided to make up her own, after all, her Master's in Food Technology must be good for something other then keeping me out of trouble.
Here goes. We decided to create a

Fig Cranberry Ginger Chutney

You take about 30 (thirty) fat ripe figs,

1/3 cup of finely chopped shallot and sautee it,

add 1/2 cup of dried orange cranberries
and 1/3 cup candied chopped ginger ,

and one chopped apple. 

We also added a few green and black olives

Then comes the part where you have to use your
intuition, adding about 1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar,
1tsp of Spike or salt, 1/4 cup of sugar and some
black pepper.

Everything is put into a pot with a little water to start and cooked for about 60 minutes until it reduces to the desired consistency.

Then adjust the sweet-savory and salt-vinegar taste with some sugar, salt or balsamic vinegar.

Last, you enjoy it with or on whatever you want.

If you like this recipe, here is another for Fig Strawberry Jam, which we also made.

Fig Strawberry Jam (with Ginger, if desired)

4.5 lb fresh picked figs, quartered

2.5 lb Strawberries, sliced

¼ c. diced crystallized ginger (optional)

2.5 c. sugar

2 boxes of Pectin (sugar free – pink box)

½ c. fresh lemon juice

1 Tb. Vanilla (added after it finishes boiling)

Mix the Pectin with the sugar. Add to the combined fruit in a large heavy bottom pot.  Mix and add the lemon juice.  Mash slightly or use a wand blender sparingly.  Bring to a boil and cook for about 10-15 min.  Check the thickness and adjust your cook time accordingly.  Check with a metal spoon in cold water.  If it sets up to the desired consistency, it’s done.  If not, cook longer until you reach that point.  As it cools down, add the vanilla.

Fill sterile jars to within ¼ inch of top. Put on the lids and screw tops and boil in water to cover by 2 inches for 5-10 minutes.  Remove; let cool on a rack. Lids should pop as the jars cool.

Guten appetit, or as we say in Freiburg, 'Mahlzeit.' You figure out the translation for yourself.