Worth the wait? … Mano a Mano

We have been gloriously blessed in the last week with the most amazing weather (hope that by saying this, I haven’t jinxed the rest of the season)… but sunrise is around 5.30am and sunset around 10pm… so you can imagine how marvelously delightful it is to be outside.

Having said this… it seems that EVERY single person living in Brussels has the same idea…

“GET OUTSIDE”

And Restaurants are taking full advantage of this as well… the extended daylight hours and an increased footfall to restaurants that have outdoor sections… so many of them have taken over the sidewalks outside their premises and added extra tables and chairs. The benefit for customers is the delicious notion of being able to eat outside in the sunshine and watch the world go by… while the downside is that most kitchens are not equipped to handle the increased number of patrons.

But hey… if you venture out during this time… you are more than ready to wait an extra 20-30minutes for your food… especially if you can don your sunglasses and sip aperitif’s in the sun! right?!?

So that is exactly what we did… we arrived at Mano a Mano this past Saturday around 7.30pm – only to find the place heaving to capacity, and without a reservation – we were told to come back an hour later and they would make sure we had one (albeit it would be inside)… so we had a drink elsewhere while we waited.

An hour later… we found ourselves back at Mano a Mano waiting a little longer for the table to vacate their seats… but once they did, we settled down and placed our order… we were informed of the 20-30minute wait for pizza’s… so we got 2 starters to nibble on to pass the time… we were NOT disappointed.

Gorgeous tomato and mozz pan for dipping bread into

And when the pizza’s and pasta’s arrived… they too were worth the wait! Delicious thin crispy bases with just the right about of toppings… YUM

Seafood pasta

Value for money – for sure… approx 25Euros per person (5 of us)… with 2 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of water, 2 starters to share and either a pizza or a pasta main course!

To me… this Italian concept of no frills pizza’s and pasta’s dining, really works – easily visible by how busy the place is. The Food is good and reasonable… the staff are *interesting* and by this I mean the service is somewhat erratic… our waiter oscillated between being bored and overly friendly … and I can’t say that I saw any of the other staff crack a smile. But in all fairness – I am not going there to make friends… I am going WITH friends!

Mano a Mano

Address: 8 Rue du Boniface, 1050, Brussels

Telephone: +32 2 502 0801

Opening Hours: Monday-Friday: 12h00-14h00; 19h00-23h00. Saturday-Sunday: 19h00-23h00

 no website… sadly

Cranberry and Cream Cheese muffins… not my finest moment

Yes… I hang my head in shame… and fully admit on the world wide web that I made something and it didn’t turn out the way the picture did… it was a bit of a flop… there I said it!

Maybe because I tweaked the recipe too much??

• instead of using fresh cranberries… I used the dried ones and then try to rehydrate them in the stove by warming them up with some schnapps (I have used this concept with raisins and port before placing in a carrot cake and it was delicious… so my thought process was that it would work here… clearly not… maybe I can blame the schnapps?)…
• I used olive oil instead of sunflower oil
• I baked them too long

but whatever the case… they never rose like a muffin should … so the tops where essentially as hard as biscuits while the middles were delightfully tasty.

This was not a food experiment that I could share with friends and neighbours… so after scoffing the middles of about 3 (yes, I hang my head in shame)… I actually binned them. And trust me… throwing away food is not in my nature! I would normally eat my mistakes in order to hide them… but for this purpose – I had to remove the temptation…

If any of you have tried the recipe and got it right, let me know… or give me an indication of where you think I went so wrong! And looking at the comments on the Good Food Website – nobody else seemed to feel the same way as me.. so clearly this is a once off…. oops

Cranberry & Cream Cheese Muffins

100g cream cheese

250g caster sugar

175g cranberries

200g flour

2tsp baking powder

2 eggs

75ml sunflower oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat the cream cheese with 25g of sugar and chill until needed.
2. Heat cranberries with 25g sugar until they start to pop. Mash slightly and leave to cool.
3. Sift the flour into a large bowl and add remaining sugar, baking powder and pinch of salt
4. Add eggs, oil vanilla and cranberry mixture and stir together
5. Divide between 12 muffin cases
6. Make a dip in each case and add a blob of the

If Kid’s can make it… so can I … and so can you: Cheese Swirls

I love the concept that the world is changing…

There is a HUGE encouragement for children to get into the kitchen, plus cook and eat healthier… and best part? THEY WANT TO! Children are eager and excited to get their little mitts covered in flour and become involved in feeding the family!

TV shows have also contributed to these trends – from “Masterchef” to the “Great British Bake Off” to the hundreds of individual chef shows that are filling our screens. This feeds my *foodie* habit… but it also encourages the youth to learn life skills instead of wanting to be wingman to a super hero! So I was super surprised (in a good way) when I saw an article in the May 2012 issue of BBC Good Food magazine that was a recipe from a children’s tv show called CBeebies *i can cook* and was tested by a 10year old.

I figure if she can make it, so can I!! (And so can you!)

Cheese Swirls

200g self-raising flour

50g butter (softened)

1 tsp paprika

100-125ml milk

50g grated cheese

1. Rub butter and flour in a bowl
2. Stir in paprika and a pinch of salt
3. Add milk and mix with a fork until you get a soft dough
4. Roll out onto a floured surface – to 0,5cm thick
5. Sprinkle cheese on top and roll up like a sausage
6. Cut into 12 thick rings using a table knife
7. Bake on a lined baking tray for 20-25min at 220C

Delicious hip busting squidgy berry chocolate brownies

oh yes… on one post I complain about the fact that my pants are too tight and the next I am offering the worlds most sinful recipe…

Remember, I am a woman and it is my prerogative to change my mind 🙂

In all fairness, I made these berry-licious chocolate brownies a week ago when I attended a friends pizza party (before I made the mistake of standing on the scale… and while I was still under the impression that my pants were too tight because they had shrunk in the dryer :))…

But yes… these are delicious… they are squidgy… they taste like MORE (and the line from little shop of horrors pops into my head …”Feed me, Seymour, Feed me“) – so I made sure that I only had ONE serving and left the rest at their place (in an effort to restore dignity to my waistline… and wardrobe)

This recipe is on the front cover of the Good Food Magazine – May issue and can also be found on the Good Food Website.

 

 

Chocolate Berry Brownies

200g dark chocolate (broken)

100g milk chocolate (broken)

250g butter

400g sugar

4 large eggs

140g flour

50g cocoa powder

200g berries (they used raspberries – but I used a combination of raspberries and strawberries)

1. Place chocolate, butter and sugar into a pot and melt on a gentle heat, stirring occasionally until everything is melted
2. Remove from heat
3. Stir in eggs, one at a time
4. Sieve flour & cocoa and stir in
5. Stir in half the berries and pour into a greased baking tray
6. scatter remaining berries onto the top
7. Bake for 30-40min at 180C (more so if you want the brownies to be of a firmer texture)

 

It’s my party and I can eat as much sugar as I want to!!!

woohoo… It’s my birthday!!!

YES, people….  I love Birthday’s… especially my own!

It isn’t about the presents (although I am well aware that my love language is *gifts*… while having said this, it isn’t about the actual gift but the fact that the person thought about me! Gift NEVER have to be expensive… just thoughtful!)

the first gift arrived yesterday… birthday flowers from Kazzy

It isn’t  really about the BIG cake (although M has now been tasked for the second year in a row to bake her famous cupcakes for the party)

It isn’t even the party (although this year plans to be a hum-dinger of a night – Pizza and wine… followed by the fact that everyone knows that Monday is a holiday!! So we are going to party like it’s my birthday…oh, wait… it is ;))

The real reason that I love birthday’s is because for one special day of the year… EVERYONE you know (and sometimes even the ones you don’t know) send some form of Birthday greeting… whether it be by sms, BBM, facebook, email, phone call or even face to face… this is enough to put me on CLOUD9. And since I was a child – I have kept a list… something my mom used to do as well…. and now that I am celebrating my 28th-ish  (???????? uhum for the umpteenth time) – the list has grown longer, which I hope attests to the fact that more people love me 🙂

Birthday tradition at home used to be that Birthdays started the moment you opened your eyes (duh), more importantly… Mom used to provide chocolate cake for breakfast with coffee… IN BED… while I got to rip open the birthday cards and presents before having to rush through the bathroom to get ready for school. As I got older – I tried to make sure that I was always home with mom for my birthday…. as this tradition is truly special to me. This is one of the few years that I am not… but plans are already in place for next year!!

so what happened this morning??

I woke up – read a few birthday messages and got one from my Canadian Best friend, M…. saying *happy birthday, open your front door*… so I did… and there on my doorstep was a thermos of coffee and beautifully wrapped cupcake!!

I can’t begin to describe how awesome it is to find a thermos of coffee and cupcake on your doorstep…. at 7am!

The tradition has continued without her even knowing about it! So I got to enjoy my coffee and cupcake while opening up the pressies and card from back home.

And JUST BECAUSE it is my birthday (all day)…. after church… M and I went into Godiva and got Raspberry and White Chocolate Iced Shakes… OMG… so good… but now I am soooo sweet that the only thing that will sort me out is an afternoon of spa treatments.. OH WAIT… that IS what I have planned for the arvie… before the party this evening.

hello Godiva… oh, you want to give us 3 small chocolates as well?? oh, ok 🙂

I feel like a 7year old on a sugar high… woohoo…This is turning out to be one of the best birthday’s EVER

Does anyone else think that lentils look like ticks??

I can’t help it… and I know that my mother agrees with me on this one… But lentils look like ticks!! Don’t you think???

Having said that (and hopefully not offending anyone)… I made a soup a while back and didn’t have any potatoes to bulk it up – and landed up throwing in some lentils … which made the veggie soup all nice and thick when I liquidised it! And this got me thinking … I never use lentils in my normal cooking and now I need to look for a recipe that makes use of this store cupboard item!

The inspiration that I actually found was thanks to numerous visits to Tapas bars (gosh – this makes me sound like a lush!!)… as they generally offer a lentil salad type offering as one of the tapas options… and I am hooked! So I decided to make my own version of it.

Lentil Salad

cup of  lentils

pinch of salt

tomato

feta

glug of olive oil

Juice of half a lemon

handful of Mint

1. Soak the lentils in some cold water for about half an hour
2. drain and rinse them
3. Add to a pot with enough salted water to cover them and cook on a medium heat for 30minutes until soft
4. Drain and rinse again
5. Cut up tomato and feta and add to cooked lentils along with torn up mint leaves and a good glug of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.

Printable version available here

How can I feel old while eating a hamburger???

yes… I felt old…

I have passed my 20’s and entered into the world of 30’s… which I never had a problem with in the past… but while on holiday in Cape Town… I met up with some friends at a restaurant called *Hudsons* – Burger Joint … after some miscommunication about *which* branch to meet up… we finally settled into a booth.

Unfortunately, by the time we had phoned to book a table, they were no longer accepting reservations – but after explained that we would be there at 6pm and some of us needed to leave before 8pm due to movies… they told us to just arrive and hope for the best. So we managed to secure a table for 4, but one that we needed to vacate by 7.30pm for the group who had managed to book the table…but this gave us ample time to order a drink and a burger.

Glancing around the restaurant (the Claremont branch)… I realised that it was 6pm on a friday afternoon/evening and that the restaurant was PACKED (and I do mean sardine tin packed) with students!! And maybe a few working folk (the ones that I have just got a job, that is)… but if I had to gander a guess on the average age there – it would be around 22-25! So I felt old… but with half price cocktails, draughts and appetizers until 6.30pm… who can blame them from taking advantage of this kind of a deal! I would have done the same thing …

Thankfully the burgers arrived before I had too much time to dwell on the fact that my wrinkle-free years are now behind me…

I had been lured into ordering Orginal Royale (but with an ostrich patty) – which promised me a burger topped with bacon, cheddar, chilli and battered onion rings! Cha-ching! My pants actually tightened at the thought… so I was grateful that I was wearing pull-on’s!

mine

Shells ordered the Plain Jane – a beef patty without interruptions (but she had managed to save the tomato salsa sauce from her chilli popper starters… so it wasn’t entirely *naked*)

shells

Johann and Leigh got Shroom burgers… yes… you guessed it, Beef patty topped with cheddar cheese and creamy mushroom sauce!

Everything looked and tasted as it should… but for the price (approx R50-R70 a burger, plus and additional R12 per portion of fries) – I think I would probably prefer my Spur Burger Monday night special instead!

And although I would go back again – or at least try out one of the other branches… the table that we sat at, was directly next to the kitchen – so the smell of grilled burgers permeated my clothes and I got home smelling like dinner 🙂

Pineapple fluff dessert

I got onto the scale this morning… something I should have avoided doing if I wanted to have a happy day… but I did it… and it almost broke my heart (at least it didn’t break the scale)… but after attempting to pull on my jeans (success) and then trying to do up the button (fail)… I realised that 2weeks of holiday and months of cooking up a storm are finally taking their toil on my middle…

As much fun as it has been eating my way through all these experiments.. the time has come to make a few more mid-drift friendly items…

Don’t worry – this doesn’t mean carrots and celery… but at least finding a few guilt free desserts, cakes and such that don’t continue this bulge trend… to at least let me enjoy life without having to invest in a whole new wardrobe! 🙂 The fun WILL continue!!

Having said all this – I want to share a recipe from Mom… that I thought was light and fluffy (in a good way), not to mention tasty… and definitely won’t clog up any arteries! PROMISE!

Pineapple fluff:

1 tin evaporated milk (Ideal Milk)

1 small tin crushed pineapple

1 packet of pineapple jelly powder (lemon if you must)

1 packet of tennis biscuits

1. Add jelly powder to 2cups of boiling water, mix well and cool
2. Whisk evaporated milk until stiff
3. Pour cooled jelly mixture to milk mixture and whisk again until mixture is stiff
4. Fold in crushed pineapple
5. Add layer of biscuits to a rectangular dish, top with mixture and repeat process until everything is used up.
6. Sprinkle a few crushed biscuits on top to decorate
7. refrigerate until set

Possible substitutions:

• Granadilla pulp & lemon jelly
• Strawberries & strawberry jelly
• etc etc etc

Eat pizza and help children!!

I love this marketing line… * we’re the reason you crave pizza* and how absolutely true!

Col’Cacchio pizzeria was started in 1992 and has now become synonymous with delicious crisp thin based pizza’s and phenomenal gourmet toppings! With 19years of experience and 18 branches across South Africa… not to mention being voted Best Italian Franchise Restaurant in JHB in 2011 – it just goes to show that this formula is clearing working for them!

When I lived in Cape Town after doing my undergraduate degree – somewhere between my post-graduate attempt and working,I was introduced to this resto (which probably wasn’t even a franchise yet!)… and I remember that their pizza’s were truly suitable for all people – even a friend of mine who used to get the most horrible debilitating migraines if he ate MSG loved them… so meeting at Col’Cacchio’s was easy – because there are absolutely NO preservatives or added MSG in any of their dishes.

Even family friendly! Not that I have children… but this is a restaurant that keeps those little tykes busy… by giving them dough to play with, cut out shapes and eventually have it cooked for them… so, while it keeps the kids busy, mom and dad can have a happy evening (and in some cases other diners reap the benefits as well!! :))

With their half/half option (at a minimal extra cost), I opted for half of my crisp, wood fired gourmet pizza to be topped with Pollino Di Verdure (seasoned chicken breast strips, tandoori spices and baby marrow/courgette – although I am convinced I tasted cinnamon on the courgettes… and it was delicious) – while the other half was topped with Prostituto (no tomato base – bacon, spinach, feta and avo – also VERY YUM)

They are even running a *pizza challenge* this year – calling all wannabe pizza chef’s to submit their work-of-art pizza – which could be featured in their menu in August 2012 and (more importantly) win a years supply of free pizza slices (helllooo!) – so I know that I am already starting to think of my favourite toppings and how it could possibly WOW the judges! BUT this isn’t just for fun – for every Celebrity Chef Pizza sold, R5 will be donated to the Children’s Hospital Trust, fundraiser for the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s hospital and pediatric Healthcare in the Western Cape (this will be used to upgrade wards B1 & B2 which treat the hospitals youngest patients with chronic illnesses)…

SO COME ON… What are you waiting for?? Eat Pizza and help Children get better!!!

Visit your local Col’Cacchio’s today 🙂

www.colcacchio.co.za

Royal Thai Cusine at Lagoon Beach

Every trip home to South Africa (particularly Cape Town) always brings about a reunion with old mates (and by old I don’t mean in age – but rather tenure of the friendship!) and the most difficult task is finding a venue … some live in town, others in southern suburbs and others in northern suburbs… so wherever we plan to meet – someone will have to drive further than another…

And to make matters complicated… the group is a bit of a foodie-fan-club… so the restaurant really needs to deliver on service and taste! Not to mention value for money!

Shells husband, Johann suggested Wang Thai in Lagoon Beach and it was perfect! Service was good, the food tasty and most of all, the company was entertaining 🙂

Wang Thai offers a Royal Thai Cuisine dining experience – with only the freshest ingredients (some of which imported from Thailand) and they recommend that Thai food is a *shared affair* – thus suggesting that you order multiple dishes and share with your fellow diners (something I am not particularly good at – sharing, that is :))

We all had starters (how could we not!)

my sushi start