These last few months had been hectic and the reason again was the Christmas market that I organized with the help of a few wonderful friends and family members.
You can see some pictures here on the ever amazing Lauren's blog.
I love the creative process of putting it all together, meeting all the amazing crafters and purveyors and seeing all the happy faces of customers. But it does take its toll on family life and normal day to day living.
So now, life is back to normal and the phone is not constantly glued to my ear as it had been for who knows how long. I can think and breath and be a mom and wife and accountant again. And of course the time spent in the kitchen increases too. We get to sneak away on weekends to the mountains too and have spend a lovely, misty afternoon in one of our favourite spots looking for flowers this past weekend.
Enough with the excuses and babbling and back to the real reason for my reappearance around the blogosphere - apricots and financiers. I don't get cravings for anything sweet very often, but maybe because of the energy draining activities of the last while or maybe because of the beautiful rays of sunshine that broke through the clouds of the last few days, today I craved something sweet. And something with apricots, just because I happen to have had a punnet of the sweetest apricots right there on the counter. And these fit the bill exactly. They are not sweet, but not sour either and the contrast of crumbly almonds and feather light egg white batter with the sour-sweet fruitiness of the apricots are just divine.
None left, not one.
It is the season of orange here. I looked at the garden this morning and saw so many orange flowers and leaves turning to ochers and orange-browns. The aloes are also starting to bloom and in a month or so one whole section of the garden will just be a haze of orange. I think I like autumn more than summer these days. Not sure, but I think so: beautiful, mild days and a gorgeous garden. The only down side is the shortness of the days. I like to sit outside and look at the sunset, but now it seems to set almost before we have time to breath after work.
It is also the start of the citrus season. Orchards and orchards full of juicy oranges, naartjies and lemons. We drove to a farm stall nearby on sunday and bought huge quantities. We eat them, juice them, eat some more. They form the basis of our salads.
We'll need to go again over the weekend, to buy more that is.
To me there are few scents as intoxicating as citrus zest. I'll often squeeze an orange or lemon just to get a whiff. It smells like winter holiday and dewy, wintery grass. And I'll often grate a bit into food.
That's what happened over the weekend when we baked some flapjacks. All the ingredients were lined up on the counter and I saw the oranges. A little squeeze and my brain started thinking of ways to put the orange zest into the mix. It worked beautifully and the orange syrup makes it even better. Almost more grown-up.
After the pancakes it was off to the orchid show. You can see some pictures here.
I really had trouble putting this recipe down into measurements. I do these so often and I always wing it. I guess what I am trying to say is, try them, they are really easy.
I think it is safe to say that we have plenty of mangoes at the moment. Lots and lots. And we just can't seem to get enough of it either.
Summer equals mangoes in this part of the world. And mostly we just like them as they are: Ripe and juicy, eaten sliced with the juice dripping down your arms. We really go through dozens in a season. And often that is what we will have for lunch on any given day.
But occasionally I get to safe a few and do something with it in the kitchen too, apart from slicing it and eating it myself.
It was my turn recently to take eats to an orchid meeting, which always seems to happen at times when time just does not seem to exist. I needed a cake and fast. I thought of a Nigella cake I once made with orange pulp and just knew that mango will be a good substitute. The beauty of using mango though is, that you need not boil anything beforehand as with the orange. Just slice (and don't eat) and process.
This is the kind of cake you can get your kids to make on a sunday for tea. Really simple, yet fruity and moist.
Today was a day of goodbyes and airport hugs. The kind that is always accompanied by a few teary sobs and a few weeks of heart ache. My sister and her kids went home to Canada today after spending six weeks here with us; never a happy event.
We spend the morning taking photographs and playing in the garden. Her son adored the space and freedom of spending time in a country with abundant sunshine. He wanted to be outside all-day, everyday, chasing the chickens, climbing trees, picking flowers and seeds and riding his bicycle. So that was what we did this morning before going to the airport.
My son, E was so sad to see his little cousin leave, heartbroken almost. They became as close as brothers and spend hours together. Distance is always harder for the little ones to grasp. He has no concept of the size of the earth and always asks inquisitive questions about geography. He wants to know if Canada is further than Johannesburg or Durban. He wants to know if you can drive here or have to fly there. He is trying to get to grips with the fact that his new best friend can suddenly disappear for years at a time. Little does he know that we adults struggle with the idea too.
I thought that a day like today needs a bit of colour and cheer and therefor made little cheery raspberry muffins for breakfast. The first batch was pretty standard with apple grated into the mixture. But then the mango on the counter looked too appealing and I made another batch with mango.
Muffins are the sort of thing that you can throw together on a busy morning in less than half an hour from start to finish. And it always surprise me that something that requires so little effort can yield so much reward. You have to try them, you know you want to.
Our family often spend our weekends in summer somewhere in the mountains looking for orchids. Not so much looking for anything specific these days as much as enjoying being out in the veld and the cooler mountain air.
Mention going to the mountains and the kids will grab their boots and hats and wait in the car. They love it there. We all do.
The escarpment around the Lowveld where we live hosts some of the most spectacular orchids in South Africa (well, maybe I am a little biased). But there are some really beautiful ones that make wading through wetlands or hiking up steep slopes to see them absolutely worth it. Want to see some photos? You can go here and here.
Of course orchid hunting is hard work and eating something is always a must. Our co-authors spoiled us rotten when we went on field trips while writing the book. They were amazing and always brought the best eats and most amazing cakes, complete with cutlery and proper mugs. These days when it is just us, plastic picnic style cutlery has to suffice, but we still like to take something special to eat.
These sweet potato cakes are a new favorite in our household. The recipe is originally from Cannelle et Vanille, one of my all time favorite blogs. Aran's pictures are just simply breathtaking and the recipes absolutely genius. I often search her site for some inspiration. These cakes happened because a friend handed me a bag of sweet potatoes from his farm one day at school and I wanted to try something different with them. I found this recipe and now it is often on the tea table or in the lunch boxes. That is the wonder of the web, it makes finding a special recipe and some inspiration so much easier.
I didn't bother with too many new year's resolutions for 2011. If 2010 taught me anything, it would have to be that life can sometimes just happen and will take all your best resolutions and intentions with it. So this year I've decided to go for a slightly less rigid approach and my only resolution was to make more time for the simple things in life. To live in the moment and to stop from time to time to take it all in.
Just potter around with the kids.
Stroll through the garden and look at the flowers, not the weeds.
Stare at the clouds or the mountain for a few minutes.
Be more spiritual.
And make time for breakfast. Not the bacon and eggs, full-house kind. Just something simple and easy. I use to operate on breakfast but lost the habit somewhere along the way. Not sure why or how, but I have a sneaky suspicion it just sort of happened in the midst of all the morning chaos of getting everybody else ready for the day.
So yesterday, I made a batch of muesli and this morning I spent a few minutes outside with M and our new puppy. Just eating and pottering and enjoying the cuteness of both M and the Beagle.
We named the puppy Bonga, which sort of mean thank you in the Zulu as we thought we had so much to be thankful for and because the kids could not stop saying thank you when she arrived.
And she could not resist the muesli either. But then again at the moment she cannot resist most things. Shoes, carpets, toys, just about anything get chewed. And we love her more for it.
