I have been absent from these pages for the last few months. It was not that I wanted to neglect my little blog or my kitchen, but life took a bit of detour and I followed obligingly. Let me try to explain - I got involved with the organization of a local Christmas Market at my kids' school. So involved in fact that I was the chief in charge and it being a charity thingy, it meant that I did a lot (as in a lot-a-lot) of the things myself. It was like falling through the rabbit hole one day in September and only being spit out into life resembling normality at around the middle of December.
Don't get me wrong, I loved it! I enjoyed the process and the people and had a blast with some new friends, but boy, it took over our lives. I had no spare time for weeks and weeks. None, nada. So, unfortunately, the blog, the kitchen even the family all became very much neglected.
I will not bore you with the details save for one. We created all the decor out of plastic bottles collected from the recycle dump at school. It was by far my favourite part of it all and it taught me a great deal about the possibilities of the things we toss into the bin so carelessly.
It's a bit early for 2012 resolutions I guess, but mine is simple enough - just to get the camera out and start blogging. I've spent the last few weeks finding my feet in normality and doing simple things with family and friends. Now I have most of my old energy back and think it is time again to bake and blog and share. See you soon....
No food today, just a sneak peak of some flowers I did over the weekend for friends' wedding.
It was a held in a beautiful setting, between Sabie and Hazyview and we could not have asked for better weather.
I wanted to have this post ready last night, but technology failed me, and thus this post only finds its way into cyberspace tonight, a day after the official start of spring.
Spring is a bit of a misnomer around here. My previous page was of a snowy week and bitter cold weather. All that has come and gone quickly and have been replaced by summer temperatures but no rain yet. Today was down right scorching, coupled with a howling wind as dry as a desert. And of course veld fires that came very close to our greenhouses.
The wind has died down thankfully and in its trail left a clear evening with starry skies and a tiny moon.
As you may have noticed, we like to eat salads when the temperature sours. Salads with substance; a meal in a bowl sort of dish. And one of our all time favourites has to be this sushi-style salad. It all started with us craving sushi but not having the time or the dexterity to make our own. And thus, the ingredients of sushi found their way into a salad bowl.
The purest might shudder, but to us this is perfection.
My children love sushi and will eat the beautifully crafted morsels any day with such gusto that many a sushi chef have smiled a modest smile on seeing them, rice and other bits in a messy circle around them, stuffing a platters worth into their mouths. They love this cheats version just as much, if not more.
You have to try this, even if you fancy yourself a non-sushi eater. Leave the nori and the ginger and the wasabi out if you please. Just make sure the rice is cool, but not cold and the fish super fresh or smoked even.
