Tag: food

  • Yuppiechef Love

    Those of you who know me know that I love anything that has to do with cooking. I am so excited today to introduce you to new friends of mine (hi, guys!) who are taking the world by storm with their cooler-than-ever-company, Yuppiechef. They have just published my photos and writing on their lovely blog (get ready for all things cooking, baking, and kitchen… just try not to drool over their beautiful kitchen tools, they don’t want to wipe up after you!). Yuppiechef is the best way for those of us here in South Africa to get our hands on fancy pants kitchen tools… in the color (or should I say colour) we want.

    Myles and I made Graham Crackers from scratch and oh boy, what an adventure…

    I don’t know what it’s like to cook with your kids, but cooking with my two boys is like directing a herd of elephants across a highway in busy traffic. It’s impossible to control, someone’s bound to get hurt, and something will break. Because cooking with them is like a full contact sport, and often involves a kitchen that looks like it was struck by a hurricane afterwords, there are certain rules of the kitchen that we must be abide by.

    Rule number one: Quit taking yourself so darn seriously.

    Rule number two: There are no other rules.

    Read the full article in Spatula, Yuppiechef’s online magazine.

    Luv,

    Kristy

     

     

     

  • Willie’s Cacao

    I love Willie’s Cacao. I love it so much that it makes me want to jump up and down and run around he garden shouting, “Free Willy!” Ok, that was a bit much, but you get the picture. Chocolate in it’s raw form, from a single origin, ready to be used in a million bah-zillion different ways. I am not sure that Willie sells his cacao in the USA yet, but I know that you can get his books here. They are full of recipes using cacao in both sweet and savory ways. I made Willie’s chicken mole one night and the hubs thought he had died and gone to heaven.

    We also love Willie’s story. He’s just a guy changing the way we think about chocolate. He bought a cacao farm in South America, and from there his journey to change the way people think about chocolate began. He spent weekend after weekend punting his chocolate to people at the local farmers markets in the UK, begging people to try it. From there he began a revolution of change. As a couple wanting to do the same in the coffee industry, his story makes our hearts beat just a little bit faster.

    Here’s a short video where Willie talks about a pet pig that ended up as supper. Willie is an amazing storyteller, but if you have no space in your brain for fact that pigs end up as bacon, you might not want to watch it.

    Luv,

    Kristy

  • supper time

    supper time

    Every night around the supper table we ask each other about the day. The goal being that the meal becomes more than just a battle to get the kids fed, it becomes instead our time to connect and “debrief”.  Our time to teach our kids about what it means to take an interest in one other, care for each another, and look out for each other.

    It’s our way of changing the focus of the meal from “getting the kids fed” and “shovelling it in” to appreciating the beauty of good food and a shared meal. We try to slow down and make eye contact, and not focus on our kid’s plates and our plates and the glasses being tipped over… with a four year old and a one year old this is a work in progress, but that’s ok, because the message of the meal will be the same for years to come.

    I always smile when four year old Myles straightens his back, looks around and pronounces in a grown up voice, “Mommy how was your day today?” Today I spent most of my day in worry and anxiety, and I couldn’t help but wish for a “do over.” A chance to go back and fully embrace the words below. To live them. To understand the beauty of trust. A chance to have a different answer at the supper table.

    Don’t fret or worry.

    Instead of worrying, pray.

    Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.

    Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.

    It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

    Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things

    true,

    noble,

    reputable,

    authentic,

    compelling,

    gracious—

    the best, not the worst;

    the beautiful, not the ugly;

    things to praise, not things to curse.

    Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized.

    Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

    ~Philippians 4:6-9 (The Message)

    The thing about a harmony is, it involves trusting others, and it involves more than just one voice. Here’s to letting go of fear and anxiety, and embracing one excellent harmony.

    Kristy

  • Heidi’s Brown Butter Spice Bread

    When I saw the list of ingredients in this cake I knew I had to make it. Browned butter? Roasted winter squash? Garam Masala? Yes, please! We have plenty of Garam Masala lying around from all our attempts at making a good curry. It’s a beautiful blend of peppery cinnamonny cardamummy goodness. Since I’ve been doing a whole lotta “stress baking” to avoid packing, now seemed like the perfect time to bake this up!

    One of the things that I love about living in Durban is the really large and totally unique Indian community. *warning, incoming “did you know” fact* Did you know that Durban has the largest Indian population of any city, outside of India? It shows, we have curry coming out of our ears and I love it! You have not lived until you have tasted a Durban Bunny Chow, but that’s another story.

    The name here says bread, but this really is a cake. Heidi who created the remarkable 101 cookbooks mentions you can skip the browning of the butter. You could, it’s true, but I don’t think I ever would. The browned butter gives this cake an amazingly dark and nutty favor. Plus I just love browning butter, and being around butter, and eating butter… you get the picture. This cake is soooo good paired with a doppio of espresso on a Sunday afternoon.

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    double click or drag above recipe to print

     

    Love,

    Kristy

    all images Kristy J Carlson recipe via Heidi at  101 cookbooks

     

     

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