I am making a late lunch, in true ‘Sunday Dinner’ style.
Roast Chicken, with shallots and potatoes currently roasting away with it.
Still to make, spinach and feta, and butternut.
Great Winter food!
Today is one of those wonderful crisp clear winters days, and we head out to kick a ball around again.
Except that this time we found the gate locked.
Part two…later. I’m calling it “The Soccer that almost wasn’t, and an Attack of the Grumps.”
Feel free to go and pop your appetite suppressants after reading about my yummalicious lunch that is currently making my house smell *divine* right now.
As a follow up to my post about what I was doing for hubs for fathers day, I’m happy to report that he *loved* the stuff that I got him from the UK Emporium, saying that I even picked the right brands of some of his favourite things, and let me tell you ladies…until you have eaten a Galaxy Bar…you HAVE NOT LIVED.
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Okay, so that last time I spoke about this store, I was less than stellar about their current marketing campaign, and well, I’ve seen a few more questionable ones.
This time, I’m going to talk about their Food Market.
If there was a way that I could take my pillow and move IN there, I think I would.
I don’t ever want to shop at any other food store ever again.
Sure I’ve shopped there in the past, and this mornings visit was nothing out of the ordinary, but today it just dawned on me that there was NO better place IN THIS COUNTRY to obtain great foods, that are healthy options for my family.
This morning, instead of recoiling at the ZAR39.99 price tag for a punnet of raspberries, I positively embraced it. Sod the cost I said.
You want to know why? These raspberries will be good for a couple of days even *after* their “sell by” date. That’s just how good the quality of their produce is.
When the whole country was experiencing a potato shortage, and trust me a lack of decent spuds is a sorry situation to be in, when I just HAD to make the Pioneer Womans Baked Potato Skins (it’s from her book
Tonight in fact I am making PW’s Basic Drip Beef, on wintry weather like today, the amazing smell alone warms up the house! The recipe calls for “Chuck Roast” which until this morning, I had never seen advertised, or labeled as such in a grocery store. It might have been known as something else here, and until I saw actual “Chuck Roast” right before my eyes, I had simply used an ordinary beef roast, which as it turns out is even more expensive.
So even though I LOATHE their checkout queue technique of surrounding you with possible last minute temptations necessities as you find your way to the checkout, today instead of pointedly ignoring the brightly colored packages containing (gasp) sweets, I noticed that nearly every single sweet/candy on offer was made with only natural colours and flavours. You’d think I would have noticed this sooner, or that this would be common place in stores like it is in the civilised world, but no, most of the regular grocery stores are filled with artificial loathsome rubbish, that we shove down our kids gullets because we can’t get anything better.
Not. Any. More.
I’m just going to have to make sure my husband gets a decent increase or fat promotion, and that I work at the speed of light to keep growing my business (and well have less sleep!) because frankly I will consider it an insult to myself if I ever have to shop anywhere else ever again.
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Aren’t packages in the mail like *totally* exciting!!
Even if you know what they are, they’re still super exciting to receive.
Even my 4 year old spied the package and asked me all wide-eyed, “Is that for ME mommy?” to which I responded by throwing back my head, cackling like an old hag, hugging it closer to my chest and said, “NO, it’s MINE, ALL MINE.”
Then I did a Jim Carrey (as Ace Ventura) type run to the bedroom with it so I could open it without the kids getting their hands on it.
Want to see what I got?
So you can see where it was ordered from, and made it’s way all the way here to sunny SA (not so sunny yesterday I might add).
Trust the Yanks to have a super easy way to open a package. My bread knife that I’d taken with me for the purpose of hacking open the box was rendered totally useless…sometimes I’m so third world, I annoy myself.
The 4 year old, was all like, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! What is it Mommy? Let me help you Mommy!!?? Is it from Farmer Crimsus?!?” (Note to self, do not be tempted to dispel the Father Christmas myth just yet, no matter how much the continuing talk about Christmas is annoying you right now).
My mother, who had brought over the mail (we share a PO Box), walked into the room at this point, and said, “Honestly! Why are you taking photos of opening a box?”
So I said, “For my blog.” (She is vaguely aware of the fact that I have a website, but let’s just say she takes the word ‘technophobe’ to the extreme, she nearly had a full blown panic attack when I banned her from using Internet Explorer and installed Firefox instead. Of course the next time she opened the browser she didn’t even realise it wasn’t the same…)
So she gives a sort of dismissive snort, as if *anyone* would be interested in reading about my little parcel in the mail. Feel free to assure me that you’re on the edge of your seats right about now okay?
I won’t keep you in suspense for ever… buwhahahahaha.
…
…
…
Sorry, the childishness, it’s a disease.
I can see the head!
Yes, I’m drawing parallels between childbirth and opening Ree Drummonds cook book from it’s packaging.
But in all the good ways!
Because soon the inconvenience of ripping it from the box will be forgotten and soon I will be gazing into it’s many colourful pages and just enjoying it.
Aaaah, there is she is!
Now I just have to hide the book until I’m ready to unleash it’s culinary magnificence, because other wise the husband is going to expect some kind of fancy dinner tonight.
First I need to hit up the shops for some supplies, and butter.
Yes definitely more butter.
As a seasoned PW cooks recipe reader, I know that I am going to need that.
Thanks to her I already have about 6 different kinds of vinegar in my store cupboard. Basic necessities like bread and milk are like hens teeth around here, but Rice Vinegar, I have you covered!
Maybe I’ll just take a quick peek…
Ree wasn’t kidding when she said that this was more than a cook book. I can actually sit down with this and see a whole lot more stuff about her life and on their ranch.
Stuff that we don’t see on her website.
This is a cook book that I will put on the nightstand and read when I get into bed tonight, and enjoy the photographs, drool over the dishes and if I’m feeling at all inspired (which I know I will be) I’ll be planning some menus for the coming week.
Now I just need to find some cattle to wrangle, to work off all that butter.
Hey, if you want a copy, they’re still priced really well, and these photos are proof that they can make it through the SA Postal service unharmed! Go and get your copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks
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I just had a small “Twilight Zone” moment.
I was standing in the kitchen preparing a marinade for the beef we’re having tonight for dinner, when I picked up my blackberry to read an email that just pinged in.
It was one of those ‘so-and-so’ is now following you on twitter emails. The weird thing about it – or at least the ‘Twilight Zone’ moment came about because I realized that the person who was now following me (Jaden from Steamy Kitchen) was none other than the author of the book Steamy Kitchen - whose recipe I was using for the marinade. A recipe that I actually picked up via the Pioneer Woman, when she made it and published it on her blog (with Steamy Kitchen’s permission of course). For the foodies among you, I’m talking about the Beef with Broccoli. It’s insanely awesome. Jaden also has a cook book out, take a look here
It just *really* struck my how much blogging, and bloggers have become a part of my life, and this has been an amazingly good thing.
I think my husband would agree that the entry of The Pioneer Woman’s recipes into his world has only been a good thing too. He’s practically swinging from the light fixture with happiness about the extension of my repetoire. His waistline does tend to argue this point, and whenever he requests that blasted fried chicken recipe, I try not to be too quick to point out that unless he’s about to go and saddle a horse and spend 8 hours either riding the range, castrating calves or being engaged in other waist reducing pursuits, then I probably shouldn’t make the chicken dish. Yet Again.
I hear a joyful clucking arise from the nearby poultry farm (or was that just my stomach?).
Anyhoo, apologies for my longer than normal absence. I’ve been engrossed (first in Eclipse ) and now currently in Breaking Dawn 
Reading the book, and dealing with the amount of work that I have (forgetting for just a moment the two little male darlings of my life who currently require much fetching and taking, and tending and feeding) at the moment must be something akin to Bella’s bloodlust. Seriously. I mean hello – that freaking book calls to me while I’m busy getting on with things like work, eating, bathing, and yes I consider taking it to the loo just to get some alone time.
TV is a *thing of the past* I tell you. The ONLY TV that I am currently watching is Greys Anatomy on a Monday night at 19h30. That is IT.
Things are going so well right now work wise, I have a steady stream of work that is keeping me happily occupied (I’m definitely doing the right thing for me, I mean how many people get *excited* to sit down at the computer and work???) the only down side of course being that working keeps me from reading the rest of the book. But I’m being a good girl and getting it all done to the best of my ability. In a way I am glad that I am dragging it out just a little for myself. I usually don’t read books, so much as devour them, and since I read really quickly (Eclipse took me a little under 24 hrs – WITH all of lifes interruptions) I really am trying to enjoy every last detail of this story.
Anyway since I promised to take some photos (I didn’t take nearly as many as I should have) of the last few days food exploits I’ll leave you with a photo of Bakerella’s Fast Food Cupcakes, mine aren’t nearly as elegant perfect as hers, but dayam they are delicious! I should also point out that putting cupcakes in this format, completely threw my boys for a loop. They are both refusing to touch them…leaving all the more to the hubby and me. (This is a bad thing, but it’s also a good thing 
I forgot to add – that bakerella used buttercream icing as her ‘cheese’ but I have used fondant. For those of you who are confused – this is a vanilla cupcake, with a brownie as the ‘patty’ with buttercream lettuce and tomato, and yellow fondant icing as the cheese. It’s very, very naughty.
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So go the words of Cliff Richards song!
Has Ness gone off the deep end? No.
Did Ness succumb to certain cravings and make Bakerellas’, ridiculously delicious chocolate and nut coated peanut butter cookies today?
Should Ness rather have been studying up on weight loss supplement reviews? Yes.
Has Ness sworn off ever visiting dear sweet (evil!) Bakerellas’ website again? No. Why? Because she is so evil that her tempting delicious recipes keep *calling* to me. Plus this one only required like 5 ingredients, total. *MY* kind of recipe!
Eeeeat me! Cute and perfect cake balls. Chocolate mint truffle oreo thingys. Thank goodness we don’t get chocolate mint truffle oreos here, because, well just because. I have enough temptation to deal with.
*Smacks head*…and I’ve just remembered that the Pioneer Woman’s cook book (and HER evil butter laden recipes) arrive in the next two weeks some.
I’m sorry backside, but you’re done for.
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