Handpresso Auto
26th April 2013
Handpresso is an espresso maker for your car.
Yep, that’s right. Your car.
Plug it into the cigarette lighter, add water, a E.S.E. coffee pod, then press the button and wait for the 3 beeps to tell you your espresso is ready. With a 16 bar pressure system the espressos are bound to be tasty and the design itself is pretty slick.
Now if only they would make a milk heater + foamer for my latté…
CommentIce Cube Skull
16th April 2013
I love this little guy as well.
He’s not only cute, he’ll keep your drink cold too.
Mount Nelson
8th April 2013
I think the photos pretty much explain it all, but just in case – Afternoon Tea at the Mount Nelson rocks.
Almost one of everything they had in miniature.
• Samosas • salmon pikelets • tomato tarts • spinach tarts • cheesecake • eclairs • hazelnut torte • macaroons • milk tart • lamingtons • red velvet cupcakes doughnuts • fruit • a mix and match of all kinds of chocolate bites … and of course • cucumber sandwiches.
We drank:
Lemon tea, Darjeeling tea + a sneaky glass of Simonseig Sparkling Brut.
Who won?
It was officially declared a tie.
The Great Cape Town Sweet Off
5th April 2013
Later today I’m heading to the Mount Nelson Hotel for Afternoon Tea with my sweet friend Steffi.
We’re sort of going to celebrate our birthdays, but the truth is she thinks she can eat more cake than me. I doubt this, so a sweet off challenge has been declared.
If I don’t pop, I’ll be back next week with a sweet report.
** All of these delicious creations are from Afternoon Crumbs, a super cute blog run by the sister of one of Si’s colleagues. Check it out for the cool photography and lots of tasty recipes.
Cupookie
28th March 2013
Is this the coolest and most awesome Gingerbread skeleton ever?
Why yes, I do believe it is!
Check out more Cupookie cupcakes and cookies here.
(Thanks Sherm)
Corkcicle
27th March 2013
Corkcicle is my new favourite thing.
Stick it in the freezer and pop it into wine or bubbles to have a nice cold bottle for your picnic.
Brilliant.
Pancake Day
12th February 2013
Happy Pancake Day everyone!
For me, the best pancakes are the crêpe versions soaked in lemon and sprinkled in sugar (the real stuff, not icing sugar) rather than your typical fluffy American style … but whatever your preference I think pancakes should be eaten more often than once a year for sure.
When we were kids my mum made pancakes for dinner roughly once a week and if we ever got a say in what we were having for dinner, it was always pancakes.
And so today I’m going to share with you my mum’s pancake recipe. It’s super simple, ridiculously easy and by far the tastiest I’ve tried (and believe me, I’ve tried and tested a lot). Enjoy!
Mum’s Joyful Pancakes
Ingredients
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 egg
• pinch salt
• 1 1/4 cups milk
To Make
2. Leave to sit for up to 1 hour
3. Heat the pan and butter it lightly
4. Pour a ladle of batter into the pan and swirl the batter to coat the entire surface
5. Cook over medium heat until the crêpe starts to brown at the edges, then flip
6. Keep them warm in the oven until you’re ready to eat!
To Eat
♥ This post is for my mum, who imho makes the best pancakes in the world x
(thank you for the images top, middle, bottom - they’re making me hungry)
The Month Of Love
1st February 2013
Hello February!
It’s the month of love and I’m very excited for 2 reasons:
1. Valentine’s Day = the perfect excuse (not that we ever really need one) to go out and have a slap up meal somewhere cool.
2. Wedding Anniversary #1 = happily married bliss for one year – another perfect excuse for bubbles and delicious food!
Can’t wait.
(Charly’s Bakery cupcakes hand-delivered from our sweet Mush)
My Marvelous Marmalade
28th January 2013
I’m completely awful at baking (I love it, but I’m hopeless) and in comparison making marmalade is easy to get right, looks impressive and makes an awesome gift.
It also tastes delicious, which I’ve not been able to say about most of my cake attempts.
And because I’m so happy about my marmalade making, I thought I’d share the recipe with you guys this morning. Happy Monday!
Ingredients:
- 5 oranges
- 1 large grapefruit
- 1 lemon
- 1 litre of water
- 1kg sugar
Directions:
1. Juice one of the oranges and set aside for later. Discard the peel.
2. Wash the rest of the citrus fruit and cut into quarters. Separate the flesh from the peel and keep both. Place the flesh into a food processor (including the pips). Purée well.
3. Place the puréed citrus in a sieve above a large saucepan. Using the back of a spoon or masher, push the pulp through the sieve. Discard what is left behind in the sieve.
4. Using a sharp knife, remove as much of the pith from the citrus peel as possible. Slice or chop your peel into fine stripes (or the desired consistency). You can reduce the amount of citrus peel used, depending on your personal marmalade preference.
5. Combine the citrus purée, orange juice, chopped citrus rind and water in a large pot. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat, leaving it to simmer for 1 hour until the rind is soft and the mixture has reduced by half.
6. Reduce heat to low, add the sugar to the mixture and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Bring to the boil again and, without stirring, leave it to boil for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and skim off any white froth that has formed on the surface.
7. Perform the jelly test by spooning a couple of drops onto a cold plate and placing it in the fridge for a few minutes. If it sets to jelly, it’s ready. If it is still too runny, you can bring it back to the boil for a further 5 to 10 minutes and repeat the jelly test.
8. Once you are satisfied with the consistency, allow it to cool slightly and spoon into sterilised jars.
One very important thing to remember when making marmalade – whatever you do, DO NOT let the marmalade bubble over onto your stove and burn. Trust me, it’s the biggest pain in the ass and you’ll be scrubbing for hours.
Yuppiechef
15th January 2013
I’m sure you’ve all read my posts about Yuppiechef in the past and it’s because of awesome little touches like this handwritten notecard/reusable postcard (plus another cute magnet for our fridge) they included in our order, that makes me love them so much.
Oh, and also that I placed my order on Sunday night and it was delivered Monday lunchtime. How’s that for service?
Thanks guys! Keep on rocking online shopping in South Africa!
Skulls
14th January 2013
Everyone knows how much I love skulls especially my sweet little sister, and when she gave me this amazing bottle of wine for Christmas I completely fell in love with it.
Skulls 2008 was produced by R Wines (a collaboration between winemakers Dan Philips and Chris Ringland) in South Australia. It was then imported to Vancouver where she bought it and took it back to Hong Kong. Then she gave it to me for Christmas and I brought it back to Cape Town. How’s that for around the world?
The best bit about this wine though (aside from it’s 16.3% alc./vol.) is the AMAZING label by Hungarian designer István Orosz, entitled Ship of Fools. It’s surreal and beautiful. Orosz is often compared with M. C. Escher because of his forced perspectives and optical illusions, so spend some time seriously checking it out.
As Eat Magazine says: “This wine, and its label, is not for the feint of heart.”
Think we’ll have to save it for a special occasion.
Ovopur
11th January 2013
In Hong Kong we visited a cool little coffee shop called Brio Espresso that stocked the unbelievably beautiful Ovopur water filter.
I’m kind of fussy about my water and I think it’s extremely important to find a solution for providing water that not only tastes good, but is also eco-friendly in your home.
Ovopur is a gravitational filter system that combines the unique shape of an egg and the thermal properties of porcelain to preserve and revitalise water, and the aquacristal cartridge that sits inside the Ovopur is made up of 4 different filtration levels.
It’s a beautiful and very useful thing – the perfect product actually – and if we had a house it would be the second thing I’d buy, after a comfy couch!
WeLove
5th December 2012
WeLove is a new online community that allows users to share and review interesting places and various niches in a city.
There’s a free app that’s used to rate or love a place or niche – whether it’s coffee, street art, sushi joints, artisan beer brewers or delicious places for breakfast, and every time you love or rate a location (or someone loves or rates a location you’ve added) you collect points. The more points you collect, the more influential you become.
It’s still quite a new startup and currently only available for Cape Town and Jo’burg, but I have a feeling they’re going to be huge.
Angry Birds Macaroons
28th November 2012
These macaroons are way too cool not to share! I just wish I liked the taste of them more.
Mexican macaroon connoisseurs Theurel & Thomas are still one of my most favourite websites in the world, but it’s only because the macaroons look so colourful and pretty!
(via Neatorama)
Between Meals / The Dog’s Bollocks
20th November 2012
On Saturday afternoon we finally made it to The Dog’s Bollocks and damn it was good (and so messy I couldn’t take a photo of the aftermath!) We’ve been for breakfast when The Yard is The Bitches Tits, but never for dinner. The first come, first serve policy with only 50 burgers cooked a night was the thing that enticed us up there and yes, the burgers were totally worth it. And we had loads of fun. And we’ll definitely be going back.
Where:
The Dog’s Bollocks - 6 Roodehek Street, Cape Town
What we ate:
Burgers. Big fat burgers.
I had a Mexican Chilli with Cheese (with a slight overkill of lettuce), Si had a Jalapeño Cheese and Rachel had a Peppered Mushroom.
What we drank:
Tap water. Although they sell bottles of red and white wine for R50 which is really reasonable.
Best bit:
Well the burgers were super tasty, nice and rare and my chilli was spicy which I loved, but in general the whole vibe of The Dog’s Bollocks is cool. I love that it’s so grungy and easy going….and I absolutely love the bathroom mirror.
Food Work / Anderssen-Voll
8th November 2012
I stumbled across this awesome coffeepot the other day on KITKA, a design blog run by Toronto based store Mjölk.
Designed for a new Norwegian collective called Food Work by Anderssen & Voll, this little coffeepot is a beauty.
Between Meals / Nopi
26th October 2012
Last night we went to Nopi for a treat with our lovely friends Flo and Luke. Last time we were in London we managed to get a table at Ottolenghi (we love their cookbooks!) and the food was just so good, so we were inspired to check out Nopi this time. It has a very similar style and vibe to Ottolenghi (they’re both run by Yotam Ottolenghi) and the food was as good and as unusual with crazy ingredients combined in weird and wonderful ways. The only downside? Bad, bad espressos.
Where:
Nopi – London
What we ate: (or more like what we didn’t eat!)
There were 4 of us and as we shared everything we really got to taste an amazing range of flavours. I ordered the Valdeón cheesecake, pickled beetroot and thyme honey to start and the Whole twice-cooked baby chicken with lemon myrtle salt and chilli sauce for a main. To have a look at the full menu, click here.
What we drank:
Cocktails and wine. I had a Saffron Chase, which was made with Chase English gin, Chase elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, saffron syrup & Champagne. (ohmygod!) and we had a lovely bottle of Italian red.
Best bit:
Aside from the awesome food, the bathroom was by far the coolest one I’ve ever been in. Check out the shot above! Wow.
Between Meals / Canteen
24th October 2012
Last night we had dinner at Canteen in Covent Garden with some friends. It’s similar to the Baker Street one where we ate once before, although it’s missing the awesome lights (they do have some neon though). Canteen’s Great British Food motto sums it up perfectly. The food is tasty, wholesome, and similar to what you’d expect from a cool gastro pub…with some awesome design thrown in for good measure.
Where:
Canteen – London
What we ate:
Beef Pie with mash, greens and gravy, Eggs Royale (yum), Fish and Chips and Fish Cakes.
What we drank:
Good old fashioned water that arrived in a simple, but lovely glass bottle.
Best bit:
The gorgeous branding, the great atmosphere and being able to eat breakfast for dinner.
Happy To Serve You
18th October 2012
Lots of lovely benefits to drinking coffee designed by the awesome Melbourne based coffee blog, Happy To Serve You.
Keep that latte art coming!
Between Meals / San Julian
16th October 2012
On Friday we went to our favourite Mexican Restaurant in Cape Town, San Julian. It’s probably the most authentic Mexican we’ve had outside of Mexico (except for Wahaca in London), the tortillas are sooooo good and the chilli sauces hot, hot, hot! The best bit though is that we always reminisce about our Mexican travels over tequila and cerveza and get to practice our Spanish with Arturo = Perfecto.
Where:
San Julian on Rose Street – Cape Town
What we ate:
Nachos (yum!), Ceviche (yum!) and Sinaloa Chilorio Pork Tacos with lots of spicy sauce! Yum!
What we drank:
El Jimador shots washed down with Sangrita and Coronas.
Best bit:
Dreaming of Mexico while sipping on tequila.
We Love Real Beer
28th September 2012
I completely forgot the We Love Real Beer Festival is on today. Check out the NeighbourGoods Blog for more info.
Cape Town is rocking this weekend!
Between Meals / Hudsons on Sommerset
27th September 2012
Last night we went out with the guys from work to Hudsons. It always has a cool vibe and the burgers are pretty tasty. Unfortunately my burger choice last night wasn’t that great (Blue cheese on a burger is a bit weird, it was the avo and biltong powder that convinced me) and my crunchy fries were teeth-chipping crunchy, but it was fun anyway.
Where:
Hudsons on Sommerset – Cape Town
What we ate:
Si had The Royale (250g burger, bacon, onion rings) + I ordered The La De Da (200g ostrich burger, blue cheese, avo, biltong powder) with crunchy fries.
What we drank:
Darling Brew Bone Crusher Wheat Beer, Caramel Vodkas and as always, no work dinner is complete without obligatory shots of Jägermeister.
Best bit:
Biltong dust, which is weirdly delicious. Whoever thought to sell the leftover powder at the bottom of the packet was a clever dude.
Happy Braai Day
24th September 2012
In respect for my current adopted country, we’ll call it Braai Day (my inner Aussie is shaking her head like crazy) and despite the weather being a bit grey for Heritage Day, I’m hoping these colourful bits will brighten your braai!
1. Weber Tool Set
2. Smokey Joe Weber
3. Weber Salt & Pepper Mills
4. Joseph Joseph Timer
5. Bodum Basting Kit
6. Country Road Lehria Cushion
6. Country Road Marlo Cushion
7. Country Road Cassa Throw
