Sophia Lindop - A Unique Food Experience

If at first you fail...

Yesterday I was chatting to my brother who lives in the Northern Cape and whom I seldom see.  We have always been very close.  And while we were chatting, his four-year old (the love of my life) was trying to get his attention.  So, every now and then he'd say, "Richard, I am talking to my sister, please.  I will listen to you as soon as we're done."  But the harassing continued until he finally asked, "Would you like to say 'Hi' to Sophia?"  An eager little man grabbed the phone and said, "Hallo Sophia, please would you ask my dad to turn on the children's programme?  OK, bye, love you..."

There's a lion in your kitchen!

We popped in at a friend's who had brought a bagful of pigeons for me to cook (well, we had to clean them first), and en route home, realized that we were all alone for dinner - this is quite rare - and I hadn't been shopping yet.  So we stopped at Woolworths, had a look around, and found the most amazing lamb - the label read, "Rolled Lamb Lion"...  Well, Paddy and I fell apart laughing, and called Emanuelle, the manager, to ask him whether he knew that his store had LION for sale?  But, sadly Emanuelle did not share our sense of humour overload, and I think he's still trying to figure it out today...

Anyway, the lamb loin was tender and worked well on the rotisserie...

Dinner dilemma...

I am sitting here, trying to stay awake (yip, it's only 16h33, but I attended a meeting last night, got home quite late, and then had to work...) with Josh Grobin playing in the background, wondering what's for dinner...  Sometimes I feel as if all I ever think about is food and eating!  What better to fill you mind with?

Paddy tells the story of when he was about 9 years old and he, his Mom and his Granny went to a little café in Camps Bay for tea.  So they offered him the usual milkshake, but his eye had caught a word on the menu that conjured up yummy thoughts, so he insisted that he wanted the 'Glass of Buttermilk' that featured on the menu.  They were trying to dissuade him, but he was convinced that they were trying to keep him from discovering Tastebud Heaven at such a tender age.  He stuck to his guns...and the glass arrived.  He took a sip, with Granny and Mom leaning forward, staring...  I guess they knew what was coming.  And his face broke into a frown as he splattered and spat.  Then he looked up at them and said, "Funny!  Really funny!"

SA Blog Awards 2007!

...and we've been nominated!

Water babies

I love it when I find new (Well, new to me, I guess...  Most things have been around forever) foodie products on our supermarket shelves.  It stretches the imagination and creativity.

And so I found a can of "Water Chestnuts" - had never had them before.  I opened the can and tasted them - I must say, i like the texture and mouth-feel.  But, I think they will go well in a curry with coconut milk.  Just my opinion.  I will let you know the result.   

Sugar is sweet...

Here's a fact for you...  Lemonade DOES contain a heap of sugar!  How do I know?  Well, the proof to this statement has been visible in a few ways this morning...

Paddy had a meeting here last night, so I cooked dinner for the guys, served them like a good hostess would (Actually, I love it!  I love watching people enjoy food...), took my tall glass of lemonade, and came upstairs to work.  My printer is waiting for the material for my upcoming cookery course so that he can print and bind and have it ready for me on time.  I sat down, put the glass of lemonade next to my PC, leant over to get something, and when I turned back, I knocked over the glass and watched, in slow motion, how the tsunami of lemonade engulfed my keyboard before it caused a waterfall that came plunging down onto the carpet...

I'm back!

We had a fabulous rest!  The week flew by, and reality hit as we hit the traffic around Paarl on Monday afternoon...

We decided to do a risotto in a three-legged black cast iron pot on the fire (!!) while we were on the Karoo farm.  The Italians would either love us or hate us, but we had fun.  Paddy cooked while I made sure he had enough heat.  And, I am happy to report, it was a resounding success!  It had a creamy texture, and the porcini and pancetta combination added to the almost earthiness of the dish.  It was amazing, and I am sure that the fact that we were cooking on an open fire added to the experience immensely!

Surprise!

Last week, between meetings trying to wrap things up before we go on a week's break, I realized that we would be in the Karoo on Paddy's birthday, and although we both love it there, there would be no phone calls, no e-mails, nothing to make him feel special.  And while I was waiting at a red traffic light, I flipped open my diary only to confirm that I had dinners and cookery courses booked for every day before we leave, except for Thursday.  My only free evening!  And I was panicking about getting the place clean and neat before 13h30 on Friday when my cookery course was scheduled to begin.  As the light turned green and I pulled away, my cellphone vibrated and rang at the same time, almost as if to say, "Yaaahh!  I have good news.  Just flip me open and press the little green phone..."  Friday's cookery course cancelled - flights were cancelled from London and the guests were going to get in late.  For once I was not disappointed.  I felt a party coming on...

Prawn pig out!

Last night I took Paddy on a date to one of our old favourite restaurants, Beluga.  They are running a special at the moment - 1 kilogram of queen-sized prawns for R99.  When we sat down, our very entertaining waitress tried to convince us that we should have a starter as well, but fortunately we managed to stay focused and fought her off.

When I asked her what size portion would constitute 1 kilogram of prawns, she said, "Oh, you'll get between 30 and 35 prawns."  My healthy appetite rejoiced as I visualised 30 small pink prawns lying on one side of my plate...

A change and a rearrange...

I am so excited!  This week has been a week of change - and I love change!  I bought a new storage unit for all my cooking gadgets.  It's breathtakingly beautiful!  It's made from heavy old Indian doors and I fell in love the moment I set eyes on it!  So, when they delivered today, I started redecorating.  Paddy has just arrived home in a flat panic...  I don't think men like change as much as women do??

And, I bought myself a flat screen monitor for the office.  Boy, it's been quite a week!  I redecorated my office space as well, and here I am sitting, in my new streamlined, sexy office, feeling brand new.  Change is good.