December 15, 2013 by hanlie green

Birthday breakfast and Paradise found…

I feel innerly warmed to be called a friend of one supercool girl called Evelyn, and also sad that I could only spend one night at Seagull Cottage celebrating Evie’s 40th birthday.

The invite, ALWAYS very exciting receiving invites like this….

Just one hour away from Cape Town lies this little piece of paradise… Churchhaven…. Seagull cottage…

Entering the Westcoast National Park, the views seems endless….

The Atlantic Ocean on the left, Westcoast National Park in the middle and the Langebaan lagoon on the right…

Seagull cottage, when I say Paradise found, I really mean it, ….. this cottage is not the normal “rental”, it is beautiful, a white sandy beach overlooking the Langebaan Lagoon, crisp white linen and fully equipped to the finest detail .

Maya was in charge of supper and whipped up a quick “make yourself” pasta with a baked tomato,feta and oregano sauce…I just love the open plan kitchen where we cooked and laughed till early in the morning…

And tooooo quickly it was morning, and my turn to whip up a quick breakfast before I had to leave…

We started breakfast with a delicious seasonal fruit platter, served with thick Greek yoghurt, Blueberry coulis and drizzled honey…

For the Blueberry coulis simmer together 3 cups of fresh Blueberries and one cup of water, +/- 20 minutes. Drain / strain the cooked sauce, press out the juices from the cooked blueberries and push the juice through a strainer with the back of a spoon.. Discard the pips and skins…

Add 150ml sugar to the strained juice and simmer for another +/- 20 – 25 minutes until slightly thick, add 30 ml’s lemon juice and cool…

Breakfast views…. with pink Pelican’s walking the entire width of the white sandy beach in front of us…

Then it was time to whip out my “little crepe pan” …. which I take everywhere with me, and made omelettes filled with sweet red peppers and brown mushrooms….

And now it was time to go… I really did not want to leave… I did not even go for a walk on the beach as I just knew it would make it more difficult to leave everyone behind and hit the road…. I WILL go back to this cottage, hopefully for two nights and walk the beach….

Thanks for the most amasing fun time, thinking back my cheeks still hurt from laughing…

“hulle is goeie mense….” will never have the same meaning again…

November 26, 2013 by hanlie green

Halfaampieskraal breakfast souffle…. Overberg at it’s best…

Not often that I am without words…. but the 24 hours spend at Halfaampieskraal was pure magic…. thanks needs to go to our hosts Jan-Georg and Cobus who went out of their way to wine and dine our group of eight, my seven supercool friends and the Magic of Halfaampieskraal. Luckily I’ve managed to convince Jan-Georg to demonstrate a “recipe” for my blog, and he was wise enough to suggest a breakfast treat, while the others were in dreamland early Sunday morning, I entered the inner soul of Halfaampies and Jan-Georg cooked… but first… some photies..

Our weekend was planned to the finest detail, a special invite for a special place….

Deep inside the Overberg over rolling hills of screaming yellow canola fields..

Directions…

The ROADTRIP….

All good things starts with bubbles, and no Roadtrip is complete without a bottle or two, even if the wind blew our feathers all over the Overberg.

Waiting “on route” for our friends with our glasses filled, nearly Lunchtime …

Welcome, welcome to Halfaampieskraal, our host helped us unpack, yes one night only but we had loads of stuff, tripods, camera bags, bags with stuff for our dress up dinner, boxes of apples and and and…o yes, boxes of bubbles …

The best decision we made was to request a “light” lunch on arrival Saturday afternoon, ja right, I don’t think the word “light” exists at Halfaampies, it was a sensory overload, not sure if it was from the bubbles “on route” and bubbles pre, during and post lunch but I was on an euphoric high…..

LUNCH is served…on the stoep, overlooking the rolling hills… and our glasses, filled by Jan-Georg…

Layered potato salad, with soft soft leeks, light mayo dressing, sliced egg and caper berries...

Layered potato salad, with soft soft leeks, light mayo dressing, slices of egg and caper berries…

I will dream of soft soothing mayo leeks for nights to come…

Turkish bean, pg 82 of the beautiful coffee table cookbook, "halfaampies celebrates"...

Turkish beans, pg 82 of the beautiful coffee table cookbook, “halfaampies celebrates”…

I love flags… flags everywhere…

Jan-Georg … making us feel truly welcome…

And more lovely flags…

Lunch flowed into drinks on the stoep…. and a surprise early birthday cake for my good friend Evie…. served with coffee and bubbles…

Evie showed me a pic of this cake months ago… I don’t forget…

The main “excuse” for this quick one night away was a “photographic weekend”, well this is proof if it… I even took my camera to the loo for self portraits…(thanks Evie)…

Beautiful welcome letters and dinner menu on our bed…. how perfect can this be…

Time to pack out those feathers and get dressed to fit the theme…. Dress Halfaampies…

TIME FOR THE FUN TO START…

Magriet starting the evening on a high note…

Dressed and ready for dinner… how special, dinner was for us eight only… a real feast…

And yes, we started with trays filled with yummy cocktails.

Dinner, it felt as if we were in a different world,…

Our starter… prawn parcels…

Carol…

Dinner for 8….

Loads of fun..

Me and my good friend…

And then… Dessert…

Halfaampies Velvet Pudding… a velvety baked custard with a thin layer of berry coulis, topped with a crispy but soft mallow meringue…

SWEET DREAMS UNDER PUFFY WHITE DOWN DUVETS…

While the others dreamed of velvet pudding and brandy cocktails… I could not waste a minute in bed… the light of Halfaampies is calling..

Magic hour…

My early morning walking companions.

LETS cook…

Entering the kitchen early morning while the others are still in dreamland was a bit of an “excitement wobble” in my life… according to me the ultimate highlight of our 24 hours at Halfaampies… all for myself!

click on this recipe card for a one page printable PDF recipe card: ->Halfaampies Breakfast souffle…. RECIPE CARD
For the Halfaampies breakfast soufflé you will need:

1 x roll phyllo pastry
some melted butter and a brush
grated parmesan +/- 1 cup
1 or 2 handfuls yellow sultanas
1 tub cream cheese (half plain, half blue)
2 Jumbo eggs at room temperature separated
on tablespoon flour
125ml cream
salt and pepper

Defrost the phyllo pastry in your fridge overnight, cover with a damp tea towel once opened. Layer a 20cm pie dish with layers of phyllo, lightly brush each sheet with melted butter before adding the next sheet. Use +/- 7 sheets. Fold the edges into the pan to create an even edge.

Grate a +/-3 mm thick layer of parmesan on the top layer of phyllo, this will create a salty crust under the sultanas. Add a handful of yellow sultanas on top of the grated parmesan.

In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese, 2 egg yolks, tablespoon of flour, 125ml cream, salt and pepper.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the cream cheese mixture. Add to the phyllo, parmesan and layered sultanas and bake at 180 degrees for +/- 20 – 25 minutes until light brown and still slightly wobbly on top when you take it out of the oven.

This recipe can be made with variations of salmon, spinach, bacon and flavoured cream cheese.

After my early morning walk and about an hour in the kitchen with Jan-Georg I think it is now time to go and shake that Princess out of bed and go for my second walk of the day…

Myself and “the princess” stayed in The Greek room, with our own open plan kitchen and upstairs puffy white bed and views from here to never end…from the bed, the bath, the loo, the side kitchen window AND the kitchen door…

Breakfast is served !!

Being spoilt by Carol my “artist, potter, sculpture and photographer” friend, little bags of white lace pressed pottery Christmas tree decorations on our breakfast table…

Visuals from the Breakfast table…

Our breakfast soufflé …. the salty parmesan crust and sweet pop in your mouth yellow sultanas gives an unexpected taste sensation … served with crispy baked salty bacon and thyme flash fried rosa tomatoes…

Our breakfast companion…..

Sadly our food feast at Halfaampieskraal has come to an end…

Our hosts walked with us to help pack our cars… and treated us to a sneak peak at Club Havana…an intimate party or small wedding venue in a little shed on the “Halfaampies Werf”…. a shed from the outside, and a colour explosion on the inside, instantly transferring you to a different world, of feathers, fur and lashes… heavy velvet and music for the soul…THIS is the place to book for that intimate party….your friends will love you forever…

CLUB HAVANA..

Me and my other special friend… Evie…(thanks for today’s flowers, what a great surprise)

Time for the road trip home, but not without stopping for a quick roll and group pic…

Halfaampieskraal, pure magic… book it NOW, take 4 couples, book lunch on the Saturday just after arrival, dress WILD for dinner and have a breakfast feast overlooking the rolling hills of The Overberg … and pleassssssssse invite me with…

In January 2014 I will book another weekend, with the same group of girls… I think this will become an annual affair…

Keep your eyes posted for the invite, and I will keep mine posted for the next Party invite at Club Havana…

August 18, 2013 by hanlie green

Crunchy on top Bran Muffins at the Tip of Africa endurance ride…

After a failed “first attempt” last year to join Evelyn at the Tip of Africa Endurance ride, I made it there this year… Horses, greener than green fields with bright yellow canola fields, prettier than that you cannot get. Horses, let me say this right here, I am a bit scared of horses, but with my camera between me and them I have no fear…

Early morning before the start of the ride at Bredasdorp Megapark

I’ve decided to treat the “horsey girls” with something nice and decided to bake these yummy bran muffins. A recipe that’s been in my “to try” file for nearly 3 years. And I had to keep myself busy with something as being part for the “groom” team I was not really planning to get close to the horses.

Evelyn whispering lovely words of encouragement to Asha..

These muffins are really great and worth a try. I took lovely jam and cheese with, and it was not necessary, they are great as is…. The recipe makes at least 40 – 50 medium size muffins and they will last for up to 4 days in a sealed Tupperware container. The raw mixture can also be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days for daily fresh muffins.

Maya “the best dressed groom”…

For the Crunchy on top Bran Muffins you will need:
3 and 3/4 cup digestive bran
1 and 1/2 cup boiling water
1 and 1/4 cup canola oil
5 Jumbo eggs
2 and 1/2 cup brown sugar
5 cups normal cake flour
3 and 3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 packet dates (the hard block type)
3/4 cup soft dried cranberries (optional)
3/4 cup walnuts (optional)
1 cup sultanas or raisins
3 and 1/2 cup milk
(extra brown sugar for on top of the raw muffins)

CLICK on THIS link for a printable recipe card<a Crunchy on top, moist Bran Muffins ………. RECIPE CARD

Add the Bicarbonate of soda over the chopped dates, cover with half of the boiling water.

In a LARGE bowl mix the digestive bran with the other half of the boiling water and let it rest for 10 minutes. Add the oil, eggs, sugar, and mix by hand after adding each ingredient.

Add the salt and flour alternating with the milk. Add the chopped dates and sultanas, soft cranberries and walnuts and allow the mixture to REST overnight in the fridge. This is very important as the dates needs to soften.

Bake in a medium size muffin tin and fill nearly to the top. ADD half a teaspoon of brown sugar on top of each “raw” muffin.
This creates a crunchy top, just lovely. Bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes. Don’t over bake as it will dry out the muffins.

And off they go…

Early morning start to the Tip of Africa 2013 endurance ride

Now it is time for the “grooms” to jump in their “4×4 bakkies” and believe me we did need it on the slippery farm roads, and meet the riders at the first “Vet check”…Prinskraal Farm between Bredasdorp and Arniston.

Prinskraal, a beautiful farm on the gravel road connecting Arniston and Struisbaai… strangely I’ve driven past this farm so many times before, and never thought I will visit it one day with a lovely picnic table on the green fields..

Keeping our spot…

Finding the “right” spot was very important as the riders needs to rest and “re-fuel” before they can continue the ride to the beach…

Abby, the young groom in making…

Abby really wanted to come with me and I am so glad I allowed her to, she LOVED every moment of being with the horses.

The table…

I had to keep myself busy, ….

And then they came in… busy busy and lots of stress, the heart rates needs to come down,and rest before they can continue with the next loop…

Stones End port… just what we needed in the very cold and wet conditions, next year we will bring a box , not just one bottle… it was a really nice port…

Stones End Port

What I LOVED about this day was the “differentness” of it all… the visual mind blowing scenery with the yellow canola fields, the strangeness of being so close to lots of horses, meeting GREAT people and just a couple of girls having lots of fun.

Meeting lots of new and interesting people…

and then it rained…. no it poured ….. so the “grooms” had to take shelter..

Grooms taking shelter

And here they come again…

On these endurance rides the horses are everything…. they really get pampered and cuddled…

Evelyn and her beautiful Asha

And Abby, she also made friends…

And off they go again, back to Bredasdorp Megapark…. a bit of stress, heart rates needs to come down yet again , a stressful VET check , and then it is all over…

Maya taking the last heart rate check

We did not want to go home, …….

WE had to stop along the road to find a “horse” for Abby to ride in next year’s Tip of Africa endurance tide.

And next year, WE WILL BE BACK… I will have to start thinking what to cook for the girls, the one thing I know is that I will take lots of Stones End Port….

May 7, 2013 by hanlie green

Scotch eggs, a roadtrip picnic, the Magical Tankwa Tented camp, a wedding and so much more…

A road trip to the Tankwa Karoo and the Magical Tankwa Tented camp will not be complete without something profound like “scotch eggs” and a picnic breakfast on the flat Tankwa “vlakte”……

I’ve been wanting to visit the Tankwa Tented Camp for a couple of years, and grabbed the opportunity for a quick 24 hour in and out to take venue pics for our host at the Tankwa Tented Camp, Henk van Niekerk, after a very late night invite one Friday evening, over a pizza, at their restaurant Bodemloos Kombuis in Elgin.

The Tankwa Tented Camp is situated 150 km from Ceres towards Calvinia…. a very long tyre eating gravel road.

Many stops along the way…

For the Scotch Eggs you will need:
Desired amount of eggs, small size, room temperature
1.5 flavoured pork sausages (bangers) per egg
2 raw eggs mixed with salt and pepper
fine bread crumbs
2 – 3 cups of canola or sunflower oil

Click on this link for a printable recipe cardScotch Eggs ………. RECIPE CARD

The eggs – add the room temperature eggs to the water and bring to the boil, boil for 3 minutes from when the water start to boil. Crack the shell and rest in cold water for a couple of minutes. (I prefer to use the oldest eggs in my fridge as they peel easier)

Peel the eggs, you want them as soft as possible. Dry the peeled eggs, this will help the meat stick onto them.

Flatten the meatball in your hand…

Push the pork meat out of the sausages and shape into meatballs, use the meat of 1.5 sausages per meatball. Press the meatball flat in the palm of your hand and put the dry cooked egg on top of the flat meatball.

It is important to use flavourful sausages, I use Oak Valley Pork Sausages with peppadews and rosemary. You can also add capers ect to normal pork bangers to add to the flavour.

Wrap the egg in the sausage meatball

Close your hand and shape the meatball around the egg, don’t panic, the sausage meat will feel sticky, don’t stress, work with both hands and keep on pressing the meat around the egg, it will come together at the end…

Keep on working the meat to cover the egg..

Carefully place the meat covered egg on a plate, prepare all the eggs. Brush the eggs with the beaten raw egg, brush both sides, work carefully. Roll the eggs in fine breadcrumbs and let them rest in the fridge.

Brush the meatball covered eggs with beaten egg.

I prefer to rest the prepared eggs in the fridge until just before we leave the house, these eggs I fried while we packed the car at 4 in the morning.

Use a wok if you have one, it will use less oil and works well, the eggs should be covered halfway with oil. Slowly fry the crumbed eggs as you want the meat to cook and the crumbs not to turn too brown.

Lovely light brown scotch eggs…

I drained the excess oil and transported the freshly fried scotch eggs wrapped in foil. Ready of our very early morning breakfast in the Tankwa Vlakte…. It was COLD, luckily we had steaming mugs of coffee to warm our hands…

Our Tankwa picnic table..

Serve the Scotch Eggs cut in half, with course salt and black pepper, and don’t forget the tin mugs of steaming coffee to warm your hands.

Me and my photo buddy, Evelyn Rust, always game for lots of adventure

After breakfast we stopped at the Tankwa Padstal, (a small café between nowhere and nothing). You have to stop here, it is a real treasure chest.

Thanks for the Pic Evie…

Tankwa Padstal décor…

Our destination, THE TANKWA TENTED CAMP, in the Stonehenge Nature Reserve. With an annual rainfall of +/- 80 mm it’s one of the driest areas in South Africa.

Fellow road users.. locals on their way to the Tankwa Padstal for their weekly shopping

The Tankwa Karoo is BEAUTIFUL no picture can really do it justice, it is covered with black stones as far as the eye can see…. nearly pre-historic…

Nearly there..

After 150 km’s from Ceres, turn right….

The wedding venue at the Tankwa Tented Camp

We were invited to take a couple of pics for Henk of the “wedding venue” at the Tankwa Tented Camp, little did we know what we will find in this barren piece of land… it was beautiful, …. dreamlike and unreal…

What a VENUE…

Surprises for the guests…

This venue is magical, different as can be and stunningly beautiful….

We had a wonderful evening, running around in the dark taking pics for Henk and Maryke….

Lazy bones Evelyn… sleeping on the “veranda” under the stars and waking up to the smell of coffee…

And then… Henk surprised us with a sneak peak at this years Africa Burn statues…. just +/- 3 km from the camp….

No words can describe the hugeness of this wooden man…

An early morning surprise visit to the Africa Burn site..

Thanks to Henk and Maryke for giving us a sneak peak into this new wonderful wedding venue… we liked our 24 hours so much that we’ve decided to book a full weekend in two weeks time…..

So off we go again, I cannot wait…

And to the 3 TANKWA girls joining me next weekend, we are going to have a ball…. Ann I expect scotch eggs with herbs…

March 29, 2013 by hanlie green

Chilli Chicken Liver Pancakes and Bunny Silhouettes, Part 2 of 3….. Easter at Bosbokfontein Nature Reserve

Waking up at Bosbokfontein Nature Reserve is a magical experience, the light through the huge windows gives a blue haze and the wooden house feels like a big ship floating on the open sea….

Evie treated me to a real coffee experience and we downed huge cups of steaming coffee discussing the menu’s of the day…

The real coffee experience WITH a view…

We moved inside, to the kitchen with the “best view” I’ve ever cooked in and Evie spoiled me with these lovely baked pancakes filled with chilli chicken livers…and more coffee….

A kitchen with a GREAT view…

For the Baked Pancakes filled with chicken livers you will need:
1 x batch of pancakes- see recipe on recipe card
500g free-range chicken livers
1 onion and 1 clover of garlic chopped
Black pepper and Ina Paarman chilli and garlic salt
Dash of Wellingtons Hot Sweet Chilli marinade
2 tablespoons rosemarie leaves
200 – 250 ml cream
Lemon juice and grated white cheddar cheese

Chicken liver pancakes ………. RECIPE CARD Cut on this link for a printable PDF recipe card.

The process…

We asked the girls if they wanted some Chicken Liver Pancakes as well…. look at the faces we got…

Lips in spasm…

Evie busy in the kitchen… it took her about 45 minutes to get this dish on the table… nice chat time for the two of us …

Evie busy spoiling me ….

Suite the onions and garlic in a little bit of olive oil and butter. Once soft add the roughly chopped chicken livers. Fry until cooked and nicely browned. Add black pepper and 2 good shakes of Ina Paarman Chilli and Garlic salt. Add a dash of Wellingtons Hot Sweet chilli marinade and +/- 250 ml cream. It should not be too runny. Add 1 tablespoon of rosemarie leaves and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and cook through.

Fill the pancakes and add a thin line of mayo over the chicken liver mix before you close the pancake.

Add grated white cheddar and bake for +/- 20 minutes until crisp on top.

Yum yum…

Ready for the oven… bake until crisp..

After our BIG breakfast it was time for a quick walk on the beach…

And then, Evie and Albert went to show me the farm… Evie, apparently is the “better” driver and in the loose sand we needed a GOOD driver. At one point we went up a very steep hill and could not see the road going down, Albert shouted “sharp right” which was what Evie did…. but it was not as sharp as what we thought….

A view of the Nature Reserve..

Our very capable driver..

A quick damage check…mmm not tooo bad…

CREATIVE BUNNNNNY TIME……

We’ve decided to cut out 20 black silhouette bunnies for the easter egg hunt. We did not want to disturb the vegetation and decided to do the hunt all along the access road, and marked the “nests” filled with chocolate eggs with our black bunnies on a stick.

Evie busy cutting out the bunnies…

Print the bunnies on A4 white paper and make photocopies on the darkest setting, roughly cut them out and stick them to cardboard. Cut them out and tape a small stick to the back…

Midnight creative fun by candle light..

Evelyn woke me at around 6 on Sunday morning… mmmmm it was drizzling outside but we had to get this done before the kids wake up…

Early morning fun, think we had more fun than the kids..

WE also had some mmmmmmm bunnies for the adults…

Bunnies for the Adults..

Let the HUNT begin…

The HUNTERS…

A little bit of hassle, a HUGE lot of creative fun…

Full of smiles…

To follow in part 3, Shannon’s Smoked Salmon Tagliatelle and bunny paw prints…

November 18, 2012 by hanlie green

Flapjacks and the Rhino art with a heart platter….

On Friday evening we’ve had the Applewood Preparatory School’s auction in aid of “CONSERVING THE RHINO’S of OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY”. The School Art auctions are usually a bit of a “support and buy your own child’s art” fundraiser, but this year, the Rhino Art was really amasing thanks to a very dedicated Art Teacher, Tina Beaumont.

Emma’s class made beautiful platters and I just knew that I had to get my hand’s on one of them, as mmmm yes, I could see the yellow golden flapjacks displayed on it for Saturday morning’s breakfast…..

For the soft warm and golden flapjacks you will need:
2 eggs
250 ml milk
125 ml sugar
500ml or 2 cups of cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter
oil for frying
Blueberries, honey, or grated cheddar cheese

Mix the eggs and sugar, then add the milk and butter and mix well. Add the sifted flour, baking powder and salt, at this point don’t overmix, just mix until combined.

Add +/- 4 tablespoons of oil to the pan and fry tablespoons full of batter to form perfect flapjacks. Once in the pan I like to add 3 x frozen blueberries on top of each flapjack, better to keep the blueberries frozen, then they don’t go too soggy while frying. The pan needs to be warm but I like to fry them over a medium heat, it takes a bit longer but they need to be cooked inside and still light brown….

Click on the “recipe card” below for a printable PDF short recipe card.
Flapjacks RECIPE CARD

Serve warm with syrup, honey, cheese or just plain….

Keep any leftover batter in the fridge, cover with clingwrap, and on Sunday morning give it a good mix, add a little bit of milk to loosen the batter and let the smell of sweet flapjacks wake your family to a beautiful morning like right now….

Art in aid of “Rhino art with a heart…” by Abby Green

Thanks again to Tina Beaumont for organising this wonderful and very successful Rhino fundraising event…

September 17, 2012 by hanlie green

A 40’th girly breakfast feast….

I’ve decided earlier this year NOT to have a big 40th Birthday party, but to rather go away for a long weekend (Paternoster Birthday weekend to follow on the blog a bit later).

Shannon on the otherhand had other ideas, as you will see in the pics to follow, not a lot of words needed here, i will let the pics speak for themselves.

Me and my “mystery” speaker…

I know my limitations and asked a friend to make my speach….. the best decision ever, I wrote it and Lee did a brilliant job of making the speach on my behalf, with all the emotion and laughs added…. thanks Lee, listening to my own speach was one of several highlights of the day, so glad I’ve managed to convince you to do it.

Table decor by “the princess” ….

The table set for a real girly breakfast feast..

Beautifull pic by “Carol Bradley”

I am lucky enough to have 3 friends that’s as happy snappy crazy about photography as myself, thanks for all the pics girls, I had 2000 pictures of this special day in my life, I knew I could completely relax as every moment would be captured for me, ….. that by itself was a huge gift..

The start of the breakfast starter… by my fellow blog partner… Shannon… or sometimes referred to as “the princess”

The princess at work…. doing what she does best….

I think Shannon aged a couple of years in the days building up to the breakfast, she is such a special friend, i know she wanted it to be perfect, and i know that is very stressful, Shannon, you know how much this meant to me, you are a truly special friend….