I hope you all had a happy Sunday filled with rest and relaxation, I did. I made lunch for me and my daughter and we played for most of the afternoon until I decided I wanted a sweet treat. I decided to try my hand at baking a marble cake. I had never made a marble cake before today. This however wasnt going to be any ordinary marble cake because I was coming up with the recipe and measurements as I went along. The cake turned out marvelous and I enjoyed it with a nice cuppa. If you want to try your hand at it here is how I did it. Ingridients 1.5 cups cake flour 1.5 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Just under one cup white sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla essence 3 eggs 1 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup cocoa powder Preheat your oven to 180degrees 9 inch greased cake tin. Method. Sift together all the dry ingridients, then stir in sugar. In a separate bowl lightly beat the eggs, and oil then add the vanilla essence and milk. Pour the wet ingridients into the dry ingridients all at once and mix. Imagine your hand is a hand mixer and mix at medium speed just until combined. The mixture will be lumpy to start but eventually smooths out. Do not over mix unless you want a dry cake. A dry cake is a crap cake, every good baker knows this.4 minutes is enough. Then pour half the cake mix into a different bowl. Sift in the cocoa powder and mix until the cocoa is blended in, remeber not to over mix. Now you are ready to pour the two cake batter into the cake tin. Do this by alternating the two until allmthe batter has been used. Take a knife and swirl the batter just once. Bake for 30 mintutes lr until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cut yourself a slice and enjoy..x I wish you peace, love and good eats!

How to cook the perfect beef liver stew.

A lot of people I know shy away from cooking beef liver and yet it is choka block full of nutrients, minerals and vitamins we all need to maintain healthy bodies, and well being. Cooked right it is very tasty cooked wrong it just tastes like what it is, liver! I do my own cooking, my maid simply chops what needs to be chopped and washes what needs to be washed. This is because I am allergic to poorly prepared food, no seasonong, too little seasonong, food cooked on high heat it doesnt cook through, food swimming in oil, the list is endless. To avoid all that malaky I decided I will be the belle of the kitchen. I love it anyway so why not? Today I have prepared beef liver, and nkhwani wotendela, I must say I am looking forward to digging in. Here is how I did it. Dice the liver into nice pieces and rinse it in cold water. Put it in a sauce pan and add 2 teaspoons of garlic, this will neutralise that raw liver taste as it cooks. Bring it up to the boil and reduce the hest to about 4. Never think that boiling your meat makes it cook nicely. It only warps(kuwawula)it and the result is tough meat that has not been cooked on the inside. Keep some boiling water to hand so that as water evaporates in the pot you can add on to it. Do not be tempted to use cold water because this reduces the cooking temperature in the pot thereby slowing down the cooking process and toughening your meat. Once all the water is gone add some oil, not too much though because good food is not about grease but rather the technique and method employed. Brown your liver slightly, and then add your chopped onion and let it cook through until it becomes translucent. All this is with reduced heat. Should it catch add a little bit of water to deglaze the pan and then throw your tomatoes into that mix and let them cook through. Dont be in a rush to add water because the tomatoes need to cook properly. It is never a good thing to see tomatoes and onion that have not meshed well in a dish, NEVER!!! For some color, but this is optional I addded a tablespoon of tomato puree. Let that cook through before adding water otherwise it will be sour. Add one teaspoon of brown sugar to bring out the flavours. Then I introduced the aromatics to my liver stew. I added a teaspoon each of curry, paprika, and chicken masala, and half a teaspoon of chilli flakes for some heat.Yes chicken masala. Do not feel restricted by the spice labelling some spices work well with most meats. I then melted a chilli beef stock cube in 250 ml(1 cup) of water and added that to the party. I brought that to the boil and reduced the heat to 3 so that it simmers nice and slowly for thirtynminutes. Do not boil your meat, never ever!! I served this with nsima and veg. The liver stew was to die for, my pslate was all sorts of excited. It was succulent, and very tender; as any well prepared stew should be. I wish you peace love, and good eats.

A clean kitchen is a good kitchen

Maintaining a clean kitchen is very important, if there is a room in your house that needs to be given a lot of attention it is the kitchen. If I visit a home where the kitchen is not in order, I will think twice before I eat there. Yes! I have visited homes and thought my word I must leave before I am offered anything because the kitchen was that dirty. Your lounge could be messy after all we chill out in there but make sure that the kitchen for obvious reasons is kept clean. If you have house help, induct them on the standards of cleanliness that you expect them to follow because if you do not they will not clean, after all they have no guidance tool to work with. I have an all white kitchen, this is my way of sending a message to anyone that works for me or visits my home. They will not see a speck of dust, not a dish out of place, why? How? Because I hate a dirty house, especially a dirty kitchen. There are a few basics that need to be follwed in order to maintain a neat and squicky clean kitchen. As a rule of thumb do nor mix your dish cloths. Have separate ones for saucepans and plates because the ones you use for sauce pans are likely to get dirty quicker. Make sure you have hand towels atleast two, so that when one has been washed there is one on the hook lest people wipe their hands with dish cloths, I have seen it happen and its just gross!!! Have a cloth for cleaning and wiping surfaces. And some handy andy, this is a must have in all kitchens. It is not that expensive so dont even trip. Be sure to ahow your help how to use it because used wisely it will last up to one month. Also invest in some hand wash for when you need to wash your hands, it doesnt have to be expensive The next thing is cleaning the fridge. Keep the fridge clean at all times, yes some people do not clean their fridges and smells start to build up as left overs go off and what not. You walk around thinking boy does it smell funny up in here. Maybe you need to clean dont you think? Keep rubbish where it belongs, outside in the trash can. Never go to bed without taking the rubbish out. I personally dont have a bin in my kitchen because I cant stomach it. I put my rubbish in nylon bags which I take outside periodically. A pretty kitchen it nice to work in and encourages you to cook and just hang out in there, I have two glasses of pot pouri on my window seal that just add to the ambience in my kitchen,yes ambience doesnt only have to be in the bedroom or lounge it needs to be everywhere!! Get yourself some cute kitcheny looking curtains while you are at it. The effects are amazing I tell you. For that extra home feel a bowl of fruit on a counter top will add to the beautynof your kitchen, and you can eat it up too. Try this and you will thank me later when you are able to let your guests hang out with you as you prepare a nice meal for them.