Welcome to the M. Haven

I am one of those people who gains satisfaction from spending time in the kitchen and whisking out delicious simple meals. I call the kitchen the M. Haven or Mineah’s freeing sanctuary and I find it more enjoyable than doing most things. I usually try to spend at least 45 minutes in the M. Have daily, and this is my relaxation time. Sadly, for the past few weeks I have been extremely busy with school work and I have not been able to distress and enjoy my long hours in the kitchen. However, with all the stress that was surrounding me it became apparent that I was in dire need of some M. haven time, so I started making simple 40 minute meals that will not be time consuming and still allow me to get in some leisure activity to balance out my day. I thought I would post 3 of these scrumptious recipes for you guys to try out at home. I hope that you guys enjoy them, and try not to get as addicted to them as I did!!!

 Succulent mouth-watering meatballs

Ingredients

•      Lean or ground beef mince
•          3 grated carrots
•          1 finely chopped or grated carrots
•          ½ block of beef stock cube
•          Worstershire sauce
•          Vegetable and potato spice to taste
•          1 tbsp. peanut butter
•          1 tbsp. pesto
•          2 egg whites
•          Salt and pepper

Method

1.        In a large bowl mix and your ingredients
2.        Use a spoon to shape 18 meatballs
3. Place the shaped raw meatballs in a pan and gently cook.

  Basic savoury vegetable rice

Ingredient

 1 finely chopped onion
½ finely chopped green pepper
 Ginger & Garlic
1 cube Beef stock
  3 cups Brown rice
1 cup mixed vegetable
Salt and pepper
500g Mushroom
1 glug oil

Method

-Boil your brown rice until it is cooked.

-In a separate pan/pot heat a spoon of oil and fry onion, pepper and garlic until soft.

-Add all the remaining ingredients, except peas. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed.

-Add peas and mixed vegetables last and allow to reheat.

-Season and serve.

Lemon drizzle cake

Ingredients For the sponge

225 g butter (room temperature)
225g (8oz) caster sugar

·         275g self-raising flour

·         1 tsp baking powder

·         4 large eggs

·         4 tbsp. milk

·         Grated zest of 2 lemons

For the glaze

•          Juice of 2 lemons
•          175g sugar

Method

1.         Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2.         Mix all your wet ingredients in bowl, butter, 4 eggs, milk and the lemon zest.
3.         Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl, sugar, flour and baking powder.
4.      .  Beat with an electric mixer for 1–2 minutes, or with a wooden spoon for a little longer, until smooth.
5.      . Pour/turn the cake mixture out into a baking dish and use a spatula to smooth and scrape up all the mixture around the sides of the bowl.
6.    Place the mixture into the oven for 30-40 minutes and remove the cake when it feels springy and done.
7. Make the glaze: mix the lemon juice with the sugar and spoon over the warm cake. Leave to cool, then cut into 16 rectangular slices.

2014 Bucket List!!!

I have not posted anything in about 3 months, so I am tremendously excited to be posting something. This year I wanted to do something intriguing, so I thought it would be nice for me to compile a mini bucket list with all the things I want to do in Cape Town before the end of 2014.  I am super-duper excited and I can’t wait to get started with my exploration of Cape Town. My list is still in progress and I will share it once it is completed.

Charly's Bakery

After 20 years of being a cake addict and 3 years of living in Cape Town, I thought it was a great injustice that I had never been to Charly’s bakery. So… I finally had the opportunity to go to their shop and it was so amazing. Initially you are underwhelmed by the size, because when you see it on TV it appears larger than it is in person. However, the cosiness of it takes you back to your childhood and makes you feel like you are about to host a tea party with your cabbage patch kids. The bakery is always quite full, but as you wait in the queue you are able to read the awesome story about how Charly’s came about, thus making it feel like you have not been waiting long. The final thing that makes being at Charly’s such an awesome experience is that, you are able to see the ladies of Charly’s Bakery designing their cakes and having a blasé chat in the back. Charly’s also has a variety of tasty baked goodies and I will definitely be going back there soon. 

 

Cupcakes galore

I am always keen to make some delicious and simple vanilla cupcakes, and these are wonderfully sweet and buttery. Vanilla Cupcakes are easy to make and are particularly luscious with lemon icing on top. Even my sister found these really easy to follow and she is no baking connoisseur.  Follow this easy recipe to achieve perfect cupcakes every time

Ingredients: 

1 ½ cups flour
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
½ cup oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1.   Sift dry ingredients together.

Dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

2.   Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat well until smooth and creamy.

Wet ingredients: milk, oil/butter, eggs, vanilla essence.

3.   Place paper cups into muffin tin and fill each cup 3/4 full.

4.   Bake for 15 minutes at 180° C.

Icing:

1.   Cream together 125g margarine and 125g icing sugar.

2.   Add two teaspoons of vanilla essence

Add a drop of red food colouring.

Summer Fashion Fiesta

Hey guys,
I am currently overwhelmed with final exams and other University work, and I unfortunately have not been able to do anything feisty, captivating or  interesting enough to blog. South African is currently in summer (October-mid February) , and after experiencing Autumn/fall and winter for the past 6 months, I am extremely loving the warmer, electrifying and sunny weather in Cape Town. I am immensely enthused by all the different Summer 2013 trends, and I wanted to post some of my current favorite trends.

TRIBAL PRINTS

I do not own this picture, it was obtain off another blog.

I do not own this picture, it was obtain off another blog.

BLACK AND WHITE STRIPS

POLKA DOTS 

Graphic patterns

 All the pictures on the post do not belong to me, and were obtained threw Google.

 

RHODES MEMORIAL

Rhodes Memorial is on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, it is a memorial to English-born South African politician Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902) designed by Sir Herbert Baker.  Rhodes owned vast areas of the lower slopes of Table Mountain, most of which he gave to the nation on his death. Part of his estate was used for the University of Cape Town University upper campus, part is now the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, while much of it was spared from less development.
SO... I felt like it was absolutely ridiculous that I have been living in Cape Town for 3 years but hadn't been to Rhodes memorial, and my friends were always raving about the spectacular view. I finally decided to go and see the view for myself, it's about a 5 minute hike from the UCT north stop. The miniature hike was worth it and it was such a marvellous way to end the week.

BRINGING THE 90's BACK

I had my birthday a couple of weeks back, and since I am a 90's baby I thought it would be amazing to take us back to the 90's for a few hours. When I initial thought of the theme I was quite worried because I thought it would be difficult to think of an awesome outfit, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that most of the 90's trends are still being appreciate and worn quite a lot now-a-days. I just wanted to share some superb outfits of the day, hope you like them.