GROWTH SPURT

My new veggie garden is taking really well. The rocket, beans and mielies are thriving. I especially love watching the beans grow. Every morning's insepction reveals another new tentacle that's wrapped itself up + around the trellis, its actually a little creepy. They find their way all on their own, without help, they just reach out and wrap around, makes me think that beans are clearly smarter than tomatoes, it also makes a think that we might wake up one morning with a "Fee Fi Fo Fum" at the door ....... mmm .......

I forgot to finish the "deck building 101" post with the sanding and oiling segment. As I said before, a master builder doesn't give away any of his tips so here are the visuals but I have slipped in the secret ingredient for the oiling part! I kid you not, it works.

SCORCHER

We dont have a pool. We tried a portable pool but that ended up being Willow's daily playpen and I was starting to feel a little "trailerparkish". Usually we descend on Megan en masse but the heat made us think this time we needed to go large - Silvermine dam. Seemed were werent the only ones with the same idea (clearly they dont know about Megan's pool!) It really was beautiful, the dam was warm and there were kids and dogs everywhere. So often on the drive home in the evenings I just set my inner gps to Sea Cottage Drive and never take the time to actually look at the beautiful scenery that I pass, whether its going over Chappies or Ou Kaapse Weg. We really live in the most spectacular place. Just taking a little detour to the dam was the perfect way to end a scorcher of a day and gives you a minute to actually take a minute to stop, breathe and appreciate.

FASTA PASTA

Bacon chopped
Broccoli
Baby Tomatoes
Pasta
Garlic
Goats Cheese or any cheese you fancy

Boil the pasta, fry the bacon in a little garlic, add the broccoli & baby tomatoes
Drain the pasta
Crumble the cheese over the pasta
Add the bacon, broccoli & tomatoes
Nothing could be easier or tastier!

RIDING IN THE VINEYARDS

GOATS CHEESE SOUFFLE

I love souffles! Here is a recipe for a simple cheese souffle. I didn't make enough mixture for the dish which is why there isnt a huge beautiful puffy souffle featured but it was delicious. Its such a quick and easy meal to make during the week and love the fact that you can just make up your own combinations, more to follow with the seasons.

150g Goats cheese
2Tbsp Butter
3Tbsp Flour
400ml Milk
4 Egg Yolks
5 Egg Whites whisked to form stiff peaks


Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees.
Melt butter in a saucepan then stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add the milk stirring regularly until you have a thick bechamel sauce.
Remove from heat, add goats cheese, stir, add egg yolks, salt & pepper.
Fold the egg whites into the mixture with a metal spoon.
Pour mixture into souffle dish and bake for 30 minutes if you're cooking the souffle in individual ramekins then bake for 15 minutes.

Serve with green salad or a tomato & basil salad is a great combination

DECK BUILDING

Apparently a master builder should never give away any of his secrets so here are a few "visuals" of building a deck.
Sanding & Oiling to follow.