Peanut butter and "jelly" muffins and the upstairs renovations

After celebrating a beautiful wedding and our 2 newly departed's return for 2 weeks of bliss, I was back to my happy self. Baking, tablescaping and enjoying my old kitchen.

Alas, not for long... in a jif they were gone....

So my lovingly decorated bedrooms and family room had done their bit and  were gone in a blink of the eye...

Happy pizza patio...celebrating everyone's' homecoming...

Lots of goodies from the UAE...so spoilt!

and so from these calm restful sanctuaries...utter chaos converged on me the very next day after bidding everyone farewell...

to this mess upstairs..

What remains of Jarryd's birthday balloon!  It lingered there for weeks..it must have known I was missing him..:-)

And one of the many empty bird's nests in the eaves..

All I could do to help these poor men bashing out upstairs was to prepare something for their tea...
These were delicious and a firm favourite having peanut butter in them..

Ingredients~
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda (bicarb)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup milk
good strawberry /mixed berry jam

Crumb topping~
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

For the crumb topping~ whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, salt and melted butter until combined. Whisk for a good minute until the sugar begins to dissolve then use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour. The mixture will be crumb like and dry.

Preheat oven to 190deg C. Place butter and peanut butter tog in a bowl and microwave for 30 sec
until melted. set aside to cool slightly
Whisk tog flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside. Line muffin tin with liners. Spray the liners with cooking spray.
In a large bowl whisk tog the egg, brown sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the butter mixture...the batter will be slightly thick. Add the dry ingredients and then add the milk and stir until the batter forms, trying not to overmix. Fill liners 3/4 of the way. Press a teaspoon or so of the jam  into the centre of the batter. Press the tops of each with the crumb topping and bake for around 20 minutes.

And back to all the rubble.. amazing that they worked from this window..I had a door attached to the bottom of the stairwell to keep the bottom area free from dust and rubble.

Eventually this will be my boudoir...

I can never tire of the view from this balcony...
before..

and now..being remodelled.. the view remains the same..simply stunning!

More next week!

My pizza patio ~

So when I first saw the patio on returning after many years, it looked tired and sad.. not how I had remembered it as the Sunday gathering braaing with our folks and  all the young children.
It was in serious need of a  facelift ...We had six weeks to redesign before the children were arriving...

I cannot live without a beautiful garden, no matter the circumstances..it keeps me sane..
I started working on it before I moved in...

Workmen and rubble have taken over my life..

Figuring out how to get the oven on top of the slab..it took many very strong men....

My most faithful handyman pictured below.. he started working with us 30 years ago..

Pallet cladding has taken the industry by storm..

And of course I have planted up herbs in all sorts of containers..

 Do you see them growing on this wall too...

Here is the completed look together with some of the delicious food that has been turned out of this gorgeous little oven...

 And my pocket garden is beginning to show off....

The weather played havoc too setting us back a week and a bit...
I enlisted the services of Love story..an NGO project that takes homeless people and trains them in woodwork projects using old pallet material..
I am so please with the outcome.. completed just in time on the Thursday evening before our children arrived home...


Until next time...

Shel 

My little Dolce Vita

It's been absolute ages... I was looking back on my blog and the last time I posted was almost a year ago..
Much has changed....partly due to my "empty nest" and the longing to feel fulfilled..
It took a programme airing here on television.."Debbie's Building of  La Dolce Vita" to inspire me to write my own story..
Sort of a journal that began on the 8 January this year saying goodbye to my dearest youngest...
This was not to be just an hour or so's flight or a great little stop over to Johannesburg..it's on the other side of the top of Africa!
I was devastated but tried to put on a brave face whilst waving him good bye with his little lass.
I think if not for her, I would have wanted to go along to "tuck him into his new apartment" but that was not to be..
So there I sat, my eldest now happily married to a beautiful soul both inside and out and my youngest with his gorgeous girl happily getting along in their new found happiness and settling into their careers.

My darling did not know how to handle me and days went by sitting in a tiny corner of this huge home that we had just shared with 20 odd people at Christmas and lovingly completed for happy reunions, laughter of the many younger generations, dogs, birds all brought together by gorgeous food in celebrating our love for life!
Gone in an instant...I had lost all sense of purpose as a mother..what now!!

Well it took a walk outside the gate one Sunday to discover a charming estate agent that I have known for years to twist my arm and in the blink of an eye this sprawling cocoon of mine was gone together with all my furniture! My next post, I will write of my thoughts and emotions on packing up the  family home.

The kids and my friends were shocked but not so much, as they all know this is a familiar trait of mine...

Where to now....

Well, I've found my "little dolce vita"...
It's half the size, it's old and crumbly and has family history too!
And as I sit here bashing out the old story of my married life...There's the old familiar bashing going on upstairs as we begin the 1st of 3 phases of restoration.

I'm in my happy place and will hopefully try to bring you updates of  DIY, bashing, restoring, living and cooking in the downstairs of my little townhouse and hopefully, God willing, the end result next year sometime....

So come along and journey with me....

I moved into this place in April and had 2 months to buy a complete home's worth of furnishings..
this was quite a challenge as I love to layer but for the now, was faced with  trying to inject some"Shel' into it before we started restoring; as our children were coming home for 2 weeks

I worked with a great ladywho had to put up with my distraught calls most days. The end result is exactly how I had envisaged...cool, beachy and understated and it had a lived in look from the beginning.

Some of my pics still have the plastic layers over the furniture..

Moving onto my food scene, I've enjoyed cooking up some great comfort on a plate, courtesy van Loveren wines....
It's been quite a kind winter to us, however, we have had the odd very cold day and on those days I choose comfort, one pot meals whilst I work, food that "sees to itself"...
I think I'm also battling to cook for 2...yet another challenge of mine...

Here's the recipe for the venison mincemeat pie~
Ingredients:

• oil for frying, e.g. sunflower or light olive
• 700g venison mince
• 2 streaky bacon rashers, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled & cut into small dice
• 2 celery sticks cut into small dice
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 250ml  van Loveren Pinotage red wine
• splash Worcestershire sauce
• ½ tsp dried thyme or 2 sprigs fresh (leaves only)
• 200ml beef stock or water
• 1 heaped tsp cornflour
• salt & pepper

• For the pourable dough..
• 250ml milk
• 250 ml cooking oil
• 2 eggs
• 430 ml AP flour
• 20ml baking powder
• 3 ml salt
• 1 onion cut into rings
• METHOD:
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. 
• Mix the milk, eggs and oil together and incorporate the flour mixture. Pour over the mincemeat and arrange the onion slices on top.
• Bake at 180deg C for around 30 minutes until the crust is risen and browned.
• Delicious!
• 
  

                                                          See you soon!    
          Shel!                  

Tomatoes!

We have an abundance of herbs and tomatoes ...
I'm trying to balance my life again...too much going on...
So here I am in my safety net ... not sure for how long but at least for today...

I was once again engrossed in Monique's blog...she has so many gorgeous Tomato recipes to try out..
If mine come out half as good I'll be pleased.

I had surplus tomatoes from our pizzas on Sunday night...so I layered them in an oven proof dish with peppers, mushrooms, herbs, garlic and lashings of olive oil all topped with parmessan...
I baked it off slowly in the oven set at 150deg C while I got on with my "day job"

What gorgeous aromas hit my kitchen..permeating into my study at the other end of the lounge...
just scrummy...this was my dinner...just on a bed of rocket...

Loving this new area of my home..it feels like I'm cooking in my garden...although it took a while and my home was chaos..I had a very patient builder ❤️

Little attempt at a pencil sketch on some notelets all the way from Canada  ❤️ 

(Wish I could paint!! Could never show the real turnout here. Lol)


A lot is going on in my life at the moment..yet today I feel blessed just reflecting on so much including my son's wedding a whole long year ago...there's still so much to be grateful for..

There's someone special in my life that I want to share this quote with...
It takes courage to change direction. Choose the path your heart agrees with and walk with your head high and your eyes open. Don't be afraid. heart emoticon

Oxtail pies,a little risotta~

This pastry brings back some beautiful memories~
My mom used it for everything~

If made with real butter, it's light and fluffy and crumbles in your mouth~

I wanted to have it saved for my children~
It's one my 2 boys will always remember their gran bringing them filled with mincemeat...

I had leftover oxtail stew, recipe to be found ...and used it for the filling just adding a tad more gravy to each little pie~

Rough and robust they might look but filled with love and taste delicious~
( I certainly would not win an award for neatness..my food is simple, rough but I like it this way~

Next was a bowl of comfort....

a little risotto...simple flavours...incorporating the rice with a good homemade chicken stock I had in the freezer, a cup of wine...I slowly incorporated the rice, fried onion, mushroom and garlic, stirring at all times...this is a slow dish...not something thrown together...
I diced and soaked chicken cubes in buttermilk then fried that and added it at the end of the risotto cooking...a good handful of  parmesan cheese,cream and fried sage leaves... a delicious bowl of comfort this was~

Here is my mom's favourite RICH  pastry she used for almost everything in her day...

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2pd slightly salted butter ( or marg)
pinch of salt

Method~
Mix all together until like fine breadcrumbs
bind with egg
Allow to firm up in the fridge before using.

Such a beautiful lady she was and a talented homemaker! How I do miss her especially at this time of the year....it's so good to hold onto her recipe books, her handwritten notes and memories that will remain 'til eternity <3 p="">