The most beautiful craft show at the foot of the mountain~

Hello, it's been a while again since posting here~
I've been at my other home for a while and this was real food for a girl's soul
Cape Town and the Winelands were most kind to me and my travelling partner~
on the way, the weather was not kind to us but once arriving in the Mountain City, we had awesome weather~

On to the much anticipated Lourensford Kamersvol geskenke that I had promised myself all year!

The stalls were amazing...just far too much to process in an afternoon.....and we had gotten lost on the way into Somerset West  and ended up in a strawberry field!!~ we also had 4 seasons in that afternoon with the cloud and rain eventually lifting and giving way to a  stunning day in the winelands.
I had also planned to visit two beautiful bloggers from Cape Town....one an exhibitor, Colette....I'm sure you have heard of her beautiful blog....Labrocanteuse   and the other, an equally talented girl, lover of fine things...Veronica. What a gorgeous blog she also has ....you can meet her at Tassels and Twigs.  Well, due to my being so late, I got to meet Veronica and Colette's lovely assistant.
Wow, and Colette had put on a fine exhibition of all things Brocante. Next year I will take 2 days to absorb all this beauty.

Here are a few pics of what was on show and the magnificent setting with the mountain in the background on which mother nature had sprinkled loads of cotton wool!

these strangely decorated tree stumps caught my eye.... as did the magnificent window displays......

What really grabbed my attention was how the exhibitors had arranged their stall with such finesse.
The next two are from Labrocanteuse....

Then these were also random ones that caught my attention.... the board covered in newsprint was the centrepiece on the tables laid out for your lunch or tea....

this was an outside exhibition below by Willie from thr Pasella programme (for those in SA)

then inside to more of the creative stalls.....

 

 

original pieces...a chair made from a suitcase and the origami tealight holders....

gorgeous pottery in all shapes and sizes to dress makers with a difference

yummy cupcakes and I bought one of these gorgeous butterflies...

and my favourite items, you might ask....well it's the collage below.....

the phrase on the cushion which we all do so well in my house, the candle for peace,the bottle of wine for sanity and Colette's stall.....my only regret, I didn't get to meet her in person.....maybe next time!

See you all soon with a recipe next time!!

Shel x
 (my grateful thanks to Louise for joining me on this trip  )

I'm joining Sandi for tea today. Hop along  to Teatime Tuesdays to visit her beautiful blog and
then head over to A return to loveliness!

 

 

 

 

 

My roses~

Not sure at all what has happened to summer~
As I'm posting here, it's flooding in Port Elizabeth~
I had picked these roses yesterday and am really enjoying their scent~

These apricot roses (Just Joey) were my mom's absolute favourite~

We are also enjoying this Double Delight!

 

Just a little tied bunch of all sorts for myself~

 

 

 

So this is actually what we are experiencing during our Summer months at present~
a swimming pool overflowing ~
my garden absolutely oversoaked~
rainwater tanks over-exploding~
so different to the drought we were experiencing last summer~
oh well..... time for a little indulgence~





Whilst I await the return of another glorious summer~

So here's a few  collages of my garden from this summer so far~~

Off to Kamersvol Geskenke in Lourensford this week...hope to bring some great photos of that to you~
Of course and my other home~ Cape Town ♥

See you soon
Shel

Joining  Roses of Malevik  for Saturday Showoff and Pink Saturday. Hop on over to these gorgeous blogs.

Koeksisters and Lemon Syrup

Koeksisters and Lemon Syrup.

Fitting for a South African Kitchen.....koeksisters should be my first post here....
so here goes the recipes

Ingredients:
For the dough:
2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
25 gm butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
For the sugar syrup:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 pieces (3/4” each) fresh ginger
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 stick cinnamon

Oil for deep frying koeksisters
Method:
First make the syrup.
Break the cinnamon stick into 2 and out it into a pan. Crush the ginger pieces and add to the pan. Now add the remaining ingredients for the sugar syrup in a pan. Place it on medium heat, and keep stirring till all the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, then cover with the lid and let it boil for a minute.

Uncover, turn down the heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes and take it off the heat. Cool the syrup and chill in the fridge for at least 6 to 8 hours, preferably overnight. The sugar syrup must be ice cold when ready to use. Remove the cinnamon and ginger pieces before using syrup.

Now make the dough.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and rub the butter into the mixture, till it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the milk, water and lemon juice to this and knead till the dough is very soft and elastic but not sticky. You should be able to roll it out easily.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for about 2 to 3 hours, or even overnight in the refrigerator.

To make the koeksisters, roll out the dough to about a little less than 1/4” thickness. Cut out strips about 5” long and a little under 1/2” wide. You can decide how long or short you want the strips to be depending on what length you want to make your koeksisters.
Braid 3 strips together pinching both ends together very well, or they will unravel while being fried. Repeat with all the strips of dough.

Heat the oil over medium heat until quite warm but not too hot. If the oil is too hot, the koeksisters will be brown on the outside, but raw on the inside. When the oil is at the correct temperature, it will take 10 seconds for a piece of dough to pop to the surface after it has been dropped into the oil.

Keep the chilled sugar syrup ready. To ensure that the syrup doesn’t get warm, you may place it in a bowl of ice, or take out only half the syrup out of the refrigerator. When this gets warm, use the other half.

Drop the braided dough, about 4 at a time into the oil and fry them till they’re brown on both sides and done. Remove 2 at a time, with a slotted spoon and drop them straight into the sugar syrup keeping them submerged in the syrup. Keep them in the syrup till they’ve soaked through.

Remove them from the syrup and place on a wire rack allowing the excess syrup to drip onto a plate below.

The koeksisters can be stored in the refrigerator is not serving immediately, to retain their crispness.
This recipe makes about 15 to 18 koeksisters.

and then try it with this sweet lemon syrup....lemons are in abundance at the moment~

Solomon's Iced Lemon Syrup!

Wonderfully refreshing for the weather we are supposed to be experiencing this time of the year!
Lemon Syrup!

Woodall Lemon Syrup!

Recipe.

Rind of 6 lemons

Juice of 12 lemons

6 cups of sugar

6 cups of boiling water

Boil everything together. Let it stand over night. Strain and dilute with water.

Serve chilled with sliced lemons and mint leaves.

Served on a beautiful dish with another favourite...koeksisters!

And what a combination, these beautiful orange and lemon poppies.

On my favourite chair in the sun...

So refreshing!

Happy weekend.

 

(( I have posted this before when I started blogging without the koeksister recipe.)

A Barnyard Bash for a little boy's party!

My friend and I organised her little boy's party this past weekend....
we had such fun......
it's so easy to remove oneself from reality when you are creating~

I thoroughly enjoyed doing this for her~

She had organised a young girl to come and paint their faces~
some were so cute , the older ones were a little scary~

This little girl took my breath away.....

A little  peek at the party food and the farm lorry cake~

We found such a novel way here  to display Bev's rice crispie marshmallows....wow Monique, your ideas can never be recreated but you are such inspiration in South Africa!

 

 

Piggy faces....... 

and Marie Biscuit cows....

fresh milk from the Jersey dairy with little chocolate, strawberry and vanilla straws displayed in little crates.

and then the bales of hay to sit around on their "cowboy" themed chairs....

Loved these little chairs!!

What a happy little guy he is!!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

See you soon!
Shel


Joining Tablescape Thursday

Hello I am back!

Happiness at Solomon this past weekend~

Our oldest 2 boys (one our nephew “son” ) were at home for a wedding….
so so brief but such quality time…..
good company, good food and so good for my soul….
I love these kids

I made some little fritatas (just improvised) for a brunch on Sunday morning~ I was very happy with them…..
I just beat 2 egg yolks with a little sifted AP flour then incorporated another 3 whole eggs, a little cream and salt and peper….
added this mixture to the muffin pans that I had placed a little sharp cheddar and crispy bacon pieces in.
Baked at 180deg C for 20 mins~ very tasty lttle treats.



Love my family xx