Cake Alchemy

When I first heard about CAKE ALCHEMY at Annica’s, I almost couldn’t believe it!

Four courses of multi-layered cake, each paired with champagne, whisky, port and cognac whilst listening to Jazz?

Considering most of us attend a monthly ‘Girls Dinner/Book Club’ (a.k.a. an excuse to drink wine and have a girly chat), this amazing evening is the perfect excuse to meet up with our friends AND eat cake for dinner!

Why on earth has nobody thought of this before?? It’s pure genius!

It takes place on the first Thursday of every month at Annica’s Michelangelo Towers branch and the entire experience sounds unbelievable!

Surrounded by opulent décor and the most beautiful array of delicacies, you are presented with a menu of options.
Each course involves choosing between two different types of cake that have each been carefully paired with the alcoholic beverage of choice.

(Between you and me, it would make sense for half to choose one type of cake and the other half choose the other so that you can get to taste them all! Naturally…)

And apparently you can take a doggy bag home with you at the end of the evening (as if there would actually be any left over?!)

The tastings start from R265 per person if local champagne is used and R 300 if you prefer French Champagne.
You can arrive anytime from 6pm to 10pm.
Call 011 884 9445 - I’ve already booked a table for our next girl’s night out!

(Note that they do also take bookings at their Ferndale branch and you are able to book for whatever date suits you, phone them on 011 083 5264.)

 

Ooh Box!

The latest trend at the moment (and such a great gift idea!) is ‘sample boxes’…

You pay a fixed monthly subscription fee and every month you get a box of goodies delivered to your door.

It’s like having your birthday every month. Pure genius!

There are a few on the market at the moment:

Rubybox and Glambox are for the fashionista’s… both are jam packed with skincare products, make up and the latest perfumes.

My Baby Box offers custom boxes that cover the Pregnancy, Baby and Toddler phases. Such a divine gift idea to spoil a new, sleep deprived and (probably) vomit covered mommy.

BUT I have found the best box of them all…and, may I just remind a certain few of you, it is my birthday soon(ish).

The Ooh Box!



And it is certainly worth ‘oohing’ about!

For just R 295 per month (incl. delivery) you get:

4 x Wines (Retail between R50 – R120)

1 x 250ml Olive Oil or Balsamic Vinegar or Other oil

1 x Hot Drink ( Coffee, Tea, Chocolate)

1 x Chocolate (The really, really good stuff)

1 x Taste Treat

However, there is a catch (isn’t there always?).

They are only accepting a 1000 members!

So, if you’ll excuse me… gotta go… J

 

No-Bake Cookies

I have miraculously managed to find a recipe that is perfectly suited to the likes of myself (the severely kitchen challenged) that still makes me look like ‘Mom of the Year’/’Baking Goddess’ in the eyes of my hubby and toddler.

A NO-BAKE… let me say that again: NO BAKE Chocolate Cookie recipe!

Yes please :)

This is exactly the type of solution required for those last-minute, frantic, I-forgot-it-was-my-kids-bake-day-at-school-tomorrow panic sessions.

AND, despite the massive amounts of sugar and butter (standard requirements for a decent tasting cookie I’m afraid), they also include Jungle Oats…..so that’s gotta be a good thing?

Right?

These have been tried and tested and are currently calling my name from the depths of my fridge (where I tried to hide them out of my general line of sight).

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies (Makes about 30 to 40 small cookies)

125ml Milk

125ml Cocoa

250g Butter

500ml Sugar

650ml Jungle Oats

250ml Coconut

Pinch of Salt

5ml Vanilla Essence

1.      Boil milk, butter, cocoa and sugar together for 5 minutes.

2.      Remove from stove.

3.      Quickly stir in remaining ingredients and mix well.

4.      Spoon teaspoon-sized dollops into paper cups and allow to cool well.

5.      Store cookies in a container in the fridge until needed.

I suspect you  may even be able to add peanuts as well…

or half a cup of peanut butter?

Email me at kerryta@nedbank.co.za and I’ll send you the full Jungle Oats recipe book!

Happy NOT baking! J

 

Guest Blogger

What is a guest blogger?

YOU are!

Whilst this blog is currently crammed full of all of MY favourite things…..why not add a few of YOURS too?

After all, is variety not the spice of life?



Don't we all love being welcomed into someone's home?

There are always advantages whenever we are invited as a guest. We get to meet new people, experience a bit of their world,  share our own experiences, and if we are lucky, meet and find new connections to expand our network.

In the world of virtual cyberspace, guest blogging is pretty much the same thing!

So, what to write about…?

Anything that excites you,

inspires you,

makes you smile…..

Maybe you have a fool proof (easy) cookie recipe? Maybe you’ve discovered an amazing website, product or restaurant?

All you need to do is email me (kerryta@nedbank.co.za) your post with pics…..and I’ll publish it!



Go on, you know you want to!

Entrepreneur

As an aspiring entrepreneur (one day J) I’ve always been a huge fan of SA’s local Entrepreneur magazine.

It boasts a really modern, funky design and is packed with all sorts of interesting tips, insight and inspiration but, until recently, I was quite unaware of their hugely under estimated online content!

Their website is a great (if not even better) addition to their magazine.

It has a huge amount of content, free advice as well as industry specific articles and templates.

It’s a great resource if you need to quickly search for something that’s specifically relevant to what interests or affects you.

They also have a great list of weekly email newsletters that you can sign up for….again, specific to your requirements.

Such as:

 - Starting a Business

 - Growing a Business

 - Franchise News

 - etc.

Whilst they have a great selection of Business Plan templates,

How-To Guides,

Directories and Event Information........ what I MOST enjoy are the Success Stories!

The majority of these are the stories of Proudly South African entrepreneurs.

These not only motivate and inspire, they also impart really valuable advice, insight and wisdom…..particularly on lessons learned and mistakes made.

Makes you realise that if so many other people can do it…there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t too!



p.s. I am going to be writing a series of monthly articles on corporate office design as part of Entrepreneur’s panel of expert columnists, go check out my first article here!

http://www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/advice/staff/increasing-productivity/optimise-your-work-space/