Things I love and don't

So Lynette set us a little challenge to make a list of things we love and don't love. I read hers on Tuesday and made my list now - off cuff, without much deep thinking. So join in please - either blog and tell me in comments or just tell me in comments.

( You all know my hubby and kids and puppies are my favorite things  - but this is about the rest)

THINGS I LOVE
Summer rains
Watermelon
Sally Williams Nougat
Good Coffee
Red Cappuccino
Tasty food
Coloured pens
Roses
Sweat peas
Kiddy cuddles
Dog cuddles
The smell of a freshy showered/bathed child
Cake - I love baked goods
Being creative
A good book
Taking photos
Creating memories
Great teachers
Pumpkin pie
Lamb stew
Enthusiasm
Little brooches, beads etc - pretty bits
Jenna Clifford jewelry
A nice hot bubble bath
A refreshing shower
Good manners
To sing
Music
Going to places and seeing new things
Exploring
Nature
The bush
Walks along the sea
Actually just everything at the sea and in the bush
Camping
New discoveries

THINGS I DON'T LOVE
Bad coffee
Overwhelming noise
Bad smells
Overwhelming perfume
Arrogance
Bad manners
The lines on my face
The grey in my hair
Feeling blah!
Feeling helpless.
Snakes! I am very scared of them
Crime and being scared
Winter
Being cold
Brussel sprouts - and my hubby is in on this one
When a favorite piece of clothing or shoes has to retire.
Boring TV programs
Nasty kids and ignorant people.

I promise...

this will not merely become a book blog. But in the same breath I am going to talk books again today, well a book. Because I read the last couple of words of "The little Coffee Shop of Kabul" last night and enjoyed it so much that I want to share it here right now. I really fell that I have been blessed beyond words with book choices this year. This one was a Mothersday gift. I geve it 4 and a half out of 5 stars

What a lovely book - warm, intriguing, never slow. Beautifully descriptive , almost visual. Filled with the power of love and friendship across boundaries. On the cover a reviewer said " As if Maeve Binchy had written The Kite runner. I would like to disagree and say its more as if Sinaed Moriarty with her wonderful insight into female friendship and descriptive love for a country and its people had written A Thousand splendid suns- featuring the plight of Afghan women. Do read it! Although a lot of the subject matter is heavy the book is light and fresh as a read.

So go ahead. Read it! And if you have please tell me what you thought about is

Ah lets tallk books once again.

I have read 14 carefully selected books this year. One of the plusses of the shoulder surgery is that at least I am still on my target of 3 books per month. I completed the Hunger games trilogy and The Langani trilogy , read "Last letter from your lover" a good Jojo Moyes and a very thrilling Jo Nesbo,"Headhunters". But if I had to choose only 3 books as the best books so far this year it has to be:

1. The Fault in our stars by John Green  (5 stars)

 Not since Jojo Moyes heart wrenching "Me before you" has a book captured my heart and emotions like this one. On the one hand incredibly sad and on the other filled with the purest beauty storytelling can bring. The love between Hazel an Gus will stay with me forever. There are so many wonderful quotes in this book my favorite: " You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful"

2. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.  (4 and a half stars)

From the moment I met Don he charmed me with his off beat social behaviour and very sharp mind just to form the picture that yes, of course he is an Aspie! A read as charming as its main character it will keep you entranced to the very end. Favorite quote: "Gene told me the next day that I got it all wrong. But he was not in a taxi, after an evening of total sensory overload,with the most beautiful woman in the world."

3. Mad about the Boy  (Bridget Jones 3) by Heken Fielding (4 stars)

This one was just pure and utter joy and escapism for me - mixed with a tad of nostalgia. Bridget as crazy as ever over 50 and with small kids and yes, without Mark Darcy. If you are or were a Bridget fan you can not miss this one. Favorite quote: "It's a harsh world out there. The barometer of success in later life is not that they always win, but how they deal with failure."

So do tell me - have you read any of these and what has been your best reads this year?

And the winners are.....

Hamper 1 , draw 1:,no 40 which is the blogcomment of Amee Groenewald


Hamper 2, draw 2 : no 16 which is the blogcomment by Gina Jacobson.

Somehow the ipad is not loading pictures today so I will add the results pictures layer.

Ladies please email me at rinagous@gmail.com

Congratulations.

Competition time right on time for Mothersday.

One of the things I love most about Mothersday is that "pretend to be asleep hearing the scurrying in the kitchen and acting all surprised". The joy on those faces and the very special act of making mom something is priceless. In the same breath we honour our own moms.

The lovely people at Sasko have not only given me the perfect recipes for you to bake for your mom or the family to bake for you,  but two lovely hampers worth a R1000 each to give away to treat yourself or your mom the choice is yours. In any event if you love baking like we do take some time to make these heart-warming cookies as a gift for your mom: Rooibos Biscuits dipped in white chocolate, Jasmine Tea Biscuits with dark chocolate and Goji berries and Earl Grey Biscuits with orange frosting.

Fragrant Jasmine, delicate Earl Grey and our very own South African favourite Rooibos – these teas are all perfect for using as an ingredient. Simply choose the tea that your Mom enjoys the most, empty a few teabags and mix the tea leaves in with the rest of the ingredients.  

 

Earl Grey Biscuits with orange frosting

Ingredients:

500g Sasko Quick Treat Cookie Mix

1 ½ tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves

140g butter (at room temperature)

1 extra large egg

Icing:

250g icing sugar

70ml orange juice

1 tsp orange zest

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180*C.

Grease and line two large baking trays.

Put the Sasko Cookie mix into a mixing bowl with the tea leaves and stir with a whisk to ensure that the leaves are well incorporated.

Add the butter and rub into the cookie mix with your hands until a bread-crumb-like consistency is formed.

Whisk the egg in a smaller mixing bowl.

Add the egg to the cookie mix and combine with a wooden spoon.

Remove tablespoons of the dough from the mix and roll into little balls (about the size of a R5 coin) and place them, 5cm apart, onto the lined baking trays. You should get about 35-40 cookies from the mixture.

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

(Allow to cool completely before icing.)

Mix the icing sugar, orange juice and zest together in a bowl and, using the back of a teaspoon, smear a small circle of the icing onto each biscuit. Allow the icing to set completely before storing in an airtight container.

 

Jasmine Tea Biscuits with dark chocolate & Goji berries

Ingredients:

500g Sasko Quick Treats Cookie Mix

1 ½ tbsp Jasmine tea leaves

140g butter (at room temperature)

1 extra large egg

200g dark chocolate

50g goji berries

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180*C.

Grease and line two large baking trays.

Put the Sasko Cookie mix into a mixing bowl with the tea leaves and stir with a whisk to ensure that the leaves are well incorporated.

Add the butter and rub into the cookie mix with your hands until a bread-crumb-like consistency is formed.

Whisk the egg in a smaller mixing bowl.

Add the egg to the cookie mix and combine with a wooden spoon.

Remove tablespoons of the dough from the mix and roll into little balls (about the size of a R5 coin) and place them, 5cm apart, onto the lined baking trays. You should get about 35-40 cookies from the mixture.

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

(Allow to cool completely before dipping in the chocolate.)

Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt in a double boiler on low heat on top of the stove.

Dip half of the tops of each cookie into the melted chocolate, sprinkle over the goji berries and place on a sheet of baking paper to dry.

Allow the chocolate to set completely before storing in an airtight container. (This will take a few hours.)

Top Tips:

• If the tea leaves seem overly large simply pulse them a few times in a food processor until they are smaller in size.
• If you don’t have a double boiler you can use a heatproof bowl that fits snuggly on top of one of your pots – it needs to fit tightly as you don’t want any water from escaping steam to mix with the chocolate, as it will cause the chocolate to congeal. It’s also important that the water in the pot does not touch the bottom of the bowl as it could burn the chocolate.
• If you are baking all of the cookies at the same time make sure that you keep a good distance between the baking trays in the oven to ensure that there is even heat distribution

Rooibos Biscuits dipped in white chocolate

Ingredients:

500g Sasko Quick Treats Cookie Mix

1 ½ tbsp Rooibos/Chai Rooibos tea leaves

140g butter (at room temperature)

1 extra large egg

200g white chocolate

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180*C.

Grease and line two large baking trays.

Put the Sasko Cookie mix into a mixing bowl with the tea leaves and stir with a whisk to ensure that the leaves are well incorporated.

Add the butter and rub into the cookie mix with your hands until a bread-crumb-like consistency is formed.

Whisk the egg in a smaller mixing bowl.

Add the egg to the cookie mix and combine with a wooden spoon.

Remove tablespoons of the dough from the mix and roll into little balls (about the size of a R5 coin) and place them, 5cm apart, onto the lined baking trays. You should get about 35-40 cookies from the mixture.

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

(Allow to cool completely before dipping into the chocolate.)

Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt in a double boiler on low heat on top of the stove.

Dip half of the tops of each cookie into chocolate and place on a sheet of baking paper to dry.

Allow the chocolate to set completely before storing in an airtight container. (This will take a few hours.)

 So now that you have the baking sorted, lets get to the best part of all. To stand a chance to win one of two Sasko hampers worth R1000 (I wish I could keep one because they are great and who does not love Carroll Boyes and baking goodies?) do the follwing:
1. Leave a comment and tell me what is your favorite thing to bake AND "like" Sasko's Facebook page.
2. For an extra entry tweet about the competition mentioning my Twitter handle @catjuggles

Each hamper consists of:

Carroll Boyes Recipe book stand

Sasko branded baking items

6 x Sasko Quick Treats & 4 x 1kg Cake Flour 
Competition closes at 12 noon on Friday 9 May . 
Winners will be chosen from a numerical sequence by random.com and announced here and on Twitter.
Prizes will be dispatched and delivered by Sasko and open for South African residents only. 

Note:  We have received nothing in return for running this competition. I just love to give something away.