Mex Out: Life is a combination of magic and tortilla chips

Mex Put is a Mexican restaurant in Singapore with the most divine design. If I had a restaurant, I would want it to look something like this. The food also looks heavenly. Another reason to visit Singapore, no?

Photos found on Mex Out's Facebook page.

Wooden beer cans

Velkopopovicky Kozel recently released a limited edition packaging to celebrate their rich history in producing the Czech beer. Designed by Ukranian Yurko Gutsulyak, the cans look like they're made of wood. Each one comes wrapped in tissue paper of the same design too.

Here's what Gutsulyak had to say about the project on his website:

It was necessery to create the design for the limited edition of Velkopopovicky Kozel beer. The project is aimed at emphasizing the values of the famous Czech brand and enlarging the number of its fans. The design of the limited edition reflects the ancient traditions as well as the mastership of the Czech brewers. Every can is a part of the Old Czechia.

Beside the collectors’ design, the Velkopopovicky Kozel beer offers gifts to everyone who will unravel the special message that is encoded on the can.

Check out Yurko Gutsulyak's website for more of his work.

Nigella's Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake

In my mind, there is only one type of cheesecake, and that's baked. Fridge cheesecake is simply not a thing, never mind a cake. It's a tart of some sort, and that's final. That is why it is with great reluctance that I call what I made this afternoon Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake. But if Nigella insists, as she does in her new cookbook Nigellissima, then I guess I have to oblige.

And so, I present to you what is easily the most calorie-laden, but wonderfully indulgent dessert. For those of you who have undertaken New Year's resolutions to lose weight, look the other way.

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250g digestive biscuits (I used trusty ol' Tennis Biscuits)
75g soft unsalted butter
1x400g jar of Nutella of equivalent chocolate hazelnut spread, at room temperature
100g chopped toasted hazelnuts
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
60g icing sugar, sifted

Break the biscuits into the bowl of a food processor, then add the butter and a tablespoon of Nutella. Blitz until the mixture starts to clump. Add 25g of the toasted hazelnuts and continue to pulse until you have an almost sandy mixture.

Press into the base of the dish you are using with either your hands or the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to chill while you get on with the filling.

Beat together the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth and soft, then scrape the rest of the Nutella out of the jar and into the cream cheese mixture and continue beating until combined.

Smooth the Nutella mixture over the biscuit base and scatter the remaining chopped hazelnuts in top to cover. Put the tin in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight.

Final verdict: It's a ridiculously quick and easy dessert to make. It's also incredibly rich, so I advise you have a sliver at a time.

Enjoy!

Lucky Bread Company: Capitalising on the smell of freshly baked bread

There's nothing like the intoxicating aroma of freshly baked bread wafting through the air. It's undeniably comforting and homely. When Tribeca and The Bread Gypsey decided to team up to form Lucky Bread Company, they must have known that the enticing scent would pull in customers doing the rounds of Brooklyn Mall. The menu is quite small, limited to mostly sandwiches and delicious baked goods like scones, muffins and tarts. I had the brie, olive tapenade, dried cranberries with fig and nuts sandwich on a baguette and my, oh my, it was heavenly. Possibly the most mouth-watering sandwich I have ever had. Their freshly squeezed apple and mint juice is also a must. The nice thing is that you can also buy some bread to take home. Try resist the temptation, I dare you. 

Brie, olive tapenade, dried cranberries with fig and nuts baguette.

Instagrams of the week

 

 

A very merry Christmas indeed

(Top two pictures taken by Angelica Makhlouf)

Joburg City #1: The Good Luck Club

I've never lived anywhere other than Pretoria. It's perhaps the reason why I have always had a bit of a love/ hate relationship with dear ol' P-Town. Even though I'll always call it home, it's always struck me as a big city with a stifling small town mentality.  That's why my brief sojourn in Joburg while interning at the SABC has been quite the adventure. The traffic drives me batty but there's something enthralling about finding yourself in a new city. Joburg, with it's palpable verve and colourful cosmopolitan culture, has grown on me so much that I find myself entertaining the idea of moving there when I'm done with Honours next year. I may be married to Pretoria, but Joburg is my lusty lover.  Until then, I'll be sharing a few of the places I've discovered on my escapades through Jozi every so often.

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Corlett Drive in Illovo became somewhat of a hipster-haven after Shane and Angie Durrant opened Wolves, and later The Good Luck Club. Christi and I, along with our mutual new-found love for spicy food, went to see what all the hype around The Good Luck Club was about. Christi had the Chicken & Pineapple Curry, while I had the 5-Spice Tofu Stirfry. It was one of the few times I've had tofu that doesn't taste like rubber. Well done, Shane and Angie, well done. I'll be back for more soon soon, promise. 

Honey Badger Bistro. Again.

I had a quinoa burger at Honey Badger Bistro this week. It was so good that it almost (but not quite) made up for how long it took to make. I still recommend going to eat there though. It's delicious. Also, they have this hanging on the wall. I want it.

Weekend in Instagrams

1. Once a month the Perdeby staff congregate at Aandklas to see just how far we can stretch our lovely little bar tab. It is here that I am often reminded that I write for a newspaper that is in fact a haven for psychotic, borderline alcoholics. Bless. How we manage to bring out a decent newspaper every week is beyond me though. 

2. On Saturday night I made my way to Arcade Empire, which was teeming with loud, hair-flipping, prematurely drunk kids. The lovely Laurie Levine kicked things off with Peter Auret on the drums. They deserved a better crowd but you can't expect kids, who were later slurping up Kinky Robot like a celebratory ice-cream after a good report, to appreciate good music. Sigh.

3. December Streets. The reason all the young ones stayed out way after their bedtime. The band were launching their new album, This Is. I won't say too much about it because I am reviewing the album for an upcoming edition of Perdeby but wow, lead guitarist Nico van Loggerenberg's mad guitar skills blew me away. 

4 & 5. Lisa van Leeuwen and Mathius Janmaat from Bombay Show Pig, an indie rock outfit from the Netherlands. The reason I joined the playground party on Saturday. I'll be doing a post on them tomorrow but just know that if you are making your way to the festival on the hill next week it would be quite a smart move to go see Bombay Show Pig perform. You won't regret it.

6. It's become somewhat of a tradition for my mom, Christi and I to go for breakfast on a Sunday morning. This week it was Vovo Telo in Woodlands. 

7. I had the corn hotcakes with a poached egg, rocket, basil pesto and roasted rosa tomatoes. Delicious. 

8. Pastries, cakes and fresh bread. Drool.

9. My mumsie had the toasted brioche with fig jam, roasted almonds and marscapone cheese. I snuck a bite and my taste buds did a little jig of joy.

Hope you all had a good one too!

Hazel Food Market. Again.

On Saturday morning my mumsie, Christi and I ambled around the Hazel Food Market in the warm winter sun looking at all the mouthwatering food on offer, wondering how we could convert our stomachs into a bottomless pit to fit it all in. I settled on a Moroccan cauliflour and Edam cheese soup and a mojito, which might I add was probably the best mojito I have ever had. I have also come to the conclusion that I must have been Indian in my previous life because man, oh man, do I love Indian food, hence the packet of samoosas below.

If you're keen to visit The Hazel Food Market, it is open every Saturday from 9am-2pm and is situated in the Greenlyn Village Centre in Menlo Park. Warning: Go on a two day fast beforehand to make room for the feast that awaits you. Your stomach will thank you.

Hey cutie, if you ever get sick of your owners you can totally bunk with me.

Lucky Rodrigo

I love all these fantastic little restaurants that are popping up around Pretoria. I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Lucky Rodrigo, so today I went there for lunch today to see what everyone has been talking about. I had the vegetarian burger, which was easily the best vegetarian burger I have ever had. It consisted of a hash brown, a tasty mushroom sauce, haloumi, brinjals and a whole bunch of other delicious things that made my belly mother flippin' excited. I also had a glimpse of their new menu which looks like a number of other delicious things will be available at Lucky Rodrigo soon. Visit their Facebook page here for more information. 

Honey Badger Bistro

Last week I caught up with an old friend at Honey Badger Bistro, a new quaint eatery on Pretorius Street. I quite adore this place. It's got everything that you could ask for in a restaurant. The menu, although small, is loaded with some of the most delicious food I have tasted in ages. I think what gives Honey Badger Bistro the edge is that there is so much attention to detail. The beautiful menu, the presentation of the food and the simple decor all combine to make this little bistro one of my new favourites. 

Visit Honey Badger Bistro's Facebook page here for more information.

Cauliflower soup

Chicken pie

Spinach and ricotta muffins

Gnocchi

I made gnocchi. From scratch. You can too. It's not difficult.

 Boil 1kg of potatoes until they are soft. Mash them up. Add 2 cups of plain flour, 30g of butter and 2 beaten eggs. Mix together to form a dough. You might have to add some more flour at this point to get it to the right consistency. Roll out the dough and cut into 3cm pieces. Put the gnocchi in boiling water for about 3 minutes or until they come to the surface of the water. You'll have to do this in batches. I made a regular tomato sauce to go with it but a cream, gorgonzola and chive sauce is also really good, just a bit more calorie laden.

If you are wondering why there's feta sprinkled over the gnocchi, it's because I'm Greek. We put feta in everything.

Rustic pizza. Yum.

I haven't blogged in ages. Blame it on exams. Good news is that I have one left on Friday and then I'm on holiday for a just over a month. Oh, I can't wait. 

It's been ice cold here in P-Town, so I spent most of the day under my duvet drifting in and out of sleep and rereading To Kill A Mockingbird. I got up just to make supper which, thanks to Food & Home, was the most delicious rustic pizza. In the article, they just added a tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella to the pizza base. I decided to go all out on the toppings though. The top one had olives, pepperdews, mushrooms and spring onions while the bottom one had sundried tomatoes, feta and avo. I say had because it's all sitting in my happy stomach right now. Ha.