May 2014 and I have been playing around with making my own chocolate. I have been using chocolate transfer sheets to make it look pretty. These are so easy to use. You pour the chocolate onto the transfer sheet, spread it thinly with a palette knife and once set peel off the transfer, leaving the design behind on your chocolate.
Pick ‘n Pay sent me an Easter Egg hamper. It was filled with the most amazing selection of Easter Eggs and I made sure we waited until Easter weekend before tucking in. As I did not think Dave would need to eat all the eggs I was given, I gave many away to our staff, and their children.
Together with the Easter Egg hamper I also received a bottle of Carrol Boyes wine in a beautiful box. It is a 2013 Shiraz and I am going to leave it to mature a little bit before we try the wine.
At the SASSI award evening I was given a goody bag. The goody bag itself is a Women Entrepreneurship Fair Trade bag and is being used for grocery shopping. In my bag was a bottle of Hamilton Russell Chardonnay which I will save for when we have guests over who drink white wine.
There was also a Grip N Go bottle. I have been meaning to go to the Consol factory shop in Stellenbosch to get one of these, so the gift is really welcome. I keep water in my car and a glass bottle is far better than anything else. Now I just have to get used to bringing it inside when I get home or when I am at work.
And last but not least in the bag was a bottle of Olyfberg Olive Oil. I love getting olive oil as gifts as we use so much of it at home. I probably buy 4 bottles a year and we use at least a bottle a month if not more!
I purchased the April issue of Fresh Living which has the last feature of Sam’s recipes in it. This magazine is not usually on my shopping list but in support of a friend, I have bought all three magazines that she featured in.
I was sent a bottle of Olyfberg Tapenade in the post. It was quite a miracle that it got to me as we do not have a post box at home and the parcel was posted to my home address. This after the courier could not find our office. As parcels are not delivered to street addresses in South Africa, the collection slip would have been stuck into our gate by the postman. Under ordinary circumstances, anything stuck into our gate ends up blowing away in the Gordons Bay wind. However, this day, the rubble removers were busy removing the rubble from the pool we are busy digging out, and the postman gave the slip to our gardener who was supervising the removal. I collected the tapenade which is made from a secret, tasty mix of chopped olives, herbs, garlic, capers, lemon and black pepper (official press release) from the post office and I cooked it into some chicken for dinner. It is really tasty and I look forward to coming up with a few recipes for the tapenade.
Hopefully the next item is Shaoxing Chinese Wine. We have a Chinese market in Somerset West but the lady who runs it does not speak English and I don’t speak Chinese. I am not even sure that the way I pronounce Shaoxing is correct. When I asked for Shaoxing Chinese Wine she assured me that the writing on the bottle says Shaoxing! I don’t even know what it is meant to taste like but I am going to hold thumbs that I have the correct stuff as I am using this for a recipe soon.
If you want to join in with an IMK post then please head on over to Celia from Fig Jam And Lime Cordial!
Disclosure: The gifts I received were not given with the requirement that I post about them. This post is in line with my blogging policy.
Dave and I are away in the UK and we will be back at work on the 8th of May. I will start replying to blog comments then. You can read our daily diary of our trip by clicking here.
What I blogged:
- one year ago – Sleeping at Grootbos
- two years ago – In My Kitchen
Lovely stuff Tandy. I love it when goodie bags have useful ingredients included xx
Me too Tami 🙂
my goodness, what I wouldn’t do to receive such lovely pressies. 🙂
I am truly blessed 🙂
What a fascinating range of ingredients you have this month! It was so lucky that the postie gave the slip to the gardener, and that it wasn’t blown off into the air! I use Chinese wine in stir fries, and I think it makes a big difference. But like you, I am never quite sure of what I am buying. Can’t go too far wrong though! (Famous last words?!)
Knowing it is actually what I was looking for, and having a recipe to test, the rice wine should work perfectly 🙂
Whatan interesting mix of kitchen bits and bobs…..I love the chocolate transfer sheets, and keen to try some. They certainly make that cake look very professional, although it sounds absolutely delicious, chocolate or no chocolate!Good luck with your Shaoxing Chinese wine- look forward to seeng what you make with it!
I will be getting to that bottle of rice wine in the next two weeks hopefully 🙂
Hope you have a fantastic time on your trip, Tandy. 🙂 I’ve never tried chocolate transfer sheets, but your cake is so pretty that I will have to try it one day soon. 🙂
Hope you can find some Krista 🙂
I had a Lindt bunny also. So completely delicious. I’ve not tried tapenade but think I might have to now!
I found the bunny a bit too sweet 🙂
What a brilliant hamper you received Tandy. I have a litre glass bottle which always goes with me in my car – I can’t leave home without my water.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead.
🙂 Mandy xo
I never go anywhere without water either Mandy 🙂
Your chocolate creations are amazing!! I need to investigate some of this transfer paper.
it is so much fun to play with!
Your chocolate is so pretty!
Good luck with the Shaoxing cooking wine!! I love going to the Chinese shop and pulling different ingredients off the shelf to try! Many many fails. But some really good ones too!
The fails are worth it if eventually you get a great result 🙂
Chocolate and wine! What more could a girl want. It is indeed shaoxing wine. It is for cooking only and is rice wine. I use it all the time in so many Chinese dishes. Have a super week, Take Care, BAM
I so agree, chocolate and wine are perfect! Thanks for letting me know about the wine – you are a star 🙂
That Honey nougat cake looks fantastic, Tandy. I’ve thinking about doing the same thing with chocolate…and putting it around a cake. Nice things!
🙂 ela
It is such a great way to decorate a cake Ela 🙂
Lots of nice goodies in your kitchen Tandy. What a delicious Easter hamper! 🙂
It was delicious indeed AD 🙂
G’day! GORGEOUS cake Tandy and love your wines!
Thank you for this month’s kitchen view too!
Cheers! Joanne
Thanks for the visit Joanne 🙂
That cake looks fantastic!
And I laughed at your Chinese wine adventure- my niece lived in Japan for a while before she moved to Australia and would send me all kinds of Japanese bottles of ??? – I used them carefully, experimenting because I had no idea what they were. We had some very interesting meals- although they were all edible except for one huge fiasco that I don’t want to remember!’
Thanks again for sharing- hope your UK visit is marvelous!
Ha ha, I can only imagine what your Japanese experiments were like 🙂
Great goodie bags Tandy, looks like your having fun with the chocolate.
I love the chocolate transfers!
Oh Tandy, what a lovely haul of goodies you have in your kitchen… I love the chocolate making! Happy cooking xox
Thank you Lizzy 🙂
i love the artwork on the Carrol Boyes wine bottle – just gorgeous. Hope you are having a great time in the UK.
We had a great time Mel, thanks 🙂
You were meant to have that tapenade! It makes a great dressing for fish BTW. I love the affect of the chocolate transfer sheets. Hope you had fun in the UK
I am so going to try the tapenade with fish!
Tandy, hope you and Dave are having a wonderful holiday! Lovely things in your kitchen – I’m particularly taken with the glass water bottle, what a great idea to have the grip on it as well. Glad you got the tapenade, because it sounds delicious! 🙂
The tapenade is delicious indeed and we had a wonderful holiday 🙂
Such a gorgeous hamper, definitely an Easter treat 😀
And that cake! Can I please have a slice!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I would love to share a slice with you 🙂
Nice look into your kitchen! That’s so funny about not having any English text on your bottle of Shao Xing as I checkd ours and it does. Have fun in London!! 😀
Ha ha, maybe they expect all Africans to speak Chinese as they are such a huge investor here 🙂
Your cake looks great – like a fancy restaurant! All those gifts and goodies are terrific!
Thank you Amy 🙂
Interested to hear what the Chinese wine tastes like. Very clever chocolate making 🙂
I will taste and let you know!
I’ve become a little too free and easy with olive oil myself Tandy as I’ve been given a few bottles as gifts. It will be a shame when I have to go back to buying it! And of course now I’m going to have to seek out chocolate transfers. Thanks for the tour.
I also feel it when I have to buy olive oil 🙂
That cake looks amazing. I agree with one of the previous comments, you were meant to have that Tapenade! Getting together with my husband 31 years ago was a very similar situation… shouldn’t have happened, but it did! Hurray for Serendipity! Thanks for your post.
Serendipity is amazing!
I love the look of those chocolate transfer sheets. They look so professional. I am coveting your glass water bottle. What a great idea to put a non-slip band on it. Hope you enjoyed your holiday.
Everything on this post looks heavenly, Tandy… PERFECT for wintertime! Hope you’re enjoying your holiday!
We had a super time away!
the wine looks good. I’ll pop over and help you drink it!
I would love that!
Such lovely things in your kitchen this month. I love that chocolate and the tapenade story is cute. Have a wonderful holiday up north!
Thank you Maureen 🙂
Lovely IMK post Tandy –
Thank you 🙂
Lovely IMK post Tandy – always nice to receive gifts and that hamper, oil and tapenade look fabulous! Look forward to seeing what you will be posting next month from your trip!
I am looking forward to sharing my haul Selma 🙂
Fun basket! I did some experimenting with chocolate transfer sheets around Valentines’ Day (http://artofnaturalliving.com/2014/02/11/chocolate-transfer-sheets-professional-desserts-easy/) which was fun. Now I’ll need to check out your making chocolate recipe. So often I don’t find chocolate that I really love…
I hope you have more fun with chocolate making!
You have lots of lovely things in this post. I like the labels on that oil from the Breede River Valley. I go through literally gallons of olive oil. Hope you are having a lovely holiday
We had a super holiday thanks!
I love getting goodies bags that I can make use of in the kitchen. Was wondering if you temper you chocolate? Thank you for the peek into your kitchen. 🙂
I sometimes temper my chocolate, but not always with great success 🙂
Tandy, your chicken dinner sounded delicious, especially after all it took to receive the tapenade — fun story with a tasty ending! The Grip n Go bottle is a great idea, too. Re-usable is even better than recyclable!
I now have to re-usable bottles and I love them!
It looks like a very good month for chocolate in your kitchen! What a great hamper, and even more impressive, what great chocolate you made yourself. I like the look of that ‘grip and go’ bottle too.
Thank you so much for the visit Kari 🙂