Africanaussie

Along with the extreme heat comes tropical fruit season!  The roads are just littered with fallen mangoes and the smell is quite heady!!!  The shops sell the stringless bowen mangoes but most people use the stringy mangoes for chutney.  You know, the ones that have strings that stick between your teeth as you suck the juicy flesh off the pit.  :)  A real summer treat, especially when they are ice cold! My friend gave me a huge bag of  green mangoes, and I have made two batches of chutney, and then have lots of little containers of mango slices in the freezer.  Whizzed up with greek yoghurt, this makes the Indian drink  Mango Lassi.  Oh yummmm. I researched my recipes and decided on a carribean mango chutney, adapted from a book I picked up at the markets.  Here is my version of the recipe: 8 under ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped 1Tbs salt 250g mixed fried fruit 2 Tbs chili flakes, or to taste 375g raw sugar 750ml malt vineg...

Most times towards the end of the year I start looking around for ideas in which I can share my love of gardening and crafting and baking with those I love. One year I dried herbs in the microwave and they dried nice and crisp in 30-60 seconds.  I used a mix of Rosemary, mother of herbs and kaffir lime leaves and lime peel. A tropical herb mix from my garden, and a recipe for  stuffed vegetables stuffed roast vegetables, it is very yummy.  So easy to slip the packet and recipe in with a Christmas card. One year I crocheted snowflakes - check out all the free patterns  here at Cratsy   I also made crocheted angels. There are some angel patterns on Interweave , so nice to be able to share free patterns.  Either of these can just be slid into a Christmas card, making it just a bit special. I love to make gingerbread men, biscotti and shortbread as they are easy to put into little cellophane bags and tie up with a pretty ribbon. One year I ...

Last weekend I was busy baking and tidying up the garden.  Hubby has erected the new gazebo that we bought.  Almost the same as the last one we had which lasted a good five years, so hopefully this one does the same. I felt a bit guilty inside with the aircon on, while he was outside in the tropical heat.  We both achieved what we had hoped though, and this week I will be able to give out some of my home made Christmas treats.  Next weeekend I will bake some of the more delicate items to be served at Christmas. These bliss balls are what I have in mind for dessert .....  recipe A new recipe I tried was the Gingerbread Mocha biscotti:  recipe  here at kitchen simplicity.   They are lovely, and perfect with my little teabag idea that I already posted about. Rooibos chai cookies which I dont really have the recipe for as I swayed so much from the original recipe. Here is the original recipe.  I made the chai mix and added it to some rooibos t...