A sunny day #67

The sun is shining and I just set the table for later today...



It is Wednesday and I have my LemonGrass & Lavender cooking class. We will be eating and cooking some Korean and Japanese food. Korean & Japanese food is the latest health craze around the world, so I wanted to introduce these spectacular cuisines to my friends. Some are not familiar with these kitchens beside the sushi of course!

First I start with making my own drink, I do that every week. Today it is Lavender & Honey Green Iced tea. After that we prepare a Korean Mac-Jeok a dish in the olden days made for the Queen. I also serve this as a vegetarian dish with mushrooms.

Then a Korean Spinach 'salad' called Banchan, it is so easy and so different than we Westeners are used to eat spinach but it is simply delish!

I went yesterday to the Korean market and they had the Kimchi cucumber already made, so I will serve this on the side, I am not sure if everybody can eat this spicy dish, we will see! It's called Oi Sobaegi.

Since we have a few ladies in the group who don't eat meat I am also teaching a Japanese Ginger Miso glazed Eggplant, totally yummy.

This is all served with rice.

For dessert this time I didn't plan on making my own, I bought some Mochi, Rice cakes with red bean paste inside. Mochi or Daifuku is the Japanese name but in Korea they call them Chapsal Dduk. If you never had them you should try them! I know Trader Joe's in the USA sells them as ice cream, so yummy!! I serve the dessert with some MILKY rice wine, the ladies will be surprised because normally I don't serve alcohol :-)





Enjoy your day,
Mireille xx

LemonGrass & Lavender #47

So far I gave 3 cooking classes, the first I wrote about already, see here.

But yesterday was my third, the theme was Terrific Thai! I made a homemade drink, I always make one, every week a different one.

This week it was Lemongrass, Ginger and mint green tea. Then a spicy, sweet and sour soup ~ Tom Yam Kung, a Spicy Beef salad ~ Yam Nua and a mushroom version for the vegetarians among us and stir fried noodle dish called Pad Thai. These are real Thai classics and a favorite all over the world. For dessert I made tropical fruits in a coconut jelly.





It is a learning experience for me, not the cooking part, but explaining and trying to follow each recipe like I give them out. Because these dishes I make at home often enough, but never follow a recipe to the T. But if you are teaching that is a different thing, so now I have to follow the recipe in order for my friends to follow what I am doing.

Today I was BBQ'ing the meat for the Spicy Beef salad, and I opened the gas, but forget to fire the flame. Normally I let the BBQ heat up a bit and then put the meat on the grill, so when I opened the gas BBQ again, it was not hot but smelled like gas. So I realized I forgot to push the fire button and then when I did.... of course you can guess what happened... a HUGE flame came up and burned my eye lashes and my first row of hair around my face! Big mistake!! Luckily that was all and I have not a complete burned face!!

Pfew! a big scare!!.... now I am thinking: Are these cooking classes worth my life?? Just joking... it all went well... just a few burned hairs ;-) They will grow back again, and I was planning a trip to the hairdresser anyway soon. LOL

Last week I made Asian Appetizers, I had 8 of them, a bit too much to make in those few hours, although it was yummy I took on too much dishes for 1 lesson. Well, I learned and will not do 8 dishes in one week anymore!

We had: Thai Mieng Kam, Vietnamese fresh spring rolls, Chinese lettuce wraps, Asian Ceviche, Spice crusted Almonds, Maple Tamari Cashews, Miso Aubergine dip, Avocado Wasabi dip and as a fresh drink Indonesian Es Juruk, an orange lime drink.

So you can see that I covered a few countries of Asia with these appetizers. It was a lot of work for one lesson, but I got some help and we all pitched in making the fresh spring rolls and some cutting of the vegetables to make it on time to have lunch at noon, and it ended up real yummy!



It is fun to give these cooking classes and I hope that my friends who come to learn a bit more Asian cooking enjoy this as much as I do!

I am planning the menu for next week today, so if you like to keep updated on my lessons go to FACEBOOK and type in the search colom: LemonGrass & Lavender. What comes up is the CLUB and the EVENT, at the weekly event page you can sign up your name to be part of it.


Have a Terrific Thursday!
Mireille xx

Reading is cool #39

I am busy today with my cooking classes, so not much time for blogging....

So here a picture of the girls with their all time favorite hobby... READING!

You will see them with a book in their hands at ALL times!!

No kidding.... at all times!



And it started early, way before they could read, they would love to PRETEND, or just look at the pictures... then later they would remember the story because I had read it many times to them and they would just 'read' out of their heads... so cute!!

I am glad that reading is still a favorite hobby of my girls.

BTW... Ila, do you remember these PJ's?? You made them! They loved to wear those :-)

Enjoy your Wonderful Wednesday!

I am cooking Asian Appetizers today for 9 ladies :-)
More about that later....
M xx

LemonGrass & Lavender #35

Last Wednesday I had my first cooking class called LemonGrass & Lavender at my house.

I will teach my fellow friends some Asian fusion cooking by showing them and then we will eat it for lunch. Most of them wanted to try to cook the dishes for dinner that same evening, so a good sign that they liked it :-)

On the menu was a homemade drink with LemonGrass, Lavender & Orange, a Carrot Som Tam (normally in Thailand you would eat this with green papaya, but since it is hard to find I substituted the green papaya for carrots, but the rest was all the same) and a Vietnamese Ginger Fish or Ginger Chicken dish. I made both, so we could taste the difference. For desert I made a Spiced Mango with Tapioca pearls.





It was a fun morning! And a new experience for me to teach cooking, although I do it more often with my cooking groups, but then I don't get paid for it, since we all give one lesson. Now I am the only one who gives the lessons.

I am looking forward to more classes! Look me up at FB under LemonGrass & Lavender if you like to come you have to sign up on the weekly events.

Next week I will have Asian Appetizers on the menu!

Mireille xx

4th Blog Anniversary #32

What I forgot to mention was that yesterday was not only my Bday but I had my 4th Blog Anniversary as well!

WHOOHOO!!



Wow, I can't believe that I am writing on a regular basis now for the last 4 years, time has flown by! I have written 705 blog posts in 4 years. That is on average: 176 per year, almost every other day a new post.

I am grateful for YOU, all my readers, that you have stuck it out all that time! Kept me following and giving me comments, this is what keeps me going!! Knowing that there are readers out there that enjoy my ramblings about our lives in South Africa.

How fun it is to meet so many friends all over the world!

Blogging is a great thing, a cool thing, it's hip and happening, even after 4 years. Actually even more so!! Did you know that there is an estimation that 1 out of 6 people in the world have a personal blog.... and then there are still people READING my blog, that blows my mind!! I have about 100.000 page views a year, which means 8.300 a month, which equals 275 a day.

WHO ARE YOU ALL?? Most of you NEVER comment... PLEASE do so MORE!! You know me so well, introduce yourself, so I can get to know you too!!

Some of you have been following me for the last 4 years, seeing JJ and Jezz grow up from 6 to almost 10 years of age. And I have been doing the same with your blogs. But I like to know more of you!!

I really appreciate this long distant friendship between a few of you, and even meeting some of you this last year was truly amazing. It makes the connection so much deeper. And I know we will be in each others lives for years to come!!

I was talking last year already to change up the blog a bit, well... this year I will add a few more things. Keep this space on your bookmarks :-) and visit me often, I am not going anywhere!!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!! Oh and by the way... today is my FIRST cooking class. I am teaching 10 ladies how to make Vietnamese ginger chicken and fish, Carrot Som Tam, a super delicious drink and dessert as well with my favorite ingredients Lemongrass and Lavender. Since this is the name of my cooking classes!



More about that later!
Ciao, Mireille xx

A photo a day ~ 5 (LemonGrass & Lavender)

LemonGrass & Lavender ~ Cooking around the world.

I am starting with cooking classes as of Wednesday, February 1st, from 8:30 - 13:00

Sign up now! Full = full!

Fun ~ Learning ~ Eating ~ Drinking ~ Creating!

The themes will be Asian, herbs & spices, quick & healthy, vegetarian, Mediterranean, meals under 30 minutes and so much more!

I can't wait to start :-)

See also my page on Facebook: LemonGrass & Lavender

Hope to see you!
Mireille xx