Inspirate #002

This past two weeks has been tough!
My dad was offered the opportunity to deliver a boat to Tonga and of course he took it. It meant that I've been looking after the takeaway by myself and that we didn't spend dad's birthday with him, but hopefully it'll all be worth it and he's enjoyed his time away. It's put a lot of stress of me because I've had to do two people's jobs and I fear I've lost one wholesale client over this. It's sad, but at the same time it's something that I have to deal with and it's taken some pressure off my shoulders until dad comes home.
Because of all of this, I feel I really needed some inspirate in my life!

Sweet Green Chilli and Ginger Chutney

Some days my job requires me to run around like a mad thing going mad. I end up with dough in my hair and buttercream on my elbows. And then other days, my job allows me enough time to make a pot of jam.
This isn't strictly jam I suppose, it is more of a chutney but then it's just the way you dice it in my opinion. Some call it jam, some call it chutney, some call it jelly and some call it preserve. Whatever, I call it tasty.

This is the kind of chutney that you put on a gourmet burger or beside a strong cheese on a platter or you could even let it dive into a big pot of casserole or smother your spring rolls in it. It's versatile. It's happy with anything. It's a bit of a hippy in some respects but it's cool with that, rock on man.
I would not serve this in the middle of a Victoria Sponge or wrapped inside a doughnut but that's just personal preference. You do what feels right.

Inspirate #001

If you've been watching MKR then you'll know all about inspirate...if not then you need to read about it.
Basically, these are the links that have made me happy lately and have made me want to share them with you. So good job links! You've done so well.

I've felt a bit down lately.
I own a business with my dad if you didn't know and sometimes it can get a little bit much. I do all the baking of the bread and rolls etc but I am also the admin person. I deal with the bills and the payments and the suppliers. I deal with customers, happy and unhappy and I try to make things better but sometimes it gets a bit much. I miss my friends and I miss my Cat and I miss Primark because I've lost a lot of weight and I don't fit into anything but clothes cost a fortune in this country. I miss caramel roulade from Tesco and I miss shopping at Morrisons.
But I also love where we are now.
I love having to drive past the beach to get anywhere and looking across the bay while I have a cup of coffee in the morning. I love Kitkat and how much joy he brings to my father and the household. I love meeting new people and having different types of conversations. I love TimTams (not on the diet obviously) and I love that the majority of New Worlds sell South African goods. I love being able to buy a Cream Soda whenever I want.
So as much as I've loved and missed stuff, I think it's balanced itself out. And I get to blog about that and I get to read your blogs which is amazing, especially the #BEDM posts, they're awesome.

Something Old, Something New

We went to Kaitia the other day. If you don't know where that is, that's cool. It's a quaint little town further north from where we live. It floods every year but it's a beautiful place with amazing buidlings and some of the most interesting people you'll ever meet.
They also have a second hand store. It specialises in small goods but you will find some tables and chairs. The lady who owns it doesn't stock couches or beds anymore because of the damage caused when the town floods. There are some amazing finds there if you have the time to look properly.
We had time.
My father found this free standing shelving unit in a beautiful brown wood that found it's home in our bathroom. It now houses toilet rolls, paperbacks and empty toilet rolls that Kitkat feels entitled to fetch on his own and bat around the lounge.
And I found baking pans!
They're amazing. They're old style, when they were made properly and they're a joy to bake with. I found two square pans and four loaf tins of varying sizes. They were about $2 to $4 each and they came to $22 in total. You can't even buy a new loaf tin for that amount here unless you trek to KMart and that's a 3 hour drive.

Pumpkin and Rolled Oats Bread

Did you know that you can buy soup that's actually not soup?
My friends "persauded" me to go on a low GI Diet, which I have since dropped like a hot potato because it's a load of crap. When shopping for the diet I came across Campbell's Pumpkin Soup and I was so stoked that I could eat it on the diet because it is one of my all time favourite things. The next day I opened the can, filled with excitement to devour my soup but what I found was...puree.
That's right. Condensed Soup means puree. It's so much cheaper than pumpkin puree in the UK and more widely available, but apparently the idea is to add milk and water to create your soup. Definitely something I did not expect.

But you know what?
If you pop that pumpkin condensed soup into a bread mixure, it makes something magical happen.
It makes your friend attempt to eat your arm when trying to reach for the bread. It makes your kitchen smell like Autumn and happiness. It makes you sit down at your kitchen table and eat a whole loaf in one go (that's right Dad, I saw you).