Shades of Beauty

I saw this little girl during an outreach and had to take her picture.  She is beautiful and another example of what the South Africans label as coloured.  

She attended the outdoor concert that we had with Pastor Melrose with her siblings.  She was carrying the youngest around on her hip.  No parents in sight.  Most of these children raise themselves and their siblings.  Most will never go to college and have the opportunities afforded to them that we as American's have.  I learn more about the culture and political parties daily.  I love my country, we have our issues but America is truly the promised land.  God Bless America.

From South Africa With Love,

Sweet 16 (Sigh) & 17

My daughter who just happens to be the baby of our family turned 16 and her brother turned 17, 3 days later.  Yes, they are 11 months and 22 days apart.  No, we didn't plan it.  We threw them a party.  They went ice skating and then came home for pizza and wings.  He's a man so there were no decorations for him.  Purple is her favorite color but she humored me by letting me decorate in pink and white (Molly Ringwald, anyone?).  Here are a few of the pics.

Obsessed with bell shaped lids.

I love the pink pearl edible beads.

Pink Cookies!!!!  I just used a chocolate chip cookie recipe, used white chocolate chips and food coloring.

Can't have cookies without milk.  I saw a mini version of this glass milk container on Pinterest.  I found this one for a fraction of the cost.

Strawberry flavored Marshamallow's dipped in white chocolate.

It was nice.  Happy Belated Birthday Blog Israel & Michaela!!

From South Africa With Love,

Thank You Pasadena!!!!

The Mother Lode

I would like to thank the Pasadena Church and surrounding Houston churches for the "Care Suitcase".  I would also like to thank Pasadena for releasing their Pastor to come minister for us.  Pastor Lamont Melrose came and preached and awesome revival.  He also did an open air concert for us.  We had such a good time, we've known Lamont and his wife Jana for almost 19 years.  They are a wonderful couple and we really appreciate them.  My kids were so excited, thank you so much!

The man can sing, rap, and play any instrument that you give him.  And he does it all to glorify 

Christ.

Too Cold To Snorkel!!!

No one told me that I needed a wetsuit.  The temperature was in the high nineties outside of the water. Inside it was subzero.  It was a disaster.  We packed up all of the gear that we bought, except a wetsuit and went to the beach.  I was all set for this little expedition, not knowing that I needed to be a member of the Polar Bear Club to actually accomplish this feat. The water was freezing and if you know anything about me, I absolutely hate the cold.  My husband keeps telling me to "Just jump in, it'll get better". Uhm….. No.  So, there I am thigh deep in freezing water with my mask and tiny flippers.  Tiny because my husband bought them from the children's section accidentally, and I did not realize this until I lost feeling in my feet.  So I'm cold and have no feeling in my feet due to poor circulation.  So he decides to take matters into his own hands and chase me, so that he can dunk me in.  To an outsider it would look as if we were frolicking in the water having the time of our lives, I was running for my life (On feet that were pretty much dead).  He never got me and gave up.  I also gave up and sat on the beach for the rest of the afternoon and prayed for the resurrection of my feet .  I've been snorkeling in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, the water was warm there.  So unless the water warms up or I get a wetsuit there will be no snorkeling in the foreseeable future.  I still can't feel my big toe.

From South Africa With Love,

Wind Surfing

First, I would like to apologize for my blog neglect.  I have been leading a boring existence for a couple of weeks (and loving it).   Sooooo…….. Wind Surfing!!!!!!!!!! From afar they look like a flock of birds, or a parade of kites.  So pretty!!! I plan on trying this in the near future, I just need a shark free area to do it in.  I don't want to look like  a sausage sent from heaven to the great whites here.  It looks like so much fun.  My family thinks that I am crazy for wanting to try it but why not?  What an experience it will be, I'll have bragging rights and who doesn't like having those?  I'm going snorkeling next week!!!!  I have to find a water proof camera, unfortunately my iPhone cannot take a dip with me.  Get on the ball Apple, I need a waterproof iPhone!  

From South Africa With Love,

Marshmallow Mania

*Small Disclaimer*

It's not exactly marshmallow mania since I only made one batch, but I felt manic while doing it.

My youngest son absolutely loves marshmallows, so I decided to try to make them.  Making the marshmallows was easy enough.  Making the corn syrup (they of course don't sell it here) was a pain in the glutemus maximus.  You really have to watch the corn syrup or it gets too hard I wouldn't let it get to the 235° that it suggested, that was wrong.  It just needs to thicken enough to look like syrup, cook it too long and it crystallizes.

Corn Syrup

Ingredients:

3-4 ears of corn or 2 cups frozen corn kernels

5 1/4 cups water (reduce this to 2 1/2 cups if leaving the corn out)

36 oz. of sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

Slice or snap corn on the cob into smaller chunks. (I snapped mine into thirds. I cut part way through the cob till I hit the center and then just snapped at the precut line).

Bring medium sized sauce pan with the water and corn to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and let simmer 30 min. or until water is reduced by half.

Pull out your corn cobs from the pan, or using a large strainer spoon(you know the ones with the holes in it!)

strain out all of your corn from the pan.

Add sugar, salt and vanilla to the pan, stir until sugar is dissolved.

Using a candy thermometer cook to soft ball stage (235 °) stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and let cool until ready to use.

Store in refrigerator (it will keep for a long time!, not sure how long though)

When ready to use, if you have a few sugar crystals, microwave it with just a little bit of water to gently melt those sugar crystals before using.

This is the perfect store for me.  I love food.

Let the boiling begin….

Now that, that horrible task is over.  Marshmallows!!!!!

Marshmallows

Ingredients:

3/4 cup water, divided
3 (.25 ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup light corn syrup
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon *vanilla extract
1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions:

1. Line a 9x9 inch baking dish with plastic wrap and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Spray another piece of plastic wrap to cover the top, and set aside.

2. Place 1/2 cup of water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and sprinkle gelatin on top of water to soak.

3. While gelatin is soaking, combine 1/4 cup of water, corn syrup, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Boil the mixture hard for 1 minute.

4. Carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin mixture and beat on high for 12 minutes with electric mixer, until the mixture is fluffy and forms stiff peaks. Add in vanilla extract and beat until just combined.

5. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the prepared baking dish, using a greased spatula to smooth the top. Cover the candy with the piece of prepared plastic wrap, pressing it down lightly to seal the covering to the top of the candy.

6. Allow the marshmallow candy to rest for 4 hours or overnight. Mix together cornstarch and confectioner's sugar in a shallow dish. Using oiled scissors or an oiled kitchen knife, cut the marshmallow candy into strips, then into 1 inch squares. Dredge the marshmallows lightly in the cornstarch mixture and store in an airtight container.1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Ta Da!!!!!!

My whisk is going turbo speed, invisible to the naked or fully clothed eye.

All done.

Fluffy goodness!

This was my favorite part.

Their powdered sugar spa treatment.

Notice my trusty baking mat? One step closer to a thousand uses.

They kind of resemble small biscuits.

It was really hot outside, so the cocoa was just to get the point across.

I would suggest using 2 cups of confectioners sugar instead of granulated sugar, they were a little gritty with sugar.  I would also suggest not trying to make rice crispy treats with them, bad idea.  So, so very bad.

Happy Marshmallowing!!!!

From South Africa With Love,

C is for Cookie.

We had a Back To School Youth Rally at our church.  The kids are starting school this week, so weird.  I'm used to the kids starting school in September.  So…..  I decided to bake cookies for the event.  So many cookies, so, so many cookies.  I always think that something is a great idea and then I think "Why did I volunteer to do that?". I picked out a few recipes and went to it.  My favorite were the chocolates ones, so that is the recipe that I will share.  They taste like round flat brownies, a piece of heaven.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2½ sticks or 1 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°

In a medium sized bowl whisk the the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt  together, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, roughly 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined, then reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the flour mixture. Beat until just combined.  (To avoid a HUGE flour cloud in your kitchen.. try draping your mixer with a large hand towel, to cover the side of the bowl with just enough room for the flour mixture bowl to sit at the front and slowly add the flour in.  – hope that makes sense, it makes a huge difference!  Just be careful when removing the towel it will have flour on it!) 

At this point you can form the dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour until firm.

Scoop cookies out onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are set. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes then remove from the cookie sheet and cool completely.

I had to sift the flour and cocoa with my trusty three layer sifter.  That cocoa was giving me a time,  as you can see it was clumpy and who wants clumpy cocoa cookies.

I love my KitchenAid.

This is actually the next day.  I refrigerated the dough and then baked it.  I skipped a few steps but the end result is the most important thing here  (I was tired and it was late, step by step instructions were out the window at that point).

I made chocolate chip, chocolate chip with pecans, oatmeal, chewy chocolate, and peanut butter 

cookies.

A boat load of cookies.

I said that after this I wouldn't be making cookies for a while.  My children guilted me into making more last night, I officially hate cookies.

Hope that you enjoy them!!!!!

From South Africa With Love,