I love cooking

For a while I will go under the recipe rumble radar as in my real job and real life we are deliciously and knee- deep in production. But as promised, more advice and bits and bobs will follow when the television series is in the can and I have more time. 

Meanwhile I have to express how over-the-moon, extremely impressed and very grateful I am at how transparently, fairly, professionally and must-mention pleasantly Sam and Caro of food24 are springcleaning our land. There is a saying in management: avoiding problems does not mean you’re a good leader - how you deal with problems when they invariably arise, distinguishes you as a great leader.  Thank you.     

The rest of this post will be a sweet and small tribute to Amy Winehouse and specially her song, Back to Black. Many of us loved her music and may her tortured soul find peace in rest …

Around here, soon we’ll be running like chickens without heads following a bunch of teenagers in a series of high octane, relatively extreme (if not insane) outdoor challenges. And if you live in the Cape Town region and happen to see a bunch of people in the next three months looking bedraggled, slightly-to-very grimy, with shiny faces, funny hair and all dressed in black except one energetic, perky little person who walks jauntily and is immaculate dressed and groomed, it’s our hard-core television crew. Yes, we’re going back to black for a while …

We’re a big troupe this time – twenty six of us. Usually – when we produce food programmes or even programmes like the baby show where we shoot lots of footage in studio – we have our own chefs who take care of our crew meals. And usually it means what food appears on screen, appears on our crew menu so go figure the crew appreciation! But this time the sheer volume of work and logistics far, yes very far from kitchens (like in shark cages!), forced us to forgo that little privilege and settle for camp-style food. But we will still have a pukka chef at base camp Triactive Lodge in Elgin, Gabouw.

But in the meanwhile, we are hyperventilating from stress and yummy, finger-licking recipes and menus and images are the least my priorities right now …! However, in the world of free-lance television producers and directors, you have to line-up your projects in advance otherwise you literally won’t eat. So no rest for the busy … we are in the midst of a new food campaign also and soon there will be more videos and recipes on the website. And by October, we will have confirmation of a television series consisting of our best bloggers (the primary reason why I started blogging and developing a website was to expand it into regular food shows for television) to be shot early next year.

Also, in the meantime, we have to eat. So here is a quickie and perhaps not so healthy it being fried, but this is only the 2^nd recipe on this blog that has to be fried, so there is the balance: everything is fine as long it is in moderation, I hear my other saying! Enjoy!

Crispy Coconut Calamari Rings

Click here for recipe.