You are browsing the archive for Food Photography.




“Peace and Quiet” and a Rose for Mom

May 10, 2012 in Beverages, Drinks, Food Photography, Thirsty Thursday, Uncategorized

My kids used to ask me every year, “What do you want for mother’s day Mommy?” My answer was and always is the same. “Peace and Quiet”.  Well, maybe not the quiet part. Any mother of three children will know what I am talking about. A day of peace and no bickering and moaning among the kids!  That is a great gift. Jokes aside… an even greater gift is having them around. As long as we are all together, I don’t really mind what we do. I just want everyone to get along and enjoy the day. I have realized that as the kids grow up there will be times when we won’t always be together but I know they will be thinking of me wherever they are. I know they will be rolling their eyes and saying “I know, I know, you want peace and quiet…” Even though that is all I jokingly ask for, I always get breakfast in bed, little gifts and pampered for the day, which of course I love. In my opinion, we experience Mother’s Day everyday when we look at our children! I hope I never feel “Peace and Quiet”.

I am one of four children so I know my mother knows what I am talking about. Even though I was always the peaceful quiet one… hmm.
This post is for my mother who I seldom see any more as she is far away from here. She also celebrates her birthday this week. Lucky mommy!
I will celebrate her birthday with her favourite drink, Cape Velvet and her favourite flowers – roses -  while I think of her.
Happy Birthday ‘Mã’ and Happy Mother’s Day on Sunday. Hope you have a day full of “Peace and Quiet”.
As far back as I can remember, my mom has loved roses. I remember walking with her as a child as she pruned the rose bushes in the front yard. Not having much interest in flowers or plants at that stage, I would wander off onto the lawn and do cartwheels and hand stands while she admired her roses.

Two years ago on mother’s day  my family and I visited a place in Pretoria called Ludwig’s Roses. It’s a beautiful rose farm with just about any colour rose you can imagine. You can walk around the many rows displaying a variety of roses and pick any rose to custom make your bunch. It was quite amusing to see the names given to roses. They also have a little restaurant on the farm where they serve breakfasts, light meals and a number of rose specialities – from milkshakes, smoothies and coffees to cakes and jams.
I liked this bunch of roses which was displayed at the entrance.

The Mama Africa. An appropriate name for a Mother’s Day rose.


Because my mother’s favourite drink is Cape Velvet, I wanted to try to blend the rose aroma and colours into the infamous Cape Velvet. You may like to replace the grenadine syrup with a syrup of similar density. This allows you to play with colours and flavours. So here then is my recipe for Mother’s Day.

I wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day!

A New Home and Choc Chip Cookies

May 4, 2012 in Cookies, Food Photography, Home-made, Pastries and Sweets, Sweets

This is more of a catch-up post on what I have been up to. But I will add some foodie stuff in…I can’t resist it.
Last year my husband and I decided that we had had enough of the rat race and merely existing instead of living was not an option for us. We made a decision that Cape Town was going to be our new home. Things just started falling into place and everything that was meant to happen, happened. It just felt so right – even though the two or three months leading up to the “Big Move” were stressful, it was worth the wait. I guess we are extremely lucky and very blessed.

We drove down over five days with the kids and doggies in two cars, stopping along little towns and places we never knew existed.  What a great trip!
The booking of places to sleep overnight was very last minute so we often found ourselves booking into what was available in the nearest town. There are some strange places out there!!! We were very fortunate in our choice of accommodation though. When we eventually got to Cape Town it was already rather late and I just could not find an affordable pet friendly place to stay. Luckily my husband had packed the tent in the car ‘in case’. Thank goodness for that – we camped out for the night at the Noordhoek Caravan Park very unprepared. Pouring rain, hole in the tent…. ( advise to parents: check tents after teens have taken it out for the weekend). Anyway, it was all very exciting and certainly not the worst experience we’ve had. The next day the removal van was on time, waiting for us to arrive. The move went rather smoothly which I am grateful for. So, here we are ready to take on the ‘Mother City’.

That was two months ago and it has been hectic settling into the day to day routine. Don’t know about you but I detest having to fill out forms. And after filling out many of them we finally have internet access, phone lines and all those ‘techie’ things that we rely on.   We just need to change our pace slightly. There is just so much to see and do in Cape Town and we are enjoying every minute – with cameras around our ‘Vaalie’ necks. I am still trying to find where to buy my favourite ‘foodie goodies’ but discovering new things is part of the plan.

So now, it’s me and my blog. I have so much to catch up on and share with you.

With a big move comes insecurity. Especially for kids. Lots of hugs and comforting food makes it all feel like home.
Here is my family’s favourite comfort food at the moment. Good Old Choc Chip Cookies.

These have certainly earned the title of “comfort food’. After all, if there’s chocolate in them, there is comfort.
I baked a big batch of these before the trip, hoping it would last….NOT!  So now, I bake two batches at a time and store them in the cookie jars. Still doesn’t last.
What makes your Choc Chip Cookies different? A special ingredient or a specific method you use? I am always keen to try new Choc Chip Cookie recipes.




Notice, my cookie jar is still full! That’s because the kids were still asleep when these were baked.

 

Chunky Berry Medley Smoothie

January 12, 2012 in Desserts, Food Photography, Recipes

When I was younger I would easily lie in the sun next to the pool for hours to acquire that golden brown 80′s tan. It was the ‘in thing’ then. As I got older my tolerance for the heat and lack of time made it very difficult to just lie in the sun. I still enjoy maybe an hour or so by the pool, but I prefer to catch a good swim and watch the kids splash around rather than just tanning. I don’t have that patience anymore and my mind starts running with all the things I have to do.
Time seems to be a luxury today! There’s something about getting older that distorts your perception of time. I just can’t seem to do as much today as I did ten years ago or maybe there is just so much more I want to do all at once, if that makes sense.

Anyway, it has been so hot here that most of the holiday season was spent next to the water. Even my dog Chocolate who always runs away from getting dunked into the pool, didn’t seem to mind the occasional dip.

Chocolate trying to dodge a dunking!

So while enjoying the invigorating sunshine and refreshing sparkling water the ideas were going in my head…
Smoothies, water, camera, berries, ice, glass and eventually I came up with this inviting berry smoothie. I was also inspired by one of the TASTE magazine issues recently and have been dying to try the whole blue and pink combination.
Hopefully the photos say “I want to it now!”


Berries are one of my favourite fruits and they are super healthy too. As we are all watching our health at this time of the year, I thought this would be the perfect inspiration. Did you know the smoothie was invented way back in the 60′s? ‘The Story of Smoothie King‘ tells all about how the smoothie came about.

Here are some nutritional facts about berries:

  • Low in Cholesterol, Saturated Fat and Sodium
  • Good source of Vitamin K and C
  • Source of the minerals Magnesium and manganese
  • High on Dietary Fibre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get the recipe at The Purple Calabash

Switch to our mobile site