cinnamon

The other morning I watched the DVD of Julie and Julia for the first time. This is the wonderful movie based on the novel that inspired me three years ago to start writing my food blog, first in Afrikaans and later here in English. I never wanted to see it in the theatre amongst the popcorn and cellphone brigade and ordered the DVD as soon as it became available.

But when it finally arrived, I was almost too scared to watch. And when three days later it still lied unopened on my table, Peacock Man couldn’t take it any longer. Can he watch it? It was like letting go of a child. “Please just don’t tell me if you don’t like it. I won’t be able to handle it,” I reluctantly agreed.

When I got home after work that evening Peacock Man was waiting for me. “It’s you – the movie was made for you!”. But then he refused to give me back my DVD – he gave me the money to order another one. “I’m keeping this one – you won’t make the time to watch it sooner anyway.” The cheek!

But it was also a very clever trick he played on me. As soon as the other DVD arrived, i got up early one morning to watch it before work. I started crying from the opening sequence of the movie and when the end titles rolled on screen the tears were still streaming down my cheeks.

Don’t ask me why —  maybe because it is because it is the first time that something actually visually portrayed the passion I feel in my heart. Maybe because of all the wasted hours I don’t get to spend in my kitchen  . . .

When I opened my front door for Peacock Man he had quite a shock – he thought I had a death in the family. I looked like someone who had done a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson in the boxing ring. “Hmm  . . . a bit close to home, I think,” he murmured when he eventually realised what was going on.

That evening I went to a concert in the baxter where my nephew was playing Rachmaninoff. He’s a second year music student at UCT and studies piano under Francois du Toit and also double bass. He is so incredibly talented and so passionate about his music.

What will life be without this kond of passion? Not the kind of life i want to live, that’s for sure. But I must say, when I had to get up only an hour or two after I went to bed after the concert to bake on order for an early morning meeting of my big boss, the passion took some time to kick in!

I dragged my weary body from bed and stumbled towards the kitchen where I turned on the oven, still hal;f asleep. But the moment I reached out to take my trusted mixing bowl from the shelf, I was suddenly wide awake and I felt that grand old passion surging trhough my veins. An almost surreal experience . . .

Here’s my early morning triple cheese muffins

This is what you’ll need

150 g self-raising flour

½ teespoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 eggs

310 ml milk

20 g butter, melted

4 spring onions, finely chopped

2 tablespoons finely grated mozzarella

2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan

2 tablespoons finely grated cheddar

This is how you do it

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease 8 holes of a 12-hole muffin pan. Sift the flour, soda and cayenne into a mixing bowl. Whisk the egg, butter, milk and onion together in a smaller bowl. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Observe the golden muffin rule – don’t overmix!  Spoon half of the mixture into the greased holes. (Don’t fret – the batter is slightly runny.) Mix the three cheeses together and sprinkle on top. Top with the remaining batter. Bake for about 20 minutes. Leave the muffins in the pan for about five minutes to slightly cool down before taking it out and putting it on a wire rack to cool.