Recipe: Potato Bake

Cooking in my oven today is a potato bake.  This is going to be taken to a Bring ‘n Braai at my good friend’s house tonight.  She just moved into a new place and this is the first time she is hosting anything for friends.  So I am taking around this dish to help out, it is a Bring ‘n Braai after all.

Ingredients:

• 5 large potatoes, boiled in their jackets until nearly cooked (increase the number of potatoes if the potatoes are small)
• 250ml ( 1 cup ) cream
• 250ml ( 1 cup ) milk
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 packet of white onion soup
• 250ml ( 1 cup ) grated cheese (cheddar works the best)

Instructions:

1. Peel the potatoes and slice into an ovenproof dish
2. Mix remaining ingredients together, except the cheese
3. Pour over potatoes and sprinkle with cheese
4. Bake at 180C for about 1 hour – the cream will have set and potato bake will be golden brown.

Serve with meat cooked on an outside grill and salads OR with a roast chicken and vegetables.

Godly Blessings and Thank You Cards

Dear Readers,

How are all of you doing this wonderful day that the Lord has made?  Are you enjoying the Christmas left-overs still?  Have you cleaned up the gift wrapping supplies?  Have you found time to put away Christmas gifts and find them homes?

Today I spent the whole day thoroughly cleaning my house.  It was a public holiday in South Africa.  Under normal circumstances the 25th of December and the 26th of December are public holidays but our wonderful nation decided to make the 27th a public holiday this year too because Christmas day fell on a Sunday.  It has been such a blessing to get a 4-day weekend.  Not only that, my boss has told all of us that we only need to be at work for 2 hours a day on the 28th to the 30th of December. So I'll be working from 8am to 10am each day and after that I am free to spend the day however I want.

Other than cleaning house today, I have been doing some research on etiquette.  Today I was reading up about Visiting Cards (aka Calling Cards).  I typed out a long post about them, and then I realised something else, so I put that post in a folder for another day to rather talk about thank you cards and letters.

When was the last time you wrote “Thank You” cards or letters for any Christmas gifts you received?  I haven’t done this for a long time.  I usually write one to my elderly aunt, but there are not many other people who I give the traditional Thank You card.

Why don’t many people do this anymore?  In some way’s it may be because they feel that it is no longer expected, but I think it is laziness more than anything else.

I have a challenge for you.  Write Thank You cards for every gift you received this year… including the one you received from your spouse.  For an added touch, perhaps send the thank you cards through the local postal service.  Wouldn’t you appreciate a thank you card in your post box rather than a hand-delivered one?

If you want the bonus challenge, get your children to write thank you note’s for their gifts too, and if you are a family that does the “Santa” thing, encourage your children to write a thank you note to Santa too.  It is a sign of great breeding (in my opinion), to send thank you notes.

May God bless each of you!

Ashleigh

Star Studded Hake

I have no idea why it is called Star Studded Hake, but it is absolutely delicious.  I made it for supper last night (Mark was with me for supper) and he claims that it is the best he has ever tasted and the Number 1 meal I have made for him.  So here it is:



You need:

• Hake fillets (or other fish fillets common to your area)
• Mayonnaise
• Mustard (in a bottle - like you put on hot dogs)
• Salt and Pepper
• Grated Cheddar Cheese

The quantities vary upon how many people you are cooking for and the size of the hake fillets, so just read the method below to get an idea of the quantities you will need:

1) Grease a Baking tray and preheat the oven to 180ºC (360ºF)
2) Put Hake fillets on the baking tray

3) Sprinkle Hake fillets with salt and pepper (amounts at your preference)

4) Spread mayonnaise and mustard over the hake fillet (like you would make a peanut-butter sandwich)

5) Sprinkle grated cheese over hake

6) Bake in the oven for 30 minutes

I served this meal with steamed baby potatoes, carrots and peas.

The latest relationship news

Remeber I said that I couldn't say anything about some relationship developments previously? Well, now I can since it happened over a month ago.  Mark (the home church host) and I are courting/dating.  We are very serious about each other, but not in an ungodly way.

My heart was won by a '57 Chevrolet Bel Air.  Just like this one, but in green:

At 11:11:11pm on the 11/11/11 - Mark asked me if I would "be his girl".  I said yes I would.  After that he handed me a box, the size of a shoe box - all nicely wrapped in a plastic shopping bag.  Inside was a model 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

1957 Chevrolet's hold a special place in my heart.  One night while sitting out at a children's play park, eating ice-cream with Mark, we were talking about how cool it would be if there was still a drive-in movie theatre in our city, but he said "We would need a nice old car with a single seat right across the front for it to be worthwhile." I replied "Like a '57 Chevrolet?" He agreed 100%.  So a '57 Chevrolet became our car that night.

See? I told you I would give the whole story when I was able to.

Unfortunately there were some casualties in Mark and myself seeing each other.  2 people got badly hurt (emotionally) in the process, and it made the situation among our friends a little awkward, but the situation has begun to stabilize now (and hence the reason for my ability to post this now).

Some of the other information is a bit more private, and I cannot imagine the people involved would be willing to let me post it online.  What I can say is that I am a lot happier than I have been in many months.

Mark and I have known each other as friends since 2008 (always having a liking for each other), but neither of us were emotionally ready for a relationship in 2008.  And in 2009 when he left the city to pursue a dream in another city, we lost touch and I thought I would never see him again... God appeared to have other plans though.  He refined both of us into the people we are today, and in my humble opinion, the people we are today are best friends and more.