OH! And also we don’t have a camera right now! Working on getting one for GennaVIVA’s 21st Birthday. Borrowing where we can for now.

Enjoy what there is!

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Serves: 8

For Cake:

1 extra-large egg

125ml cocoa sifted

125ml oil

375ml cake flour

5ml baking powder

5ml bicarbonate of soda

2ml salt

125ml buttermilk

5ml vanilla essence

250ml sugar

125ml hot water

For Icing:

250g white chocolate broken into squares

250ml cream

15ml butter

Drop red food coloring

Now the first thing to write off: The Icing.

Although lovely tasting, it doesn’t set. At all. Not even with a BAG of icing sugar.

1. Preheat oven to 150C and grease two 20cm cake tins with butter or nonstick spray. Line the tins with baking paper, and grease again.
2. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl in the order they’re listed, blending them only once the last ingredient has been added.

1. Beat until smooth.
2. Turn the batter into the prepared tins and bake for 30 minutes or until the cakes are done ( a testing skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes should come out clean).
3. Cool slightly in tins till before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

1. Cut each cake in half to from two thin layers if desired.

We suggest using normal water or cream cheese based icing sugar for sticking the layers together.

Secondly: Do not tier in different sizes. It will crack in the middle and run down the sides.

Decorate as desired.

So besides all the stress, and the general consensus that the party was going to be a total disaster, it ended up looking super cute! Suited the Aunty to a T.

It was pink and yellow themed as promised! The table was decorated by hanging Chinese Lanterns above the table.

The original “disaster cake” was replaced by little cupcakes spelling out Happy Birthday in little candles. This became the centre of the cuteness factor on the table.

The original cake was just cut into pieces and served on the table. Covered in fake flowers. Yes, it helped disguise the ugliness.

The same flowers were scattered over the table.

Including floating candles and roses.

Some yumalicious milktarts. Very South-African-traditional dessert.

No party is complete without tea in the fancy ware!

Some extra chocolate cake with butterfly confetti.

General table layout with The Beefy in the background fixing up the music.

All this equals one very beautiful, fun and cute party.

The Birthday Girl!

60 YEARS YOUNG.

No really. You have no idea.

Going home. Domo at the wheel: shhhh! Don’t tell anybody, it’s not legal.

Thought we would just crash. Instead GennaVIVA got worked up about having a food photography studio thingy. So The Beefy was enlisted for his manly skills in making light boxes. Pffft.

Look at our first results!

And here is la Julia enjoying the box as her new throne. Nice. Thanks.

All in all, this was an extremely succesful and fun, if stressful Saturday!

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: 60th, baking, birthday, cake, catering, decor, entertaining, lightbox, party, recipe, table setting ]]> http://gennaviva.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/party-ing-shots/feed/ 3 gennaviva _MG_4049 _MG_3992 _MG_4015 _MG_3988 _MG_3997 _MG_3995 _MG_3996 _MG_4000 _MG_4037 _MG_4025 _MG_4038 _MG_4045 _MG_4054 _MG_4042 _MG_4043 _MG_4041 _MG_4033 _MG_4028 _MG_4031 _MG_4036 _MG_4034 _MG_4070 _MG_4035 IMG_4077 _MG_4089 _MG_4093 _MG_4094 _MG_4095 http://gennaviva.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/bitchin%e2%80%99/ http://gennaviva.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/bitchin%e2%80%99/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:48:10 +0000 gennaviva http://gennaviva.wordpress.com/?p=95 ]]> So there have been some changes for the duo recently. Enter Skinny Bitch book.

Read what they had to say in there. Didn’t really feel like eating meat ever again. But to be sure about the fact, they asked The Rent (she is a veterinarian).

Everything in there is true. Except for the slaughterhouse cruelty part. That generally doesn’t happen in South Africa because they don’t super-mass produce meat.

Now to put this in perspective. GennaVIVA LITERALY grew up in an abattoir. Yes, you hear right, and abattoir. The Rent worked there as resident vet since GennaVIVA was born till she was 15 years old. She has never felt bad about what she saw there. The place was her own personal playground! The duo still has bottles of preserved animal parts and foetuses that they removed themselves during the slaughter process. NEVER felt bad about meat.

What more bothers them now is that I realise the conditions these animals have to live in. The unnatural drugs they are given for production purposes. The fact that eating meat is literally killing humans with toxins that should never have been allowed by the administrations, and that it constitutes animal and planet abuse is not acceptable.

Now don’t go and think they are about to turn full on vegetarian or vegan. Not much hope of that. Too much foodie-blood in GennaVIVA’s heart and too much food lust in Domo’s.

BUT.

They are going to be slowly converting to a 90% Vegetarian/Vegan diet. On Special Cooking Sunday and special occasion, meat will be consumed, as well as dairy products.

And they will not be preaching to anyone about it. It’s a personal choice.

In celebration of this Get-GennaVIVA-Green initiative, the duo made a

Whole-wheat Veggie Pizza

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Pizza Base

1 cup whole-wheat flour

30ml olive oil

½ cup water

Liberal pinch salt

Toppings

50g tomato puree

2 cups broccoli

Cup diced bell peppers

1 ½ cup chopped pineapple

Seasonings

Cumin Seeds

Fennel Seeds

Salt

Italian Mix herbs

Heat oven to 250C.

For the base

1. Place whole-wheat flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. Slowly had the oil and water. Mix with a fork till it forms a firm, elastic dough. Knead the dough on a floured work surface for about 10 minutes till it becomes highly elastic.
3. Roll out dough into desire shape and place in pan. Spread with the tomato puree.

For the toppings

1. Place all toppings in a microwavable bowl with water. And cover with cling wrap.
2. Microwave on high till tender. Usually around 6 minutes.
3. Place toppings on pizza base, and sprinkle generously with seasonings.
4. Pop in the oven for 15 minutes.

Domo just couldn’t wait for it to come out the oven!

TADA! No meat pizza.

K, given, The Rent said she would never give up dairy to any extent and put mozzarella on her side. It looked good.

Love this place. Love the food. Love the vibe.

And all the waitresses are pretty.

Check out this cosy arty vibe.

Domo’s Sundried Tomato, Feta and Basil Pesto Bruschetta (a total favourite!).

Marty’s Chicken, bacon sweet and sour wrap (also a total favourite!).

After that they went dancing in Mystix, but not much since it was near impossible to breathe in there! I mean, hello, who?! closes a club’s front door while everyone is smoking. It looks like they have a smoke machine. Guess what. They Don’t. The Duo’s eyes were still burning the next day!

At least 2am BP Pie made it all worth it.

Domo went to watch GennaVIVA riding Bella. Isn’t Bella just divinely beautiful?! She is the black horse of whom GennaVIVA is the official rider!

They ran like the wind!

There was alot of boring shopping to be done on Saturday, Domo did have time however to check out that Barefoot saddle!

But once that was out of the way, Domo and GennaVIVA made their way to 3am BP Pie’s 22^nd Birthday Party. It was quite chill. The duo was there too early, Domo had a cup of tea to start of the party in lieu of this realisation.

They were still too early, so they went to buy some snacks! Isn’t this the cutest butterfly cupcake? It didn’t last long.

GennaVIVA did try to reign in Domo. But he’s just such an animal. It all got just a little out of control for him.

WAY out of control.

At least he had a great time with old friends, and making new ones!

Got home pretty late…

Still got up by 9:30 though.

Sunday is GennaVIVA’s kitchen day. No food was cooked by her Sunday. She rather opted for some

Lemon Custard Cheese Cake

Serves 8

Preperation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

400g Tennis biscuits, crushed

130ml melted butter

2 x 250g cream cheese

4 t custard powder

2 extra large eggs

125ml cream

60ml lemon juice

1t grated lemon peel

10ml vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Mix biscuits and butter, spread evenly in a 22cm pan.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients with a beater till smooth.
4. Pour the mixture over the base. Sift a little custard powder over the top.
5. Bake for 35minutes.
6. Allow to cool before serving with ALOT of sifted icing sugar over the top.

Raw product

Note:

Don’t have a heart attack when you realise the mixture is not sweet at all. There is method to the madness. It’s the combination of the sweet biscuit base and the sour-ish filling that makes this such an incredible hit.

Dreary blah Monday at the office. Thank goodness for a mini-lunch break! GennaVIVA drove up to Sybul’s Second-hand Furniture store, and found her first two vintage items! Once the dress has been altered I will post it here, and once the sun comes out she will take pictures of the cute vintage pillbox hat too!

Damn, this week is going to be insufferably boring at work, and busy and lonely at night. Starting to work on that portfolio and getting ready for the 60^th Birthday Bash of the Aunt!

The list has been compiled for the food and décor. Now just to find the décor items, and make the food from Wednesday night onwards.

The first Graphics portfolio submission idea has also materialized, so GennaVIVA will be starting on that Tuesday.

There will be WAY too much posting going on here, so keep an eye out!

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: baking, Bella, cooking, horseriding, horses, recipe, saddles, supper ]]> http://gennaviva.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/75/feed/ 9 gennaviva IMG_3872 IMG_3874 IMG_3873-1 n2256025621_34510 IMG_3902 IMG_3881 IMG_3869 IMG_3867 IMG_3907 IMG_3908 IMG_3910 IMG_3911 IMG_3912 IMG_3957 IMG_3940 IMG_3955 IMG_3951 http://gennaviva.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/barefoot-in-the-kitchen/ http://gennaviva.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/barefoot-in-the-kitchen/#comments Mon, 25 May 2009 07:41:56 +0000 gennaviva http://gennaviva.wordpress.com/?p=40 ]]> The weekend was of the lazy kind – in other words … a little boring. Saturday mornings are always filled with wonder though, since GennaVIVA goes horse riding then. She’s in love with Bella, of whom she is the official rider, since no one else can get her to respond but G. Domo has been reading up furiously on horse keeping and the correct etiquette, in the hope that he and GennaVIVA can buy Bella over somewhere next year.

Domo has also been looking into ‘Barefoot’ saddle technology. GennaVIVA is considering getting one after seeing a second hand one in the local Horse and Tack shop for a MERE R4500!

With the lack of available activities, much progress was made with the book Eragon. To lighten to load of boredom, GennaVIVA jumped straight to baking some YUMALICIOUS rusks! Here’s the recipe for one of the best batch of rusks she’s made so far.

Whole-wheat Rusk’s

500g butter or margarine

270g (375ml) brown sugar (preferably Demerara sugar)

1kg (1785ml) self-raising flour

15ml baking powder

390g (750ml) whole-wheat flour, sifter, husks replaced

80g (500ml) digestive bran

200g (330ml) seedless raisins (preferably sun dried crimson raisins)

100g dried cranberries

500ml buttermilk

2 extra-large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Place butter and sugar in large bowl, microwave on high power for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add sugar mixture and blend.
4. Add whole-wheat flour, bran, raisins, and cranberries, mixing well with fingertips.
5. Beat together buttermilk and eggs, add to flour mixture, and mix well with hands.
6. Butter baking tin. Roll little balls with the mixture and place snugly beside each other in tin.
7. Bake till golden brown and baked through. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
8. Dry out in a slightly cracked-open oven.

These were super yum and really easy to adapt with pretty much anything!!!

Here’s Domo being his unstoppable-self and jumping right into the eating!

Some rusks being enjoyed with tea.

So Impatient!

The Chinese have a saying that holds much truth in Domo and GennaVIVA’s household:

“Rather go for three days without food, than one without tea”

And to top off the ethereal Saturday a scene of extreme glory was recorded right outside Domo’s house! This beautiful blood red, pink, and gold sight was seen. As the rain came down, it created beautiful sheets of pink sleet rain.

A multitude of DVD’s (a.k.a. cheap entertainment) was “enjoyed” shall we say?

First off was Big Nothing.

Tense, cruel and hilariously absurd all at once, it may, as its title suggests, not add up to so very much, but it is a deliciously entertaining journey into the night which, at under 90 minutes, never overstays its welcome.

Well, this was a bit random and violent – very much like ‘Burn After Reading’. Although entertaining, it’s not really Domo’s kind of movie.

The Band’s Visit

Very Original and most enjoyable Comedy. The Band from Alexandrian Police comes to Israel and goes to Beit Tiqva instead of Petah Tiqva by mistake. Beit Hatiqva is a far out town that has one bus a day in the desert. All though the film is very funny there are hints to serious issues. In our fast paced emerging market Society, People are left behind.

In the sort of taste of ‘Lost In Translation’, this was beautiful. Stunning pregnant scenes. A definite add on to Domo’s list of must haves.

All thanks to the Beefy, the duo also watched Terminator 2. Not normally their scene, Domo found the whole time loop concept quite fun. What?! They had to prepare for the new one with awesome Christian Bale in it!!!

Since the sun was out in winter (what?! No! Can’t be!) photo’s were taken of the still existing roses in the garden.

GennaVIVA has a thing for leaves against the sky. But the history behind that obsession is for another day.

And since the weekend felt just a little fruitless to GennaVIVA since she did nothing much at all, Domo wrote a little cheer up message as surprise. Made GennaVIVA feel all fuzzy inside, and a little more prepared to face the week ahead.

By Friday things were looking vaguely up for Domo and GennaVIVA. Except for the part where GennaVIVA seems to have a touch of flu, since she is coughing a lot. It doesn’t really help that she freezes her butt off at work, and the only form of heat she can get is sadly by taking a hot water bottle to work.

On the up, at least she is working on some things at work. Check out this Website she’s been working on:

http://www.rockofages.co.za/

And just to prove how bright this week has been GennaVIVA has been working on Tombstone advertisements. How does one even advertise tombstones?!

It’s Bento box day!

Domo wanted to go with the piggy theme, but for a beginner GennaVIVA thought it best if they just start with decorating fruit.

Cute panda cookies!

Stars!

In the lower half is Tuna quiche with a cute panda on it. In the upper left hand corner is star fruit and pomegranate seeds. In the upper right hand corner is a cute strawberry patterned cupcake mold with panda print cookies in them for pudding!

If you want some awesome Bento Lunch Ideas I would go check out this site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuteobento/

She makes the most incredible Bento’s, and is regularly featured in magazines and books.

Domo has been sneaking a lot of food into himself during the day. He just never seems to stop being hungry!!! Or sleepy for that matter. But it’s supposed to be his job to kick GennaVIVA to gym. So the game plan is to pack in the gym bag in the morning, and to go straight after work. Otherwise she just goes to sleep once she sets foot in the house! So Monday: GYM

Domo is currently enjoying reading Eragon again. He needs to get back into the story before he starts the second novel. Christopher Paolini began writing Eragon when he was just 15 years old!!! Christopher’s love of science fiction and fantasy shines through and will encourage all fantasy readers to pick up this hefty sized book. Just don’t ever attempt to watch the movie. What a disgrace that was.

Even though there were some not too happy reviews for the novel, as many see Eragon as just another Lord of the Rings and not too original in plot or characters, it doesn’t make reading it any less exciting. And isn’t that what reading is all about?…

In Project-Get-GennaVIVA-green there has been some energy saving progress in the household. Every morning Domo makes sure that GennaVIVA switches off all the lights, switches off the computer, switches off plugs, and switches off the geyser for the day. This might even help a lot with the energy bill. Electricity’s price has gone up so much thanks to Koeberg and its production issues.

SAVE POWER - Unplug your electronics.

POWER DOWN - Shut down your computer.

SHUT OFF - Turn of your lights.

He definitely had a BLUE Monday. It started with issues at work for GennaVIVA, which led to there being no photo shoot for Domo. He had been so excited about it! He thus ended up spending the day just snoring away, even though he was full of coffee. GennaVIVA tried to make up things to do at work, but ran out of ideas at 10:45 already.

Domo’s sleeping was interrupted with a small shopping spree with GennaVIVA after the gruelling workday, so she missed her Kataboxing class at gym. Domo was kind enough to close his eyes tight during the fittings. He seemed just a little scared being surrounded by a girl trying on clothes… but maybe that’s just the effect of too many coffees today.

Art or functionality… Art or functionality… Art or functionality…

A final decision was made on pyjama’s (not GennaVIVA’s favourite thing ever) that was both functional and had personality, as far as pyjama’s can have.

Domo has been busy today though. GennaVIVA’s aunts 60^th birthday is in June, and Domo and GennaVIVA have been working hard at putting together a great event for her. Here’s Domo working on the invites to the Wine Farm tasting and Patio Lunch at Delheim Wine Farm.

Browsing dial-up internet for baking recipes for the party at home was frustrating, but the final menu was set-up, and was filed away for future scrapbooking. All that still needs to be done is the decor planning for the party. Domo loves themes!!! He’s been thinking about going all out yellow and gold for this one until he came upon an old favourite idea – and Asian-inspired party! Complete with floating candles, flowers, all the catered food in miniature and cute party favours like these flower-inspired ones below.

The Ultimate Chocolate Cake was chosen as the centrepiece for too much candles. The excitement in the household is now at fever pitch!

Besides all this, Domo knew he had to get on top of GennaVIVA’s portfolio planning. There’s only one month left for her study application to be finished before being handed in to The Cape Peninsula University of Technology for a Graphic Design course!!!

Project-Get-GennaVIVA-green had a new introduction as well today.

‘Farm in a Box’ greenhouses.

That way, anything Domo grows there is completely organic, and environmentally friendly. So GennaVIVA researched pricing for their greenhouses, the pricing is a little bit steep. They come in at R2995 excluding vat. But it is a completely computerized system, and so forth. Domo and GennaVIVA are going to check it all out at the local stockist, Benbell, on Saturday. If it’s something they can replicate they will, otherwise, Domo will look into just starting at least a little veg-patch in the back garden. But since neither Domo nor GennaVIVA is very into gardening, a computerized system like this would obviously be more ideal.

Check out www.cleanergy.co.za!!!

Sadly GennaVIVA is currently driving her car everywhere she needs to go since it’s in the dead of winter in South Africa right now, which makes bicycling to work impossible. Unless she designs a bubble form to rainproof her. But there’s only so much time in a day for new ideas, and only so much funding.

But on the technological front, there was a brainwave last night. Domo and GennaVIVA are now intensely studying the possibility of turning Domo into a robot-creature! He so wants to be able to do his own thing and communicate, that fully sensor-and touch equipped life seems like the plan. Luckily GennaVIVA has the Beefy who is highly intelligent to do some programming and plan some practical bits. Useful, huh?!

GennaVIVA & Domo made a lot of progress for one evening, so they went off to bed rather exhausted.  They need to get up earlier tomorrow morning so that GennaVIVA can start making an effort with her appearance before work. Getting up early is also to try and fit in a little REBOUNDING: One of Domo’s favourite activities ever!

As a Digestive Operator, he can be grumpy when overfed, but his favourite hangout is still in the kitchen. He aims to be the next Jamie-Oliver-dessert-party-god. So when a holiday comes along, Domo takes it on himself to turn it into a party complete with catered (home-made) food. Although he is always open to new ideas, he hates avocado, mushrooms and gardening. Gardening he finds quite pointless. This is why he likes apartments.

His low growl-and-rumble speech is quite childlike (much like his view on life), and can have a warm fuzzy effect on others. He enjoys among other things, baking, graphic design, art, cultural activities, reading, movies, friends, antiques, interiors, cupcakes and a lot of dancing. He’s quite groovy like that.

Domo’s life ambition is to not be square – this is a little difficult since he is a square stomach monster… but this does not seem to faze him too much. Besides that, he is currently working on getting GennaVIVA to go green.

I hope you enjoy his adventures, opinions, moments and visions! Just don’t frighten him – he’ll either fart or cry instantaneously!