Cook and Culture: Keeping positive and active

Pro Tip

Working at the office or from home with limited contact with others, self-care is still important. Start the day with tasks and a goal in mind. Keep your schedules, set your alarm, exercise, make your bed, freshen up, get dressed. Don’t get distracted with endless social media posts and household tasks, keep them for after hours.

Digital  

Don’t believe everything you read online or shared messages. Sharing and spreading fake news/disinformation with the intention to deceive is against the law and a punishable offence. Choose trusted online sites.

Have You Seen It Yet?

Netflix Party is a new way to watch Netflix with your friends online. Netflix Party synchronises video playback and adds group chat to your favourite Netflix shows.

Check It Out  

Our normal exercise routine might be on hold, don’t let this stop you. YouTube has plenty of all sorts, from yoga, Pilates, cardio to leg hour.

Loving the Children

I received expert advice on how to keep our children happy and safe during a pandemic from Vicky Downing, an educational psychologist from Guiding Hands Therapy Centre. She covered it all, from activities, balance and social engagement. See link for a special focus on what to do with your kids.

READ STORY: Keeping children safe but happy during the Covid-19 pandemic

Autumn Remedy

Get some outdoor time with sunshine, fresh air and open space. Take a run, go for a walk, do some gardening or enjoy a lovely autumn picnic with the family.

Local Is Lekker

Support your favourite local business, if you can’t make it to a party send a gift, practise random acts of kindness in your local community, check up with family and friends.

Community Star

Shoutout to all the doctors, nurses, medical staff laboratory workers.  Thank you, we appreciated your hard work.

Food For Thought

There is always something to be grateful for.

Adult Cheesecake

This one is for the adults. No under 18s. I made a few changes to my family recipe. This one will glam your socks off with a bit of alcohol and beautiful edible flowers. PS: this one will go down well with the gin lovers.

Ready-made Swiss roll with jam (cut into 1cm slices)

• 30ml gin (I used a local Fynbos-infused gin)
• 1 packet of red or pink jelly, already mixed with water or 400ml pink tonic water heated with 10ml gelatine (stir till dissolved)
• 250ml fresh cream (whipped)
• 250ml Orley Whip dessert cream (whipped)
• 250ml tub of smooth cottage
• cheese 80 ml lemon juice
• 10ml gelatine
• 60ml gin
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 4 drops of pink food colouring (optional)
• Edible flowers

Method:

• Place slices of Swiss roll at the bottom of a round spring form pan.
• Take 80 ml of the already mixed jelly, add 30 ml of the gin and pour evenly over the Swiss roll.
• Whip up cream till stiff.
• Whip up Orley Whip till stiff.
• In a small bowl, mix gelatine with lemon juice and heat in the microwave for two minutes. Stir until dissolved.
• Mix 60ml gin into condensed milk (optional food colouring if you like pink) and add the lemon juice mixture.
• Add the tub of smooth cottage cream to this mixture.
• Fold the Orley whip and cream into this mixture.
• Empty out the mixture into the spring form pan and level at the top.
• Let it set in the fridge for a few about 10 minutes.
• Carefully pour the rest of the gin jelly over the top and if you want to be fancy add a few edible flowers.
• Refrigerate afterwards. Cheers to the adults!
• If you don’t want to use the Swiss roll soaked in gin, you can replace it with a packet of tennis biscuits.

Bi-weekly by Annelette Bezuidenhout, a media specialist at Caxton local media.

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