Satori- Kalk Bay

Tonight after a very long (and by long I mean 5am starts and 10pm finishes) week, Josh and I stopped for dinner in Kalk Bay. We looked in the door of pretty much every restaurant along the main road, and eventually settled on a little gem called Satori.

This little pizza/pasta restaurant is right in the heart of the vibey Kalk Bay- right across the road from the Brass Bell.

Seeing as Josh and I don’t rate any restaurants in the deep south very highly our expectations were rather low, but to our surprise and delight, this time we were wrong.

We sat at a ‘street counter’ type table facing the main road, where we got to watch the traffic and wonderful people this fabulous area has to offer, while drinking a much deserved bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (NO, I didn’t drink it alone! We shared! Stop judging!).

Vibey streets and a well deserved bottle

The menu is simple- Pizza, Pasta, Salad. Easy. Or so you would think… Each menu item sounds better than the last, simple bold flavours, classic Italian combinations and fresh ingredients cooked together to create something truly delicious.

I had a Corlone Pasta- at least I think that's what it was called?? It was the mouth watering combination of bacon, olives and chilli in a fresh tomato sauce with penne pasta. Out of this world… It even tasted better than I had imagined in my head.

Unfortunately I was so hungry I forgot to take a pic

Josh had their version of a ‘four seasons’ which was actually a mixture of four classic pizzas. I was too full to taste it after my pasta but he says it was very nice, he only wished it had a little more tomato base on it. Judging from the amount of people eating their pizzas and ordering take-away tough, I reckon they were pretty good.

Josh's left overs AKA Sara's lunch

Even though they were fully packed the service was consistently good and very friendly and welcoming.

Fully packed inside and out

And the best part is, their prices are very reasonable!

I guess what I’m trying to say is GO TRY IT OUT!!! Although if you decide to enter Kalk Bay on a Sunday, do so at your own risk!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

PASTA SALAD BY REQUEST

A little while ago I got a message from an old friend of mine who had been following my blog. She wanted to know if I had a pasta salad recipe for her, as she was convinced she would balls it up without a recipe.

I promise I’d get on it, and I’m sorry it’s so late- but here it is!!

This delicious salad is perfect as an accompaniment to a braai, or on its own as a meal.

It’s also very versatile as you can add almost anything to it. As you can see I didn’t add any tomatoes- because I don’t like them, but I’m sure you do so go ahead. If the avo I bought wasn’t bruised instead of ripe, I would have added that too, and if you don’t like bacon… You should stop reading now!! However if you don’t/can’t eat it you can always replace it with chicken.

I hope you enjoy this, and if you have any requests for recipes, or you have a favourite of your own you would like to share please let me know!

Happy Monday All :)

Feed me BREAKFAST

I find myself sitting in a studio in the middle of Cape Town, waiting for today’s shoot to start. A shoot that I thought I was about 40 minutes late for (thanks to Woolworths and their disgustingly under stocked shelves), which it turns out, I am actually about 50 minutes early for.

As I sit here waiting I can only think of one thing... Why didn’t I eat breakfast?!?! Especially seeing a I have the most delicious home-made muesli just chilling in my pantry waiting for me to top it with some fruit and yogurt and eat it... Yes I’m drooling now, and you would be too if you hadn’t eaten breakfast and had some of this crunchy goodness hiding at home.

Home-made muesli with fresh fruit and yogurt

Look good? Try my recipe here: Home-Made Muesli.

It’s granola-ish and way tastier than any shop bought version. I like to eat mine with fresh fruit so I usually leave the dried fruit out but that is up to you.

Just in case anyone was wondering my sister’s surgery Yesterday went well, and in the end I did MAKE her a new cake... Though the key word here is ‘MAKE’ which is not the same as ‘BAKE’ ;)

Alyssa's Second Get Well Cake

Happy Tuesday all! Have a great, messy week.

Red Velvet 'Get Well' Cake

On Monday my sister will be going in for the op she was supposed to have at the beginning of December, before the clever cookie went and got herself sick and they had to postpone….

 

Being the wonderful sister I am, on the day she was supposed to have the op, I decided to full fill her “life long dream” and bake her a Red Velvet Cake…  She has been asking me for one since I started the cupcake thing, but seeing as she doesn’t live with me, always manages to miss out some how.  

I baked her this beautiful cake. To say get well soon in the best possible way I know, only to find out that she managed to get herself sick again and the surgery was postponed.

Red Velvet Beauty

 My first thought was one of extreme excitement- Now I get to eat the cake myself, but really I should have known my little sister better than that… In the end her relentless nagging won, and she got to have the cake despite not having the surgery and my warnings of it being bad luck. Apparently she then proceeded to eat it whole with a fork- though these rumours have not been confirmed yet.

Hope it was worth it Porky, there will be no new cake on Monday ;) If you're lucky, maybe I’ll draw you one!

Pretty Cake Got Massacred by a fork

If you are wondering what I’ve put on top of it, they are these really cool chocolate transfers I found from wizBAKE - You just melt your chocolate and spread it over the sheet, then when it sets the colour/pattern are on the chocolate. They come in all different colours and patterns.

Have a look at my Red Velvet Cake Recipe- This recipe also works really well as cupcake.

Happy Baking :)

Strawberry and Pink Pepper Fro-Yo

Hello all you wonderful food lovers. I’m back after over a month with no phone and internet... I hope that explains my silence, but just because I have been quiet doesn’t mean I don’t have loads to say. In fact seeing as it’s been the ‘Holiday Season’ or as I like to call it the ‘Stuff Your Face Season’ I have more than usual to say, more recipes to share and more restaurants I love to tell you about.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I trust you made it into the New Year safely. I also sincerely hope you were all treated to as much good food and wine as I was. I can’t believe I have to wait an entire year to do it all again...  

Just before my communication breakdown, I tried out my Ice-cream maker for the first time. One of the best things I made was a strawberry frozen yogurt with pink pepper.  So that will be the first recipe I share with you this year. 

I hope you will give it a try, it’s very easy, and far more delicious than any store bought one I have ever tasted!

STRAWBERRY FRO-YO

  

Happy Cooking, Happy Eating and Happy New Year!

3 BOYS LEARN TO COOK

Before I worked as a food stylist, I worked for a catering company/cooking school. I was mainly involved in the catering side, but when they were a little short staffed I tried my hand at teaching and discovered that I really love it. There's just something about passing on a knowledge that you have to someone who wants to know it. Which is partly why I started this blog in the first place...

A few months ago a friend of mine asked me if I could teach him how to cook, I didn't really take him seriously until recently, when I decided to start offering private cooking lessons- so obviously he had to be my Guinea pig:)

After planning a menu that the worlds fussiest eater was happy with, and doing all the shopping, I arrived at his house to find a St. Elmos pizza box on the counter. I made some smug comment and was then informed that all they had eaten for the last 4 days was pizza... 4 DAYS?!?! They really did need my help!

On the menu for my culinarily challenged friends: 

My Famous Pisgetti with Home-made Garlic Bread and Apple Crumble for dessert.

Have a look at how they did below :)

Jp learns how to chop an onion, possibly for the first time in his life, and Martin patiently peels the apples for dessert. 

 Mikey may have chickened out of doing the whole naked chef thing, but I think he pulled that apron off pretty well. He even stirred the "grosse onions and mushrooms".

 Martin, still busy with his apples. That face says it all!

 So I let him swap with Mike...

 Which was around the time I realized that there was no mixing bowl in their house, so Mikey made crumble in a pot.

 Finished making the crumble, but not happy with me. Apparently he would rather have stirred the "grosse onions and mushrooms" because, and I quote "rubbing butter into flour is the grossest thing in the whole world"! I'm pretty sure I could think of worse.

 Jp's kick ass garlic bread is just about ready to go into the oven.

 These guys rival me on the messy kitchen scale.

 Finally food is ready, Mr. Martin looks very please with himself :) 

 YUMMY!!!

 But wait, there's more! What's that smell coming from the oven???

 We may have cheated a little here, I mean what is an apple crumble without Ultramel??? 

All in all I think these 3 did a great job, it was a really fun evening and they made some really delicious food! I'm proud of you guys, and I can't wait to do it again!

These classes are completely private and personalized to your needs. They take place in the comfort of your own home, and can range from an "I don't know how to hold a knife and what's an onion" level to "I want to fine tune my cooking and learn how to make my own pastry" level. Depending on the size of your kitchen you can have 1-6 people learning at a time, and the best part is that afterwards- you can sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy your meal.

For more information you can email me at: saralohmaier@gmail.com

Happy cooking everyone, have a great week!

Naughty Nachos

In the last few weeks Nachos have come up a few times within our different circles of friends. So much so, that in this last week I couldn't get them off my mind, and on Sunday when I opened my pantry the ingredients for them popped out at me as if they had neon arrows pointing them out. Sunday was definitely NACHO DAY!

 

I had to pop down to the shops to get a few extra ingredients, which was when I realized... I have never made nachos before. So I did what I do best, I improvised. I got what I thought I needed and made what I thought nachos should be- and I totally succeeded!! (even if I do say so myself)

The perfect end to yet another beautiful weekend. Sitting outside in the glorious sun, sipping a beer and eating mouth-wateringly delicious nachos! The only thing that could have made it better is if somehow the next day could have been Friday!

Try my recipe here:

 

NAUGHTY NACHOS

Bet you're all looking forward to next Sunday now;)

Happy cooking, and have a great week!