The Revival

Hallo world!! After much ragging and abuse my poor little foodie soul has now decided to resurrect this little-known blog and try again. (YAY! Chorus of happy friends!) I have decided to try and streamline the process because I'm lazy and it was becoming a lus frankly. The reason I am writing today is that we are having a little dinner paaaaaarty (said in the voice of Patsy Stone) at the Beanpod tonight. Expect prestigious new judges, new faces, new scoring and general merriment. However, old fans - don't be disgruntled - there will still be a girl

a guy
& a gay

avec drama, humour and all the things we're used to...

As you all remember - we had various categories and I'd still like to maintain that, but just have one score out of ten that I get given at the end of the meal. I then have to upload the scores and the recipes in the aftermath (i.e. when I'm avoiding being a dishwasher). SO YAY!!!! I hope we get somewhere...I hope I don't get accused of bias by a disgruntled Albean and I hope merriment on jollity will be had by all. I think I should also have an invite application form - you can fill it out :) Hahahaha (scared, mad laugh)....

I LOVE macaroons

Ok so things have fallen apart to coin a much-used book title..the admin intensiveness of this blog has caused it to somewhat fall on the wayside..but fear not! I am developing a new mechanic as we speak. To catch up to speed, Buffin the love Puffin and I have been on a "culinary journey" which involves him feeling me like a goldfish with deliciously decadent food. This is not usually something I would ordinarily complain about..however this food all contains lots of butter, lots of meat and lots of general amazingness. BUT Buffin the love Puffin is sneaky - whilst he feeds me, he has a Virgin Active gym contract. He's got a Virgin Active in his building and can just pop down willy nilly whenever the fancy takes him. He is buffing up (hahahah) whilst I get squidgier.

Why don't I do the same I hear you say - well because I can't afford gym. The sole reason for this is because I LOVE MACAROONS. I am completely obsessed. Macaroons are the food of rich people and since my addiction has taken hold I have become broke.

Look clearly only people such as Serena and Blaire can afford to eat these...

I remember my first macaroon...and I felt that things finally made sense. I forgot about them completely and then all of a sudden, remembered that I loved them. I decided to make it my mission to find the best in town.

SO..my first stop was to Cassis in Gardens. I used to live in Gardens and used to pass my time hanging out at the mall (it was zef ok!?!) No I'm only joking..I was just obsessed with the patisserie. I was pleasantly surprised to find that each delectable delight was only R5 a pop! JOY! I bought R50's worth and presented to the Love Puffin for Valentines Day..and proceeded to eat them all with gusto. OUR favourites were the vanilla and the chocolate. Beautiful crunchy and yielding on the outside, and smooth and soft on the inside. PERFECT.

Om Noooom!!!

I sneakily pop off and buy them whenever I can, but then after a while I start to feel guilty about the cost - to both my wallet and my waistline. So then I buy them as gifts for people. I am a subscriber to the saying that you should get people gifts that you yourself would love to get. I love macaroons and I would love to get macaroons. (The Love Puffin knows this but refuses to indulge my habit...) My next experiment was Daniella's at the Cape Quarter. It is a sweet little stall that sells beautiful confectionery and patisserie. It seems to be very popular because every time I go there they only have the lame flavours left. I am told that their lemon macaroon is the best but have yet to have gotten my sticky paws on it yet. :( Anyways..that's besides the point..Daniella's is expensive - R10 a pop, BUT during March they have a 25% discount. You have to buy 6 at a time which is quite cheeky, especially since they only ever have the lame flavours left. I did find out the reason they go through them so quickly however: when I was there the other day, a very camp man had bought R300-worth of macaroons! ARE YOU JOKING!? And why do WE not live together??? So anyways, whilst this internal conversation was going on inside my head he proceeded to explain that he has this ritual every weekend - "it's just because a talking point, and EVERYONE pops over for tea!" My eyes glazed over as I envisioned R300-worth of macaroons in my belly...or just sitting prettily on my table, so joyous and colourful...it would be a happy day...

How DE-licious...

So yes, the quest continues and I will continue to let you know my favourites. If anyone has any other suggestions about where else to get macaroons in CPT, please shout. Sorry for the delay of the actual AGAGAAGTUCO (the abbreviation for this blog lol) - we had a lovely dinner with Shannon, Craig and Adam on Tuesday which I must let you know about. Have a joyous day and remember... you can bribe me with macaroons (pay attention Love Puffin!)

Back to Reality - Jan 2011

My sincere apologies for the lack of updates since last year! Christmas and New Year was a time of tremendous feasting as you would expect and I was in a constant food coma for the majority of Dec and Jan! 

Happily I had to be dragged out of it and have undertaken about 40 new year's resolutions that all involve exercise because if we carry on eating the way we are, we will all look like Oprah in the 90s. Buff and I got about 10 cookbooks between the two of us for Christmas, so now everyone is expecting good things - we will all be doing out absolute best not to disappoint in 2011. Hopefully this will be the year of "The Ultimat" (which is the abbreviated name for this blog as I didn't realise that Blogger has cut off half my URL) so thank you all for your support previously and hopefully I will have you ALL to dinner soon. I think I'd better start a rotation :)

The first "Girl,Guy and Gay" meal of 2010 was cooked by our lovely "Gay", Al. It was a wonderful combination of tastes and even better, it was a really innovative and resourceful way of using up food in our fridge that would have otherwise have gone to waste. Incidentally, our combined food resolution for 2011 is to be greener, more organic and more resourceful. We have a budding kitchen herb garden and are soon embarking on finding a suitable recycling service. Anyway...that's besides the point..the point is that we cook, we rate and we score. Al (with the help of Michael) decided on a sumptuous vegetarian lasagna which comprised of really tasty alternating layers of cinnamon oven-roasted butternut and lentils with basil-spiced tomatoes, Grana Pardano cheese and a Bechamel sauce. It was a perfect Sunday meal as it was quite a laborious and time-consuming meal made with loads of love and passion. Al and Michael choreographed their kitchen antics perfectly and although the aftermath was quite hectic, the meal was definitely well worth it. 

Our guests for the evening were Michael and Bruce, both of whom have made appearances here before. Bruce's only task was to sit, drink wine and entertain us and Michael was sous-chef extraordinaire. 

Al hard at work at his masterpiece

Salad, wine & cheese! Yum

Accompanying this comforting soul-food was a light and simple rocket, blue cheese and onion salad. Al makes this vinaigrette using balsamic vinegar, olive oil, mustard powder, salt and pepper and raw onions. It is sooo yummy and a firm favourite with us when it comes to salads. 

 The evening was such fun and the perfect way to keep the Sunday blues at bay. We drank wine and plenty of whiskey which were interesting pairings to say the least. 


And now the scores, overall, Al scored an overall 88%!!!! Very good score indeed. His highest marks we due to the taste of this food which averaged in at 32 out of 35(really delicious!)Second highest score was the price of the meal, scoring him an average 28 out of 30 which is a very high mark, also considering that we were so resourceful with using all our leftover ingredients. This correlates with his score for availability = 4 out of 5. Congrats Al for kicking the year off with a very competitive score. Looking forward to the awesome things to come!!

The vege lasange

The aftermath!

Three - A Number Al Knows Too Well (teehee)

 Things are hotting up in our kitchen as Al stepped up to the plate and cooked his debut meal in the Ultimate Cook-off! We had quite a few guest judges this time round so there was quite a bit of pressure! Nonetheless, Al did a sterling job and decided to go for a classic in his repertoire, a delicious, spicy and warming Thai Green curry. Terrified of under-catering, he bought about four packs of mushrooms and about 12 chicken breasts for seven people! Never mind - we had deeelicious left overs for lunch the next day. 


Sorry, I digress - back to the beginning...

Al used an array of wonderful fresh veges - red peppers, mushrooms, aubergines, green beans and onion. He made a paste of chili, garlic and ginger and added ready-made Thai Green Curry paste. Oh and obviously the chicken. We put it together in one glorious pot that was bursting with flavour and made the house smell like a fragrant Thai restaurant. Mm how I wish I was on holiday. 

 This is Al finishing up his masterpiece. So dashing, so debonair and the food was so delicious. He served the curry with rice in lovely deep bowls garnished with coriander. Everyone scored Al really well on taste - with his highest score being 34 out of 35! Nice one! He scored well for drinks pairings as we had a selection of not only red and white, but also champagne! 

 Introducing our guest judges for the evening: 
Pictured left is Bongani - partner to Brucee, opera composer, mover and shake and generally very suave indeed. This was the first time that we have had Bongani over and I really hope that he enjoyed himself. He scored Al very generously so fingers crossed he'll be back again :)

 To our right we have Bruce-can'ttakeapicturewithmyeyesopen-Bradfield :) Psychologist, piano-player, Italian food lover and amour of velor, Brucee was luckily not working that evening and so could join us. It was his first time coming for dinner since the inception of the cook-off and also gave Al some top marks!

This is Michael an Honours Law student at Stellenbosch and the most cute little dot that ever existed - who knew he was Afrikaans? He and Andrew drove through from Stellies especially for this occassion.  Thanks guys! :) (BTW that's a felt monster that I made in his hands).










And last but definitely not least, Andrew Retief (o yes now that I know this I will              
never forget it) Versveld. Marketer, Law Student, Sarcastic, Witty and a fruit farmer by origin.
Andrew and Michael will be guest judges repeatedly I feel sure. 

The finished dish! Ok so Al's total score was 81% - really brilliant little Bean!! The meal was finished off with a delicious peppermint crisp dessert compliments of Buffy. There was far too much wine consumed and it was an amazing night. Well done my Beaney!

Round Two was a bit of a disaster - sorry for the delay!

Happy Monday dearests! I must sincerely apologize for my delayed posting - its been a bit crazy and our house has been plagued by sickness. My cook-off meal on Thursday was not the greatest and hence I decided to forfeit for the week. HOWEVER, just so that I don't disappoint you, I am doing a little write up of the delicious meal that Buff, Justin and I cooked on Saturday afternoon!

 Having been very lucky and managing to get Kings of Leon tickets without having to queue (thanks Garth-man) we decided to spend the day doing something delicious. We ventured into Woodstock because we know of a little gem on Victoria road that sells fresh and delicious sea food. We bought calamari tubes and 8 tune steaks for under R80 - what a win! They even give you complimentary lemons - gotta love a place like that! We took our happy purchases back home and began cracking on the calamari. 

Buff and I were inexperienced at the art of cooking calamari (despite Buff's seaside upbringing - I at least have a good excuse) so Justin luckily tutored us through. (Justin us the guy on the right of the pic). Buff made a chilli, garlic, ginger, soy and lime juice marinade and flash fried them in a smoking hot pan. We cooked the tentacles first (crazy!!) to test and they were a win so onwards we went!

 This is Buff cooking the calamari rings - what a rock star! It was a triumph of a meal and let me just state here that it was my idea but it was Buff and Justin who made it the success it was. This was more like a weekend collaborative effort - wonderful food, wonderful weather and wonderful friends (sorry if that was super cheesy but it was!) :)

Pictured left is Justin Stang - guest judge, sous chef, magazine editor and part of the big Disney machine. Justin is a like-minded foodie and was a rocking guest judge. I don't know his scores yet but I'm thinking he scored Buffy at least 90 out of 100. 

Me scoffing the calamari! 

 Pictured left is the finish product which was seriously better than any calamari I've had in a restaurant so well done Buffy! He's seriously making me nervous about my positioning within this competition. It was soft but not rubbery, packed full of flavour but not overpoweringly so and he wins some serious points for his timings as it was so quick and easy to make.
Here are my scores on the matter: 
Price - 28/30 - it was SO affordable
Taste - 35/35
Time - 9/10
Presentation - 4/5 - simple food isn't about looks, its about taste. 
Texture - 5/5 - perfectly cooked!!
Drinks pairing - 4/5 - a lovely, crisp Chardonnay accompanied our meal, but I must say that I preferred Justin's choice of wine (call me a wine snob, I don't care)
Authenticity - 5/5 - can't get more authentic than that
Availability - 3/5 - it is quite a mission to get hold of but so worth it.
Total score = 93/100! Outstanding scores Buff!

We cleaned the lot. Happy weekend! :) When are the rest of you coming for dinner?

Buffster begins the challenge

Last night was our first exciting cook-off!


The egos were huge, the stakes were high and the kitchen was a complete mess! Buff (whose name is also Al but is not the same as The Gay) didn't know that he was first off the mark but did an amazing job nonetheless. This proves that he holds up well under spontaneous pressure and boosts his position within the competition! In terms of the actual meal it was a triumph. Buffy made three pizzas with two sumptuous an incredibly tasty toppings: basic margarita and the second was parma ham, olives, fresh basil and mushrooms. 

It was a very impressive undertaking and Buff made everything from scratch - dough,the tomato sauce and then obviously added the toppings. His technique was great as he made sure that the base was neither doughy nor soggy, in fact it was perfect - crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. I loved both toppings, but I must say that the parma ham one was the out and out winner. The ingredients were so simple, hearty and fresh and the pizza was oozing with flavour and clearly made with love (one hopes!). Unfortunately, because we have limited space, and Buffy has limited hands, we had to eat the pizzas in shifts but it was a fun and interactive experience nonetheless. We were all super hungry, but it made eating the finished product that much more delicious. 

Nick Ford, pictured left, our illustrious first guest judge was a gracious and complimentary critic, scoring Buffy with an awesome 82 out of a possible 100 points. He scored Buffy the best for taste (30 out of 35), authenticity (4.5 out of 5) and pricing (25 out of 30). We hope he visits again soon as we had an amazing time with him. 


Perhaps it's at this point that I should introduce the contenders... Pictured here is my darling flatmate and best friend, otherwise "The Gay" Al...or Big Gay Al..but don't tell him I said that :) Writer, fellow-blogger, greenie, stylista and all-round awesome person, Al specializes in Asian cuisine and thrupples :) He also scored Buffy and overall 82 out of a possible 100 points.

"The Guy" is pictured here on the right. My darling man, Allister/Buffy. He is an amazing cook and used his time whilst unemployed honing his culinary skills. Buffy has many specialities including home-made ravioli, fish dishes and an amazing ginger cheesecake. During the daytime, Buff is a risk analyst and is awesome! :) The rule is that everyone has to score and so Buff awarded himself a modest 80 points overall.

 And here I am, but you all know what I know look like and you know what I do. MM delicious celery... mmm. I love baking most of all and I even made a little peach galette to accompany our pizzas last night. 


But I digress, back to the scoring, I clearly was a little biased and need to work on my objective scoring because I gave Buff 86 out of 100. Well done - I thought it rocked!!


OK so Buffy's total average score out of 100 was 83!!! Pretty damn good. Next to cook is me on Thursday so we'll be keeping you posted. I'll post the pizza dough and tomato sauce recipe up later so you can try it for yourself :)


















                                                    Buff's Triumph!!

Up, Up and Awwwaayyy!!

Right so here we go. I am sure that many a blog has begun with something like this - something like "o my goodness, I can't believe I'm plunging into this" but the truth is I can't. This journey is SO exciting for me because I have recently discovered my passion for food but I have secretly known it for ages.. I just got a little lost. Right so how this little journey is going to work is... we have three contenders as the name of the blog suggests:

1. My darling flatmate Al (The Gay)
2. My lovely boyfriend Buff (The Guy)
3. Myself (The Girl)

All profiles to follow later haha.

We will be competing against one another on a weekly basis. Each contender gets to cook one dish per week and we all judge one another. There are some criteria and these include:
1. Price - no extra points for an expensive meal, in fact, the more reasonable a meal is, the more points you get.
2. Taste - no brainer
3. Time - if it takes ages to prepare then it better be damn worth it. The quicker the better.
4. Presentation - how awesome it looks.
5. Texture
6. Drink parings - wine, other drinks
7. Authenticity - if you invent the dish yourself you get more points
8. Availability of ingredients - how available the ingredients are in store or if you need to go to a speciality store.

We will be having guest judges to help us rating the food so friends are VERY welcome :) I will upload pics of the food and a summary of the results, plus a little report. In addition to this to spice things up, I will make my first attempts at writing restaurant reviews and recipe reviews.

Yum yum yum... so first through the gate tonight is Buffy with home made pizzas!!! Watch this space and I hope anyone out there who would be so kind as to read this will enjoy.

Delish!