BEAUTIFUL SUN CITY

Greetings lovers of food, thank you for stopping by and I hope you are doing well. I am back finally back on the blogging vibe after a few months of hiatus.

About four days ago I travelled to South Africa courtesy of South African Tourism to attend the Delicious Food Festival by DSTv.

When I got here I was completely in awe with this beautiful country. I even mentioned to other bloggers about moving here because the creative industry is really big in Johannesburg and also the culture is beautiful. Also don’t get me started about how a lot of places here are picturesque, so I guess I will not bore you with it and just get right into the main agenda of this post.

When we immediately arrived in South Africa we went to The Palace Hotel in Sun City. Honestly visuals that I am going to post doesn’t do it justice because it is beyond perfection and magnifique to say the least. Words cant even describe how gorgeous the place was. After two days we went back Johannesburg. Basically for this post I am going to share with you visuals from Sun City. I welcome you guys to South Africa through my images and I want you guys to feel like you are here with me.

• Sun City

• Game Drive in Sun City

On the next post it expect images from different locations in Johannesburg and also the food festival. Be sure to check out the following hashtags to follow up on me and also new content. #meetsouthafrica #discoverdstv

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MY DUBAI EXPERIENCE- BARASTI BEACH

Dubai , ‘my Dubai’ as commonly referred to by the locals or tourists , is one of the most beautiful places I have had a chance to visit, experience the food and culture and above all having a great time with my friends. Writing this I must say has to be one of my most proudest moments. Imagine always dreaming of going somewhere all your life and a chance presents itself and what you have always imagined the place to be turns out exactly as you had pictured it. To add the cherry on top doing a restaurant review there is total bliss. I am still in awe of the immense beauty and vibe that Dubai brings out. Everything is structured and clearly you would take notice that they take great pride in paying attention to detail from architecture to even food. My mind was blown away as I graced the beautiful city of gold.

My eyes were wide open the whole time trying to capture everything  and took almost a thousand pictures. I remember when  my friend and I were on our way to the restaurant, fun  by Coldplay  featuring Tove Lo was playing on the radio and it happens to be my favorite song. I was super happy when it came on . As I am writing this Coldplay is playing in the background , it brings great memories and channels nothing but positive vides .

It is really interesting how certain scents , words and songs immediately take us to that specific memory that we truly love. Bless you Coldplay and I hope one day to watch you guys play live. Remember people,  God grants you what you wish for. So take a minute and wish for something great before continuing to read this post.

On my second day  of my trip to Dubai a friend of mine had planned to take me out for  lunch. I was the one to decide where to go and immediately I remembered watching a show  on Luxe Tv about Barasti Beach. I remember it was during summer and that time Luxe was focusing on summer destinations. Dubai happened to be one of them. Barasti beach bar and restaurant was featured as the best place to have cocktails.

The mixologist made a fruity cocktail that really looked refreshing from the comfort of my living room. So the mixologist was teaching the anchor how to make one and they did the shoot at the terrace facing the beach.

FROM GUILT TO BLISS

Hello foodies I hope each one of you is doing well. There is a new brand in town it’s called Enerquick. It is the best drinking chocolate in the market. I have partnered with Sheila of Pearls and Loaf  to come up with three recipes for the brand.

Forget about boxed cocoa mix, let’s talk homemade drinking chocolate that you could easily make with ingredients in your pantry. It now just got better with a hint of Enerquick Drinking Chocolate. I am personally obsessed with great quality products and that is the reason I am obsessed with the Enerquick. Enerquick is a new product in the market and I have used it to fix a simple beverage, I’ve used the same as a baking component and just recently, I used it to make what I like to call, “My Seasonal Boozy Chocolate.” And now, I am a believer! This is for sure a premium product, rich in taste, versatile in use and a great chocolate powder for fixing a hot mug of goodness!

I must admit there was no blueprint or masterplan in creating this drink. It was a case of wanting a chocolate drink and making it. Turns out the whole family wanted in on hot chocolate. Typical! So I thought, I should create a not so conventional cup of chocolate.This drink is creamy, smooth, chocolaty, fun, a perfect remedy for last minute entertaining, a celebration, a special moment in time, or an occasion. Care to cure your sweet tooth?

If you give it a try; be bad, indulge, give in!

My Seasonal Boozy Chocolate

Yields: 6 mugs

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups milk

6 tablespoons sugar

4 1/2 tablespoons Enerquick

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

3 ounces cream liquer

Mini marshmallows

Chocolate syrup

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, sugar, Enerquick cocoa powder, cinnamon and nutmeg over medium heat until heated through, about 2-3 minutes.

Whisk the contents together to achieve a beautiful consistency.

Pour your cream liquer into your serving jug. Most preferable liquor  would be baileys. Remove mixture from heat and stir in your cream liquer immediately.

Pour the content into your mugs.

 

Garnish with mini marshmallows, (salted caramel) and chocolate syrup, if desired.

And viola!!!

Serve immediately!

Love the #EQ Life

This is definitely a pantry must have! Let hot chocolate be thy medicine! Find this amazing product that ranges in different sizes at any supermarket or kiosk near you. Also, join the band wagon of #EQlife by following them on instagram @enerquickkenya

 

White chocolate bark

Hey foodies I hope each one of you is well. I have an exciting post today especially for those who have a sweet tooth. I love chocolate but white chocolate preferably white chocolate because of the creamy texture and milky taste. Chocolate brings so much joy into my life and it has been a solace especially during stressful times. It has always been there to offer one the much needed sweetness and happiness that you so badly need. While doing this post I remembered how back in high school me and my friends used to make chocolate , well a version of it though. I am sure most you have tried it , so the three key ingredients we used were sugar , margarine and cocoa. We binged on it every single day , good old memories.

RAINBOW PANCAKES

Hello there lovers of food , as always I hope each one of is well and eating right. ‘Right’ here I mean quality over everything,  get that value for your money foodies.

This month I was tasked to do a rainbow post. When I heard the word rainbow I was pretty excited because colour and rainbow itself represents happiness, hippie vibe, positivity and being a free spirit.

Layer it up – Oreo cheesecake

Layers , layers and more layers,  does it get better than this. Layers has to be the most exciting word for me in 2016. Layer it up (insert Louis Lit’s voice) , get it . Anyway from cakes to confectioneries, layers make everything cool. Layers is a form of food art and incorporating it into a dish is what resonates it as being an art. In that we are able to see it as something that is out of the ordinary  and requires time and technique to pull it off.

For this particular post I am going to show you a recipe that depicts layers. In my foodie head cheese cake would be the utmost example of a layer recipe. I am a lover of cheese , I have a serious relationship with it , it is bae. So cheesecake has to be my ultimate dessert. Its sweetness is hidden in the layers. Versatility is a key principle for this dish , one can be creative in terms of the ingredient one uses for the base and the toppings.

The cheese cake I made is a no bake oreo type of cheesecake.

You can also bake it  but you need to adjust the ingredients and also add in one or two of it. It is a very quick dessert to make as it requires one to make only the base and filling. It should  take you about 30 to 40 minutes tops because you need to layer it up evenly. I am currently having an oreo high and my taste buds are in oreo heaven. If I wasn’t so much into the word layers this post would have been titled ‘Oreo it up’. You can use as much oreos as you wish.

SWAHILI COOKING CLASS – PART TWO

Hey foodies , so today y’all are going to read about chakula cha mkono that I had an opportunity  to learn  when I was in Lamu. It is easy to make and I would suggest you try it at home as the ingredients are common in our households.

 

CHAKULA CHA MKONO

Ingredients

½ kg Wheat flour                                                   ½ table spoon cardamom

½ kg Sugar                                                              1 ½ table spoon cooking fat

One egg

Method

Using a bowl mix flour and water first, then add the egg. Knead it until soft then add a bit of oil, while still kneading and  fold it. Divide it into small portions.

Take one portion and roll it until it forms thin strips. Do the same procedure for every single portion. Combine the strips to make a shape or pattern that fits your desire. Be creative and try different designs. Ummu our teacher had made three  designs prior to our arrival.  Check out the one I posted at the beginning and the end of the post.

Swahili cooking class – Part One

Well hello there food lovers, whats poppin. I know I know , I have slacked abit , but that is all because my laptop crashed and of course I couldn’t access my pictures and all. But now its all good. As always gracias for the love , you keep me going and I want to  send nothing but positive vibes your way. So yeah thank you once again.

I am excited to present to you a recipe post, its a first and I am kinda nervous as to how it will turn out.

 

During the Lamu food festival the organizers had arranged a cooking class for me and my onja team. It was a chance for us to learn and know how to cook different swahili dishes. Talk about icing on the cake because we were leaving Lamu with the know how of how to cook swahili dishes, some though. They are simple dishes but some I have never heard of. The dishes are good and the ingredients are really easy to find at your local food market. This recipe post will be a three part , the first one will be the swahili pizza, followed by faluda and chakula cha mkono. I hope you enjoy the read.

Our lovely teacher for this class was Ummu . She owns a restaurant called Shela Sea-Suq with her husband in Shela. Lamu pizza is a simple dish and easy to make trust me I made it at home a few days back and it turned out okay. Its a light dish and good for snacking. Ummu was such a great teacher, she was patient and had a good sense of humor. She answered all the questions we asked and stopped when we needed to take pictures of the different steps. So if you guys ever go to Lamu specifically in Shela  pop in, in her super cool restaurant next to the beach.

Swahili Pizza

Foodie in Lamu : A review of Lamu Palace Hotel

During the Lamu food festival we were offered different discount rates on food from various participating restaurants we had a chance to dine in. It was enticing of course, doesn’t discounts do that. It is good for business as it attracts foodies from all over.

On the second day of the festival me and my onja team we decided to hit the streets of Lamu, with the main aim of sampling cuisines served in various restaurants along the sea front.  Also we wanted to chill , talk and enjoy the day together. Onja team is a group of food and lifestyle bloggers who are masters in their craft and generate great content for their readers. It is comprised of  Aika ,Sheila, Kaluhi, Kaz ,Gatuiri , Wangeci , Jayson, Lyra, Sheena and I . I will put up the links to their respective sites after the post. Mind you only seven of us went for the food fest.

Now back to the story , when we got to the Lamu town centre we separated, some individually whilst others in pairs.This is because we all had different ideas in terms of individual approach on blog content. As I and Lyra were wandering here and there we meet up with Fauz Ali who was one of the event organiser and we asked for his help in recommending a restaurant to go for lunch that is luxurious yet standard  with great food and of course next to the sea front.

He recommended Lamu Palace hotel and we immediately started the short trek  to it.  On our way we meet Kaluhi. When we got to the restaurant the rest of the team were there. We decided to sit on the outside area because we needed the breeze and also just to have a sight of the ocean. Lamu palace hotel is situated on the eastern side of Lamu. The restaurant setting is  really  rad , beautiful and embraces the Lamu architectural designs.

We had almost an hour to eat and relax before we head out to meet our guide who was to take us for a tour deep inside Lamu town. It was part of the  programme for bloggers to experience the culture of the people and to see how  they go about their day to day lives. So we immediately ordered for mains because we were really hungry and we didn’t have time sample other courses.

Mains

Pizza

Gatuiri ,Jayson and I decided to order pizza together. We were feeling pizzaish , if there is such a word. We ordered polo and lamu palace pizza. Both pizzas had a smoky flavour , which I like and you could tell from the crust that they used a good pizza oven or maker and cooked under a good temperature. Both are what I consider simple type of pizzas that one can easily make at home. I loved the Lamu palace one more because I have never tried fish as a topping for pizza.

• Polo Pizza

It is pizza crust topped with tomatoes ,onions , boneless chicken and mozzarella.

• Lamu palace pizza

It is basically pizza crust topped with mozzarella,tomatoes and mixed seafood. Between the two this was my ultimate favourite. The sea food they used was  prawns and fillet.

On the downside they used a lot of cheese as you can  see it is dripping from the side. It irked me a bit but anyway I enjoyed it.

So I took a couple of pictures of what my fellow bloggers ate and also had a bit of their food just to have a taste. Generally I loved every single dish they had,  the flavours were distinct and mouth watering. Spices were used accordingly and all the dishes were colourful. For the ones that had sauces it added more flavour and texture.

Fish Lamu

It is pan fried fish fillet cooked with pink pepper corn and served with chilli sauce that is lightly gratinated to finish the flavour. Also it was served with salad, great combination I must say.

Fish meurniere

It is lightly grilled fish fillet which was marinated in lime,  pepper and soya. It was served in a garlic butter sauce, sauteed vegetables and potatoes.

Grilled fish

Simply grilled  white snapper served with sauteed veggies.

Overall rate of the food

The food was delicious, method of cooking was also excellent, the execution and the presentation was great . I would rate the food a 8 out of 10.

Menu

The menu is really easy to go around and easy to interpret. There is a combination of both the modern style of food and the traditional swahili cuisines that we know but with a twist. However it is a bit pricey so be sure to check out their menu in advance online just to be better prepared. I compared the prices to that of restaurants in Nairobi and it was pricey so be wary of that. The menu serves both continental and coasterian dishes.

Decor

Lamu palace hotel has a very distinct and beautiful decor / setting. It has embraced the essence of the swahii and arab culture with the modern decor.

It is eccentric and oozes originality especially with particular pieces they have for instance on the below picture you will a see skeleton hangings on the wall.  Would, you believe me if I was to tell you that that is a backbone and jaws of a whale.

There are several pieces you can’t miss in any restaurant that is located at the coastal region of Kenya, for example the miniature  dhow, paintings , wooden swahili furniture and the beautiful hand painted jars.

All the decor pieces are appealing and have a vintage feel to it. For that I will give it a 7 out of 10.

On the down side the arrangement and flow of the different pieces were out of place and the only wow factor was at the entrance where they had a painting of a sultan , swahili style furniture and the section where they had a boat , whale bones and turtle shells (which I didn’t get a chance to photographer).

Customer service

The customer service was great as the waiters were really friendly and welcoming. They answered all our questions pertaining to the different dishes we had ordered.  The manager was absolutely amazing too as she checked up on us on several occasions. However, the food takes time so it is best you get in early before doing your other activities or check out their menu online and order in advance. But be sure to be there on the agreed time before the food gets cold. On customer service I am giving it a 8.5 out of 10.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and be sure to be on the look out for my next post which will also be a review of another restaurant in Lamu. Be sure to check the rest of onja team sites.

Aika – http://pendolamama.co.ke/

Gatuiri – http://leotunapika.com/

Kaluhi – http://www.kaluhiskitchen.com/

Kaz- http://www.kathyskitchen.co.ke/

Jayson – http://www.jaytakeapic.com

Lyra –  http://lyraoko.com/

Sheena  – http://sheenaskitchen.com/

Sheila – https://rabalasdelights.wordpress.com/

Wangeci – http://africankaya.com/

 

Until then thank you for reading.

Merci Beaucoup.

 

Foodie in Lamu: A review of Lamu Food Festival

Hey lovers of food , I hope each one of you is well. I know I have been MIA for a while now, because I have been super busy with school and a whole lot of irrelevant stuff, but thank you for sticking with me. Lets kick start this post now and I hope you enjoy the read.

So about four days ago I got an opportunity to attend the Lamu food festival. For those who do not know about it , it is a food fest that happens once annually in Lamu. Combine food and festivities and out comes a bust, of fun filled eating experience. The main goal of the festival is to showcase the different swahili cuisines that they have to offer, also participating restaurants and celebrating the rich culture of Lamu.