Of Knights and Tarts

Back at the office after a wonderful weekend. Friday afternoon we went to Gerhi and Petro's place so that D could do the knight in shining armour thing and fix Petro's computer. We had a wonderful time chatting and I'm glad to report that Petro's computer can now read newspapers albeit in a VERY boring monotone.

Saturday was Magic again, followed by a trip to the mall to buy gifts for Friends Xmas and then off to see 'Sky High'.

The movie was awesome. I honestly didn't think I would enjoy it that much but it was a lot of fun.
Best Bits:
"The dunking must end!"
Save the Citizen (remember when we used to use real citizens?)

Sunday was up bright and early to go drop off some balloons on my cousin's gate, the least I could do given the fact I was unable to attend his birthday party. Then it was off the the gym to run and back home again to commence cooking.

We had wanted to organise to get our friends together for a Christmas meal for some time but because people tend to go away for Christmas we were forced to have it in February. We all brought something to eat (I made roast chicken, roast potatoes, glazed carrots and steamed brocolli) and a R20 gift. The gifts were great fun (thanks Gerhi for the idea). We brought a wrapped gift and it was given a number. We then selected numbers and were given the gift with our number After that, we were given one opportunity to exchange our gift (still wrapped) and then we got to unwrap them. Lastly, we were given another opportunity to exchange what we had. It was a lot of fun (I got exacly what I wanted - a tub of green curry paste). The best was afterwards when we opened Baby Benjamin's gift to everyone - we all got a tub of Gerber baby dessert - yum!

Thanks all of you for coming, I had a great time. Even though James snagged the win TWICE from me in Siedler. Gosh, I love that game. Oh, and for those of you who still want a copy of Perto's Tipsy Tart recipe:

Petro's Tipsy Tart (plenty of tipsy, not so much tart)

Ingredients

For the pudding:

2 blocks dates
2 cups boiling water
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups mixed chopped nuts

For the syrup:
2.5 cups of sugar
1.5 cups water
2 Tbs butter
1 cup brandy
dash salt
2 tsp vanilla essence

The Pudding

1. Mix one block of dates, the water and the bicarb together and allow to stand.
2. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder and put aside.
3. Cream the butter, eggs and flour.
4. Mix the contents of the three bowls together with the remaining block of dates and the nuts.
5. Bake at 180 °C for 30 - 40mins

The Syrup

1. Boil the sugar, water and butter for 3 mins and allow to cool.
2. Add the brandy, salt and vanilla.
3. Pour over the cake allowing it the be absorbed.