Inherent motivation: Self directed learning
” —children naturally engage in self-directed learning and independent study; that teachers should act as observers and facilitators of that learning, and not as lecturers or commanders; and that children are naturally inclined to experience periods of intense focus, concentration, and flow that adults should do their best not to interrupt.”
Drive by Daniel H. Pink, 2009, p. 182
I-Rate : Caffe Java, Ushaka Marine World, Kwazulu Natal
During our recent holiday to Salt Rock, just outside Ballito in Kwazulu Natal, we decided to take a day to go visit UShaka Marine World (as we tend to do if we find ourselves within a few kilometers from Durban). As always, a day out would not be complete without an eatery break and I was in my fifth element with the fabulous service and scrumptiousness of Caffe JAVA, a coffee-shop/mediterranean restaurant in the centre of the Ushaka shopping area. Especially after my very (VERY) disappointing “grilled vegetable” wrap at a bistro/deli type restaurant in Ballito Junction …. it was, I am completely convinced, simply a packet of McCain seasonal veg BOILED and loosely tossed into a wrap. There were carrots, mushrooms and a few yellow and green peppers. Not even a hint of the “Balsamic Splash” mentioned in the menu, nor the “Crumbs of Feta”. No taste. I sent it back. On a positive note for them though, they made a really awesome berry milkshake thingy – both Rick and Miya were well pleased by their drinks.
Anyway, back to this JAVA place. Man oh man! I ventured to ask for Grilled Mediterranean Vegetables and Blue Cheese on a Panino after making sure what kind of veggies they meant. It was SUBLIME! Really, really very good. Did I mention it was delectable? 
I think Rick eventually got bored by how much I was raving about my lunch. He himself had a grilled chicken and vegetable salad and the bite I stole from his stacked plate was really good too. Besides these very lovely grown-up plates, the pizza Miya and Leia devoured was also oh-so-yummy! The base sauce was rich tomato with a hint of herbs and I understand completely why Miya and Leia did not want to share with us!
The prices were do-able, not the cheapest on the block, but also not exaggeratively expensive. And I don’t mind to pay a little extra if the food is of such a high standard.
The other all important factor at eating establishments, service, was also good. The waitron was friendly and knowleadgeable and efficient. She came to check in on us just the right amount of times and we also had a visit from the restaurant manager, who I spied chatting happily earlier on with some of his regular customers. I also overheard him speak with one of his staff members about how he would not have a problem to invite any of his patrons to come and view his kitchen – something that I’m sure not many eateries would proclaim!
We were there on a week day and although they had a couple of full tables, they were not nearly as bustling as I can imagine they get over peak periods of time. I trust though that the food and the service would not suffer too badly in such circumstances in any case.
All in all I give this place 5 stars.
My little dream
I don’t get it – maybe it is because I’m standing on the outside with only a dream, but don’t the privileged lot who owns beautiful stretches of country right in the middle of suburbia understand fully what potential their establishments have? Sigh… maybe it is just me… perhaps they run wonderfully successful businesses the way they want to… It’s just that at every one I’ve been, including today’s magnificent find, there just seems to be something-something missing. Not the same thing at each place mind you. I sometimes wish I can take what works at each of them and combine it into this … well… my dream…
So what will it look like? Assuming my ideals -
There is a large old thatched “farmhouse” type building, the main restaurant/coffee shop.
This is surrounded by rolling green lawns dotted by ancient large oak trees and other magical trees. There are spots of sun and dappled shade and full shade.
There could be a river running through it – or rather a stream, river sounds too harsh. Maybe there is a fountain in the gardens drawing the eye from the stream, but keeping with serenity of water. Possibly a duck pond/dam. But not a farm “maplotter” type thrown together hack job, a proper, pretty little span of water ringed on the one side with weeping willows. A few wild geese or ducks swim toward you when you near the edge because they’re looking for tidbits of bread.
It is immaculately clean -there are no pieces of broken glass, paper, plastic, cigarett butts, bottle tops or whatever else lying around.
Of course there will be herbs. All over. Everywhere. Because that is just who I am and I think herbs fit in most spectacularly with a country style restaurant and venue – the possibilities are endless and I’m not giving away my secrets. Yet.
The service is good. No. The service is great. SERVICE PLEASE, South Africa!!
The quality of the food is fantastic. There is nothing majorly chef-tacular on the menu, old favourites, but with a twist and a turn to make them just a bit different and a bit nicer – think ham sandwhich with a selection of herb-infused mustards, or a tuna salad with dillweed… blah blah blah. The bread is NOT Albany Spectacular that flattens to a paper-thin piece of tasteless crisp when toasted.
There is a playground, with tables around it, or at least in a semi-circel around it so parents can keep an eye on their littlies, right from their tables. The playground has a jungle gym with slides and swings, or two, maybe a safety trampoline, a see-saw, a sandpit with REAL SEA SAND, not this fake powdery building type sand they use everywhere else. The playground is clean and if it has rained, is dry. It is shade netted. There is a little “forrest” walkway for the kids to play in.
The kiddies’ menu does not only have fish fingers, chicken nuggets or viennas. Actually, I’m not sure it should have any of those at all. Maybe not even slap chips. It could have herb-encrusted chicken goujons with dips instead. Or homemade fishcake shapes.
There are picnic blankets.
There is an official working herb garden, actually a potager, with herbs and salads harvested and used in the kitchen. Organically grown. PLEASE touch and sniff and taste the herbs!
The bathrooms are clean. Tidy. The toilets work. The locks don’t lock you in. There is a baby changing station. Or two.
Sigh… my imagination… I wish I wish I wish…
Maybe one day.
Spinach & ricotta canneloni
I have a beautiful Italian cookbook, Italy – The Beautiful Cookbook, one of those fabulous cookbooks describing the country and its people and traditions as much as it does the food. Next to the canneloni recipe in the book is a yellow post-it note saying “Now you have no more excuses.” A remnant from days gone by when I was still a software developer, rarely having the time to indulge in cooking. The story goes that I had once made spinach and ricotta canneloni at home and took some to work the next day for lunch and was heralded a kind of kitchen goddess for having made such a dish. I promised some of the guys I worked with that I’ll make a big dish for them someday. When my birthday came not too long after, the whole office banded together to buy me the gorgeous cookbook and added the little note as a reminder of my promise.
Spinach and Ricotta Canneloni
Tonight I’ve not looked in that book for the recipe, and I’m sure the canneloni in there is much more extravagant and flavourful, but the dish I made was fabulous nonetheless. It is a quick and easy vegetarian meal which I zooshed up a bit with herbs & spices. I have once even added a pinch of nutmeg to the spinach and ricotta which was fabulous too; and think I may have at some point added mushrooms to the spinach mixture also … but this is the bare basic recipe.
The fun of tonight’s canneloni for me was that I could not find ready made boxed canneloni pasta rolls … so I decided to make the pasta myself (I LOVE making our own pasta!). I got home though and to my surprise found that we also no longer had any eggs (for the pasta mix), but I remember that you can substitute egg for water, so for the first time I made the pasta with water, and you know what, I actually think I prefer it that way.
Ingredients
Canneloni
- 200g all purpose flour
- 1/2 tall glass of filtered water
Spinach & ricotta
- 1 to 2 bunches of spinach (depending on how much spinach you want; spinach to ricotta ratio)
- 300g – 500g ricotta (depending on how much ricotta you want; spinach to ricotta ratio)
- Salt
Tomato sauce
- 2 cans chopped tomato in tomato sauce (Serena is a good brand, nothing but tomato, tomato sauce)
- mixed herbs
- salt
- pepper
Other
- Parmesan
- Basil
Method
- For the spinach & ricotta: steam/cook spinach until well wilted in salted water, drain and mix through with ricotta. Set aside.
- For the pasta: slowly add water to the flour and mix with a fork until dough is formed, knead with hands until a homogenous ball of dough is formed (a good dough is pliable without ever sticking to your hands). Run through pasta machine, or roll out very thinly, into lasagna sheets
- Scoop some spinach & ricotta mixture onto the lasagna sheet of pasta and roll it closed; cut with a pizza cutter to form a tube filled with mixture. Continue till all the mixture and all the pasta is used. If you use boxed canneloni, you just stuff each tube with as much mixture as you can without breaking the delicate pasta shells.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
- Layer half of the tomato mixture in a ovenproof baking dish and season with salt, pepper and herbs. Place canneloni rolls on top of this and sprinkle with a thin layer of parmesan cheese. Continue with a second layer of filled canneloni rolls, top with rest of tomato and herb mixture and sprinkle with a generous amount of parmesan.
- Bake in 180C oven for 30 to 45 minutes
- Garnish with basil and serve with extra parmesan on the side.
Bottled water
I remember when bottled water first started to become readily available. It was so amazing, all these little bottles of pure spring water harvested from nature itself and brought home to you. The best, cleanest and superbly mineral rich water soon became THE beverage to partake of. And for good reason – it tasted a million times better than the chemically laden and treated water that came from our taps.
When you took a sip, you could almost momentarily transport yourself to some lone lush green valley where sunlight glistens through the forrest canopy to streak lightly over the bubbling of a natural spring of the purest water; and while the birds flutter from treetop to treetop, you bend down and scoop up some of this refreshing liquid, the droplets falling from your fingers like tiny diamonds…
It was sold as a healthier water and it was a hit. Safe and convenient water. How wonderful!
But …
There is also the darker side to bottled water > pollution and the stripping of natural resources, carbon footprint. I don’t have the numbers, but I’m sure if you go look it up on GOOGLE, you’ll find the latest figures, but as far as I know, a while back it was quoted that plastic drinking bottles, in particular water bottles, were one of the biggest contributing masses of pollution and littering. Then, when ecologists started looking into it, they found, surprise! surprise!, that the carting away of tons of water from natural wellsprings have a detrimental effect on the ecosystems of those and surrounding areas which have for hundred’s of years depended on the water tables’ rythms. Then we get to the fact that this water is carted from far far away from the major cities, because really – who’d trust a water source close to a concrete jungle?, which of course brings up the question of how carbon expensive such a bottle of water is. And then, again I don’t have actual numbers, but I’m sure someone out there has done this study – I’m sure it actually costs more water to produce the bottle of water than it actually contains (there was an e-mail going around where it was shown how much water a cup of starbucks coffee contains – not how much water is added to the coffee, but how much water is needed in the manufacturing of the cup etc.)
Allright, so you may not be a greenie, and the word ecology might just be as close to a swearword as it comes to you, but if there ever was a reason not to buy bottled water on a regular basis, it would be this: cost. I was totally shocked today when I saw that a 500ml bottle of spring water cost R9.90. Seriously. R9.90. Ridiculous!! Municipal water costs Ro.10/l (for 20 units of residential water) and reverse osmosis water costs R0.99 per liter. Bottled water costs R19.80 per liter.
That is that besides the fact that it is incredibly costly to our environment, it is roughly 2000% more expensive than reverse osmosis water and… wait for it…. almost 20 000% more expensive than tap water.
All I’m saying is … think before you drink.
Thought for the day
Maybe imagination is just intelligence having some fun.
Roast vegetable filled ciabata
I had some aubergine left from the packet I bought for the wraps last night and that grilled together with zucchini and red, yellow and orange baby paprika’s made the perfect filling for a lovely ciabatta. Add a sprinkling of feta, olives and a slice of mozarella and avo and a quick, light vegetarian dinner is served.
 Roasted vegetable filled ciabata |
 Roasted vegetable filled ciabata |
Chicken Wraps
This is our go-to dinner. We have it at least once (if not more) in a two week period. It makes a fabulous party food because you just provide the different ingredients and every person can quickly make their own wrap with whatever they want and as much as they want on it. We’ve entertained succesfully this way and it has always gone down a treat with everybody.
 Chicken Wrap fillings |
 All wrapped up and ready to eat |
It really is easy and can be adjusted to your exact tastes with very little effort. This is how we make ours:
Chicken
Cut deboned and skinned chicken thighs up into bite-sized cubes, season and squeeze the juice of half a lemon (or a full lemon if you like tangy) over and let marinade for about half an hour. I used a seasoning salt I made, it is based on a blend called European Spiced Salt. Pan-fry (I use a non-stick pan with no oil/butter) until the meat is done, but not dry.
Eggplant
Slice the aubergine into 5mm rounds and oil on both sides (olive oil), season and add to an oiled oven pan (olive oil) and grill in the oven, turning once, until they start to get crispy. Again, I used the European Spiced Salt.
Other goodies
The other “stuff” is basically anything that you think will go well with the above, all rolled up in a wrap. This is what we do:
- Lettuce & Rocket
- Salad (chopped tomato, onion, cucumber, sweet pepper and if you wish some fresh chopped coriander (cilantro) or parsley for those who hate Cilantro … yes that’s YOU Michelle )
- Feta (try creamy Danish style feta…mmmmmm!)
- Avocado
Sauces
Here, again, take what you like – some days I love it with just a hint of mayonnaise, other days I drench it in a sweet chili sauce, but tonight we added a splash of honey-mustard salad dressing.
Putting it all together – fill your wrap and roll/fold as desired. Yes, there seems to be a few different ways in which you can roll/fold your wrap, I think each one with its own distinct name, but I’ve found through trial and error that this works the best for me:
Fill a “stripe” in the centre of the wrap with your food goodies, leaving a 4cm unfilled gap at the bottom (this is where you are going to fold the wrap). Also don’t go crazy with building it too high, then the sides won’t fold over nicely. You’ll get the idea of how much is just enough and this estimation gets better the more wraps you make. This said, I still admit to absolutely overfilling mine when I’m really ravenous or crave a mountain of lettuce and fresh salady stuff…but I digress… So with your food in the wrap, fold from the bottom toward the centre of the wrap (this is the gap you left unfilled) so that the filling falls into this created “pocket”. Now fold the left side over as much of the filling as you can and then the right over that and viola!
Enjoy!
Roast Chicken Pie with Salad
A quick, unfussy meal tonight… Roast a chicken, or even buy a rotisserie chicken, when ready, take meat off the bone, add in some veg (I added corn kernels, peas and celery) and sauce (I made a mix with the pan juices from the roasting tin, maizena, bisto and stock) and slap on some puff pastry over the top. 40 minutes later you have delicious roast chicken pie. Serve with fresh side salad.
Roast Chicken Pie
Rustic Winter Soup & Homemade Honey Wholewheat bread
I love this soup. Its got a lovely deep rustic and full flavour and beautiful texture, definitely one of my favourite soups around. I got the original recipe in an editon of Food & Home Entertaining, but I cannot remember which edition or who to credit with coming up with this fab combination – but well done to them nonetheless!
 Rustic Winter Soup |
 Honey Wholewheat Bread |
Rustic Soup
Ingredients
- 250g potato peeled and diced
- 450g sweet potato peeled and diced
- 900g butternut peeled and diced
- 3 medium sized leeks, sliced
- chicken stock
- fresh ginger, chopped in small pieces (to taste)
- fresh coriander, chopped (to taste)
- cream (optional)
Fry the sliced leeks in a bit of olive oil till tender and add the vegetable dices, cover with enough chicken stock (or vegetable stock) and simmer till the veggies are cooked through and soft. Add mixture to a blender (do it in batches if you have a small blender) and blend till smooth. Add ginger and coriander and process till mixed through. I used about a 5cm stick of ginger and a handful of coriander, if not more as it really is the addition of these two herbs that makes this dish so fabulous. You can add some cream afterward if you want, but I’ve found that I actually like it just like that, without any other fancy additions…. except of course a delicious bread!
Honey Wholewheat Bread
This is a breadmachine recipe, so if not using a bread machine, proof yeast and do the knead-wait-rise-knead-wait-rise thing as you would a normal bread. The recipe is the outcome of combining a few similar recipes with reviewer suggestions from allrecipes.com.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water (lukewarm)
- 2 tbsp milk
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil (or melted butter which I prefer)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup nutty wheat flour
- 1 cup brown bread flour
- 1 cup white bread flour
- 1 1/2 tsp yeast
Add to the breadmachine in the order specified, switch on the dough cycle and wait. Turn out dough into a breadpan when cycle is done and bake in a preheated oven at 180 for around 40 minutes (or you can bake it in your breadmachine if you wish).
The bread is a small loaf so it won’t feed the masses, but the soup makes quite a large pot.