Seasoning my Tagine

For christmas my wonderful mother bought me a Tagine. Upon opening it, I was pretty excited about the beautiful dish to put on our kitchen table and serve dishes out of...then after talking to Mum i found out that it's something you COOK in. Yes, i had no idea what it was. But now after researching it i have become a fan. A Tagine is a cooking dish from North Africa, which cooks things sort of like a slow cooker. It is made of clay and is glazed on the outside. It can be used on the stove top or in the oven for cooking Moroccan stews (meat and vegetarian). The domed lid traps steam and returns the condensed liquid to the pot, allowing you to slowly cook the dish without excess liquid.

with the cold, bitter winter weather we are having (see above for proof..my inside outfit of ugg boots, headband and puffer jacket), a stew sounded like the perfect winter warming dinner!

Yesterday, I finally got around to 'seasoning' mine so i could cook my first moroccan dish. This involved soaking it in water for 4 hours, coating it in olive oil and baking it in the oven for two hours...now it's ready to go!

I made an eggplant, squash and chickpea stew, served with israeli couscous and side salads. 

It was a successful first attempt and has left me excited to experiment with some other flavours...in 5 months probably...because im back to Uni on thursday which means zero time for extravagant home cooked dinners and blogging. But i will try to be be better at putting up photos of events we attend. Promise.

xx

New Years 2012

Bailiwick New Year's Party...doing it the classy way.

 shirts, ties and slacks were pulled from the wardrobes, dresses were steam ironed and shoes shined. 

taxi's ordered, cocktails made and the partying began.

we started our night off with a delicious 4-course meal at Osetra Fish House before making our way to Bailiwick.

ice sculptures...

hundreds of floating balloons...

champagne...

...and new years kisses! 

We all had an amazing night! Thanks to all our beautiful friends that came down to celebrate with us! You guys made the night what it was! 

New Year's Day was spent with a good old fashion OB funday...bar hopping, beers, mimosa's, fish taco's, sunshine and the greatest crew of friends. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard!

Here's to a great start to a great 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

xx