my views

On 1 September I started Yoga. Much like the change in season and its associations with spring-cleaning, renewal and regrowth, it was an opportunity for me to try something new that offered a host of health benefits. Actually, it was suggested to me by Margaret Ellis  from All Over Health . I affectionately call her my blood lady because I’ve been going to her for live blood analysis for about a year now. She is a qualified Reflexologist and Iridologist . A few weeks ago, after she performed iridology on me, which entailed taking a number of high resolution pictures of my eyes at various angles and analysing it, she said to me that I’m vegetative spastic. She keeps reassuring me every time she says this that she’s not insulting me :) What this actually means is that “it’s a disposition of a highly energetic personality, someone who is goal-orientated, driven and prone to overwork and then burnout”. I’ve always just assumed that my go-go-ness was part of who I was and for as long

Red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting I first came across this recipe on the  Food Network's website . It is by Terry Wahl and was one of the recipes used in a  Throwdown with Bobby Flay , so you know it's going to be absolutely awesome! Red velvet cupcakes are all the rage at the moment. I've found this recipe extremely easy to execute and it yields the most deliciously rich, red cupcakes that are light and fluffy. I've discovered that a paddle attachment works best for mixing these velvets together as you could run the risk of over-mixing with an electric hand mixer. I've made some amendments to the cream cheese frosting though, from experience I've found that I need less ingredients. So watch my step-by-step video below on how to execute this recipe to perfection. Click here for the full recipe.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake recipe and step-by-step video demo I often say in jest that I married my husband for this recipe, which I was told was a family secret prior to our nuptials. Little did I know that it was a popular recipe baked and enjoyed by many in Cape Town :) Be that as it may, this is a deliciously light and fluffy chocolate cake and is virtually flop-proof. I’ve dabbled with my first-ever video demo for step-by-step instructions on how to execute this recipe and I’m delighted to share it with you. I’ll also be posting a lot more demos in future. For the full recipe click here . Thanks for reading and watching! Happy Baking, Imtithaal  

This little dessert is known by many names, profiterole (French), cream puff (US) or choux à la crème, but here in Cape Town it’s renowned as a chocolate éclair. According to Wikipedia , it is a choux pastry filled with some sort of cream and topped with a chocolate or caramel sauce. Click here for the recipe.

I was privileged to attend a presentation by Ian Thomas , author of The power of the pride and was captivated by the lessons we can learn from lions and how we can apply these to business. Ian spent a number of years as a game ranger at an exclusive game farm in Africa. He was often privy to the conversations of many business people and saw various correlations between business and how lions interacted. Ian’s presentation contains footage and sound clips of the animals he is talking about and it is quite powerful to hear the roar of the lions. The highlights from Ian’s presentation are: 1. Powerful teams are made up of powerful individuals Ian repeated this a few times before the audience fully absorbed the power of this statement. But essentially it is exactly what it says ‘powerful teams are made up of powerful individuals’. Individuals who are aware of their strengths and continuously nurture it will contribute better to the teams’ performance. According to Ian, lion