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Last night I was privileged to spend my Halloween in the company of the crème de le crème of South African comedy and other VIPs at Kurt Schoonraad’s relaunch of Jou Ma Se Comedy Club at their new venue, The Pumphouse at the V&A Waterfront . Jou Ma Se Comedy Club opens Friday, 1 November  In attendance were Mel Jones , Rob van Vuuren , Stuart Taylor , John Vlismas , Loyiso Gola , Carl Weber , Dalin Oliver , among others. Also mingling with the invited guests was hot new actor-comedian Siv Ngesi whose recent Race Card show at the Baxter won rave reviews and sold out in no time at all. The club is a platform for up-and-coming comedians to entertain alongside the more familiar names and also sometimes hosts international guests. Jou Mas Se Comedy Club officially opens tonight (Friday, 1 November 2013) just next to the Red Shed and behind the Food Market (Old CD Wherehouse/Musica building). They were previously situated, in the now very trendy, Albert Road in Woodstock.

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.