Would You Like To Vote In My New Poll ?!

As the blog approaches it's 2nd anniversary, I thought it would be fun to put another poll up for readers to vote in - I think the last poll I put up was about 2 years ago !

This will also help to give me feedback which I can use to improve the blog in the future (in this case, to see whether I need to list with more blog directories and promote it more as I haven't done this for many months now !)

You don't need to sign in to vote, nor do you have to have an account of any sort and your vote will remain anonymous. I'll keep the poll up (at the top of the blog) until the end of February, and will let you all know the results in early March.

Thanks for voting, everyone !

Cheese & Marmite Balls

Marmite - as the slogan goes - you either love it, or you hate it !

These Cheese & Marmite balls melt in the mouth with salty, buttery deliciousness !

This recipe is one I’ve been making since I was a teenager (don’t ask how many years ago that was !) It’s quite unusual, I think – I haven’t ever come across the recipe in a book or anywhere else (my Mum got it from a friend of hers in South Africa).

I know that some readers may not be familiar with Marmite. It’s something that you truly either love or hate – I imagine that if you haven’t grown up eating it, you’ll probably dislike it as it does take some getting used to. It originates in the UK and is basically a sticky dark brown (savoury) paste that you use as a spread on sandwiches, toast etc and can also be used to flavour soups, stews and gravies. It is very salty & is described as a ‘yeast extract’ (the method of making it, aswell as the exact ingredients, are one of those closely guarded culinary secrets !)

I believe that Vegemite is the New Zealand alternative to Marmite – I’ve tasted Vegemite before and it is not as strong tasting as Marmite.

This recipe uses Marmite as a filling – and also offers the alternative of Apricot jam. The apricot jam works well, and I imagine that fig jam would, too.

I’ve made these for both an afternoon tea party and as snacks served with sundowners & both times they’ve gone down well - the cheese/butter combination makes them ‘melt-in-the-mouth’ delicious !


Cheese & Marmite Balls

250 gm (9 oz) Butter
250 gm (9 oz) Cheddar Cheese, grated
375 gm (13 oz) Flour, sifted
1 tsp (5 ml) Baking Powder
½ tsp (2,5 ml) Salt
For filling : Marmite; Apricot Jam

Mix all the ingredients together and shape into small (walnut sized) balls. Make a hollow in the top of each ball (the end of a wooden spoon works well for this) & into this, spoon your choice of filling – Marmite or Apricot jam (you can fill half the batch with Marmite, and the other half with Apricot jam). Bake at Gas Mark 4/350’F/180’C for 15 minutes. (Allow to cool down completely before eating as the filling will be piping hot !)

Something Special ? Welcome, Lulu !

In last Saturday's post, I mentioned that we had to take a trip to fetch 'something special', and that I'd keep you all posted. Well .... here's what the 'something special' was ..... a dog called Lulu !

Lulu is actually Dibble's grandmother, and her family are relocating to Zimbabwe and could not take her with them, so we offered to give her a home with us ! The photo above shows Lulu getting out of the back of our car when we first brought her home to the farm - Maxie, Dibble, Josie and Mbwenya (not pictured) all ran to the car to welcome her !

In this photo above, she had just jumped out of the car and was surveying her surroundings for the first time ! She is 5 years old and is a Ridgeback Cross (Labrador, I think ?) She's had 3 litters but has since been spayed - thankfully, else I would've had her spayed straight away.

She's settled in really well so far ... is getting along with the other dogs ... and is a real sweetie - always wagging her tail and licking and 'smiling' at us ! She comes from a very loving home and was brought up with a little boy who is about my daughter's age - so she loves kids. He was very sad to see her go and gave her lots of hugs and pats as he said goodbye - his Mum was also very sad to say goodbye to Lulu - heartbreaking stuff ! We have promised to keep in touch with emails and photo's .... and they are happy that we are going to provide Lulu with a loving home.

This photo of Lulu was taken on our veranda yesterday - as you can see, she looks a lot like Dibble. I think she'll fit in well here, and we're lucky to have her ... welcome, Lulu !