Buns with custard and raisins

 

Can you imagine anything more delicious than freshly baked buns?! Buns are usually made using flour, sugar, butter, milk, yeast, cardamom, sultanas or currants. I love cinnamon too and often I throw a little bit into the dough.

 

Confession; I have never been good at making breads or cakes using yeast... I believe it also has to do with the recipe itself; if the recipe is good - the way of making it never fails.

 

This recipe is one of those that I'm quite sure never fails.
 

 

I was craving for something raisins and the choice fell on these yummy raisin and custard buns.

A bit disappointed about the custard filling... Next time I'm making these I will definitely make it different by using more egg yolks.
These buns are perfect for a Sunday morning breakfast! :)  

 

 

 The recipe is from the yummy blog Heaven on a Spoon, click here for the recipe.



Gudrun's 'Quick Lunch' Cake / Kvikklunsj kake

 

 

The baking mojo has hit me hard, very hard! It can be weeks, sometimes months between each time I bake. I baked yesterday, and I baked today. MIL was asking; '...is that the only thing you are doing these days?!' LOL It was not in the plan to make the chocolate cake today, but..... I made this cake a couple of weeks ago; it became a disaster! :( I had bought 'all purposes' flour from the biggest distributor of flour on the island. By experience, I'm far from convinced about the flour here... Bread and cakes I have made 'at home', have always turned out better compared to here. I have questioned everything; all ingredients, even the electric oven, but never come up with a decent answer. Not until today! Today I used flour from another distributor and the cake came out just like it always have done 'at home'; moist and scrumptious! Just the way I love it! :)

Many of us remember Rod Stewart & Ron Wood's 'Every Picture Tells a Story' .... This cake has its own story too (for me). My childhood friend Marianne's mother; Gudrun, used to bake this cake ever so often. I used to come to their place often in the weekends to play. There were always visitors there, and always cakes! :) This cake is one of my favorites ever; very easy to make and it taste heavenly!

Wonderful memories from my childhood!  

 

Ingredients:

 

- 3 eggs

- 3-4 cups sugar

- 225 grams unsalted butter or margarine

- 1.5 cups milk

- 3 tsp baking powder

- 3 tsp vanilla sugar or vanilla essence

- 1.5 tbsp cocoa

- 4 cups all purpose flour

 

Frosting:

 

300 grams icing sugar

- 1.5 tbsp cocoa

- 100 grams unsalted butter or margarine

- 1-2 tbsp strong coffee

- 1.5 tsp vanilla sugar / or some drops vanilla essence

- rum essence to taste

Directions:

- beat the eggs and sugar together until it becomes thick
- melt butter and add it to the egg/sugar mix
- stir in dry ingredients together with the milk
- pour the batter into prepared pan
- bake for about 45 minutes (depending on your oven!) 180C / 355F

To make the frosting:

- melt butter/margarine
- sift dry ingredients and add to the melted butter/margarine
- add coffee, rum essence or vanilla essence
- stir well, use a mixer
- pour the frosting over the cake while it is still lukewarm
- decorate with desiccated coconut

 It tastes heavenly together with a cup of yummy coffee!  

  



Sittirai Cavadee in Mauritius

Sittirai Cavadee was celebrated in Mauritius Thursday, April 25th, 2013

This is the second main Cavadee celebration of the Tamil calendar and is celebrated in the same way as  Taipoosum Cavadee - the main Cavadee - celebrated in January or February, depending on the full moon.
The festival commemorates the occasion when Hindu goddess Parvati gave God Murugan a VEL (spear) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadam.

Tamil devotees gathering at the Mariamman temple. 

 

The Cavadee is a festive wooden structure, usually shaped like an arch. Devotees decorate the Cavadee at home, often with help from relatives, friends and neighbors. The wooden structure is decorated with young coconut leaves, peacock feathers, flowers and limes. The Cavadee symbolises a mountain and has an effigy of Lord Murugan at the top or inside.  

 

 

The size of Cavadee's varies, some can be as tall as 3 metres, while others are smaller.

 

 

Beautifully decorated cavadees

 

 

Musicians leading the procession from the temple

 

 

The beat of the drums goes into your spine!

 

 

 Groups of devotees returning from the temple.

 

 

While many - often males - carry the Cavadee, females carry brass pots with fresh milk. The milk is carried to the temple where it is poured onto Lord Murugan's statuette and thereafter shared with the public. It is said the milk offered never goes sour. 

 

 

Many devotees have their tongue, cheeks and body (chest, back, legs, arms) pierced with special Murugan needles called VEL. Physical and mental harmony is important to ensure no bleeding nor any pain is felt.

 

   

 

 

 

 

Another group of drummers, playing on ravannes (drums)

 

 

This guy dancing....

 

 

...wearing shoes with nails...

 

 

A devotee carrying brass pot with milk...

 

 

Vels being pierced into the body

 

A young devotee with pierced body. 

 

 

In the evening a traditional Tamil vegetarian meal is served.

 

If you want to learn more about Thaipoosum / Sittirai Cavadee celebrations in Mauritius, visit Mysterra Magazine.

  

  

Heat of summer subside - Walk to the Sri Siva Subramanya Thirukovil temple

The heat- and humidity of the summer has subsided and we are finally into cooler days, which means walks / hikes. One can say I do 'hibernate' during the summer; I don't take heat- and humidity very well. A friend in another country once said; 'I exist during summer - I live during winter'! So true! That is exactly how I feel it too! Coming from a wintry country, I find it rather funny when locals are talking about winter! According to me they have no clue what winter is about, unless they have lived in a wintry country and felt minus degrees on their body. 'Winter' here means the 'cold season', when temperatures seldom drop below +10-12 C / 50-53.5F.

 

After a lot of rain this summer, the weather over the last week has been wonderful; sunny and not too hot. We decided to go for a short walk; to the Siva Subramanya temple, also known as the Kovil Montagne, located on the slopes of Corps de Garde mountain. This is one of the oldest temples in Mauritius and you can read more about its history here.

 

We've been here several times, but never counted the steps...

...246 steps to the top!

 

 

The view from the temple is breathtaking!

View towards Candos Hill and Curepipe (town on the plateau) to the right.

 

 

We also visited the Mariamman temple not far from Kovil Montagne on the Corps de Garde

Beautifully decorated and I believe it has been newly painted for the Sittirai Cavadee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goddes Mariamman (?) - the main South Indian mother goddes of rain

 

 

On the way back home we walked towards Rose Hill, along the side of  Corps de Garde  where sugarcanes are growing

 

 

The 'canal', which has been made into a beautiful path.

 

 

We went here last year; to my surprise (yes, surprise!), the path has been cleaned and lots of garbage has been removed! Keep it up!