Brazilian Pavé de abacaxi (Pineapple cassata)

Pavé de abacaxi

(Pineapple cassata)

Ingredients:

Ingredients Required for Pave - Also some sugar for Cream Topping

 A. Custard:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 or two cans of milk depending on how sweet you want it (use the can from the condensed milk to measure the milk). 

I prefer to use coconut milk to give it a different flavour that is a healthier option if that is possible for this dessert, and fits in well with the rest of the dish.

3 or 4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons of cornstarch to thicken (may require a bit more, mix cornstarch with a little milk to make a smooth paste)

B. Pavé:

1 package of Italian finger biscuits

1 can of sliced pineapple in syrup

1 package of coconut flakes soaked in milk or you can use grated fresh coconut

C. Cream Topping:

250 mls of whipped cream

4 egg whites

2-3 tablespoons of sugar, according to taste (and to balance the sweetness of the custard)

PREPARATION:

1. Put all the ingredients for the custard in a pan and mix well.

2. Let the mixture cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring it constantly until the mixture loosens from the bottom of the pan and it forms a thick custard consistency, you can add a dash of vanilla essence if you wish!

Custard

3. Let the cream cool down for 5 minutes and in the meantime ...

4. Dip the finger biscuits briefly in the pineapple syrup (add some rum if you want an alcohol flavour, I use Brazilian Cachaca for this). 

Base Ingredients

Soaked Biscuit Layer in Greased Dish

5. Line the bottom of a greased glass serving dish with a layer of the dipped finger biscuits.

 

6. Spread the cooled custard over the layer of biscuits and let it cool down for a while.

7. In the meantime, cut the pineapple into small pieces.

Pineapple, Custard and Biscuit Layer

8. Spread the pineapple pieces over the layer of custard.

9. Sprinkle the layer of pineapple with coconut flakes.

 

Custard Layer with Pineapple and Coconut on Top

10. Whip the cream until soft peaks form and then slowly add about three tablespoons of sugar beating well.

11.  Whip the egg whites with a little sugar until stiff and fold into the cream.

 

Whipped Egg Whites and Cream

12. Spread the cream over the layer of pineapple and coconut.

13. Sprinkle the layer of cream with coconut flakes.

14. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and put the cassata in the fridge for at least three hours to set properly. 

15. Serve the cassata when it is ice cold.

The Lighter Side of Life

 “Even if there is nothing to laugh about, laugh on credit.” ~Author Unknown

If I were to tell you that there a new medication that boosts energy, decreases pain, improves your immune system in the fight against disease and also protects you from the harmful effects of stress, how many of you would want to buy shares in the pharmaceutical company producing this? 

Well the bad news is that there is no company producing this magic panacea, but the good news is that it is available to all of us to use on a daily basis to improve our health – and what’s more, it is free and simple to use.  It is called humor!

Laughter is a human magnet – it is infectious and improves relationships, increasing happiness and intimacy.  Additionally it is a universal language and as such can break through many cultural barriers that words cannot do. Unfortunately with all the anger, despair and negativity in the world today, it seems that we often forget just how good humor can make our lives a little easier!

Humor is not a behavior or positive emotion, but like stress it is a perception; the ‘ability to perceive/enjoy what is funny or comical, a state of mind, feeling or mood’ – Paul McGhee.

There is now sufficient scientific evidence that good humor, in the form of smiling and laughing, is a powerful tool supporting good physical, mental and emotional health.  Humor therapy is now being used widely in medical circles in many parts of the world.  What is interesting is that even simulated/forced laughter can have the same effects, so for all those skeptics and miserable individuals out there, try it and reap the rewards.

So how does laughter work? This is just to name a few of the benefits, as there is much more written on this topic, which is beyond the scope of a short blog:

·      It relaxes the body and reduces the stress hormones

·      It triggers the release of the endorphins or feeling-good chemicals similar to those released during exercise

·      It reduces pain and improves cellular immunity – thus aiding the fight against disease

·      It improves mood, adds joy to life and enhances resilience, many of the things that are being challenged in our worlds today!

·      It helps to defuse conflict and also improves relationships.

Try to find solutions to improve your sense of humor by smiling and laughing and seeing the lighter side of life.  There are many ways of doing this, but like everything that one aspires to, it takes a little extra work and effort!

So no matter how tough life seems right now, start by finding one humorous thing a day and learn to smile – a lot!!

Smile when you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, smile when you are alone, smile at strangers and smile at any other time.

“Every day you spend without a smile, is a lost day.” ~Author Unknown

Facing Adversity and Cognitive Restructuring

When written in Chinese the word "crisis" is composed of two characters 危机 - one represents danger and the other represents opportunity ~ J. F. Kennedy

With all the uncertainty in the world and the current economic situation in many countries today, a number of us are being challenged daily in one way or another, facing crises and fighting fires.  Some of us have recently lost our jobs and may be finding it more difficult than expected to get back into the job market, despite adequate professional qualifications and a good track record.

This can have an impact on self-esteem and self-worth; the loss of employment and difficulty trying to get back into the market can be a big blow to self-confidence, even if the redundancy was in no way related to performance.  As time progresses some of us tend to become more negative about the entire situation, developing a sense of helplessness and despair and the consequences that follow.

Negative thoughts are most often a conditioned response to constant negative feedback and this is usually translated into shame and guilt.  These negative or toxic thoughts can, unfortunately, have a major impact on both mental and physical health, causing anxiety & depression and suppressing the immune system.  In addition to this, in our external world today we are constantly bombarded by negative stimuli - there is not often a happy moment on the news worth relating to!!

But no matter what it is that affects our confidence and self-worth, it is vitally important that we learn to put this into some perspective and bounce back from negative thoughts, low self-esteem and self-worth, however tough it may seem at the time.  We need to change the things we can control and learn to accept those that we cannot.

So how do we tackle the adversity we are facing and move on to the next stage of our lives, without constantly seeing ourselves in a negative light?

One way of doing this is by cognitive restructuring/reframing where we change a perception from a negative to a neutral or positive one, thus reducing the physical and mental stress that it is causing.  We have the ability to choose our thoughts and to alter our thinking, adopting new perspectives on life.

As with any behavioral change one needs to reconstruct the situation:

·      Identify and be aware of the negative thought/s or processes,

·      have the desire and knowledge to change them,

·      adapt a new positive mindset,

·      and re-evaluate.

Sometimes when there does not seem to be any positive light in sight, we need to accept the situation and live in the moment - this does not equate to giving up.

In Taoism this acceptance is going with the flow of universal energy, rather than against it. Acceptance makes it possible to enjoy life fully each day, finding answers to every situation.

“No matter how dark the night, somehow the sun rises once again and all shadows are chased away” ~ David Matthew

The Change – The Challenge

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; 

at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened

or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. 

A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”

- Paulo Coelho

 

For the few of you that have taken a look at my blog from time to time you will have noticed a change, both in the title and description and the type of postings.  I decided to do this rather than to start something new and another link for people to follow; change is as good as a holiday!  Hopefully I will be able to keep up with some not so serious blogs to keep it interesting & fun, both for myself and for the readers.

I was never really very active on this blog and posted things from time to time, but I have now committed to improving on this and so for me personally that is going to be the challenge; to be consistent as far as I can and to continue posting here about how I help my clients, and to share some of my experiences in life with others.

Tipping the Scales - Finding Equilibrium in Your Life

Confucius in his teachings stated,  “Equilibrium is the great root from which grow all the human actings in the world, and this harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue.”

Stress levels are ever increasing around the world, and some individuals in Asia's booming economies are feeling the greatest pressure.  In a survey of 30 countries done in 2006, Taiwan topped the league table to report rising stress levels amongst business leaders.  China came second with the Philippines third. Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia filled the fifth, sixth and seventh spots.  The only country among the top six, which was not Asian interestingly enough, was Botswana in fourth place.  Keeping up with fast growth or combating recession are both stressful but it seems that Asians are under particular strain as businesses continue to show phenomenal growth.  One needs to identify some of the modern day stressors and develop skills to deal with them to maintain equilibrium in this rapidly changing world.  The most important thing to realize is that the majority of these stressors are here to stay and are not going away; it is about learning how to deal with them, building the resilience and developing sustainable lifestyle habits to re-energize and to make the difference.  It’s all about the balance, tipping the scales back to where they belong and finding the best solution for you, your family, friends and colleagues.

Latest in Self-help CPR

Today I received an e-mail from one of my colleagues that is being circulated through the expatriate community here in Shanghai and has now hit our company as well. Strange that it has taken so long to get here as it has been circulating globally since 1999, but then given the way some things sometimes happen here this is not completely surprising!! The presentation tells one how to practice a particular coughing technique if you are having an unwitnessed heart attack.

I am sure that the individuals who send it on do so with good intention, but they should be alerted to its authenticity merely by the fact that this is such an amateur power point presentation that even I would be embarrassed to send it on if I had produced something similar. Anyway the beating heart could be used on a Valentine’s Day Card with good effect!!

It also refers to some poor hospital “Journal Article” which did not look like a valid scientific reference to me, so I googled it and found the following information on the Rochester General Hospital website alluding to the e-mail.

Elsewhere on the internet, there is reference to some of the information being published by the Mended Hearts, a support group for heart disease sufferers and their families and they have since disavowed it and have published something to this effect on their website as well.

Needless to say most people would have no problem here with the coughing technique suggested as you would be doing that without intention from the pollution here in Shanghai. Also should not be a problem to do it as described with gusto “deep and prolonged as when producing sputum” - this is part of the normal daily habits of many people living in the city!!

On a more serious note, if you have a problem let common sense prevail and get the right advice from a reliable source. Too often people get caught up in silly advice that should obviously lead one to contemplate this with serious suspicion!

Dalai Lama Refused Visa To South Africa

The Dalai Lama was scheduled to deliver a public lecture at Wits University on Saturday, 28 March 2009. This event has been cancelled due to the South African government not granting him a visa.

One wonders about democracy in South Africa if this is the kind of behaviour that the government portrays. Of course one clearly understands the motives behind this, but are South Africans going to stand for being dictated to by other nations around the world?

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Loyiso Nongxa, issued the following statement on behalf of the University.

STATEMENT FROM WITS UNIVERSITY PERTAINING TO THE GOVERNMENT'S REJECTION OF A VISIT BY HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA TO SOUTH AFRICA

Wits University expresses its profound dismay at the decision taken by the South African government not to grant a visa to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to attend a Peace Conference in South Africa along with other Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

The University does not accept the rationale offered by the South African government to bar this stalwart of peace from entering the country. The decision of the government ridicules the values enshrined in our Constitution, and the freedoms for which so many South African have lived, and indeed died.

The Dalai Lama was scheduled to deliver a public address at Wits University on Saturday, 28 March 2009, following on a similar lecture that he delivered to a full capacity audience at Wits during his last visit to the country. To have the voice of the Dalai Lama silenced at both the Peace Conference and the Wits Public Lecture is a setback to the principle that rigorous intellectual debate and reflection is central to the defence of democracy. As part of its commitment to being a publicly engaged institution, Wits hosts numerous public engagement activities and provides an intellectual platform for robust debate. We believe that making differing perspectives and views accessible to our community is a vital part of sustaining and defending the constitutional values that we express as a country.

No country in the world has produced as many Peace Prize Laureates as South Africa, a testament both to the struggles that we have waged in this country for the principles of human rights, as well as to the great stature of the South Africans who have found transcendent ways of expressing the struggle for freedom. It is with this tradition in mind that we view the exclusion of the Dalai Lama from our shores with grave misgivings. This betrayal of a key constitutional value provides a clear window into the fragility of the democracy we are trying to sustain.

It is our responsibility as a University to express our concern at this development. Wits University takes this opportunity to strongly condemn the action of the South African government in denying His Holiness the Dalai Lama access to South Africa.
We add our voice to that of other leaders, calling on the South African government to apologise to the nation for this oversight. It is a betrayal of everything that we, as South Africans, fought against during the apartheid regime and a gross violation of the values we espouse as a nation.

The Big Easy

Thursday 11th of December brought a rare sight to The Big Easy: a blanket of fresh snow. I awoke and opened the curtains expecting sunshine as I had run in 24°C the previous day! Seems as though I manage to attract the cold and sometimes not such good weather wherever I travel! Fortunately this was short lived and although Friday was cold it started to warm up by Saturday just when it was time to return to Shanghai. The last recorded snowfall in New Orleans was in December 2004.

I have traveled to many cities around the world but found New Orleans to be quite fascinating, perhaps because my hotel was located in the French Quarter where much of the entertainment occurs in the city.

Although there was little evidence of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the French Quarter it is still a topic much talked about by the locals and many people are still trying to recover and rebuild their homes but in general the attitude is positive. The French Quarter is particularly attractive with some beautiful homes, many now decorated for the Christmas Season.
The people are friendly and southern hospitality was welcoming despite the sometimes particularly slow service in the restaurants and the odd hustler trying to extricate a wallet or some money from you!

The French Quarter is crazy and bars are open 24 hours a day, and one is able to walk the streets drinking alcohol in public and go from bar to bar as long as it is in paper cups. At 3 am on Sat morning as I was returning to my hotel to get to the airport for my early flight Bourbon Street was more crowded than the main shopping areas of Shanghai on a busy day!! Not often that one has to fight your way through the masses on what seems to be a normal night out in this particular part of the US! Every form of music, rock to jazz, blues and country blares from every bar and club. The atmosphere is extremely vibrant and energizing but different to that which one often experiences in Asian cities. It is very easy to find yourself out until 6 am in the morning and suddenly realizing that the sun is about ready to rise and breakfast is beckoning.

Also fascinating were the number of “girly/boyi” bars or whatever one wishes to call them. “Hustler”, “Barely Legal”,” Males better looking than Females” etc are on every block on Bourbon St so business has to be good for them. I met up with one of the dancers in a bar after her show – not at her show and she came over to say hello as she was fascinated by my accent and for no other reason!! She was down from California for the weekend just to make a little extra money and she was barely legal but must have been over 18 to be drinking in a downtown bar.

Local cuisine is excellent although as in many restaurants in the US, vegetables and salads are not really the order of the day, and eventually I was craving just to have a regular salad or plate of steamed vegetables without any of the sauces or garnishing that tend to abound and add all the additional calories. My next cooking adventure will be to try my hand at some Creole shrimp, gumbo and jambalaya, all tasty dishes, but will have to be accompanied by some greens.

The economy of New Orleans seems to be doing well if just based on the thirsty business in the quarter and slowly some of the folk are recovering from their devastation and life goes on – this is a city to be recommended for a different travel experience.

Miriam Makeba - One of South Africa's Greatest Singers

Miriam Makeba, also commonly known as “Mama Afrika” and one of my favourite African singers died at the age of 76, after collapsing on stage in Italy in early November.
In her dazzling career, she performed with musical legends from around the world such as Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte and Paul Simon.
Throughout her life, Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the victory over apartheid through the art of song, living in exile for 31 years.

The first African woman to win a Grammy award, Makeba started singing in Sophiatown, a neighborhood of Johannesburg that was a cultural hotspot in the 1950s before its black residents were forcibly removed by the apartheid government. Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording in 1966 together with Belafonte for "An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba”.
One of my favourite songs from that album is called MALAIKA, which means "angel" in Swahili, a song first recorded by Kenyan musician Fadhili William and his band Jambo Boys in 1960.

No eggs, milk, fish or veggies and no kinky sex either – how are we to survive?

...and just to continue the food saga that is ongoing in China at the present moment and probably has been for some time in the past.
Early last week authorities in Wuxi confirmed that fish sold at a local wet market were contaminated with high levels of formaldehyde. This was done in order to preserve the whitebait

Then later in the same week China extended sympathy over a Japanese consumer's sickness caused by eating China-made frozen green beans. According to Japanese media, a woman fell ill after eating the beans produced by a company in Yantai, she experienced numbness in her mouth after eating the beans and health authorities discovered organophosphate pesticides in the product.

So now it looks as though we will need to resort to eating only Pringle chips, but even that has the danger of causing high cholesterol so what to do next? One cannot live on drinking water and breathing air alone, without even the slightest possibility of a spiced up sex life with chocolate body paints (see previous comments)!

No more egg nog, no more omelettes?

Following the recent milk scare in China, Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety announced this last weekend that some eggs produced in northeast China (Dalian) contained unacceptable (but lower range) limits of melamine, as allowed by the HK authorities. They have also said that a 10-kg or three-year-old child would have to eat 24 of the eggs and a 60-kg adult 283 eggs to reach their daily tolerable intake of the chemical. Happy eating!

A food safety official in Dalian city near where the tainted Hong Kong eggs were produced said melamine had been detected in eggs last month. The tainted eggs were destroyed and eggs were checked in September and again in October, and no melamine was found. Since then there has been mention of another few brands of eggs in China that were found to be contaminated with melamine.

The media has reported that an important brand of eggs supplied by China's Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group, and suspected of being tainted with melamine, was pulled from shelves of a major retailer in China earlier this week. It should be emphasized that this was done as a precautionary measure and that the products had not yet been found to be contaminated.

At this stage no one knows how much melamine is absorbed into raw foods like meat and vegetables, although animal tests in the United States concluded in 2007 that consuming "pork, chicken, fish and eggs from animals that had inadvertently been fed animal feed contaminated with melamine ... was very unlikely to pose a human health risk". It is improbable that there would be any issues if melamine is consumed in small amounts either from foods with dairy as a minor ingredient and/or where the food is consumed in small and infrequent amounts.

If consumed in higher quantities over a long period melamine may, in some individuals, cause health problems such as kidney stones or kidney disease. The reason why infants in China were particularly affected is that they were consuming significant amounts of contaminated milk formula on a daily basis. To date there has been no evidence that this current scare has been responsible for any medical issues, and foods with potentially low levels of melamine, such as eggs, biscuits, candies etc., are more likely to be infrequently consumed and in smaller amounts; as such they are not considered high-risk foods for dietary exposure to melamine.

Let common sense prevail when shoppping and eating and put everything into perspective as you are unlikely to survive either on marginally contaminated air and water alone.

Melamine Now in Sex Paint - What Next?

In the last few days I have been dealing with more enquiries on the Chinese melamine issue which has reared its head again, but this puts a whole new perspective on the subject! Now a chocolate-flavoured body sex paint has been recalled from Australian shelves and has caused consternation in the UK as well as the result of melamine contamination!

The paint, Boxer Lovers Body Pen Set, today joined the banned list alongside six other products in Australia.

The body paint's importer has voluntarily withdrawn the product and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) spokeswoman Lydia Buchtmann said those who had consumed the body paint product were not likely to be affected unless large quantities were consumed.

Would have to be a sexfest orgy to consume enough of this to get close to any toxic levels, but you could have enormous fun for the remainder of your life and still survive the melamine - maybe not as a result of the other associated ‘side-effects’ when using the paint! You have a greater chance of dying of exhaustion from all the hanky-panky.

Just be careful of lead and mercury or other toxic substances when indulging in this kind of play, after all toys are toys!

Cape Spring Flowers

Cape Town and the Western Cape Province have a pleasant Mediterranean climate because of geographical location. Rain in summer and spring is rare although one would never say so at the moment - the Cape is well known for experiencing all 4 seasons in one day!

The spring months of August and September and into October offer wonderful opportunities to see the Cape Floral Kingdom at its best and many of the areas have an abundance of colour as a result of all of the indigenous flowers in bloom.

Declared as one of South Africa’s 7 World Heritage Sites, the Cape Floral Region is one of the hottest spots for global plant diversity. Mostly fynbos, 8 500 plant species thrive in the narrow coastal strip that covers just over 90 000 square kilometres. It is the smallest and richest of the world’s six floral regions.

The Cape Peninsula alone, at 470 sq. km, has more than 2 200 species, of which 90 are endemic. To give you an idea of the magnitude, the entire British Isles has only 1 492 species and it is 308 000 sq. km. A great place to experience the incredible Cape Floral Kingdom's treasures is at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town, where these photos were taken (courtesy of my dad).

Traditional South African Cooking

Last night was a traditional South African dinner, with a 3 kg roast leg of lamb stuffed with garlic and rosemary and cooked for 2 1/2 hours in the Weber, and a traditional stew.

The stew was a "Waterblommetjie bredie " - the name is Afrikaans and literally means 'small water flower stew'. It is made of meat, usually lamb and is stewed together with a flower (known in English as Cape Pondweed, Cape Hawthorn or Cape Asparagus and scientifically as Aponogeton distachyos) that is found in the dams and marshes of the Western Cape. The buds (waterblommetjies) are usually ready to be picked during winter and into early spring.

The stew is cooked slowly over a few hours and is done with lamb, potatoes, waterblommetjies, white wine and spiced with salt, pepper and garlic. The waterblommetijies give the stew a slightly bitter/sour taste, and is a favourite amongst tourists who visit the Western Cape.

The meat dishes were served with couscous and salad.

For dessert another traditional South African dish, Peppermint Crisp (not sure why Nestle does not produce this overseas) Fridge Tart, to end off the meal.

Obviously all accompanied by good South African wines!

My New Painting

I have a new painting to add to my collection! It should go well with the Asian theme of my home as it is of an Indian potter, done in oils and painted by my wife Barbi. Until now she has been painting mainly in watercolours and more comfortable doing landscapes, but is now finding that she enjoys doing figures/portraits in oils.

Unfortunately the picture here is unframed as the painting is currently being framed before I return to Shanghai. Will have to do a bit of re-arranging once I am back to ensure that it is displayed in the right place!

Look forward to seeing some more artwork the next time I get home to Cape Town.

Southern Right Whales in False Bay

False Bay has been busy with tourists and ardent photographers here to see the Southern Right whales. There has been a large increase in the number of whales in the bay year to year and ten years ago before I left South Africa it was fairly exceptional to see so many of them so often.

The term "right" whale refers to the fact that in the nineteenth century these whales were regarded as the "right" whales to harvest, because they were particularly rich in oil, and being slow swimmers they were easy to catch.
The most striking feature of the Southern Right whales are the 'callosities' behind the blowholes, and on the face. These provide homes for several other creatures, including the 'whale lice' which live on the callosities and operate in a symbiotic relationship with the whales, feeding off the dead skin.

The Southern Right lives between latitudes 20° to 55°, occasionally venturing down as far as 63° South. Although it is found throughout the southern oceans, in our part of the world it returns annually to the sheltered bays of the Southern African coast in order to breed and give birth. In False Bay the whales can be seen between June and November and are most prolific close to the shore from about September.

During the summer months the whales move south to the colder waters of the Antarctic where they feed. As baleen whales, right whales swim with their mouths open so that the baleen plates can filter out the water and retain the krill that forms a large part of their diet; they eat up to 1½ tons of these tiny prawn-like creatures every day. The whales are seasonal feeders, eating in winter and living off their blubber in the breeding months in the north.

Southern right whales are regarded as an endangered species as their numbers have been considerably reduced in the last 200 years. There are now about 4500 southern right whales, with about 1500 coming to southern Africa.

Legislation was introduced in South Africa in 1980 and '84 to protect whales. It is now illegal to shoot at whales, or harass them by coming closer than 300 metres in any craft.

Hopefully will be able to get some better pics to post here whilst I am still in the Cape!

Plane Gets Passenger Power

From the front page of South African Sunday Times Sept 28 2008:
How lovely and welcome to life in China!

Coming down to earth with a bang took on a new meaning for 69 Chinese passengers this week - they were asked to disembark and help push their stranded plane, The Shandong Airlines aircraft broke down before it taxied to the passenger terminal at Zhengzhou Airport. Staff tried to push the aircraft but it would not budge. With the added muscle of the passengers, it took almost two hours to push the plane to a taxi way.

What happened to a good old motorised tow?

As usual nothing fails to amaze me!