Cooking - The Jacket Potato

If you’re a potato lover you would know that just about anything goes with a potato; the jacket potato is a platform where you can perform masterpieces, because the options are endless. Recipe ideas for jacket potato meals range from potatoes smothered in nothing but cheese and creamy mayonnaise or a potato extravaganza with gypsy ham, mushrooms, and tomatoes and topped with cheese and mayonnaise.'

Your options are truly endless; the jacket potato is an easy meal to prepare for lunch or those evenings where you find yourself not in the mood to cook or enjoying a meal for one. A favourite filling for the jacket potato is mince and this Cheesy Mince Baked Potatoes recipe below will be a firm favourite with any potato lover.

Ingredients:

• 100 ml water
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 KNORR Beef Stock Pot
• 400 gram lean beef mince
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 15 ml sunflower oil
• 15 ml original chutney
• 4 medium sized potatoes
• Grated cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Fry onion and garlic in oil until soft, then add the carrots and continue to fry until soft.
2. Add beef mince and fry for about 10 minutes until well browned.
3. Stir in KNORR Beef Stock Pot until dissolved, and then add the chopped tomatoes, water and chutney. 
4. Allow to simmer for a further 10 minutes.
5. In the meantime bake the potatoes in their jackets –either in the oven or microwave – until soft and then slice them in half. Arrange your jacket potatoes on the plates.
6. Spoon the mince mixture on top of the potatoes and top with desired amount of grated cheddar cheese.

This easy meal for lunch or dinner serves four, the preparation time for the dish is 10 minutes and cooking time is 30 minutes. You will always find easy jacket potato recipes; it’s the ultimate comfort food for winter and comes with a warning: be careful not to become addicted – as these meals are to die for.

Original Source: Lekker Sosatie

MSP launches latest development in Buh-Rein Estate: Tibali Lane

Buh-Rein Estate is the largest private development currently being undertaken in the Western Cape. This massive new Tygerberg suburb is the brainchild of MSP Developments, and once complete will include 3241 apartments, 133 freestanding homes and 137 townhouses.

MSP Developments, leading residential property developers in the Western Cape, has just launched its latest development in Buh-Rein Estate which also, says CEO of the MSP Group, Riaan Roos “Offers by far the best value for money buys within Buh-Rein Estate.” Tibali Lane consists of only 25 contemporary two bedroom apartments with family bathrooms (shower and bath) and one parking bay per unit. The kitchens include built-in oven, hob and extractor.  Pricing starts from R489 900, inclusive of all costs.

It hardly makes sense to pay rent when you can buy at this price. Roos does the maths: “Tibali Lane makes for an ideal first-time buy, considering that the gap between renting a similar unit (R4000 per month) at Buh-Rein and buying one (approximately R4400 bond repayment at a prime rate of 9% plus estimated rates and levies of R1100 , which amounts to R5500) is only R1500 per month.

“There are many benefits to owning your own property as opposed to paying rent – and home ownership also makes for a better living experience all round. A recent national housing survey showed that 88% of respondents believed that it is better to raise your children in your own home, while 83% felt that it is also better for your family’s safety, and 90% believed that you enjoy a better sense of privacy by owning your own home.”

Tibali Lane will most certainly also attract a number of investor buyers, as rental yields have improved dramatically of late as a result of fewer bond applications being approved. Says Roos: “Investors can expect a gross yield of 9.7% – this being calculated on a monthly rental of R4000 per month. Apart from good rental returns, Buh-Rein Estate has also delivered handsomely in the capital growth department, with the initial buyers achieving a 21% return in just over 12 months.

MSP created an inspired, people-centric and environmentally sound design for Buh-rein Estate which won it a South African Planning Institute Planning Award in 2010. Buh-Rein Estate also offers a state-of-the-art five-tier security system that includes 24-hour on-site patrolling vehicles, precinct access control with manned guards, remote access gates at each complex and perimeter fencing. There is remote access control to Tibali Lane, and high-speed interconnectivity is also available.

Original Source: MSPD

Disability Insurance Policy

Many people don’t comprehend how costly becoming permanently disabled can be. Not only could you be rendered unable to work in your current job, but you could also be saddled with extra medical bills. On top of this, you still have to be able to afford your regular bills and expenses. If you don’t have reliable Disability Cover to back you up in these unfortunate circumstances, you run the risk of plunging yourself and your loved ones into financial hardship. Researching and implementing an effective Disability Cover scheme is wise, especially if you’re the primary breadwinner in your family. Equally important is researching life insurance.

Some reputable insurance providers will pay out a cash lump sum of up to R5 000 000 if you’re disabled and unable to work in your current job or any job for which you are trained, qualified or educated. You can use this money to pay debts, adjust your lifestyle or use it to supplement your future income.

Why Disability Cover is a good idea

To best explain the advantages of having disability cover, you should look at the consequences of becoming disabled and being unable to earn a living (without having an effective cover scheme in place) could entail:

• Lack of employer coverage – Some businesses don’t offer their employees any kind of disability cover. While some may continue to pay your salary in the hopes that you will recover and return to work, a permanent disability could leave you completely unable to work in your current position. How long would your employer continue to pay you if you’re unable to work? If your employer decides to hire a replacement while you’re out of commission, you should be prepared for the possibility that they won’t be able to keep your position indefinitely.

• Wasted savings – Hypothetically, if you’ve saved 10% of your income each year, one year of disability could eradicate 10 years’ worth of savings. If you can’t afford to lose that much, then a disability policy is a good option.

• Burden on spouse or partner – It’s a large burden for your significant other to be expected to support you financially, be a parent, and help you to adjust at the same time. This can put unnecessary strain on the relationships that are the most valuable to you. This financial burden can be compared to that of a household losing a breadwinner and missing out on the financial aid of life cover.

• Selling investments – Although selling off assets or liquidating investments is an option, it may not be the best time to do so. As a result, you may not realise their true value. Relying on the hopes that your investments will be enough to cover you if you’re disabled is a risk best avoided with Disability Cover.

Looking at the consequences of becoming permanently disabled, you can see that Disability Cover is in both your and your family’s best interests.

Source: http://www.saindustries.co.za/the-benefits-of-a-direct-disability-insurance-policy/

A side order of traditional room-service

Anyone who has ever worked in the hotel management industry is aware of the basics of service. However while the fundamentals are understood and similar in all spheres of the service industry, there are some new additions to traditional room-service that are being adopted by some of the best hotels in the world with more emphasis placed on the menu. Studying event management courses and hospitality management courses in South Africa will give you a great head start, with in-depth market knowledge allowing you to see and deliver the kind of food and service that people want.



Chefs are becoming increasingly popular with many of them presenting TV shows and publishing recipe books – a market that was previously inundated with very traditional cooks like Julia Childs. Now a day chefs are in constant competition with one another to improve traditional meals and present them in ways that are more outlandish than the next.

It’s due to this constant pushing of the proverbial ingredient filled envelope that many hotels and lodges are turning their attention to the food on their room-service menus. Many hotels are now offering food straight off the menu of their in-house restaurants, forming a synergy between the two menus. This move is giving many chefs the opportunity to put a gourmet spin on traditional room-service classics and giving guests the chance to enjoy more of the hotel from the comfort of their rooms.

This also means that many firm favourites and comfort foods that many travellers enjoy due to their propensity for reminding them of home and family, are revamped and reworked to be the same traditional meal but with a gourmet flavour, look and feel. Especially desserts which have seen a comeback in recent years as chefs turn their attention to them, mixing flavours that wouldn’t normally be considered in traditional cooking of the past.

However while comfort foods are popular in the world of room-service, people are becoming more concerned with where their food comes from, how it’s made and what effect its production has on the environment. This ties in with many hotel’s commitment to turning to greener methods to clean, grow food and reduce their overall carbon footprint. The Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town is one example of this as they were one of the first hotels in Africa to set up a worm farm in Africa.

As many more hotels offer in-house restaurants with a famous chef attached to them such as chef Nobu and Reuben Riffel for example at The One and Only, the room-service menu’s are getting a piece of chef’s artistic flair as they become a prominent component of a hotel’s offerings.

Original Source: Smaak Hospitality

Accommodation in Green Point

If you are coming to Cape Town for a holiday, green point accommodation is definitely by far one of the best places to stay as it is within walking distance to the V&A Waterfront.  Green Point is one of the best places to be in if you are in Cape Town as it has all the best attractions nearby.

With FZP they also offer you discounted package tours as well as they always have special offers available. The best part about it is that if you are coming down for one or two weeks you can choose the green point holiday rentals, which is much cheaper than booking into a hotel. Green Point is surrounded by restaurants, lively pubs and coffee bars.

My family and I came down from Johannesburg for a holiday and I came across FZP’s website and was very impressed with all they had to offer. We chose the green point holiday rentals as we were staying for two weeks. My family had never been to Cape Town before so by having all the best attractions nearby it really helped a lot as we could even walk to the V&A Waterfront.

For those of you that are coming down to Cape Town I highly recommend you going through FZP as they have a lot to offer and have holiday apartments in Green Point and their prices and services are outstanding.

Exercise for moms

No one knows this better than Mary who went from bombshell volley ball player to soccer mom with two kids, a mortgage and Life Insurance.

The faster you walk, the faster your beat and being a low-impact exercise you can walk for long periods and get great benefits from it.

By walking up a hill or doing a few minutes of speed walking between slow stepping you can enjoy a great work out with maximum benefits and effect.

It couldn't be easier than to just jiggle your hips to your favourite song - as easy as acquiring Life Cover.

Source: 2013: Year of exercise for moms

Retirement Communities

Our children ultimately move out of the house and start their own lives leaving us in a home which is too large for one couple and we then realise that it's time we move out ourselves.

It's around this time that we start having a look at various retirement communities and consider making the move to one of the finest retirement villages in the country.

Why wouldn't you? Now-a-days retirement villages offer some of the most luxurious and beautiful accommodation in the country.

A smaller home means you will be able to clean it faster - giving you more time to enjoy the many activities retirement communities have to offer.

Source: The Benefits of a Small Space