So, for a second go at having A Food Blog, here is a Steamed Asparagus Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

For the salad:

• 1 pillow pack of soft lettuce leaves
• 1 bunch of asparagus – steamed and still crunchy then left to cool
• Freshly grated parmesan
• Salt and pepper

For the mustard vinaigrette:

• 1 part red wine vinegar – about a tablespoon
• 3 parts good olive oil (Morgenster – yum!) – about 3 tablespoons
• Generous teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• Pinch or two of sugar
• Little pinch of salt (hurrah)
• A crack or two of pepper

Mix the dressing ingredients until well blended. Toss the salad together with the dressing. Tonight it served 5 as a side salad.

(Served with crumbed chicken breasts and lemons, and rice which was artfully presented thanks to a Cuisipro ice-cream scoop.)

(PS: it’s not quite an “oopa” post yet – read the comments here: http://blog.yuppiechef.com/2009/10/26/julie-julia-do-you-have-what-it-takes/ to understand – but am getting there!)

Rocking the Daisies

Container Nursery School!

2. My sister did the baking for me – I’ve been chock-a-block promoting the campaign (but I’ll get my apron on this weekend evening).

So, the idea behind the Blogger Bake Off is that bloggers will do something a little unusual (Bake Bread) and then donate money (Give Dough). Funds will be used by Breadline Africa to do things like convert old shipping containers into kitchens, schools, and clinics for needy communities (the photo is of a container nursery school – a double decker one!).

I’ve tried (and failed at) working with yeast before, but that experience made a statement that I read recently stand out: Early Money Is Like Yeast. Funding these grassroots projects means that there is an early and developmental injection of funds, which can make such a huge difference in someone’s life.

Madeira Cake - like bread?

For this blog, my sister baked a Madeira Cake, which is super tasty and kind of looks like bread! And I donated (and am asking everyone I know to do the same!).

And now, I do the tagging.

The rules:

If you are tagged, copy and paste the rules into your post.

1. Bake bread, do something you wouldn’t normally do, and blog about it. Upload your picture and recipe on www.bloggerbakeoff.com.
2. Give dough, donate to Breadline Africa and help us end poverty.
3. Tag five bloggers, and ping Breadline Africa so they know you’ve done so.

I’m tagging:

The Lush (I’m a fan!)

Andrew Smit (who ran the comrades, but can he bake?)

Pam Sykes (who is a compulsive baker)

Avinash Kaushik (because he’s a great guy with a great blog: it would be fabulous if you joined us!)

Clotilde Dusoulier (I’m aiming big here: I’ve been a fan for years, I have your cookbook, maybe you can show the world how a Parisienne does it?)

Fingers crossed! Go on, Bake Bread – Give Dough.

So, today, I am doing by donating as part of the Blogger Bake Off – a campaign that’s raising funds for Breadline Africa (a non-profit that I work for).

Bake Bread - Give Dough

Coming soon: Blakey Bakes Bread

*dwooooop! dwooooop! dwooooop!*

The short story: Mazda is more “doom doom” than “zoom zoom”, Toyota leads the pack and Honda hobbles along in the middle (though still far ahead of Mazda’s online offering).

The longer story: I made my subjective opinion based on -
1. How easily I could locate my closest dealer.
2. How easily I could get information about the vehicles I am interested in.
3. General very subjective opinion about the website.

1. Being able to locate a dealer online
Landing on the Toyota website, there is a clear and easy to use Dealer Quick Find which is a search box right on the page. And the results page: it’s got links to maps and directions to the dealer. Being directionally challenged, these are things I like!

Moving on to Mazda and Honda, the links to their dealer locations are not as prominent, and there are no maps! And, on the Mazda site, they even managed to get a typo into the address. Tut tut.

2. How easily can I get information about the cars I am interested in
It is easiest to find and compare on the Toyota website, and both Honda and Toyota let you download the brochures for their cars as a pdf. Mazda has an e-brochure which only works on Windows. So, I can’t even view their brochure on my (now happily working) Mac. Grrrrr.

3. General very subjective opinion
All three sites use Flash on their homepages, but the Mazda site seemed to take forever to load. Mazda has a lot of little tools which I am sure seemed like a good idea to the planning team, but on the whole are poorly executed. The website seems not to take any consideration of the user, which makes me wonder if the car is going to feel the same way. Toyota continues on its track record of reliable with a website that caters better my needs. Toyota links easily to a search for previously loved cars, and also has a link to its Facebook page. And Honda, I haven’t looked too closely!

Mac Mazda2 Fail

I probably won’t make a purchase decision based on a website, but if I did, I’d be sticking to Toyota. Mazda didn’t even let me access the basic information I would need. In fact, the Mazda website looks like it was designed by an ad agency: pretty (if you like that sort of thing) but lacking in functionality.

Scott, BMW is a little out of my price range right now, but give me a couple of years and I’ll be test driving your website too!

*Toyota Tazz – no zippy coupe for me (yet)

If you’re using CAPTCHA, you can switch to reCAPTCHA and help to archive old books. Pretty cool.

How reCAPTCHA makes text legible.

BrandsEye Cupcakes from Charly's Bakery

Last night at the home of the best coffee in South Africa – Origin Roasting in De Waterkant – some of the smart gals of Cape Town had a little get together. The fabulous venue was complemented with champagne and cupcakes: Moreson kindly sent along some of their exquisite MCC, and BrandsEye had some mucking afazing cupcakes from Charly’s Bakery delivered. And we were even sent some Flight Centre vouchers – hurrah! Quirk also sent along a few copies of eMarketing to give away.

Nikki Friedman of Big Words Scare Me led the way in a discussion on groundsquirrels and leopards – it really was all about making sure that we are telling authentic stories. And that led to some of the amazing resources, networks and companies, started by some of the women in the room:

• Flying Solo South Africa – a network for those of us working alone
• Freelancecentral – make sure you’re finding those clients!
• Femtrepreneurs – a network for smart women

The best part? Getting to chat to so many smart and fabulous people in one evening.