What you need

¾ packet tennis biscuits
75 mls melted butter
1 tin of condensed milk
Zest of 2 lemons
100 ml lemon juice
4 egg yolks
2 egg whites
75 ml castor sugar

The process

Crush the biscuits, melt the butter in a mixing jug in the microwave (just makes it a little quicker and less messy)
Add the biscuit crumbs to the butter and mix well.

Line the bottom of the pie dish with the biscuit crumbs and chill in the fridge.

Mix the condensed milk, juice and rind of lemon and egg yolks together and pour onto the pie shell.

Beat the egg whites until stiff add the castor sugar slowly and mix and when thick and full spread on top of the filling.
Bake for 20-30 mins at 160C until meringue is light brown.

If you kitchen is humid, it might be best to add a teaspoon of cornstarch into the meringues while you are beating them.

100g butter
100g dark chocolate chopped
175g caster sugar
2 eggs beaten
80g flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk chocolate drops

The process

Lightly grease a small cake tin or 8 ramekins and line the base with grease proof paper.

In a pot over a low heat melt the butter, add the dark chocolate and stir until completely melted and remove from the heat.

Add the caster sugar and stir, add the beaten eggs, sift in the flour and cocoa powder and stir to combine. You don’t want to mix it thoroughly.

Lastly, fold in the chocolate drops and pour into the tin or ramekins.

Bake in a 180 Celsius oven for about 20 minutes.

The tops should be quite firm but not hard. Let them cool slightly and then turn them out and serve with a good amount of thick jersey cream or ice cream.

Yummy, yummy in your tummy!

I realised very quickly that anything that has “work from home” in it, is usuallly a scam (even the ones that say that they are not scams)!  Do the ones that know this secret keep it to themselves?

I honestly wish there was something out there that was legitimate and would keep me sane… so if anyone knows of anything, please share your knowledge with the rest of us.

Firstly, I got a contract out for my birthday in 2007 – I wanted my number ported that ended with 5055.  They ported a number that ended with 5005!

Then, their signal is absolutely crap so I don’t even want to think about the number of lost calls that I had in 2 years.

When the 2 years were up, I changed to prepaid and they still had the audacity to charge me for a handset buyout fee – which I queried and the Customer Services said that they would reverse it.  Guess what – I am on the ITC because of it and now no bank will grant me a loan!

I wish that something could be done about it.  If you go onto www.hellopeter.com, it is amazing how many complaints Virgin Mobile has against them.  Surely this would make management take notice that something is not too lekker about their whole setup!

Anyway, the actual point that I was trying to make is that why don’t people find information for themselves and why do they rely on someone else to tell them what they need to know?  About 2 weeks ago I noticed that there were so many letters to the editor asking information regarding the Gautrain and their buses.  They were complaining that there is no information available to the general public.  Bollocks!

When I was invited to an interview in Sandton, I very quickly realised that I could possibly work 2 block away from Sandton Gautrain Station.  In my excitement, I phoned my hubby who checked on their website www.gautrain.co.za.  Wow, that is a difficult and complicated website address to remember – no wonder no one can get information for the Gautrain!

Anyway, so my hubby confirmed what I suspected and I went to the interview.  Hooray for me, I got the job and started a few weeks later.  That night, I went on the website just to find out what went where and at what time…

I found exactly what I was looking for – directions to stations, bus routes, timetables, prices and I even read up on their rules!  It was the easiest thing I have done.  When I took a test run in the week, the ladies at the station were super efficient and helpful.  They guided me step-by-step through the process and I happily made my way to Sandton City (from Kempton) with no hitches what so ever.

So, why don’t those people that complain about the lack of information get off their bums and do something about it – like go to www.google.co.za and type in Gautrain?  I don’t understand the mentality…  they would rather moan and groan rather then empowering themselves.

Last thought – to those of you that have pondered the use of the Gautrain… take it from me, you won’t regret it!  Safe, secure, reliable and I personally feel its safer than using your car everyday.

I recently experienced the extent to which jealousy raises its evil green head in my work. A PA got the ok from her manager to work from home for a day (due to the fact that it was school holidays and the PA could spend sometime with her little one). So the PA is happy as so is her boss. No problems there…

So the day arrives and everyone (and I mean everyone on the floor) starts asking where she is. I say that she won’t be in today. Well, did I start an epic drama!

There was whispering and gossiping – the halls of my office block seemed to be occupied by a bevy of teenage girls! And why were they so upset… your guess is as good as mine so I approached my manager and do you know what he said…

Policies! He said that there is no policy surrounding a “work from home” option. My answer to that was that he should make one and get it signed off and distributed. Would it not benefit the company in a very competitive recruitment market to advertise that we offer flexible working hours (and really mean it).

Would you not work from home / telecommute if your job/position allowed for it? Hell, I would! Although I take the Gautrain on a daily basis and skip out most of the traffic, I would love the opportunity to do my work in my PJ’s. And I am sure I am not the only one…

So, this is my message to all the sinical, depressed, envious, nasty, back-biting moo cows that I work with… get a life of your own and stop lusting after someone elses – its time for deep introspection ladies!

I am performance managed on a monthly basis and based on my results, I then get given an increase in the new year. So if a am crappy at work, I don’t get an increase. But if I am awesome, then the company will reciprocate. Can someone please tell me why masses strike – is it not the same in the government sectors? I asked our IR representative here and he could not tell me so perhaps someone else will know the answer…

Even though all this mess is still carrying on, I still feel sorry for those striking masses as they won’t get paid. How will they eat/live? Will the unions give them an allowance just to get them through the month?

Even after all this is said and done, I still love the country and don’t consider leaving anytime soon… unless something changes drastically! But until then, this is home sweet home for me.