Cooking's just up their laan
Remember when The Egoli Recipe Book was launched in 1995? Well, SABC 2's 7de Laan has followed suit.
What these two shows - the latter having been axed from M-Net's line-up last year - have in common is that they feature identifiable scenarios with strong family ties, which unfailingly pushed up audience ratings.
With 7de Laan doing phenomenally well against SABC3's Isidingo while e.tv's Rhythm City is holding its own, the cookbooks, which feature the recipes of favourite characters, arrived in the nick of time for the silly season. Characters featured include Hilda (Annelisa Weiland), Matrone (Annelize van der Ryst), Charmaine (Vinette Ebrahim), Maria (Thembie Times), Vince (Jacques Blignaut), Lukas (Hendrik Cronjé) and Paula (Diaan Lawson).
The cookbook, which retails at R250, released in two linguistic versions: Cook with 7de Laan and 7de Laan Kook, on October 29 but the official launch is tomorrow at Exclusive Books on Hyde Park Corner.
Daleen van der Merwe, food editor at Human & Rousseau, was responsible for compiling the recipes, while author Kerneels Breytenbach took care of the rest.
While one would assume that the actors would be only too happy to chat about their recipes, getting them to proved to be a difficult feat. According to 7de Laan's publicist, "some were busy on set and others were at a pre-arranged photoshoot".
I guess they are slow readers and answering five questions requires at least a week.
Unsurprisingly, Ebrahim and Weiland and were the only ones who took the time to chat about their involvement in the project. This is what the two mother hens had to say?
CHARMAINE
If you had to liken your cooking style to a celebrity chef, who would that be and why?
I love Jodi-Ann Pearton! (She is the owner of The Food Design Agency and winner of the Sunday Times Chef of the Year competition). I know she's into cooking from scratch and that's the method I enjoy.
What's your signature dish?
Breyani, what else? I also make a mean lamb roast and my fish curry's not bad either.
Are there any laugh-out-loud cooking disasters from your past? Asparagus and feta-filled phyllo parcels - huge disaster just before a dinner for 30 people! Thought I was clever with a never-before-tested recipe but the filling was too soggy.
When it comes to cooking, what is the one ingredient or utensil you simply can't do without?
Cumin and a wooden spoon.
Tell us about your recipe/s in the 7de Laan cook book?
All of them are Charmaine's and Vinette's personal favourites - especially the chocolate cake recipe. That's one of the things I have in common with my character - we both love food. The only difference is Charmaine can cook.
HILDA
If you had to liken your cooking style to a celebrity chef, who would that be and why?
My cooking style can't be likened to any celebrity chef's.
What's your signature dish?
It would be Woolworths's chicken or my mom's bobotie recipe.
Are there any laugh-out-loud cooking disasters from your past? There might have been a suppressed giggle but my friends were too polite to laugh out loud.
When it comes to cooking, what is the one ingredient or utensil you simply can't do without?
I can't do without a knife that a friend, Verna Vels, brought me from Paris.
Tell us about your recipe/s in the 7de Laan cook book?
It's much more palatable than Hilda's concoctions could ever be? LOL!
- 7de Laan is on SABC2 at 6.30pm on weekdays.
Connie celebrates 40th with big bash
UNTIL recently, Connie Ferguson and her actor-husband, Shona, were regarded as one of South Africa's darling couples.
She has monopolised the small screen as Karabo Moroka on SABC1's Generations for what seemed like a lifetime, while Shona has proved to be a tour de force as former National Intelligence Agency agent Alex Phiri in e.tv's Scandal.
In recent months, though, things seemed to go pear-shaped.
First, Connie shocked aficionados by announcing her departure from the soap that made her a household name. Then there was much talk about Shona allegedly impregnating one of Connie's co-stars. If that wasn't salacious enough for the "paparazzi", they also linked Connie with co-star Buyile Mdlala.
But Connie, who is undoubtedly one of South Africa's best dressed women, has taken the calumny in her stride. And instead of running away from the media, she has invited them to her somewhat belated 40th birthday bash, titled The Evolution of Connie Ferguson, at The Venue, Melrose Arch, on Friday.
By the by, she was born on June 10, 1970.
The guest list includes the crème de la crème of the entertainment industry, but the focus will be on Connie, who will unveil her career plans post-Generations and chat about her business interests, corporate gigs and commercial work, which includes her being the face for Garnier Skin Naturals Even and Matte.
Hmm, having a birthday party five months after the fact is rather bizarre.
And I can't help but wonder whether this celebration is a smokescreen for something else?