Hertzoggie Apricot pie squares
This past weekend had come with a new found respect for mothers. Me, myself and I fly out the door when there is another beating heart that you have to look after. Feeding, changing dypers, naps and soothing cries are number one priority. Thereafter there is a small window of operating to get back to the self you once knew. Even if it is just to feel sane browsing through Facebook or Instagram. You are a pro in goog-eling and ga-ga-ing alongside you most precious gift. Reliving your days as a kid, being amused by the smaller things in life. Things that matter.
My little nice and my sis came to visit me in Montpellier. I saw her when she was one month old. I do convince myself that she recognised me. I got a few giggles out of her, but obviously her mom got more smiles than me. It melts my heart. Raising a baby so far from home is more than challenging, for my sister, I would say that the thing she misses the most is having the grandparents and rest of our siblings here. There is no time to take a break or having to drop the kids off at grand ma's house. All the "luxuries" of normal family life so to say is a bit more complicated.
We pack our bags and fly home whenever we can. We get to visit every six months or once a year. Things like applying for a passport and birth certificate can keep the hold up. You miss a lot. Christmas, weddings, birthdays and family gettogethers. Every connection with viber an skype is a few thousand kilometres aways. Sometimes screaming over a black screen "hello? can you hear me" whilst the connection gives out. It doesn't makeup for the real thing. Real hugs, real people that know you and accept you.
I got some shopping time with my sis and baby entertained us at night. She has discovered how to blow bubbles! I loved every second of it. We basically shopped for two days straight and before I knew it, our time was almost over. The thing that was also very unnerving was the fact that the baby facilities in Europe are so poor. She couldn't find a decent public changing room anywhere, not even to mention a private feeding place for baby. Some mums gave up the right of privacy alongside the fact that there is no such thing. That leads to feeding your baby right then and there. With or without a cloth to cover yourself. Here it is a bit more normal, but for a conservative South African girl, it was a bit of a shock. I am used to not seeing moms breastfeed back in SA, but maybe I was unaware of the difficulties that every mom has to go through. That is why shopping, coffee dates and get togethers are more difficult, when there is no grand parents or nanny to give you an off day every now and then.
On saturday we took a day off of shopping and headed to our Chateau to take a few pics, nature right now is just so gorgeous, especially with the beautiful autumn colours. I got a few snap shots of baby, but gosh it was a bit tricky to get her attention. They wore matching coloured outfits, which made the photos even more gorgeous! After I dropped my sis off at the train station, with her loaded baggage, pram and baby. I headed to church and thereafter my husband and I headed to celebrate our two year anniversary at Hotel le Spinnaker. It is located in Le Grand du roi port camarque. It is about a forty minute drive from our house. The food and the service was amazing! It was real french cuisine treat!
After this full weekend of activities, I was in the mood for baking again. Cooking has become such a treat for me. My sis is a wonderful cook, I'll persuade her to share one of her faves one of these days. I bought a big jar of apricot jam. I know that I have done a few recipes with apricots, but listen here these apricot pie bars are amazing... then I went to the liberty of adding a Hertzoggie topping to half of the pie bars...Super easy,gooey and buttery!
Ingredients
Dough
2 cups of flour
1 cup sugar
1 egg
125 ml butter
100 ml milk
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup apricot jam
Hertzoggie topping
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Methord
Mix together the dry ingredients, melt the butter ever so slightly and rub in to the dry mixture, until it becomes crumb like.
Whisk the egg and the milk and mix in to the bread crumb mixture with your fingers or wooden spoon.
Half the dough and press flat on to a parchment paper lined baking tray, 1cm in diameter.
Smear on the apricot jam and grate the rest of the dough on to the apricot layer.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C.
Meanwhile start by whisking the egg whites with an electric mixer (hand mixer) and gradually add the sugar until smooth and glossy. Fold in the shredded coconut and the vanilla essence.
When the dough has cooled down after baking, smear on the Hertzoggie layer and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
If the Hertzoggie layer is getting to brown to quickly and the dough is still to doughy then cover with aluminium foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
Slice in to bars and enjoy with your afternoon tea or coffee, Bon gouter!!!
Our anniversary lunch...formidable!!
Here are some of the pics of my photoshoot his past weekend.
Bon weekend!!
M*
