I’ve come to realise that I am not a very patient person; you can literally count me out of anything that requires even an ounce of patience.  I mean, I don’t even like clothes shopping, and grocery shopping is even worse. I always make it a point to meticulously plan out my shopping trips; and there are a few rules that I live by.  Rule number 1: Go to the shops at “off-peak” hours i.e. 12 midnight or working hours.  This ensures that I avoid the long queues.  Rule number 2: Don’t go shopping with any of the women in my family.  I mean my late grandmother (God rest her soul) would shop for hours and hours and hours; needless to say I was scarred for life.  Rule number 3: Avoid grocery shopping at all costs. It truly is a tiresome job; and the packing once you get home is even worse (I always conveniently find a way to disappear when the groceries need packing).

Considering I don’t have a lot of patience, some of you might wonder how I manage to cook or bake, since these are both time consuming.  Well, the simple answer is that baking and cooking have a very calming and therapeutic effect on me. This and the fact that I actually have a genuine interest in them, make a huge difference. But even then, it’s not like I enjoy hours upon hours of slaving away in the kitchen…no siree; I like fast and easy, yet delicious and filling recipes like today’s lovely little treat – home made Muffins.

So, what are muffins? Muffins are like cupcakes, in some ways, but bigger.  They are relatively healthy, not too sweet, can be made with whole wheat flour, and tend to contain fruits rather than sweets. They can also be savoury, their texture is dryer and slightly denser than that of cupcakes and they can be eaten as an everyday breakfast food.  Whilst you might put a drizzle of glaze on a muffin, once you add frosting/icing to it, it becomes a big cupcake.  Muffins are also great because you can store them for quite a long time; making them satisfying and relatively cost effective. Today’s recipe shows you how to make Chocolate Chip Muffins and by simply removing the chocolate chips you can make delicious Vanilla Muffins.

So what are you waiting for let’s get started.

Preparation, Baking and cooling time: 30 minutes

Makes: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 300g self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 50g cold unsalted butter cubed
• 80g caster sugar
• 150g milk or plain chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 225ml milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 ?C (400 ?f).  Prepare 12 muffin cases in a muffin tin.

Mix the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl. Using your hands rub in the butter until the mixture is like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and the chocolate chips with a spoon.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs, milk and vanilla extract together, pour them into the flour mixture. Mix them together until just incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 15-20 minutes or until they have risen, and look golden and are firm to touch. Cool them in the tin for 10 minutes.   After 10 minutes of cooling in the tin, transfer them to a cooling rack or serve straight away.

Serving

Just like that you have 12 delicious muffins.  Is that easy or what?  You can make more than one batch of muffins and store them in the pantry or a cool dry environment for 1-2 days, the fridge for 1 week and the freezer for up to 3 months.

Enjoy these muffins with any beverage of your choice.  If you want them to be a bit healthier, try adding fruits like blueberries, raisins or even banana.

Bon appétit!

Kanta Temba is a cake maker and decorator. She is also the owner and founder of Kanta Kakes – cake shop.

You can find her work on www.kantakakes.com.  Follow her on twitter @KantaKakes and Instagram @KantaTemba.

 

 

 

Elias Chipimo has the leadership qualities we can use and we will embrace him if he decides to endorse Patriotic Front (PF) just like we supported FR Frank Bwalya says PF deputy secretary general Mumbi Phiri.

Reacting to Mr Chipimo’s decision to pull out of next year’s election, she said Chipimo was a young dynamic leader who would work well with the ruling party and that the PF still had room to welcome new members.

‘’ We have pledged working with Mr Chipimo if he decides to endorse our party, he is a young dynamic politician with good leadership qualities that PF can use’’ she said.
She also National Restoration Party(NAREP) president had maintained peace with the PF unlike the United Party for National Development(UPND) that has continued to institute fights with government.

Mumbi also appealed to women in the country not to vote for the UPND as they had no respect for women.

He said UPND is cursed because of the attacks on the Vice President. She added that the bible clearly teaches that God always listens to prayers by children and widows and it was for that reason UPND would never rise to victory.

‘’ I would like to warn all the women in this country not to make a mistake of voting for the UPND, women and children are the most vulnerable in society, UPND is cursed, the bible rebukes anyone who lays a finger on a widows and children, Our Vice president is a poor widow who is just helping our nation, they will suffer for that’’ she said.

She said it was not the first time UPND disrespected women and it was time people saw the distinction between PF and the opposition.

She said Hakainde Hichilema had no levels of literacy as he claims because he was used to ganging up cadres which he could have not done if he was educated.

‘’ Nalalanda mu cibemba kuti bonse bomfwe, ba UPND balibelela ukobola, filya twalechita kubwaiche’’( I will speak in Bemba so that everyone will be able to understand, UPND is used to forming gangs that is what we used to do during childhood.

She said it was very immature for HH to plot attacks and later accuse the PF of trying to Frame the UPND.

She said the PF had nothing to frame the opposition party for but it was the opposition that were doing all they could to distract the ruling party from their victory next year.

She said the UPND will continue to be a violent party as it was their nature. The secretary added that the PF will however not fear any threats from anyone.

‘’ When HH was in the Copperbelt, the PF condemned the act, I condemned it, my president Edgar Lungu condemned and many other Pf members condemned it because we are not a violent party, but when mama Wina was attacked UPND says we planned it to frame them, why should we frame them as though we fear them, people of Zambia and women will hear and be able to decide that PF is a better party than UPND come 2016’’ she said.

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has said that it clear that it is only one known political party that is perpetuating violence. Responding to a question from a journalist during a press conference at State House yesterday, the said that it is sad that suspected UPND cadres attacked relatives of Vice-President Inonge Wina in Nalolo.

The President also said that the Public Order Act (POA) was a was a good law that ensured peace in the nation but it had been abused by politicians.

“With all sincerity, this POA has been a good law, but it was abused by us the politicians who are in power and I saw it because we used to feel the same when we were in the opposition, but without viable suggestions to review it, I am afraid I cannot amend the law,” he said.

Mr Lungu had since urged all politicians to desist from violence, especially that the nation would next year host general elections.

He said by allowing peace in the country, especially in Nalolo Constituency where the Vice President’s family was attacked without retaliation should not be misunderstood because it could only take him one word for his cadres to revenge, which he said was not his style of leadership.

“When the party is advised not to go ahead with any meeting just obey, because our security agencies have prior information, but others have taken it that they are being denied their rights to freedom, let us preserve peace,” he said.

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has revealed that public procurement in Zambia is riddled with corruption.

Speaking at State House in Lusaka during his maiden press conference attended by local and foreign journalists and members of the diplomatic corps, President Lungu said that Public procurement has become an avenue through which Government has been losing huge sums of funds via cartels, unrealistic pricing of goods and services and other unethical practices that are aimed at manipulating the system for personal gain.

The head of State has directed the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) to expedite the publication of benchmark prices, particularly in areas of high spending, to ensure value for money in public procurement.

“I am also directing the various units of Government charged with the responsibility of investigation and prevention of unethical practices such as corruption and bribery to be on high alert and quell any potential frauds in the public procurement system,” President Lungu said.

And President Lungu directed the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to strengthen tax compliance and to uphold integrity and professionalism.

The President said it is undisputable that the country is able to generate adequate resources internally to meet its ambitious development agenda but there is low tax compliance.

“Our efforts to collect enough revenue have been compromised by low tax compliance level and leakages resulting from selfish schemes among some of our officers in revenue collection,” President Lungu said.

He warned that those who are not paying taxes will be vigorously pursued.

Speaking yesterday, President Lungu said officers engaged in collusion with tax-payers to defraud the treasury will be dismissed and prosecuted

Chisamo is an Afro Soul singer based in Lusaka, Zambia that is looking to make her mark not only locally but on the World Stage. Unsung is produced by Radio Café.

Links to the song :
https://soundcloud.com/slamdunkrecords/chisamo-unsung
http://www.hulkshare.com/6pours46qxz4
https://www.reverbnation.com/chisamo/song/24781230-unsung
http://www.datafilehost.com/d/080132ad

Interact with Chisamo on Social media
https://www.facebook.com/chisamok
https://twitter.com/chisamosings

 

BY KAPA187

A cunning neighbor of Chipata district who was trying to lure another man’s wife by buying her a phone and body lotion has been fined K1,000 by the Chipata Local Court.
The court heard that Christopher Zulu, 41, of Nabvutika township was in the habit of flirting with his neighbour’s wife and buying her body lotion.
This was heard before Local Court Senior Magistrate Leonard Nkhata in a case in which Zulu was sued by Melan Luo, 29, for compensation for showering his wife with presents.
Luo told the court that last month, he discovered his wife with a new mobile phone; something she has never owned.
“Last month, my wife went to attend a co-operative meeting. After noticing that she had not come back home by 19:00 hours, I decided to follow her. We met on the way but I noticed she had a phone,” he said.
When he asked her where she got the phone from, Luo said she told him she bought it at K40 from someone.
“I got suspicious because, apart from the phone being cheap, she removed her sim card from the phone and dropped it. When I asked when she removed the sim card, she denied it was hers. So I put it in her phone and found it only had one contact on it,” he said.
He said when he called the number; he discovered it was Zulu his neighbour. Luo said his wife begged for forgiveness afterwards.
“She asked me to forgive her and when we got home, she also showed me that the body lotion she had been using was bought by Zulu,” he said.
But Zulu denied buying the phone and the body lotion for Luo’s wife. He, however, admitted to buying her the sim card.
Zulu also denied knowing Luo’s wife, yet said she had sent him to buy her a sim card.
He later asked Luo to forgive him for buying a sim card for his wife without consulting him first.
Passing judgment, the court upheld the claim and ordered Zulu to pay Luo K1,000 in two installments for not being truthful.

(DailyMail)