Monthly Archives: January 2019

Reflections of a PhD student

16 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by in Purely Academic, Quality Stuff

≈ 2 Comments

Fifteen minutes ago I sent my final thesis (pre-examination) to the editor. All eight chapters consolidated into one document with abstract, table of contents, dedication, acknowledgements etc. etc.  After this it goes for examination. It’s another milestone on the journey.

Pause.

I finally finished the corrections to my final draft and finally got the thumbs up from my supervisor.  Every postgrad student will agree, it feels like a really painful experience. I pray that I will always be kinder that needed to my own postgrad students because heaven knows – I understand that sting.

Making corrections is painful because as a student, arguably you always present the best work that you can at that moment in time. Then your supervisor comes along and says “this” or “that” was not good enough. Even if you not precious about you work – when you’ve done the best you can, then you can’t yet see the “better way” yet. So manoeuvring out of the dark spot just ain’t that easy.  It ain’t.

It’s not making the changes per say that is difficult – it’s figuring out how to change it. When you don’t yet know how to do something, then you just don’t yet. Nine times out of ten when you reflect then you realise it wasn’t such a huge task but still. I guess that’s what growth is.

img_0993Enough on that. I’m thankful that I’ve gotten to the 18k mark of this half marathon journey (if I can equate a PhD to a half marathon). I can’t actually see the finish line yet, but I know it’s around the corner. I can hear the sound of noisy crowd and music playing in the distance…

Funny… yesterday a friend suggested we meet for lunch, so that I can tell him about my PhD findings. Instinctively I immediately replied “Hay Naah. Uh Uh …When we meet we can talk about ANYTHING but Quality Culture and Operational Excellence” – and yet I know in my heart that I am completely passionate about anything related to quality! Quality management, quality tools, quality strategies, planning, analytics and especially quality culture. But right now I’m just saturated.

My reaction took me completely  by surprise.

I have a feeling that it’s a phase and it will pass. For now I just need some a little bit of breathing space.

Chocolate indulgence 🍫

14 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by in Family and Friends, General

≈ Leave a comment

It’s that time of the year when as a collective we’re all rather social and typically gather around food. So here is a cool easy recipe for chocolate mousse that I recently discovered, and I’d like to share.

The best news is – this no-fuss delicious chocolate mousse is almost effortlessly quick to make and you only need 4 simple ingredients! It’s so easy that in less than a week I’ve made it twice for two different occasions. Was a hit both times! The ingredients are:

  • 3 eggs,
  • 1 slab of 125g of Bournville sweet dark chocolate (alternatively a slab of 70% dark chocolate – but then you need to add 3 tablespoons of castor sugar …Thank You Andykins)
  • 125ml fresh cream – not yet a full cup of cream,
  • Little bit of butter to melt the chocolate in the microwave – about 10ml or 2 teaspoons.

Easy peasy Lemon squeezy. So let’s start with the eggs.

1) Separate the 3 eggs yolks from the egg white

2) Whip the egg whites until you have stiff peaks. Use an automatic hand mixer to do this. If you can hold the bowl upside down without anything falling out, you know you have nailed it!

3) Break the eggs yolks (already previously separated) in a their own bowl. Use a spoon or fork to mix this. Set aside. We’ll add that to the dark chocolate later.

4) Melt the Bournville dark chocolate with 20ml of butter in your microwave. (Place both ingredients in a microwave bowl and the start microwaving. I put it on for about 30 seconds high heat then stir with a spoon, then microwave for another 1-2 minutes before taking out and stirring again. I then popped it into freezer for it to cool down a bit).

5) While chocolate and butter mix is cooling down, then whip up the fresh cream – also into stiff peaks. Use your automatic hand mixer to do this.

6) Once melted chocolate has cooled down (but still is liquid form) then add this to the egg yolks and mix well. I used a spatula and successfully did this manually.

7) Then take the egg yolk-chocolate mix (refer to point 6) and fold it in with the whipped fresh cream. You can use a spatula and manually do this – or use your automatic hand mixer – whichever- but do it as slowly as possible.

8) After the mixture in point 7 has been thoroughly mixed, first take just a little bit of the egg white (perhaps 1/3?) and mix this thoroughly with your spatula.

9) Once that (refer to point 8) is properly mixed then dump it in the container with the rest of the eggs whites and mix well – but mix rather slowly. You can use an automatic hand mixer but I personally prefer to do it manually with a spatula.

10) Once it’s thoroughly mixed, you can pour the mixture into containers to set. Use whatever container you prefer. I used ice-cream Sundae glasses.

11) Allow the mousse to set in the refrigerator for approximately 2 hours

Optional: I decorated those that I prepared with whipped cream (the kind you get in a pressured can) and Oreo cookies and a few mint leaves – because that is what appeals to me. You can use whatever you what for decoration. You can use chocolate flakes, astros – heck even jelly tots. Your only limit is your imagination.

Voila…. Dessert is served 🙌🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Enjoy!!!! And conscientiously have fun while playing in the kitchen.

nom nom nom…

To see the original recipe that I used with an instructional video: https://www.recipetineats.com/chocolate-mousse/