For many who have attended a conference or two, the thought of a long period of sitting and being attentive to speakers, can be daunting.

When it comes to hosting a conference that extends for more than a few hours, guests can at times lose focus and become restless because they have not yet fuelled their minds with appropriate food that is needed to concentrate.

This is the reason why Granny Mouse Country House & Spa have created a menu that allows for “brain food” to be incorporated, allowing a more successful transfer of information between speakers and conference goers.

Four foods that are known to help with mental focus include, leafy green vegetables, coffee, whole grain foods and nuts.

Both the Granny Mouse Executive Chef, Shaun Dampies as well as the General Manager, Sean Granger recently collaborated to work out special conference menus with some of the items incorporating these four brain foods to assist in sharpening mental focus.

“It is a fact that the types of food we eat affect how we think, focus and act, so we decided to change up our conference meals to incorporate some “brain food” that will help our guests attending conferences at our property, think and focus better,” Granger says.

The Standard 24 Hour 4 Conference is one such package that has meals that incorporate brain foods. “We start the day off with a Full English Breakfast and Full Continental Buffet Breakfast, incorporating seeds and nuts, whole grain cereal and breads as well as coffee, because we believe that one’s mind needs to be fed before it can be used to its full potential,” he adds.

To find out more about our conferencing packages visit www.grannymouse.co.za or contact 033 234 4071.

Weddings are often stressful, as you spend hours trying to plan the perfect day that expresses not only who you are as individuals, but who you are as a couple. No more so is this evident than in the trends that are currently being seen in the wedding cake industry.

We recently spoke to Granny Mouse Country House Pastry Chef, Leon de Kock, who gave us some insight into the current top five wedding cake trends.

1. Cup cakes have become a firm favourite, as guests can then help themselves more easily. De Kock believes that this trend is largely due to many couples cutting the cake soon after their ceremony as opposed to waiting until the reception, thereby allowing guests to have tea and cake while the bride and groom head off for photos. Often the cup cakes are non-uniform, offering different flavours and toppings.

2. Different layers and different designs. Gone are the days of a tiered cake looking the same on each tier. These days it’s a different flavour and different design per tier, allowing the couple to really splash out!

3. Red Velvet is definitely the current flavour of all things cake, and this is no different for weddings! De Kock believes that his flavour is here to stay for some time.

4. One for the groom and one for the bride. De Kock is being requested more and more often to provide two cakes for weddings, one for the groom and one for the bride. Although these cakes tend to be one tier only, grooms are now getting in on the wedding cake options, allowing them to have a more manly cake than the traditional soft, three tiered options.

5. The more layers the better. For those couples who still opt for the traditi0onal tiered cake, as making the cakes bigger and better. Not happy with the standard three tiers, de Kock has seen cakes trending towards five or more tiers, creating a real masterpiece centre of attraction.

With an on-site Pastry Chef offering couples everything they could ever want, it’s no wonder that Granny Mouse remains one of KZN’s top wedding destinations.