Time Machine

Flashback

The original skinny jeans and bandannas. Take note, Kloof street hipsters.

Ps. Spot Benji from Good Charlotte at the table.

 

Vilafonte Series M - Wine

Tonight I got home from work, tired, so over it, and poured me some vino.
Vilafonte Series M, to be precise. Smanchsy, innit?


The wine has a fine structure, is well balanced and full of flavour, juicy, woody goodness. 


My thoughts:
I found it to have quite a firm structure. This merlot is a smooth and easy drinking wine, quite full bodied. 


On the (my) nose: black cherry, chocolate, red fruits, oak, even cigar box?
Flavours I tasted: dark fruits, cloves, with quite an oakiness, which I assume is a result of the Cabernet Sauvignon? Super smooth and consistent with a fab fruity finish


All in all, something delicious, easy drinking, nice and full, superb merlot.

Homemade Mayonaisse

Since I was gifted my amaze balls blender by my amaze balls boyfriend for my birthday I have been making so many dips, sauces, pestos, pastes, everything!

I shared my Olive Tapenade recipe a while ago, and have since made it a few times, delish.

Here's my recipe for homemade mayo. But be careful, it has raw egg yolks in, which means the elderly, pregnant and children can't eat it. Also it should only be kept, refrigerated, for about three to four days.

Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups of olive oil or canola oil (depending on what flavour you're looking for - olive oil for a more tangy, green kinda flavour, canola for a more smooth, commercial flavour, or blend the two for a mix)
1.5 tsps dijon mustard, or if you have powdered mustard that works too
pinch of salt
*tbsp lemon juice

Additions
*clove of garlic
*parsley
*paprika
*chilli (chopped super fine)

Method
Whisk the egg yolks and mustard till fluffy. Drop in a teeny bit of oil, and super whisk the mixture. Carry on adding your oil, in teeny tiny drops (it's so important that it's only a tiny bit at a time), until you have added about a quarter of the oil. By now you should have a mayo looking mixture. If not, you've probably added your oil too quickly, or in too big a portion.

From here you can add your oil in larger portions, whisking the entire time. At the end, add in your lemon juice finely chopped parsley/garlic/chilli etc.

Enjoy!

Hiatus

3 weeks... That's the longest I've left my bloggy blog blog in a while. 

I've been on a bit of a rollercoaster lately, work, family, just in general. 

I've come to a realization, that only I can make myself happy. But I guess I knew that already.

I guess I had the winter blues, but they're over now!

Lunch Time Rhyme

Me thinks it's lunch time. 

So here's a little rhyme.

Avo on toast with tea

Is what it shall be

Hot tea and crunchy toast

Are the things that I love most

A little TV while I eat,

Would make this day hard to beat

And then off to work I go

To make me some hard earned dough!

No Ordinary Love

This song is very special to me, it reminds me of when I lived in Germany, and boyfriend was still my flirtation. 

He would write me sweet messages over anything we could get, Facebook, MSN Messenger, (modern love) and send me cool music that I'd never heard of before.  I fell hook, line and sinker for his charms, I must admit, he was especially cute and original with his wooing. 

I look back to that time and realise how much I've grown up since then, and I really miss that time when life was this huge adventure, and we were just discovering each other's quirks, loves, favourite music and art. At the same time, I'm so grateful and happy that we've grown together over the years, and now know everything about each other, it's a very special kind of love that we have. 

Deftones did a Sade cover, "This is No Ordinary Love", and it is kind of our motto for our little love that we have. 

Love you boo!

Cold Winter's Night

OH, it's so chilly here in Cape Town.

The air is crisp as I walk home, leaves crunching under my shoe. My breath hangs in the air like sparrows on the phone lines. I love this time of year, walking out in the open.

Everything seems so much brighter, the birds' song sounds more full of life, dogs have more bounce in their bound, it's just so lovely. And even though it seems more gray out, the sky is more pink and blue than ever, the metal telephone poles are shinier - bliss!


Here are some of my perfect winter evening songs. I like to cuddle in a blanket, have the window wide open, with the smokey winter's air drifting in, steaming cup of tea and a book while this is playing.

         
                 

         Spot Neil Patrick Harris if you can
                           
                    
                   

Something to Think About

I saw this pic on The Sartorialist's blog, and it got me thinking...

What is it in life that makes a young person who's lost a limb want to get  back on a bike, take a walk or even just go out in public? It must take such motivation and positive thought patterns. Sometimes I don't even want to get out of bed, let alone get dressed and ride my bike, and I have all four of my limbs nicely intact.

So let this photo be kick up the ass and go forth and live thine life, young blog readers.

Motivation for the week.

Kisses

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday, friends! May your weekend be splendorous, lazy, funfilled and crazy!

Happy Cake Day

So it's not my birthday, but that's what I ate on my bday! Thought I'd just share some food porn, so we can all drool!

Beauty Recipe: Beer Shampoo

I'm constantly hearing about these make at home beauty rituals, and to me, most of them sound a bit like too much work!

I've made sugar scrubs, avocado face masks and they've all come out okay, so I decided to try this beer shampoo. It came out fabulously!

I messed around a little and the results were:

*Use lighter beers if you have lighter hair, I used a weiss beer, which smells a little better than most beers.

*Dark ale had a lovely and rich result, super glossy hair!

*I experienced quite a thick and full feeling, more body, so yay!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup beer
1 cup of your fav shampoo

Method:
Simmer the beer until it's reduced to about a quarter cup, allow to cool. Then mix in the cup of shampoo, and voila, you're done

Luscious locks!

Xoxo

Recipe - Lemon Meringue

Editor's Postscript: Video is not working atm, will post later, for now find the full recipe here 

Celebrity Crush: Kat Dennings

Today's celebrity crush is the delectable Kat Dennings. I love her look! 


Super sexy, feline like, funny and a little sarcastic.


"There's nothing else I would rather do, unless there was a profession that involved cuddling bunny rabbits and kittens all day for money."


Well, isn't she lucky! 


While trawling the interwebs for Kat trivia, I found her strangely funny blog, www.katdennings.com.


She's known for her dark hair and pale skin, but she has said "I've had people tell me to get Mystic Tan, blonde highlights, choppy haircuts, but I've made a conscious decision not to cave."


I have a guy friend who dies everytime she walks on set, so she must be doing something right!


I'll be back tomorrow, picking up on some forgotten rituals, Word of the Week, Monday's Movie. 


til then, ciao!


xxx

Rambling Bones

Lemme introduce the Rambling Bones, one of my most favourite bands in da world!

Recipe: Olive Tapenade

For my birthday I got the most amazing blender/food processor/ juicer.

I've been trying out a million recipes, and doing a bunch of experiments since then. I have just made an olive tapenade, and it was so, so simple I thought I'd share it quickly!

Ingredients: 
1 250g pouch of black olives
About 50ml olive oil
A few drops chili oil (I prefer this to chopped chilies, as it's not so great to bite into chunks of chili)
1 Red bell pepper, chargrilled and diced
1 bay leaf (chopped super, super fine)
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2 tablespoons of chopped thyme
1/2 lemon juiced
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine

Method :
Put in amazing blender and zzzzt!

With this recipe I kinda just chop and change depending on how I feel. Also, I always start with the olives, red pepper and herbs, then add the liquids carefully, as too much liquid makes you an olive sauce, rather than a paste.

I use this to spread on chicken, fish or just plain with pestos, hummus and other dips to make a nice cracker board.

The great thing is, it literally takes five mins to make!

And the Winner Is...

Lol! Here's Nando's response to the Santam challenge. Well played, Nando's, well played

Santam Vs Nandos

Nando's is famous for their fantastic ads, having ripped off other well known brands, such as Cell C (eish). The latest being Santam. A while ago Santam released the ad below:
 

Nando's followed with this gem.
 

I didn't expect Santam to bite back, but they took the bait and shot Nando's this wowzer. Ouch.
 

I saw it yesterday for the first time, and have been waiting anxiously to see Nando's response.

News24 reported the following:

"Nando's has seen Santam's bet and raised it by offering the Johannesburg Children's home more than just a meal on their chosen day, but a meal a month for a year."

Bam! Take that Santam! It's so inspiring to see playful banter like this result in food for hungry children.

Well done, Nando's and Santam...

Daddy Long Legs Potjie Evening

Last week I went to the Daddy Long Legs Potjie Competition. For those of you who don't know, DLL is a small boutique art hotel, a sister to the Grand Daddy (the hotel with the caravans on the roof).


The DLL has 13 rooms, each with a different theme. The room names range from the kinky "Emergency Room", a brightly painted Doctor Nurse style decor, to the more calming "Open", a beautiful, light space, where the walls have been plastered in images of sunsets from all around the Western Cape.

1. The Emergency Room
2. The Open Room

Then there's my favourite, Palimpset. This room has been fitted with an attic style roof, beautiful old books, an antique cupboard, a pair of vintage pumps and a record player. It feels as if your in a cottage in the woods, reading novel upon novel, sipping tea and writing letters to your one true love. Sigh.

The whimsical Palimpset

The Potjie Competition is an annual event, where five teams compete head to head to see who can cook the most delicious potjie. And delicious they were. The five teams were Sailor Jerry, Old Mac Daddy, Cape Town Tourism, Rhino Africa and Capsol. My fav was the Rhino Africa's amazing Butter Chicken Potjie, but Cape Town Tourism's gorgeous lamb and veg stole the prize.

What I wore. :)

I love it. "Tip i f you F**king hate Justin Bieber" They must have got a lot of tips!

Basically how it works is, as a 'judge', you have to taste all five potjies and vote. Simple. Free dinner. Free wine. Good people. Amazing venue. Woohoo! Perfect night!

I had so much fun, and will be going back next year, and the next. You should come too!

Stopped at Narona to carry on with the festivities, and picked up a boyfriend. 

Ps. They are having a contest to redesign one of the rooms, check out their Facebook for all the rad entries. My votes on Hemporium!

The details:
Daddy Long Legs Hotel - 021 422 3074
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/DaddyLongLegsArtHotel
The very cool website, with panaromic views of each room - http://www.daddylonglegs.co.za

Indian Feast

While trying to find dinner inspiration, I found this awesome dood. Just his accent delights me. Check out his YouTube channel for other delicious Indian specialities. I caved tonight and got take away. Indian, of course!

Sunday Funnies, Courtesy of 9gag