Category: The General stuff

Food and love

I was looking through our kitchen window out onto the vineyards last night as the sun was setting and I had this feeling that took me a minute to realize was contentment.

We had a near-perfect weekend.  Not too busy, not too quiet, filled with all kinds of awesomeness and that ended with a long walk with the kids in the vineyards.  I even baked some cookies* which I ended up eating too many of.

Date night was really lovely, I can highly recommend Our Place, all the food that passed our table looked beautiful and they accommodated all my requests (no fries, no oil, no dressing.  Boring, I know) and still made my food look and taste delicious.  The company wasn’t too bad either.

On Saturday morning, after an epic Google Maps fail (hint: the wine farm is not situated in the middle of Wellington, but on the outskirts), we eventually ended up at Napier Winery and it was well worth the trip, I could have spent a LOT of money there.  As we left I asked about a place in the area to have lunch and they very kindly pointed us in the direction of Under Oaks.  Lovely big lawn, jungle gym, horses, the kids had a ball and they even posed for pictures, which is almost unheard of.  Of course the wine is also lovely.  Lunch for all of us also came in at about R250, which is a huge bargain in my books.  We’ll be going back there, en masse.

On Saturday night Daniel spent the night with my In-laws and I think the undivided attention was just what he needed.  The girls also had a chance to just do their own thing, just what they needed as well. It made us come up with a plan, but more about this later.  The only downside was that Daniel came home yesterday when we had all the parentals over for Sunday lunch, waving the front page of Die Burger depicting the epic battle between the Sharks and the Stormers and we all know how that ended.  We strongly suspect he was coached as my FIL is a Bulls Supporter.  I could literally see Etienne flinch every time Daniel reminded him that the Stormers lost and he reminded him very very often.

* I had some choc chips left over from Daniel’s birthday recently and baked these cookies.  I then felt like trying some white choc and cranberry cookies and as per usual the internet obliged.  If you like chewy cookies try the first recipe, if you like harder cookies use the second recipe.  I’m all for chewy, so next time I’m going to make the first recipe and just replace that dark choc chips with the cranberries and white choc chips. The combination is To Die For, the sweetness of the chocolate combined with the tartness of dried cranberries.  You’re welcome.

PS:  I accused Etienne of being a stubborn, chest-thumping Neanderthal yesterday as he refused to let my Dad help him carve the chicken so we could get the rest of lunch on the table with the least amount of chaos.  He maintains it is “his job”.  Whatever.  Is it the same in your homes?

PPS: Next thing I’m going to try is Oven-Dried Apples, they look delish and healthy for lunchbox snack for the kids.

Date night

Just a quick pop-in.

Tonight is Date Night and I can’t wait! I remembered halfway through the week that I had promised Megan more hours before the end of July and voila! Impromptu Date Night.

Of course I tweeted asking for recommendations for places to go in Durbanville as I couldn’t be arsed to drive far and the 2 most attractive were Cassia (love them!) and Our Place (thanks Lindsey!) where we are going tonight. By all accounts they are lovely. I just hope they can put up with my dietary crap.

A friend also recently introduced me to Cathy’s site, PaperPeony and I fell in love. Check out her washi tape, I have ordered mine and I’m waiting for the next birthday so I can get a-wrapping! I used to have a thing for stationery and calligraphy, but since the kids it really hasn’t been anything more than the odd half-hearted attempt, so this is really exciting. Please pop over and have a look?

Then, we watched a Ted Talk at work today and I’m in the process of having an epiphany. Watch this space, it’s HUGE.

I’m dragging Etienne and the kids off to Wellington tomorrow for this:

What are you all doing for the weekend?

Mandela Day 2012

We have started a project at work for Mandela Day that I’m quite excited about and our department chose 3 charities to support:

1. House of Thembiso in Kraaifontein is a house for abandoned babies, something I’m personally very passionate about.  They get a grant from the Government of R13 per container of milk which is quite ridiculous as I see a large tin of S26 Gold is now in the region of R200.

They use Lactogen, so if you know of anyone that works for Nestle that could give it them at cost or you feel like dropping off a tin of formula or anything else you know babies need, please contact Sonja on 021 981 5261. They would love the support.

If you want to physically get involved, they also have a volunteer roster that they could add you on.

2. We are also doing some work with the Lucky Lucy Foundation, an NGO that takes care of all kinds of abandoned animals, re-conditions them and re-homes them.  They also do extensive work within disadvantaged communities, they educate people about caring for animals, arrange for free sterilization of animals and even hand out food parcels.  They always need dog food or any groceries that they can pass on.  They also support a child feeding scheme, so even if you have a bottle of peanut butter that would come in handy.  They are based in Joostenberg, you will find their contact details on their website.

3. The last organization we support is Shiloh Children’s Home in Kraaifontein. They take care of 10 children at the moment and are always in need of assistance.

As lovely as the initiative is, there are SO many places that need help on an ongoing basis and they have to fight for funds and supplies and assistance on a daily basis.  We ALL have things in our cupboards and playrooms and grocery cupboards and linen cupboards we don’t use, why not take those things out and donate them to someone?  If you want a list of places I’m sure I can get one together.  Otherwise, if you are in the Cape Town area and you want to donate to any of these places before Mandela Day via me, please comment and I will get in touch with you.  I have a whole room that I’m trying to fill up at our offices.

I have always said that I want our kids to be involved with some community service from a young age as I think it is a great lesson in humility and being grateful for what you have. But I need to get my A into G and just do it long-term.

What are your plans for Mandela Day?

Are you involved in any type of community work?

PS: Etienne was very nervous about sending me out to Thembiso and Lucky Lucy, but I can report that I didn’t arrive home with a new dog, cat, pig, rabbit, goat or baby. Not for lack of trying of course.

PPS: I thought the babies would be hard, the animals were harder for me.  They had a beautiful boxer girl there that someone had starved to within an inch of her life. There are some mighty sick fuckers out there if you listen to the stories of the animal abuse they have seen.

Day 2 – Missing

When you’ve been with someone for a long time (13 years in our case) you have little things that have become habit.  I normally don’t notice the missing “links” in my day when Etienne is gone, but for some reason this year it’s harder than usual, even though it’s only for 5 days.

Not hard as in I’m-going-to-fall-down-and-cry-hard, just I’ve-noticed-it-more-this-year-than-normal-hard.  I’m wondering if it is because I’ve been taking him for granted or whether I’m just that little bit more in love with him than last year this time?  I’m leaning toward love.

For example:

Last night I was throwing an extra blanket over our bed and there was no-one on the other side of the bed to smooth it out.

Taking out the trash.  Not a job I normally do.  Not a job I would like to do on a regular basis either thank you very much.

I find myself wondering what we need from the shops, only to realize that I can’t ask him.  Not that he would care as he is stuffing his face with all kinds of meat he doesn’t ever get at home.

Not being able to spoon.  I love spooning.

I dialled his office number to tell him a funny story, only to realise he’s not there.  (that was a special facepalm moment)

I get to read to the kids every night.  I’m loving lolling around with them on the carpet, reading books in no particular hurry.  I’m wondering why I don’t enjoy it that much when he’s around?

I miss not setting his place at the table.  Dinner is always a big event at our house, it’s our family catch-up time.

Having at least 1 child in bed with me at night (Isabel, for most of the last 2 nights), being able to cuddle and then still have enough space to roll over to my side of the bed.

But most of all I miss my buddy, the person I most enjoy talking to.

Only 2 more sleeps!

PS: I’ve just realized that we have been together for a 1/3 of our lives.  Wow.

PPS: All this peace and quiet has given me the opportunity to try out a new granny square pattern.  I have made 16 of these squares and was almost done with this square last night and will make 16 of them too so that I have 2 fair sized blankets for the girls. (I found the website via one of  my favourite crochet websites, Attic24.)  Then to start with something for Daniel for his bed.  By which stage it will probably be December.

For the Love of Kindle

A very kind and generous person (whom I shall not mention by name purely because I refuse to share her) gave me a Kindle Fire as a gift recently.

We are by no means a technologically challenged household, but there is not a tablet in sight at Casa Roux, purely because we have some other pressing financial commitments (bond, food, clothes, childcare) and we just haven’t been able to pinch off the money.  So you can only imagine how completely beside myself I was when I received this gift!

What I didn’t realize was how it would change my life.

For starters I no longer have to hold a book on cold nights.  I simply stand the kindle on its side against Etienne’s arm (he lies reading on his stomach) and only a finger has venture out from under the cover to flip the page.

It’s small and light and I can take it with me wherever I go, so I’m never bored.  Fair enough, it is vying for space in my large bag with my phone and crochet bag, but hey.

I feel a lot better about killing trees.  Yes, I know that I’m reading on an electronic device and someone somewhere will be able to prove that it’s actually worse for the environment, but still.

I have consumed shlurped up read more in the last few months than I have in years.  I have read cookbooks and sci-fi and vampire books and those dreaded 50 shades of whatever and Nora Roberts and Michael Robotham’s Suspect and most recently John Greene’s The Fault in our Stars. (Spoiler alert: it should come with a box of tissues or a roll of toilet paper, what an awesome book!)

It’s generally speaking a lot cheaper than buying hardcover books.

I do however find some things harder now that I’m reading on a kindle.

I find it harder to memorise book and author names if it’s not someone I’ve read before.

I miss being able to quickly refer to something on the back of the book about the promised storyline.  The outside of a book is a little like getting to know a new person.  You flirt with and remember the cover and the picture and if you come across the book at a later stage your memory is easily jogged.

I miss giving someone a book to read that doesn’t have a kindle (such as my Dad).  I can’t just be sitting at a dinner party chatting about a book and walk to the bookshelf and pull it off and hand it over.  (this might actually be a good thing, it might force people to buy the book online for less?)

I worry about the future of writers and how being a writer will be redefined in many ways.  How will you be noticed in the throng of on-line voices?

I worry about our neighborhood bookshops.  Not too much, remember the trees, but people that love books work there.  Where would those people go?

I wonder about how it will change bookclubs.  There’s something ritualistic about dragging a box of books with you to book club once a month and scratching around, looking for something that catches your eye.  How will it work in future?  Will women huddle around their kindles/iPads in their own lounges in future? Isn’t that a bit lonely?

Will we still have book clubs, or will it all be an online affair?  I despair for all the wine that won’t be drunk.  (not that I’ve belonged to a book club in a while as things are just too hectic, but plenty of my friends do)

How do you read books?  If you read on a device, how did it change your relationship with books?  Should we still be calling them books?

Middleclass problems – The Final Chapter

I promise to stop boring you with the whole domestic saga after this post.

We bid our lady a not-so-fond farewell yesterday when she decided that she would rather just leave than go through the disciplinary meeting I had arranged for her with 48 hours notice.  I actually called the CCMA helpline yesterday just to make sure I had my facts straight. If you need to chat to them you can reach them on 0861 16 16 16.  They aren’t very friendly, but I guess they get a lot of irate Afrikaans ladies that call.  Whatever.

The final straw was when Etienne checked our wine supply, only to realise that all our special and sentimental wines such as export wine from our wedding and wine we bought for the kids as well as a bottle of whisky were gone.  He doesn’t get mad easily, but he was rather pissed off about that and so was I.

So, moving along.

This now gives us an opportunity to re-evaluate what our needs are as a family as having domestic help is important to us with both of us working full-time and having three kids who need to have clean clothes every so often.

We think it is better to have someone live in as we have to skedaddle out of the house by 7h30 in the morning and knowing the reliability of the public transport system we would like to limit everyone’s stress as far as possible.

BUT. We need our alone-time with our children on weekends and appreciate that someone might have their own family close-by that they would like to see.

So I’m curious, what, if any, are your cleaning arrangements?  Here’s a little poll, I hope I covered everything..

If I’ve left anything out or you have any suggestions, I appreciate it as always.  I have specifically not added in anything about Nannies that have dual duties, but I know that a lot of us have either been there or are there now.

Ps: I’m feeling a little dragged-backwards-through-bush-tired-and-fragile today.  3 nights of little sleep has caught up to me, rounded off by Mignon and a croup attack last night. Followed by a nebbing session and dunking her in bed with us.  Followed by her playing with my hair, sticking her fingers up my nose and so on and so forth.  You get the picture.

Raining and pouring

I’ve been a little grumpy the last few days. Etienne is away on a work thing tonight, which means I am herding cats today and tomorrow.

At the end of the month he is also going away for 5 whole days (of which 2 are a Saturday and a Sunday) on his annual, very well-deserved, boys’ trip.

I have stocked up on happy drugs, vodka, wine and invited myself to all our friends, so we should be fine. Getting 3 kids mobilized is a true team effort at the best of times, not because the kids are bad so much, it’s just that events aren’t always as synchronized as I would like them to be. Yes, OCD, I know.

If they do everything together it’s manageable, but if one of them is dressing, one is eating and one is making the biggest poo on the planet and shouting to have their bum wiped (MAMMA KOM VEE MY BOOOUUUUDE AAAFFF!!), it gets a little tricky. I would lie if I said I don’t get annoyed.

It went pretty well this morning, the only hiccups were Isabel demanding to wear a pair of stockings with a hole as big as my fist because “they like to poke it with their fingers” and Daniel that refused to brush his own teeth. I refuse to argue with Isabel, so she went to school with the stockings. I really don’t care what they think.

Even the drop-off went like a dream. I zipped into a parking bay right in front of Daniel’s school gate, bundled him out of the car, gave him a big fat smooch and a hug at the gate and off he went. I caught the light green across a busy intersection, pulled in at the girls’ school, they hopped out of the car and bounced into school and weren’t bothered at all when I left.

I then tried calling the house early this afternoon to chat to our live-in domestic lady. No answer. I kept calling until the time that Megan was supposed to arrive home with the kids, by this time rather frantically, to see what was going on.

Megan then tells me that Sylvia is sitting “sleeping” at the kitchen table and they had to wiggle their way in through the back gate as she wouldn’t answer the door. She was sitting right next to the phone that had been ringing for the last hour. I admit, I jumped to a rather obvious conclusion that involved alcohol as it is a rather stern conversation we have had with her before. I had a little freak-out and called my Dad to try and get to the house as quickly as possible. She couldn’t stand up straight, so he suggested she rather retire to her room to “rest”.

By the time I got home she was falling around her bedroom and there was that lovely boozy smell, and the house was a complete tip. My Mom and I then asked her why she was drinking and she said she was “tired”.

I know this might sound like someone’s middleclass problems, but I am absolutely furious at having my children exposed to that. And on the one day that Etienne isn’t here. And I have to go to work tomorrow and worry about my house and my children. She has been banned from the house for the day until Etienne gets back and we can decide how we want to deal with it.

To top it all off Daniel finally managed to lose his first big front tooth that has been loose for absolute ages, so there was a bit of a scuffle to round up money and cheese for the tooth mouse.

At least the kids seem to not have noticed much, but I did tell them tonight that Sylvia “wasn’t well” and that the 4 of us have to work together as a team tomorrow morning.

Let’s hope.

Edit to add: I also literally stepped in dog shit when I got home today. Figures.

Sugar Free Challenge Poll

So, I’m curious, how did everyone do with the Sugar Free challenge?

I must admit, by Tuesday night I was very nervous about it.  I felt like you do before you have a party:  I was scared no-one would come.  And what a surprise I had, so once again thanks very much for all your support!

Overall I think we did ok except for the pancakes on Wednesday night and some syrup over the glazed carrots last night and we could definitely see a difference.

Our (Margot and mine) aim wasn’t to suddenly change you into sugar-Nazis, but to create an awareness.

Did it make you wonder about what is in the food we buy and the food we think is healthy that we give our kids?

Did it make you turn an item around when you were at the shops this week and look at the food label to see what the sugar content is?

If you did stay sugar free for 48 hours, how did you feel when you woke up this morning?

Did you take a look at how your kids’ behavior changes when they had sugar when you were aware that they had sugar?

Please feel free to comment and leave any posts you might have done about your experience, I would love to hear about it!

ps: I recently saw a post on Betty Bake Blog about Forks over Knives so last night Etienne and I watched it.  I’m not a big fan of meat to start off with, so it was quite an eye-opener to see my gut feel be supported by so much research and facts about how bad animal-based protein is for us.  I could tell it hit home for Etienne as well as this morning he was worried about making supper after seeing the documentary.  Love it!

Does it mean we will instantly stop eating meat?  No.  But it will make us think about making better meal choices, not fighting with kids over having to eat their meat and slowly incorporating more plant-based proteins in our diet.

Sugar Free Challenge Day 2

So lots of feedback yesterday about how people did being sugar free and I have to confess: we had pancakes last night.  (Etienne asked me gleefully if I was going to confess and I said I would)

In our defense, it was a fundraiser for Daniel’s aftercare and we only had a little bit, so it was for a good cause.  And I could definitely see the impact as the kids were pretty mellow after the supper we took my folks, but after they had their pancake bedtime was a small nightmare as they were hopping all over the show.  Isabel was particularly bad.  So there.

Breakfast this morning was usual cornflakes for the kids and yoghurt/fruit for me.

Their snack boxes looked like this: I made rice cakes with cheese and ham and put some un-sulphured dried mango in for Daniel and raw peanuts for the girls.  I then added some goji berries that they actually eat, to my great surprise. If you haven’t tasted them before, they are lovely and you can stick them in almost anything.  I often chuck them in yoghurt with some seeds.

Tomorrow is sweetie day for all of them so I’ll pack some Lays Light Salted and a small packet of Florida’s Natural Nuggets.  They are a little pricey, but very yum.

For supper tonight my folks are coming over, so we are doing roast chicken, brown basmati, potatoes and veg.  I also found this Pasta with Cilantro-Peanut Pesto recipe in my reader this morning that looks amazing if you want to try something different.  And Sugar free.  And healthy.

I also found this link on twitter this morning and thought it was a great thing in light of this little challenge.  It’s a NY Times article on how the New York Mayor plans on banning large carbonated drinks.  I don’t know about you, but we hardly ever have Coke etc in the house and when someone leaves a bottle here it disappears very quickly.  I also often look at those big 2l bottles of cooldrink in the shops and think about all that sugar and plastic and then I think imagine people just stopped buying that stuff.  I’m weird, I know, but read the article, it’s well worth it.

I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to achieve with the challenge and for me it really ended up being about making people aware of sugar, the impact on our kids and checking food labels to see where it hides.  So, please think about those things and I’ll try to draw up a quick poll that makes sense.

And thank you.  From the bottom of my heart for all the feedback, I really appreciate it!

Day 1 – Sugarfree challenge

My folks moved house yesterday and when I got home late last night the last thing I felt like doing was bake those cookies I promised, but I decided to just get on with it and got Etienne to help.  Boy am I glad I did!

5 Ingredients, 10 minutes to put together, 15 minute rest time and 17 minutes in the oven.  I had to stop myself from scoffing down a whole pile of them!

I found the original recipe here.

Sugar-free banana cookies

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C

  • 3 bananas, mashed (we had little ones, overripe)
  • 250g dates (one of those blocks, chopped finely)
  • 1 and 3/4 cup oats
  • 1/3 c oil (I used avocado oil, but I’m sure you can use any oil)
  • 1tsp vanilla essence

Mix everything together and let it sit for 15 minutes to let the flavours mix.  Then you drop spoonfuls (I use the tablespoon measuring spoon for this) on a baking tray and make in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Keep your eye on them until they are nice and brown and take them out.

Voila!

The kids’ snackboxes today

This morning I packed those cookies in for the kids along with a cheese wedge and some Crackerbread with some Black Cat Sugar and Salt free Peanut Butter.

Tomorrow I think it will be rice cakes with cheese and ham, I still need to figure out their snacks, but I’ll keep you posted!

For lunch today I’m having some rice cakes with fat free smooth cottage cheese with tomato and cucmber stacked on top with some cracked black pepper.  Quick and easy.

For supper we are taking my folks food as their new house has too little space and too much stuff, so we are probably going to make some ovenbaked risotto that we can start at home and rush over and stick in their oven and forget about until we are ready to eat.  I’m still deciding what to put in as Etienne has declared tonight a no-chicken night, but it will be along the lines of this recipe.  It is one of our favourite foods to make because it is so easy and you literally only need a sharp knife, a chopping board, a wooden spoon and a pot. (Except for the carbs, but I’ll just close my eyes tonight)

So, what did you plan to feed everyone today?