Friday 24 May 2013

Yesterday I Fried Samoosas At Work

And they were delicious! (I didn't make them, just fried them, apparently I have skills - If all else fails maybe I'll cross the road to Burger King and start my culinary career) It's just a pity we were having a farewell party for some colleagues, among them my first real work-friend, mentor and partner in crime Angie :) Her smile, voice and personality will definitely be missed in the passages.

Me & Angie at the Jan Braai Book Launch Last Year
With Masterchef judge Pete Goffe-Wood & Michele from the Blog: A Bunch of Mishtakes
Speaking of all things foodie, I'm off to my first ever Good Food & Wine Show at the CTICC tonight courtesy of Original Iced Cocktails! Can't wait to cool off with some Strawberry Daiquiris after this busy work week. Also hoping to spot some famous celebrity chefs including world-renowned,  3 Michelin stars rated Gordon Ramsay!

Just to whet the appetite and get into Friday-mode I've included some of my favourite Gordon memes! Happy Friday All!







Monday 20 May 2013

Bon Jovi, Bieber, Zip-Lining, Mom's Day, #ThankYouSirAlex, #RIPVuyoMbuli... Titbits from the past 2 weeks

I've had a really busy and entertaining week or two and it's starting to show in my Swine-flu-like cough that's just about leaving me and the non-Guess bags under my eyes. But alas, it's been awesome! On Tuesday 7 May the sounds of a crooning guitar and the glare of Jon Bon Jovi's brilliantly white teeth dazzled the audience that filled Cape Town Stadium. Knowing that this man is the same age as my father had little effect on my friend Kirsty who fell head-over-heels for the jeans and leather-clad star in his opening few bars of You Give Love A Bad Name... Overall the show was pretty good, just the usual complaints of bad sound quality at the stadium, but your ears soon got used to it and you could easily recognise your favourite songs. My favourites include Bed of Roses and their encore rendition of Living on a Prayer really blew us away. Some people might have said that Bon Jovi acted as an opening act for Bieber the following night, but as Jon so aptly put it "I might not be as pretty as Justin Bieber, or able to dance as well as Justin Timberlake, but we've been around a helluva time longer than both of them put together!"





The next night was another night back at the stadium for Justin Bieber's Believe World Tour and this time I decided to take my mom with as an early Mother's Day gift. It was decidedly humiliating though when I saw that she out-danced me to the opening act of LCNVL (Locnville) and sang along to all the words of Chiano Sky's tracks. The atmosphere in the stadium was absolutely electric when the countdown for Bieber to appear started. 65 000 people screamed in unison, most of the voices being high-pitched pre-teen girls, I'm surprised glass around the stadium didn't shatter. It was a truly remarkable experience to behold. Hate him or love him Justin put on a show that won't easily be forgotten! He was a true performer, bringing girls to overwhelmed tears and some even passing out with excitement, reminiscent of the "Beattles Effect" their mothers and grandmothers would've experienced given the chance. My favourites included: Boyfriend, his medley and his encore containing his very first smash hit Baby, which actually made the whole stadium vibrate from jumping and screaming fans.







On that Saturday, to do something different, a group of friends and I decided to take the "short" hour or so drive to Caledon to do some tree-top zip-lining. Not sure how I stood on the fear of heights thing (given my crippling ornithophobia, coulrophobia and atychiphobia) But it turns out I wasn't reduced to a pile of jelly-legs and I had such an exhilarating time flying through the trees at SA Forest Adventures! I would do it again in a heart-beat! My only word of advice would be to maybe stay over for a weekend and combine it with some of the other activities that they have on offer.







On Sunday, 12 May, we celebrated Mother's Day, and being a family that doesn't indulge in lavish and expensive gifts, I did my favourite thing and got my mom a few things she genuinely loves and appreciates. Just to show her how much I appreciate her and the many things she does for us. Also I'm very glad she doesn't resemble any of the mom-charaters in the TV shows we enjoy watching together! Thank you mom for all the advice, lectures and the odd "I told you so" that has groomed me into the person I am today!




On that day Manchester United also received the Barclays Premier League Trophy for this season and Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement as manager coach, a position he's had for 26 years. I honestly feel like I'm losing a grandfather I never knew.



Speaking of loss, South Africa lost a true journalistic icon this weekend. Vuyo Mbuli, a news reporter on Morning Live died tragically on Saturday night. Although I didn't know him personally his death has moved me quite a bit. The simple act of getting ready in the mornings and watching him and his co-anchors deliver the news becomes such a part of your daily routine that you start to take it for granted. It just goes to show that none of us knows when our time will be up and we really should make the most of every moment we have!



Happy Monday All, Let's hope this is a good week (it should be, it's payday Friday!) Sharp! Sharp! :)