Sunday Lunch - Hertford House

This venue was 1 of the venues visited when searching my brother's wedding venue.

Walking around it's rustic premises with old charm, I knew instantly that it was not the right venue for them.

My friend Li is an old soul, and I have her wedding planned in my head, just waiting for her to find the groom. This is the perfect venue for her, so I wanted her to see it.

Guest rooms overlooking the terrace

Salmon Salad starter

1 of our visitors

Dessert - A little bit of everything

We spent a lovely winter's afternoon on the terrace eating a delectable 3 course Sunday lunch and afterwards took a walk around to explore the chapel and gardens.

I've always wanted to get married under a gazebo

Winter is not very kind to the scenery, but you only had to look at the pruned rose-bushes and leaf-less branches to imagine the beauty that will blossom in Spring time.

The Chapel

We chatted about men and the serious lack of sex in our lives. I made a decision that I really need to get some soon - it could be the root of my grumpiness. (Nah, it's probably mostly due to work, but I am sure the lack of action is playing a bit part too!)

Fun in the Sun

Swing-swing

Such a pretty place.... The food & setting is definitely worth the visit!

Through the Eyes of a Princess

I love taking photos - I always have.
One of the first things I spent my pocket-money on was a little camera (the long thin types)
For my 16th birthday I was treated to a Samsung Film Camera - it cost R999 ($100) (18 years ago that was a lot of money, especially for my parents) I still have that camera and I will never part with it.

Last year I treated myself to a Canon and I am still loving every second of it (even if it spends more time in the closet than out in the field)

I take hundreds of photos, share them online and then store them on my Hard Drive.
Nobody ever really gets to see them and enjoy them.
I have recently mounted a few of my photos into frames which are now displayed on my wall along the staircase, but those 13 photos are a drop in the ocean compared to the thousands I have stored.

Hard Personalised Cover

A few years back I saw the Photobooks and fell in love with the idea of having a stylish coffee-table-style book filled with photos for people to browse through.

I made myself my first book with my Thailand photos and loved the idea so much, promptly made a second book with all my day to day photos.
I have recently completed my Europe Holiday photobook and will send to print when I have some spare cash. Next I will begin work on "Through the Eyes of a Princess II"

The design work is fun because you can do anything you like! I use some of my photos as backgrounds, make a collage, frame them, drop shadow them, add scrapbooking looking embellishment images... the list is endless.

Terrible Cellphone images - sorry!

The books are professionally bound and the pages are glossy and thick enough not to tear very easily. A scrapbook album looks lovely but it becomes bulky and the embellishments and paper can get torn so easily.

 

What do you do with your digital photos?

July Cooking Challenge Week 6

Week 6 (the final challenge):
Challenge: Desserts - Tiramisu (It was a touch task to choose just 1!)
Level: Easy
Food Photography: Difficult - Who knew fluffy cream would be so difficult?
Result: 9/10 Delicious

Tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts and I have never even attempted to make it, thinking it would be too difficult.

I used Amarula as my alcohol of choice. YUM!!

I have used Amarula in a recent Malva Pudding and at the moment, Amarula is my favourite cooking ingredient as it never disappoints me.

Handy Hint: Buy the Boudoir finger biscuits - the fancy looking italian biscuits are just not the same.

Wine Glass to serve

After taking my photos I popped half a biscuit in when I served the dessert and forgot to take another photo - but it looked quite cute

Fluffy Amarula/Coffee taste

Remember to visit Simply Delicious for many more tasty recipes.

This has been such a fun challenge.

It challenged me way out of my comfort zone. 

Claudz, thank you for making me take part, I discovered that I am not as bad a cook as I thought and I also learnt to appreciate the satisfaction of sitting down to a delicious home-made meal which I cooked myself.

These recipes have been cooked more than once since this challenge:

After my dad's operation, I made him Baked Fish to make him feel better.

I made Tiramisu for my friend and her husband - I thought they needed a treat since having a baby.

This challenge will have long term results in my future enetertaining and I do thank you, from the bottom of my heart now flabby tummy.

July Cooking Challenge Week 5 (belated)

Apologies for the belated post!

Week 5:
Challenge: Vegetarian (I love my meat, so I chose an alternate version of the Mac 'n Cheese ) -Beer & Bacon Mac & Cheese
Level: Medium purely because the prep requires a bit of time
Food Photography: Easy - it's impossible to mess up a photo of melted cheese!
Result: 8/10 The Beer taste is a winner - but I found upon re-heating, the taste had diminished a bit and wasn't as tasty as the night it was cooked

A word of advice though - ensure you have all your ingredients for the sauce measured out and sitting next to you by the stove.

As soon as you pour that beer into the flour and butter mixture, the sauce thickens very quickly and you need to quickly add your cream and milk.

The breadcrumbs topping was a tasty addition and so delicious when all cooked.

I halfed the recipe and still have a truck-load of food!

I am going to EAT YOU UP!!

Comfort Food Deluxe

Remember to visit Simply Delicious for many more tasty recipes and to join the challenge, click the button on my homepage or visit Claudz on Purple Lips and Perfect Smiles

Like Father like Son...

... Like mother like daughter.

When I was a little girl, my mom and I used to fight All. The. Time

My mom is cheeky, speaks her mind and is not afraid of what other people think and is more than happy to defend herself or others in a fight.

I was cheeky and spoke my mind. I received so many hidings for talking back or doing something I was explicitly told not to do.

As I got older, we fought over everything and I think it was because we were so alike in so many ways it was purely a personality clash.

i asked my mom how on earth she put up with it. She told me that a mother needs to give her child room to grow and develop a personality.you have to accept them and guide them. Very wise words mom. 

I see so many of my personality traits which stem from my mom. I am sure we all do. 

Does that mean we have to accept the bad ones? 

I see character traits in people around me that are directly a result of their upbringing. It's scary because these people complain about their parent being bossy, or arrogant or unreasonable and yet they are exactly the same way.

Is it inevitable that we will all become our parents? Do we have a chance to salvage the good and discard the bad?

Perhaps if everybody just took a good long look at themselves and we're brutally honest about their shortcomings, the world would indeed be a more considerate place.

Some lessons I have learnt along the way:

It's not important to always be right.

You shouldn't force your opinion onto others- wait to be asked.

Drop that condescending tone. It's annoying and one day I will stop ignoring it and actually say something in anger - which I will never be able to retract.