FOR TODAY
Outside my window...
A drizzly grey kind of day with spurts of bright and pretty warm sunshine. I drove to Kalk Bay in the rain this morning to meet Kathy for breakfast. A great start to the day and a reminder of how good it feels to get up early, showered and dressed by 8. You can have so much fun before 10.30 in the morning (which is the time that I usually get dressed and showered on a Sunday)
Tea in a beautiful china cup on the veranda at Chartfield - the stunning guest house where Kathy was staying for the weekend with a whole bunch of her students
Awesome windows from the breakfast room
I am thinking...
that perhaps it is a good idea to have a glass of wine this evening
I am thankful...
for the lovely phone call that I have just had with Matthew in Kimberley. I am not a great one for chatting on a cellphone but I needed to catch up on his rugby yesterday (they lost to the Lions). It ended up being a mammoth call chatting about recipes, the new lawnmower that he has recently bought (free weed-eater thrown in), his frustrations with DSTV (he has used up R200 worth of airtime trying to get connected), our upcoming trip to Kimberley (probably the first weekend in May) and even a few lesson in love!! A lovely chat with my faraway child.
In the kitchen...
I put together a lovely pasta for lunch today (recipe thanks to Fay – but I changed a few ingredients because I could not remember it 100%). Penne pasta with a sauce which was a concoction of prawns (the frozen bag of cleaned and cooked prawns at Woolworths), pine nuts, onion, garlic, ginger, chilli (that wonderful little box of the three all chopped and grated (also from Woolies), lime juice, fennel and baby tomatoes (halved). A salad, crusty sour dough bread from Boulangerie in Kalk Bay (of course we did some shopping!!
I am wearing...
You don't really want to know, do you? The same clothes I put on at 7.45 this morning - jeans, black sleeveless t-shirt with my new grey cardigan.
I am creating...
Juice recipes. Today's "green juice" is really green and I cannot wait to see Gill's face when I bring it out at office tomorrow (no Albertina at the office tomorrow, so more for me). Cucumber, fennel, celery, pineapple, ginger - the celery is maybe a little overpowering but I love the fennel flavour.
It takes me back drinking Ouzo in Greece and eating liquorice all-sorts (don't really like them that much anymore but still love liquorice).
I am going...
to be having an exciting week this week. Lesley has booked tickets for Dalene, Kathy and I to see Ruby Wax at the Theatre on the Bay on Tuesday night. Did you know that she lives in Cape Town for a couple of months of the year?
I made Lesley promise that she would not get tickets anywhere near the front where we could get picked upon. She is one scary lady.
Then, yesterday on my way to watch Nic play rugby I had a call from Fay who has invited me to join her on Friday morning to go to Sir Jeffrey Archer's book launch. I am taking an "early lunch" from work - we have to be at the 12 Apostles at 7 (getting collected at 6.30 am) - Sir Jeffrey and breakfast at the 12 Apostles!! Yeah!!
I am wondering...
with all this news about the Titantic (even Barry is speaking about the 3D version of the movie tonight) whether maybe I should see the movie sometime. It never grabbed or excited me and I hate a movie when you know what happens at the end. Celine Dion's title song was also all I needed to put me off forever. I am probably the only person in the world who has not seen the movie (this is a confession). Now I have even more admiration for Kate Winslet since reading this:-
Winslet said that she feels "like throwing up" when she hears the soaring theme song of "Titanic." In fact, she said, the signature Celine Dion ballad "haunts" her.
"I wish I could say, 'Oh listen everybody! It's the Celine Dion song!' But I don't. I just have to sit there, you know, kinda straight-faced, with a massive internal eye roll," she said.
It's no wonder she feels that way: "My Heart Will Go On" follows Winslet wherever she goes.
"Every time I go into either some kind of a bar in a hotel where there's a live pianist or into a restaurant where they are changing their music according to who walks in the door ... it's thrilling for people to 'surprise' me with the Celine Dion song," she said. More here.
Wouldn't it be great if Graham Norton invited Kate and Celine on together on one of his shows.
I am reading...
OK, still reading Stephen Fry's autobiography. I love this guy and QI is one of my best shows.
Also two interesting articles. This is the first one written by Ashley Judd. I hate to admit that after seeing the previews of her new show "Missing" which has recently started on DSTV (forgot to record it, I am sad to say). I saw the preview on television recently and thought "Oh dear, not her too. What has she done to her face?" Sorry Ashley Judd. I salute you for hitting right back at the media. The second is written by C. Jane Kendrick and is also food for thought.
I am looking forward to...
a shower and an early night. I woke up at 4 this morning and lay awake for ages. I was about to get up to make some tea and start blogging when I fell asleep. The next moment the alarm was going off and I had just been involved in an earthquake. The weirdest dream ever.
Around the house...
everything is pretty orderly except for my lovely pasta plates (dirty pasta plates) (which I used at lunchtime). They are still unwashed and relaxing in the kitchen sink. They were a present from Gareth and as much as I love them (I really do), I realise why I do not use them that often - they do not fit into the dishwasher!!!
I am pondering...
another glass of wine??
A favourite quote for today...
Sorry 3, there could be so many more - from Stephen Fry
“Music is everything and nothing. It is useless and no limit can be set on its use. Music takes me to places of illimitable sensual and insensate joy, accessing points of ecstasy that no angelic lover could ever locate, or plunging me into gibbering weeping hells of pain that no torturer could devise. Music makes me write this sort of maundering adolescent nonsense without embarrassment. Music is in fact the dog's bollocks. Nothing else comes close.”
One of my favourite things...
I am thankful...
for the lovely phone call that I have just had with Matthew in Kimberley. I am not a great one for chatting on a cellphone but I needed to catch up on his rugby yesterday (they lost to the Lions). It ended up being a mammoth call chatting about recipes, the new lawnmower that he has recently bought (free weed-eater thrown in), his frustrations with DSTV (he has used up R200 worth of airtime trying to get connected), our upcoming trip to Kimberley (probably the first weekend in May) and even a few lesson in love!! A lovely chat with my faraway child.
Faraway child last Saturday (hard to believe how much happens in one week)
In the kitchen...
I put together a lovely pasta for lunch today (recipe thanks to Fay – but I changed a few ingredients because I could not remember it 100%). Penne pasta with a sauce which was a concoction of prawns (the frozen bag of cleaned and cooked prawns at Woolworths), pine nuts, onion, garlic, ginger, chilli (that wonderful little box of the three all chopped and grated (also from Woolies), lime juice, fennel and baby tomatoes (halved). A salad, crusty sour dough bread from Boulangerie in Kalk Bay (of course we did some shopping!!
You don't really want to know, do you? The same clothes I put on at 7.45 this morning - jeans, black sleeveless t-shirt with my new grey cardigan.
I am creating...
Juice recipes. Today's "green juice" is really green and I cannot wait to see Gill's face when I bring it out at office tomorrow (no Albertina at the office tomorrow, so more for me). Cucumber, fennel, celery, pineapple, ginger - the celery is maybe a little overpowering but I love the fennel flavour.
Maybe a dash of Ouzo instead of fennel?
I am getting some advice from Chantal of Naturally Nourished (Nicky's beautiful daughter) who has been putting together green juices for ages. She knows about all kinds of "superfoods" - maca, lucuma, grasses and seeds. This hobby could get very technical (and expensive) but it is really so easy and the different combinations make it very interesting. I have to start making notes so I remember what works and what does not.
So between the green juices, bags of beetroot and different chilli sauce combinations, our fridge at the moment is Michael's nightmare. I just heard him in the kitchen a few minutes ago (he is making himself a cheese sandwich for supper), I am in the study listening to Barry Ronge and Alan Silberman on my computer and updating my blog. It sounded something like this (and I can imagine him looking at the colour of the jug of juice in the fridge) "Goodness Gracious. What have we here? (clank, clank, bottles being moved around). What does a man have to do to find ordinary cheddar cheese in this fridge?"
to be having an exciting week this week. Lesley has booked tickets for Dalene, Kathy and I to see Ruby Wax at the Theatre on the Bay on Tuesday night. Did you know that she lives in Cape Town for a couple of months of the year?
Then, yesterday on my way to watch Nic play rugby I had a call from Fay who has invited me to join her on Friday morning to go to Sir Jeffrey Archer's book launch. I am taking an "early lunch" from work - we have to be at the 12 Apostles at 7 (getting collected at 6.30 am) - Sir Jeffrey and breakfast at the 12 Apostles!! Yeah!!
I am wondering...
with all this news about the Titantic (even Barry is speaking about the 3D version of the movie tonight) whether maybe I should see the movie sometime. It never grabbed or excited me and I hate a movie when you know what happens at the end. Celine Dion's title song was also all I needed to put me off forever. I am probably the only person in the world who has not seen the movie (this is a confession). Now I have even more admiration for Kate Winslet since reading this:-
Winslet said that she feels "like throwing up" when she hears the soaring theme song of "Titanic." In fact, she said, the signature Celine Dion ballad "haunts" her.
"I wish I could say, 'Oh listen everybody! It's the Celine Dion song!' But I don't. I just have to sit there, you know, kinda straight-faced, with a massive internal eye roll," she said.
It's no wonder she feels that way: "My Heart Will Go On" follows Winslet wherever she goes.
"Every time I go into either some kind of a bar in a hotel where there's a live pianist or into a restaurant where they are changing their music according to who walks in the door ... it's thrilling for people to 'surprise' me with the Celine Dion song," she said. More here.
Wouldn't it be great if Graham Norton invited Kate and Celine on together on one of his shows.
I am reading...
OK, still reading Stephen Fry's autobiography. I love this guy and QI is one of my best shows.
I am looking forward to...
a shower and an early night. I woke up at 4 this morning and lay awake for ages. I was about to get up to make some tea and start blogging when I fell asleep. The next moment the alarm was going off and I had just been involved in an earthquake. The weirdest dream ever.
Around the house...
everything is pretty orderly except for my lovely pasta plates (dirty pasta plates) (which I used at lunchtime). They are still unwashed and relaxing in the kitchen sink. They were a present from Gareth and as much as I love them (I really do), I realise why I do not use them that often - they do not fit into the dishwasher!!!
I am pondering...
another glass of wine??
A favourite quote for today...
Sorry 3, there could be so many more - from Stephen Fry
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself and you will be happy.”
“Music is everything and nothing. It is useless and no limit can be set on its use. Music takes me to places of illimitable sensual and insensate joy, accessing points of ecstasy that no angelic lover could ever locate, or plunging me into gibbering weeping hells of pain that no torturer could devise. Music makes me write this sort of maundering adolescent nonsense without embarrassment. Music is in fact the dog's bollocks. Nothing else comes close.”
“The short answer to that is 'no'. The long answer is 'f*** no'.”
One of my favourite things...
happens to be another one from Stephen Fry and this one especially for the men in my life (aka my "favourite things"). Michael introduced the boys to PG Wodehouse and this quote from Stephen Fry's book is one of the best ever and very relevant:-
“I have written it before and am not ashamed to write it again. Without Wodehouse I am not sure that I would be a tenth of what I am today -- whatever that may be. In my teenage years, his writings awoke me to the possibilities of language. His rhythms, tropes, tricks and mannerisms are deep within me. But more than that, he taught me something about good nature. It is enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be kind.”
Well that was it. What I have done, what I have cooked and even what I am wearing. Sorry if it has been a bit long-winded but it has been fun (for me anyway).
A peek into my day...
Well that was it. What I have done, what I have cooked and even what I am wearing. Sorry if it has been a bit long-winded but it has been fun (for me anyway).
"It is enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be kind”
No comments:
Post a Comment