Things my husband says part 1

This is Graham. He is quite funny, QUITE. But he thinks he's definitely the funniest person he's ever met. Most of the things that make him giggle/laugh/cry with laughter have to do with me- I have a suspicion that he married me because I provide him with comical relief or at least endless amounts of humorous material. He's been saying forever that he'd love to write down the things that he says about/to me to be able to show the world his genius. So here are some touching things he's said in the past while-so that you can decide for yourselves.

   

*Lynsay, after being incredibly aware of the weight she's put on comes to Graham to show him that she can't fit into her jeans anymore and when she bends over they rip. Graham thinks this is very funny. Later when they're out for lunch and the bill arrives the waiter puts the bill in front of Lynsay* 

Lynsay: "See, even the waiter knows that in our family I'm the one wearing the pants." Graham: "yes, the ripped pants" *Graham dies of laughter* 

Lynsay: "Love I'm not going to be here for the afternoon is that okay?" Graham: "of course it is. I'll have time to spend with some of my old girl-friends."

*Around easter time, driving to Petermaritzberg* 

Lynsay: "I think we need to get out of this lane, it says that anything over 3 tones can't drive here." Graham: "I don't think we need to worry about weighing that much unless... *looks at Lynsay's stomach* how many marshmallow easter eggs have you eaten?" 

*Also around easter time* 

Lynsay: "do you want a marshmallow egg? No? Well I'm going to have one" *Graham puffs out cheeks, makes his body as big as possible and follows Lynsay around making loud stomping/eating noises* 

[And this is Graham's favorite] *Graham is standing around a braai with his friends telling them how excited he is for the start of the Premiership season when Lynsay comes into the conversation* 

Lynsay: "Why don't you get this excited about seeing me?" Graham: "Because you don't go away for three months at at time."

   

Yes, this is my life. It's enough for me to want to go on an all-cupcake diet

Lolita and musings

After the shortest long weekend ever I'm back in the same place as I was last week when I told you I had resolved to get my reading butt into gear and I am happy to report that I have! I'm on my way to finishing Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita which has been an incredibly challenging read. Not because of how he writes, I love his whimsical sarcastic way of writing, but because of the subject matter. The narrator often begs the reader to try and understand the things he's writing from his point of view or at least to be sympathetic to his unhealthy obsession with little girls ("nymphets") and Lolita in particular. I do think I'm more sympathetic than Graham has been (who tells me the narrator should be locked up in an asylum for perverts) but it's still been difficult understand or to get on board with Humbert's (that is, the narrators) illicit actions regarding his "step-daughter."

   

Aside from reading we had a friend come and stay over at our place this past weekend. We only have one bed so we had to buy a blow-up mattress and slept on it on our lounge floor which was like a mini camping trip (a camping trip where graham would slam/roll his body into the tv cabinet every 2 hours or so throughout the night). We spent saturday lounging around, getting tea, going back to bed, having hour-long heated debates in bed while the sunlight streamed in through the curtains- the perfect way to spend a day in my opinion. We decided to take a chance on having lunch at a mexican place well known for their food poisoning and we came out alive with full tummies (the food was surprisingly good!).

   

[Only 6 more weeks to Paris and Amsterdam. One of my lovely friends is in Paris at the moment and all her pictures and tweets are causing the anticipation of traveling to be SO much more than is rationally acceptable. Grahams mom bought me a beautiful brown leather passport cover to take with- 6 weeks seems like a century away!]

 

For the past few days (and days to come) I've been cooking my little heart out-obviously not to the level that it's done on master chef but still- I made my (when I say my I mean Jamie Olivers) amazing chorizo pasta on saturday night which has become to go-to dish for when we want something yummy and spicy that requires very little effort. I baked for women's day on Thursday (regular vanilla biscuits with royal icing but for some reason they turn out to be flipping fantastic) and I shall put the recipe on the blog soon. Last night I made spicy fish stew which may replace the chorizo pasta as the easiest tastiest dish I know. And tonight it's roast chicken and oven veggies- so chilled. I must admit that I'm pretty impressed with myself, a year ago I could make toasted sandwiches but now I think nothing of making roast chicken. Its pretty awesome what you can teach yourself to do when you have to. When you have a starving husband at home who looks at you with puppy eyes when he asks what dinner is. 

 

I know you're dying to read a bit of Lolita now to see what dodgy things the characters get up to so i'll save you the trouble of hunting the book down; 

[this quote is taken from the time that the narrator first sees Lolita] 

"It was the same child-the same frail, honey-hued shoulders, the same silky supple bare back, the same chestnut head of hair. A polka-dotted black kerchief tied around her chest hid from my a gaping eyes, but not from the gaze of my young memory, the juvenile breasts I had fondled one immortal day. And, as if I were the fairytale nurse of some little princess...I recognized the tiny dark-brown mole on her side. With awe and delight... I saw again her lovely in-drawn abdomen where my southbound mouth had briefly paused; those puerile hips on which I had kissed the crenulated imprint left by the band of her shorts- that last mad day behind the "Roches and Roses." The twenty-five years I had lived since then, tapered to a palpitating point, and vanished."

A bit of excitement and a lot of blandness

5 years ago I went to Paris with my mother and one of my sisters. I think I had seriously low expectations of what it would be like because it turned out to be way more magical than I could ever have dreamed. I have wished and wished to be able to go back (not over exaggerating at all) and my wish has finally come true thanks to my fairy godmother- or my mother and father whichever you prefer. 

In just less than 2 months time my mother and (now) two of my sisters and I will be jetting off to Paris and Amsterdam *contains excitement*

 

I am now on the hunt for things to do in Paris. Most of the large museums and art galleries we checked off our lists last time we were there although to be honest I wouldn't mind doing them all again (if you have any ideas of exciting things we can partake in in Paris please do tell).

 

In other news: we love love watching modern family (okay, so maybe I do more than Graham does) and there is this one scene in the first few episodes where Cam, a pretty hefty character tries to convince the audience that he's only put on a "few pounds" due to adopting a baby. In the next scene we see Cam being caught on camera in the pantry stuffing his face with food. How does this relate to my life? Well, I got fat. Okay maybe not fat but certainly 10kgs heavier. We first realized when I zipped up my skin in desperately trying to fit into one of my dresses (that I fitted into perfectly 8 months ago). So I have been packed off to gym for weekly sessions with a trainer and a super delicious (heavy sarcasm) new eating plan. Things like regular cheese and pasta and potatoes and fruit loops (only just recently re-discovered) are considered "cheats" and apparently I'm only allowed to cheat once a week.

 

In the past 8 months-being married to Graham- I have developed more of a love for food than I had before. I pour over my recipe books for hours trying to decide what to make for dinner, something that will challenge me and develop my cooking skills. And (I think) that Graham has had fun tasting all my exotic creations. But now with this new eating scheme things have become more difficult (and I can't help but feel more bland). We are limited to meat, chicken or fish with veggies for dinner. Last night worked out pretty well, I haven't cooked fish before and I added in some cous-cous for Grahams carbohydrate need. If any of you dear readers have ideas or recipes that fit our -hem- restrictions please email me or Facebook me or comment in the section below.

 

I'm busy making lists for Europe in my head. My parents bought our flights yesterday. I found a little paper version of the Eiffel tower and a beautiful passport cover and am just trying to justify buying them. Be prepared to hear lots more about Paris and Amsterdam on the blog in the weeks to come.

x

Holiday mornings

There are two types of people in this world. People who see holidays as the perfect opportunity for getting up early, reading, going to the beach, going for a run and then spend the day doing something productive (exhibit A. My husband) and then there are people who think that holidays have been given so that we can sleep in until 11am, stumble into the kitchen to make tea and then head back to bed and the laptop for the rest of the day. I am the latter. Yesterday I got out of bed 3 times and it was glorious. And the reasoning for this lifestyle? That holidays were designed for rest and that exactly what I'm going to do (even though much rest was had during the semester).

   

Now before you all start saying in your heads "ah, so that's why she looks like she does" I want to make clear that I've only spent the past 2 days in this manner (even though it is my preferred way of spending my days). This past weekend Graham and I got back from Cape Town (me feeling exhausted and graham feeling refreshed from all the running around). I had the most wonderful two weeks there, they were full of meals with the family by the fireside, discovering an amazing greek restaurant with friends, two beautiful weddings and seeing people we haven't in ages, road trips in the dark, listening to hours of Thin Lizzy and Journey, Lunches with friends, Despicable me 2, games nights, secret birthday party planning, baking with my sisters, waking up every morning to have my dog jumping around on our bed, pizza for days, watching the sun set over the city, cold toes and many many trips to second hand books shops.

   

Graham had his birthday this past week & because I think birthdays should be over-the-top-exciting (and he totally doesn't care about birthday at all) I tried my hardest to make his wonderful (this included making him wear a Birthday Boy badge and getting up at 6am to make him breakfast- why yes, I am the most dedicated wife ever, thank you) which involved having (too much) sushi for dinner and watching modern family (my birthday gift to him). 

In other news I've found the most exquisite smelling bath bombs, before these I was a dedicated bath bubbles girl but oh my goodness these things smell like heaven- I've put one in my car. I got them at The Space in durban so I'm not sure whether The Space in Cavendish are also running the line (if they are you should share it with the world and then everyone would be happy and smell nice).

 

This week Graham and are doing some more road tripping with friends we haven't seen in 7 months! We are so excited- but I'm probably going to have to take my neglected Latin homework with. It's even been neglected this week because iv'e developed an addiction to modern family and everything has come in second to that (sometimes I read though) (that was incase Graham reads this post). Another recent addiction? Panic at the Disco. They are fantastic and magical and I could listen to them for hours.

   

[but in light of my current mood I'm going to post lyrics from one of my favouritest songs ever, Down by the Riverside by Agnes Obel- listen to it if you haven't already] 

Down by the river by the boats 

Where everybody goes to be alone 

Where you wont see any rising sun 

Down to the river we will run 

When by the water we drink to the dregs 

Look at the stones on the river bed 

I can tell from your eyes 

You've never been by the Riverside 

Down by the water the riverbed 

Somebody calls you somebody says swim with the current and float away 

Down by the river everyday 

Oh my God I see how everything is torn in the river deep 

And I don't know why I go the way Down by the Riverside

A long-ish friday morning (sunshine) post

Today the toilet and I are not friends (Graham says it's mostly my fault though) every cleaning day up until now our relationship has been very simple. I squirt pink cleaning stuff in the toilet, scrub the bowl and then it in turn is clean and shiny and smells nice (which is all I ask of it, really). But today when I delicately plunged my toilet brush into the porcelain abyss I got more than I had anticipated when I took the brush out again. It took a few minutes of standing there gagging for me to even figure out what to do. Graham's only in put into the situation was to tell me not to clean the toilet straight after he'd been on it. Lesson learnt. 

It's been marvelous having the past few days off to study; I can have tea in the morning with Graham, read, take my time showering, eat food whenever I feel like it, nap when the work gets too strenuous, have time to make the house sparkling, eat food- Like a mini vacation.

   

This past weekend my parents and a sister flew up to visit us. We took them to Durban's hotspots (just the beach). We had a spectacular breakfast at freedom cafe (to be honest I don't think I've ever had a bad meal there) walked along the promenade, ate ice cream, and then went to Barbacoa for dinner-more amazing food! At the end of the weekend Graham and I couldn't have imagined needing to eat for a while. But luckily on monday that feeling had passed so I made delicious Bacon Carbonara pasta and Bruschetta (I'm trying to figure out a way to make the sauce thicker- double cream just doesn't seem to be working...) and on tuesday night I made incredible sweet potato and chorizo soup which went well with the cold weather.

   

On the subject of cold weather I would just like to draw something interesting about Durban people to your attention. It is rarely ever cold here in winter. And by cold I mean cape town cold, the type of cold that forces you to wear 2 pairs of socks and a beanie and thermal underwear and two jumpers to bed whilst also having your heated blanket on. But for some reason Durban people, who do not experience this cold, think that after a day when the sun hasn't come out by 12pm and there is some drizzle in the air that an ice age is imminent. And this thinking is then worked out by rushing to their nearest supermarket and buying up all the soup and ready made lasagna and bread and anything that could be heated in a microwave. Tuesday was like this. Frenzied mothers with trolleys smashing me and other innocent bystanders (who are just there to buy a packet of mini marshmallows) out of the way in order to get to the last packet of tomato soup and then to hurry out of there before they are snowed into the shopping mall for the winter. It's pretty amusing to see.

   

[Sticks her head around the laptop and sees that the sun has come out and it's a good time to hang up the washing. Hangs up the washing].

   

Graham and I have spent lots of time this week (and other weeks) discussing what we think makes up a family. It may seem a silly question, something that you disregard the first time either of us brings it up but its an interesting and complex question. Are there certain elements that make up a family? Do you, for instance have to be blood related to be a family? No, obviously (I'm just trying to get you to think) and neither is it defined by having a mother or a father or a spouse or children. Sometimes people are pressurized into feeling like they must have one, or all of those things, in order to have a family, or to be a family. 

We usually take our rubbish out late on wednesday nights, after we get home from biblestudy, and to do this we have to walk off of our property and then come back in through the garage. And this week, as we were walking back and I watched Graham playing with our little dog as we made our way up the path I became so aware that this was my family, no better or worse than any other family but perfect for me. And I was happy.

 

off to ea... study, with some food.

truly scrumptious

heck, i know its been forever since I last posted and I was going to post about my ever-so-exciting life tonight, but then I found the recipe for "Pull apart lemon coffee cake" and I can't not share it (so much happiness could be brought to the world through this cake)

Pull Apart Lemon Coffee Cake (Bread):

Sweet Yeast Dough

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (You might not use all of this)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope)

instant yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup whole milk

2 ounces unsalted butter

1/4 cup (2 fluid ounces) water

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

Lemon Sugar Filling

1/2 cup granulated sugarZest of three lemons

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted

Tangy Cream Cheese Icing

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon whole milk

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Make the dough:1. In the microwave heat the butter and the milk together until the butter melts. Set aside to cool slightly. While it is cooling Mix two cups of the flour with the yeast and the sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Then add the water to the milk mixture and stir in the vanilla extract

2. Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixer and stir until combined. Turn the mixer on low speed and add the eggs one at a time, mixing each egg until it is combined. Add another 1/2 of the flour and the salt and mix till combined.

3. Sprinkle the dough with 2 tbsp of flour and knead it with the dough hook for 3 minutes. The dough will be sticky but should become soft and smooth from the kneading. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place 45-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

Make Ahead Tip: If you want to make the dough the night before you bake it just gently deflate the dough after its first rise, place back in the bowl and cover it with plastic. Stick it in the fridge overnight (it will continue to rise, but at a much slower rate. Plus you get added flavor in the bread from the benefit of a slow, cold rise) The next day take the dough out and bring it to room temperature before proceeding with the next steps. I like to cover my dough with a damp piece of paper towel and stick it in my oven at the lowest temperature until it is room temp.

4. Mix the sugar, lemon zest, and orange zest. It will draw out the citrus oils and make the sugar sandy and fragrant.

5. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease a 9″x5″ loaf pan or spray it will baking spray

6. Forming the loaf: Deflate the dough with your hand. Flour a work surface and roll the dough into a 20″ by 12″ rectangle. This part is a lot easier with a ruler on hand! Use a pastry brush to thickly coat the dough with the melted butter

7. Use a pizza cutter, pastry cutter, or a sharp knife to cut the dough crosswise in five strips, each about 12″ by 4″ (it might not be this exact size, but try to make the five strips be equal sizes). Sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon sugar over the first buttered rectangle and gently press the sugar in. Top it with a second rectangle, sprinkling that one with 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon sugar as well. Continue to top with rectangles and sprinkle, so you have a stack of five 12″ by 4″ rectangles, all buttered and topped with lemon sugar.

8. Slice this new stack crosswise, through all five layers, into 6 equal rectangles (each should be 4″ by 2″.) Carefully transfer these strips of dough into the loaf pan, cut edges up, side by side. it might be a little roomy, but the bread will rise and expand after baking. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until puffy and almost doubled in size, 30 to 50 minutes.

9.Bake the loaf for 20 minutes and then check to make sure that top isn't browning too quickly. If it is, just cover the top of the loaf with tinfoil and continue baking. My loaf took a little over 40 minutes to bake completely. When done, transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.

10. Meanwhile, make the cream cheese icing. Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth, then add the milk and lemon juice. Stir until creamy and smooth. Spread over the warm bread (you might want to put some plastic wrap or parchment paper under the bread to catch the drips)

[This is perfect for winter- I can't wait to make it!] found at:seddy5.typepad.com/blog

have a goodnight x

lunch time inspiration

[another lunch problem] because V and I had such a lovely late breakfast-lunch now that its time for lunch-lunch im not sure what I want [although... the problem may have been solved due to those toasted sandwiches looking so darn good]

V gave me the raddest idea ever, that I should update you guys with wedding planning and so it will be done.
peace out

lunchtime posting

heck, its 2pm and I havent figured out what to eat for lunch yet... can you even call it lunch when you don't eat it at midday? Incase you're in the same predicament this might help:

12. Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first. [http://www.marcandangel.com/]

Happy saturday! its a wonderful day here but I've spent most of the day inside doing productive things like watching True Grit and eating food. Its going to be a lovely evening so the family and I are heading down to the beach for the sunset and fish&chips.

continue being rad

burgers and a boyfriend

I'm coming to the last of my green jelly, and all I want now is real food. or nutella.
[I found some of my food pictures. I can hardly keep going down the green-jelly road when I look at these]

what the heck? How is this a food picture? [its lovely to look at all the same]

ohgosh. the weather outside is wonderful. I just want to be at the beach- in the sun. not inside under my blanket with a headache. [the weekend is almost upon us!! something to make me happier]
peace out x

a jelly monster

Happy wednesday. Goodness, I can't believe the week is more than half way to being over. It's been a long week. I've been in bed with a throat infection since Monday [this is not all bad as my mother has made an endless supply of jelly for me] but after 2days in bed I felt bleh. So this afternoon I went crazy with nailpolish and hair masks and face masks- in the hope of making myself feel like I look better than I do.

[many episodes of the metalist and sex&the city has helped too]

And I've made some headway in Maia by richard Adams- which was painful in the beginning (mostly because It's all about the life of girl sex slaves- not the most amazing topic)

[tries to think of something witty to say but hunger gets the better of her, jelly and red velvet cupcakes are not an ideal breakfast!]

how to: not get your work done

Its thursday, my favourite day of the week, and I'm making toasted sandwiches which will go very nicely with the episode of the mentalist that I'm going to watch [to try and distract myself from my workload] So the other day G, who is always full of good ideas, suggested that I start a new blog- while keeping this one- on food. What do you think?

[I am working through Micah at the moment and so far these verses are still the ones that stand out the most]

"Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place;
he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth

The mountains melt beneath him
and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope." [Micah 1:3-4]

what amazing imagery. I hope your thursday is lovely x

post-sunday-lunch wafflings

This week I found our first spring blossoms [on the jasmine tree] I cannot believe that winter is almost over [and uncharacteristically of me, I can't wait for summer]Today I wore flowers in my hair & listened to jax pannik while I got dressed- I've been listening to them all week, their music makes me feel fierce.

Tomorrow G&I have been going out for 6months, which, when I think about it makes me so happy [I feel like it's been a lot longer than that] & I couldn't have dreamed up a better young man.

its been an icy could week. [i have found a new favourite blog] http://hermionejg.tumblr.com/

[adorable]

My food has reached my brain, which is now demanding naptime. sleeptight all x

a whole bunch of catch-up

Hi. its monday. and I'm back. Back from Durban. Exciting times. the 3weeks there were filled with; Indian cuisine [too much curry], tears,new cultures, boredom, walking barefoot through the streets, incense, cheap clothes, sadness, being ridiculously sick, brickbreaker [to pass the time], long phone calls, hindu temples, saris, hospitality, corenza c & grippon, wishing the hours away, beautiful sunsets & nervousness.

[a wishlist]

Then came the next 10-meet-the-family-and-friends-days which can only be described as nerve-wracking. It was also surprisingly lovely, filled with new faces, millions of names, wooden passages & fat cats, tea in the mornings, amazing weather, new places, old faces, strange accents, antibiotics, arguments, the beach, laughter, annoyance, happiness[...]

[happy cupcake monday]

[...] warm welcomes, introductions, kisses, sleeping,good movies & average movies, finding important things, shopping, icecream with marshmallows in it (ah! yes! i know)puppies & kittens, peanutbutter and syrup toast, bee juice, The Durban July, winning, late night suppers, the best sunday, sunshine & my alice dress, music, markets on the beach, a pink dress, meeting terrifying people, toasted sandwiches, caramel coated icecream, important night time talks, whose line is it anyway?, the future, sushi (heckyes i had sushi),

new books, subway for lunch, you made me breakfast, ccu, important people, steers burgers& green juice, goodbyes, tears, back rubs, notes, avo on tost, surprise notes, iloveyous,and jelly babies.

it was an amazing 3weeks. and I cant wait to go back [come quickly october]

"Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind." Henry James