learning a lesson

I feel as if I have been to the edge of the world and back. 

My whole life I've spent believing that the rest of the world was more beautiful than the country I live in. All it took for this to change was our short road-trip through 3 provinces 2 weeks ago.

 

Graham hated the driving. I, on the other hand loved it because I like to watch the world go by outside

while eating nik-naks and listening to Graham singing along to Queen. The first day we drove for 9 hours. 9 hours of watching the dry sparse landscape go past. 9 hours of Grahams choice in music. 9 hours of not being able to feel my rear end. But we eventually got to Bloem, had some dandy times with friends and food, and started the second leg of the joinery early the next morning.

 

Graaf Reinet was absolutely not what I had expected. A Quaint beautiful old town with one very trendy coffee shop called polka [definitely worth the visit if you're ever in town, it has the most wonderful fire place that inexplicably seems to warm the whole place. Perfect for a cold winters day/night]. After much ambling we drove to the farm where we would be staying. Our guest house was an old house that had been beautifully re-done, with wooden floors and enormous bathrooms and (the most important part) a smashing fireplace. I won't bore you with a step-by-step account of our time there- it was filled with a very wonderful reunion with two long lost friends, two icy cold nights spent snuggled around the fire place with board games books and chocolate, breakfast held under the blossoming cherry trees, croquet on the lawn, a painful hike up the mountain, watching the sun set over the river and then having hot chocolate at the aforementioned restaurant, a windy night, an early morning and breakfast on the road in some small town and then Port Elizabeth.

 

The boys had planned something special for Thursday night, a show of some kind, they were very proud of themselves for having thought of it. It magically turned out to be ballet (surprising if you know Graham and Sean). And the next morning we whisked ourselves away to St Francis bay. Windy as hell. There we stayed with new friends and did much bonding over Modern Family season 2 and board games. We spent the 2 days in St Francis dreading the 13 hour drive back home but it sneakily arrived at 5am on Sunday morning. We hit the road. Graham conquered 4 hours before we had to stop for breakfast at a steers (keeping it classy) sometime later- just before we entered cows-in-the-road country- I took over. Learning to dodge cows and goats as they walk into the road and then panic because they've walked into the road is definitely a skill I do not want to develop. After a few hours of rear-end numbing driving we came to the border between the Eastern Cape and KZN and it was in this area (while Graham slept curled up beside me) that I had the privilege to encounter some of the most amazing scenery that I have ever seen.

To be clear. I think (rather thought) that the most beautiful places I have seen are in Europe- parts of Germany, England, France, Turkey, Italy- but driving through the land just before we crossed into KZN I was ashamed to have been surprised that such beauty existed in South Africa. I passed deep ravines (that looked like they had been made by someone ripping the earth apart-terrifying and beautiful) which were sprinkled with fine, beautiful sand colored grasses that made the ravines look like they had been covered in velvet. The ravines gave way to enormous black hills which in turn became kilometers of pine forests. The sun started setting and the ghostly moon rose and sat above the enormous pines as we flew past. We could have been anywhere in the world but to my incredible delight we weren't, we were at home. 

Fast forward a few hours of driving and we arrived back in our little suburb in our little province. Graham and I decided that the only rational thing to do after 13 hours of driving and our happiness at being back in Durban was to get curry for dinner. So we did. 

And then we had the best sleep of our lives.

Winter mornings in the Cape

Why hello there. It's been a while, (gets completely sidetracked by Facebook) since I last wrote I've had days of studying, early morning exams, a slight jamie olive addiction, become a star trek fan, minor breakdowns fixed by hot-chocolate with mini marshmallows, relief, a second kitchen tea, mornings of tv watching, re-discovering my books, 6 hours of baking, an aversion to chocolate (due to baking), winter sales, disappointments, goodbyes, hellos, cold cape weather and peppermint tea.

I love cold winters, going to sleep with the rain beating down on the roof, snuggled under layers of blankets. Which is pretty fortunate seeing as I'm in Cape Town for 2 weeks. 

Also helpful is bringing with a pile of books that I've been meaning to read forever. I just finished C.S Lewis's 'That Hideous Strength' which was by far my favorite of the three books in his trilogy. I think his use of Arthurian legend is really what got me hooked, and Merlin -oh it was so exciting. After that I read another C.S Lewis, his re-telling of the greek myth of Cupid and Psyche, 'Till we have Faces' and because I absolutely love greek myths I was always going to love the book. It speaks such truth about human nature and love- it's terrifyingly accurate in fact- and it made me want to read more on the greek legends (a good thing as i'm majoring in classics). It seemed to have the same affect of Graham because he is now hooked on a novel re-telling the Trojan war. Today I started an autobiography of F.Scott Fitzgerald which is slightly shocking, usually I detest biographies and auto-biographies but I do love me some Fitzgerald. And in amongst this I'm trying desperately to finish a book by D.A Carson that iv'e been sitting on for a few weeks now- so much reading and so much time to do it in makes Lynsay a happy lady.

   

I'm just trying to give my brain a rest after my exams (which went mostly very well thanks for asking) and I only had one incredibly disappointing mark, English. It's pretty disheartening when the subject I'm majoring in, the subject that is the whole reason why I'm even doing another degree turns out to be the subject I suck at the most. Perhaps I'm being too critical of my natural abilities. Everyone I've spoken to (or rather whined about this to) has been encouraging, told me that I needed time to adjust (apparently not applicable for the other subjects though) that english is just a generally hard subject to conquer, that it will be better next semester. I hope so otherwise goodness knows what kind of depressing its-the-end-of-my-life posts ill put on here (you should be rooting for me if only not to have to read those types of blog posts).

   

I have however been excelling in some other areas of life - the incredibly tiny culinary area of my life. My parents gave my Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals cookbook and I have triumphantly been able to make two of those meals in under an hour. They were also really tasty. But the climax of my cooking career (so far) came last week when I baked 120 triple chocolate biscuits for a Church function- by the end of my 6 hour baking stint I never wanted to see chocolate again ever- and after they had been served I had a fair amount of people coming up and congratulating me (maybe I forced a few people into giving me their good opinion) on my baking. Even the caterer told graham that the biscuits were excellent. Some little old grannies said they would support me if I opened a bakery. I didn't have the heart to tell anyone that it's actually the recipe that makes the biscuits- anyone can bake (although apparently no one thought I could bake before this cookie incident).

 

I'm off to enjoy some bracing Cape Winter sunshine, some reading time and a delicious sandwich from Knead. Love always x

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

And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the Daffodils

As much a I try to convince myself that it's getting warmer, the weather seems to be working hard to oppose my happy thoughts. [Happily though, monday is almost over! and it's less than 3weeks until September holidays] [I haven't done this in a long time] happy cupcake monday! The cupcakes below are pumpkin cupcakes. ah! How I wish they were in my tummy right now. Yesterday G & i were reading poetry and when i read this to him i'd forgotten how much i loved it. [it reminds me of summer]

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

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

an ode to winter

Dear winter: I missed you. I wish you could stay forever.

Reading Thomas Hardy. Eating soup and rolls. Watching the rain and being ridiculously annoyed with my family right now. But thats life.
Have a good sunday

there was snow, white snow

The Cape winter weather has set in- its so different from the smoky Gauteng winter.Ive spent the last 6 days with my family in Joburg [for my grandmothers funeral]and really although it was sad, it was lovely to see people that I havent seen for ten years* [yes nicky im talking about you] and that made me happy.Now im off, to paint my nails ash rose, to read Dan Brown and to dream of summer.

Was a long and dark December
From the rooftops I remember
There was snow
White snow

Clearly I remember
From the windows they were watching
While we froze
Down below

When the future's architectured
By a carnival of idiots on show
You'd better lie low

If you love me
Won't you let me know?

Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog
Became God

Priests clutched onto bibles
Hollowed out to fit their rifles
And the cross was held aloft

Bury me in armor
When I'm dead and hit the ground
A love back home unfolds

If you love me
Won't you let me know?

I don't want to be a soldier
Who the captain of some sinking ship
Would stow, far below

So if you love me
Why'd you let me go?

I took my love down to Violet Hill
There we sat in snow
All that time she was silent still

So if you love me
Won't you let me know?

If you love me,
Won't you let me know?

how to: avoid flu fast and fashionably

dearest blog readers
winter has now fully descended upon us and

my need to not get sick has led to my first how-to post :)
How to: aviod flu fast and fashionably

[taken from the book,How to Walk in high heels]

Stay away from people with flu.Avoid sneezing, coughing and sniffing friends.

Keep your hands clean,and keep them away from your eyes, nose and mouth

to avoid spreading any germs you may have accidentally made contact with.
Drink lots of water and eat plenty of healthy food. However much you crave

chocolate cake throw some fruit into the mix.
Aim to drink 2 litres of water and eat five pieces of fruit or vegetables a day.

If you are worried that you are coming down with something increase you vitamin intake.
Do as your mother always wanted: eat your greens, join a gym and excercise.

to all you Capetonian bloggers, keep warm today and read or hide under the duvet*

thursday night

why hello there :)
i have just finnised a 6 hour study session with B and J [to be fair maybe 4 of those hours were studying]for tomorrows exam and i am in need of a distraction from worldviews so i havent done a my-favourite-pictures-from-this-week post in a long while and here they are*

A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language -
W. H. Auden

* frosting over

ilovewinter its so romantic*

today i watched slumdog millionaire for the first time :) it was super amazing, i cant stop singing jai-ho in my brain

ah cupcakes! (blushes)

yummy* this is my recipe for vanilla cupcakes

(to make up for not posting cupcakes yesterday)
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups flour
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup milk
½ cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
1.Sift dry ingredients together.
2.Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat well until smooth and creamy.
3.Place paper cups into muffin tin and fill each cup 3/4 full.
4.Bake for 15 minutes at 180° C.
Icing:
1.Cream together 125g margarine and 125g icing sugar.
2.Add two tablespoons of milk and mix well.
3.Add cocoa or food colouring.

yayay its sill raining. happy tuesday night

the end, or the beginning

It rained today! which could mark the beginning of a very promising winter/autumn :)
this winter i will imagine that i look like this in my coat and gloves (when nothing could be further from the truth)

... and ill make this

and ill wish that my world looked like this*

and ill try find this (in my dreams*)

and ill eat this :) i am so ready to eat this*

... and ill do this, all the time

and ill wear these*

*the end of winter dream*
Dear nici:

:) ek is lief vir jou
x