Pics from my overseas trip

I finally got all my pictures from my phone onto the computer, so I can share with you a few highlights of my US trip.

Me in front of the White House:

My boss in front of the capitol

The Iwo Jima monument - I can never remember the official name:

My colleague Matt

At the baseball game in Baltimore

The museum of modern art in Baltimore - I LOVE this!

With my brother in New York

I missed the kids terribly so spent a lot of time (and money!) in toy stores. This is the Toys R Us in Times Square:

I really wish these super-sized angry birds were available in South Africa!

Central Park

It was an awesome trip, seeing my brother was the best part of it, and I hope to go back someday.

Eat for the Earth - the picture gallery

So we hosted our Eat for the Earth dinner on Tuesday and it was awesome! I have some (bad!) pictures of the event, so here goes:

The semi-organic lemonade, home-made. Semi-organic because I couldn't find local organic sugar so I sticked to the regular stuff:

Starters was a home-made roasted tomato and red pepper soup:

Fresh organic tomatoes from Woolworths slow-roasted in the oven for about 6 hours:

Until it looks like this:

The peppers were from the Bryanston organic market, and went under the grill until properly blackened. Then into a pot to slooooowly combine all the flavours. We didn't even need to add any stock, because the tomatoes still had enough juice left in them to make the soup liquid enough.

That then got pureed and served. Beautiful.

Then we had a pizza course, home-made bases made from organic flour. One had brown mushrooms and the other mozzarella balls and baby tomatoes (all from the Bryanston organic market). The tomato one had fresh basil from the garden added just before serving.

This was then followed by the main course - butternut canneloni topped with a spinach and ricotta mixture, organic passata and an organic cheese sauce (with organic butter, flour, milk and cheese!) Baked in the oven and served with salad from the garden.

And to end the evening, an Italian apple cake with all organic ingredients except the sugar and baking powder:

Oh, and for the kids I made cupcakes, topped with green icing and let them decorate their own "gardens". They loved it!

All in all the evening was a fantastic success. A few more pictures:

Hanno in the very messy kitchen, filling the butternut canneloni

My friend Dee grating some pecorino cheese from the Bryanston market for the cheese sauce:

Everyone had an all-natural meal, baby included:

And my geek friend Simon wearing my dune-inspired apron, after lighting the fire. The wine was Laibach's Ladybug 2009, a beautiful (and award-winning) organic wine.

The table setting. We used potted African violets as decorations, and they doubled as thank-you gifts for the guests.

And there you have it! The results for the winners should be out this week, and we're holding thumbs that we did enough to qualify for one of the prizes. But even if we didn't the food was phenomenal and the evening was awesome, and it's all for a good cause.

International conference: Check!

So one item from my new year's resolutions list is done: I presented a paper at an international conference! I want to share some pics from the trip with you, and will soon - but in the meantime this is a heads-up that there is one official tick on my list of new year's resolutions.

The conference was the 2012 Johns Hopkins ACG risk adjustment in healthcare conference - a mouthful, I know. And phenomenally interesting. It was my first visit to the States, I loved every minute and would love to go back for a proper holiday at some point.

So tell me in the comments if you're still sticking to your new year's resolutions?

Preparing for Eat for the Earth

I've neglected this blog for most of this year. I really want to get back into it, so let me tell you about the Eat for the Earth plans that we're making. 


Eat for the Earth was first run last year, when we also took part. The basic concept is pretty simple: Invite some friends over on World Environment Day, get everyone to donate money, it goes to Soil for Life. 

Yuppiechef sponsors some prizes for good entries, and we'd really like to be a serious contender this year. Last year we kept it fairly relaxed, hosted a Moroccan lunch which was awesome but we didn't really try to be as environmentally friendly as possible. This year is going to be different! 


 The final menu will only be determined once we've seen what local organic produce is available just before the event, but in principle we're going organic, vegetarian and local as far as possible. Which is fairly easy given all the great stores and markets in Gauteng. I expect the Bryanston Organic Market, Fruits and Roots, Organic Emporium and Camdeboo Farm may all play a role in our menu. 


 The event is next week Tuesday (5 June), so this week my task list is: 
 1. Get proper invites made, if possible from growing cards (you know, those ones that contain herb seeds) 
2. Find organic lemons and organic tomatoes and work on organic, home-made lemonade and a great tomato sauce that we can use on the day. We're thinking about an italian menu, probably home-made pasta/pizza so tomato sauce will be a cardinal ingredient. 


 I need to figure out a great dessert that I can make from all or mostly organic ingredients - suggestions in the comments would be great! I have lemons and herbs in my garden (including mint) so that would be great to use. My lemon tree doesn't have enough lemons for the lemonade so I may as well use it in the dessert. 


 Anyway, I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, check out Yuppiechef's facebook page, they have an official invite for the event on their page with some pictures from last year's events. The picture of our friends enjoying lunch on our patio is the one on the left.

March update

Yes, this year is hectic. My last post was a quick update, supposed to be followed by more details, and yet it's a month later and I'm back to post another quick update.

And it's not just me. Everywhere I go people are complaining that the year is more hectic than they thought possible, that time is flying by too quickly. Maybe the Mayans were right about how time speeds up until the end of 2012.

So let me get right into it. On my new year's resolutions I'm doing OK, actually.

The ones that are going well are:
Weight loss: I've lost 4 kg so far, not a whole lot but it's going well and I'm still on track.
Be up to date on the news: My new iPhone helps a whole lot here, and do know what's going on much more than last year.
Write a paper for a professional conference: There's a decent chance that I'm going to an international conference in May to present 3 papers (one of which I'll have to write myself) - so this is on track.
Bake more: I've had to revise this resolution. For my weight loss goal I've been tracking calories and now I realise how many calories baked goods have! So I haven't done great on baking. What I've done instead is to take up 2 new hobbies: Sewing and crocheting. I absolutely love both, I'm not really good at it but I've made a few dresses for each of my girls and I've crocheted baby hats for my pregnant friends. It's fun and relaxing and not very expensive, and as a bonus I don't gain weight when I do it. So watch this space for some pics of my creations (although don't hold your breath, it might be a week or 4 before I get around to it).

Then the ones that I still need to improve on:
Exercise: This has been tricky, just to find the time. I have done one 10k race in February, but I had to walk basically all of it so clearly I've lost some momentum since 2011. I know I just need to get back in the habit but somehow tomorrow always seems like a better day to start than today. So that one is still up in the air.
Take more pictures: I have done a bit more than usual, my new phone helps but I'm not really in the new habit yet.
Advanced driving course: I've actually forgotten about this. But it's still a good plan.

In other news: Our building plans are making progress. We spoke to 5 builders in the last few weeks and they're all supposed to get their quotes to us by this time next week, so we're hoping for a few good ones. The builders all come highly recommended, and I would actually be happy to work with any of them. I just hope we can afford it!

So there you have it. I'm going to try to be back soon, I want to show you the dresses I've made!

How can it be February already?!?

Wow. We're a month into 2012, and I haven't gotten used to the idea of 2012 yet. That was quick.

Anyway - a quick update (I'll try to write more over the weekend).

Things that are new in my life:
1. I have a new boss.

This bomb was dropped on me in my first week back after Christmas holidays, and hard to deal with because my old boss is such an awesome person. I learnt so much from her, she's a wonderful person and a fantastic manager and leader. We had awesome discussions about pretty much anything, and she's one of very few outspoken Christians in my area so that was very special.

She's not leaving the company, but she's moving on to doing things that she absolutely loves and I'm happy for her. She's also agreed to remain my mentor so that's FANTASTIC.

And as it turns out, my new boss is also awesome. We had a fantastic chat earlier in the week about my plans for the year and his ideas and thoughts for the area and we're very much in sync. So work-wise, I'm in a really good place, unexpectedly.

2. I am on a diet

Can you believe it? I'm actually (for the moment) following through on that resolution. What makes it really easy right now is the Myfitnesspal app - I'm logging everything I eat and it makes it much easier to make good food choices. I'm also exercising, and it's going well.

And the myfitnesspal app comment leads me right to:

3. I have a new phone

Finally! My previous phone was stolen 8 months ago and I've been making do with a very old borrowed phone from a friend. I'm grateful for the loan, because buying a new phone off the rack would have been very expensive, but WOW it's great to finally have a new one! It's the iPhone 4S and I love it! My first non-Nokia phone, and I'm never going back.

4. I started a new hobby: I'm sewing!

I used to sew my own clothes way back before I started working, but life kinda got in the way. Right now though I've realised that I need to have a creative hobby of some sort, and if I stick to baking the diet will never work out. So I've started making clothes for the kids again - will post a picture or two in a future post. It's great, I'm saving money and the kids feel spoilt so it's all good.

That's it in a nutshell, I think. Happy February, everyone!

New year's resolutions

Yes, I know. We’re a week into the new year. And also resolutions are very, well, 2011. But I’m going to give it a shot anyway.

Lose weight

Partly because I really have to, and partly because no list of resolutions would be complete without this one. This is the little moment where I can fool myself that I’ll accomplish what I haven’t been able to do in the last 35 years: eat less calories than I consume, and end the year trim and slim. Yeah, right. But I’m going to give it a shot anyway.

Exercise more

Strangely enough, this is not as much of a fooling-myself as the weight loss. I started 2011 extremely unfit and ended it very unfit. I call that progress. I have actually enjoyed going to gym and running in 2011 and hope to do much more of that in 2012.

More specifically: In 2011 I ran/walked the 10k section of the Soweto marathon. My friend who did it with me estimated that we ran about 4k of the 10k, in total. If all goes well, I hope to run most or all of the 10k this year. It will take some serious work before I can get there, but it will be good for me, and I’ll probably enjoy doing it.

Bake more

Well, in the last quarter of the year anyway. I love baking, as you know by now. And I have two new recipe books to play with! But in between we hope to redo our kitchen, actually half our house, with all the nightmares that renovations always include. So the baking more bit will have to wait. Except (and here’s where resolution 1 will fall by the wayside) the building won’t start until March or April. So there’s still plenty of time to create some ridiculously unhealthy treats.

Take more pictures

When our oldest was a baby we took about a million pictures per day. The youngest, on the other hand, is lucky if she gets in front of a lens once every 2 months. They are growing up so fast, and I’d really like to have a good set of pictures that chronicle their babyhood and childhood.

Go on an advanced driving course

Like every other adult in the universe, I consider myself a decent driver. Good, even. But I’m very aware of the responsibility that comes with driving my two children around every day. And from what I’ve read these courses really can help hone my driving skills.

Be up to date on the news

I’m terrible with current events. I suppose that’s strange, given that I work in a professional environment with newspapers on many desks and loads of people talking about the news. We did a trivia quiz over Christmas with questions about events that happened in 2011, and while my family did excellent, it was mostly my husband. So I hope to stay more up to date. I did order my new iPhone 4S this morning, so that should help! :)

Write a paper for a professional conference

My colleague Matt and I have been threatening to write a paper on a specific piece of work for ages. If we do well, we might get a trip overseas out of the deal – and even if we don’t it will be good experience. So this has got to go on my list.

So – what’s your resolution for 2012? Want to share?