December Cocktail Party ~ By Invitation Only

Hi Dear Friends

 

It is 6:36 pm here in the shadow of Table Mountain. I have had a day of prepping for my book club's Christmas function and am quite footsore and tired. I am hosting eleven gals on Thursday eve for a eight course tasting menu!!! The house is looking festive and a bit tosy turvy. You know that look, when you are putting up decorations, laying tables and there are boxes of décor and stuff strewn everywhere ....

 

So, here I am at my desk with a glass of wine, the sun is still up and the temperature is soaring!

 

 

 

 

 

Our monthly "By Invitation Only" theme, which Tina From The Enchanted Home choose for us, is to host  a December Cocktail Party. As per usual, our glam lady Marsha, from Splenderosa will be hosting us. So hop on over and take a look at what all the other gorgeous ladies are up to...

 

Christmas holidays for us means sun, sea and sand!!!! We avoid the kitchen like the plague if at all possible!!!! So, in keeping with that I have decided to keep it cool....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This enchanting garden will be the ideal setting for a festive outdoor soiree....

 

 

Music will be provided by the abundant bird life and from indoors all the Christmas Carols will waft out on the evening breeze....just to tickle the ears....and you may burst into a spontaneous "Rudolf the Red Nose  Reindeer" if you get swept away with the Christmas spirit....

 

 



To start, I have decided on these  Blackberry Prosecco Popsicles to bring the temperature down a bit...

 



Cocktails will include.... Champagne Peach Bellini, Minty Mojitos, Tropical Ice Tea Punch, Orange Sherbet Mimosa and of course Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Champagne....

 

I have opted to wear this red number with my favourite open heels....they will probably be kicked of soon enough...

An ice block mounted with prawns and a spicy dipping sauce is enough to keep those taste buds in a perpetual state of anticipation of what's to come....

 

 

Figs wrapped in Parma Ham...

 

Summer melon encased with slivers of smoked Salmon....

Tuna Tartare and refreshing cucumber....

Lobster rolls...

 

 

Terrine of Rainbow Beets....

Spicy Asian Meatballs....

For Dessert..... Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet....

 

 

Heat or no heat, we absolutely have to have chocolate!!! So, how about these Mudslide Truffles served in shot glasses....

 

 

Summer fruit abounds, and so sugared peaches and cream is a must!!!

 

 

The heat is on, so I am heading over to grab a glass of bubbly....to toast each and every one of our fabulous bloggers who contribute monthly to our festive "By Invitation Only" event! A Big Thank you to Marsha for hosting us all at the glamorous Splenderosa . Please head on over to join the party!!!

 

I would like to which each and every one of you a wonderful month of holidays. Amidst the flurry of parties, shopping, cooking and all things festive, let us remember the Reason for the Season and all those less fortunate than us...

 

So dear friends..... Keep Calm and Love Christmas!!!!

Live Well

 

Veronica

 

xxxx

 

 

Please regale me with a comment down below...I am all ears....

 

 

Please also visit my Pinterest board for all photo credits and to see what else I had in mind to eat, drink and wear....

 

An African in Amsterdam ~ By Invitation Only

Hi Dear Friends!!!

 

As you all know, I have been away from blogging!!! I have however, always been kept in the loop by my dear friend Marsha from Splenderosa about what the topics were for our monthly "By Invitation Only" posts. And, when she decided that we had to have someone write us a blog post who is NOT a blogger, I thought this was the perfect opportunity for a re-opening post!!!!

 

 

 

My son, Byron is studying towards his Honors in Philosophy at Stellenbosch University is on a student exchange to Amsterdam University for six months. So, I have naturally been keeping in touch via Blackberry Messenger, Whats app, Skype, Face Book,  email...you name it!!!!! What would we have done without the wonder of technology!!! I even receive pics of him shopping, his dinner, his washing...you get the drift.....sigh.....

 

I also receive regular updates on the partying, the weather, and requests for recipes, etc! So, I asked Byron to write a lil something of what he gets up to over in Amsterdam...apart from party vibe, that is....

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, over to Byron

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t blog!!!! I am so painfully self-reflective that I’m likely to write more about the emotional experience of journaling than I am to actually journal.... But, having left behind my friends, family and home comforts to study a world away in Europe’s most liberal city, the compulsion to write something about it is well, irresistible…

 

Here Byron is with his sister Jacqui in Johannesburg en route to Amsterdam via Munchen!!!!

 

 

 

 

            The first thing that hit me about Amsterdam, after dealing with the stress of picking up my moolah at the airport, is the many means of transport… this may seem mundane but I assure you it is not, especially coming from a country whose public transport is often harrowing at best. Better than Amsterdam’s impeccably clean trains and busses are Amsterdam’s trams which seem to glide miraculously over the cobbled streets like busy blue centipedes… (they always seem more animal to me than machine). The other famous Amsterdam transportation machine of course are bicycles which are everywhere… by the third week my motley crew of international student friends resembled a dangerously drunk and bewilderingly cosmopolitan bicycle gang, cycling en mass (there are about twenty of us) from bar to bar…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would have much trouble locating my bike, I struggle to remember where I parked my car when I come out the mall!!!!!

 

 

            Amsterdam’s traditional “brown-bars” are a treat, but their beers are rather small (a result of the general expensiveness of the city, though some may use it as an excuse to mock a drunken Dutchman for impotence). We made our home at Café de Geiter, a tiny student bar on Korte Leidsedwarsstraat , often crowded, but the best place to get riled up before heading to Melkweg or Odeon to dance… incidentally, be careful of Amsterdam bouncers/barman if you have a sparkling personality like mine. Despite being a de Geiter regular I have regularly been refused service for having had “too much”, something which has never happened to me in my home city of Cape Town where, I can assure you, I can afford to get more slizzard a lot quicker than I can on impotent miniature beer charged in Euros. Without the intervention of one of my girlfrewnds (misspelt for effect) bouncers at clubs are similarly reticent, sometimes before I have even begun the evening… It is one of those Amsterdam dichotomies: open prostitution, and the smell of weed every couple meters on the street, but don’t you dare appear tipsy or at all “out of it”…

            Anyway, Amsterdam isn’t all about going from bar to nightclub (unless you’re 23)… her many magical parks and hundreds of pretty canals make Amsterdam every bit as romantic and relaxing a city as Paris, if that’s the side of the city you choose to see. Ironically the red light district is actually one of the quaintest parts of the city (it is easy to avert your eyes from the prostitutes if you are so inclined). The Venice of the North is a good place to wonder from shop to shop, including the fanciest China-town I’ve ever seen (around Zeedijk) and the coolest little art galleries and café’s in the Jordaan. It is easy to lose sight of all these things though, when one is a South African student living 10 kilometers from the center and juggling university and the incessant partying of European friends on a restricted budget of 600 Euros a month. But I can testify that despite is notorious expensiveness Amsterdam can still rock your socks off on such a budget. Amsterdam it seems is many things, to some it is the heart of sleaze, to others it is bars and parties and to others it is an undeniable cente of culture with Museums and galleries and an indie music scene that one needs to live two lives to keep up with…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            It is incredible how quickly one is absorbed into the local culture here, I eat more cheese and bread than I ever have in my life, I cycle more than anyone I know, my internal map of Amsterdam is fully updated, and I have a corresponding internal schedule of hippie, hip hop and high art events that I struggle to keep up with (both because cycling 20km’s a day is wearing me out and because every day of the week is party day in Amsterdam)… But if you plan better than me and need less sleep… well, see you on the Dam in a bit? Bring your bike, and a bong…

 

 

 

Thank you B!!!!

 

This is your mother again....

 

I do also get updates on academics from time to time and the last message I got read like this....." Hi Ma, got 92% for my exams....came top of the class, so now I can party with a clear conscience!!!!"

 

My response to that....

 

 

" Hi B.... Wowza that is way cool....SO PROUD of YOU!!!!!!

BUT.....

 

When is your thesis due?"

 

 

I got a one word response from Byron....

 

 

"Eisch"

 

(which is local lingo for....Oh my goodness, don't mention that!!!)

 

 

 

 

So, I live in hope that the thesis is getting the attention it is due and that the due date has not been completely forgotten!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very proud of both my children and am so grateful for the opportunity that Byron has to study abroad! He is a very versatile young man who is passionate about the subject he is studying. He is also doing a film making course and has been chosen as Chairperson for the Humanities  Exchange Student Council at the University of Amsterdam. The life lessons he will learn and the friends that he has made from all over the world as well as the memories he will take with him will just be life changing experience....

 

 

 

I must just diarize the date for that Thesis....

 

and perhaps join the

 

"Mums who needs Wine" club....

 

Missing him so much, but so content that he is happy and having the time of his life.... on a budget!!!!!

Now that you know what students get up to when they are away from home hop over and enjoy all the other posts at Splenderosa

 

Please regale me with a comment or advise on my wine selection until the thesis is safely delivered to the prof, that is....

Live Well

Veronica

xxx


All pic by Byron!!!

 

 

 

By Invitation Only ~ To Dream the impossible Dream...

Hello Dear Ones!!!

 

It is time for our monthly "By Invitation Post" again.... it swings by so quickly that I am sure we are on fast forward!

 

Hosted by Marsha from Splenderosa , it is a group of bloggers from around the world who blog on a common topic that have been agreed upon. It is always interesting to see the different interpretations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, this was the brief...."Tell us the thing you have most wanted to do, reality or fantasy, and of course, money is no object"

 

Sounds just like an invitation to share my bucket list, or at least some of it!

 

I guess many bucket lists includes travelling and mine is no different!! There is a whole world to explore out there...

 

Living in Africa, as I do, and having experienced wild life quite often, top of the list for me would be, to experience the migration of approximately a million Wildebeest on the Masai Mara and Serengeti. The exact timing of the annual  migration is a spontaneous natural phenomenon and not always easy to predict!

For both images see here

Now, that was the first bit...being a greedy girl that I am, I want to experience this from a huge hot air balloon, gliding effortlessly above all of the drama happening down in the river.... I don't believe that anything could top the feeling of exhilaration being able to witness this wonder of nature!

 

 

 

 

Image here

 

Next on the list....would be a micro-flight over Victoria Falls!

Can you just imagine, having a bird's eye view of the magnificent falls, feeling the spray and hearing the thunder ....

 

 

 

Image here

 

 

After that adrenalin rush, I think a more leisurely activity is in order. So, how about we wing our way to France and hire a barge. Cruising down the canal Du Midi perhaps, although it would be hard to choose which one to do!!

 

But, chugging along a canal with the promise a wine and glorious food up the hill in the picturesque little village is beyond dream worthy!!!

 

 

 

Image here

 

 

After slumming it in the country, I think we need some city lights, so why don't we head to Paris! Hire an apartment in the First Arrondisement or even Rue Montorgueil in the Second. I will happily shop and cook what I have gathered at various markets, starting with my favourite market at Boulevard Richard Lenoir, a bit of a walk but it means I can indulge!!!

 

 

Image here

 

South Africa is a magnificent country and I would love to jump in my car, with no plan at all, and do a road trip along the coast, all the way up to the Kruger Park and end just in time to see the hatching of the Sea Turtles in Kosi Bay and watch them race down to the ocean in their flip flop manner of new hatchlings....

 

 

Image here

 

 

I would dearly love the opportunity to star in the musical Chicago and I have some fab ideas to re- choreograph the Cell Block Tango!!!! Serious day dream believing going on here....*sighs* for now I turn up my car radio and blast fellow commuters with some razzle dazzle sounds, bobbing about in Noddy (car)....

 

 

I have started to write my memoirs and would like to finish them sooner rather than later, although there might have to be a sequel...

 

Just a few sprigs from my "To Do" list...

 

Now, do visit the other bloggers by following the link at the top of this post!

 

Live Well

 

Veronica

 

xxx

 

Please leave your comments below and feel free to add  your own list!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the Love of a Leaf!!! ~ Part 1

Hi Dear Friends!!

 

It has been some time since I have done a gardening post! The inspiration struck when one of my followers, on Twitter,  asked about iconic indigenous (South African) foliage!!!!

 

Well, he immediately got my mind racing and I have a few pics that have been sitting in files, obviously waiting, just for this moment....

 

 

Now, not all of these are indigenous to South Africa but they are some of my favourite leaves for various reasons. I will indicate the indigenous ones as I go along.

How does one choose a favourite child? Well, I feel the same about these...

 

Arum Lily ~ Zantedeschia aethiopica ~ leaves are just gorgeous. Have a look at these, in my neighbour's garden. Glossy arrow-shaped and frilly! A single one in a vase is a work of art! Then add the creamy bloom atop a flashy stem and you won't be able to avert your eyes....

Luscious...aren't they just?

 

 

Below, in the vase! Have a look at the underside of the leaves, you could turn them over and they are just as gorgeous!

During spring the hills of the Tygerberg and the roadside is ablaze in purple and yellow.  Lupins ~Lupinus luteus ~ pop up all over the place and in my garden. They are always a welcome surprise. Also known as the Miracle Bean, it is widely grown as a cash crop, alternative to soy! I am not sure that it is indigenous, but we certainly welcome them. I adore the shape of the leaves.

 

Little umbrellas adorned with morning dew that catch the sun!

 

 

 

Below, is a happy coincidence that happened one spring. A purple lupin perfectly partnered with a deep velvety maroon Ranunculus! Perfection!!! Just goes to show, all the amount of planning in the world can not foresee the bounty that nature will offer of Her own accord....

Now below, we have a painted work of art! One single leaf and look at the intrigue it delivers!!! A variegated Pelargonium that produces red flowers, I can not remember its name, but it sure is a showstopper!

 

Below, we have Pelargonium Tomentosum with velvety soft, beautiful lobes leaves. Run your fingers over it and the heavenly peppermint fragrance clings to your skin.

The Giant Strelitzia Nicolai has magnificent leathery leaves. Below, is a young leaf catching the sun. Of course, as they grow bigger, the wind shreds the leaves and one of my favourite sounds, is the wind playing through the serrated leaves of the Nicolai! I know I am home, when I fall asleep to the shoooosh shooooosh sound of the Strilitzia!

Take a closer look...

I took this photograph whilst stalking birds, and I never looked at the common Comprosma Repens with the same eyes again! Commonly known as the Mirror Bush and native to New Zealand but grows like a weed here!

 

An intricate work of lace, perfect in every way....

 

 

The fleshy leaves of Agave Attentuta always invites me to run my fingers over it as I walk on by. Native to Mexico, of course, I can not think of a garden without it and it falls firmly into my category of "designer plants"

I have seen it teamed with English lavender in the foreground with the most astonishing effect!

Designer plant indeed!

 

I have so many more to share with you!

 

I was hunting down my photos, that I know I have of Sparmannia Africana, but could not find them. They are lurking about in some forgotten place, so will share them just as soon as I locate them. I can nip outside and take some but want the flowers as well, and its not in flower now!

 

So, look out for the next instalment of " For the Love of a Leaf"

 

Do you have any favourites?

 

Please share your thoughts and favourites in the comment box below...

 

You can also find us on Face Book in the sidebar of this blog and soon to be on Twitter as well.

 

Will keep you posted

 

Live Well

 

Veronica

 

xxx