A taste of South Africa, in Kuwait

Sawubona. Dumelang. Goie aand. Masah al Khair.  Good morning 🙂

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not a meat lover- in fact I steer away from meat most of the time but today we decided to enjoy an African Night at the meat company @ 360 Mall.

 

I guess we have been yearning for home, longing to see fellow Africans, longing to hear the sound of the African Drum, and mingle with the friendly culture and people of my nation. They were so friendly that curly tops found herself spending the evening amongst them- she got to check out what the chef was up to, she had her own tour of the kitchen and restaurant by the manager himself and moved from one South African to the next- all speaking to her in a language she is unfamiliar with.

The meat company, while slightly on the pricey side, will not leave you disappointed. The food is good- you can try some really authentic South African dishes and you will enjoy the warm welcome and smiles of true South Africans at their best.

We ordered freshly squeezed juice, a prawn and tomato soup, some pap and chakalaka (Aouth African tomato chutney and polenta), chicken livers- really good, and a steak with brocolli and spinach on the side. The manager even threw in some welcome drinks, fresh mango and orange blend and a discount in the end.

 

Curly tops was treated like the guest of honor, she was awarded with a little South African badge and we had a special treat of drummers, drumming to the beat of Shosholoza as we continued our meal.

Excellent service, excellent staff and delightful food!

What do you do with your plastic bottles?

 

Here in the middle east, I find that I have more trash to throw out, mostly from packaged food items, and loads of bottles from bottled water. We are not too comfortable drinking out of the tap, even with the filters- we have been advised not to.

So for a while I kept feeling guilty as I drank a bottle and tossed it into the trash- to the point where I cut down on my water consumption in the hope of sparing a few more bottles.

Together with using the recycling companies that are making some difference, we have found our own alternative at home.

We cut the gallon bottles open, drill holes in the bottom for drainage and began planting.

    

So far we have basil- that made a delicious pesto, mint that is thriving- any ideas what to do with it? Because it’s just growing wild. Anyone want some for replanting give me a buzz. We also have aloe which is a great Medicine. After the summer we plan to start some tomatoes, carrots and more.

We are also experimenting with other sorts of planters and composting- more posts to follow depending on how we journey along.

I am so thrilled that we decided to utilize the bottles now towards a good purpose- and a new hobby has sprung 🙂 It started out as my need to grow organic, pesticide free herbs and veggies and is evolving into a great family past time- one that curly tops’ dad is loving too….shhhhh (he might just realize it and change his mind) 🙂

If you have more ideas on how you recycle some of your waste in creative ways please let me know…until then I hope that I have planted a seed for you as an idea to use your bottles.

Happy recycling

 

 

pLaY dOuGh- from the kitchen cupboard

Our play dough has dried up and curly tops really enjoys playing with it- she keeps at it for ages. Cutting, rolling, making animals (her version of them), and cookies in various shapes.

I looked for a new recipe today and planned to make one more rubbery- silly me- I scrolled through the ingredients, had them all and just began.

Rubbery Playdough Recipe

Only half way through I realised I didn’t have enough bicarbonate of soda 😦

So I went back to my old recipe,

Cream of Tartar Playdough Recipe

and tried to mix up my own concoction by merging the 2 recipes.

I added 1 cup of corn flour

1 cup flour

1 cup of salt

1 tbsp oil

2 tspn bicarb

2 cups water

and boiled it up

And it didn’t turn out too badly after all. Slightly rubbery, slightly sticky but good enough to play with. I added some red color to one piece, some turmeric to the other and I left the other plain

Curly tops made balls of different sizes as we explored numbers by counting how many balls, how many were big and how many small. She also made her own creations of what she called butterflies and caterpillars 🙂

Play dough is really so much fun, great for motor skills, creativity and role play

Beit Sadu, Gorgeous, Traditional, Tranquil

A few days ago I visited Beit Sadu for their chai dhaha event.

I have for a while been meaning to stop by but for some reason I just haven’t until just recently.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere, watching the lady using a loom to turn the wool into thread, the ambiance and the friendliness of those who were there.

The place felt very ethnic, rich with culture and tradition. Curly tops and I enjoyed sipping on chai, and dabbling into the yummy dates. I really loves these teapots, they weren’t for sale otherwise I would have bought one.

I would definitely love to visit again and I have been told that they will be starting again in September with free story telling for kids every Saturday morning.

Smoothie-to-go

Had an early morning start today, so I needed to get going early.

I soaked my greens the minute I woke up and hit the shower, by then the greens had been well soaked and ready for the blender.

I chucked in an orange, 2 bananas becoming over ripe, an apple and a mango

Then i added my greens, I had some spinach, beet leaves and coriander.

whizzed it up with flax seed oil and bee pollen

and I was ready to go

I made extra for me to take with coz I tend to feel hungry quickly, packed oats and fruit for curly tops, she doesn’t always fancy the greens in the smoothie and hubby doesn’t like the taste of banana- so more for me! At least that’s what I had thought.

Grrrr, curly tops helped herself to my one bottle, and her dad to the other. So I was left to have sips here and there. I could have packed more had I known but so thrilled that they chose and wanted to have mine.

Less for me but the smoothie fever seems to be catching on

crayons + tshirt + sandpaper = fun art

I found this ready made pack in one of the stores and was fascinated but unwilling to spend a great deal on a once -off-item. So I came back home and googled how to DIY my own little kit to acheive the same thing. I was sooo excited that it worked, and it was soooo easy.

So I bought some sandpaper at the little hardware place around the corner for 100 fils

I had some pastel crayons I bought a while ago from the souk and we go drawing. I asked curly tops what she would like to draw and have on a t shirt, so she wanted an apple tree. I drew the outline and left her to the coloring (on the sandpaper of course)

Once this part was done, I scrambled through her t-shirts and found one that had a stain on that wouldn’t come off. The t shirt was ready to be thrown out so no harm in testing this transfer out on it I thought.

I placed a cardboard paper inside the t shirt to avoid it seeping through, then I placed the sandpaper upside down onto the tshirt, placed a layer of tissue paper/ serviette over it and began to iron.

In a few minutes the old stained t shirt became a new upcycled one that was ready to be used again- the new picture covered up the stain 🙂

I used my hairdryer to set the picture onto the t shirt. The alternative would be to place it in a dryer for 20 minutes

I just found a new way to cover up all the stains, and individualize plain t shirt and clothes and make gifts for my nieces and nephews and other kids 🙂

I think I am more excited about this than curly tops is :p

 

 

grateful for an airconditioner in this HEAT

I was out early this morning and can not believe this heat already. Curly tops decided she was in the mood to wear her winter boots for some reason and refuses to take them off- I’ve decided to let her be and learn through her own experiential learning, although I did keep some back up sandals with me for when realization dawns on her.

Thankful for a car that takes me places, and en route keeps me cool and comfortable and made it possible for her to survive the boots in the scorch of summer.

My heart goes out to all those who have no private cars and need to walk from place to place, use the buses and are working all day in the sun and heat. Those guys at the petrol/ gas stations, the street cleaners, construction workers just to name a few. They are the ones who should be allowed to complain. I cannot go out much in this heat and do feel rather stuck at times, but at least I have the privilege of staying cool indoors.

Thumbs up to all who need to brave the heat, hoping that you find ways of staying hydrated and cool within your circumstances. Perhaps the best I can do is keep some cold water with me to pass on to people I see.

Your thoughts? Ideas to make a small difference?

 

Link

this strawberry ice cream is really rich, creamy and good for you

down to earth, a store and page on facebook that sells wholesome, eco and sustainable products posted a link about coconut oil. And this recipe looked like it needed to be made immediately and with urgency 🙂 http://coconutoil.com/coconut-oil-increases-cholesterol-yet-is-still-healthy-for-your-heart/   (Excuse the way I have added the link, I’m still trying to figure some things out here :p and wanted to share the recipe anyway)

Instead of making a pie with a crust, I just made the filling, poured them into little cups and placed them in the fridge as mini desserts.

I also poured some into ice cream molds that curly tops is looking forward to having this afternoon 🙂

These are wholesome, rich and nourishing. 🙂

Pink green smoothie this morning

This morning I popped a banana, papaya, melon, frozen blueberries and strawberries into the blender. I then added a whole lotta green leaves (a mixture of spinach, beet, and coriander leaves). I blended it up and then remembered I had some goji berries which I tossed in together with bee pollen and flax seed oil. I needed to add some water to get the blender going and later on to thin it out. Curly tops is a great judge of taste because if its something that doesn’t taste good there’s no way she will drink it, and she did. The whole glass full 🙂

I wish I was able to use all organic ingredients. My greens were organic from the sultan center (yasmin farms and sultan farms products), the others were regular ones. I good tip I did pick up was to get into the habit of soaking all my fruits and veggies is vinegar water, wash them up in it to remove all the pesticides and then rinse with clean water before eating and cooking with.

 

Rescued kitten denied access to help

Just over a week ago a friend of mine found an abandoned kitten in a box. She spent the afternoon waiting with it in the hope of finding its mother but the mom didn’t show up. It appears that the kitten must have been a domestic one, and the owners must have abandoned it, that’s how it landed up in a box on the street, left to die.

She is a true animal lover and wild life ranger, and the only that that felt morally right for her to do was to rescue the kitten, who couldn’t have been older that 3 days.

She syringe fed it, tried to keep it warm and provide as much love to it as she could, in the hope of saving a life. Unfortunately her building policy is “NO PETS”. The manager found out the she had this kitten and demanded she put the kitten back in the street where she found it. She had a day to get rid of it before she would be kicked out of the building and/or pay a heavy fine. As my friend explained that she knew the rules, and didn’t however go out to buy a new cat, she just wanted to help it live until she could find a new home for it, the manager was in no means negotiable. Sad reality that animal lives, are so easily disregarded. Now I understand the problem here of many stray cats, etc and that sometimes perhaps it makes sense to put them down. But when looking at each individual case can we not have some compassion?

Sadly, during her quest to save the kitten, rehome her with a foster cat and deal with the manager of her building the kitten stopped breathing after a week 😦 I do feel that it is better off now, considering the challenges this poor thing faced. I am so proud of my friend still who, in her desire to save a little life, definitely extended the kittens life to a week more than it would have lived and provided it with the love it didn’t have.

Kudos to all you animal, earth and peace lovers. It takes one person to make change, whether it is in the life of an animal, to advocate on vulnerable people in unfortunate circumstances or to demonstrate love.