>A weekend in Deal

>




We love getting out of London on weekends! On Saturday we packed our bags and borrowed a car and headed for the East Coast. We stopped off at Herme Bay to see a Roman fort, and then we drove through Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate where we sat on the harbour and ate an all day breakfast at 1pm at a quaint local place called “Ship Shape”. We read the dailies and enjoyed the beautiful potted marigolds and sails whistling in the breeze.

Pics: 1 Grasses at the Roman fort | 2. The North Sea | 3. Broadstairs beach | 4. Ramsgate harbour | 5. Ship shape | 6. Me, the dailies and tea | 7. Marigolds

We then mozied through a beautiful place called Sandwich {seriously! How cool?}, stopping off at Delf Farm Stall to admire the chickens and to buy some delicious Mrs Darlington’s cranberry sauce with Port…I loved the branding of these products. We also bought a bottle of Shandy and a bottle of Ginger Beer by Fentimans.We arrived in Deal and found Clifford Park, where we set up our tent and spread out a blanket and dozed in the sun, also enjoying tea out of our Thermos and some bread pudding. I read My Cool Caravan {thank you Tans!} and got well inspired to buy a camper van of sorts for our travels! I am sure this blog will come in handy in our venture to buy a VW…

In the evening we went for a walk along Deal pier and we took our Fentimans to the pebble beach and enjoyed the late sun before heading to The Black Douglas, a quaint coffee house on the beach front {reviews here and pics here}. Bruce…you would have loved this place!

We enjoyed roasted sunflower seeds and olives on the table, then Pinot Grigio and Grolsch with a starter of parma ham, figs, ciabbatta in olive oil and balsamic. Mains were a ham, portobello mushroom and blue cheese stone-baked pizza for Steven and an aubergine parmigiana for me. We could not fit dessert in {they looked DELICIOUS} so finished off with lattes instead…and they were also good. Oh my. I loved the laidback, mismatched, quaint and warm vibe of this old beachfront house. We sat downstairs where most of the locals were dining and catching up on the week’s news across the tables. Friends of the hostess, Phoebe, came in and out, parking their bicycles outside, unlocked and with all belongings in the basket! When something was needed from the shop, someone would pop out and jump on their bicycle to the rescue…I absolutely loved the community feeling of this small town restaurant! The outside garden was littered with lanterns, Phil Collins sung out over us, and the hustle and bustle of the walk through kitchen created a feeling of eating in a friend’s dining room. The bill is hand written and there is no cash machine. It is just plain and simple. Perfect.

On Sunday morning we played with the campsite’s ginger cat and ate cherries and almonds and other fruits for breakfast in the sun, before packing up and heading to the beach. We admired Deal castle and the fishing boats on the beach, lay in the sun and soaked it all in, with an ice-cream break at the seriously retro beach parlour. This place was something out of the glory days with Knickerbocker Glory sundaes, hot dogs, milk shakes, soda floats, pastel chairs, big swinging fans and proper toasted sarnies! We couldn’t resist lunch there and had the most delicious and oozing ham and cheese toasties {to forget the less appealing pot of whelks that we bought on the beach front for a pound…trying the local fare, eh}.

In the arvie, we mozied home via Dover, with it’s white cliffs and ferries coming and going to France {which we could see because it was beautifully clear!} and then through all sorts of small, quiet back roads to Heathfield, where we picked up a lovely old Singer sewing machine off ebay which has joined the family…and back to London for Sunday night pancakes, the Wimbledon final highlights and a good night sleep.

Ps Some boat love:

>Live the life you choose

>

Monday is my day off so it is time for me to clean the house, do the washing, catch up on emails and read my books or go for a coffee. This morning I decided to read through all of the emails in my inbox from Mary Ann Shearer, as part of the “100 Days to Health” program that Steven and I have been doing. We haven’t been 100% committed to it but have made slow and subtle changes and we can feel our preferences changing! We eat only fruit for breakfast, we eat lots of nuts and we eat a much more vegetarian diet on the whole. We still have a pastry or some meat or a good coffee, but on the whole we are feeling much more healthy and we are ploughing through fresh fruit! Sometimes, in Cape Town, we would not even finish a bag of apples in a week…now we are going through 3 bags a week..yummy. My favourites are definitely apricots, cherries and almonds at the moment.

Anyway, this morning I went through all of the emails to collect recipes and tips…and thought I would share some of Mary Anne’s advice:

♥ Do something completely different this week, visit an art gallery or go swimming in the sea, walk barefoot for a whole day, take your dog or someone else’s dog for a walk. Phone your mother and ask how she is, take fresh flowers to work and keep them on your desk, pay for the person behind you in the parking garage. Try doing one random act of kindness to a strange person for no reason at all.

♥ 5 of The Natural Way steps…
1. Eating at least 1 meal each day that consists of fruit entirely and including a ¼ to ½ a cup of raw nuts and seeds
2. You should be eating raw fruit before breakfast and raw vegetables before lunch and supper
3. You should be eating animal protein no more than once a week. You can be completely vegetarian and get all your protein needs met from nuts if you wish, so don’t panic.
4. You should always snack on fresh fruit and or vegetables before you eat candy or fried and fast foods
5. You should be finding that you have more energy and a more efficient digestive tract as you eat only 1 concentrated food per meal, so either carbs or proteins.

♥ Start keeping a journal and meet daily with God, read your Bible and sometimes just listen to God if you don’t know what to pray.

♥ Some healthy products to keep in mind:
~ Just Carrots- dried carrot juice, loaded with the carotenoids family, a group of powerful antioxidants of which beta carotene is best known. Slows down ageing, improves mucous membrane function (mouth, throat, lungs and other passages)
A great convenient way to get extra nutrition from carrot juice – the way God intended.
~ Redibeets – Dried Beet juice -an excellent source of iron and many vitamins and minerals, fantastic if you suffer from low iron levels or anemia.
~ Prepzymes – a blend of natural enzymes which help you digest your food more efficiently, essential for people with pancreatic and or any digestive problems
~ Composure – a combination of several herbs that calm your body. Essential for hay fever, allergies, sleep problems, air travel or any times of stress or trauma. Totally not addictive and will not make you drowsy. Essential with hyperactivity or attention deficit disorder.
~ Florafood – if you have taken antibiotics and have a tendency to yeast infections or gas problems or if you are taking Para 90
~ Para 90- gets rid of all known parasites, the only product I know of to do this. Take for 30 days each year if vegetarian or 30 days twice a year if you eat any animal flesh like fish, chicken or meat.

♥ Daily routine:
1. Wake up: drink a glass of filtered water with 3 Herbal Fiberblend capsules.Drinking water regularly is a habit that needs to be cultivated early on. Water is your most important nutrient and essential to health.

2. Set specific time aside to prayer and read your Bible or any inspirational book that will encourage you and help you get to know God on a personal level. He delights in you and longs to spend time with you. If you do this you will not need praise or affirmation form other people. This meeting with Him in the mornings is enough to get you through each day. But like the Manna in the wilderness, it must be ‘collected’ each day. You cannot survive on yesterdays “manna” or spiritual bread. You need fresh time every day. You will be completely blown away when you start to do this as your life completely transforms.

3. Go for a 20 – 30 minute walk and when you return take 3-6 Aimega and 4-6 BarleyLife capsules with another glass of water
Take extra BarleyLife on stressful days.
You may find taking 1-2 tsp before bed is a wonderful antidote to stress and will help you wake up bright and alert and refreshed even on very little sleep.

4. Breakfast: Must be before 10am. Start with a minimum of one fruit portion or smoothie.
A portion is what fits into your loosely cupped hand.
You can eat any fruit you enjoy but you must eat at least one portion.
There is no maximum amount of fruit, if you feel like eating 12 bananas, 10 apples or a whole melon then eat it!
Try and include ¼ – ½ cup of raw, unsalted edible nuts or seeds with your fruit.
This will keep you feeling full and help stabilize your blood sugar.
Try and stick to acid and sub acid fruit only at this meal, see food combining chart.
You may also find that melons are best not eaten with nuts.
If you are allergic to nuts then stick to raw seeds such as sunflower or pumpkin seeds or sesame seed paste – known as ‘tahini’

5. Mid-morning: before 12am:
Drink a glass of filtered water
Eat 1-2 portions of fresh fruit

6. Lunch: Before 3pm
Start with any raw vegetable or salad make sure you cover the minimum of one side plate.
You can eat more if you like just do not eat less.
After this salad or raw vegetables eat anything you like, there is no restriction.
Just make sure this week that you do not eat animal protein more than once a day.
If you hate vegetables, find one raw vegetable you can eat like cucumber or tomato and make sure you eat enough to eat a small plate full of this food.
Some people find they lose their taste from animal protein and prefer to follow a more vegetarian program. You would do well to do this especially if you suffer from any hormonal related problems.
Just make sure you are eating a quarter to a half a cup of raw nuts or seeds at least 3 times a week. These can be eaten at breakfast time in one go or spread over the day as snacks, in salads and with neutral vegetables.
You may find you have digestive discomfort eating nuts with starches like potatoes, rice or wheat.
If you prefer, you can eat fresh fruit here as well.

7. Mid-afternoon: before 5pm
Drink a glass of filtered water with 3 BarleyLife and 3 Aimega capsules
Eat 1-2 portions of fresh fruit or vegetables; you can eat or drink anything else after this.

8. Supper: Try and eat this before 8pm better still before 6pm.
The rule is the earlier the better, so Aim for 6 and if you eat at 7pm it is still better that 8pm!
Start with a minimum of side plate of raw vegetables or salad and as much as you like and then eat whatever you feel like after that. Again there is no restriction.
Remember that if you had animal protein for lunch, you should not have it for supper again.
If you felt more comfortable with no gluten or dairy in your diet then try to stick to those programs.

9. After 8pm:
Fresh fruit and raw vegetables only, if you want dessert or chocolates eat them before 8pm. This is very important.

>Beyond the Valley

>
I have been struggling to find lovely Summer shoes that I LOVE. I am so so tired of my gladiators {two seasons running; two pairs worn into the gound…literally…one pair has holes at the back and is cracked under foot!} but I just can’t seem to find new ones that I love. I found these Melissa shoes from Beyond the Valley and in doing so, seem to have found London’s equivalent {sort of} of YDE in South Africa. They don’t have a size 38 in these…so onward searching, soldier!

Ps If you are in London: the shop is at 2 Newburgh Street, London, SE1

>FML

>

Courtney, my very dear friend, told me about FML yesterday.

Now, I don’t want to f* my life and I do want to love my life and live my life and FUN my life more than the prior…but hells bells, on days when these ideals don’t work out…it is more than awesome to go and read about other people’s oops or low moments! So when you are not having a REM “Shiny Happy People” moment…go and read everyday life stories here. Thanks Courts!

This is my favourite:
Today, I was walking home from work when a hobo checked me out, asking which alley I live in. FML.

>Nature inspired

>


This English summer has made me want to go for long walks in nature and stop to smell the flowers, admire the hanging baskets and listen to the birds. I love the following British brands who have turned their inspiration in to gorgeous prints and products:

Vanessa Aarbuthnott
Massey and Rogers
Rapture and Wright

>South African love

>




I am so happy and proud of South Africa hosting the World Cup. It seems to have been a really wonderful nation builder and that is always incredible to watch for any nation in this big world. Being far away from it all makes me miss home and remember things that I love…
peanut butter and jam sarmies on fresh white bread
the karoo
chappies bubble gum
buying things in Rands
rondavels
drinking g&t on the verandah
the sound of windmills
wide open space
my family
african mamas laughing from their bellies
old yellow number plates
children playing soccer on the side of the road
dipping rusks* in morning tea
ubuntu**
bokaap in cape town
5fm
bobotie and Mrs Balls chutney
big and quirky south african homes {enjoy Frank Features by the lovely Kerryn Fischer and Luanne Toms}
the word “eina”

* Make some rusks:
2 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat bread flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp pure almond extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients.
Combine all the wet ingredients, pour them into the dry ingredients, and stir until you have a soft dough, similar to biscuit dough.
Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and roll or pat it to about a 1/2 inch thickness.
Cut the dough into rectangles about 2 by 4 inches. Bake the rusks about 2 inches apart on buttered baking sheet for about 25 minutes until the tops are crisping and browning a little.
Loosely pile the rusks on a baking sheet and keep them in a 200 degree oven all day or all night (about 12 hours) to dry. The finished rusks should be very dry and hard. Cool and store in a beautiful airtight tin. Rusks will keep for weeks for dunking and enjoying.

**I received an email about Ubuntu and it reminded me of the need for community in our current world. Archbishop Desmond Tutu described Ubuntu in 2008: ‘One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. 
We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”

>Oooh nice

>

Oh I like Labour and Wait. On my wish list is: a beautiful antique Welsh wool blanket, French candles and a pink milk pot…

>Truth is

>

I am tired of being at my screen.

All I want to do is hold a book, turn the pages, smell the paper; bake cookies and smell them in the oven, lick dough off my fingers; lie in the green grass in the park looking up at the sky; walk fast outside and breathe the fresh air in; speak on the phone with my nearest and dearest; sew and iron and knit and feel the fabric and wool in my fingers.

So that is why I have not been blogging. Yes, I know I have been a rubbish blogger. I am kind of tired of it in some ways. Me, the screen, a monologue. Blogs for the next season may be sporadic and random. But I have found a whole lots of blogs that you might love so you can go and read them everyday; is that okay?

Anyway, my love bought me a sewing machine. How awesome? So I am on a one-woman mission to learn how to sew extravagantly and I am going to be burrowing my head in fabric and pins and pressing and stitching. Some blogs and websites I have been perusing for inspiration and that I wanted to keep in a safe place to click on:
Colette Patterns
Anna Maria Horner
Lena Corwin
Free Needle
Sew Mama Sew!
Anna Allen
Very Purple Person

Some other blogs I have discovered, or been told about and enjoyed:
Under a Paper Moon {where I got these lovely pics; see her blog for where she got ’em!}
Curious Bird
Playing Grown Up {Thanks Tess!}
Cakies
Love Notes and Polaroids
I might not see you again for a while I must warn you. I am off to sew!

>Draw dividers and pancakes xx

>
Where have I been? Not blogging…there has been a week at work of hosting a big wedding event and a week of visiting South Africa, and a week of being in bed with flu, and before you know it a month has gone by and blogging has not happened.

Here is a little glimpse of the happenings:

Rachel’s birthday


Kat’s famous Russian-Australian pancakes doused in syrup, and some frou frou fun!

Luella’s Boudoir Wedding Fair {pics by EyeImagine}



You may follow the links to see media coverage of the evening from here…it was a fun evening filled with vintage extravagance, two gorgeous catwalk shows and happy brides-to-be who found lots of inspiration and dream dresses.

Images: a pic of the welcome sign…I loved doing all of the design for the event; One Marylebone; Lisa Redman’s gorgeous gowns {she let me borrow a dress…it was FAB}; my darling colleague, Kate, my second British friend who makes me laugh too hard; Julia Boggio’s representative.

Liska and Gerald’s beautiful wedding


Oh, what a beautiful day! Gerald and Lisk made their vows in St George’s Cathedral and celebrated after at Groot Constantia…and really, what a gorgeous day with family, friends, meaningful speeches, Earl Grey cupcakes, laughter, and beautiful sun! I am over the moon for you two. {And yes, this is the THIRD wedding I have been to this year where the lovely couple has chosen Germinate to capture the day. They are AMAZING so spread the word!}

Otherwise…




We have been loving the Spring flowers and the subtle warmth of the sun on some days and spending time with friends {even when they are wearing matching outfits!}…I have discovered a gorgeous antique fair {oh love my 1920s camera, Thermos, Victorian pin cushion, console, madeleine tins and my bottle garden…} and have been getting better from flu with lots of rest and tea. Some days I feel like I need more simplicity, more quiet, more space, more time, more sun, more countryside, more rest…

Buying draw dividers from Ikea moved toward this…and gave me a wonderful sense of simplicity and order. {Yes, sad, a highlight of my month was indeed the introduction of draw dividers!}.This is another ordering idea that appeals to me:
“Long ago, the rhythm of the average American housewife’s life was fairly standard no matter where you went. Each day had its own task, and so the work got done in a logical, orderly fashion as the week progressed. It went something like this. Monday: Wash Day
Tuesday: Ironing Day
Wednesday: Sewing Day
Thursday: Market Day
Friday: Cleaning Day
Saturday: Baking Day
Sunday: Day of Rest
There was logic behind the order. Laundry was far and away the heaviest task a housewife faced, requiring a great deal of strength and fortitude to hand-wring clothes and carry big baskets of wet laundry to the clothesline from the basement washtubs. Monday was the day to do it, when you were still fresh and rested from Sunday. Tuesday’s ironing followed Monday’s wash. Mending and sewing on Wednesday made sense when you’d just been through the clothes and noticed what needed a button or a patch. And so on. We may not follow this order, or do some of these tasks today, but every kitchen can use a set of good sturdy and absorbent dishtowels.” ~ found here. Oh and I love the film clip on their moodboard page. Very cool.

Oh, and we have booked for Prague at the end of July…I am soooo excited! We are going with close friends to cycle, drink beer, eat raw beef on deep-fried toast {or not} and explore this gorgeous old Czech city.

>My Brit factor x

>Yesterday Holly Willouhgby popped into Luella’s and I was a bit star struck, I must say! We loved her on Xtra Factor and it was a bit strange to see her not on telly…the shop happened to be chaos. I was shooting dresses, Kat was pinning dresses and Rach was with our wedding planner. But still! It was cool.

I got thinking about Brits and their celebs and their habits and traits, and then I found this list of the top 50 ‘typically British’ traitsfrom Metro. I have italicised the ones I find myself doing:
1. Talking about the weather
2. Great at queueing
3. Sarcasm
4. Watching soaps
5. Getting drunk
6. A love of bargains
7. A love of curtain twitching
8. Stiff upper lip
9. Love of all television
10. Moaning
11. Obsession with class
12. Gossiping with neighbours over the garden fence
13. Obsession with the traffic
14. Enjoying other people’s misfortune
15. Inability to complain
16. Love of cheap foreign holidays
17. Working long hours
18. A soothing cup of tea to ease worries
19. Eating meat and two veg
20. Looking uncomfortable on the dance floor
21. Feeling uncomfortable when people talk about their emotions
22. Clever sense of humour
23. Obsession with property values
24. Pandering to political correctness
25. Road rage
26. Being unhappy with our weight
27. Wanting a good tan
28. Being proud of where we live
29. Not saying what we mean
30. The ability to laugh at ourselves
31. Washing the car on a Sunday
32. Taking the mickey out of others
33. Asking people about their journey
34. Inability not to comment on how other people bring up their children
35. Jealousy of wealth and success
36. Being overly polite
37. Texting instead of calling
38. An inability to express our emotions
39. Obsession with the Royal Family
40. Fondness for mowing the lawn
41. Love of rambling through the countryside
42. A love of all things deep fried
43. Emulating celebrity lifestyles
44. Leaving things to the last minute
45. Irony
46. Keeping our homes neat and tidy
47. Take decisions and accept the consequences
48. Achieving against all odds
49. Wanting our sportsmen / teams to fail
50. DIY on a Bank Holiday

So…I am not all Brit yet.

Another thing Brits love is Thai and Indian food. Tonight after work, Kat and I bought Thai red duck curry {oh my, oh my, new favourite Thai food!} and we sat on the lawn outside our Victorian flat {with the daffodils and the ginger cat from my street} and we enjoyed the warm evening and delicious Thai. Then I watched the sunset on the banks of the Thames in Surbiton and drank earl grey tea with friends. A perfect Saturday evening I would say. xx