holiday retrospective

Brace yourself...this is going to be a lengthy and picture-filled post.

Way back in December, which feels like ages ago now, we kicked off our holidays with a trip to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for Carols by Candlelight with our friends Linda and Anna & Graham (and Juno, who was dressed as an elf). We picnicked, watched the sun go down, lit our candles, and sang our little hearts out.

Christmas Eve found us with the entire Crede family for a massive feast that concluded with all sorts of treats not the least of which was Sarah and Andreas' rumtopf. Christmas day began with breakfast with Sarah, Andreas, Hannah, Dave and Sue. We chowed, popped the homemade Christmas crackers Sarah made, and then went inside for presents and stockings. Later that afternoon we had a massive braai (BBQ) with the Credes and then went home to spend the next 12 hours digesting.

I sewed Hannah a super girl cape for one of her pressies

Part of our Christmas present to the family was a three course brunch on Boxing Day. The food was great, but playing with Hannah was probably the best part.

To end Boxing Day Brendan and I went up Table Mountain in the cable car. The table cloth (cloud cover on the mountain) was coming in thick, but that didn't stop us from enjoying some tea and dessert up at the top. I also saw my first dassies on the mountain. Did you know these little whipper snappers are the closest living relative of the elephant? Well now you do.

And then there was New Years Eve. Brendan and I got up at 5:30am and zooted up to Langebaan (about an hour and a half up the coast) to have breakfast with Anna, Elke, Graham, Dan and Juno. I baked us a pumpkin pie and we all over-indulged in true celebratory fashion, because eating croissants, brie, ham, and bubbly alone simply wasn't enough. After that all the menfolk went off kite surfing and the womenfolk (and babyfolk) went up to Paternoster (a town a bit further up the coast I have likened to a very windy, Afrikaans Greece) for lunch at Oep ve Koep. And oh what a lunch it was. I'm still dreaming about it. By 3:30pm Big B and I were zooming back to Cape Town to host the fam that night for a New Years Eve feast. We served baked camembert with a tomato pesto, caprese skewers, and prosciutto, ricotta and roast tomato nests for starters. This was followed by a chilled cucumber soup. The main course was an Asian vegetable stir fry, peanut noodles, and surf & turf (sesame crusted seared tuna and steak). For dessert there were mini rhubarb and custard souffles. It all went down a treat. We played some Taboo to pass the time until midnight, and got to ring in 2012 with Ant and Kate joining us on skype. Brendan and I ended the night by grabbing a glass of champagne and walking down to the ocean. We talked about all the excitement in store for 2012, which we have deemed our rock star year. Our three month South American adventure is now less than a month away. We will move into our house in May. We hope to travel to the States in July to see friends and family, and perhaps to Turkey in September (cross those fingers!). I'm going to start a new job and have the goal of running a half marathon. Brendan is going to keep churning out the publications and might just run that half marathon with me. Next Christmas will likely find us in York with the MB fam and hopefully next New Years Eve we will be in Paris, smooching under the Eiffel Tower. Oh la la! And even if half of these things don't happen, 2012 is still going to be one rockin year...I can just feel it.

Paternoster lunch spot

amuse bouche: calamari bobotie

watermelon gazpacho

sandveld potato dumplings with mushrooms, dune spinach, almonds and pine nuts

nectarine pavlova

mini rhubarb souffles

an app to facilitate our countdown to 2012

Happy New Year!

And on the morning of January 1, 2012 what was the first thing I ate? Leftover pumpkin pie in bed. Any year has to be a good one when your first food is pie!

Happy New Year to one and all! Here's to every plan and goal and dream coming to fruition!

xx

Cloth

Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary, the cloth anniversary. The bulk of our celebrations of marital bliss took place on Saturday, though, when we went out to the Warwick wine estate for a Big 5 wine safari, wine tasting, and gourmet picnic. We were lucky enough to have *pristine* weather, which made the day feel all the more festive. The safari was a hoot. Eight of us rode around in a big Land Rover type thing and we "spotted" the big five wine grape varietals. We now know that:

cabernet sauvignon = lion (bold flavor)
cabernet franc = elephant (a taste you'll remember for a long time)
merlot = leopard (subtle taste)
pinotage = buffalo (very strong, aggressive flavor)
sauvignon blanc = rhino (distinctive nose)

We rode up to the top of the vineyard to enjoy the views of both Table Mountain and Paarl Rock and have a glass of sauvignon blanc.

see the silhouette of Table Mountain in the background?

Once we hunkered down in our lovely picnic spot, we gave pressies and feasted.

We both did our best to include the traditional gift of cloth. I gave Brendan some honey and coconut coated apple rings, a t-shirt I put a funky design onto, and a Kindle with a hand-sewn cloth cover. I got a gorgeous hot pink Le Creuset mug, a meter of block printed fabric I have been lusting over from a shop in Kalk Bay (I am open to suggestions for what it should be turned into!), and a pair of lovely heart-shaped earrings. The picnic was scrumptious: caponata salad, sun dried tomato puree, green bean and feta salad, salami, camembert, cheddar, smoked salmon with buttermilk dill dressing, two loaves of ciabatta bread, biltong and brandy pate, smoked smoek pate, and dark chocolate brownies for dessert. Yum.

Last night, we enjoyed a bottle of Spice Route pinotage (served at our wedding) with some sesame-crusted seared tuna steaks and sushi rice salad.

Then we scooted down the road to share a mini lemon meringue with Anna & Graham. I love having wonderful neighbors. All in all, it was a great start to what will be an exciting third year!

lately

Here's a smattering of what we've been up to lately. I must admit that I've forgotten my camera (gasp!) or forgotten to take pictures (double gasp!) of many things. The moral of this story: our life is even more fun than these pictures convey.

Last week I developed a new obsession- Miya's sushi restaurant in New Haven. I had lunch there with two of my nearly-former Peer Health Educators and it has changed my life (mostly because now I want to eat there every day).

I look weird in this picture because I'm trying to hug two people who are a little too far away from me. But they look great. 

Miya's will get its own post later this week. I am also considering going back for some additional research. 

Last week also brought an abundance of pie, which is never a bad thing. My lovely co-workers held a little going away gathering for me feature 6 varieties of my favorite food group.

Naturally, I needed to eat a slice of each.

I have been lucky enough to work with some of the most intelligent, inspiring, fun, fabulous people for the last nearly-four years at Yale. This Thursday (my last day) is going to be a toughie. 

And then, because six pieces of pie on a Friday isn't enough of a treat, we went to Miya's for dinner. Swoon.

We spent Saturday with our friends Krissy and Tim and their ridiculously cute girls. 

Krissy made me the *MOST* lovely apron as a going away gift. It's made of this soft flannel, has corset-style lacing in the back, a tea cup applique on the pocket, and the daintiest ruffles around the edges. I adore it so much, and now am even further convinced that she needs to hurry up and start a business so I can buy every last thing she puts her needle to.

Krissy also makes really cute children, but she won't be selling them in her shop. 

Ella and I played outside for a bit while the food was grilling. 

We had some great salads with our meal. I made a mango slaw and Tim made an orzo salad with sultanas and pine nuts. I'm going to strong arm him into giving me the recipe. 

After sups there was birthday cake for the Krissy. Happy summery times.

In more recent news:

As part of the never-ending stream of work to be done so I can be employed in South Africa, I found out this morning that I needed a full criminal record check and to be fingerprinted. Thankfully I had a friend in the Yale Police Department who could help me out. Now if only I had a friend who really like completing paperwork...

getting crafty

A few months ago I decided I needed a new hobby, because...you know...planning an intercontinental move really leaves you with way too much free time. Not. None the less, my friend Krissy is this incredible seamstress and I kept seeing all the beautiful creations she would make and I wanted to be able to do that too. My mom was also a really gifted sewer, but as a kid I was too intimidated by her hulking Singer machine to do much more than stare at it and be afraid. Now 20-odd years later, I was still intimidated but decided to give it a bash anyway. Plus, I love the word "bobbin". Say it with me now! Bobbin bobbin bobbin. Using a sewing machine gives you good reason to say "bobbin" lots. My sis-in-law Kate knows a children's song about bobbins, but sadly I sang it too much and I am now forbidden to utter it in our home.

It turns out, I'm not half bad at this sewing business. I started off slowly (i.e. sew one piece of fabric onto another piece of fabric, wrap it up nicely, and give it to my pregnant friend saying "I made you this beeeeeeautiful burp cloth!"). As the birthdays and babies keep on coming in our lives, I've gotten better. The most recent winners are:

Finnegan fox: present for our nephew's 2nd birthday (to accompany a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Fox in Socks")

baby jackets, most of which are accompanied by matching kimono shoes

Japanese obi-style hot/cold pack: warm the flax seed pack in the microwave or chill it in the freezer, slip it into the pocket, tie it around your waist, and voila! 

re-usable snack packs: cute nylon-lined (so they are easily washable) bags of various sizes with a velcro closure. great for using up fabric scraps and reducing our use of ziploc bags. 

sewing success

This past week we were in York to celebrate many things (more on this shortly), among which was the upcoming arrival of my sis and bro in law's little girl. I've recently borrowed my friend Krissy's sewing machine (she's the one with the totally gorgeous girls featured in the last post) and have been having a bit of an adventure. With so many friends and family members having babies this year (I believe we are currently at 13) it seemed like a nice challenge to be able to make things by hand for these little beans. My latest and most favorite creation are these baby kimono shoes.

The two outside pairs are for Sarah and Andreas' girl, and the middle were a welcome to the world gift for our newest nephew Matthew. I found the pattern on Etsy and it is certainly doable, considering a novice like me had such success. They are so sweet I may even try making a pair for myself.

If you're pregnant and I know you, look out...there might be a pair of these in your future!

cute kids and great salad

The other night we had dinner with these cuties (and their parents, Krissy & Tim).

Ella is 3 and Arlie is nearing in on 6 months, and they are even cuter that they look in this picture. Can you believe it? I didn't think so, but it's true! We have gotten into a wonderful routine of having a potluck dinner together every couple weeks, which begins and ends with playtime. Last night, Ella was showing us the sewing she has been working on (her mom is an incredible seamstress, and is responsible for my recent endeavor into sewing) and a great conversation followed between her and Brendan.

Ella: Now, I am going to make a line [pronounced "wine"].
Brendan: You're going to make wine?!
Ella: Not wine, a LIIIIIIIIIIINE [again, pronounced "wine"].
Brendan: What??
...and so on. Between Ella's speech and Brendan's accent, a great time was had by all.

Second to those little faces, the real treat of the night was the fantastic salad Krissy made to accompany the veggie lasagna we brought. It is so full of bright, springtime flavor (helloooooo tarragon). I'm still dreaming about it.

Spring Chicken Salad
adapted from the Food Network
1/2 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved
Kosher salt
2 generous tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup (heaping) plain Greek yogurt
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 romaine hearts, torn (or any kind of lettuce; bibb would be delish here)
2 cups cooked, sliced chicken meat (can be from breasts you broiled/poached, or the meat from a rotisserie bird)
1 cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced
4 radishes, halved and sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

Place the potatoes in a small pot and cover with water. Season with salt, cover and boil until fork-tender, about 6 minutes. Drain and cool.
Meanwhile, pulse the tarragon, vinegar, yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a food processor. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and pulse to make a thick dressing.
Toss the romaine, potatoes, chicken, cucumber, radishes and bell pepper with the dressing in a large bowl.