Move aside Cake Boss...

Not sure that I am feeling this blogging thing so much anymore but in the interests of public safety - I will try to prevail. You may ask why public safety - well, there will most surely be riots in the street should I stop, my gazillions of followers will gather enmass in protest.

Here below are snaps of my first ever properly decorate two tier wedding cake. Need to take it to class tonight. It has been a major source of panic in my life but turned out quite ok..... My sponge cake is awesome! It has a caramel buttercream filling and a vanilla butter cream iced on the outside of the cake - covered with pettinice.....

I have not got pics of my assembled two-tier cake. I have not as yet stacked them on top of each other but I have no fear :-)

BOTTOM TIER

TOP TIER

ICED FLOWER ARRANGEMENT

C'mon, tell me that is not awesome for my very FIRST ever pettinice covered cake. First ever wedding cake. First ever two tierd cake!!!! First ever iced flower arrangement! 

I must be honest - I am quite proud of myself! I could cover a cake in butter cream before and that was about it.

Last class tonight :-( Will get to see the other girls' cakes. Sure they have turned out some masterpieces. I veered away from the fine piping - was too sh*t scared :-) So decorated my bottom tier as creatively as I could. Think it turned out quite cool after not having seen it done before....

Later  ya'll,

Me

Miss me???

Geez - the days just seem to be running away from me. Still trying out this blog thing - I enjoy it when I get the chance but the issue is to make time and carry on regardless of how busy things get  - that's when I don't enjoy.

Also hard to keep writing everyday - so I want to be realistic about the whole thing and try and ensure I still enjoy blogging while still writing frequently. So, new rules - I am going to attempt to blog at least every second day. Lets see how this goes - hopefully that means we will be on 3 posts a week....

On the weight loss front I am making progress - 5kg down!!! whoop whoop! Another 5 to go by next weekend :-) Ok ok, so that it not possible but maybe 1??? Pretty please Mr Scale! Pretty please Mr Dress! Pretty please Universe. I need to look smoking.... The way I look at it, is that I could have looked thinner (I know this because I have been thinner) but then again, if I hadn't stopped the bus on 23 Aug and told all the fat kids could get off -  I could have looked a lot worse too!!!! :-) Also, it is the younger cousin's wedding so in order to try and avoid the pitying stares and comments like the "ag shame, your time will come too" or "ask your cousin for some tips" - I am attempting to look super hot.... Als, will being seeing some "ex" family (still family but I couldn't care too much if I never saw them again) that have not seen in years (long story). Or just as classy as all hell. Hair appointment booked. M.A.C make-up appointment booked. I found a dress today but if it isn't quite right then I will keep looking....

Don't get me wrong. I am in a happy and committed relationship, so at least I can skip the "shame, one day you will find your Mr Right" comments. Of course, like most chicks, I want to get married. But not just because my cousin is - when we want to. Oh, and when he asks :-)

Anyhoo - this weekend is a whole lot of cake decorating and flower making. Going to the Triangle to show my mommy all that I have learnt - so that she can leverage off my really expensive course that I had to pay for, that she can learn for free...... And Sunday I will be baking and seeing if it is at all possible for me to decorate something that kinda-sorta resembles a wedding cake of sorts......... My intention was to have a cake full of iced roses but holey smokes am running out of time - so am cutting back on the dream :-)

I hope to have some pics for you next Monday, latest Tuesday of THE CAKE. I hope it doesn't look too crappy. Trying something that I have not been shown how to do and not sure if it is going to look like a 5 year old got hold of the cake, or just plain awesome. This NEW, never seen before technique is to try and disguise the fact that I am the world's worst fine icing piper person!

Have a jol,
Me

Helllooooo

Apologies, I have been MIA for almost a week now. It has just been a busy week!

I have had every intention to write but time has just not been on my side.

I promise to blog tomorrow and keep you posted with the goings-on? or going-ons? of what is what. No - nothing monumentally exciting just the usual!

I will see you tomorrow and until then, if you have an awesome Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe - please send it this-a way! I need one! Got to make that two-tier wedding cake this weekend and quite frankly I am poop-ing in my pants.

Chat soon
Me

**YAWN**

Happy Springbok Friday! Quite a festive mood here at work - we are having a champagne breakfast and watching the Samoa vs South Africa world cup game on the big screen in one of our conference rooms.... Another tough day at the Stock Exchange.... Then this afternoon we have Heritage celebrations with Castle Lager coming to pop in......

Problem with this is - food and alcohol unfortunately contain calories! Eish! I will try to instill some self-restraint.... I have finally broken the 4kg barrier today. Holey smokes - these 4kgs have taken their sweet time. The first 3 were easy but this 4th one had really seemed to grow on me. In fact it seemed to love me so that it found it really hard to part ways. We have now parted ways.... Bye bye Mr 4kgs!!!! Good riddance to bad blubber :-)

The weekend is here and unfortunately having a full time job means that weekends are often (and usually) filled with admin... Tomorrow I need to go and paint a room at my place - I have a new tenant moving in who does not seem to think that colour is cool and would prefer a white wall - hmmmm. Sucky! Taking My German with me so hoping we can sort that out chop-chop. The quicker I am out of that complex the better, the body corporate, specifically the chairwoman (chair-dragon) are the spawn of satan and my blood pressure does not handle it well..... There is more to life.... If only my poor tenant nknew what he was in for.....

Started the prep-work to make iced flowers the weekend. Let us see if I can actually do at home on my own-some what we were shown in class..... Going to start planning my two-tier wedding cake, our final project. It's not so easy - hmmm, what kind of cake, what kind of icing under the pettinice, decoration, colour, theme, etc. All I know is, is that I am not going to cheat by using fresh flowers - iced flowers all the way baby!!!! And probably roses - they are so pretty.

Looking forward to catching some extra zzzz's the weekend - I am still pretty exhausted today. My eyes are so puffy it looks like I have the world's biggest hangover. Trust me, all I had last night was some sparkling water and a cup of java....

Alas, no gym last night :-( I only finished work at 6 and drove home with My German - too tired to even contemplate much. Decided if I am so tired to take it a bit easy and not over-do it. Don't fret kids - my gym bag is packed and waiting here behind my desk - ready for tonight. Yes, you heard right. Gym on a Friday night. A girl has to do, what a girl has to do!

Hope you have a kick-a$$ weekend,
B

The green, green fields of grass....

Today I am feeling tired. I just want to go home and have a nap..... A loooooong nap. Can the first springs rains fall already - my allergies are acting up again. It is my "late" day at work today - we take turns.

The thought of still having to go to gym tonight is making me sad. I however hope to prevail and have gone to get my tog bag out of the car. I am going to apply the 20min rule today - 20min of exercise and see how I feel. If I still feel like I do now - then I have reached my target and off to home I go **patting myself on my back**, if I carry on and do more - it is a double bonus :-)

Funny story - I found out when I was in my teens that I am extremely allergic to grass - but I thought it was the weedy, veld type grass that looks like something similar to the below, you know that weed with the the 3

"stamens"

However, it apparently turns out - I am EXTREMELY allergic to grass that looks like this:

whahahahaha - look familiar????? Other than living in a bubble - I am kind screwed..... :-) Allergy desensitisation is a possibility - an expensive, weekly (for 2 years) possibility. Medical aid OF COURSE does not pay for it. Why would they???? That would mean medical aids pay for medically related procedures.....

Anyways - have a super duper eve ya'll and spot you on the grassy side :-)

Flower Power

Hello all!

Yesterday was Tuesday, so we all know what that means.... CAKE DECORATING!!!! Whoo hoo!

I include some pic of what we made. Please note that I look like a bit of a tart in class taking photos all the time - so these are real quick snaps taken from my phone. We finished our lilies and daisies, made blossoms, made trumpet flowers and got shown how to cover a cake with butter cream and then pettinice, by the master herself.. She is truly awesome! Her website is  http://www.sugar-n-ice.co.za go and have a look at some of the cakes that she has made.


See the first pic. Daisies! They are awesome (if you ignore the few petals that are missing -they may have accidentally been broken off :-)). See the calyxes on the roses (the green stuff). See the trumpet flower at the top of the pic.

Daisies, Trumpet Flowers & Roses

Kate (teacher's finished lily)

My finished lily (pretty damn awesome, right???)

Trumpet Flower

I now present you with Kate's cake she demo'd to us. This was an un-iced sponge (bottom layer), the top tier was iced already. She covered the cake with butter icing, pettinice, and the "petals", assembled the two and added the flowers (first fresh, then iced flowers) in about half an hour.... WTF!!!! The pics below is of the cake and her flowers she made in class - the purple ones are the blossoms (I unfortunately did not get a pic of my blossoms - they were still drying upside down). Let me remind you - half an hour people!!!! Half a freaking hour!!!!

  She is awesome! 

Have a super fab day and chat soon,
ME
P.S. Project weight loss and health was on hold for a while - and back on track again this week. Back to the 4kg mark (which is where I was 2 Saturday's ago). Now to somehow healthily and unhungrily lose a shed load of weight in 18 days - the cousin's big day! I want to just resemble a semblance of normal Bronwyn. Here is hoping :-)

Photo Bonanza Monday

So how goes it???

What a week last week, I didn't get a chance to post after Wednesday last week. Well mainly because I was out of the office on Thursday on a "team building" called STRAIGHT TALK - it was all about having conversations, I kid you not... Friday was a half day and then I spent the rest of it cooking and baking...

Saturday was National Braai Day (Heritage Day in SA) and we decided to conform to society and braai. It was so busy that I didn't get a chance to take a pic of the food on Saturday :-( It was awesome. There are some photos but apologies, most of them are rather poor. Some of them were taken the next day when My German and I were snacking on left overs and the others are just badly taken photos taken in a hurry....

Remember to just click on a pic to make it bigger. There are so many today that I did not want to take up half the internet of space...... :-)

Hmmmm so I made the following foodies:

Snacks on the table:
Homemade: A kick ass salsa with a nice bite, a roasted red pepper hummus, sour cream and chives dip
Bought: Crackers, chips, incl tortilla chips.

Salsa

Red Pepper Hummus

 

Lunch:
Homemade: Greek salad, beetroot, rocket and goats cheese salad, a lentil corn and pepper salad, the most fantastic vegetarian lasagne (included roasted baby brinjals, roasted peppers, roasted butternut with a tomato, zucchini and mushroom sauce), mielie bread, my famous potatoes (roasted in oven with onion and garlic)
Bought: Matured rump , various flavoured chicken kebabs, boerie (My German braai'd them perfectly)

Beetroot, Rocket and Goats Cheese Salad

Greek Salad & Lentil, Corn & Pepper Salad

Dessert:
Homemade: Oreo Crumb Crust Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake with a Chocolate Ganache Topping and a Pineapple Marshmallow Fridge Tart

I have no dessert pics :-( and these were AWESOME!

All I can say was that it was awesome and I had too much wine and I am trying to hail down the wagon so I can somehow climb back on it.... In my favour - I woke up on Sunday morning feeling half ok and managed a kick ass hour of cardio at the gym - I started feeling fragile thereafter.....

Also, on the gardening front it is coming on nicely (still lots to do) but I am starting to enjoy it and I have some of lots of ideas on how to make it better... You may remember from last week that we bougtht a hippo last weekend, so we started making the area around him pretty :-)

Its bonus photo day today - so here is one of me and my labrobear, Chelsea, what I have failed to mention thus far is that I am dog CRAAAAAAZY!!!! Chelsea is not on my lap - it is all an illusion :-)

And below is the latest addition to the family, Tansy our pound hound :-) She is such a sweetie. This is her on Mr Japerica and Miss America's laps.

Look what I made!!!!

It's a lily!!!!

Made from pettinice (a.k.a plastic icing)...

How awesome?????

Next week we will learn how to colour them. I think it is quite nice in white.
It was a busy class this week. Started making daisies as well - those are real cute. We made calyxes (is this a word???? it is more than one calyx) for our roses (alas my battery lasted long enough to take the pic of the lily and then it shut down - so no pic of the finished roses (they not so awesome anyways :-))

Tell me the lily doesn't look awesome??? For a first attempt I think I rocked it! My fellow students think these are easier than roses - me not so sure. These are very "finnicky".

What I am sure of is that I need to start practicing...... Maybe from Sunday..... Hopefully..... Else next weekend for shizzle!

Things at work are going along. For some reason it is really quite busy at the mo.... Work is really starting to get in the way of my trawling the world wide web for recipes.....

It's My German's dad's birthday today and so we are going to the most fantabulous Japanese place for the most fantabulous sushi! Yum yum yum. Try it out next time you are in the Rivonia area - it is called Japa. Cheap is different - so please don't say I didn't warn you....

I really need to get cracking with some work so I will holler at you later!

Me

Hanging on by my finger tips....

The wagon is racing along - been a bumpy ride and I have been bashed around, at this point I am still on the wagon - hanging on by my finger tips. What wagon you may ask??? The weight loss wagon....

Eish - i am crying out for a gym session. I have not been since Friday eve and the gardening marathon on Sunday. Was not feeling so hot last night and so didn't go. Tonight is Cake Decorating so tomorrow morning it will be on like donkey kong. Feeling a bit frustated with all of this at the mo... Well tomorrow is on like donkey kong - if my colleague and I (we may have erred on the side of hypochondia - ismshmish) are incorrect in our diagnosis of me currently suffering from appendicitis.... Ok - so I am pretty confident that it isn't. I will be all kind of frustrated if it is - then they must just take my tonsils while they are at it. Gall bladder already gone. Any other useless/unnecessary organs that are not on this list - please let me know....

I have done zero/nada/zilch/nothing in the practice department for cake decorating either. Time is so limited. Am hoping that My German or I soon win the lottery (not the silly SA one, lets go EURO) and I can become a home executive. I always thought I would be bored but no way - I would keep myself busy with all kinds of jazz and work on opening that foodie place I so dream of. Need practice and working full time means very little practice time....

Anyways, let me go and Carpe Diem (seize the day)!

Keep it real,
Me

39th week of 2011. Really???

Another weekend has drawn to a close and another week begins. Hope you had a good weekend. Mine was good. This morning I just feel like I need another....

Got the weekend off to a good start - I kicked off with a Friday evening gym session! :-) Saturday morning the alarm clock tried it's best to get me out of bed at 05:30 to get to gym at 06:00. Like I said, tried. Got up at 06:00 anyways and had a fabulous day with my mommy - we found the most fantastic shops that I didn't even know existed in Jozi. Soooo cool!

It was the cousin's bachelorette party on Saturday afternoon. Wow - that's kinda when I fell off the wagon a little, there was sooooooo much food. so much of yummy food. And I had wine - more than a glass or even 2 :-). Such exciting times - start of a new life and adventure together....

Mommy slept over on Saturday night and helped me kick start my gardening endeavour. Sjoe wee - it is hard work! No gym for the rest of the weekend but I reckon from the way my body is feeling this morning - it was a close tie... We have so much to do in our garden but really taking shape. My German and I went to the nursery (wow, we like all grown up) and bought some plants and he bought me a hippo (yeah for real, well not a real one but sooo cute). Our labrobear (labrador) reckoned said hippo was alive and an hour of barking ensued..... Annoying! :-) Labrobears are not always very smart.....

This week I wont let these clowns at the office get to me! I have set up a meeting with the big boss to let him know what is what and what REALLY goes on in this office. Not that he isn't one of the main problems either....Whether I actually do this, you will have to wait until Wednesday to hear - meeting set up for Tuesday afternoon.

Looking forward to a week of healthy eating and exercising. The cousin's wedding is in less than a month and I need to be in tip top shape (or at least as best as I can be) by then. Some of fandamily (I refer to them as ex-family) will be there. Haven't seen them in almost 4 years and when I do I wanna look my best - cause when you look your best, you feel your best, right????

Hope the 39th week of the year is a good one,
Me

It's the weekend baaaaaaby!!!

Whoo hoo the weekend is upon us. 4 work hours of this day to go. At this point I am not sure that is of much solace in that fact - half an hour longer at work is too much. Geez Louise am feeling drained today. I think I need to adhere to that "TOO" story that I keep referring to. I think that I may have been pushing it TOO much at gym and now I am TOO tired and feeling TOO hungover (which am not actually) to think of anything other than want to nap TOO much. Moderation is key but when you wanna lose weight and you love food I think that the risk can be there of over-doing it in the exercise department. I should try out this moderation story.

On another front, I am actually sick of work. I am so tired of the politics, the games and the conniving that goes on. You can't believe the sh*t that goes down everyday. People trying to take credit for other people's work while being the laziest person on the planet is probably my biggest gripe. It's a bloody joke. And you can tell me that I am in charge of my own destiny but I will prob tell you to go fly a kite (maybe not so eloquently). Hell, some things you just can't control! This would be one of them. I have tried every approach under the sun with these clowns - nothing. It's the problem when a company buys another company and tries to integrate staff of totally different corporate cultures. Pity I was last man standing....

Anyways - looking forward to a busy weekend. It's the cousin's kitchen tea this weekend. Mommy and I are galavanting around town and when I say around town I mean around town - west rand, northern suburbs, east rand etc. My German is running 50km on Sunday... Crazy man!

Hope you have a slamming weekend!

Me

Type A personality on a step machine....

For those of you who are on Discovery medical aid and some that aren’t a member will know about Vitality. The point of vitality is to get as many points as you can, either through exercise, healthy eating/shopping, health check-ups or on-line questionnaires. To bump myself up to the next level I did some of the stress questionnaires – I did one and the result (from 20 questions I need to add) was as follows:

Moderate Type A: You are often impatient and/or annoyed by your own or, mostly, behaviour other people’s behaviour. You generate a lot of unnecessary stress for yourself, which might be affecting your health now or in the future. 

Bhahahahaha – that is funny. Funny that I get irritated by every little thing? Nope – funny that 20 questions can be quite so spot on. This is not something is new to me , nor is it the first time that I have been made aware of this. It something that I bury and just get more and more tense until I snap at someone, as miserable biatches do....

The good news is – is that I am aware of this. Admitting something is the first step right? So, what am I doing about it? Well, I can’t help what I am and my natural tendancies. I am however, working on letting things go. I can’t control every situation, nor can I control how someone else will react. This is an ongoing process. I do believe that exercise is the most important tool for me to manage this – it helps relieve some of this pent up stress and tension..... Am loooooving gym at the moment and feeling waaaay calmer and happier about life.

My next step in all of this is to try out yoga.... I have been told by various people on various courses etc i.e. EQ course, personality assessments etc. According to these “professionals”, I would benefit immensely from something like yoga to centre and ground me blah blah blah.... So I am going to try it out.... I am also getting My German to join the gym and start yoga with me, think he can benefit from it too..... He is a runner - a mother father runner.... Runs and runs and runs and runs.... Also, no he is not a control freak like me but he has a very stressful job and also could do with learning to de-stress J hey my bear????? J

Gym last night was epic. Ok, so maybe not exactly epic but I enjoyed it. I try to use basically all of the cardio equipment in the gym during the week - the treadmill, bike, cross-trainer, ski machine and rowing machine but the one piece of equipment that for some reason I have never bothered with, is the step machine.

The last few visits to Uncle Jim, I have been paying attention while wishing away my 20min on the bike. I have discovered a very well kept secret – or maybe not a secret but I wasn’t listening... Look around the gym – there is every kind of size person from super-built, normal to over-weight, basically on the treadmill, bike and cross-trainer. Now, look at the chicks (or guys) on the stepper, the majority of them are built like machines (this means good)!!! Could it be the stepper????? Hmmmm. I decided to get my a$$ onto one of those to see what is what. I think I now understand. 10 min of pain.... Hello my new frenemy, Mr Step Machine. I endeavour to have a meet at greet with you as often as I can going forward.

Have a wonderful day and keep it real,

Me

Roses, sweet roses

You may have guessed from the title - finally, cake decorating class was fun again! We finished our roses, we started making lilies. Much like when we started the roses - I still have no idea how those lilies are going to come together but hey I have no doubt they are going to be super complicated....

I would like to present you with my first roses made out of icing. The colour is a bit of a misnomer, the dark purple part dried blue - it appears this dye was a genetic throwback in terms of colouring but my teacher she is now aware of this. Colouring aside, just look at these babies (remember these are my first):

Not too shabby, hey nigel? Can I hear a whoop whoop? Put your hands up in the air and wave 'em around like you just don't care - ok I will stop now. But really, I am well impressed...

Not anywhere near ready to make that two-tier wedding cake story but hey. Hmmm, that would be for end of October - ha, I could make my cousin's wedding cake. Thinking about this maybe I should stick to what I do best and that is - join in the P-A-R-T-Y with my hands up in the air :-)

Mini-Me Anna is as irritating as ever but there are some really nice girls in the class. Sjoe, teaches you once again, never judge a book by its cover. I imagined that they were all a bunch of "poppies". Hell, one of the "students" is a medical doctor in her second year of medical  government service and another is busy with her PhD in Genetics. Not just your average run of the mill girls. Miss PhD is probably on my level when it comes to cake decorating technique, maybe even slightly worse :-) (in the patience department  she kicks my a$$ down town). Back to Miss PhD,  she is making her brother's wedding cake. Brave girl. Even braver the fact that the wedding is in November and we are no where near pro's yet.....

I am happy to report that it appears that gym and exercise are back in my life and an important part of it. I don't exercise on Tuesday's due to class but I have begun to miss it and come Wednesday morning, I can't wait for gym.... Yay for me! At this point I need it to. I have come to realise that I become one miserable (and round) biatch if I don't exercise. Hopefully I have learnt my lesson and Uncle Jim and I will continue to have a flourishing relationship till the end of time.....

The weekend is coming up and it is going to be busy but I am hoping to attempt to make my first homemade pasta this weekend - along with a crumble cake. All things I have not done before.... I am looking for the "dummies guide to making pasta" while trying to get some work done. I may want to eat my words later but so far, the whole basic pasta idea does not seem too difficult! And if I don't eat too much, I hope to make My German some Creme Brulee - dying to try out my blow torch (behave, as per wikipedia a blowtorch is "A blowtorch (US), blow torch (US), or blowlamp (UK) is a tool for applying lower-intensity and more diffuse flame and heat for various applications, than the oxyacetylene torch. ")


ME

Troublesome Tuesday

Today is one of those days where I would rather not write. however, in the interests of persevering with this blog here goes much about nothing....

Let's see... Hmmm, well the good news is that I have lost 4kg! Whoop whoop! Thank you scale, thank you world, thank you me!!!! My pants no longer feel like they want to slice my internal organs in half....

Am feeling quite chuffed about the whole thing. This with some vino, cookies and chocolate at the weekend. See, one can enjoy the good things but in moderation....

I go back to the TOO much, TOO little, anything in life with a TOO in front of it - like my momma says - cant be good for you... Ain't that true....

The bad news is I am at a bit of a cross roads today and rather than sit at work, I would like to sit in a dark corner and maybe nap till Christmas. I guess that life will always throw challenges your way - life is a b*tch like that... You can chose one of two ways and what you chose sometimes will define the path that your life will follow.... Eish - deep for a Tuesday morning... Then you start thinking about the "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" cliches - holey smokes, some of us have got to be really strong then by now I guess.

Got the cake decorating class tonight. It is the 4th one of 8 and to be honest I was hoping to get a little more from this. It's pretty expensive and feel like so far we haven't done anything that I couldn't have looked at YouTube for or even a couple of images on the web... Maybe it's cause it's all new and we have to go slower but I am really hoping that tonight we get going now.... C'mon team cake decorating!!!!!

May the force be with you!
B

Queen of procrastination????

Who me??? But of course..... So what did you do the weekend? Hmmmm, what part of my plans for the weekend did I stick to? Well, I went to gym on Saturday and Sunday, and went to Mrs M's baby shower, watched the rugby and I uhm, I, uhm... uhm, I did the washing??? :-) Where does the time go?

Think my body is still getting used to the whole going to visit Uncle Jim (aka gym) thing.. Shoowee, by the time the weekend hits all I can think is nap nap time. This is my excuse and I am sticking to it.... That and the other stuff is too boring, too much effort and too little time. My mother (she is a very wise lady), she reckons that anything with a TOO in front of it cannot be good for you i.e. too much, too little, too often etc etc. It makes sense, see? I wonder if TOO lazy on weekend can fall into that category - hmmm, nah. This is the one exception :-)

I believe that you need to listen to your bo-ody.... I was so tired that shame, I even bailed on me mommy this weekend. I moved our date to next weekend. As deaded as I was I got my ass to gym - see, I dont forget the big picture stuff... Saturday had a killer cardio session, hmm, Sunday not so much..... Had a killer nap on Sunday though, if that counts????

Just had lunch - yummy yum yum. Low GI seed bread, cucumber, rocket, chicken, cherry tomatoes and nando's mild  peri-peri sauce. I attach a pic of it below. I kinda was so hungry I couldn't stop - hence, half a sandwich and hey I know it's a paper plate but hey, I still got me some fancy cutlery, so it's not all without class....

This week I plan on being less of a procrastinator and more of a doer (do - er? do er?) which will result in me becoming an achiever! How lame does that sound????

3.6kg down and we will persevere, not so much with the millionare shortbread or lindt chocolate that I ate yesterday but instead we (my butt and I) with the healthy, skinny lifestyle....

I wish you all a slamming week and catch you on the flip side!

Holla,
Me

Eish, so little time

So less than 2 weeks into my new blog and I already missed a day.

Would almost have missed today but thought that would just be poor form. I have put my work on hold for a little bit!

It has been quite a week! In fact, today has been the craziest of it all. Work busy, life busy and stressing about nonsense.

To put your life in perspective in about 8 and a half minutes - watch the following video

 http://www.leader.co.za/article.aspx?s=43&f=1&a=3090 This guy is amazing. If he can have the courage to stand up in front of the world to try and follow his dreams - well so can we. Makes all the stuff we stress and worry about seem so trivial and pointless.

Looking forward to the weekend. Mommy is coming through tomorrow morning so we can go Cake supply shopping. Found the most fantabulous store up the road from me. 

Last Friday said I was going to do so much over the weekend but didn't get it all done. Will try the gardening thing (skipped that last weekend) and practice stuff for cake decorating class. Our final project is to make, bake and decorate a two-tier wedding cake. Am concerned to say the least....

Lots and lots of exercise lined up - I must admit I did stray off the health path today. I had Poulet Aux Abricots Et Feta for lunch.... Sure you know what I am talking about??? :-) Ok, so it is chicken breasts filled with apricots and danish feta, set on an apricot and a light curry sauce. I copied this directly from the menu. It was yuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm!!!!! 

Hope you all have a happy weekend!

Me

Two post Wednesday!!!!

So let me introduce you to my antipasto platter.... I was quite proud of this one. I made it as a starter for my folks when they came for dinner to celebrate their 40th anniversary.... Only problem with this antipasto platter is that it is sooo good, you tend to eat too much, which we did and by the time my main course was served we were all quite stuffed :-)

That's one of  my problems, coming from a family of 6 (4 guys in the house) there was no such thing as small portions. Thus when I cook (and eat), even if it is just for my man and I, I make waaaay too much food. Enough for a little army. He always asks when the other people are coming over :-) I am working on it though.

I present you below with my antipasto platter for four - bhahahahahaha

Click on the image to enlarge it

Breaking the 3kg barrier

Yes I did it! whoop whoop! ok so it has only been 2 weeks but thought this day would never arrive. For the record breaking the 3kg barrier does not mean I now weigh over 3kgs but it instead means that I have now lost 3kg. 3.1 to be exact (hey, a girl has got to keep herself motivated).

In the midst of it all it doesn't seem so monumental when we look at Mrs UK, who I found out yesterday has to date lost 20kg (and looks super fab by the by). Then there is SSG (Super Skinny Gail) who has lost 45kg last time I checked. But guess what - they also lost a total of 3kg or even 3.1kg at some point. SSG speaks a lot about inspiration and motivation in her blog - her blog is here http://big-fat-secrets.blogspot.com/. Someone can inspire you to start something, be it weight loss, a degree, anything really but only you, yourself can keep yourself motivated.

Your goals need to be set for you - not for someone else. And this is indeed so true - I will remind myself of this all day today as I am already feeling the excuses heading my way (in my head of course) to skip gym (just this once) tonight. See. I will go to gym, I will go to gym, I will go to gym. Seriously though, if you set your mind to something and say you want to achieve it and not doing everything in your power to achieve the goal - then hell, what is the point. Take weight loss for example, I know that a healthy diet and exercise will lead to weight loss but if I only do one of the two then I am not doing everything WITHIN my power to lose weight. Thus I know to reach the goal I have set for myself - doing only one of the two ain't going to cut it. So off to gym with your a$$ missy!!!! (more $$ signs - in honour of our holiday :-))

So go get em tigers! Be it weight loss or be it anything really. Life generally applies the same principles throughout doesn't matter what you are doing!

So this blog is dedicated to Mrs UK and SSG to say - well bloody done! You are an inspiration to us all! Wait wait wait, I just realised something. They are both red heads - hmmmm. Coincidence? Maybe......

Have a happy, healthy, goal reaching day!

Me

Can you say USA??????

Yeehaa baby - USA here we come! Relax everyone - just for a holiday!

Went to the dear Consulate General of The United States of America this morning - and visa approved! We wont go into detail about what, in my opinion, is a very disorganised affair because hell, who am I to complain??? I get to go to the States, and this time it is the REAL MACOY, not the Free States :-) whoo hoo! 

My German and I are going to the US of A for approx 2.5 - 3 weeks at end of November, beginning December... 2011! I cant wait! I am a lucky girl! I have traveled a bit and even been to Canada but thought the America thing was going to happen maybe in my next lifetime - well hello world, the next lifetime has arrived! NYC, LA, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon to name but a few! 

Bring it on!!!!! 

The weight loss/lifestyle story continues and since it is a lifestyle I guess it will continue until I don't continue no more.... Have lost 0.2kg short of 3kg weight i.e. 2.8kg - been 2 weeks now so I guess it's OKish. Been exercising a lot and really trying to be good so I was hoping for something more dramatic but I guess it took a while to get to where I am and so it will take a while to get back again.

However, isn't it odd that when you lose just a kg or 2 you already start feeling better about yourself and hell, you should. Some people don't even start. So big up to those that have started. The most important thing is to start but that being said - to keep it up is just as important. My new thing when exercising and I just want to stop and eat 5 pizzas is to tell myself - how will this get my thighs slim and trim, how do them hollywood ladies get toned and looking fiiiine? by sitting on the couch and eating, no way, hose! How do I propose to look half decent is a cozzie now that summer is approaching if I just sit on my a$$ (see that $ sign again :-)) Have I mentioned I am going to America!!!!

My resolution is to aim for at least 5-6 workouts of at least 30 minutes a week and guess what - when I get to gym, the first 10 minutes is torture buuuuuuttttt where after I find myself feeling good and enjoying myself. My workout ends up being about 50 min instead of the 30 min. The 30 min is there for the days I am not in the mood, tired or just not feeling it. 30 minutes isn't too bad. 20 min could work too :-)

Keep it up, be good and today is my day off. I have Cake Decorating class tonight so no time for Jimbo....

On that note - have a grand da ya'll and I'll holler back down yonder path.

B

P.S. A big up to Mrs UK (you know who you are)! Well done! You are a legend and can be verrrrrrry proud of yourself!!!! In fact, you are a rock star

Can you say Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes

A cupcake. Who doesn't love cupcakes....

How about a cupcake with a soft caramel centre, topped with a caramel butter cream and candied caramel rounds - I give this all to you in the below....

Voila!

I was well impressed! So, my candied caramel rounds weren't perfect (they not supposed to be) and maybe a little dark - but it was my first time working with caramel aka melted sugar, so gimme a break... This caramel is actually salted caramel but is not salty at all - really only a pinch of salt. I think it does break the hectic sweetness a bit. These cupcakes we surprisingly not sickly sweet as I expected. Don't be deceived by the triple salted caramel - doesn't mean it is salted 3 times over but instead means the 3 different caramels on/in the cupcake...

Unfortunately, as I discovered these cupcake do not keep well. I wanted to take a pic of the inside to show you  but after 24 hours (totally forgot to do this when I made them) most of the soft caramel filling had absorbed into the cupcake and the candied caramel had melted/dissolved - so they did not look like this a day later. Far from in fact. Definitely a cupcake to be eaten the same day as baking.

You may think I have veered off the healthy lifestyle with the above. Nope! Not at all! I gymed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Also, I managed to only have half a cupcake the entire weekend. Decided it was cupcakes or wine - so I chose wine :-) (oh and balsamic black pepper strawberries with vanilla ice cream - hehehe).

We had a great time/braai with my friend yesterday, we shall call him Mr Japerica. Where/what is Japerica you may ask? Well, it is not so much a place. Well, it kinda is. You decide. Mr Japerica has been living in Japan for the last 2 years and now looks set to move to America. Japerica. Or it could be Ameripan????

I hope Mr Japerica does not felt hard done by for not being offered any of the above cupcakes but as I said earlier, they don't keep well....

Have an awesome week and I will holler at ya'll later,
Me

It's the weekend baaaaaaaaaaaby!!!!

Quick update : Traffic last night was bea-u-ti-ful!!! Better than at 6am on a workday - just goes too show, why stress about the things you cannot change and have no control over. What will be, will be! Did you hear that Bronwyn, huh, did you?

Today is Friday and soooo looking forward to the weekend. Plans are that there are no plans :-) Lots of exercise, cook, practice my current useless icing piping technique (I will show that Mini Me Anna who is the REAL cake boss - refer to Cake Decorating post) -  garden (I started trying this out last weekend - still not convinced I was born to do this as opposed to supervising), shopping and hopefully a long lost friend will come holler on Sunday. And I cant wait for all of it! So I must be getting old, I mean uh, older.... As you get older, different things seem to matter. 5 years ago, no wait, even 2.5 years ago my priorities were so different - you would neeeeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr ever have caught me in the kitchen or in the garden on a weekend - I would by P-A-R-T-Ying!!!! Now I can't even remember the last time I went to a club.... Guess what though? I am liking where I am now a lot!

On the weight loss from their ain't nothing to report back on. Been eating well, exercising and seen no results thus far this week. These things take time and since I am super impatient - I expect to have dropped a dress size. Realistic? No. Can one dream? Hell yeah!

Also, I am sure am not alone in my current fear of weekend's while adapting to my new lifestyle of being a healthy, portion controlled eater. Weekend's are scary. Yes, you have more time to exercise but you also cant hide yourself behind your desk at work away from your kitchen. Need to remember that I am in control - and food does not control me, it sustains me.... I AM AWESOME!!!!

Have a super awesome weekend ya'll and catch you on the flip side,
B

Spring is in the air and I hate traffic

Day 1 of Spring 2011. 8:30 a.m. and 16 degrees (celcius may I add). Whoop whoop. And a max of 26 deg!

Knowing that I am going to get out of Sandton at  like probably never today (thanks Springboks) I decided to go to into work late. I got a 4.5km run in, watered the plants, shoved some food into the slow cooker (my new favourite gadget), showered and got into my car to get to work for a 9am meeting. I did not make it. Traffic was an absolute wh*re, sl*t, b*tch today..... Interestingly enough, once I actually got to the office, as flustered as all hell I wondered what exactly the point was of rushing to get here.... Eish, such a good start to the day, only to be as grumpy as can be by 9am.

Ok, let us go to a happier place. uhhhhmm uhhhhhm **she chants while rubbing her earlobes to calm down and find happy thoughts**. Let's see. Well, the Springboks are... wait Bronwyn, happy thoughts, happy thoughts (Springboks are parading through Sandton this afternoon before jetting of to New Zealand to *********** the world cup.
Parade = road closures = grid-locked traffic = never get home). Ok, back to happy thoughts, happy thoughts....

Anyways, I am coming up with nothing other than hunger at this point..... The thing about using running as a your exercise to lose weight, is that it works well but on the flip side of the coin,  is that it results in a mother father appetite. I am trying to lose weight = portion control + exercise but if you run then you just want to eat ALL of the time and hungry ALL of the time..... For now, I remain strong and maintain my resolve but to be honest, a loaf or 6 of ciabatta, smothered in real butter, covered with a wheel of cheese and maybe an entire pastrami, would go down a storm.... I am most definitely not going down the starving myself to lose weight (we all know that as soon as you start eating - bam, hello weight  + his extra friends) so am being responsible and snacking on fruit, yoghurt et al (this keeps my hunger at bay for about, hmmm, I dunno, 5 seconds????) but like I said, that ciabatta, hmmmm, yum.

Oh wow - I just had an awesome thought, never mind the money that you spend on petrol to get to work which companies should rebate us for, companies should count the hours that you actually spend to get to work towards your working day hour tally. This way our working hours would be waaay less AND we wouldn't mind traffic as much.... I love this idea!

Ok kids, I have to get to work. Have your self an awesome spring day!

Me

Cake Decorating????

A couple of months back I did something that most people wouldn't never have expected from me, I enrolled for a Cake Decorating Course, a wedding cake decorating course to be precise. Do I planning on quitting my job and making wedding cakes? Well no (esp after last night, will tell you about that later) but it was the only course that offered everything: icing, piping embroidery, modelling flowers, chocolate, cupcakes etc....

Last night was lesson number 2. Week one = awesome = best in class = I am a rock
star.

Week 2 =  fine piping with Royal Icing = not so much of very good (translates to incredibly bad) = worst in class. My cake dummy looked like I had given the piping bag to a 3 year old and looked away, maybe even 3 3-yr olds. Oops. Clearly I need some practice. The most difficult technique (according to my "teacher") could do with eyes closed, the easy peasy, run of the mill stuff, well not so much....

I have realised (waaaay before last night) that I have limited (if any) patience. This is something that clearly I need to work on. I also tend to be a perfectionist - blend this with impatience and if I don't get something right first time round - I want to flip my lid :-)

Another one of my downfalls in life (my big b*ss calls these type of things NON-TALENTS bhahahaha), is tolerance for exceptionally irritating people. Irritating people who kiss a$$ - this grates my cheese. Irritating kiss a$$ little teachers pet with a whiney, whiney, whiney voice - I  believe at this point some people may see smoke coming out of my ears...We have one of those in our class. I am not alone in my irritation. Anyways, enough about Mini Me (she is about 2 feet tall) Anna (this is not her real name).

Enough about cake decorating. Thanks to your friend and mine, Mr Julius Malema, I have to cancel a client meeting at the blue bank. Their parking entrance in same road as The Revolutionary House (there are no agents there). Hmmm, maybe I can finally get to that work that I know I need to finish but always find something better to do, like watch paint dry, stare into space, you know, the real important stuff.

BREAKING NEWS: Haha - ok, so client stills want to have the meeting. I will be leaving shortly to brave a crowd of very unhappy brick throwing people. Awesome! If this is my last post, well you know that I didn't make it, well the 2 people who know about this blog  (since starting it yesterday) will know I didn't make it.....

Anyways, let me get cracking and do some work, this is after all what they pay me monthly pocket money for.....

Ciao

Day 1.... The fear of writer's block..... Or is it writer's blog???

So here goes

Today, I have, at the drop of a hat, decided to start my own blog....

To be honest I am a little bit nervous but am going to write incognito for a while - just until I get the hang of this. I am pretty much IT-illiterate so may take some time :-)

I have been following my friend, super-skinny Gail's blog for a while and it has been awesome. I will post her link at a later stage - as I said, I am doing this on-the-down-low for now. I am suspicious of all things tech related and I believe that there is someone out there watching one's every move - so if I posted Gail's link, then this said person would tell her and voila - cover blown :-) A bit of OCD maybe? Who knows :-)

I have also started following some other food blogs recently and am just loving it. So what the heck, let me try one. You will learn in time (should I stick this out) that I love, love, love, love, love food! In fact, I love food so much that in about 14 months I have gained 12 kgs. In my entire life I have never been over-weight - for the first time I really was! You may ask yourself, what the hell lady!!! In fact, I have asked myself a lot more. I blame my relationship.... I have been in a relationship with the current bf (let us call him My German going forward) for about 17 months now. Started the relationship after I had lost about 9kg. This weight probably wasn't realistically sustainable - I was single, gyming like a mother father, and eating like a bird. Add a boyfriend who likes food and me who has discovered she loves to cook + bake + eat and voila - a recipe for disaster!

I am now 8 days down the line of my not so much a diet, as a hopeful lifestyle change. Portions control - as opposed to eating enough food for to feed a family, I am trying to just eat enough for one person, cut out the crap and re-introduce exercise! Woo hoo!

This blog was created with nothing specific in mind but as it is called, a little bit of everything. Hope to include some of the dishes I make, some stories and well, just a little bit of everything.....

ME