I had to give up

Today I made one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I just couldn't go on with it anymore, the relationship was too addictive and not good for my health, and it had to be done. Even though this will be a trialling time and I will have moodswings, I know that giving up coffee is for the best.

Whoa! I got you there didn't I? Got a bit serious. But today, after months of trying to convince myself and half assed motivations from Flip {do you really want to lose weight? Then give up coffee}, I decided to take the plunge. No pun intended.

{Yeah, just had to add a picture in there, to show myself what I'm missing}

Now, to understand the significance of this feat, you need to understand that as a journalist, I cannot function without my morning cuppa java. It might be cliche, but its in a journalist's clockwork to want to have coffee. Want proof? Come to my office on the day the coffee machine is broken, or there isn't a hot pot of tar brewing. It's worse than an old age home, filled with headachy and grumpy people who deem pens as a worthy murder accessory.

Now, along with coffee, I also decided to give up two other vices - dairy and sugar. It already proved difficult, as one of my journalists brought me a lollipop in the twee hours of the morning - to thank me for my patience. But I returned it. With a polite thanks, but no thanks.

So far, I have survived okay, I did have a cup of tea this morning {which I suppose has caffeine in it}. It was apple apricot flavoured. No milk, no sugar, just a teaspoon of lemon juice. I think I'll stick to it, the lemon juice - and if I really am craving coffee, I'll have a warm glass of water and lemon juice.

Also, I haven't had any headaches thus far. This is a good thing, right? 

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Coffee picture from here
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Vovo Telo Bedfordview

Over the weekend, we were too lazy to cook food, or go and buy groceries. Also, I was a bit ill and didn't have an appetite, so we headed out to town in search for some grub and dropped in at quaint little bakery/coffeeshop Vovo Telo, only a few kilometres from our house.

I had a macchiato, in which I accidentally poured sweetener - it already had sugar in, while Flip had a humble old Coke. We both had poached eggs on a slice of rye toast. It was delicious. The shop also had freshly baked pastries that I would have eaten in an instant if I had not been ill. To sum it up, it was great! Enjoy a few photos from our visit, and if you ever see one, pop in! You'll be pleasantly surprised.

My favourite part about this Vovo Telo was all the bunnies. The shop manager told me that it wasn't just for Easter, but it was part of the shop's look and feel. I'm obsessed with bunnies! She also told me that the wire ones pictured below was bought from a street vendor close by. She lamented that wire art might disappear after a few years, but I think it's here to stay.

Ice Cream in Parkhurst

Today's post is brought to you in pain. I, a {pretty responsible} twenty-five year old threw caution to the wind on Saturday and moshed and headbanged into the early hours of Saturday. What? They were playing some of my favourite rock songs! I pretended to be a groupie and just went mad. Needless to say, I spent an hour or two, while the others were partying, with my head on my handbag - my neck too sore to even lift up.

That afternoon was much nicer though and Flip treated me to some delicious handmade ice cream, that his company delivers all the way from Cape Town. I got myself the Butter Scotch flavoured Nice Cream, while Flip opted for the Chocolate Nice Cream. We drove all the way to Mellisa's in Parkhurst for the treat and made a day out of it, dogs included.

While my ice cream tasted like it was made by angels, Flip's had an awful egg aftertaste. Perhaps that explains the face.

The two main streets of the suburb, 4th and 6th are always a hive with activity, the one providing a culinary side, with little shops tucked in between, while the other is scattered with design and interior decorating shops.

The tree-lined streets are definitely my favourite feature and makes for a lovely walk! The dogs loved it too!

PS: seeing as this was an update on my weekend, I'm linking up with Sami for Weekend Update.

"Almost sugar-free" granadilla and berry slush

It is hot! I haven't really felt the heat, as I am stuck in the office most of the time, and in there I wear a nice thick jacket. In short, it is bloody cold with the aircon! But for those odd days that I am not in the office, oh let's call it weekends, I need something to cool me down.

Enter Pick 'n Pay's idea! It is almost ridiculously healthy as it is almost sugar free! Perfect for those weight watchers, like me. Yay fruit! Yay summer! You can use almost any fruit that is in season, but avoid fruit that oxidises, such as apples and pears.

Ingredients:

250 ml artificial sweetener
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750 ml water
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500 grams mixed frozen berries
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250ml granadilla pulp
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Method to the healthy madness:

• Heat sweetener and water in a saucepan to dissolve. Cool.
• Blitz berries until smooth. Stir berries and granadilla through syrup.
• Place in a shallow container and freeze.
• Mash every hour to break up ice crystal until it forms a slushy mixture.
• Serve immediately in glasses with straws or tall spoons.

Enjoy!

For kids, use some extra fun straws, like the ones showed above.

• 
  

Homemade goodness!

I was feeling a bit hungry today, waiting for lunch time and not really feeling like I wanted to get up and eat rice krispies at half past twelve. You can either have breakfast for breakfast, and breakfast for dinner.

But I don't believe in breakfast for midday munchies.
But then again, if you haven't had breakfast at all, Rice Krispies at half past twelve could still count as breakfast right? 

Point is, I didn't have breakfast, regrettably. If I don't have something to eat, I get nauseous and I develop a terrible headache. Probably coffee induced as well. I should have had the breakfast. This got me thinking that I want to bake.

So tonight, I looked for some delicious treats I might want to try out this weekend. I am planning on having a no fuss, no frills weekend, with just me/myself and Flip/himself. These are some funky things I discovered over at Smitten Kitchen. Recipes and pics are all courtesy of this amazing website.

Oreos are my absolute biggest weakness, along with cheese naks and coffee. And pizza. And bacon and eggs. Okay, I love me some good food. And oreos just happens to be one of them. I die. And poor Flip. If the craving hits, he has to go in search of some oreos for me. I pity him the day I am pregnant and craving. He'll have to work twice as hard. Hahaha. Poor man

I'm going to try this recipe

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies
For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg
For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.

1. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

1. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

1. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

1. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. 

Store them in a container and take them to work for lunch. That's probably what I would do. 

 

 

Lastly, dip into a big great glass of milk and recite the oreo ad:

"Mmmom...m-om, mmm, mom says chocolate isn't good for dogs, but you can have the rest of my milk."

Just an afterthought, I was eating real store bought oreos while writing this. Flip took one look at the screen and walked to the kitchen to get us a packet of oreos. I trained him well. Hahaha! Also, I give up with the font at the moment. It chooses its own colour and makes itself italic. I swear it. I changed the font back to one of the normal fonts and this is what came out. I sigh.  I have no idea what’s going on here. HELP!

Last night I was writing a guest post (I'll let you know when it's up. I'm not sure when) Anyhoo, this post contained something very dear to my heart. Creamy, cold, crunchy. Lovely!

I just have to profess my undying love for the little amazingness that is Ice Cream.

I love you Ice Cream.

I was searching for pictures on Pinterest for my guestpost and then I came across all these funnies.

I can't wait for warmer weather so that I can sink my teeth into the deliciousness that is!



I had a weirdish nightmarish dream last night that I was stuck inside a Pinterest like world. Very funny. I also had another very weird dream that I can't remember much about.

I've been having a lot of weird vivid dreams these days. To a point where I can't distinguish dream from reality. It scares me.

A glance at my weekend...

Hello Lovelies! Is it really August already? Where did this year fly? This month will hold a few big things for me. It’s only four days till my first Oppikoppi, which I am extremely excited about! It's my mom's birthday month and Flip and I will celebrate being together one year and three months. I can’t believe it’s been that long already.

I want to tell you about my pretty new pink gumboots that I bought this weekend, but I also don’t want to spoil it. You’ll have to wait for my Oppikoppi post to see them.

I have a lot of other things to share though. Here goes:

On Friday, I had to say goodbye to a good friend who worked with me for the past year. She has found a job as an editor for four industry publications. I was expecting tears and sadness, yet it was very anticlimactic. We had a good lunch on Friday afternoon; I had mussels in white wine sauce and garlic bread. Flip complained the rest of the weekend about my garlic breath. Ha!

Later, after work, we had chai tea and shared a chocolate cake, as a last farewell. Not one tear. I know I’m going to see her again, so that’s probably why I didn’t cry. Flip had a meet-and-greet with his new colleagues. He started a new job as regional manager for a logistics company. He then proceeded to have a boy’s night. I chilled on the sofa. It was cold and I was very grateful that I didn’t have to move. Apparently, it snowed elsewhere in Gauteng.

We started the day with something that has become somewhat of a tradition, bacon and eggs on toast for breakfast, with cappuccinos. For someone who doesn’t drink coffee (how does one function without it?) Flip actually enjoyed himself a cuppa. I had two. We had it at Mugg & Bean, my place of preference. Flip likes Wimpy, I don’t.

Sorry about the quality of the pics. They came from a cellphone, ya know.

Clothes shopping for Flip followed this. I really didn’t know that men could be that much into shopping. Is this a sign ladies? Should I be reading into this? Ha! Nevertheless, I also scouted a few pieces to try on, despite my utter hate for shopping. And this is why I hate it so. It should actually be a blog post on its own.

I have extreme body issues. At school I have always been told that I am too skinny and that I look anorexic and that I should eat more. See, at school I had a funny relationship with food. I ate very little and there was very little that I liked to eat. I also didn’t drink alcohol, fizzy drinks or juice. I walked to school, exercised in the afternoons, jumped on the trampoline all afternoon, swam for hours, I was in some ways, very fit.

And then I went to varsity. I started drinking alcohol, which puts on the pounds like crazy, I started eating a lot more types of food than I did at home and I also enjoyed more starches, as most starchy things are quick and easy to make. I had the luxury of a mom cooking for me during high school and this rarely included starch. And then after varsity I lost a lot of weight, only to put everything plus more back on when Flip and I started our relationship.

I’m not blaming him and I am not saying that it was one of those types of weight gains that come along because “I’m comfortable and I have a boyfriend so I don’t have to watch my weight anymore.” Flip simply made the most delicious food on earth. And living across from a garage with convenience store was also not the best thing. On Saturdays we would walk across the street and buy packets of chips, usually followed by pizza or Flip’s cooking for dinner. I gained like crazy.

Long story short, I ballooned so much that I actually had a stretch mark. This resulted in a breakdown and a long teary conversation with my mom on the phone. I decided to go on a diet. This worked; I lost a lot of weight very quickly. But then I discovered all the foods I love so much again. This is actually not food food, but biscuits and chips. I also don’t have that little voice in my head (stomach) that tells me that I am now actually full.

Although I didn’t gain, I all of a sudden expected everything in the shops to fit. And on Saturday, after trying to fit in a nice looking denim, which didn’t fit the way I liked it to, I broke down again.
Crying in the middle of a mall.
Classy.

So I decided to join a gym. Not the one we have in our complex, which I am already a member of. But a big outside gym, that has classes and a swimming pool and lockers and that type of thing. I’m going for my first session tomorrow. With my friends, thank God for that.

In the evening we went out to a really trashy place. It was a “Get out of your comfort zone”evening and I made Flip dance with me. He doesn’t dance. He steered me into a short girl, who then proceeded to elbow punch me in the kidney. I cried. Again. I’m such a wuss.

Both Flip and my parents came over.
Flip made a rad lamb potjie.
To my American readers, I don’t know what that is in American, I suggest you google it :)

That’s pretty much what happened.
Oh, and I acquired a second degree burn on my arm.
Curiosity killed the cat. Or in my case burned the fuck out of me as I tried to lift the pot’s lid.
Luckily my mom saved the day.
Burn eaze and bandages, hoozah!

Back in real time, I woke up with a cold again this morning. I am going to scream my effing head off if I’m not well by the weekend.
 I hate this winter bug I’ve been having.

How was your weekend? Post a comment with a link to your blog so I can see what you guys got up to! Hell yeah!

(Ps, can't believe I am only one follower away from 100! Jho! )

And remember:

Defrosting doves and such

This morning I overslept completely, woke up at 07:40.
I have to be at work by 08:00.

But I found something to blame.
Yesterday's Lusito Land. It's a Portuguese fest, held in Wemmerpan. And it involved an alcoholic beverage called Caipirinha (maybe that's why I'm sitting with this headache now), a couple of beers, candyfloss, my parents, prawns, espatadas, Portuguese chicken and those typical carnival type rides that had me screaming my head off! So that's reason numero uno.

Just quietly crapping myself...

And eating candyfloss in a sexy way

The second scapegoat is BridalPlasty. It comes up late at night, and I wouldn't miss it for the world! Next week is the finale, finally! And can I just add, I hate Jenessa. Dislike is too nice a word.

And the defrosting doves you ask? This morning, as I was driving into our work's parking lot, I saw this big bundle of something next to the entrance. After parking, and closer inspection, I found a half-frozen dove, with an injured wing. SO, I tucked him under my hoodie and brought him into the office. He is still residing here, in a box with shredded newspaper, and will be taken to a bird rehabilitation centre tonight by one of my colleagues.

But then the beau tells me that I should watch out for lice and fleas. And I can't stop itching or scratching. I dislike my brain right now.

Oh, and in case you are curious about a Caipirinha, here's a recipe for you to try at home.

You will need:

• 1 oz (30 mL) cachaça, vodka, or wine
• 2 lemon or lime wedges (from a ripe fruit of medium size)
• 5 ice cubes
• 2 teaspoons (8 grams) sugar.

1. Cut the lemons or limes into several pieces.
2. Put the lemons or limes into a cocktail shaker.
3. Add sugar and mash it into the lemon wedges making a little juice.
4. Fill the glass with ice. Crushed ice melts faster and dilutes the drink more quickly than cubes. 
5. Add the cachaça, vodka, or wine, mix well, and serve.

Et Voila! You have a drink that tastes like cooldrink, but isn't.

Update: the dove was picked up during our lunch hour by my colleagues beau and he took her (yes, it's a girl!) to a rehab centre in Springs. Apparently it was bitten by a dog, but will survive. Happy days!

A home away from home guest post

First up is the sweetest American expat Jenna. She has come to South Africa to study and found love. I really enjoy chatting with her about all her adventures in our country, but if you would like to know more, make sure to stop on her blog! She is a real treat!

Hi Second Floor Living readers!  It's Jenna here from A Home Away From Home filling in for Megan while she is away soaking up the sun in Durban.  I was so excited when Megan asked me to do a guest post for her while she was away since she happens to be one of my favorite ladies in the blogosphere and I always look forward to reading her posts on life, music and travel.

Since the sun has decided to virtually disappear from Johannesburg these past couple of weeks, Megan asked me to do a winter-inspired post.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to think about some of the things I actually look forward to during this time of the year.

Here's what I came up with!

Hot Chocolate Galore!

(via)

Oversized Sweaters

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Boot Season (duh)

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Indoor Forts (will never get too old for these :)

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Finding a reading nook and getting lost in a good book

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Homemade Gluhwein (compliments of the bf :)

(Recipe here)

Extra excuses to cuddle!

(via)

Leg Warmers

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Oversized Scarves

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Ample reason to lounge in your pajamas all day :)

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Winter never looked so good!

What are your favorite things about winter?

Thanks so much again for having me Megan! Enjoy your trip in KZN and I can't wait to hear stories and see photos when you get back.

xoxo

Jenna