Hey all! I've been thinking about how to continue promoting my blog and how to win friends and influence people (wink). I really enjoy connecting with people and it can really make my day when I've talked to no one but my husband!
I love how the clouds peek through!
So this
post,
on The Real Jenty, has finally convinced me that I needed to have a new gadget
for my page: Facebook “likes” and Twitter “retweets.” I hope people will start
using these when they read or see something they like! You can find the buttons on the bar on the left.
Sunset on the slopes of Devil's Peak.
Along with this, I’ve also decided to start Facebook
and Twitter accounts for this blog!
So here they are: Lovely Light on Facebook
and Lovely Light1 on Twitter. You can also find these buttons on the bar on the left.
Devil's Peak.
I’m a newbie at HTML code, widgets, and Twitter, so
if anyone has tips or links to share, I’d be much obliged!
Table Mountain and Devil's Peak.
And if you want me to follow you on Facebook or
Twitter, let me know!
On Saturdays , The Old Biscuit Mill, in Woodstock,
Cape Town, has their “Neighbourgoods Market” from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. All the
shops are open. The shops include some hip shops, vintage clothing, some retro
furniture, and pottery. The market has food stalls and fresh produce, beer, and
fro yo (frozen yogurt for those out of the loop).
It is for is more well-to-do,
slightly hipster crowd. You kinda have to dress up because it is somewhat of a
fashionable crowd.
We really enjoyed the experience, although the crowds were a little overwhelming for the hubby. We'd go back, but we fit in a little better at the
Milnerton flea market. What does that say about us...?
Here are some
images of my walk through the market area:
Mmm. Fresh butter and hunks of cheese. First thing you see when you walk in.
Fresh baked bread. They were selling it out of a small cargo trailer.
Mushrooms I had never seen before!
Fresh paella. These were huge pans!
Some of the first bagels we've seen here. Wonder how they taste.
Yummy looking treats.
Chocolate salami, anyone?
These were planters made out of old pitchers and strung from the ceiling. Never seen that.
Orchids. Tempting, but why buy something that I'll end up killing?
Orchid.
We had a great weekend- I hope you did too!
Song
of the Post: Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey
Rae as sung by Afro
Blue. One of my good friends is in the group and it is currently
participating in The Sing Off
television show on NBC in the USA. If you like their sound, please consider watching
the next show and/or voting for the group!
I’ve been dreaming of peanut butter flavored treats
for a while…so instead of making a dessert from my list, I decided to make this
instead.
I have found the perfect peanut butter fudge recipe.
Why is it perfect? It has only 4 ingredients and uses only the microwave.
Simple for a lazy cook like myself! I know there are more complicated recipes
out there that might taste better, but I don’t care!
This is good enough!
Here
is the link for it, I found it on Alton Brown’s food channel website.
Ingredients
8 ounces
(225 grams) of unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan (this can be a
little hard to find, at least in SA)
1 cup (236
ml) smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
1 pound (.45
kg) powdered sugar (here, they call it “icing sugar”)
Directions
Combine the butter and peanut butter in a large
microwave-safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap. (I didn’t do this and it was just
fine.)
Peanut butter and butter.
Microwave for 2 minutes on high.
Stir and microwave on high for 2 more minutes. (Be
careful- the bowl is HOT! I used a towel.)
Hot. Hot. Hot.
Add the vanilla and powdered (frosting) sugar to the
peanut butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. (I was a little
unsure of how to measure my powdered sugar because it was in a 1kg package, or
2.2 pounds. So…I “winged it” and poured out a little less than half my package.
Brave, I know. My powdered sugar was really lumpy, so I broke it up as much as
I could with a fork, and then tried to mix it as well as I could with my
spoon.)
The lumps made no difference! Phew!
The mixture will become thicker and (might) lose its sheen.
Spread into a buttered 8 by 8-inch pan lined with
parchment paper. (I used an oval Corning Ware crock, but if you want all your pieces to be perfectly cut, use a square
or rectangle pan.)
Fold the excess parchment paper so it covers the surface
of the fudge. (This helps the top of the fudge be flat- so it will be more “square”
when you cut it.)
It would be smoother if I'd used a pan with right angles.
Refrigerate until cool, about 2 hours.
One word. Yum.
Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight container
at room temperature for up to a week. (You can cut it into bigger pieces,
however it is pretty rich!)
I'll be linking up to several blog linkys and hops. Check them out here, and here.
Spier has Protea gardens. I think this is a King Protea.
The drive there was fine, but we got lost because
the website did not have good instructions.
I called the Segway guide and “bitchily” told them we would be late,
ending with “and we’re not happy!”
Lol. I can’t believe I said that.
Part of the processing plant- see the wine barrels?
There was a fire in the distance. Near Spier's other vineyards.
When we
finally got there, the tour guide was so laid back and friendly, it eased our tension.
The three other ladies were friendly and really funny. My hubby kept
laughing because he couldn’t believe we had run into “rednecks” that weren’t
American!
The "rednecks."
We first learned how to ride and control the Segway and
passed through an obstacle course. Then we went on the tour! We were on off-road
Segways and went around the back towards the vineyards. We saw the vines,
almost dried up and picked over, with just a few tiny bunches left on them. We
tasted a few cabernet sauvignon grapes and realized just how sweet wine making
grapes can be!
Us looking dorky. Safety first!
Then we learned about their attempts at sustainability
and were pretty impressed. They have a water re-charge station, cows, and movable chicken coops that allow their poop to fertilize a patch of
field, one day at a time. Their organic gardens provide most of the vegetables
for the restaurants on the estate.
The chickens and roosters were so friendly!
At the end of our trip we were sad for it to end.
Our feet were a little tingly from standing up for over an hour- that would
literally be my only complaint! We’d do it again in a heartbeat.
The giant menus. They were dragged to each table.
The bread platter. Yummy butter!
We then ate lunch at Eight and had amazing lunches. They
served us a bread course with homemade butter, coarse salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar,
oil, and some kind of cold sauce that tasted like mushroom soup. The hubby had
a steak and I had chicken pot pie. Of course we had wine!
Lunch!
Chicken Pot Pie. Sweet presentation.
Then we had our wine tasting. We ate it with a small
cheese and cracker platter we bought. They were both excellent. While tasting,
we saw that people were being “interviewed” and were getting free bottles of
wine out of it.
Wine and Cheese platter.
We luckily chosen to be the last two people chosen for the
interview. They were wanting to know how to improve different aspects of Spier. We were
truthful, but didn’t have much criticism. Then we got vouchers for two bottles
of our choice from the estate store. We both chose to get the Pinotage, because it has
undercurrents of cherries, among other flavors.
Weird joint bathroom with multiple stalls...
Spier's cute cat in the wine shop. Making a decision about which wine he wants?
Great day. Lots of memories!
Song of the day: Happy Together by The Turtles.
Here they are performing:
Here is their "music video." I'm not sure what they were thinking....
Ever since we moved into our new place, we have had to deal with ants on our first floor.
I’m a killer no doubt about it. We bought some
“Doom” but I’d only use it where the dogs can’t reach. I usually use a spray
cleaner (for counter tops or windows) and it stops them dead in their tracks.
They come in through the cracks in the window sills, doorways; really, they
find the tiniest, teeniest spaces to crawl through.
The ants seem to be attracted to the weirdest
things- sweets of course, but onions?
I have no idea what was on this paper towel...
I decided to do a little bit of research
to understand these creatures better.
They come from the family Formicidae belongs to the
order Hymenoptera; they are related to wasps and bees.
Over 12,500 out of 22,000 (estimated) types of ants
have been recorded.
Ants live in colonies that can be very small or very
large.
The large colonies are made up mostly of sterile
wingless females with jobs such as "workers", "soldiers",
or other specialized jobs. Some males are fertile and called "drones".
The fertile females are the “queens.”
There are types of ants that will actually raid
other specie’s colonies, steal their pupa and enslave the ants once born. They
make the “slave ants” do everything for them.
Ant homes can look like little “hills” or gigantic “mounds”
that are 3 feet high and 6 feet long. However, some are nomadic and don’t stay
in one place for very long.
Some when crush smell horrible, others smell like
honey.
Some ants are farmers- they grow fungus in their
mounds and then harvest it when its ready to eat. Yum!
Some ants like warm places and will crawl/colonize
electronic equipment like computers, for warmth and for cooling (from the
internal fans inside computers).
In a flood some rain forest ants will link legs and
make a life raft out of their own bodies. Once they get washed onto a river
bank, tree, or whatever, they unlink and go on their merry way.
Did you know that “zombie ants” exist? A certain
type of fungus invades them and makes them leave their colony and bite/attach
themselves to the underside of a leaf. Then the fungus kills them. Why? Because
the fungus needs transportation so that it can grow and spread!
And to make the zombies more real…watch this!
But beware, its gruesome...interesting, but gruesome.
Song of the Post: Tiger, My Friend by Psapp. No
video, but the audio is great!
