Spring things + new family traditions

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Happy Spring!
Ok, that was last week, but happy official spring to everyone who is celebrating the season.

We had a lovely first-of-spring weekend. We went to explore the Linden market, which was so much fun. Just very HOT. Think great food stalls, beautiful flowers and curated goodies for sale, and of course champagne. The next market is on 3 December, so save the date.

We also had our first family spring dinner under the stars in our garden. One of the things I've been looking forward to doing as we leave the baby stage behind us is starting new family traditions. Nothing too onerous, just small things that we do together as a family that make things special.
The kids had an early bath, Daddy put a snoek on the braai, and we had picnic on the lawn, with our Consol solar jars and fairy lights providing a little bit of light. It was lovely (and of course the now everyone wants to eat dinner like that every night).

On the down side, severe water restrictions have come with the warmer spring weather, and I've been obsessively checking the news, reading articles like this one about sea surface temperatures and El Nino/La Nina diagnostic trends to see when we will (please) finally get some rain.

But we'll keep positive and keep checking the skies for rain clouds.

This weekend we're heading to the bush with friends, which will give the kids an opportunity to ride their bikes and run around in swimming cozzies. After that, the upcoming open garden season starts in Johannesburg, a really lovely way to see some different parts of the city.

Here's to green shoots and sunshine...

Preserves

{Image: Simply Delicious}

So. Last week was kind of quiet. So I decided to channel my inner-granny and do something I've been meaning to do for a few months - whip up batches of preserves in preparation for the gift-giving season.

I don't know why I have this weird obsession with canning and making preserves. I even got my mom to email me her recipe for chutney while I was living in London. No, I did not spend my weekends in one of the greatest cities in the world making chutney, but it was a sort of security blanket from home that if I chose to, I could have done so. 

This year I have decided to try my hand at making jam. Strawberry ginger jam to be specific. Mostly as gifts for teachers, sisters-in-law, hostess gifts. As well as red onion marmalade.

The jam was super easy, and when strawberries come into season in October I will be making another batch or 40. If you've never made red onion marmalade, it's also a breeze. It take maximum 1-2 hours of your time and is great as a side for a cheese platter. If you want to make a really easy starter or finger nibble for pre-dinner drinks, onion marmalade, olive and feta tarts are your friend. Just place all the ingredients on some rolled-out puff pastry and in the oven until brown and crispy, and there you have it.

The recipes.

For the strawberry jam, I used this wonderful recipe from the lovely Alida Ryder's blog Simply Delicious. All I did differently was add in approximately two tea teaspoons of fresh grated ginger, which gives it a lovely taste and cuts through the sweetness. Oh, and please follow the instructions for sterilising your jars really closely, it's important to get this right.

YuppieChef has the most amazing recipe for red onion marmalade. You may just want to double, or triple the qualities.
Also, increase the cooking time a little bit to thicken, or add a bit of cornstarch to make it really jammy.

Spring uniform (kids edition)

{Naartjie}

If current weather patterns are anything to go by, it seems as if we are again going to be skipping spring this year and going straight from vests-puffy-jacket-and-boots winter weather to dresses-shorts-t-shirts summer.

Which becomes a little bit challenging when trying to get three little ones dressed in the morning.

My shopping philosophy for the kids has really changed over the years. I used to hit the end of season sales hard and store clothes away for the next year, buying reams of pyjamas and tops and dresses. But I've come to realise how few clothes kids actually need to get them through a season, and would now rather spend a bit more on fewer, better quality items.

My favourites for this spring are definitely Naartjie's beautiful range of stripes for girls (we're and I are all going to look like a group of little Breton clones in our matching blue and white tops) and lovely denim shorts.

Not that I can convince them to wear shorts very often in dress season.
And who can blame them. Earth Child has the most beautiful dresses (strictly saved for weekends, and not for painting in at pre-school!)

My eldest daughter will be going into school uniform in the new school year, which starts halfway through summer in January. So I'm hanging back a bit on summer school clothes and just getting her the minimum to get by until the Christmas holidays. Pick 'n Pay clothing and Woolworths are still winners for basics that generally make it thorough the season.

I know I'm being a little bit biased against the boys here, but really there isn't much competition. In summer, dressing boys generally means a few shorts, a t-shirt or two and we're ready to go. Done.

Another item I've come to learn it's worth spending a bit more money on is swimming costumes. We spend hours and hours in our cozzies during the summer months, and no one does cozzies quite like the Aussies. Country Road and Cotton On are hands down the winners for cute one pieces, board shorts, bikinis and of course, rash vests to protect against the sun.

The only category I haven't cracked yet? Shoes. Trainers are too hot. Slip slops have things that go between your toes. Sandals have buckles and are a pain to take on and off. So wherever possible, we just go barefoot!

FriYAY

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Hey! It's Friday!
The past two weeks have been really strange, with so many public holidays, it feels like every other day has either been a Monday or a Friday around here.

But it's Friday (for real) and while I'm looking forward to a warm, spring-ish weekend (temperatures are already in the mid-twenties) I'm equally excited to get into a normal five-day school week routine when Monday rolls around. Moms and their routines, what can I say.

We've got a fun-filled weekend packed with twin birthday parties - that is, birthday parties for two precious sets of twins, and a house warming, and maybe we'll throw in a little bit of gardening in if there's a moment or two.

But in the meantime, have a look at some of the interesting things I've come across over the past few weeks.

What I'm reading now - I've just finished Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See. It is one of the only novels I've read this year (2016 seems to be the year of non-fiction for me). It was really enjoyable and all-consuming, with beautiful imagery. I had to be left alone on the picnic blanket in the back yard for an hour or two while I finished the last few chapters.

What I'm cooking - Slight signs of spring all round mean that I'm starting to abandon the comfort food and yummy dishes like ginger Salmon noodles from Donna Hay are back. 

What I'm doing - I've recently finally started barre classes at the gym, which might just change my life as I find my inner ballerina (in my mind at least...) But more on that in a later post I'm sure. 

I came across this New York Times article on 'Mom' hair, which has freaked me out considerably. It kind of, (read exactly) describes my current hairstyle.  Longer-in-back, slightly-shorter-in-front bob. Eek. Ok, no, mine is choppy, and layered and edgy. I promise (that's what I keep telling myself).

Isn't it odd how hair becomes such an integral part of our identity as women? And, where did the rule come from that you shouldn't have long hair if you are over 30? Is it just me, but it seems like this was something that we grew up with. I thought long and hard about cutting my hair this year, because it's been past my shoulders since I was in my mid-twenties and I have some weird, ingrained thing that once you have cut your hair in your 30s you can't grow it again. That's it. Short, mom hair for the rest of your days.

But no, that's just rubbish. 

Just like this list of things women over 30 should toss from their wardrobes is rubbish, and had me rolling my eyes back in irritation. Can you just imagine the bleakness of a future filled with "playful graphic tees," "subtly pre-distressed sneakers" and "figure flattering pieces"?!?

If you are under 30, and reading this, and you think that "Underwear or socks that are in less than perfect condition" will magically disappear from your wardrobe when you become a grown woman, you are woefully wrong. So wrong.

Ok rant over.
Have lovely weekend everyone!

London in the summertime

Fifteen in Shoreditch

I read a tweet recently (unfortunately I can't for the life of me remember by who) which said that adulthood is the ability to deal with complexity. That might be one of the truest things I've read in a long time. Or perhaps it should have read "the inability to deal with complexity."

As three weeks of winter school holidays have come to an end, it's back to work and admin for me, all the while simultaneously preparing 20 cupcakes for class baking, cleaning cupboards and finally getting to the to-do list which has been abandoned during the past month of pyjama mornings and play dates and trips to the bush.

Oh and to London!

Ha I almost completely forgot. If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen we took a very brief trip to London town. It was so lovely to be back, and to visit all our old haunts. I really struggled to leave the kids and head off to the airport this time - it just gets more and more difficult as they get older. And I drive my husband crazy by constantly pointing out things that the kids would love to see or do while we are away. But hopefully they will be able to join us in the not so distant future.

Monmouth Coffee, yum!!

Borough Market was our first stop from the airport (!) for Monmouth coffee, and there really is nothing like London in the summertime. 

Highlights included lunch at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen in Shoreditch, and sitting in Green Park enjoying raspberries under blue skies at 8pm in the evening! I still, however, do not like the Tube. Never have, never will. And we did unfortunately spend too much time running up and down escalators trying to catch the next train.

Kings College Chapel, Cambridge 

We even managed a quick trip up to Cambridge to visit friends. Such a beautiful town, and we wandered around the grounds of the various college imagining what it must be like to be an actual student, surrounded by those beautiful buildings. 

But possibly the highlight of the whole trip for me was the day we spent in Marylebone, walking around Regent's Park, visiting the restaurants where we used to have long lazy brunches in our pre-children weekends. And the best of all - hours spent browsing in Daunt Books. 

The beautiful Daunt Books, Marlebone High Street 

For those of you lucky enough to be in the midst of the Northern Hemisphere summer holidays, have a look on this article from Cup of Jo on How to plan your best vacation. There are some great tips, like packing a uniform (one day I'll get this right), to staying in local neighbourhoods.

Friday finds

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My plan to blog on a more regular basis seems to have hit something of a little speed bump. It might be that life at the moment has been an endless succession of work, tidy, tidy, look after sick children, tidy, wine, work and sleep. In no particular order. For the last week at least.

But I have been making progress in the background, and have even been working hard at getting together an editorial schedule of posts I want to write. Ta-dah! For someone who is supposed to be super organised, I have no idea why it has taken me so long. But hopefully it means that the posts will start coming on a more regular basis.

But in the meantime, I thought I would ease into it with a few links that I've come across lately and you may find interesting.

• The real winter cold is supposed to make its way up to Johannesburg this weekend, so here's wishing you lots of warm blanket snuggles and warm meals like this gingered sweet-potato soup with soy cashews 

• Jane Sews is having a sale. You better be quick. 

• Bedside books - The Smartest Kids in the World (and how they got that way) by Amanda Ripley about an author who follows three American exchange students in Finland, South Korea and Poland and compares each country's education systems.  

• After my yoga studio was knocked down to incorporate the space into yet another shopping centre, I've been bringing new meaning to the word sloth. So I cannot wait for New Beginnings Pilates to open (almost right on my door step! No excuses, right) the week after next.  

• If you are looking for a very easy weekend project which will yield impressive results, why not try planting some paperwhites? Have a look at these instructions, or at my previous post on the topic here. 

Reasons not to blog

Because

• Does anyone read this anyway?
• Who has the time anymore? 
• Lack of inspiration and anything going on in my world that may be remotely interesting to the outside world.
• Because it's kind of scary to put yourself out there today. When social media is a mine field. On a good day. 
• Because I write for a living, and sometimes the very last thing I want to do is spend even more time with my computer. Unpaid time. 
• Because blogging takes time. Lots of time. Thinking of the right thing to say, putting it into the right language. Spell checking it. Hyperlinking. And finding an appropriate image (oh heaven help me). 
• Because life is busy. Very busy and very complicated these days. 
• Because I'm tired of receiving requests for coverage of products or issues which don't interest me, aren't relevant to my life stage and have nothing to do with this blog. Baby bottles? Room spray? No, thanks. (Just target the correct people is all I'm saying). 

But besides all those reasons, which may or may not explain my nearly year-long absence,  I do miss writing my blog. I miss having somewhere to share my inspirations and latest finds. To discuss things and write about non-serious topics.

So I'm going to give it another shot. Here goes.