Well Christmas has come and gone, and for me it was an absolute perfect mixture of family, fun, food and most importantly remembering the birth of Jesus. There was also a fair amount of awesome presents that were exchanged and I felt it necessary to share some of the cute and funky gifts that were either received or given by me :-)

 

 Both of these rings are from Sass Diva in Greenstone. There are plenty of other designs, some delicate and others completely over the top, I thought these two were so cute and unusual

 Both the purple scarf and the lace top in the above picture are from Mr. Price, Greenstone. I thought that this top was the perfect way to make a chilled outfit a little more classy and the scarf (which is sparkly and lacy) will add some fun to any outfit

I have no idea where this is from, but it's an evil eye bracelet that I received from my best friend who is Greek. Legend has it that the evil eye will protect the person who is wearing it from evil and from jealous people who wish bad things upon them. 

 As I am taking a trip around Europe next year my fellow traveller and good friend has prepared me with an Italian starter pack, which included a pocket dictionary to help translate the important Italian words and phrases. I am not sure where this is from but it's so incredibly cute and useful

This is a material bag from Meltz in Stoneridge and it's so great because it will add some old school beauty to any outfit

 

And...I received the ultimate gift, an iHome, from my awesome brother. It's basically a sound system for playing songs from your iPhone or iPod while keeping it charged. This was bought on the internet from Buy Cool. Click Here to see the link

Satisfy Your Hunger

I have just finished reading “The Hunger Games”, which is a 3 part series of books written by Suzanne Collins. It has completely won me over along with millions of other readers, including Stephenie Meyer and Stephen King. The first book is currently being made it to a movie which is due to be released in March next year. Click Here to see the trailer for the first “Hunger Games” movie.



The story is set in a post-apocalyptic era, and it is centered around the Hunger Games, which is an event that occurs every year where 24 children are chosen to enter an arena, where they are required to fight to the death. The games are televised for the entertainment of the people in power and the victor of the games is the last remaining participant, who has survived against all odds. Basically is like “Survivor” on steroids, with an underlying power struggle between good and evil!!! It has just enough romance to keep the ladies reading, enough blood and fighting to entertain the guys and some incredibly creative ideas that leave you wondering exactly what this author was smoking when she wrote this book :-)

Safe and Sound is one of the songs off the Hunger Games movie sound track. It's by Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars and after listening to it about 17 times I can declare that it is brilliant and perfectly suited to the theme of the movie.

Going Oriental- Chicken and Lychee Salad

I wanted the first recipe on my blog to be one which was unlikely to FLOP and I therefore decided to try a Salad...with a difference. The best thing about this salad recipe is that you can add and remove ingredients as your taste buds instruct. Although my photography and food display techniques still need a bit of work (refer to picture below) I'll admit that this salad was incredible and received great reviews from the testing team, AKA my family and boyfriend :-)  



If your end product looks like this... you've done it right :-) 


Serves- 4 (or 2 if you're hungry)

The Ingredients

Satay Dressing
1/2 c mayonnaise (low or full fat)
3T peanut butter
1 clove garlic (pressed or finely chopped) 

Salad
1/4 c soy sauce
2T olive or avo oil
1T white wine vinegar
1t grated fresh ginger
1 pinch dried chilli flakes
400g chicken fillets (skin removed and cut into strips)
2t sunflower oil
3 handfuls of spinach leaves (cut up fine)
400g lychees (fresh or tinned)
4 spring onions
2 medium oranges (peeled and sliced)
2 plums (pitted and sliced)
3T roasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup roasted almond flakes

The Method

Make the dressing by whisking all the dressing ingredients together, and then set it aside.

Mix the soy sauce, olive/avo oil, vinegar, ginger and chilli flakes together in a bowl. Place the defrosted chicken strips into this marinade and place in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.

Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying pan. Then place the chicken strips in the pan and stir fry them, on high heat for about 3 minutes until they are cooked through but still soft and juicy. Leave these aside to cool.

Place the spinach leaves, lychees, spring onions, oranges and plum slices in a bowl and mix it up. Cover this with the cooked chicken pieces and sprinkle with almond flakes and sesame seeds.

Drizzle the salad dressing over the salad

Serve and enjoy 

From small beginings to great things!

Well this is my first official blog post, and I hope that it is the first of many interesting and awesome posts about the world that I live in. It has officially taken me 4 hours to set this blog up, due to an excessive amount of thinking and consideration that went into answering the countless 'set up' questions asked by Google regarding everything from my interests to my gender, which should have been easy to answer had there not been 3 options...Male, Female and other. However I have managed to focus my short attention span on the setup process for long enough to get to the point of the daunting FIRST POST:-)

My blog is not focused on a specific topic, hobby or interest, as my biggest interest right now is coffee/cappuccinos/lattes/espressos and I'm sure no one wants to read an entire blog about caffeine. So instead I hope to introduce you to the randomness of the life of a 20 something South African blogger...

In Memory of Frank Sinatra on his birthday 12 December, I wanted to share this quote by him:

"Luck is only important insofar as getting the chance to sell yourself at the right moment. After that, you've got to have talent and know how to use it."