Category: Things of Interest

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Win BIG with GirlGuides!

So a while ago I told you that I am a reviewer for a cool new tech/gadget site call GirlGuides.

Well, the site has been in beta until today.  Today GirlGuides is coming out of beta and you stand a chance to win awesome, fantastic and very cool gadgets!!!

Hop on over to the giveaways page and stand a chance of winning a BlackBerry Curve 3G Smartphone, an HP PhotoSmart all-in-one printer, exciting on-the-spot prize bundles and so much more!  And thats just for this week!! Each week more prizes will be announced so if you don’t win this week don’t worry, you have plenty opportunities to win!

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Sexy, Sass!

The other day on Twitter I was bitching about the fact that I had changed 10 times and nothing fit and everything was uncomfortable.  Sass sent me a message and suggested I try one of her Sass Designs dresses.  So this morning my friend Ro and I took a trip to Sass’s studio and we both walked away very happy chickens.

In fact Ro didnt even take her dress off!  She walked out with it on, her jeans and top in a packet!

Here are some shots of my dress.  Just have to say with a bit of pride that I took all the photos myself using our point and shoot and the 10sec self timer! (excuse the grainy quality, couldnt get the flash to work with the self timer and I wasnt waiting for daylight or Paul to take the pics!)

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Food glorious food!

Wendi and I went to the Good Food & Wine Show at Coca Cola Dome this morning.  We had a blast.

First off we managed to get in for free, as we walked in we were given comp tickets even though we dont own a restaurant or catering company.  I think the guy in charge was quite taken with my preggy belly 🙂

Once inside we grabbed our goodie bags and proceeded to have an amble around.

Everything was amazing, I skipped the wine stands, while Wends had a frozen cocktail and an Amurula while we wondered around.  We did taste some of the most amazing chocolates and nougats and some awesome Fry’s chicken style nuggets and chicken style strips which I we both bought after pledging to Meatless Mondays.

I also bought the cutest pastry brush, Aaron had used my last one as a paint brush and I desperately needed to replace it.  This one from Head Chefs is just too awesome.

Along with the Fry’s and the pastry brush I bought an awesome seed set and some compostable pots to plant them in.  This was the main reason we went to the expo as Wendi’s mom had told her about this amazing product.

Reel Gardening is an truly inspirational concept and I was hooked as soon as I read through their website.  I cant wait to plant the seeds I bought!  I bought a starter pack of herbs, about 8 varieties, cant wait to be able to harvest them!

All in all we spent a fantastic two or so hours wondering around and indulging our pallets and senses.

I highly recommend a visit if you are in Jozi this weekend.

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Microwave Meringues

I found this recipe in an article on IOL about microwave cooking (I cant find the damn link now!)

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MAGIC MERINGUES

Makes 20-30

1 egg white

300g sifted icing sugar

food colouring (I didn’t add any colouring)

Break up the egg white with a fork, then stir in enough icing sugar to make a thick paste. Knead in some food colouring if desired.

Line your turntable with a paper towel (I used wax paper). Roll balls the size of a marble or bigger and place them well spaced onto the turntable. Cook on 100 percent power for 1 to 1½ minutes, depending on the size.

Watch in amazement as the balls puff out to make crisp meringues. Serve sandwiched with cream.

You can put only 3-4 balls in the microwave at a time.

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My first mistake was not making a paste… it was too runny and the meringues flattened as soon as I took them out.  So my suggestion is even if you follow the directions, 1 x egg white and 300gm icing sugar, if its not a paste add more icing sugar until it is 🙂

I could probably have made mine thicker but was a bit lazy.

I didnt roll them into balls but instead used a tea spoon and dropped about a third of a teaspoon of batter onto wax paper on a plate.  Make sure they are well spaced otherwise they smooch together.

I then put them in for 1min on high.

I was so totally amazed that they actually worked 🙂

The are pretty hollow inside, probably cause I didnt make them thick enough, but they taste great, Im going to arrange them on a serving platter and drizzle melted chocolate over the tops and take them to my MIL for breaking of the fast tonight! (Picture to follow, need to get the chocolate to melt over them)

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Free Gilad Shalit

On Tuesday I joined over 200 men and women in a bus rally through the streets of Jozi in aid of Gilad Shalit.

Gilad Shalit

Gilad was abducted on 25 June 2006, just over 4 years ago.  Thats 1531 days ago, 1531 days without medical attention, Red Cross visits, humanitarian aid, 1531 days away from his mother and father, his brother, his friends, his LIFE!

You can read about his abduction here.

Our rally on Tuesday was to help bring a spotlight to the fact that the terrorists who have taken this young man have not let even the International Red Cross have any kind of access to Gilad.  After our rally we heard from Yaara Winker, fiancée of Gilads brother and we handed over a memorandum to the South African Red Cross representatives, Reverend Jones and Director of Red Cross SA, Nathan Banda, asking them to help get medical attention and basic human rights to Gilad.

The plight of Gilad Shalit really hits home for me, my brother is a soldier in the IDF and I would like to think that should something happen to him people from all over the world would band together to see his safe return just as they do every single day for Gilad!

Media Team Israel spokesperson, Rolene Marks, live on air to Chai FM
Yaara Winker
Chairman of the SAZF, Avrom Krengel handing over the memorandum to Red Cross SA representatives Reverend Jones and Nathan Banda
Some of the over 200 people getting ready to board the open topped buses
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Interesting facts from my blog stats…

I was playing around with my Blackberry WordPress app and found that the stats page had some very interesting facts (at least to  me) so I decided to list some of them here.

All Time Top Posts & Pages

  1. Home page – 4766
  2. About – 247
  3. How to fall pregnant in 12 easy steps… – 209
  4. Look here! – 175
  5. Bent… – 116

All Time Top Referers

  1. Angelsmind – 439
  2. Twitter – 215
  3. Facebook – 152
  4. Google – 119
  5. Hootsuite – 58

All Time Top Search Engine Terms

  1. Gina Jacobson – 104
  2. how to fall pregnant – 52
  3. #theSQL – 7
  4. wizo bride of the year – 7
  5. hidradenitis supperativa – 7

As an aside, if you add up all the search term variations of ‘bent fingers’ within the top 100 terms, ‘crooked fingers’ ‘crooked pinky’ etc you get a total of  63, which makes that the top search term second only to my name!

All Time Top Referrals from my Site

  1. Boobahsmom – 40
  2. acidicice – 38
  3. Female2Female – 33
  4. Richard Coote – 31
  5. Exmi – 30
  6. Tertia – 29
  7. Harassed Mom – 29
  8. Paul Jacobson – 29
  9. Because I Can – 29
  10. Reality in Purple – 29

So, a number of (somewhat) interesting facts about my blog stats!

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It’s Tech… It’s a Guide… It’s for Girls… It’s by Girls!

I was very honoured a few months back to be asked to participate in a fantastic and fun new project as a reviewer.

Girl Guides

Basically it is a guide to modern tech, written by girls for girls.

Everything from cell phones to laptops to media devices.

We review them, pick out the pros and cons and even give you a nifty how-to (coming soon) on the product.

Please pop on over and tell us what you think.  Remember, the site is still in Beta so all your comments and suggestions are very much welcome!

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The easiest yummiest cake recipe ever!

I have to thank my mommy-in-law for this one!

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What you will need:

Cake

1 x box/packet vanilla cake mix (I use Moirs)

1 x instant vanilla pudding (again Moirs but any brand will do)

4 x large eggs

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup oil

1 x mixing bowl

1 x Pirex or glass dish (oblong bakes more evenly than round)

Icing

1 x cup sifted icing sugar

4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 measuring jug

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How to make the cake:

Heat the oven to 180C

Pour dry cake mix and dry pudding into the mixing bowl, add the 4 eggs, add the water and oil.

Mix until smooth and there are no lumps.

Oil/butter/Spray&Cook your glass dish.

Pour batter into dish and bake at 180C for about half an hour.

Cake should be brown and springy to the touch.

While the cake is baking, sift the icing sugar into the measuring cup and add about 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix.

The mixture shouldn’t be too runny.

As soon as you take the cake out the oven pour the icing over the cake and spread it around so that it covers the whole cake.

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The cake can be eaten hot with custard or ice cream or if you prefer a cool cake, I suggest you make the cake a day before and let the icing sink into the flesh of the cake, this makes it sticky and gooey all the way through.

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An alternative to vanilla and lemon is chocolate and orange.  Substitute chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding for the vanilla and use orange juice instead of lemon (be sure to strain the orange juice so it is clear and free of any pulp).

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I eat sushi*

*veg sushi and fried salmon skin sushi from Hokkaido in Norwood.

Today on Twitter I was having a conversation with acidicice and PinkPrincesse about the fact that I had sushi for lunch and I thought I would continue that conversation here.

It made me think of all the other pregnancy ‘rules’ that I have broken or bent.

Sushi – you are not supposed to eat raw fish as it can contain parasites and bacteria that can harm the growing baby.

With Aaron I stayed away from sushi entirely.  This time I am eating vegetarian sushi and sushi that has been cooked.  My view is that as long as the fish and other ingredients are fresh and the restaurant is clean and reputable, the chances are you wont have a problem.  Besides japanese women eat sushi right through pregnancy…

Hot baths – hot baths can cause your body temperature to rise to unsafe levels and cause brain and spinal abnormalities in the baby.

It winter, Im freezing and the thought of a luke warm bath makes me ill.  I run a hot bath and then let it cool while I relax.  I don’t run a boiling bath but its hot enough that I turn pink.  I also don’t add more hot water and I just let the bath cool gradually.

Hot dogs – they can be the source of a rare illness called listeriosis.

I cook them until they are boiling all the way through.  This should kill the bacteria that can cause illness.

Coffee/tea/fizzy drinks – In short caffeine.

Im not a big coffee drinker but I do drink tea and fizzy drinks like Coke.  I drink them in moderation but I do drink them.

Runny eggs – eggs that are not cooked properly can carry the salmonella bacteria.

To be honest I had never heard of salmonella until I met a group of Americans while on a kibbutz in Israel.  They refused to eat runny eggs, and when I asked if they ever ate runny eggs they said no, even at home the ate them hard.  Now I buy my eggs from Woolies, I make sure the expiry date is still good and we eat them within a week.  Im pretty confident that they are clean, healthy eggs.  So far I’ve eaten two runny eggs.  Then again, I’ve eaten two eggs in the last 4 months…

What rules have you broken?  Are there rules you absolutely will NOT break?

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Zingo!!!!!

A few weeks ago my mom bought Aaron a new game… Zingo.

The tag line is Bingo with a zing!

Basically you get cards with various pictures and words on them and a dispenser with little plastic tiles that match the pictures on the boards.

The game is for 4 years and older…

4 years!

And you know what? My son gets it! Maybe not the finer points like being the first to grab a matching tile but he know that as you dispense the tiles you have to match them to your board and that you must fill up the board before you shout Zingo and that of you fill your board first you win…

I am so proud of my little boy. He is 2 years and 8 months old and he gets it! He even taught out nanny how to play.

Smart kid!

P.s. I will post a pic and a link tomorrow, I’m posting from my phone and have no clue how to do either of those things from here 🙂