Growing up, there were several key lessons that my mom passed down to us as kids. Many we still practice to this day, and some may have slightly fallen by the wayside (like the importance of eating apples). Most of these lessons and memories invariably stem from the kitchen, where many an afternoon, my mom would be cooking or baking up a new concoction that was to serve as our feast that evening. But one lesson that that my mom taught the 3 of us, that still sticks with us to this day, was to make sure we ate enough fibre.
(Because Moms care that way).
And a key tool in the battle of the High Fibre war, was this wonderful rusk recipe amicably nicknamed, “Hardloop Beskuit”.
Hardloop because they’re so easy to make – and hardloop because, well… you know.
So – after adapting the recipe to suit UK ovens and ingredients lists, we thought we’d share this winner with you as a perfect rainy-day dunking spectacular.
I don’t know what it is about florals, but I love them. I love looking at them. I love smelling them. I love photographing them. Perhaps it’s that the lens captures so much more than my eye can. Perhaps it’s the ability to look at the petal itself in crisp clearness against a backdrop of nothing. Perhaps it’s the contrast between the dark tennis court green and a bright fuscia or lilac.
I don’t know what it is.
And living in Beaminster – it makes it easy to fall in love with the summer garden frenzy that takes over – despite the clouds and rain. When the sunshine hits, Garden Centres are full, the smell of mulch lingers on the breeze like the carrot cake you baked that morning.
Hope you enjoy these florals, just as much as I enjoyed snapping them.
KR
Anyone who works for themselves is bound to understand the familiar feeling that is one’s own company. So every now and then, I take myself and my busy workload, off to a local cafe (which usually ends up being either The Bull Hotel for their Pain au Chocolat and free wifi, or Symondsbury Kitchen for their hot chocolate and free wifi) and spend a morning getting all the little things done that I need to get done.
Yes, I do it for the hot chocolate. Yes, I do it for the nibbles. But – there’s such a bigger reason why I do this. Company.
You see – working for yourself invariably means you are so busy getting things done, and looking for the next opportunity – that you forget to look after yourself – and sometimes, all you need is some inspiration from other creatives doing some impressive things.
So that’s what this is about.
We’re organising a get-together for anyone and everyone who is a freelancer or self-employed, and who – like the rest of us – enjoys meeting up with other self-starters for a cup of tea and a chat. There is no agenda – no plan – just a simple Let’s have coffee and see where the wind takes us.
We believe in purposeful coincidence – and you never know who you may meet – or where you next business lead may come from.
When: Friday 29 July, 10:00
Where: Bull Hotel Bar, Bridport
Bring a friend. Bring your work. Or just bring yourself.
Please RSVP if you’re keen by popping me a quick email – so that I can give the Hotel the heads up.
Written and published on The South African Magazine: 27 June 2016.
For the first time since 1993, I felt a certain rumble in my belly this past week. It wasn’t the the dodgy butternut soup I’d had at lunchtime, but rather an old familiar friend which I thought I’d buried a long time ago. The friend that tugged at the hearts of so many South Africans in the early 90s when we were all faced with 1 big change ahead.
So how ironic to sit here – a South African expat now living and working in the UK – contributing to this economy, this culture, this commercial growth plan – and to once again, feel the same unease that we felt all those years ago – when faced with something so big, something so unknown – that despite what the media reports, and the politicians falsely promise – almost puts us right back to where we were in the early 90s in South Africa.
Make no mistake – I never left South Africa for a better life. I didn’t choose to leave because I’d had enough. My life path ended up this way due to a very happy cross-cultural relationship. But so many of my friends living in the UK, did. They left out of fear. They left out of circumstance. They left for a better life. And now – we all sit with the same unease. Brexit.
Amongst subject conversations with fellow-South Africans this weekend, were those of leaving for Canada, weighing up a Zuma-nation vs a Non-EU Britain and hopeful petitions for a second referendum. There are couch-politicians name-calling those who didn’t vote in the same way and referring to them as racist, idiotic nazis. There are others who didn’t bother voting, but are now signing petitions to u-turn a result of a democratic process simply because they don’t like what they are hearing. There are those who, after they had voted, started to research and clarify what the EU actually was.
We know that change isn’t easy. And there are many of us who may feel disappointed, frustrated, even angered by the results of this ‘process’ – but there’s one thing that stands firm for me.
We are South African. We are, each of us, born with a culturally-rich desire to do, desire to achieve, desire to succeed. We are overcomers of turmoil – we are problem-solvers and fixers. We get the job done, and we know how to live – no matter of location, circumstance or standing. Yes – we may already be packing our bags, heading for the hills – or we may be burying our heads in the sand until all of this fuss blows over – but whatever it is, there’s something inside each one of us that instinctively reminds us that we can do this.
The sun will still rise tomorrow. That deadline that’s looming, will not move. The beer you have in the fridge will still be cold ready for that braai you’re planning.
So get busy doing.
Who doesn’t love a good contra ad? You know the sort – those adverts that slowly start to unravel a strangely familiar and coy bubbling in your stomach as you watch and realise the gently aggressive contra-message they’re trying to broadcast.
There are so many of these out there – many that often go unnoticed because you haven’t seen the original.
But we’ve found just a few that you may not already know about.
When Mercedes Benz brought out this 1991 advert of a car smoothly zipping around the infamous coastal road in Cape Town, South Africa, those who saw it were left speechless with a sense of awe and wonder at not only the storyline, but the warm-hearted, loyalty-rich advertising that sprung out of it. The background to this advert is that a chap had been driving along this road, naturally in a Mercedes Benz, but had lost control of the vehicle and plummeted over the edge and onto the rocks below at the edge of the sea. He miraculously survived – and thus a major advertising campaign was born.
Here’s the advert:
However – as always, in good tradition – BMW wasn’t to outdone – and soon released an advert showing a BMW making its way along the same piece of road – but instead of going over the edge, maintains its pace and stays en route. Of course, they just had to throw in the tagline at the end, which signalled the start of a new type of brand war.
But it would appear that it wasn’t only BMW who was hot on the heels of the Mercedes Benz marketing team. We may all recall the more recent advertisement that Mercedes Benz released where they used hens to demonstrate their “magic body control”.
Here’s the advert
And no sooner had we fallen back in love with that Diana Ross song (but this time only associating it with chickens), but Jaguar decides to release their contra-ad showing that they, too, aren’t scared of a bit of brand rivalry.
Rivals of a completely different nature – and not necessarily the types of rivals we’d expect – but, and we must admit, a bolshy move from Aldi. As most of us are aware, the fight for the best Christmas advert comes around like clockwork – where retailers battle it out to create the most evocative, thought-provoking, tear-inducing advert possible, which instintively are shared (laboriously) all over social media where again, we reap all types of opinion, love, emotion, frustration, and in my case, irritation. It obviously works – because what they have released, causes some type of reaction, making their brand stand out – and therefore we buy (usually).
But in 2015, we saw a different set of rivals come to the fore.
John Lewis is always synonymous with their beautiful Christmas Adverts. And in 2015 they launched the #ManInTheMoon campaign.
Here’s the advert:
Not too long afterwards, and a little more understated than what you’d expect from someone going up against a retailer like John Lewis, Aldi (the budget chain retailer) decide to show that marketing skill and expertise has got nothing to do with the price of the products you sell.
Here’s their version:
So – it does leave one to ask. Who’s the real winner here? The one that came up with the follow up or the one who is being followed?
We leave that to you.