The smarter people become, also the more socially retarded they are. In an attempt to be right they alienate their friends, and set up concrete barriers across their hearts and corridors between understandings. When really what will happen in life is quite simple. Here are a couple truths that I can promise you right now.
1) Your friends will dump you for a boyfriend or girlfriend (and you should be okay with this because most people also get significant others too)
2) Girl meets boy plays house and then has babies.
3) Girl may meet boy on one night stand, have baby, then try to play house.
4) Work is never going to be as much fun as vacation but it pays the bills so shut up and get on with it.
5) The career versus job is just a clever marketing ploy created by institutions wanting you to take out student loans that you cant afford, that even with the aforementioned training, you couldnt possibly afford because face it, life is not fair. Theyre just selling you hope. You have to know when to give up or alter a dream.
6) Gay men are the perfect men. You just cant marry one if youre female.
7) Everybodies going to have an opinion about what you do. So just appease your biggest critic, ie YOU, and do what YOU want.
I would write some more but its 8h30 am and we are going to the pool. Monkies have WAY too much energy.
To Be Continued....
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The bane of my existence...
Once a day I am overcome with anxiety. It strikes me first thing in the morning as I am preparing breakfast and leaving for work. What to cook for dinner?! I mean what I would like to do, is just eat out every night. There is a fabulous Japanese restaurant in town (Kani House) and I could eat their sushi rolls until the cows came home. Similarly the only time I see my husband eating vegetables is when the teppanyaki chef prepares them on the hibatchi and does his little bit of magic, the "wolcano" choo chooing across the shiny sheet of metal before it is attacked and finely diced into perfect chunks of onion to accompany baby marrows (zucchini squash), fronds of carrots, mini broccoli trees etc, to be the perfect al dente accompaniment to the tender steak, chicken and shrimp.... drool drool...
But that is where realism and our budget (which is always pushed to the limit as it is) comes in and knocks me back down to earth. There also are a couple logistical issues. Firstly I have a job, a heavy commute (2 hours plus per day), I drive my kids to school (they don't ride the bus), the baby (who is surgically attached to my leg), and my 5 year old who wants to be outdoors all of the time. Enter stage right, the daddio who absolutely hates my "plain and boring" South African style of cooking (meaning too many vegetables and not enough sauces). Plus my struggles with my weight and what I know I should be eating to control my weight, trying to teach kids healthy eating habits, the cost of organic and hormone free foods, and yep youre ready to gve up even BEFORE dinner is prepared, let alone cooked and served.
Some history on the way I was fed as a child. My first memories of food were mashed bananas that my mom used to make for my sister and I. They were a solid staple in our household. Similarly the food I feed my children most (to fill in the gaps between meals) have been bananas. Up close would be fruit yoghurt, and eggs on toast. Lunch would be a simple sandwich made on bread that got stale in 24-48 hours, pieces of roast chicken from the dinner the night before, mayonnaise made with clean oils and egg yolks. And dinner would be a smallish piece of meat with three different coloured vegetables and a greek salad. We would always have cookies or cakes in the house that my mother had made from scratch from her old Housewives League cookbook. If we had canned foods in the house it was for dog food, cat food, pilchards, baked beans (sans the bacon and sugar) and tomato puree.
Everything else was made fresh. We used to go to Rebel Farmers and choose a huge trolley full of fresh veggies, which they packed into an old box, and our car would smell like the tops of carrots and a bit of dirt in the sun on the way home. I used to HATE going to the green grocer. It was so boring. But when we got home I was able to eat giant fleshy mangoes that poured their sweet sap down my chin and arms, running down to my elbows. My mother was always slicing a giant pineapple and methodically cutting it into bite sized chunks.
The meat came from either a butcher or Woolworths depending on how busy my mother was or what she felt like. We had a home cooked meal every night thanks to her or the maid, even though my mother worked 12 hour shifts at the hospital. I had a lunch hand made and cut into triangles, very often with the crusts cut off, wrapped in wax paper and put into my lunch box every single day for the 12 years of my schooling, even though my mother was tired and often was going on 5 hours of sleep and I had piano lessons and my sister had netball on the other side of town....
I think McDonalds came to South Africa after sanctions ended post apartheid in 1995. I remember driving past the chock-a-block parking lot on Beyers Naude not quite understanding what all the fuss was about. The only take aways chain we really had prior to McDonalds was KFC. Another type of take away you could get (without a drive through) was Nandos Peri Peri chicken http://www.nandos.com/index1.html which really didnt count as a take away because the food is SSSOOO VERY GOOD...
At lunch time, the working class either bought their lunch to work, or if you worked in an office building, there would be many little cafe's or coffee shops with salads, tramezzinis, toasted sandwiches, eggs, soup, tea, coffee etc at your finger tips. Real places with waiters who brought the food to your table (imagine that) with doilies on the saucers under the coffee cups (a saucer is a small plate you put under a coffee cup to rest your spoon and biscotti on... lol)... and milk served in little silver metal or white porcelain jugs... real milk... that came from a cow, that has an expiration date, no palm oils, or hydrogenated dehydrated this or that or some other nonsense you can not even pronounce!
There were fat people, there were thin people, just like anywhere. The only thing I can really think is that the food we ate was so flavourful that we did not need to add all the sauces and condiments that you have here in the USA. A plain white baguette with a piece of cheddar cheese has a wonderful rich flavour. The bread crunches and flakes down your shirt when you bite into it, and you are rewarded of the soft fluffiness. So I am not saying it was overtly 'better' but just in my rememberance and my nostalgia, everything is rose coloured glasses perfect.
In my first couple of months here in the states, I was sick often with stomach bugs. We just attributed it to a whole new plethora of germs and viruses that I had no defense against. I also had this very strange painful stomach issue that would come and go frequently. The Americans told me I had 'gas'. They had an over the counter remedy for it, simethicone, which everyone pretty much knows about and they even give it to babies to help them with 'gas'. My mother and I laugh and say "We've got gasssss" in our funniest American accents whenever we hear the word 'gas'. It is a generic term for tight furious angry pains in your intestines. I also often had nausea and vomiting. I remember I was not able to see the Lipizzaners who came to Atlanta in 05 because I was so sick. Sick from what? I think sick from the food.
People who have heart issues have to be very careful where they buy their meat from because the meat here is all preserved with a sodium solution. So you can be eating poached chicken and broccoli and keel over because the sodium content already within your food is lethal.
But what can you do? I tried to avoid it, and rage against it. I shopped at Trader Joes, bought organic, then looked at my grocery bill appalled and realised something had to change. So I started shopping at Walmart, the American way, and my bill went down, but my dissatisfaction grew...You can get your dry goods at Walmart, but then for meat you have to go to Ingles or Publix or Kroger... And even then if youre going for hormone free, antibiotic free, free range, organic meats and produce, youre paying an arm and a leg.
The meat here does not taste like the South African meat. Even a cheap piece of meat from Pick N Pay. Stick it in the frying pan with salt and pepper. Boil some baby potatoes and make a side salad. Voila, you have a fabulous tasty meal. It just does not cook the same. The meat has this grey scum that collects on the surface. It has extra moisture from the solutions that preserve it. The texture is different, often more tough, and God only knows what the animals were fed.
So I am really not on a mission to rage against the agricultural system in the USA. I can understand what they are trying to do. I understand the vastness of the spaces and territories they have to cover. I understand the cost of transport. I understand we are in a recession. But just for my family and I, I am seeking alternatives.
I do not like to garden, just dont have the time, and I dont enjoy back breaking work (might break a nail). So I have found this supplier in the Dahlonega, Cleveland, Gainesville GA area called Organics2U http://organics2u.net/food.html. Just hoping to get some moms on board with me, so they will start delivering to our area :) Got to give it a try. Has to be better than what we have going on right now.
If youre interested this is from their most recent email :
But that is where realism and our budget (which is always pushed to the limit as it is) comes in and knocks me back down to earth. There also are a couple logistical issues. Firstly I have a job, a heavy commute (2 hours plus per day), I drive my kids to school (they don't ride the bus), the baby (who is surgically attached to my leg), and my 5 year old who wants to be outdoors all of the time. Enter stage right, the daddio who absolutely hates my "plain and boring" South African style of cooking (meaning too many vegetables and not enough sauces). Plus my struggles with my weight and what I know I should be eating to control my weight, trying to teach kids healthy eating habits, the cost of organic and hormone free foods, and yep youre ready to gve up even BEFORE dinner is prepared, let alone cooked and served.
Some history on the way I was fed as a child. My first memories of food were mashed bananas that my mom used to make for my sister and I. They were a solid staple in our household. Similarly the food I feed my children most (to fill in the gaps between meals) have been bananas. Up close would be fruit yoghurt, and eggs on toast. Lunch would be a simple sandwich made on bread that got stale in 24-48 hours, pieces of roast chicken from the dinner the night before, mayonnaise made with clean oils and egg yolks. And dinner would be a smallish piece of meat with three different coloured vegetables and a greek salad. We would always have cookies or cakes in the house that my mother had made from scratch from her old Housewives League cookbook. If we had canned foods in the house it was for dog food, cat food, pilchards, baked beans (sans the bacon and sugar) and tomato puree.
Everything else was made fresh. We used to go to Rebel Farmers and choose a huge trolley full of fresh veggies, which they packed into an old box, and our car would smell like the tops of carrots and a bit of dirt in the sun on the way home. I used to HATE going to the green grocer. It was so boring. But when we got home I was able to eat giant fleshy mangoes that poured their sweet sap down my chin and arms, running down to my elbows. My mother was always slicing a giant pineapple and methodically cutting it into bite sized chunks.
The meat came from either a butcher or Woolworths depending on how busy my mother was or what she felt like. We had a home cooked meal every night thanks to her or the maid, even though my mother worked 12 hour shifts at the hospital. I had a lunch hand made and cut into triangles, very often with the crusts cut off, wrapped in wax paper and put into my lunch box every single day for the 12 years of my schooling, even though my mother was tired and often was going on 5 hours of sleep and I had piano lessons and my sister had netball on the other side of town....
I think McDonalds came to South Africa after sanctions ended post apartheid in 1995. I remember driving past the chock-a-block parking lot on Beyers Naude not quite understanding what all the fuss was about. The only take aways chain we really had prior to McDonalds was KFC. Another type of take away you could get (without a drive through) was Nandos Peri Peri chicken http://www.nandos.com/index1.html which really didnt count as a take away because the food is SSSOOO VERY GOOD...
At lunch time, the working class either bought their lunch to work, or if you worked in an office building, there would be many little cafe's or coffee shops with salads, tramezzinis, toasted sandwiches, eggs, soup, tea, coffee etc at your finger tips. Real places with waiters who brought the food to your table (imagine that) with doilies on the saucers under the coffee cups (a saucer is a small plate you put under a coffee cup to rest your spoon and biscotti on... lol)... and milk served in little silver metal or white porcelain jugs... real milk... that came from a cow, that has an expiration date, no palm oils, or hydrogenated dehydrated this or that or some other nonsense you can not even pronounce!
There were fat people, there were thin people, just like anywhere. The only thing I can really think is that the food we ate was so flavourful that we did not need to add all the sauces and condiments that you have here in the USA. A plain white baguette with a piece of cheddar cheese has a wonderful rich flavour. The bread crunches and flakes down your shirt when you bite into it, and you are rewarded of the soft fluffiness. So I am not saying it was overtly 'better' but just in my rememberance and my nostalgia, everything is rose coloured glasses perfect.
In my first couple of months here in the states, I was sick often with stomach bugs. We just attributed it to a whole new plethora of germs and viruses that I had no defense against. I also had this very strange painful stomach issue that would come and go frequently. The Americans told me I had 'gas'. They had an over the counter remedy for it, simethicone, which everyone pretty much knows about and they even give it to babies to help them with 'gas'. My mother and I laugh and say "We've got gasssss" in our funniest American accents whenever we hear the word 'gas'. It is a generic term for tight furious angry pains in your intestines. I also often had nausea and vomiting. I remember I was not able to see the Lipizzaners who came to Atlanta in 05 because I was so sick. Sick from what? I think sick from the food.
People who have heart issues have to be very careful where they buy their meat from because the meat here is all preserved with a sodium solution. So you can be eating poached chicken and broccoli and keel over because the sodium content already within your food is lethal.
But what can you do? I tried to avoid it, and rage against it. I shopped at Trader Joes, bought organic, then looked at my grocery bill appalled and realised something had to change. So I started shopping at Walmart, the American way, and my bill went down, but my dissatisfaction grew...You can get your dry goods at Walmart, but then for meat you have to go to Ingles or Publix or Kroger... And even then if youre going for hormone free, antibiotic free, free range, organic meats and produce, youre paying an arm and a leg.
The meat here does not taste like the South African meat. Even a cheap piece of meat from Pick N Pay. Stick it in the frying pan with salt and pepper. Boil some baby potatoes and make a side salad. Voila, you have a fabulous tasty meal. It just does not cook the same. The meat has this grey scum that collects on the surface. It has extra moisture from the solutions that preserve it. The texture is different, often more tough, and God only knows what the animals were fed.
So I am really not on a mission to rage against the agricultural system in the USA. I can understand what they are trying to do. I understand the vastness of the spaces and territories they have to cover. I understand the cost of transport. I understand we are in a recession. But just for my family and I, I am seeking alternatives.
I do not like to garden, just dont have the time, and I dont enjoy back breaking work (might break a nail). So I have found this supplier in the Dahlonega, Cleveland, Gainesville GA area called Organics2U http://organics2u.net/food.html. Just hoping to get some moms on board with me, so they will start delivering to our area :) Got to give it a try. Has to be better than what we have going on right now.
If youre interested this is from their most recent email :
Hello from Organics2u,
We appreciate your questions about recycling; YES, we are delighted to re-use boxes, so please bring them when you pick up. To cut down on waste further, we are happy to repack your order into any re-usable bags you bring. We also offer re-usable salad/ spinach bags. These are washable and come fabric covered and reduce plastic waste from food bags.
We also welcome the return of the mason jars used for yogurt etc. These are easily sterilized and re-used.
We offer substantial discounts on cases and half cases of produce. Please let us know if you need anything in bulk.
Pick up is from 596 Gold Ridge Road, Dahlonega on Fridays between 1pm and 7pm. Delivery is available for $10 per address. We have regular drop venues in Dahlonega and Gainesville before 1pm on Fridays. Please enquire for more information.
PRODUCE BOX ORDERS NEED TO BE IN BY TUESDAY NIGHT, MEAT ORDERS BY THURSDAY NIGHT. If you are late we will do our very best to fill your order but there may an occasional substitution.
$30 Organic Produce Box
Carrots with top
Celery
Garlic
Cilantro bunched
Lettuce
Baby Spinach 1/2 lb
Roma Tomato 1/2 lb
2 Avocados
2 Yellow Peaches
2 Packham Pears
2 Pluots (a cross between a plum and an apricot)
2lb Bananas
2 Pink Lady Apples
$30 Fruit/ Smoothie box
4 Yellow Peaches
4 Packham Pears
4 Pluots
4lb Bananas
2 Avocados
1/2 lb Baby Spinach
Raspberries 12oz
Organic Free Range Eggs- $4.50 per dozen
Artisan 80% Wheat, 20% White Bread $4.24 a loaf
Natural Yogurt $4 a quart
Natural Meat. All chemical, pesticide, hormone and anti-biotic free. Raised humanely and with respect.
Grass Fed Beef
Ground Beef $5/lb
Stew Meat $7/lb
Shoulder Roast$7/lb
Chuck Roast $8/lb
Cube Steak (from round) $8/lb
Sirloin Steak $8/lb
Rib Eye $12/ lb (2 per pack) PRE ORDER
NY Strip $14/lb (2 per pack) PRE ORDER
Filet $18/lb (2 per pack) PRE ORDER
Stew Meat $7/lb
Shoulder Roast$7/lb
Chuck Roast $8/lb
Cube Steak (from round) $8/lb
Sirloin Steak $8/lb
Rib Eye $12/ lb (2 per pack) PRE ORDER
NY Strip $14/lb (2 per pack) PRE ORDER
Filet $18/lb (2 per pack) PRE ORDER
London Broil $8/lb
Beef Liver $8/lb
Beef Tongue- enquire for pricing
Free-Range Natural Pork
Pork Chops, $8/lb (4 per pack)
Fresh Ham Center Slices $8/lb (Uncured)
Fresh Ham Shank Roast $6/lb
Fresh Ham Butt Roast $6/lb
Boston Butt $7/lb
Spareribs $6/lb PRE ORDER
Sausage, Mild $6/lb
Sausage, Hot $6/lb
Fat Back $5/lb
Leaf Lard $5/lb
Liver $5/lb
Kidneys $5/lb
Pig's Head or Feet $2/lb
(Prices and availability of meats subject to change)
Thank You,
Alex
404 293 3354
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
All been said and done before...
I had a wonderful name for a blog. The spectacular vernacular. But just like every thing we feel or 'deal with' on a daily basis, every iota has already been felt and dealt with by some other person or people in another space and time. So the blog name was taken. (Pout)...
So if everything we have ever felt before is just a mirror of someone elses feelings, a repeat in a repetitive conscious, a duplicate and never an original, then why are we so convinced (even us people who claim to be open minded) that our struggles have value and that our days are important. And more pressing, if every thing has been already done before, then where is the handbook to guide us. Where are the diagrams, the flow charts, the graphs, the analysis of the risks versus the analysis of the outcome, a typed ledger eliminating potential, detailing what move to make and when, ensuring we hit the jack-pot?
Where do the scales of justice come in. Who doles out poverty and famine versus wealth, infamy, abundance, clean water, housing, warmth and food?
I have an aunt who has a serious illness. And it plagues me. It intrigues me how she deals with it in her very calm, methodical, logical and rational mind. I want to know how she has masticated on its implications and stowed away the ramifications in the safety of her very private mind. She has been told, I assume, by medical professionals that at certain stages X will occur and then later on Y will occur and then you can expect Z (and so on and so forth). So I am sure she has played out (as I have played out the scenario in my head) where this illness could possibly take her. But then it struck me. We all have been diagnosed with a fatal condition. And our fatal condition is called Life. It is the surprise you could never plan for. And all the regrets and guilt you could ever imagine, compounded.
So what is worse? Perhaps knowing how its going to end, or the not knowing? The best we can all hope for is that our children and significant others will know that we love them. And that our lives were good and meaningful. Beyond that I have no more words. But I am always on the search for more.
How do you live when youre stuck hoping for the best but planning for the worst, never wanting to be caught off guard. At what point do you just let things be?
So if everything we have ever felt before is just a mirror of someone elses feelings, a repeat in a repetitive conscious, a duplicate and never an original, then why are we so convinced (even us people who claim to be open minded) that our struggles have value and that our days are important. And more pressing, if every thing has been already done before, then where is the handbook to guide us. Where are the diagrams, the flow charts, the graphs, the analysis of the risks versus the analysis of the outcome, a typed ledger eliminating potential, detailing what move to make and when, ensuring we hit the jack-pot?
Where do the scales of justice come in. Who doles out poverty and famine versus wealth, infamy, abundance, clean water, housing, warmth and food?
I have an aunt who has a serious illness. And it plagues me. It intrigues me how she deals with it in her very calm, methodical, logical and rational mind. I want to know how she has masticated on its implications and stowed away the ramifications in the safety of her very private mind. She has been told, I assume, by medical professionals that at certain stages X will occur and then later on Y will occur and then you can expect Z (and so on and so forth). So I am sure she has played out (as I have played out the scenario in my head) where this illness could possibly take her. But then it struck me. We all have been diagnosed with a fatal condition. And our fatal condition is called Life. It is the surprise you could never plan for. And all the regrets and guilt you could ever imagine, compounded.
So what is worse? Perhaps knowing how its going to end, or the not knowing? The best we can all hope for is that our children and significant others will know that we love them. And that our lives were good and meaningful. Beyond that I have no more words. But I am always on the search for more.
How do you live when youre stuck hoping for the best but planning for the worst, never wanting to be caught off guard. At what point do you just let things be?
What prompted the blog...
I have another blog that was supposed to be my thoughts and ramblings... thing is I have realised, I do not have a consciousness separate from that of my kids and family... so it just became stuck, I kind of momento.
I am writing this one in response to this article that Bronwen posted on fb.
http://nymag.com/news/features/67024/ "Why Parents Hate Parenting".... and its not that I hate parenting... its just that sometimes the going gets a bit rough :)
What do you think about the article?
I am writing this one in response to this article that Bronwen posted on fb.
http://nymag.com/news/features/67024/ "Why Parents Hate Parenting".... and its not that I hate parenting... its just that sometimes the going gets a bit rough :)
What do you think about the article?
The words of the little..
Everything I do is recorded on indelible film in their minds. Every time I lose my cool and react in a less than stellar way they have filed it away in their little pocket of MommyMeltdowns to recall at a later date. Like when we are at lunch. And my five year old asks "what does F*$% mean daddy?".
Luckily my husband is as guilty as I am in that department, and we just hose ourselves, spraying iced tea and diet coke across the table, locking eyes as we try to come up with the most appropriate answer for our precocious yet darling 5 year old....
We finally settled on one that bears signific resonance in her 5 year old perfectly pristine mind and reasoning, and that is "its a naughty word that mom and daddy says sometimes when theyre mad but if you say it at school or in front of your friends you will get into trouble, so don't say it okay sweetie?".She nodded, a cherubim angel, locks as golden as the sun and it dissolved into the air around us. The wrinkles around my husbands eyes from laughing were the only remnants of our little giggle.
Issue was dropped for the meantime until many moons later when it made an abrupt appearance once again in her vocabulary. I was driving my mothers car, we parked it at the bottom of the hill, the autumn leaves swirled at our feet, the sky was grey and ominous. And there was this dastardly clammouring and banging coming from up on the hill next to our house. As we shut the cars doors, and my mother and I gathered up our purchases, there was this little voice that spoke out loud and clear above the infernal banging. The then 4 year old little cherub resonated a Cheshire cat grin when she impishly said "Whats all that f*$%ing noise?". We dropped our bags and looked at her quizzically. And then we turned to each other to confer, did she just say what we thought we heard? And I said "What did you say Shannon?" and she said Whats all that noise mommy?" like butter wouldnt melt in her mouth... and I said "no no no I heard you say something else?" and she giggled and her bitten fingernails and pink sausage fingers went up to her mouth as if she were trying to stuff the laughter that was coming out, back in. And we all then threw our heads back in laughter and just giggled as we walked up the hill. I reiterated that what she said was hysterical (I mean lie and say it was not?) but if she said it at the inappropriate time that she could get punished. She said she got the message. And thus far I think she has. There have been no more F Bombs dropping out of her mouth. But as for me, well I would by lying if I said my lexicon was purely chaste.
Luckily my husband is as guilty as I am in that department, and we just hose ourselves, spraying iced tea and diet coke across the table, locking eyes as we try to come up with the most appropriate answer for our precocious yet darling 5 year old....
We finally settled on one that bears signific resonance in her 5 year old perfectly pristine mind and reasoning, and that is "its a naughty word that mom and daddy says sometimes when theyre mad but if you say it at school or in front of your friends you will get into trouble, so don't say it okay sweetie?".She nodded, a cherubim angel, locks as golden as the sun and it dissolved into the air around us. The wrinkles around my husbands eyes from laughing were the only remnants of our little giggle.
Issue was dropped for the meantime until many moons later when it made an abrupt appearance once again in her vocabulary. I was driving my mothers car, we parked it at the bottom of the hill, the autumn leaves swirled at our feet, the sky was grey and ominous. And there was this dastardly clammouring and banging coming from up on the hill next to our house. As we shut the cars doors, and my mother and I gathered up our purchases, there was this little voice that spoke out loud and clear above the infernal banging. The then 4 year old little cherub resonated a Cheshire cat grin when she impishly said "Whats all that f*$%ing noise?". We dropped our bags and looked at her quizzically. And then we turned to each other to confer, did she just say what we thought we heard? And I said "What did you say Shannon?" and she said Whats all that noise mommy?" like butter wouldnt melt in her mouth... and I said "no no no I heard you say something else?" and she giggled and her bitten fingernails and pink sausage fingers went up to her mouth as if she were trying to stuff the laughter that was coming out, back in. And we all then threw our heads back in laughter and just giggled as we walked up the hill. I reiterated that what she said was hysterical (I mean lie and say it was not?) but if she said it at the inappropriate time that she could get punished. She said she got the message. And thus far I think she has. There have been no more F Bombs dropping out of her mouth. But as for me, well I would by lying if I said my lexicon was purely chaste.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)