Fun, Sadness and a New Year

Good day fellow bloggers!

Happy 2012!!!!!!

Well it’s been some time since I have posted. I missed it a lot and there where so many times I had ideas and wanted to post, but then I got busy or just didn’t want to anymore.

Not much have changed in the last few months. I still love my job and enjoy it more every day.

Isn't by boss talented!!!

And I still miss my dad like crazy, especially over the Christmas holidays. It has been seven months now since he is gone and everyday is still as bad as the first. The past few days have been a rollercoaster ride, with a lot of laughter and a lot of tears and sadness.

sis playing with nephew Dian

We had a family get together with my father’s brothers and his mother and the nephews and nieces, opened presents and baked cupcakes and went shopping. So it was fun and a very nice time. We also had some moments of tears where the longing of my dad got too much. He was, in my opinion, the live of the party. He used to be the one you would hear from the kitchen laughing outside. He was the one doing most of the braai work, keeping everyone happy and making you laugh. I really missed his laugh and being able to go to him and get a nice big hug from him. But at least 2 of the 4 “first” is over. Now it just my moms and my birthday in January that still lay ahead.

So, moving on to happier things. December was full of new and fun adventures. We went to a Dairy Farm and Farm Market, so much fun.

house on dairy farm

cow eating sis

fun times

On Christmas Eve we opened presents at home and the 3 of us just had a nice quiet evening after going for a drive to look at the houses made up with Christmas lights. The Christmas lunch with the family was a lot of fun, especially when they started swimming, and we ate so much food I thought my tummy might burst.

fun in the sun

I got this lovely cupcake stand from my mom and the cutes apron and it made me just wanna bake away! So I made cupcakes for the fun.

jip, lots of fun

Me and sis hit the shops and watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which was real nice. Oh and me, mom and sis had tattoos done about a 2 weeks ago.

sister's tattoo on her wrist

mom's tattoo on her shoulder

my tattoo on my shoulder right after it was done

all healed up

Just loving it!! I also had a second ear-piercing done and it is still a little sore, I think I might rather go for another tattoo that do a piercing again.

Here are some pics about the cupcakes.

what ya think huh, yummy?

I made some rainbow cupcakes, and some I just colored the batter with food coloring.

coulored batter

rainbow cupcakes my style

I had a vanilla muffin ready mix and baked it and decorated it.

plain vanilla, so yummy

I will put up the recipe later; I just need to perfect it a little more, the recipe I used came out a little dry and I like a cupcake to be moist.

We received a belated Christmas present.

2 days old

sleeping next to my teddy,Cupcake

His mum unfortunately passed away giving birth to him; he was the first and only puppy born, and very lucky to have survived. We named him Benji. He is now 5 days old now and just getting sweeter and cuter by the day. We have to feed him with a bottle and baby pup formula and make this cute noise when he gets hungry and the sweetest ever: he is ticklish.

So onto current time, Happy New Year!!!

I truly hope this year will be a good prosperous year and that all your dreams come true. For me, I just hope and wish that this year will be blessed with me and my family staying together. My greatest fear is losing my mom or sister too; I won’t be able to make it without them. They have been my rock these past few months, the only thing keeping me sane and together. I love them so much and would do anything for them. So here is to hoping that this year is going to have more happy moments and memories that sad ones and that we as a family will only grow stronger.

Lastly I just want to thank each and every one of you that read my blog, commented and inspired me to right again. A special thanks to those who gave me support and some guidance when I needed it the most. I love you all!

Love, Leandri

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 35 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Still missing you…

So I’ve heard there is 7 stages you go through when you experience the death of someone close to you.

 

1. Shock and denial

2. Pain and guilt

3. Anger and bargaining

4.”Depression”, reflection and loneliness

5. The upward turn

6. Reconstruction and working through

7. Acceptance and hope

Here is a site I found explaining it.

 

I don’t know which one I’m in yet, I’m still trying to even come to terms with it. Maybe that puts me in stage one. But then I’m screwed, because I’m also in stages 2 and 3, and the loneliness part of stage 4. I don’t know what stage 5 means, don’t feel like doing stage 6 and I sure as hell am a far way from stage 7. Anyone out there with the answer, stop hiding and come out and tell me so I can stop thinking please!

 

I know I’m not the first and I won’t be the last, I just want to know freaking WHY!!!!!

 

My dad  was a wonderful man! A wonderful father! A wonderful husband! He worked hard, was loving and friendly, always gave his best and 10 times more. He gave the guy alongside the road a lift, went to church, tipped the waiter and loved animals. So why him?

 

It hurts so much to see my mom and sis hurting. I wish I could take away the pain, the longing and the loneliness. At least I know that me being there for them helps. We have always been a strong and close family, so we help each other. But yeah, I suppose what everyone says is true, you just have to learn to live with it.

 

Thank you for listening, who ever you are. I will stop ranting now.

Goodbye

I will miss you dad!!

Some of you will already know about my dad, thanks to the lovely post my dear blog friend Mark posted on Monday, 4 July 2011.

 

My dad passed away Sunday morning, 3 July 2011, due to a fatal heart attack.

It really was unexpected and a big shock. I would have rather woke that morning and found a lion in the yard than seeing my father like that.

 

I wish I could blame the paramedics or the Armed Response people, but they did an impeccable job at trying to resuscitate him. They tried for over an hour, but he just wouldn’t breath on his own, his heart had stopped.

Seeing them trying to help him would always stay in my mind. I just remember sitting next to him, trying to wake him, banging his chest, but he wouldn’t come back, he just wouldn’t.

 

Now sitting here, I don’t know which is worse, the anger or the loss and pain. The anger I know will go away, but as for the pain and loss, I know it’s gonna stay for ever.

 

So now it’s just us three, my mom and me and my sister. At least we have each other. All the family and friends are of course there and very helpful, but they could never bring him back.

 

I keep expecting him to turn up from work, giving me a kiss and asking for coffee. I miss him so so much.

 

Here is a picture of my lovely father.  He was an amazing dad and an even more wonderful husband to my mom.

 

Rest in peace dad, I will always love you!

Broccoli and Feta Cheese Soup, Pasta and a Spa

So here it is at last: my famous Broccoli & Feta cheese soup.

I don’t know how you all feel about either one of the ingredients, but I promise you together it makes for interesting eating! I don’t actually like broccoli and therefore have never eaten it in its raw form, or in any other form for that, except in this soup!

Still in the pot, just added the feta

Ingredients:

Bacon, diced

Onion, finely chopped

225g broccoli

225g potatoes

25g butter

1 liter chicken stock

Salt & pepper

100g feta cheese

150ml milk

30ml cream

 

Method:

1.Fry the bacon and onion until they turn color. Keep to the side.

1. Cut of  the bottoms of the broccoli, wash thoroughly and dice/cut smaller.

2. Peel and wash potatoes.

3. Melt the butter and saute the broccoli and potatoes.

4. Add the chicken stock and let it steam for about 25 minutes or until veggies is soft.

5. Using a food blender, pulp the soup and add the feta cheese bit by bit.

6. Place back in the pot, add the milk and cream and add salt and pepper to your taste.

7. Add the bacon and onion and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often.

I added the feta cheese afterwards. I found that it is less thin that way.
Also be carefull not to add to much of the stock with the veggies when you pulp it, it tends to get too thin, and this soup is much more nicer when thicker.

I am sorry for measurements, if you cannot use it like that, but I have tried site upon site to try and convert it for you guys, but I just can’t seem to get one. I must also apologize for the lack of photo’s, but I made this for a function at my church and was in quite of a hurry.

So now for an update. This weekend my very nice sister took me, my mom and herself to be treated at a day spa nearby. It really was a treat! And the nice thing about them, it was just the 3 of us there, being treated. No one else bustling around, making noise! And it is in this old house that used to belong to some historic man from the Netherlands, it is a wonder to see it! They brought us some tea and coffee, there was soft relaxing music playing and hearth with a crackling fire gave us heat, all this helping to make you as mellow as can come.

It looks to cute!!!

Saturday night my sis got an itch in her bum and wanted me curl her hair, just to see how it looks!

she likes photo's

too much

Later the night I made Pancakes and mom made “Melkkos”

Sunday night I made pasta for dinner, Alla Luca (yeah I know, again). This time i tried something different.

I fried the ingredients in white wine and butter, only adding the chicken a little later. And I added not so much Nutmeg. I wanted to add some Paprika for some extra taste, but did not have any.

Pasta and all in the pot

I also bought me two new cook books, will make something out of it soon! They are just stunning!

And so we come to today, my day off! I started the day doing some washing, cleaning up the kitchen and then relaxing in the longest bath ever taken by man. Afterwards I had some business to do at the bank, go to Internal Affairs and then it was just me and the dogs resting the rest of the day.

chocolate heart, for myself

Now you must be tired of me, so I’ll be going now. I’m going to start with dinner so long and then head out to the gym. Dinner: sweet potatoes, pork chops, spiced rice, potatoes and green beans.

a bunny at work

Books outside at work

she just loves cats!

Have a great day people!

Happy cooking!

Layla!

Creamy Lemon Chicken

Hey people!

 

Wow, it’s been some time.

Last time I promised you the recipes of the Lemon Chicken and the Broccoli and Feta cheese Soup I made.

So here’s the chicken recipe, broccoli will follow tomorrow.

 

Creamy Lemon Chicken Recipe:

4 skinless and boneless chicken breasts

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 lemon

1 tablespoon sherry

300ml cream

120g-150g cheese, grated

Salt & pepper

A little oil or butter

 

Fry the chicken in a little oil/butter until browned and place in an oven dish. Cover with foil paper and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees. While the chicken is in the oven, make the sauce.

Grate some lemon zest and fry in a little butter with the garlic until slightly soft. Add the sherry, then the cream and then the juice of the lemon, to your taste. Season with some salt and pepper and let it simmer until it thickens slightly. Keep to one side.

Now remove the chicken from the oven and pour over the lemon sauce. Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese over.

Place it under the grill until the cheese browns and the sauce bubbles.

Serve it with some rice and veggies of your choice.

I served some rice, baked potatoes and mixed veggies with sour cream. Just a kind warning, avoid too much lemon juice, it tends to get to those sour spots in your mouth which makes your whole face frown!

 

Okay, so just to inform you, this post is now on its third day. I don’t like it very much, but yeah. Each night I come home and I think of 10 things I want to do before going to bed. By the time I do go to bed, I might not even have finished a third of it all. So this is me being determined and just doing it.

 

So now to fill you in on my new job which I started beginning of May. It is stunning! I still enjoy working there very much, and the great thing is that each day I learn something new regarding food!

Take yesterday for instance. Rothea made Balsamic Vinegar balls that look like caviar. It’s a thing you do where you make a sauce with the vinegar and then dropping the hot sauce in cold oil. It’s the vegetarian equivalent of caviar! Now the main idea of this little vinegar caviar balls is to use it as garnishing or instead of using sauce to put this. There can be a variety of flavors and one can play your heart out with this. SO interesting!

 

Once again, I am sorry for not posting so often. I will try my utter best to do it more frequently. I always want to and get this idea in my head of what I’m gonna do, but I’ll find myself in front of the telly watching CSI or NCIS or Vampire Diaries or just reading my latest book, which by the way, is soooo cool! This woman can write, and her plot is just amazing.

 

So fare well then, my fellow writers! I will leave you with a few pictures. Enjoy!

two of our doggies sleeping on dads couch.

me and gran!

my dear friend, on horsey

me on horsey

Happy cooking, Layla!

New jobs, slumber parties, soups and chicken.

Good day fellow bloggers!

Wow what a time its been since we last “seen” each other.

Well our internet was out-of-order and we were using the cellphones as communication. So here is a quick update of my going-ons the past weeks.

I started my new job, AMAZING! I love the people and my job is just what I love to do! And best of all, I get to help in the kitchen! So cool!

Her is a few pictures of my new work place:

We have 8 bunnies living there. To cute!

This is part of the restaurant area that they are expanding.

We were also busy with church activities. And not the usual stuff. The sisters of the church had a slumber party, much fun! And for our youth, me and sis organized an Easter Egg Hunt. Yeah I know it’s a bit late, but it sure was fun!

SLUMBER PARTY!

Oh and I got to make soup, my favorite soup: Broccoli & Feta Cheese Soup. Three ladies that is part of the youth commission made soup. We had pumpkin soup, some sort of vegetable curry soup and my soup. The curry soup was quite nice!

On Sunday night I made us dinner. Dad requested this recipe he saw in a magazine of Lemon Chicken. It really was very nice, except that the recipe had a bit too much lemon in for our taste.

The chicken must bake in the oven with the sauce over and some cheese.

So there you have it people. All recipes will follow later and some more pictures. But now I must go make ready for work. Did I mention that: I only have to go into work at 9 am. Weeeeeheeeee!

See you all later!

Have a great day and stay well!