Friday, May 25, 2007

Waiting for the groom...


In the Muslim culture, when a couple is getting married, the groom and other men attending the wedding meet at the mosque to legalise and bless the wedding, while the women wait with the bride at the reception for the men to arrive. In other words, the beautiful bride, in her stunning wedding dress and veil waits for her groom to arrive, and by the time her gets there, they are already married.
Sabrina does this thing were she sits at the kitchen window every morning, looking out over the garden. The curtain falls over her head and shoulders, making her look like she's wearing a veil...
On mornings like these, my mom always whispers to us as she walks past, "Just look at the pretty Muslim bride waiting for her groom...I hope he doesn't let her down!"

Thursday, May 17, 2007

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT SUSHI FOR R99?! I'm in!


Now I KNOW that Tony Bourdaine said you should NEVER have the half-price sushi... But when I saw John Dory's Fish and Grill's latest offer I just had to give it a try:
All you can eat sushi & BOTTOMLESS glass of wine for R99!
Too good to be true, right?
Stale, old fish, hey?
Salmon conveniently "out-of-stock", hmmmm?
NOT A CHANCE!
Last night I had one of the BEST sushi dinners of my life, and it wasn't just the almost free wine and brilliant company! The sushi was phenomenal. The Gateway John Dory's was packed out, - a good sign! I must have had 3 glasses of wine and that was enough. (Sushi is HARDLY filling, so it's easy to get sloshed on a few glasses of plonky wine! Hey... I'm not complaining!) And the salmon was like butter... Divine!
If you're a sushi lover (like me!) then give it a try. It's well, WELL worth it!
Great job, John Dory's!

Monday, May 14, 2007

Check it out! I'm a red-hot INSTANT blogger...



What an exciting weekend this has been, playing with my new cell phone... The instant blogging is fantastic. The first time you select the "blog" function when "sending" a pic, Sony Ericsson creates a new blog for you and smses you the log in details so that you can manage your mobile blog just like you would any other. When logging in the first time, you have the option of keeping the new blog, or sending future blogged pics to any existing blog, if you already have one...
I've chosen to keep the new blog, and here it is! I'm going to keep it as a photo-diary blog, - just a pic a day to document whatever is going on in my life...
I'm still getting the hang of the camera, so I've taken about a million fuzzy pics, but being able to plug the phone into my mac with the USB thingy first thing this morning and copy all my pics across in seconds has completely revolutionised my life!
... Wait a minute... Could it be?... Could I be turning into a techno-junkie!?!!?!

I wonder where I can get a pocket protector...

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian ***


Amazon.com says:
For years, Nadezhda and Vera, two Ukrainian sisters, raised in England by their refugee parents, have had as little as possible to do with each other - and they have their reasons. But now they find they'd better learn how to get along, because since their mother's death their aging father has been sliding into his second childhood, and an alarming new woman has just entered his life. Valentina, a bosomy young synthetic blonde from the Ukraine, seems to think their father is much richer than he is, and she is keen that he leave this world with as little money to his name as possible. If Nadazhda and Vera don't stop her, no one will. But separating their addled and annoyingly lecherous dad from his new love will prove to be no easy feat - Valentina is a ruthless pro and the two sisters swiftly realize that they are mere amateurs when it comes to ruthlessness. As Hurricane Valentina turns the family house upside down, old secrets come falling out, including the most deeply buried one of them all, from the War, the one that explains much about why Nadazhda and Vera are so different. In the meantime, oblivious to it all, their father carries on with the great work of his dotage, a grand history of the tractor.
From the Back Cover
'Outstanding' Daily Mail
'Extremely funny' The Times
'Nothing short of amazing' Daily Express


I say:
I'm one of those people who HATES to see other people being taken advantage of / being hurt by other ruthless people... So this one was quite hard for me to read. I guess that shows how well it's written, - if you "feel" the characters so deeply that you want to SMACK the baddie really hard in the face! This book made me angry and sad, and I didn't get a lot of the "hilarious" stuff that they mention on the cover. I was too busy worrying that the father was going to be okay. I think that I personally am too close to my own mother. If she were to pass away and some gold digger had to try to come in and steal her home, everything that she built and loved so dearly, I really don't know what I would do... I didn't "enjoy" this book simply because the writer is so damned good. It's a simple story. The language is plain. There is no clever b/sh1t going on. Just good storytelling and loads of family drama. A very good read... if you can stand it!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Say HELLO to my leedle friend...

Aren't cell phone upgrades just the greatest!
After tons of drama and some really bad service, my cell phone service provider finally got it together and hooked me up with the phone I've been after for about 2 months now... And here it is: The Sony Ericsson K800i.

With a 3.2megapixel camera, full usb compatibility with my applemac AND instant photo-blogging, what MORE could a girl ask for? If you don't believe me, check out the specs for yourself!
It packs quite a punch for something this small...

The displays are pretty funky...

This particular website is quite cool, because it even has actual pics taken by the camera, so you can assess the quality for yourself. Not bad...

I've been making do with the small 1.3megapixel on my old Samsung, which really more than served the purpose to date, but now I'm chuffed to be able to take better pics for my blog... Those of you with the really cool cameras are probably laughing your heads of right now, but hey! I have no aspirations of being a top-notch photographer, and this little camera fits snugly in my handbag and goes everywhere with me, so it is all I need... Browsing through the manual last night, I see that there is a "Best Shot" function that takes 9 "action" pics with a single press of a button. You can choose the best one of the lot, or save them all if you dig 'em all.
I'm happy! I can't wait to get home, charge it and start experimenting...

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Congratulations, Mr & Mrs Gibbs!



That's me at my friend, Kate's wedding this Saturday. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CELEBRATION! The bride looked stunning; the groom was dashing as ever; the decor so elegant and special and the food was out of this world!
The great thing about having your wedding at home, in the garden? No cash bar! You can ply your guests with as much alcohol as you'd like, and not have to worry about the drinks bill later!
Cheers!