I have many faults and surely do bad things on most days (even though I try my best not to) but being a gay Christian is not one of them. Being a Christian, being gay, alive, slightly overweight, overworked and able to smile, being a survivor of the 21st century, happy and in love are all wondrous blessings straight from above. I believe that without a shadow of a doubt.

Right, so this is probably the point where you’re expecting me to fork out a multitude of biblical texts for and against the matter. Proceed to defend against the so-called negative verses, disprove, unarm and state the opposite with intelligent arguments, fire back with the positive verses and redeem myself. Mmmm … here’s the thing, I’m not really in the mood for some heated debate or nasty war that’s not going to bring anyone closer to anyone else, because, unless I’m mistaken, our Father wants us to love our brothers and sisters, regardless … Sadly, there will always be groups for and against a homosexual lifestyle that are so passionate about their convictions that they feel the need to enforce their opinion. And if you take a step back, you’ll see that we’re not that different. Even though we don’t believe the exact same thing, we’re still two groups of passionate people with a positive goal and one heavenly Father who is all about love.

So, does this mean we’re always going to be at each other’s throats with new and different interpretations of translated texts and proven opinion? I don’t know, but it just feels as if we could argue and debate from sunup till sundown, boast personal experience and godly visions, and pursue a crusade of so-called righteous truth, but how many souls will that bring closer to an awesome LOVING, kind and gentle Lord who only wishes the best for each and every one of his children? And this goes for both sides! If I detest you for not recognising or approving of my homosexual nature and you detest me for being a gay person, what have we achieved? We’ve both judged each other, grown further apart from each other, and, most importantly, the world will see that we’re divided. That’s not ministering to the masses.

Instead, how about we put aside this one nitty, gritty, little difference, and rather try to concentrate on the one thing that we most definitely know our Father wants us to keep ourselves busy with … love, actually!

It’s all just about loving your God, loving yourself and loving your neighbour – and that’s all your brothers and sisters out there. Not just the ones who smell good, look fancy, make money, make you feel good about yourself or treat you with respect. No, it’s the flaming queen as much as the gay basher, the farmer and the shack dweller, the coo girls and the dykes, taxi drivers and grandmas, racists and hippies, it’s all God’s children.

As strongly as I believe that the fact that I am a moral, committed lesbian partner to a wonderful woman is not a sin, I also know that we live in a broken world and that every now and again we are misinformed by that broken and ever-changing, very confusing world. We grab hold of the nearest thing that offers safety in the chaos, sometimes a heterosexual way of life, and we’re willing to fight like ancient warriors to defend that broken bit of surreal safety – all the while forgetting what it’s really about: that amazing thing called love.

Despite all of this, every cook (including this one) still has a strange desire to bake a cake. It’s something we simply have to do. If we succeed in creating a feather-light taste sensation that melts in the mouth we can carry on with our lives and sleep easy for the next couple of nights, if not, it haunts us and we become part of the sweet bread statistics… what a terrible fate!

So, with a lot of help from a lot of people, I set out to do my bit for the cake creation. I wanted to create something unique while still relying on the tried and trusted of those before me. I decided on a red-hidden-centre-chocolate-creamcheese-frosted-cupcake-creation! In every possible way, a mouthful! It just had to be something that was light, creamy, surprising and just a joy ride from the first to last bite!

And this is what I worked with:

For the actual cake part, I used a butter cake recipe (with a few slight additions) by the one and only Mrs S de Villiers, author of the incredible Cook and Enjoy. This lady is truly a legend! It was only after paging through her Cook and Enjoy (Kook en Geniet) that I truly realised what it meant to leave a legacy.

Butter Cake (adapted from SJA de Villiers)

170g butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups cake flour
3 eggs
2t baking powder
125 ml milk
3t red food colouring
salt

Beat butter and sugar until creamy, add eggs and milk.
Sieve dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. 
Add the food colouring and mix again.
Divide the batter evenly between the “holes” of your muffin pan.
Bake at 180 ºC for approximately 15mins. If the cupcakes start to look delectable, test one with a sharp knife (stick the knife into the cupcake, if it comes out clean, your creation is done).

Mousse 
The hidden centre needed to be something controversial, delectable, smooth and just down-right yummy… Enter Moir’s Instant Strawberry Mouse with real berry pieces (available in most RSA supermarkets – follow instructions on the pack to the letter), worked really well, except that you need to keep it refrigerated all the time or becomes difficult to manage.

The frosting always had to be more than just icing sugar with butter and water! I found the most amazing chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe on www.cupcakeproject.com which worked like a charm! I was licking the bowl like a 5-year-old again; I just live for moments like that!

My Favorite Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe (adapted from The Cupcake Project)

230g cream cheese at room temperature
1 tablespoon C butter at room temperature
2 cups sifted icing sugar (You can decrease this amount if you don’t care about it being as stiff for piping or use more if you want it really stiff)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
Mix in cocoa powder.

Process

The process to follow goes a little like this, you need to first bake your cakes, make your mousse and let it chill and also finish the frosting before you start building and decorating the actual cupcakes. You’ll need to work fast and uninterrupted, hence having everything ready before!

Once you’ve baked and cooled your cakes, use a teaspoon to dish out the top of your cupcake. Preferable one full scoop, keep this scoop of cake because you’ll use it again later.
Fill the new hole in the cupcake with a teaspoon full of mousse and place the top of the scooped out cake back on the cupcake (on top of the mousse).
Have your chocolate cream cheese filled piping bag ready and start decorating that beautiful red little thing, be as creative as you want, making sure that you cover all evidence that there might be something inside… it’s a surprise!

 And finally, a couple of Astro’s on top, will round of your creation.

 And voila!

Stay safe super people! Much love! x

I’m the first to soak up everything and anything positive out there, I would bathe in the good stuff if I could and I’m all for LIVING, LOVING and finding the HAPPY! But every now and again, even this superwoman is looking for the light switch. Ok, to be honest, recently a blind bat had more chances at finding that damn light switch! For me, my doodle of darkness is my OCP (that’s obsessive compulsive paranoia). The self-made up term may sound strange and even a little funny but on a really dark day, it gets messy. 

I always wonder Why? Why am I feeling like this? Is it my conscience calling me to action or do I simply have calcium deficiency? Would I feel better if I did better, do I need to try harder, is feeling like this… punishment for not being good enough? Now don’t look at me like I’m a freak, I know there’s more of you out there that occasionally feel like this – and that’s why I’m writing this. I may not know a whole lot about most things but I do know that I am not alone, that we are not alone and we are not lost, never! I also know that we weren’t made to merely struggle through life while looking for light switches and we were never meant to feel lost and alone. We were made to not merely survive but to prosper and to enjoy knowing that we are good enough, in fact, we are unconditionally worthy of love and good things (Victor Frankl said that, and he was a very clever man).

So, I definitely don’t have all the answers but I would like to know more about why we feel the way we do and how we experience our different worlds. I’ve taken a major step here in trusting you lot with my dark side, I’m hoping you have heart and do the same, even if just a little bit …

Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. And man, do I have a cool recipe for you! It’s brand spanking new and for once an experiment in the kitchen turned out rather bloody alright, I’d say! I give to you:

 El’s CherryJackJam

How it came about: I bought some overripe cherries from a street vendor and a friend gave me cherry tomatoes fresh from her garden, and I thought to myself… this could be jam!

Sugar for jam: Use as much sugar as you use fruit, in other words, if you use 1kg of cherries you should use 1kg of sugar. Now then, if you know the cherries are really sweet, use a little less but as far as measurements go, this is a good one to remember.

I used:

500g red fresh cherries

250g cherry tomatoes

2 shots of Jack Daniels (I just had to! It needed a little liquid.)

600g sugar (I used less because the cherries were pretty sweet, if used more though, it would’ve still been okay)

a pinch of salt (salt brings out the flavour of everything!)

teaspoon of butter

lemon juice

Cut the fruit into smaller pieces and take the cherry pips out. Put the fruit and halved cherry tomatoes in a deep pot and pour the sugar over. Let it stand for about 30mins, you want some of the sugar to turn to syrup. The cherries and tomatoes were still slightly wet from rinsing, so I didn’t add any extra water. Add the 2 shots of Jack Daniels and bring it all to the boil! What you want is a slow boil, nothing too hasty or it will boil over! You can now also add about a teaspoon (5ml) of butter, this according to my mother will prevent it from boiling over to easily. Also add a couple of drops of lemon juice, in the long run this will supposedly prevent the crystallisation of the sugar (clever girl, my mom!).

I cooked my jam for about an hour and a half, once the mixture starts tasting like cherry jam and no longer like cherries with an obscene amount of sugar, you know you’re heading in the right direction! Sterilise your jam jars and bottle your jam while it’s still warm… and voila! You have home-made cherryjackjam!

Enjoy the sugar rush superheroes! Keep it real and have heart!

Recently I received one of those irritating chain mails that gets forward to everybody and their gran. Now listen here, when it’s something positive, I enjoy it just as much as the next person but when these mails are flirting with doom and gloom, I get slightly twitchy. Allow me to mention but a couple of dramatic examples:

• violin spiders that will creep up in the middle of the night and take a bite out of you for no reason and three days later you’ll have a gat the size of Kimberley’s somewhere in your body;
• evil criminals that are following you around just to kidnap you at the first opportunity and then sell you off during the world cup as a do-anything prostitute (I mean really, like anybody would volunteer to pimp this body!?); or
• the worst yet, those chain mails that threaten you with some horrible death if you don’t forward it to 9 and a half people within exactly the next 3 and a third minutes.

…It gets me blood boiling every time!

Back to the soccer… and chain mails, the one I received the past week continued to set out all the terrible things that’s going to happen to the nation during the 2010 Fifa soccer world cup. My very best friend and I, out of sheer disgust, had a look at all the positives that could come from the daunting list of negatives:

• Number 1 on the list is the fact that the schools will be closed for slightly longer than usual, what will you do with your kids? – First off, if it’s such a punishment to have your kids around for a bit longer… maybe you should reconsider having any more! Second, think of all the daycares and child centers that will be able to make a little more money during this time, and think about the fact that more work for them probably means that they may have to appoint another couple of helping hands… is it possible that this may just be a good thing, mmm?
• Next up, flight tickets will be ridiculously expensive and add to that the noise and traffic around airports and you have some very unhappy bunnies! – Allow me to point out here that this, my fellow super people is merely a temporary inconvenience and even though the traffic will be congested and flights will be more expensive just think about all the money the airlines will be making (is it possible that they may just be ending the year on a positive note and not be forced to retrench thousands of workers), think about all the job creation! More flights means more work means more people getting a salary means less people suffering! Maybe I’m naïve but it doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out!
• And then off course there’s the “Oh my word! Fresh veggies and fruit will so not be available, we’re going to starve, stock up people!” Really now! Didn’t we learn this lesson in ’94? – Yes, there’s going to be a lot more people in the country (which is a good thing – tourism and all that) and everybody’s going to be buying food and fresh produce but also bear in mind that our very talented farmers aren’t idiots and are probably already prepared for this! And on the other hand, if we do sell out of fresh fruit and veggies, is it really such a bad thing when there’s nothing left to waste, is it so terrible when for once the farmers/producers/supermarkets sell all their produce and make a hefty profit. Come on! Really now, pop a vitamin and have some tinned tomatoes, you’ll be fine!

The rest of the email goes on and on, bitching about how terrible traffic will be and how the foreigners will be everywhere spending their pounds, euros and dollars giving the country an enormous economic boost… okay, the email doesn’t mention the economic boost-bit but you get my drift!

For the last time, the traffic is temporary… the millions of visitors to the country who is bound to come back to such a wonderful and positive place, that is something that will certainly have a lasting and positive effect on all of our lives! Can’t we just try and embrace it instead of fine combing everything for a possible negative?

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be careful, aware or even just plan ahead a bit more than usual, it’s good to be prepares but instead of focusing on all the negatives, I’m merely asking if we can’t rather look ahead to something else. Looking ahead to perhaps a country that is vibrant and young, growing faster every year on just about every front! A country with 11 official languages (how cool is that?!), with a cultural diversity so rich you’d have to travel a lifetime to find it elsewhere. A country that is booming with talent (old and young) so much so, the rest of the world is just too happy to accommodate us. A country that is running along a learning curve and that isn’t afraid to get up when it falls on this curve. I’m looking ahead to a country that is my home, that has the most resilient and welcoming people I’ve ever met, a country that finds hope and love in the face of adversity every single day. A country that is ready to welcome the world and ready to handle a world cup. I’m looking ahead! And the soccer… oh it’s sooo a good thing!

This specific sunset started my attitude of gratitude, and yes, it has been a while since my last post and I haven’t shared that much but I’m sharing now! Since the sunset, my eyes have opened to all the blessings that I breathe in every day without even knowing! The sensational sunset was the first in a series of awakenings… which I am about to share with you! Aren’t you lucky!

The thing is (which I’ve realised) is that when you are grateful and appreciative of the things in your life that brings you joy, it means that you are more aware of these things and if you are more aware of them, it means that you experience it for longer. What I’m saying here in layman’s terms, is that if you say thank you… the good will last so much longer!

So, without any further delay, I give you my attitude of gratitude:

• Out of all the blessings that I experience every single day, my faith in God, is the most precious gift and all other things are rooted in this.
• I’m grateful for my family and friends, my super amazing girlfriend who gets me so totally.
• My awesome best friend (who reminded me to put her on this list) See! Count your blessings!
• My amazing job that I enjoy,
• My freedom to make choices – from something as simple as not drinking milk to choosing my partner in life.
• I’m grateful for my home, my comforts, my bakkie, my privileges and all other physical things that I’m blessed with.
• I’m grateful for the cold weather, the hot weather and the really mild weather.
• The flowers next to the road.
• The sunsets.
• SABC tv.
• Watermelon (and all the other fruit)
• Smiles on people’s faces.
• Old people that still hold hands.
• The guy who first made chocolate
• Kisses and hugs.
• The lady that packs my shopping in bags.
• Double ply loo paper
• My mom and dad.
• My brother and his crazy lovely fiancé.

I’m grateful to the point where it sometimes brings me to tears, how can one person be so blessed? I’m grateful for the life I have, for the experiences that I have enjoyed and survived, and the ones that are still coming! I’m grateful for my brain, my heart and who I am. I’m grateful for my goals and visions and where I’m going. It has actually come to the point where every single breath I take is absolutely hallelujah! The really great thing is, the fact that I can experience thanks in my life and meditate on it, gives me even more joy. It makes the experience even greater. It’s a bit like experiencing the super things again and again! You should try it, in fact… let me know what you’re thankful for! Leave a comment below, doesn’t matter how small or how big, anything goes!

Before I say goodbye… Yes, that’s right! A little recipe to warm your thankful hearts. Now then, this is really easy (like the name says), it took me 10 minutes to mix everything together and it came out perfect!

Easy corn bread

500 g self-raising flour
1 tin sweet corn (the creamy kind)
1 tin ideal milk (evaporated milk)
200 g grated cheese
salt & pepper

Mix everything together. Pour into a greased baking tin and bake for 45min (or until nice and light brown) at 180ºC. How easy is that?!

Have a great one superpeople!

I’m officially in love with all cucumbers everywhere! 

Ok superpeople! Pass this along to everybody you know who is looking for better and safer (and super) ways to solve life’s everyday problems..

Thank you to the The New York Times for running such an awesome article in the first place!

And then this morning something really amazing happened… I had to smile and I have to admit that my heart finally felt just that little bit lighter. Instead of headlines warning of a poor economy, an inevitable recession, more crime and brutal murders, the biggest crisis that we have to face today (this week) is that the Blue Bulls are having a centre-player crisis – ladies and gentlemen, I kid you not! This morning’s headline read something along the lines of “Bulls centre crisis”! I’m certain that this may be regarded as devastating news for some, but it does seem a whole lot better than the rising crime statistics, petrol price increases and all the other gloom. And somewhere deep down I’m hoping that if this is the leading news of the day… it must mean that there isn’t any crime or recessions to write about – at least for today?!

So, on this lovely Monday we’ve been given some not-so-bad news, which, in my book, translates to good news! And what do we do here on adventures of a superwoman when we’re handed such good news…mmm??? I’ll tell you: We get saucy!!! And I mean proper saucy, not some packet of something that you bought a month ago because you can’t be arsed to make something from scratch. We’re celebrating (and yes, from now on we’re celebrating all the little things, medium things and big things!) and I’m going to tell you exactly how to do it!

For this super occasion I made something that I like to call Casserole11, it’s truly a saucy little number and a dish close to my heart. As with most things in life, I find that cooking is a process that doesn’t only involve food, appliances and utensils. It also desires a certain degree of passion, sillyness, an oversized drink and one or two relaxing moments – these are especially necessary when you’re creating something from scratch – you want to be centred and calm.

If you’re ready then, here’s how I make Casserole11:

You’ll need (for yourself): 

• Your favourite drink (no, not a shooter, preferably something you can savour for more than 3 seconds). Here’s a pic of mine…

• Set intervals for kissing your partner, a smoke break or just a leisurely look out of the window into the distance – whatever relaxes you!
• And even a couple of minutes to do something silly like lip-syncing to your favourite rock song – even if you embarrass yourself – do this! You’re worth a moment of rock glory!

 You’ll need (for the casserole):

• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon of crushed garlic (you’re welcome to use slightly more or less)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Meat seasoning (I get potjiekos spice from the spice guy at the Farmer’s Market in Pretoria – it’s bloody amazing! And if you use this, you hardly need any other spices.)
• ¼ teaspoon finely chopped chillies (no pips!)
• Half a tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons of tomato paste
• ¾ cup of cream (use a full cup if you like your sauces really creamy)
• A single shot of brandy
• ½ cup of good red muscadel or dessert wine
• 250 g cut green beans ( I really like green beans and thought they’d work perfect as a veggie in this otherwise meaty dish)
• 250–350 g cubed beef (use goulash or even cubed fillet)
• A couple of drops of Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce (for marinating the meat)

What you need to do:

This dish is done on the stove top at a high to medium heat level.

First, marinate the meat, spread it out in a flat dish and drizzle with the Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce and let it rest for about 30 minutes (during which you can surprise your loved one with a quick kiss and a little quality time!). After 30 minutes, it’s time to fry the meat (you can do it in the same pot or casserole that you intend on making the dish in), you don’t have to cook it through, just brown it and make sure that all sides come into contact with the heat… It should look something like this:

 

Spoon out the meat, and in the same pot, fry the onion until soft, add the garlic and continue frying for another minute or so. Remember to sip on your drink every now and again. Add the meat, spices, shot of brandy and muscadel. Give it a good stir and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. This is the time when the ingredients get acquainted – allow them to sort themselves out! Now it’s time to add the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste and about half a cup of the hot water (you could use stock, but I find that this dish doesn’t really need it). Again, give it a good stir and leave it alone to appreciate what it is becoming. When the beef is nice and tender, add the green beans and keep it going for another ten minutes. (I suggest you use this time to pick out a timeless rock melody and get jiggy with it.) You may add little bits of the hot water to prevent it from loosing too much of its juice. It should look something like this:

When the beans are cooked and you’re positive the beef is soft and tender, it’s time to add the cream! Now we’re really getting saucy! Yippee, I get all excited at this point, almost like a little kid! Remove the pot from the stove and let it cool slightly (just wait for it to stop boiling) and then add the cream and stir it in with as much love as you can muster. Put it back on the heat and let it simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes. Give it a last taste to make sure you don’t need any salt or pepper, and then, super people, I’d say you’re about ready to enjoy Casserole11. I served it on brown rice and absolutely loved every bite! Hope it’s the same for you! (The editor also loved it.)

Caserole11 should look something like this:

Mmm… Or from a different angle…

Until we get more good news (and I know we will), take care, God bless and have a fantastic time!

PS: It’s about time I just said thanks to my anonymous editor who’s been proofing and editing all posts without even a bit of a moan – and I don’t pay her one cent; in fact, I eat her sandwiches and blackmail her into making me coffee. So… thanks babe, you’re a star! (Vonkel-vonkel-vonkel… ed.)

 

 

 

 

As you may have guessed, I’m speaking of the particularly mad season that occurs approximately once a month, more commonly known as PMS.  For us ladies this is really a crappy time, physically we don’t feel so good and emotionally we’re doing even less good. Where before I was worried about global warming, during this time, it now deserves a one-hour crying session accompanied by slight paranoid hysteria. Little things like the dishes, choosing new eyeliner or deciding what’s for dinner just becomes impossible tasks that drains the life right out of me… it’s a bitch, really!

It kills me that I can’t fully explain it, but I guess it’s a bit like asking a guy to explain why he just can’t put the toilet seat down! And on this point, NO, us ladies shouldn’t just be thankful that guys lift the seat in the first place – that would be like us expecting you boys to be thankful that we don’t actually murder you during the mad season! Oh by the way, did I mention I have PMS?  And while I’m talking to the guys, here’s a tip: When us ladies do have PMS, we’re usually pretty calm and in control until someone utters the following words: “Jeez! Do you have PMS?” Believe me, these tiny little words are all that’s needed to start a world war! So, tread lightly, gents!

The problem with this particularly mad season, is no one can really explain in layman’s terms exactly what’s going on and how to make it go away – and that is sort of what this blog is all about: finding a solution. In this case, a solution for the never-ending cramping, bloating and mood-swinging that even makes the devil twitch. But if we can’t make it go away, we can certainly try and make it better, according to http://www.womenshealth.gov/FAQ/premenstrual-syndrome.cfm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premenstrual_syndrome, here’s what we need to do to ease the eina:

• First, cut down on the fags! Nicotine is bad.

• Less alcohol, inebriation will not numb the pain.

• More veggies, healthy food is your friend.

• Apparently the healing powers of certain Vitamins should also not be forgotten – ask your doc!

• And then the ever-faithful warmwater bottle accompanied by a tummy rub and a big old helping of my Mediterranean pasta will do wonders (I promised food for this week)!

El’s Mediterranean chicken pasta

You’ll need:

Couple of drops of olive oil for frying

Half a teaspoon freshly crushed garlic

About 4 spring onions, chopped

2 teaspoons lemon/lime juice

2 chicken breasts cut into pieces

Any chicken spice

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tin tomatoes

1 teaspoon tomato paste

Half a glass of red wine

As many baby marrows as your heart desires, chopped up

Mushrooms, sliced (if you like!)

As much pasta as you like, I use approximately 3 cups of dry shells

What to do:

Heat the olive oil in a pot/pan and add the chopped spring onions (I use a lot because I simply love the taste). Then add the garlic and continue frying. When you start smelling the wonderful aroma of the spring onions fusing with the garlic, add the chicken pieces, chicken spice, salt and pepper, as well as the lemon juice, and continue cooking until the chicken becomes a nice brownish kind of colour. Now add the red wine and let it simmer for about a minute before adding the tinned tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the baby marrows and mushrooms and let it simmer for about another 5 – 7 minutes. If the sauce becomes too thick, you may add a little water or some more wine – all depending on how brave you are!

Cook your pasta in whichever way that blows your skirt up, dish up and then lavishly spread the sauce on top, finish off with a couple of sprinkles of a light-coloured, strong, hard cheese (like parmesan or dutch Belegen). Big time yummy!

Ok superpeople, that’s me for now! Hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did. Best thing about it is it’s mostly stuff you already have at home! As for the PMS situation, just keep the faith and soldier on!

I felt like a kid, swearing I’m never going to wash my left thumb ever again! Voting was the most liberal experience I had in years. I had a silly grin on my face for most of the night. I showed off the ink on my thumb like a six-year-old would his/her newly cast broken arm. It felt like my greatest accomplishment. And let’s be honest, it’s still at the top of my list of big things you should do. It was simply glorious, to say the least! But then came the next day…

I thought that we’d all wake-up to a new world, but alas, the noise is still deafening, the cheese in the fridge went mouldy, the beggar is still on the street corner and my smile and R2 coin doesn’t seem to make it better, the neighbours are still smoking weed and work is piling up. Alarmingly, in an awkwardly calm manner, my world feels quite the same as pre-election. The shiny drop of blue with purple tones on my thumbnail has turned into a black-brown blodge that reminds me of the time I hit my thumb in the car door.

Yes, I believe that I am suffering from post-traumatic voting disorder. I console myself with the fact that even though I may not see it, my vote, just like millions of others, is individual, made a huge difference and is my right to freedom. That, for now, is enough to keep me content.

Due to my sorry state of disorder, there’s no recipe today. Instead I’m going to have a double Jackie D with a shot of lime, on the rocks and possible dissolve my queasiness with some of Cadbury’s finest. I promise food for next week! Till then, by the grace of God (and there is plenty!), stay safe, super people!

Yes my darlings, we are all super! Every single day (including Saturday and Sunday) we go out there and face a world of stressful jobs, poor economies, rising crime, poverty, global warming and everything else that goes along with that. And yet, we manage to find it in ourselves to, at the end of the day, go home and kiss our loved ones, have a laugh with the friends and even do something nice for someone relatively close to you. Now if that’s not super, I don’t know what is!

Before you log off thinking this is just another one of those positive-thinking, good-karma, lightly pink-coloured, fuzzy-feel-good-tingly blogs that tell you to speak life and that you are the master of your own destiny; just hold on a sec! I’m not denying that I wish we all felt slightly better about ourselves, but this is also a sphere (pretty cool word!) for the love of design, a little bit of extra hope, rock music (and I mean the hard poetic stuff!), exquisite cuisine, definitely more compassion and, while we’re at it, why not a better world!? But let me not get ahead of myself!

Thing is (and this is all of course in my opinion – just so you know): we’re constantly bombarded with all the bad news, there’s hardly ever anyone reporting on all the good stuff, and there is good stuff! Now I’ve always been a bit of a light-hearted soul who sees the silver lining, but these days, it’s just not that easy anymore. I (and by I, I mean most of us) tend to bitch and moan a lot more and sure we have reason, but just complaining is so not going to get us anywhere. So, here’s my two cents: it’s ok to get upset about the wrong around us, even to complain about it, but as for me I’m going to do all of the above and then I’m going to make it my mission to find solutions! And I’ll report back to you as often as I can.

Of course I pretty much believe that design, hope, music, good food and just being a little kinder is an excellent starting point when it comes to finding solutions!

As for introductions, you may refer to me as Superwoman or if that doesn’t quite grab your fancy, El will do just nicely. In true superhero-style, I have a professional sidekick; she’s off course the one who does the real hard work. She edits and proofs all my scribbles and most of the time also tells me what’s ok to write and what not. And when I’m stuck, she comes back with a super idea or two. This superwoman, however, has requested to stay anonymous for now (did I mention she’s a little paranoid?).

Alright, enough said! To all of you and me: go out there and be your usual super-selves! As a parting gift, I’m leaving you this treasure of a drinks recipe below, enjoy!

Red muscadel with a lime twist (YOU MUST BE OF LEGAL AGE TO CONSUME ALCHOL)

(I first tasted this drink at an Elzabe Zietsman show, prepared by the lady herself – this is my own adaptation of an extremely fine drink!)

750 ml red muscadel (I prefer Oranjerivier Cellars)
2 shot measures of brandy (you may be as generous as your mood allows, but too much will spoil the drink)
Loads of roughly crushed ice (the drink should be really chilled)
Finely sliced rind of approximately 2 limes (just the green part, try and avoid the white)

In a large jug (able to hold the above ingredients) place the lemon rind and then the ice. Pour over the measured shots of brandy and finish off by emptying the muscadel bottle into the jug. And yes, it needs to happen in this order!

If you like, the following works really well: Slightly bruise the lemon rind before placing it in the jug, this allows for all those lovely flavours to come fronto pronto even more!

Allow the contents of the jug to cool (from the ice) before you start sipping this delicious drink on a hot summer’s evening! But don’t wait too long or the fuzzy feeling that follows alcohol consumption may never come. Preferably serve in glasses and not directly from the jug.