How to Climb a Mountain in Boots of Spanish Leather
One of my collected postcards purchased in Madrid's Plaza Mayor
No rants today, no complaining, just quiet contemplation. Here to share my nostalgia and home-sickness for Spain is the soulful Mr Dylan with Boots of Spanish leather. A dedication to my big bro who has a little house in the mountains of Madrid, or so it seems.
How to be Progressive
I am so annoyed with the hypocrisy surrounding some “forward” thinkers. I’ve recently started watching a reality show slash doccie on weddings in the traveller/ romani comunities, called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. On one of the episodes the show deals with the practice of “grabbing” whereby a traveller lad, having eyed a young lass at a wedding, literally grabs and drags the girl outside kicking and screaming where he tries to coax a kiss from the girl. Not wanting to disappoint my advertising and linguistics lecturer, I scoured google for either background info or some alternate opinions on this matter. I soon realised I was not alone as I soon found myself on a few message boards reading the distraught messages from women (and men) who felt that this violent practice was demeaning to women and somehow felt that these poor Romani women were in need of enlightenment. I must admit, some of the footage in the show showed a young man literally pulling a girl along by the hair. I don’t think I could ever agree to that.
Among the articles I read on grabbing, I found one on Jezebel. What caught my eye, however, was another piece on Men’s Magazines. The post titled, Can you Tell the Difference between a Men’s Magazine and a Rapist, recounts the findings of research done by the University of Surrey. Quotes were taken from interviews with rapists as well as quotes from various British lad mags, mixed and presented to men who had to identify the origin of the quote. Not surprisingly (or there would be no story at all) men were unable to tell the difference, and having read the quotes myself, I can’t blame them! I am not condemning men, but instead the tripe the media is feeding them.
The part that shocks me most is that, as I recall, many of my friends, and I often read men’s magazines such as FHM, when I was a Uni student, and so did our boyfriends, and we found ourselves to be very progressive, in touch with our sexuality and unashamed. We thought we were liberalized. Along with these enlightened ideas and having left my mother’s nest to pursue a theatre major, my cleavage became a symbol of freedom and power. What a load of baloney!
Has our progressive view become so askew? If we so readily condemn Traveller dating ritual, shouldn’t we be sweeping in our own yard also? What does it help to have benefits in the workplace, strong female role models and a hard-line approach to sexual harrassment when, in the mind of the “male” media, statements such as those made in these published materials are somehow deemed acceptable?
I am convinced, and eternally grateful that I have reached the next level of enlightenment. I am more an empowered woman today than ever before. I choose to keep my caboose inside my clothes, in much the same way that I don’t count money in public and my eyes on those backwards thinking men who still open doors and treat all people courteously. I am an enlightened anti-feminist, non chauvenist who believes in mutual respect and honour. I’d much rather be a loved and respected housewife than a successful career woman with a boyfriend who thinks my bad days can be fixed with a good sympathy throw down. Morality has become a curse word and those who still want to be viewed as “good” people have replaced it with ethics. We condemn sensorship but complain when others practice their right to speak or practice their culture freely. We’ve set ourselves up for a zeitgeist of confusion…and we’ve armed ourselves with clubs and pebbles to justify our cause. Our opinions have become more precious to us than the people around us. Why we have to pendulum between unhealthy extremes I’ll never understand, but I’ll try to remain calibrated on my m&r@l%t$, to teach my children that life is precious and to therefore speak it.
How to Say Thank You
During this year, I haven’t posted as often as I would have liked. None-the-less, I have had a few followers who really showed they’re support by faithfully reading this blog. A big thank you to you all! Most of all, however, I want to take the time to thank those of you who contributed to the blog by sharing your thoughts and comments. You have made the blog a more rewarding experience for me, and I am certain you have enriched it for other readers. I count you as my collaborators. That being said, I will be giving away a small gift to the person who has left the most comments on How to Climb a Mountain in High Heels this year. That person is… (((drumroll please))) Rose McClement, from The Design Tabloid. I hope you will enjoy this set of handmade (by me) porcelain lace heart fridge magnets.
My Holiday Season Selection
Festive Season Flavour
My Festive Season Flavour is Amaretto Liqueur. Toss a shot or two into french toast custard, paired with croissants for a rich luxurious breakfast, or add a nip into the plunger with your morning filter coffee. I also like to add a dash to my creamy chocolate sauce for a little something unexpected. The sweet fragrant liqueur also compliments ice cream as well as chicken! Go figure! This almond apricot concoction definitely makes it’s way into my basket and cooking this holiday season.
Entrancing Escape
This festive season I’m escaping to one of my favourite locations for a white, or at least very cold, Christmas. I know Korea doesn’t seem very Christmassy, but you’re wrong. At winter time Seoul is utter romance with the city covered in snow and iced with fairy lights and warm beckoning cafes. Street cuisine offers a smorgasbord of hot treats designed with tired and chilled travellers in mind.
Happy Hobby Hub
My latest crazy is crocheting, and the perfect spot for my hobby binge is Kleen Eezy in Northumberland street. Behind the cleaning chemical facade, this shop hosts a wool collection gigante! Head over to a little corner where they keep the 100%cotton. Vinnis Colours by Nikkim are locally produced and offer gorgeous colours in cotton. So soft to the touch, colour safe and machine washable, this thread offers pure tactile crocheting pleasure. It may take some getting used to if you’re accustomed to finer threads, but once you get the hang of it, it works quite comfortably.
Blessed Bakes
I got the most amazing recipe for doughnuts from my sister-in-law while I was in Spain. Literally whisk up the batter by throwing all the ingredients together. Rise for an hour, cut out the o’s, rise for another 30 minutes and then get your your vetkoek savvy dad to pop the dough in and out of 180 degree oil while you dip the hot doughnuts into a glaze (with a smidge of amaretto). It produces the lightest sweet treats that will give Krispy K’s a good run for their money. For a twist, prepare some nuts and candies and let guests make their own doughnut topping. You’re not likely to be stuck with stale doughnuts the next day.
Fun Fat Obliterator
After all that Amaretto toast and doughnuts, you’ll need someplace fun to work-out. Who has time to go to the gym or jogging in-between visits from friends and family and all these delicious treats? However, South Africa’s sunny Christmas doesn’t allow for baggy reindeer jerseys and leg-warmers to hide the holiday flab. Instead of swearing off the treats completely, my friend and I are cooling off in the pool while burning off those bits of dough that aught not be lingering. A fun social activity that won’t hurt your self-esteem, or your heart.
Traditionally Foreign
Try something new this season like traditional Christmas cookies from Spain. My selection for this year are Polvones, which roughly translates as dust cookies. To enjoy, take these almond flour cookies and squeeze them into a ball before tearing open the wrapper. You’ll soon see why they’re called dust cookies. They’re delicious, and they’ll definitely challenge your traditional idea of cookies. Beware, though, the lightness is deceptive. These nibbles are quite rich, so better have them with mid morning coffee instead of after a heavy meal.
What are you festive season favourites this year?
How to Make the Perfect Birthday Ice-Cream
So it’s my last something-twenty birthday, and I really wanted to celebrate. Not so much with a big birthday bash or anything, but inevitably with lots of great food and amazing friends. One of my dearest friends asked me for gift requests, and I suddenly remembered that she had a yet-to-be used ice-cream maker. I love surprises and creative gift ideas, and who doesn’t love interesting ice-cream? So it came to be that my friend set off to create a special ice-cream flavour just for me… OK, she used an existing recipe, but none-the-less, she got it just right with this beautiful, fragrant Persian Ice-cream. The saffron and rose water compliment each other in such a way that the flavour which seems oddly familiar has a mysterious allure. She finished off the treat with my favourite pistachio nuts and Double Delight rose petals. Luxuriously sweet, it’s my new favourite pleasure. The gorgeous hand-made bowl is available from CK-ramics.
How to Kyoto
Wow…one year later, after my impromptu trip to Japan, here are the the pictures! It’s quite a story how I ended up going on a four-day trip to Kyoto and Hiroshima all by myself. Have I mentioned that I don’t speak a word of Japanese? It was a weird and wonderful experience from start to finish. Of which I will soon divulge more, but for now… Just some pictures of my first stop in the old capital, Kyoto.
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How to Step Inside a Travel Guide
Everyone is familiar with those little Travel Books that help you navigate your way through foreign cities, help you avoid offending the locals, and give tiny little pictures that promise a romantic foreign adventure somewhere far far away. The European travel books are famously full of snaps of a historic architectural landscape that will form the backdrop to the holiday of your life, where you can momentously leave your pencil skirts, office politics and drab flat in the suburbs behind along with your name. For a few weeks you’ll adopt a different more eccentric persona, and blissfully wander the ancient cobblestone streets of Europe brim-full with expectation. Then you arrive at the airport frumpy, smelly and sleep-deprived while being barked at by an unwelcoming customs official. You drag yourself and your super-sized and growing, once gleaming, now broken suitcase down the subway stairs (in the case of a South African budget traveller). Finally you arrive at your accommodation, which seems to have shrunk considerably in size from the picture on the website. The city looks like most of the rest of Europe and after the umpteenth neoclassical building, and the unhelpful waiter…you wonder what happened to the celluloid dreams you’d been promised while thumbing through the glossy pages of the travel guide.
This is not the case when visiting Chinchon which is just a stone-throw outside of bustling Madrid. The Plaza Mayor is dusty and surrounded by a Panorama of little places that are utterly Spanish from cobblestone to roof-tile. Content travelers and Madrilenos soak up the sun, even in chilly November, while sipping on Sangria or beer and nibbling on olives, while the kids splash cool water on their siblings from the plaza fountain. It seems like a place lost in history complete with it’s own medieval castle on the hill. Charming and friendly shopkeepers attend to your questions and provide beautiful local specialties from brightly painted ceramics to Chinchon Aniseed liqueur and cookies. Prices are also considerably closer to affordability than Madrid. It’s well worth taking the trip out to spend a few days getting lost in the narrow streets. Especially if you are hoping that your own snaps will be every bit as nostalgic as the ones you once stared at while paging through a Travel Guide.
Here are mine…
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10 Things I love about visiting in Spain
- Metro-line connected Country living
- Home raised free range eggs
- Inexpensive olive oil from your own trees
- Tremendously delicious tomatoes
- Amazing Coffee
- Fantastic breads and pastries
- Guajada: Sheep’s milk yoghurt sold in beautiful terra cotta cups
- Fuet Chorizo
- Christmas Season sweets and cakes
- My sister-in-law’s delicious Cocido
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How to Bring Scandinavia Home
I woke up this morning in a montage with a soundtrack. Today was to be my first IKEA day… A little ridiculous for some of you, I’m sure…after-all…for most of you, IKEA is like McD’s… but my South African self left the house like a kid on the way to a theme park on her birthday. Checklist and strict cash budget in mind, my sister-in-law offered to take my travel cards off my hands. We started the day with a typical Spanish breakfast. Freshly baked bread with olive oil, tomato pulp and a slice of jamon accompanied by a bebida of strong-as-an-Italian-sailor’s-beard coffee. Just the fuel for such a demanding excursion. My niece and I wove through the interior exibits, plonked down on sofas and peeled open kitchen cabinets and wardrobes to see the crazy and beautiful designs. Complete with plenty small IKEA articles, it is a well-made marketing plan and big girl’s play house. I packed my shopping bag with beautiful catalogs and collapsable things…for my tiny suitcase, you see. The whole excursion cost me just half my IKEA budget. A ridiculous 24 euros. With all the cash to spare, I attacked the tiny food store with renewed vigor and made my way to the checkpoint… twice. Each time armed with Scandinavian treats… slabs of choclate, spiced cookies, elder berry syrup in glass bottles and Glögg. Flush faced with the excitement we drove back to Arganda del Rey while the kids argued and I hugged my bag of shopping.
How to look for a Palace and find a Gate
An American friend and I were searching one of Madrid’s many many palaces, the name alludes me even now, and found ourselves walking along Calle de Alcala’s majestic architectural thread down the red metro line towards the old city gate.
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