A Cup Of Tea.

Sunday, 8 February 2015

Franschhoek

Recently my family went on holiday for four days to the beautiful village of Franschhoek, just an hour's drive from Cape Town. It was such fun, and we had a great time! We've been staying at the same cottage for over eight years now, and go annually around January. The view from our cottage is incredible, with mountains and vineyards. On one day we went to the neighbourhood market in the centre of town. It was so sweet and quirky, and we got to interact with a a lot of interesting people. There are a lot of small stalls that sell very different and often creative things, like jams and schwarmas, antique books and hand-made pillow cases.

1. Delicious smoothies packed with summer fruits like mango, peaches, nectarines, passion fruit and quite a few others that have slipped my mind.

2. Organic home-grown heirloom tomatoes and fruit cordials.

3. The view from our cottage: not too shabby.

4. Some friendly horses we met whilst on a walk around the farm we were staying at.

Simona xx

Sunday, 18 January 2015

Breakfast at La Belle

Recently my family and I went to a lovely restaurant called La Belle for breakfast. It's a bakery kind of place, and is attached to The Alphen Hotel. It's so beautiful there - the entire restaurant is amongst oak trees and flowers - especially in summer, when the flowers have bloomed. I always feel so happy when I arrive and see all the greenery!

I had Eggs Benedict, and it was so delicious. I also had freshly pressed apple juice that's done to order. It's so fresh and the only ingredient is, well, green apples. No added sugar or preservatives. Just added yumminess. Both the Eggs Benedict and the juice were scrummy, and you could definitely taste the love!

The Alphen is really old, but so pretty... Look at all the plants and the ancient oak trees!

Brekkies

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Cape Town Adventures

Happy 2015 everybody! I hope you have all had a relaxing and fun time over the festive season. My summer holiday has been jam-packed with so many fun places I have been to, and things that I have done. It has been so inspiring discovering new things and exploring in and around Cape Town. Cape Town is a city that has so much to offer, and has so many different cultures, so it is such an exciting city to be a part of every day.

Day in Kalk Bay

Kalk Bay is such an interesting and bustling place, with the sea on its left, and mountains on the right. Amidst all the beauty are hip and trendy boutiques, that tend to be filled with interesting and often quirky clothing that you probably won't find anywhere else. We discovered a real New York- style bagel place, called Bob's Bagels, that was great, and will definitely become a regular breakfast place for our family.

Felix Unite River Rafting
Recently, my family went on a two night adventure to a place called Round The Bend, by the company Felix Unite. This place has around 20 chalets, and a beautiful main log cabin-style building. The food was good, the people were nice, and we had such a blast whilst river rafting.

The view from the main log cabin.

Special Time with my Uncles
Recently, my sister and I spent two fun days with our uncles. We went out for breakfast, saw a movie, went shopping, went for a walk along the beach, had ice cream and it was such a blast!

Tea with breakfast.

Beautiful Cape Town.

We went to this ice cream shop,which uses liquid nitrogen to freeze the ingredients, while you watch!

Looking very sciency.

The finished product: creamy chocolate and raspberry ice cream.

Foo Fighters!
On the 10th of December, the Foo Fighters came to South Africa for the first time ever, on the first leg of their Sonic Highways tour. It was mind blowing - three hours of non-stop, quality music. Yes, the Foos were on for three hours, and didn't have a single break! And a bonus: my parents (die-hard Foo Fighter fans since the beginning) won a competition and met them!

Cape Town Stadium

Both the picture of Kalk Bay, and the picture from our river rafting trip were taken by my sister. Thanks for letting me use them Kira!

Simona x

Sunday, 7 December 2014

Hemisphere jargon // An update of my life

Hi everybody! This is just a quick update post to notify you all that I am still alive. I've just finished my final-year exams (the Southern hemisphere school year ends in December), and this weekend is my first study-free weekend in a long time. A very long time. So I hope you all had a great thanksgiving weekend and spent it with loved ones and chums, and if you live south of the equator (Geography vibes), I hope you are slappin' on that sunscreen and hitting the beach (like me), and if you live north of the equator, I hope you are cuddling with many cosy blankets and cups of tea, and if you're still writing final exams (both Northern and Southern hemispheres), good luck, work hard and stay sane.. It'll be over soon, I promise.

Que random photos from the last two months:

Absolutely delicious orange cake

Thanksgiving apple pie

Simona x

Thursday, 16 October 2014

First Product Review: eos Lemon Drop

I absolutely love both the smell and flavour of this lip balm. It may be flavoured, but it isn't overpowering like Lip Smackers or something similar, and it tastes and smells so natural - that's what I love the most about this product. Not only does it smell and taste amazing, I think that the daisy-yellow eggy shape is so sweet, and it really adds to the natural, spring theme.

It's made with ingredients that you can actually pronounce, like shea butter and jojoba oil, so you know what's in your lip balm, and more importantly, what's going on your lips, and I love that. It also contains SPF 15, so you can wear it all day, e'rry day. This is the perfect spring lip-balm!

Sunday, 3 August 2014

California Dreaming

Hey everyone!
So, it's back to school after a long and luxurious three week winter break. Last week I landed back in Cape Town - I went back to LA for the holidays. I know. It's confusing - my mom, sister and I went there in April on an emergency trip to see my Grandmother who was quite ill at the time, despite the fact that we would be back here in June for a planned trip. So this trip to LA was planned a long time ago and that is why I was back in Los Angeles, with the whole family - including Papa-bear.

I find day-to-day updates quite tedious and boring, so I will just write some pretty general stuff, and then will let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

We left Cape Town International Airport on the 24th of June and arrived on the 25th (due to the time difference) of June in LA. For the first week we stayed at my Nana's house in the valley, in the hills (oolala!). The first week we did quite a lot. We went to LACMA (art museum), Silverlake (a very hipster area - it's really cool), MOCA - modern art museum, Target, and a couple restaurants.

For the second week, we stayed at my aunt and uncle's house in Huntington Beach, Surf City USA. We went to the beach, swam a lot, tanned a lot, walked downtown, went to a few restaurants- my favourite was Umami Burger: had the Black Keys burger, and did some other really fun stuff.

For the third and final week we were back at my Nana's house. That week we mainly saw a lot of my parents' old friends and also did some shopping in Santa Monica, we had a great time in Santa Monica with friends and in Venice Beach which has such a unique vibe - there is nothing like it!

I will definitely say that the highlight of the trip for me was the 4th of July. We watched a World Cup game in the morning, than chilled at the pool for most of the day, and then had a really lovely dinner at home with our really good friends who came down from San Fransisco. After dinner we walked down to the beach to watch the fireworks and generally to get into the mood - it was great and the fireworks were beautiful. We then came home and had some awesome ice-cream sundaes.

And now as I promised, here are the pictures from my trip. I hope you enjoy!