Monthly Archives: December 2013

Happy holidays!

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Chocolate yeah!, Recipes

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I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my Christian readers a very happy Christmas and for those of you who do not celebrate Christmas, happy holidays!
Thanks for all of your wonderful feedback and comments and just for being there!
May 2014 be happy, healthy and successful.

Here’s my gift to you – a recipe for the holidays:

Double chocolate chip muffins (with a twist of course)

Heat oven to 180°C

Prepare a muffin tin with paper cases

 

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

¾ cup sugar (brown or white – it is your choice)

1 cup chocolate chips (white, dark, milk or mixed)

1 cup milk

90ml oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

  • Place flour, baking powder, cocoa, sugar and chocolate chips into a bowl
  • Mix together gently
  • Pour all liquid ingredients into a jug or a smaller bowl and mix together
  • Now, mix the wet and dry ingredients together – these are muffins, so you don’t want a smooth mixture (it should be lumpy – just like life I guess)
  • Spoon the mixture into the paper cases
  • Bake for about 20 minutes

 Now here’s the twist – design your own muffins!

  • Since it is Christmas – substitute chocolate chips for fruit mince and rum essence instead of vanilla extract
  • Breakfast muffins – use chopped dried fruit and nuts and leave out the cocoa powder (though that may be criminal)
  • Here’s a delicious variation (one of my favourites) – use coconut milk instead of milk, throw in some dessicated or shredded coconut and use glace cherries in place of chocolate chips – about ½ a cup will do well

happy days

 

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A rose tinted world made by you

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in Attitude, Change, Positivity

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I don’t believe in fate or karma or even serendipity, at least I don’t think that I believe in them but I am never really too sure either.
I tend to think that life is much more random than that.
I certainly don’t believe that there is a grand puppet master somewhere that is determining who gets a good life and who gets the bad.  Who has good experiences, and who has bad.
But there are definitely times when I do question all of that.  Sometimes,  it seems that I am stuck in an endless cycle of negativity.  It just feels like I am moving from one challenge to the next. (Nice euphemism that – challenge!  Someitmes a string of nasty words describes it more aptly)
And then all of a sudden, just like that, something good happens and the cycle seems to swing in the opposite direction.
Moving from one good thing to the next.
Life just seems to fall into place at the right time.

I really don’t have the answer to understanding how or why this happens.  And believe me, I spend a lot of time thinking about it.
What I do know is that attitude makes a big difference.
Maybe when life throws something difficult at you, you are so focused on wallowing in negativity that negativity is all you notice.
And when things are going well, you seem to think that life is all good and rose tinted.
But who gets up in the morning  and decides to put on those rose tinted glasses?  You!
Just as easily as you can put on dark glasses and wish the miserable day away.

So, no matter how life is treating you, it is going to your choice on whether you are going to notice the good side or the difficult part.
It might mean that you need to dig yourself out of a deep, dark and horrible pit to just be able to stand up.
Stand up! Step forward!
Do something different, somthing that is rose tinted and amazing.

I have been blessed to have had some amazing experiences this past week and I know that a lot of those experiences were purely due to me deciding to do something.  And not just thinking about it, but doing it!
You can and you will!
Don’t blame fate or karma.  Take responsibility for your happiness now.
You know that you are worth it.

I look forward to hearing about your adventures…

Beating down your own path

12 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in Attitude, Being brave, Creativity, Freedom

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I stumbled on this quote the other day when I was looking for something suitable to put in my son’s barmitzvah invitation:

“The future belongs to the curious.  The ones who are not afraid to try it, explore it, poke at it, question it and turn it inside out”

I love this quote because it is so appropriate for my son who always questions things and wants to understand things before just doing anything.  He is not afraid to stand up and voice his opinion or to go “against the crowd”.  But the quote also resonates so strongly with me.
In fact, I think that most people reading this will identify strongly with it.  Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this, you would probably prefer reading some random financial blog. (If you do, please let me know.)
That is because most of you are thinkers and believers, you are willing to push boundaries and think out of the box.

The problem is that we are frequently told how to behave, and what to think.  Who we should be and where we should be going.  But none of us are going there on a lovely straight and uncomplicated path.  We are going on a crazy, convoluted, sometimes uncomfortable journey of discovery.
As long as you are open to the idea of learning and discovering in order to keep growing, every single step that you take, whether it be on the right path or the wrong; forward or backwards, will be the perfect path for you.

RIP Nelson Mandela

06 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by in Advice, Being brave, Gratitude

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There is a strange silence in the air this morning – our leader has gone.
It was with a very sad and heavy heart that I learned of the death of Nelson Mandela – the father of our country and inspiration to so many.
The silence reminds me of a poem by WH Auden:

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

It is a heartbreaking poem and I know that many people will feel this way today.
As have many in the past when they have lost loved ones.
It is easy to say, let us not be sad, rather let us have good memories of what was.  But sadness, and anger, is a part of mourning.
Give yourself time to mourn – to express it in the way that you want to express it but know that there will always be happy memories, things that you will laugh about, positive inspirations.

May we all learn lessons from the humility, gentleness, compassion and ability to forgive that Nelson Mandela taught us.
We are all better people for having lived in his time.
Rest in Peace Tata Madiba
Lala ngoxolo Tata Wethu uMadiba

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World Aids Day

01 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in HIV

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World HIV day… what can I say? I honour the memory of all of the amazing, special people that I have known that have lost their lives as a result of HIV.
And even more importantly to the incredible inspirational people that keep going, no matter what – who are positively positive, who teach me new things every day, who are prepared to listen to me and my views and who keep me motivated to continue working passionately where some people fear to tread.
Thank you one and all!

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