festive news

Happy Christmas to one and all. I am a little late I know but the festivities caught up with me and the days seemed to shrink to about 7 hours. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day. We had a lovely time. Lily has been very unwell though so she was not feeling great . she was so excited though and really loved all the presents and magic of leaving out the mince pies. Her major concern was leaving food for the reindeers as they may be hungry. Reindeers , she informs me, are her favorite animals.

We had a lovely lead up to Christmas as Lily and I went to selfridges Christmas grotto to see the big man himself. Kristian was supposed to join us but he had caught my flu bug by that time so we had to leave him behind. We first went to hamleys and looked at all the toys and activities. they always have bubbles and jugglers etc when you walk through the front doors. The window displays were so beautiful. Here are Lily and I at the one I liked best. In all the little windows you can look in and see a little scene in a house on Christmas eve.

the grotto was Santa's express and a little train took us around a magical Santa's grotto where elves were making toys and reading letters and all sorts of activities were taking place. You were not allowed to take photos I am afraid but I bought the official one with FC. I had to take a photo of it so there is a big flash in the middle...sorry

she was a little wary of father Christmas ( but lets be honest who wouldn't be) he is so huge and red, but she just stared at him and when he gave her a book she took it nicely and whispered ( and I do mean whispered) thank you. As soon as we left the grotto she was beaming from ear to ear though and was so proud of her photo with "father crimpas"

The next few days saw us going into London again and meeting our friend Jenny to go to the Hyde park winter wonderland. They had a little German Christmas market and lots of fun things to do as well as mulled wine and sausages. On the way back Lily and I took the old fashioned route master bus down Piccadilly and regent street , taking in the Ritz and fortnum and masons as well as all the beautiful street lights..amazing mulled wine and bratwurst for lunch snowing in the log cabin

waiting at the station fortnum and mason one of the window scenes best not to ask

lily and mummy on the route master a German Christmas stall

a couple of days later Kristian was feeling better and we went as a family into London to look at christmassy things

libertys Christmas decorations at the seven dials its all too much!! decorations in carnaby street lily and daddy in carnaby street

and to end our Christmas photos. not too many as Santa bought me a nikon p80. its still a point and shoot but can do a whole bunch of stuff I know nothing about so i spent the day playing with that in between cooking. we had a lovely half deboned oakham chicken stuffed with morello cherry , cranberry and sausage meat stuffing and latticed with bacon and apricots and a herb bouquet. I did maple roasted parsnips, beetroot and baby carrots as well as purple sprouting broccoli ( I cant abide brussels) and goose fat roasted potatoes ( sorry they are much better that veggie oil ones) I did those for Kristian though with a lovely piece of salmon which I wrapped in smoked salmon and then parchment paper and baked for 15 min at the end. I also did a veggie stuffing with roasted chestnuts, apricots , onions and breadcrumbs as well as herbs ( sage and parsley). It was so delish.

We stuck to Christmas pud and trimmings for dessert as we all love that. All in all a lovey day filled with food and pressies. Lily was given an easel ( a hit) and a little table and chairs as well as a till, a tiny house , a bathing baby, a scooter , a ride on fire engine and many other beautiful clothes and bits. she has been in her element playing with them all.

so here's to the last few days of 2008. It was a very special year for me. Wishing that 2009 is filled with love ,peace and happiness for us all

xxx

you better watch out....

Today we are off to see father christmas in his grotto at selfridges taking in hamleys and all the christmas lights afterwards. We will see all the lights from the top of a double decker bus I think as the other night when I did that with Jenny on the way to dinner club it was amazing.
I will be back later with photos

the credit crunch

theres been much talking and lamenting here, and worldwide, about the credit crunch and impending ( already here? ) recession. I have watched as business's struggle and people fear being retrenched but until today it never really affected me. We don't own a home so interest rates don't affect me. I have no debt. and I don't work for an investment bank. I know its all much more complex than this so don't write in.

Anyhow as many of you may know I love shopping and I love beautiful things. Since I lived in England 11 years ago I have loved a shop called the pier. It is a home decor and gift shop with most of its products from India , Indonesia and the like. We just purchased our tv unit from there and I have several beautiful favorite things from there.

last week the Pier went into administration. Kristian and I went there today to spend our gift voucher before it closed. Bromley is one of the last ones open and it was the saddest thing to go in there and see it empty and untidy with boxes everywhere. Everything 50% off. People were like vultures looking for a bargain but I really did not want to buy anything like that. Eventually I found a box with a beautiful item I have loved in there for a while. I purchased my last item from the pier.

christmas parties

Tis the season of Christmas parties and I have had my fair share this week. Our dinner club was a great evening out and as I am Sandis ghost writer I will be updating the dinner club blog soon. Our Christmas party was so great despite a few people being unable to make it. My snowballs were a great success as they always are. I urge you all to make a jug this Christmas you will not be sorry. The snacks were great the best little things I made where these sticky cocktail sausages ( recipe coming soon) and little puff pastry bites with goats cheese and caramelised onion chutney. I also made these belinis ( Russian tiny pancakes) with smoked salmon and creme fraiche. yum

The champagne flowed and our house was looking lovely with our fresh Christmas tree all decorated and twinkling and all my Christmas ornaments out. Its smelling all christmassy too with the pine tree and my new frankincense and myrrh candle.

Lily had such a lovely time although as soon as guests arrived she went to hide under the table , however Alan and Lailaas gift drew her out and it was a hit she forced her daddy to sit playing with it most of the evening.

Sunday I went to my work Christmas do which was ok. I don't know them all well enough to let my hair down and I was of course brewing the flu. I get the flu every Christmas, I have no idea why but its highly annoying and I am only sitting here doing a blog update thanks to very strong coedine pills. On that note here are my photos...

tea and mince pies before the tree goes up

lily at the partyLILY VISITING REINDEER IN HER NEW JAUNTY CAP the girls at the party the tree coming out the boot mulled wine rudolph

money , money , money

I know its crass to talk of money but I was paid today. Not a huge amount by most peoples standards but its my first bit of money thats my own, that I earned. It has never worried me that I was not earning as we adopt a joint finances approach but hell when I looked at my account this morning and it was lying there all shiny and mine I felt really proud and relieved. Strange isn't it.

lap lands selfridges santa with sack despite elf warning.

This was a headline in the paper today. Oh how I laughed as I read of Santa getting a grandmother to sit on his lap. What has become of the world. Lap sitting is strictly prohibited for Father Christmas now. Said Santa claims he was just trying to include the grandmother in the festivities. I am sure he was!!!!

On the 17 December I have booked for us to go to the grotto in Selfridges too. A little train takes us there and we get to meet him and he gives little Lily a gift too. I do hope he allows me to sit on his lap!

We are making Christmas plans manically here. I went to meet my friend Jenny on the South Bank yesterday and they had a little German Christmas market along the banks of the Thames. It was not fabulous but really sweet with some nice bits and of course a lovely glass of mulled wine to warm us up. The temperature has dropped in the last week and with the wind it was freezing out there.

Next week Friday we are having a little Christmas party at our house for a few people. I want to have my tree up and our house decorated by then so We will go in the week to get our real Christmas tree. I have never had a real tree and these Norwegian pine ones are so divine I can hardly wait. Then its all this tree stand stuff to worry about. So.. seasoned real tree people. shall I get a stand or can I use a weighted container and make it pretty? I have my lights all ready and waiting and the decorations will come out next week.

The party will be a drinky and snacky affair. very festive of course. I plan to make snowballs, my very favorite seasonal drink. large glug or tot of advocaat over ice, dash of lime juice then fill to the brim with lemonade. give a stir with a swizzel stick. yum

I have this magnum of champagne as well and in nigellas book she suggests what she calls Christmas in a glass. she puts a little gingerbread syrup in the bottom of her glass and fills with sparkling wine. I may try that for those who want something different.

I am going to do little bits that are easy to pick up and pop in your mouth as well as a cheese board.

then mini mince pies and these puff pastry mince pie things with bourbon butter , shortbread and some individual trifles if I have time.

We also have plans to go ice skating at Somerset house. I have heard its lovely, as well as going to Hyde parks winter wonderland which has markets and rides and snow and all that lovely stuff.

On the day we go to Selfridges we plan to go and see all the Christmas lights , have some lovely food and hot chocolate and get some ornaments in the Christmas shops.Oh and go to hamleys which may be suicide on the 17th December but I don't care... I like toys.

I am busy getting all my Christmas shopping for SA done as I have someone leaving who is taking it for me ( very kindly) I got some lovely bits and now I am making madam lily's list. So far she has really been on board with all the Christmas things. I think this will be the first year she really gets it. She calls it Crimpas. So top of her list to father Christmas is a crimpas tree. she just loves all the lights and baubles. this morning she was jumping on my bed singing " I love Crimpas , I love Crimpas" . she also wants get another baby , a ball and a scooter or car. I am getting her a few things that I know she will use and I am avoiding these one day wonder gifts. I was just saying to my mum today that her imagination is so great , she makes up all these little games from nothing and although I know toys are important I do believe its important to have a bit of moderation. she has never had a large amount of toys and she plays with all of them. I have picked up some great books for her and a lovely puzzle as well as mary poppins on DVD. I also am getting her this little dolls house cottage which is ever so sweet.

Here are a few photos of our recent trips out with Mr Cat as well as when we went to where Kristian works. beautiful buildings I think you will agree

Mr Cat and Lily on the trainDaddy and Lily in Greenwich royal naval college , now university og greenwich queen mary buliding. this is the building Kristian works in , as a law lecturer

again but this time looking towards the Thames and Canary wharfjenny and lily on the southbank mummy and lily

Christmas dinner roast potatoes

We never had roast potatoes for Christmas dinner as it is always so warm the last thing you feel like is a pile of hot food on Christmas day, however here in chilly England roast potatoes are a must. Last year I made them for the first time. I had never been a roast potato fan but then I found this recipe
crunchiest roast potatoes

before you begin you must source some goose fat,its the only way. You have never tasted anything like it. If you live with a vegetarian, bang your head repeatedly on a hard surface and curse the day he turned veggie. then tell him you will boil him some potatoes if he wishes.

this serves 6
preheat you oven to 200 degrees
choose some nice floury potatoes like king Edward , but my new favorite are rooster potatoes with the red skin. they are divine . you will need about 1.5 kgs
cut them lengthways into quarters like oversize chips then you will have the most crunchy surface.
place the potatoes in cold water thats been salted and bring to the boil then simmer for 5 min and drain well. make sure the potatoes are quite dry and kind of floury.

then take 200ml of goose fat and heat in the oven in a large roasting tin. when fat is hot carefully add the potatoes and turn them in the fat to coat them. sprinkle with sea salt ( the course stuff people , or maldon salt if the credit crunch has not bitten) and roast for 1 hour 25 min until crispy and golden
you need to turn them every half hour or so
drain off your fat and serve .
they truly are simple and lovely

the class divide

I watched a programme on tv last night. I usually watch fluffy stuff to relax but this appealed to me as its content matter , the class system in Britain, has been at the forefront of so much that I read and see at the moment.

Growing up in a different sort of class system its interesting for me to observe one in another country not of my birth.
the programme, a dispaches special, took two teenage girls who live on opposite ends of the same street in Clapham , London ,and followed them for a week finally allowing them to enter the others world. London in itself is such a boiling pot of cultures and I have found its the norm to have a good area smack , bang on top of a council estate.
Rich girl , Alice , attends a private school and lives in a 6 bed Georgian house. She has strong opinions. For example " labour has the laziest men in politics , in a way , basically because they take from the rich and give to the poor so the poor can be , like , really lazy and not working"
she is 15 though and has lived in a bubble of privilege. Later , on a bad day, she says " I don't give a shit what state school kids do they can go and die for all I care"
And it kept coming, the fear of "chavs" ( council estate yobbos, hoodies etc) her fear of being poor and having her children go to state school and just all round bigoted views which obviously come directly from her mother when we meet said woman.

poor kid Natalie lives in a flat in a tower block with her Mum and 5 year old brother Gabriel. They live on benefits of £150 per week. Only have 1 bed and no other furniture to speak of. I felt a sort of horror when they took the cameras into her house . I felt angry that they are given the home but have no incentive or need to have better or get a job. However the programme carried on and it emerged that Natalie's dad was shot in Egypt when they were on holiday there and she was 6. Her mum plunged into depression and she seemed mentally disturbed in the scenes were she featured. They went into council housing and that was that . her mum is not stable enough to keep a job and she was 6. It emerges that she cares for her mum and her brother . She got her mum to to get a government loan so they could buy a bed for her brother and paint the walls in his room . Slowly my preconceptions of the benefit class started to fade.
Just like Alice , I learned a lesson, empathy is key in life. Don't make assumptions.

In South Africa , where I grew up , we have people living in shacks. the poverty is overwhelming. Some other African and Asian countries have it even worse . Is there a level of poverty. should we feel sorry for British people who live in a welfare state? Last week I would have said a resounding no, But now i think each person has a story and each case is different. I needed to get out of my middle class bubble and recognise that.
By the programmes end Natalie ( the poor kid) was visiting Alice ( the poshun) . She could not believe it when she saw they had a piano. They all smiled condescendingly as she sat down and then their faces changed as she played a piece of music beautifully. I sat there in tears. I wish her all the best life has to offer. I know she has the drive to get out there and change her circumstance.

things that have happened to me within a week

1 . I went to the most wonderful second dinner club at a fantastic restaurant. Lailaa has written all about it on our blog., the gourmet goddesses if you want to read all about it. I had the most wonderful time with great company, fabulous cocktails , divine food and really amazing belly dancing which I attempted to do ,and I see that photos of attempting such things are never flattering, so people just turn away when you see those ones!

2. Another great session at Diddi dancing with Lily. we started tap dancing this week and she is getting to be very fond of her teacher Anne Marie. she says her name Anne mawee which is ever so cute and endearing. Even though this session was the morning after the aforementioned dinner club it was great

3. We now bride our daughter do be good. Well not really, its a reward system you see. I am a weak sort of parent and Lily is giving us major battles at night.. major. But I love my sleep and persevering with keeping her in bed regardless is getting too much for us both. Also I don't have it in me to just let her cry and cry. she has responded very well to my sticker rewards for good sleeping and we are getting there slowly. At first I believed she was too young but shes pleaser, I can see that already , so its working a treat. Just have to put some backbone there for the future. Today we went to get her hula hoop which was her pressie after getting 5 stickers. she was so excited you have no idea.

4 The weekend was a disaster. I had my first medical emergency . I was whisked off in an ambulance to Lewisham hospital after writhing in pain for an hour and my GP advising we call 999. It was truly up there with the end of labour pain. I had just come out the shower when I just doubled over in pain. Hence when the paramedics came I had semi damp hair at all angles , a mickey mouse t shirt and see through black pj pants on. when they moved me Kristian slipped on my red crocs and the picture was complete. We spent six hours in A & E and saw many , many , many things....

I came away with no answers but the pain had subsided with very strong pain relief and after I saw the docter on Monday she seems to think its either the fact that my coil slipped and bent or that said coil has caused pelvic imflammatory disease. tests will tell ( sorry men that read but hey , take note...being a woman is no picnic)

since then I have been gingerly walking around but after my anti bs kicked in today I feel much better.

So all in all quite a surreal time. luckily for all of you I have been plunged into christmas after I bought the December issue of Ideal home magazine

and now I am full of ideas and excitement I will share with you over the coming weeks :)

now for some photos of a small child. Not any small child but mine..

I like to take all these toys out of my basket and play with them at the same time

This is Mr Cat , Lilys companion in all things

this is Lilys very curly hair after waking up Just getting ready to watch Carrie and Davids pop shop and have a dance ps dont you just love little girls clothes dancing queen , young and free Big finish

change thrust upon me

I had not intending changing my blog skin at all until yesterday when I went onto it and was horrified that it looked all weird and odd. I have no idea what happened and to be honest ,I will probably never know with my limited computer knowledge.
I was forced to seek assistance from my friend who changed the skin for me after I failed twice and now I have this new girly skin. Its all for the best though as I found this one that I love as its what my little girl does every day of her life while I get dressed and do my hair
what does everyone think of it?

Oh pants!!

I had a bad mothering day yesterday. I am a little distracted and down at the minute and my precious little angel has decided to throw me one curveball after the other. Attachment to my hip, refusal to go to bed , refusal to sleep in said bed , basically a lot of refusal, NO MUMMY, NOOOOOOOOOO.

So I thought it would be great if we could go out somewhere different for the day. We went to diidi dancig first which was fun as usual and then I had planned a trip to canary wharf on the train and DLR (docklands light railway ) I thought it would be fun as its kind of like a ride. We planned to meet Sandi at canary wharf and have lunch.
Lily is a bit snotty at the minute though so I gave her some medicine which knocked her out totally. she missed the DLR and all of my energetic humpfing of the pram up and down stairs.
I had a great lunch without her with Sandi and she slept and slept. Obviously she also wee'ed and weeed ( or is it weed???)
on the trip home in the dlr she got out of her buggy and everything was soaked through. Oh geez I thought and make the decision to get home quickly as there is no baby change and everyone was looking at us.
So I made the poor child walk up some stairs to the correct platform but as we reached the top I heard a little voice " mummy, we have a problem" "pants"
I turned to see lily with her pants and her nappy around her ankles in the freezing weather, naked on the lewisham train station platform 3.
I felt awful , I ran to her took everything off under my pashmina and swathed her in that and sat her on my lap until the train came. she ,of course ,was fighting me every step of the way cue "NOOOOOO MUMMMMMYYYYYY"
We then walked home in a torrent of rain and arrived soaked and naked (for Lily) at our house.
yes it was a bad mothering day indeed.

Today is halloween and our bats are hanging in our window. I have a little bowl of sweets at the door. Kristian and lily will be there for that much to my disgust as i am working tonight. I am sure it will be fun. Halloween is such a huge thing now. Its really grown and there is so much halloween stuff about this year. It reminds me how fast things have changed . Not that long ago Veronica (purple Ronnie) spent many an hour making up little bags of sweets for the trick or treaters that were going to come to her brand new house. her face was all sparkly and excited. we waited for the doorbell to ring for hours. but nothing... nada
So we ate all the sweets ourselves . good times
have a good halloween whatever you are doing

happy birthday

Happy Birthday to Andrew, my little brother. He is 26 today. We gave him a helicopter flight over Cape Town with all sorts of fun military type stuff thrown in that he will love I am sure.

He is one of those cusp people. just leaving Libra and entering Scorpio. I love cusp people as they are so unpredictable I think. you never quite know how they will react and you cant pin them down to any personality traits per se( in my humble opinion) (PS please remind me never to say in my humble opinion again in light of my new surname)

today he was pure Libra when I chatted to him on skype but all could change tomorrow , you just never know

anyhow , happy birthday Drew , Ands , Andrew

hope you have a lovely day and wish we could be there

xxx

sisters unite

the ultra organised and brilliant Lailaa has created a blog for our dinner club , London. the sister of the delicious divas dinner club.
We are , of course , the gourmet goddesses http://www.gourmetgoddesses.blogspot.com/
We have a fabulous restaurant coming up, the sister restaurant of pasha (Caroline's favorite) so keep watching.... ooh and add us to your links if you so wish

food glorious food

Here's a recipe for you all to try. Its filling , its veggie and its delicious. Its not low fat , but its not too bad either.
My mum made it when I was home now and I just love it
So you need
1 whole bag of spinach
1 whole butternut , peeled and diced
1 tub of cream (full or half fat )
1 sachet of white onion soup.
(heres where I fall down as they don't do that here , but I stockpiled a few. I hear that the french onion works well that you can get in England. As for Canada and America it's anyones guess.)

so you lay the butternut at the bottom of a dish
you put the spinach on top of that
beat the soup into the cream and drizzle all over the top of the spinach making it look truly revolting,
then you cover in foil and bake for about half an hour or until butternut is tender
mix it altogether
its divine with fish or chicken or by itself.
Enjoy!

catch up

So its been a busy old week here since I last posted. On Wednesday we had our first London Dinner club which was a great success. Everyone got on like a house on fire. We shared a bottle of savignon blanc in a nearby theatre as London was absolutely buzzing last Wednesday due to lovely weather and we had to wait for our table. It was great to get everyone chatting and by the time we sat at our table at Strada we were cackling much better.

The food there is very nice Italian fare. you cant go wrong with an Italian ;) I had some lovely parpedelle with gorgonzola and pancetta and yet more wine.

We all went our separate ways to catch trains home. what a difference to the cape town dinner club where we all catch a lift. It i fun though. Jenny and I headed off to Waterloo east as my train goes straight from there. she has to change at London Bridge. What occurred after this had my bladder bursting as Jenny in a frantic attempt to get the soonest train possible proceeded to run from my platform to the opposite one missing 3 trains before she eventually got on the same train as me. All that wine and slight tipsyness sent me into an intense laughing fit which continued for about an hour.

We are all so excited for our next dinner club.. will keep you posted

On Friday We had a busy day and were up early making our way to Ashford where a friend I made in baby group now lives. our daughters are 3 days apart. We had a bit of lunch and a play and it was great to catch up and see her new home. I then roared back down the M20 back to Lee where Kristian was waiting for me and we started off on our way to Bournemouth at 4pm on a Friday. You may ask what possessed us , but my only excuse is that I have been away for a while and the memory of English traffic had dulled and left me mildly optimistic of our chances

But the M25 had other plans and we sat there for an our arriving in Bournemouth 4 hours later.

Stress!!!

The weekend was good though. Michele made us steaks which cured my longing for meat. Kristian had a tuna steak. We went out to Bournemouth on the Saturday and had some chips on the beach and then caught this little train from Bournemouth beach to Boscombe Pier which is the next pier along. great fun.

lily was spoilt and got a lovely pair of patent leather shoes for the winter as well as some new long boots that are to die for.

Sunday we had a lovely lunch with Kristian's grandad ,lily's great dad dad , at the Avon causeway hotel.

So all in all a busy few days. I am trying to get some motivation going at the moment. I am eating healthily again after putting on a wee bit of weight and am trying to get out and about more. I start work on Saturday and am quite looking forward to it. so life trundles on...

PS. only 2 more months till Christmas!!!!

Some photos to accompany my story...

The dinner club from left Lailaa, Sandi, Wendy, Jennythe girls outside stradaLily in Ashford playing in Ami's little carThe trainLily on the train at bournemouth beach frontLily in her new bed at Choo Choo nanas house in the night garden

its autumn in BlackheathLily playing dough yesterday looking like an extra in the flintstones

Happy birthday

On Saturday night Kristian and I had a rare night out. And what a night it was! Our dear friend Leila turned 21.

Leila and my brother , Andrew , started going out 6 years ago. They have since split up (sniff sniff) but we all remain very good friends. She is a breath of fresh air, always happy and enthusiastic which is quite a rare thing these days.

She has recently moved to London to pursue her acting career here after she left one of our local soapies. shes a fabulous actress and we are so proud of her.

we went to Fakheldine, a Lebanese restaurant on Piccadilly, Mayfair. Right opposite the Ritz it was, overlooking Green park. There was even a belly dancer who asked me to dance with her. I politely refused but was internally shuddering at the thought of shaking my baby belly next to this perfect human specimen. We had mezze platters and wine (too much). Then we had the journey home on the tube and train. We got the last train of the night. It was not pretty!!!

Here's the birthday girl in all her glory AKA surrounded by cakes. whilst we are on the subject of cakes , these cup cakes are called red velvet. the cake is like a red chocolate. when I tell you I nearly I had a near death experience when I tasted them I am not joking. I am doing serious googling to find a recipe

I went and got myself...

A job. It's only a little one on a Saturday with some overtime hours here and there. I am going to be working for my old company , Jones Bootmakers. Its dangerous with my shoe obsession but hey ho.
I think it will be good for me to get out a bit and earn some money to plunge into our savings.
So there we go ,my news of the morning.
I am however a little worried as my feet are so sore after going to the interview in my heels. I think I may be wearing my crocs a little too much.

who are you?

I have no idea who reads this blog. I have this friend. He does not seem like a person who would be an avid blog reader yet , He knows all about my life and all of you other bloggers too :). He said to me that he has an insight into my life that I will never have to his.
We had a great conversation about the joys and pitfalls of blogging in the modern world.

It just set me thinking about who reads blogs. Theres been a lot of conversation about who starts and writes a blog and what they say ,but why do you read? and why don't some of you comment.. Ever? Do you like the anonymity of it all? I know I do ,with some of my blog reading. I recently went to a blog I have read for over a year but she has no idea I read it. she had put a block on it for invited people only. I was distraught. It was like a friend had been lost.

It seems our readership is varied but what we think is our mundane life is actually very interesting to all sorts of people. who would have thunk it!

It has been commented that this is a great experiment into blogging and social interaction in the world today. I agree with that totally.
So just for today , Just for me who writes to all of you every week. chime in, say Hi. I wont bite. ( only if I was a vampire - I wish!)

dinner club London

Do you all know the delicious Divas? If you read my blog or a couple of my friendly bloggers blogs, you will know that its a group of crazy ladies that started a dinner club. they frequent fabulous restaurants in Cape Town and surrounds. have great food , good wine and a good time. They allow me to join when I am in Cape Town. an honorary member if you like.

I love going , besides the fact that food is a very important part of my life the female company lifts my spirits.
Sometimes my spirits flag here in London. It can be an isolating place as people live far away from each other and life is very busy and fast paced. I need that spirit lifting.
So I decided that a dinner club in London would be just the thing. I contacted a few friends who live in the surrounds of London and voila.. dinner club London. our first dinner is on the south bank just near the London eye. we will watch the Thames float by as we have pasta and wine at Strada .

We are a mix of ages and career. Some in our 20s ,some in our 30s, some in our 40s and one 21 year old! One works in a restaurant but is an actress. One works for a posh clothing company and is making her life in London , one does something that I really must find out more about because I don't know but she lives in a beautiful apartment in Canary wharf and works in the city ( sorry Lailaa - pinkys pages) One works in HR in canary wharf and lives In Oxhey village near Watford ad one is a stay at home mum...
Should be interesting.. I am looking for more members so If you read this , live in London , are not a psycho and want to join in, give me a bell.