smothered in chocolate

i bought chocolate scented body products many years ago and have not found them again until today, when i stumbled across 'body thrills' on twitter.

made locally, handmade and deliciously affordable, body thrills gets the beatnik nod of approval. they're also running a competition to win R2000 worth of products  which means that your fantasies of bathing in chocolate could soon become a reality. but seriously, at R90 for a body scrub, just order one now anyway :)

what they say: PERFECT FOR: indulging in the rich comfort-food that is chocolate, without any of the calories.
Chocolate is actually health-food for your skin as it’s rich in antioxidants to soften your skin and prevent wrinkles. Packed with flavanoids, chocolate helps keep skin supple by maintaining proper collagen levels.
Cocoa butter is rich in Vitamin E – a free-radical-fighting agent that will give your skin a deeply moisturising experience. Peppermint is a refreshing tonic that helps to tighten the pores and clean the surface of the skin without stripping healthy oils. It promotes blood circulation, and allows the moisture-boost provided by soy milk to be completely absorbed into your skin and properly distributed where it’s needed most. Soy milk also provides your skin with essential proteins and vitamins required in order to maintain optimum health.

restaurants in cape town with fireplaces

i've been wanting to write a post about restaurants with fireplaces in cape town, starting with the deep south, but i've decided that i'm only going to include restaurants i love, that ooze atmosphere and that i personally recommend. it makes for a short list, but you are welcome to add your favourites in the comments section and i'll add them to my list if i agree! here goes:

polana - kalk bay - beautiful views

the annex - kalk bay - roaring fire in the library (dining room)

the meeting place - perfect for romantic evening dinners

rioja - kommetjie - beautiful setting and cuisine

blue water cafe - kommetjie - historical building with sweeping views

massimo's pizza club - hout bay - there's a fireplace and a hot pizza oven!

kitima - hout bay - historical building, exquisite interiors, best asian cuisine in cape town

camps bay retreat - old manor house, 4 acres of natural forest in the glen

societi - town - french bistro style cuisine

restaurants with fireplaces i'd love to try but still haven't managed to get to include;

la mouette - sea point - french cuisine

the roundhouse - the glen, camps bay

96 winery road - somerset west/stellenbosch winelands

if i haven't mentioned some places in town, it's probably because i think they're a little insipid and serve unmemorable food. please enlighten me!

dirtywhirl

 Oh there is a murderess amongst us
Her love is a violent spiral
Hurling in upon us, conjured up
At the birth of the world

Durga is a dancer
Mindless questions find no answers
Slicing through the ether
Yeah she's gleaming like mother of pearl

Dirty little whirlwind
Commander, controller
I found you
Dirty little whirlwind
I am pinned by the heat of your swirl
Dirty little whirlwind
Defender, destroyer
I found you
Dirty little whirlwind
Tangled up in the flesh of a girl

Oh you could curl up beside me
The spark in your eyes belies the apocalypse inside you
Twisting the pits from the particle
Skull can't save face

So shake the shame from it
Burn me up inside you
Let me churn in your furnace of whirl
Dirty little whirlwind
Commander, controller
I found you
Dirty little whirlwind
I am pinned by the heat of your swirl
Dirty little whirlwind
Defender, destroyer
I found you
Dirty little whirlwind
All caught up in the flesh of a girl

All that I ever wanted to be was destroyed at sea
Hurricane rescued me salvaged calamity
Do not delay we stood in place for it
Turn me up inside you
Up and into the heart of your world

dirtywhirl - tv on the radio

decadence

do not go onto my pinterest if you're on a diet! when i'm experiencing issues in my life, i bake. i just bake and bake and bake, it's so cathartic. i'm setting myself a goal to try something from the 'what katie ate' blog at least thrice a week from now on. *sigh*

first winter in the country

 

winter is tumbling in like a soupy mist and i'm looking forward to my very first winter in the country. winter is always a time for slowing down, warmth, family, friends, wrapping up, protection and all the delicious slower things like slow-cooked roasts, slow food, slow stews, slow nights. winter for us is all about baking, pyjama party film noir evenings in, watching the woodstock documentary, catching up on fresh reads or reading wuthering heights again. winter means comfort eating, not counting calories, chocolate, warm puddings with fresh cream, bamboo socks, down duvets, over-sized knits and fireside red cheeks, meringues with nutella, waffles, huge breakfasts and mayan hot chocolate with a pinch of chilli. aren't you terrifically excited?

winter in the country means planting vegetables that flourish now, like beetroot, cauliflower, celery, onion, turnips - and in june, leeks, Asian greens and broad beans. apparently winter here also means gumboots, log fires, sherry and hours of earl grey and scrabble with your neighbours (so far). i've decided to learn a few new skills this winter, when we're all very much bound to our homes, so this winter i'm going to learn how to do pottery and to cook with savoir faire. i hope you'll soon see my creations on the blog. may you all have a delectable autumn/winter transition!

torte from graze, in stanford

reasons to visit stellenbosch

now that i live in the overberg, stellenbosch, which is a mere hour and a bit away, seems like a weekend destination i can entertain with glee. in dreaming about such a weekend, i've compiled my 'must-visits' foodie list - a very short one, owing to the fact that in all reality i know i'll only have one day for it all:

nook eatery

i have loved nook for about two years already and was most delighted to find my blog on their blog roll today! nook is a revelation and you need to go there immediately. open for breakfast, lunch and pizza nights, the young owners are clearly passionate about every thing they make and bake, and you can taste it in every morsel. tip: take a basket of cinnabons home with you.

96 winery road

a friend of mine fell so deeply in love with 96 winery road's duck and cherry pie, that i've thought of little else since, yet have still not realised the endless dream of a morsel of it melting in my mouth. unfortunately this is not an actual picture of the pie, so you'll have to take a picture of it when you order it and then send it to me!

babylonstoren

i follow enough foodies on twitter to know that babylonstoren is probably going to change my life. i live in the constant hope that someone will take me there in my lifetime and leave me there.

archetypes

had a bizarre experience when i visited a friend yesterday, who told me that she sees me as a painting of a woman, combing her hair next to a body of water - and that i need to stop being that. my hair stood on end. she described one of the only art works my mother ever bought for me, namely 'ophelia' by waterhouse, which my mother said reminded her so much of me, she felt compelled to buy it for my 18th birthday. so my mantra, starting this weekend, is 'less ophelia, more cleopatra'

snug and delicious

baby, it's cold outside! quilts for single beds, double beds and queen available through my online shop here

enough

more creative. more beautiful. sexier. funnier. brighter. richer. more unique. more talented. prettier. taller. thinner. smarter. more quirky. more original. more maternal. more interesting. more mysterious. more confident. more seductive. more hardcore. more predatory. more beguiling. more innovative. more now. more dynamic. more conscious.

enough.

charm warfare

seductress

noun

temptress, siren, femme fatale, Mata Hari, home wrecker, man-eater; flirt, coquette, informal vamp, enchantress.

it seems i'm having to endure repeated lessons with regards to seductive women: do i surround myself with them, in the hope that they'll do my bidding? do i attract them as an offering of temptation, watching like a voyeur as the same story plays out, as they lure and capture? what am i so afraid of? what is it about a being a temptress that frightens me? do we need to be seductive? isn't seduction an elaborate spell women cast temporarily to feed their egos? is it empowering?

kate bush - 50 words for snow

just found out that my son and my heroine, kate bush, were born on the same date. have you downloaded her new album, '50 words for snow'? you can find it here

let's call the whole thing off - goodbye songs

i recently shared my 'yearning' playlist with you, so now i'm sharing my goodbye songs for those moody, misty days when you need a soundtrack to your sorrow. from yann tiersen to grizzly bear, i've got it.

come back baby - hall & oates

don’t let it bring you down – neil young

everybody's gotta learn sometime - beck
she’s not there – zombies
honey won’t you let me in – the tallest man on earth
one – harry nilsson
babe i’m gonna leave you - led zeppelin

rosalita – gomez

last goodbye - jeff buckley

knife - grizzly bear

no distance left to run - blur

comptine d'un autre été - yann tiersen

diamonds and rust - joan baez

jens lekman – past, present and future

somebody that i used to know - gotye

ribcage - elbow 

you sent me flying (acoustic)- amy winehouse

black cloud - morrissey

let's call it off - peter bjorn and john

love lost - temper trap

beast of burden - the rolling stones

lauren bacall, the anti-demoiselle en détresse

 

lauren bacall, my favourite old hollywood actress, who had the sultry voice of a lioness gargling with whiskey, poison and dark chocolate, brought a welcome change to the submissive, exasperated, fretting and breathy feminine characters that were so prevalent in classic films. bacall enjoyed a stellar film career, beginning with a humphrey bogart film in the 1940's, enjoying a career in film until the 1990's. voted one of the most significant female movie stars in history, bacall excelled in films due to her whip-smart intellect, talent and powerful presence, mostly choosing empowered female character roles, although she had a firm grasp on playing a femme fatale, due in part to her husky voice, exquisite looks and unfair lashings of sex-appeal. bacall and bogart met on the set of 'to have and have not' when she was 19-years-old and he was 45, marrying later that year until bogart's death in 1957.

a little yearning

we all have our most beloved songs about yearning to get us through the night. when i was a teenager, it was songs like 'in your room' by the bangles and *shudder* basically every song by air supply. yup, i just admitted that. then my tastes moved on to kate bush, fiona apple, tori amos, jeff buckley, chris isaak, joe jackson, the moody blues, nine inch nails, david bowie, peter gabriel, nina simone, pink floyd...and many more in my teens, where i found a few suitable 'pining' songs. here are some tunes i thought i'd share with you from my current playlist:

animal collective - winter's love

tom waits - take it with me

the jesus and mary chain - something i can't have

tom waits - temptation

bruce springsteen - i'm on fire

bowerbirds - bur oak

joanna newsom - sawdust & diamonds

leonard cohen - one of us cannot be wrong

the decemberists - here i dreamt i was an architect

neil young - harvest moon

bruce springsteen - the fever

kate bush - running up that hill

jace everett - bad things

elvis costello - i want you

cole porter - you do something to me

jeff buckley - lover, you should've come over

muddy waters - i just want to make love to you

man man - rabbit habits

st. vincent - marry me

tom waits - jersey girl

otis redding - these arms of mine

etta james - at last
mat kearney - dancing in the dark

led zeppelin - since i've been loving you

pj harvey - black hearted love

billie holiday - you're my thrill
bon iver - i can't make you love me

please add your favourites in the comments section!

simple twist of fate

They sat together in the park


As the evening sky grew dark


She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bones


’Twas then he felt alone and wished that he’d gone straight


And watched out for a simple twist of fate

They walked along by the old canal


A little confused, I remember well


And stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burnin’ bright


He felt the heat of the night hit him like a freight train


Moving with a simple twist of fate

A saxophone someplace far off played


As she was walkin’ by the arcade


As the light bust through a beat-up shade where he was wakin’ up,


She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate


And forgot about a simple twist of fate
 

He woke up, the room was bare


He didn’t see her anywhere


He told himself he didn’t care, pushed the window open wide


Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate


Brought on by a simple twist of fate

He hears the ticking of the clocks


And walks along with a parrot that talks
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailors all come in

Maybe she’ll pick him out again, how long must he wait

Once more for a simple twist of fate

People tell me it’s a sin


To know and feel too much within


I still believe she was my twin, but I lost the ring


She was born in spring, but I was born too late


Blame it on a simple twist of fate

-Bob Dylan