Talk to the hand: Nando's responds

So Nando's responded a full day ahead of Santam's deadline. Their response is pretty funny, but I think Santam nailed it in this case. Kudos. I wonder if Santam will respond? 

Chicken Noodle Soup for your Face

So the cold weather is upon us and nothing is better on a cold day than some delicious hot soup. Also this is great for sicklings. Recently it has been cold and some of my friendlings have been sick so I decided to whip up some Chicken Noodle Soup. Enjoy! 

Happy Friday: Like a Boss

Amazing typography from Wesley Bird.

Wise words for a Friday.

Check out this video: LIKE A BOSS from The Lonely Island.

Have a Happy Weekend friends.

太極拳: Supreme Ultimate Fist aka Tai Chi

Tai Chi translates into Supreme Ultimate Fist. Yeah!

So the other day I decided to try out Tai Chi. I have always been interested in it ever since I went running at the early hours of the morning in Taiwan and discovered a Tai Chi underworld. I thought the park would be quiet, but no every old person was up walking around the park softly hitting themselves. Some were on the grass performing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon like moves in slow mo.

I arrived for the class a few minutes early and was the only newbie. I knew this because I was the only one not wearing black (I decided to wear my rather inconspicuous shirt obtained from band night: It depicts a pig being hit by truck under the slogan "I heavy damage you"), I didn't have the special white shoes (mine are pink and grey) and I didn't bring a mat or a stick. I walked into the class and tried to be a wallflower by hiding in the back corner. "You're new aren't you? You should stand in the middle. We do a lot of turns and you need to see what is going on." Nailed it. So there I was, the youngest by about 20 years and the only one not in black in the center of the classroom.

Now I had visions of Tai Chi being easy. It is not. The instructor arrived and after our breathing exercises and warm up, it got real. (We also did the hitting yourself thing in the warm up. This made me think of my friend Lauren. Dude we would have laughed so much doing that!) We had to stay in a squatting position and when the instructor said "If anyone comes up, we start from the beginning" I knew this would not be easy or slow.  At one point we were doing kicks and I lost my balance and my foot touched the ground with a loud thump. "I heard a foot touch the ground. We start again." Way to make friends!

Then we got to the cool stuff. My center stage position did serve me well even though I felt like a complete chop. It takes a while to get the moves but they are awesome. My favourite was the snake. Not only did it look cool because it reminded me of some moves from Kung Fu Panda, but I felt like I looked like a pro.

Tai Chi is where all other martial arts stem from. Towards the end of the class, our awesome instructor started to show us the application. I thought Tai Chi was all about energy alignment, but with each move you are able to take down your opponent. The instructor would show us one move and after a swift movement would say things like "See, leg broken" or "All ligaments snapped". This here Tai Chi is no joke.

For our next lesson we will get to use the sticks. I can't wait.

Advertising at its Best

So we have all seen that Santam ad. You know the one where the bartender's outfit changes three times? And I bet the first time you watched it you didn't pick up those changes, but the next time it came on, your eyes were focused on the bartender and you didn't listen to a word the old guy said?

Enter Nando's. In a way that only Nando's can, they spoofed the ad. Nando's usually has the final say, but Santam nailed it.  Here is the Nando's ad and beneath it is Santam's response.

NANDO's AD

SANTAM's RESPONSE

Think Nando's will deliver the goods by 4pm Thursday? I wonder how they will respond? I imagine that everyone at that agency is running around like headless chickens trying to create the perfect response.  We will wait in antici....pation. Advertising never looked this good.

Good to Eat at: The Throbbing Strawberry

A while ago my BFF came to visit and we decided that we wanted to go for breakfast. The Throbbing Strawberry is always full and we had only heard rave reviews. The breakfast was amazing. I had a most delicious omlette and my bestie, Fi,  had the bacon, strawberry and marscapone cheese flap jacks. Sounds weird right? But it was apparently delicious. I would have eaten it too, but I don't eat our piggy friends.

On Friday we decided to try out their dinner menu. I would recommend making a reservation (011 704 6982 ) as they are usually pretty busy and judging by the food it is not hard to see why. They have a rather impressive drinks menu and although we chose vino, the Leopard's Leap Sauvignon Blanc which has a lovely fruity palette,  their cocktail menu looked pretty tasty. Fanta Grape and Sprite Zero also graced the table with their presence. They were also delicious.

Here is what we ordered. My mom got the Thai Curry but said that I could make a better one. (Of course I can and thanks Mom), my sibling Hil tried out the Calamari and when it arrived we all wanted to take one of her fries as they looked amazing, her boyfriend Miles went for a pasta dish that even the waiter had a hard time figuring out what it was, but nevertheless it was good, my friend Matt ordered the Pepperoni Pizza and although delicious by the end of the meal he had piled up enough basil leaves on his side plate to go home and make enough pesto for a family of four. Seriously fresh herbs are amazing, but having an entire herb garden's worth on your plate...not so much. I had the Beef, Strawberry and Rocket pizza. Again they were a bit heavy handed on the rocket, but it was one of the best things I have eaten in a while.

To end off the evening my sibling and I had the Chocolate Fondant which takes 30 minutes to prepare but is well worth the wait. Matt had a vanilla milkshake, Miles went with a cuppacino and my mom had an Irish Coffee. All in all delicious food and a great atmosphere.

There is enough on The Throbbing Strawberry's menu to please almost anyone and their knack for combining unusual ingredients makes it all the more better. And if you go with a good group of people, even better.

Red Velvet Goodness

 

This weekend my mom came to visit and while out having breakfast someone mentioned Red Velvet cake. I had never tried it so I looked up a recipe and when we did some grocery shopping I bought all of the ingredients, well actually my mom paid (thanks mom), so technically she bought it. It is quite easy to make and I followed this recipe. I used an entire bottle of red food colouring, when in fact I only needed one ounce which is only 30ml and not the 45ml bottle that I used. Learn from my mistakes. Red Velvet cake is usually topped with a white cream cheese icing, but because my sibling and her boyfriend do not like icing (I know right), I used a chocolate icing mix that they are particularly fond of. I can't wait for an excuse to try and whip up a Red Velvet cake with cream cheese icing. Yum! Watch this space. On another note because I only have a Blackberry, I don't have access to the wonderful world of Instagram, so instead I need to resort to Photoshop to make pictures look pretty. I followed this amazing tutorial from Pugly Pixel, and now you can too. And that is all.

 

4 Epically Awesome Interweb Things

Twitter: The Great Leader's son becomes a twat

Follow North Korea's latest leader @KimJongNumberUn as he takes to the twitterverse and keeps us updated on his latest antics. My favourite tweet so far has to be: Still confused about what went wrong. Thought Diet Coke and Mentos was foolproof. Thanks D for sending this through. All I can say is, "So did we Kim Jong, so did we."

Tumblr: Fax that

Fax Blog: if you have the secret number then you can send a fax to this blog. That pretty much sums it up. Get the number and send through a fax. Some of the faxes are really boring but every now and then you get something worth while.

Pinterest: Turn any obsession into a pin board

Pinterest lets you pin pictures to different boards that you have. It is a pretty cool way to keep track of all those cool things you see on the web and would like to visit later. It is also a great way to discover new things. At the moment I am obsessed with typography. Type that in and see what treasures the pinterest machine will bring you. I used to have this picture on my work computer. It's a good way to live the day.

Youtube: The Key of Awesome

You know the radio has killed a song when parodies start to pop up. As is the case with Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know. Check out this hilarious parody by The Key of Awesome. Use the Youtube to watch some of their other stuff. They are pretty funny.

Have a happy week and enjoy discovering new things on the interweb. I shall leave you with this from Jimmy Carr "The right to bear arms is slightly less ludicrous than the right to arm bears."

Make Easter Eggtraordinary

Eggcellent Easter Cookies

Check out this awesome recipe for delicious Easter Cookies. This recipe is part of They Draw & Cook, an awesome recipe series that invites artists from around the world to illustrate a recipe. This one is done by Jean Cameron. Don't know what to make for dinner? Check out more recipes here.

Eggciting Easter Eggs

How epically awesome are these Alice in Wonderland eggs? Check out this collection of Most Excellent Easter Eggs Ever here and be sure to look at the Joker, Obama & Twilight eggs.

Funny Bunny

Every month I update my desktop wallpaper calendar to suite the theme of the month or my mood. Check out this awesome Funny Bunny April desktop calendar designed by Adconcept Werbeagentur Gmbh from Germany. Go here to see and download more magnificant Easter slash April themed wallpapers from Smash Magazine.

Easter Indulgence

And although you will get some delicious Easter snackage like hot cross buns, Easter eggs and delicous meals, make sure you be nice to your body and don't over indulge too much. 

And now for something completely different...

 

Here is a funny video called The Car Guard Song by Derick Watts & The Sunday Blues (the same people that brought you Braai Day).

Happy Easter Dudes!