Jewel of the Free State

On my last weekend of holiday at home, we decided to venture out of the province and visited a quaint corner of the country close to Clarens in the Free State. The holiday lodge was surrounded by mountains and tranquility and it was a weekend filled with putt-putt, quad-biking and wonderful little eating places - all the key ingredients to a weekend away in the Drakensberg.

I like them 80s movies.

So this year I've fallen in love with everything to do with old movies - especially 80s and 90s movies.

I love the naïveté of the characters and the simplicity of the times in the high school movies compared to teenhood today. It just really and truly makes me happy. Before you jump ahead - no I do not wish I was a teen in the 80s, truly. I'm pretty sure I was born in the right era because I can't imagine being a teen without internet. 

So I thought I'd just give you a list of my favourite golden oldies that I will never get tired of, it's not quite a top ten but it's close. 

1. The Breakfast Club

This movie is one of my all time favs and I will never get tired of - don't you wish that you could go to detention and come out with new friends and a boyfriend? 

2. 10 things I hate about you

Yes, yes it's not an 80s movie but it's still an oldie and a classic. I first watched this movie whilst on exchange and I recently rewatched it and loved it all over again - how can you not love her poem in the end and of course Heath Ledger? 

3. Dirty Dancing

One of the cutest love stories there is. If you didn't feel utter joy when they could do the lift in the end then there is a problem. 

4. Sixteen Candles

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the others but it's still one of my favourite oldies. It follows the story of a girl on her sixteenth birthday where her family has forgotten about her birthday and even worse the boy she has a crush on doesn't know she exists - imagine how horrible that must be.

5. Footloose 

Now before you say that you've watched this one you better not be talking about the 21st century remake. The original version is much much better - surprise surprise. I find it more sincere and believable and it just suits the time better having it set in that decade (the 80s) rather then today. 

6. Dead Poets Society 

I forgot how sad and heartwarming this movie was until I rewatched it recently. The movie follows the lives of boarding school boys whose lives are changed by a new English teacher. It is such a well-written story about following your passion and not following convention and tradition for the sake of it.

7. Pretty in Pink
This is one of those really bad 80s movies you can't help but love and find entertaining. Another Molly Ringwald movie where Andie finds herself in a bit of a love triangle and she has to choose between a sweet rich boy and a childhood friend.

8. Some Kind of Wonderful
I found this movie to be very similar to Pretty in Pink but the gender roles are reversed where Keith asks out a popular girl unbeknown to him that his tomboy best friend has a huge crush on him. If I had to choose my favourite between Pretty in Pink and this one - Some Kind of Wonderful would get my vote because I found it cuter and my heart melted more at the end of this one than at the end of Pretty in Pink, that's a very good indication right?

That's my list - it's not a very long list but out of all the 80s movies I've watched so far, these are my fav. It's a lot of John Hughes and quite the Molly Ringwald overload. 

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. What are your favourite golden oldies? xx

Images: the breakfast club, 10 things I hate about you, dirty dancing, sixteen candles, footloose, dead poets society, pretty in pink, some kind of wonderful

Rainbow Splash.

This past weekend was the Festival of Chariots held on the beachfront. We went a couple of times over the weekend. It started on Friday with the pulling of the chariots (which is exactly as it sounds - the giant chariots were pulled by ropes by people along the promenade).

Yesterday was the Rainbow Splash, essentially like the celebration of Holi. Holi is the Hindu festival where it celebrates the beginning of Spring and a time to say farewell to winter and commemorates times of good harvests and fertile land. The event is celebrated by throwing coloured powder at each other.

So that's what we did yesterday on the beach. The Festival of Chariots held the Rainbow Splash event and was basically a 2-hour event of throwing coloured powder at each other whilst a DJ (Deon-G) entertained us. Every half an hour or so, there would a mass throwing of colour in the air where we would throw a certain colour up in the air. The whole event was heaps of fun and we all looked like we swam in a rainbow by the end of it.

Just a tip to all those going to next week's Colour Fest, don't talk that much otherwise you gonna get some of the colour in your mouth and that stuff stains. Also being short doesn't really help because people just dump a whole lot of colour on top of you hence my face is the most colourful. But it's still loads of fun so enjoy chickens! 

Stay stylish! 

Image 1

Rainbow Cake.

Yes so today Paige and I decided to bake a rainbow cake. It was a very time-consuming process but so worth it in the end. The method for the cake-baking is pretty straight-forward.

We used the following recipe for the cakes:

Ingredients:

• 290g flour
• 75g salted butter and 75ml oil 
• Alternatively use 150g Stork 
• 250g castor sugar 
• 1 tablespoon baking powder 
• 3 large eggs
• 100ml milk
• 50ml water
• 5ml vanilla essence 

The method is simple. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. You sieve all the dry ingredients in a bowl. You then mix in all the wet ingredients and beat it until well mixed. This makes 2, 20cm, cakes. 

We doubled the recipe and made it twice so that we got 8, 20cm, cakes. To colour the different layers we split the batter and coloured it in a bowl using food colouring then poured it into the greased 20cm baking pan. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. 

We trimmed the cakes so that they were all flat and even then layered the cakes in the order (from the bottom) green, blue, purple, green, yellow, pink, orange and red and used butter cream icing in between each layer and around the giant cake. Oh and we added sprinkles to the top because what is a cake without sprinkles? What is anything without those tiny colourful baubles?

My oh my, why are you so tall?

Lol, so it didn't go as smooth as that. We ended up with two green layers because we tried to make the one turquoise and that was a fail. We almost forgot to add the butter and oil to the first batch and in between all of this we were videoing our whole baker day on Paige's laptop (yes we are going to be the next youtube sensation). All in all, it turned out really cool (and indie). So without further introductions here is our holi (rainbow) cake!

Talk about a mouthful. 

Stay stylish! xo