{2009 Edition and 2010 Edition}
Here’s my now annual round-up for this year. Looking back I can say 2011 has been a bit of a roller-coaster year. There was a lot of work stress behind the scenes (I don’t blog about work here) and a lot of MBA stress up front! It was a good year as well and the absolute highlights have to be my sister & her Hubby’s wedding, John & I (finally) getting engaged and the births of friends’ babies. In some ways it’s been a very long year, and in other, I can’t believe it’s over already!
January
I started out by making some resolutions. I haven’t done that well with some of them, but I have managed to cook a bit more, though I haven’t baked much! I made some tomato-chilli jam and I still have one bottle left-it’s aged really well! I spent a weekend away with John at his field site near Graff Reniet. Beautiful mountains and gorgeous sunrises. And dropping my camera into a puddle. And then I crazily went ahead on impulse and booked to go to FBI2011! I tried to live up to being a food-blogger and made some caramels. And then I destroyed my reputation and wrote about KornKurls (not what you think!!). And then I drowned my phone! Prickly pears are tricky to peel-but not with this handy guide!
February
To start the month, I created my own delicious banana bread combo and as the Easter Eggs were already out in the shops, I made a pie with them. And then I made what’s become a firm favourite with us, Cooksister’s Lemon & Prawn Risotto. I lamented the hot weather. I attended the Food Blogger’s Indaba (which I never ever got around to blogging about) and ended off by spending 14 hours at Cape Town airport-entirely my own fault! I whipped up some Gormet Kudu Wors Rolls with things from our goodie bag (and that post is still really popular!). And then I took a hiatus when the dreaded MBA workload and real life intervened!
March
After a long break, I crawled out from under the MBA rock and caught up on what I’d been up to. Then I got sick and did things by the numbers. Disco ball stars made me happy. I collected a whole bunch of my smoothie recipes together. I wrote a post about my kitchen which I later linked up as part of The Gallery.
April
I made some yummy bites, naan and curry. I took a moment to appreciate the humble cup of tea. My sister got married and I blogged about our road trip (Part 1 & Part 2) down to Paarl.
May
I shared the link for Ash & Gareth’s amazing wedding pics (I’ve since seen the rest and they are awesome!). I shared Part 3 of the Road Trip back home from the Cape. My blogging mojo was on an extended leave of absence. So it was a bit quiet on the blog front.
June
The first proper cold snap rolled around and then I went AWOL for MBA lectures and so forth. Once I returned to normality I attempted a sour dough starter called Janet. John shot a blesbok and we made biltong.
July
We spent a freezing weekend in Hogsback with some close friends. The Arts Festival started and I bought myself some amazing boots. And I whined a lot and wrote about rage. And then I wrote about my nipples (yes really!). Unsurprisingly it’s a popular post! I finally got to bake some of my sour dough and it turn out delicious! We had a lot of rain and ended up with out own water feature.
August
I reminisced about shopping with my Mom. We were visited by a donkey and I saw a beautiful rainbow and drank some lovely wine. I headed up to Jo’burg & Pretoria for work…
September
…where I met up with some amazing lovely and wonderful bloggers (Tamara, Ruby, Angel, Philly and Louisa!) but I was glad to get home again. I took a bit of an unscheduled blogging break, but shared some good news and details! And then tried to get the Mug of Destiny to Pimp by Braai but no luck!
October
I wrote something silly sitting in lectures. And then the brain went on holiday. But I did blog when I got back from Knysna, twice! And I started up a Tumblr blog “Snippets” where I dump all sorts (check it out)!
November
My Canadian friend hosted a belated Canadian Thanksgiving where we ate and drank and watched the fire glow. I thought about but about inheritence, and remembered my first car. I tried on some wedding dresses with friends. I also bought an iPad after playing with my Mom’s one in Knysna! We also drove through to East London to watch some cricket. Later that month some moron spolit a lovely weekend by almost crashing his car into our hedge.
December
We’ve had a lot of rain. I love it! We had a very relaxing weekend and I wrote about something that I hope happens to everyone!
Christmas was spent with Johns family-my first Christmas away from my family. (I’m still gathering my thoughts to write a post). We did our annual shift at the Legendary Ox Braai (2000 odd burgers sold in 24hrs-you do the math!) from 5pm to 3am and Im done with burgers and bacon & egg rolls for a while! Right now, as I finish up this post we are about to head off for a New Years braai with friends.
I hope that everyone gets what they wish for in 2012. As for me, I just want to that everyone for reading. 2012 is going to be a big year for me so I hope you’ll come along for the ride!
