UPDATE - 10 YEARS LATER !

View of Kilimanjaro from my old home

It has been just over 10 years since I left my life in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro & the beautiful country of Tanzania & relocated to South Africa. 

During this time, I turned my blog off, for personal reasons. I have had so many requests over the years to make it public again & for my old recipes to be made available - so, here it is ! (Excuse the outdated format & poor photo quality, but I wanted to leave it exactly as it was !) 

TO FIND OLD POSTS & RECIPES - See the "Archives" or "Labels" tabs to the right, or use the search bar.

FUN FACTS ! 

• When I stopped the blog, it was being read on every Continent/Worldwide (including Antarctica & on ships at sea !) 

• It ranked no 13 in Tanzania, no 628 in Africa & had won a few awards as well as extracts being published in local & overseas publications (Eg "Chicago Sun Times" & "Getaway Magazine")

☆☆I AM IN THE PROCESS OF STARTING A NEW, CURRENT & IMPROVED SOUTH AFRICAN FOOD & LIFE BLOG TO BE LAUNCHED IN MARCH 2021 - IT WILL BE LINKED HERE, SO WATCH THIS SPACE ! ☆☆

I will not be updating this blog - I wish to leave it as a collection of wonderful memories of a very special time in my life, aswell as a resource for people not only for my extensive recipe collection but also for those of you wishing to find out more about the beautiful country of Tanzania & for those of you planning a safari there in the future !

WHAT I'M UP TO NOW:

  Me today-a decade since I wrote the blog !

I still live in South Africa & am divorced from Ivan.  However, we remain the best of friends, are in weekly contact & he visits our children here as often as he can.

The farm we lived on in West Kilimanjaro was sold & soon after I left Tanzania, Ivan continued farming in another (very remote) part of the country where he still lives today.

My daughter, Logan is now 16 & my son, Paul is 11 - my blog covered my pregnancies, Logan as a toddler & Paul's birth - how time flies !

Justin still works for my ex husband, caretaking a property we still jointly own on the edge of the Arusha National Park & I keep in regular contact with him.

           ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I hope that you enjoy reading through my blog & re living some wonderful memories with me ~ and a BIG thank you to my faithful readers who have kept in touch with me over the past 10 years via email & Facebook ! 

On My Way To South Africa Soon ..........

Kilimanjaro's snow covered peak - as viewed from my front garden

Yes, I'm still here ! (And yes - I know that I've been a Really Bad Blogger lately !) Thanks to everyone for still reading, commenting, following and emailing - I appreciate it !

I am heading off to South Africa next weekend (those of you who have read me for a long time will know that my son is due to have an operation there in mid December) - but I promise to keep on blogging once I'm there, to let you all know what I'm up to !

I'll be spending some time in Johannesburg, and also on the Eastern Cape coast - where my parent's live and where I'll also be spending Christmas and New Year. As always, I'll let you know what I'm doing/eating and getting up to on my travels. Can you believe that we're almost at the end of 2010 already ?! (I can't !)

You know that I often post stats and interesting snippets about the blog , and I do feel a little guilty here as I am not blogging as regularly as I used to, yet the blog's ranking is still climbing with my new ranking being no. 13 in Tanzania (no - I'm not superstitious !) and no. 628 in Africa - and all I can say is THANK YOU to each and every one of you, for reading me as often as you do (even though the posts aren't as regular) because if not for YOU the blog wouldn't be ranking as it is !

'Food, Fun & Farm Life' has had 449 299 visitors as I type this post, the majority of my overseas readers currently coming from the USA, closely followed by the UK and then Canada. The majority of my African readers come from South Africa, followed by Kenya and then Zambia. (Tanzanian readers - where are you ?!)

My most unusual readers come from 'ships at sea' & their location is - the middle of the ocean ! I also have readers from as far afield as Macedonia, Indonesia, Japan, Slovenia and Bermuda - greetings to you all, and thanks for reading from your corner of the world !

One of the most popular recipe posts on the blog at the moment is the one over here for 'Tanzanian Chapati' which I posted over 2 years ago and the most popular 'life' post at the moment is this one on 'Typical Tanzanian Road Side Scenes' which shows scenery on the way to the farm.

So, yes - thanks for continuing to read me & inspire me to keep on blogging .... and watch this space !

Tanzanian Summer Days ......

A trip to the city revealed Mt. Meru out in all her glory (above) ..... her snow capped peak just visible amongst the clouds .......

The jacaranda's are in bloom again ........... leaving a soft lilac carpet in their dappled shade .....

Lunch with friends in a majestic old homestead ................


With summery views out over manicured lawns & clear blue water .............


The shady veranda a perfect spot for a pre lunch G & T ................ or two

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. If I had to tell you what was happening in my life right now, I think your jaw would drop on the floor ;) but it's all good ..... and all to do with moving forward, and moving on ....... lot's of changes on the horizon ...... and new beginnings, as hopeful and bright as these heady Summer days ...........

My News ..........

The land has views of Mt Meru (above) - Africa's 5th highest mountain

The land is currently a banana, maize and bean subsistence 'shamba' (farm)

The land is lush and green, with over 100 trees on it


We have also bought the existing house which is on the land - this will be used as a building store/for locking building supplies in, and we may eventually turn it into a lock-up garage or outside store


Village leaders from the local village which or land falls under, signing the Land Sale Agreement at the village office

Sorry I haven’t been around much lately – but here, at long last, is a post to let you all know what I’ve been up to !

I mentioned earlier this year that there would be some changes on the horizon for our family in the near future – well, I can now tell you that after about a year of planning & negotiating (things are rarely ‘smooth sailing’ here in Africa !) we have finally managed to buy 2 acres of magnificent Tanzanian land overlooking a National Park (and close to the base of Africa’s 5th highest mountain – Mt Meru) where we will start to build a home early in 2011 (as the seller will vacate the land in December this year).

The land is next door to two of our oldest and dearest friends who we have known since we moved to Tanzania in 1998, and is a mere 20 – 30 minutes from our daughter’s school – and around 1 ½ hours from the farm (& ½ hour from the city) so the plan is that we will build a home and move there towards the end of next year, so that we can be close to the school and so that our daughter (and son, as he will start nursery school in a couple of years time !) can attend it daily.

We will still keep a home base here on the farm (my husband will commute daily between our new home/farm/city office) & will come out here to stay over school holiday’s, weekends etc so it’s not going to be too sad (hopefully !) the day we finally make the move. (This being Africa, anything could happen and we could move sooner or later than the end of 2011 – so watch this space !)

I am going to be devastated to leave the farm as a permanent home base (but as hubby says, ‘Just wait until you see your own house being built, then you’ll be really excited to move !) as I love, love, love it here and if it were not for the children I would never ever want to leave (and I can tell you that I have had a love/hate relationship with the farm and that it took me many years to feel this way – when our daughter was still very young I was very unhappy here & wanted to move, but for the past several years I have been very happy & content here !) But as a parent, we all know that you make sacrifices for your children and as I do not want to send our children away to boarding school, we feel that this will be the best move for our family.

So, we have been going for endless meetings with village heads, officials and lawyers, land surveyors etc and it has all been quite exhausting with endless paperwork in order to have everything legally done, and countless trips in & out of the city which is what has been taking me away from the farm & blogging lately !

I’ve included a few photos of our land in this post for you to see – it is currently a bean, maize and banana ‘shamba’ (farm) - our friends (neighbours) have game such as elephant and hippo coming on to their land and what is really great is that the subsistence farmers who owned this land were having so much trouble with wild animals coming in & eating their crops that they were only too happy to sell, were paid very well for their land and this has enabled them to move further ‘inland’ and buy land were wild animals are no longer a threat to their crops/livelihood, so it is a win-win situation all round. There are quite a few people buying land in this particular area now, and restoring it to natural, indigenous bush & encouraging the game and birdlife back (which is what we also plan to do), which is wonderful.

I have also been keeping very busy with my Guest Cottage venture these past few weeks - and have had lots of guests in and out ! Many people have asked me what I will do about this once we move off the farm – well, a year is a long time and anything could happen in that time, but the idea is that I will still handle all the bookings/marketing etc from where we live and I will employ a good local person as a caretaker to oversee it for me in my absence (meeting & greeting people etc), and of course we will still be coming out to the farm over the odd weekend/holiday so I will still be able to keep an eye on things.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately ! I have also decided to only update the blog weekly (once or twice a week) for the time being, as I try to get on top of things going on in 'real' life. I also hope to find time this week to start visiting/commenting on everyone else’s blogs, too – and tackle my overflowing ‘Inbox’ aswell ! Thanks everyone, for keeping in touch – and I hope to be back in the blogosphere more often soon …..

My Garden This Morning ...........

Two photo's taken of my garden (as seen from our front veranda) this morning ...... just to let you all know that yes, I'm still here ! Will be back soon with a nice newsy post and photos ..... thanks for all the comments & emails this week .... sorry for my absence - I've missed you all !

Hasty Hello !

Phew ! I've had a hectic week .... and another busy one ahead - but as promised, I'm just popping in to say hello and to touch base with you all (and will then be off again). I'm not trying to be mysterious (honest !) ... it's just that there is so much going on right now, that I want to be able to sit down and tell you everything in detail at once - all good stuff, I assure you ;)

Thanks for all the continued comments and emails - I'll try and visit everyone's blogs soon (am - briefly - catching up with many in my Google reader at the moment).

The photo's above and below were taken earlier this week on the farm, on our way back from the city at sunset - they were both taken on the road leading to our house. (Isn't Kilimanjaro lovely in the pink evening light ?)

Have a great week, everyone !

Post Haste

A traditional kokatene (wooden hand drawn cart) seen everywhere here in Tanzania. I so admire the people who operate these, as it is a really tough job. (Photo credit - my Mum ! When my parent's were visiting a couple of years ago my Mum snapped this photo - thanks, Mum ! xx)

I am typing this post in haste after being off the farm all day today ..... with another early morning tomorrow as I am away again for the whole day - then back, then off again - so, a very busy week ahead for me & posting will not be every second day as usual as I won't be here much. So don't worry if you don't see me around until the weekend or so ? Will have lots of blog reading to catch up on then, aswell as comments and emails ............................. until then, kwaheri - I'm off on my wooden cart for another adventure (or two) !

A Catch-Up Chat .............

Not much colour in my garden at the moment ..... so just thought I'd share this lily with you (we have them growing in abundance right now !)

I just thought that I’d catch up with you all & let you know what’s been going on in my life lately ….. firstly, I must apologise for my blog having been a bit uninspiring lately. I read everyone else’s blogs and see what you’re all posting about at the moment and then I look at my own recent posts and just think ‘ummmm ….’ But, on the other hand, I see my ‘Followers’ increasing each day so figure my blog can’t be too boring at the moment – so thanks to everyone for ‘Following’ (both old and new readers alike !) as you guys are what are keeping my blog motivation levels up !

I guess it’s also partly down to the fact that I’m very busy at the moment & am not at my computer much. We have a lot going on on the farm with a busy harvesting season, upcoming work related visits to the farm, my new guest cottage venture (which is going really well !) …… so I have been ‘neglecting’ the blog a little – along with time issues which have meant that I've not been in the kitchen as much as usual – I’ve just been cooking old family favourites which have already featured on the blog.

School starts again in 2 weeks time, we are hoping to take a few day’s break as a family before then and go somewhere exciting (if I can drag hubby off the farm – if not, I’ve threatened to take the kids and go on my own with them – ha !) - sometimes you need a break away from your day-to-day life in order to recharge and start to appreciate it again – don’t you agree ?!

And on the subject of inspiration …. I am fed up with the new background I’ve put on the blog (spots ? I’m not a spotty person and don’t have anything spotty in my home or wardrobe !) – it was the only one I could find that sort-of matched my header colours. I’m also aware of that irritating 'photobucket' box which still pops up as the background is loading – so I am working on a complete overhaul and a new looking blog … sometime soon. I know exactly what I want it to look like, but now just have to find a way of creating it all. Mmmmmm …..

On that note, let me be off …. I have a busy week ahead with visitors due out to the farm aswell as a trip to the city planned …. oh, and trying to convince my husband that yes, he really does need to join us on a short family break and that the farm will not collapse in a heap without him here for a few days !

Have a great week, everyone !

Sunset from our veranda this weekend ................

All Sorts To Talk About Today .........

Thanks, everyone, for the comments on Saturday’s post. The day was a great success and the weather was, thankfully, warm enough for us to sit out on the veranda and enjoy our lunch.

Now, I was so busy that I forgot to take photo’s of the table settings, dessert etc – but I do have a few photos to share with you – ones that I remembered to take, that is !

Justin, as always, is a star and helped me so much I could not have done it without him – the photo above is of him, as we were just getting ready for everyone to arrive (& serve them snacks, below). Over the nearly 10 years we’ve worked together, Justin has helped me host 100’s of people and helps everything to run smoothly – setting the table, laying stuff out, checking on drinks, clearing up etc. He remains calm and is unflappable (whereas I like to shout, throw things in the air, take swipes at hubby if he gets in my way & generally, get in a bit of a tizz !) so we are a good team.


The friends on Sunday included both old and new as well as neighbours. The men mostly sat on one side and talked farming all day *boring* and then broke their monotonous conversation with talk about boats *yawn* and cars *double yawn* (with apologies to all my male readers !) whilst us ladies sat on the other side and gossiped about the latest Tanzanian expatriate scandal/s, child rearing, Tanzanite stones, bandit attacks and holiday’s !

Everyone enjoyed the food and it all went quite smoothly. I changed my main course at the last minute, and instead of serving the Chicken Broccoli Bake I made the Spicy Chicken Casserole instead (you can see that marinating above !) I added red & green peppers & drizzled fresh cream over the top (see photo below, of one of the 3 dishes) which I didn't do when I originally posted the recipe on the blog.

At around 8 pm that evening (yes, having guests stay on that late is quite typical of Sunday lunches here !) someone asked if they could go up to see the Guest Cottage, then someone else decided to come, then the kids all grabbed their torches and before I knew it, we were all (well lubricated with good South African red) staggering in the dark up to the cottage .... with excited dogs at our heels and hubby’s workshop askari looking at us in bewilderment as I gave everyone the grand tour ‘Kilimanjaro is over there – although you can’t see her now as it’s pitch black’ ….

Now on a completely different note, 3 great African blogs which I’d like to mention which I know that you'll all enjoy reading if you haven't found them already ….. first off, my *favourite* African blogger 'One Stoned Crow' is back and blogging from Namibia, so pop on over and say hello & welcome back & enjoy some of his magnificent photography.

My brother-in-law Chris (who is the reason this blog exists, as he suggested to me that I start one all that time ago !) has recently started a blog 'Mpumalanga Journal' about his farm & life in South Africa & memories of farming in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Pop in and say hello and leave a comment if you like, as we all know what it’s like when we are just getting our blogs off the ground and how nice it is to have visitors from afar ;) and then my dear friend Jo, who I have met twice ‘in real life’ is back in the Sudan this week and blogging from there about all the exciting things she’s getting up to over there on her blog, 'Memorable Meanders'.

And .... welcome to all my new 'Followers' and thanks to everyone for all the comments and emails, too. Sorry I haven't had as much time lately to visit and comment on everyone's blogs but I hope to visit you all soon !

Ollie Announces A Winner !

My precious Ollie wanted to announce the winner for me today (from the comfort of her Winter blanket, of course) !

And The Winner Is ……………..

Elenka from Portland, Maine, USA who’s wonderful blog ‘Downeast Doing Stuff’ can be found by clicking here. Congratulations, Elenka !

Elenka has been a regular reader of this blog for sometime now, and as she is a fellow cat lover, I decided to use my beloved Ollie (who doesn’t often feature on the blog as she’s rather shy !) to make the announcement today ! (You can read Ollie’s rescue story over here – when I found her she was a kitten probably a day or two away from death, and now she is a fat, happy and thriving 8 year old cat).

Please do go along and visit Elenka’s blog – as she is also an artist and some of her wonderful work is featured on her blog. (I should also add that she has a great sense of humour, one that really appeals to me and most of her posts have me in fits of laughter !)

Elenka, if you’d like to email me (click on the ‘Contact Me’ tab at the top of the blog) your address, I can then post your prize to you when I am next in the city.

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading through everyone’s favourite childhood food memories – each and every one was very special, and I just want to thank you all for sharing them ! What struck me about the majority of the memories, is that they mostly involved mother’s or grandmother’s – which just shows what an important role women play when it comes to food in the life of a child. And made me realise even more so, why it is important for me to encourage a love of food and cooking in my own two children from an early age. (I can’t help but wonder what their favourite childhood memories will be one day !)

As you’ve all shared your favourite childhood food memory with me, I guess I should share mine with you – some of you may have already read it and if not, you can do so by clicking here and reading the ‘interview’ I had with ‘Food & Taste’ as a guest blogger last year, where they asked me that same question.

So, once again – CONGRATULATIONS, Elenka !

This is how I drew a winner – I counted the number of entries (counting Sharon’s as 1 entry and omitting Caroline’s as she did not wish to enter) and came to 28. I then went to RANDOM.ORG and entered the range 1 to 28 and it generated the no 19. I then counted down to the 19th entry/comment which was Elenka’s ! (I have included a screen shot of the results – see the little box on the right hand side).

You can click on the image above to enlarge it & see how I drew a winner !

Tessa Says 'Thanks For All Your Entries/Comments .....!'

It's a cat's life ! Tessa takes a nap in the filing trays in my office ......

Mum said I should just pop in to thank you all for the entries/comments on this post last week. The 'competition' has now closed, and a winner will be drawn soon & announced next week.

Until then, I'm just going to stay curled up in the filing trays in her office. Because I like sleeping in odd places which you can read more about (& see photos of !) over here. Mum says it's okay though, 'cause I had rather a rough start in life (which you can read about over here) so now she lets me have/do whatever I want !

Blog Problems !

No, it's not me who's causing the problems (although I do love to chew on Mum's computer cords & cables every now and then !) but Mum has been frustrated with her slow internet connection this weekend, & now there's something called a floating box on her - blog ? Well I don't really care, to be honest - as I've found a cozy desk drawer to curl up & keep warm in until Dad comes home from work & lights the fire later on. Once I've had my supper of beef mince & imported cat biscuits, that is ..... I tell you, it's a hard life here on the farm for a cat .............. Purrs & Meows, Toby xxx (yes, I am the famous 'Kitchen Cat' who walked in the fudge over here and the story of how I came to live on the farm is over here)

I'm having a few problems with my blog - have you seen that awful little Photobucket box floating across my posts saying 'This image or video has been moved or deleted' ? Well, that's to tell me that the entire background for my blog - is gone ! (Did you notice that it has reverted back to plain yellow ?!)

I am trying to find out what the problem is, it has something to do with the background image designed for me ..... so is out of my hands at the moment. I am trying to sort it out as soon as I can though - as that little box is MOST annoying !

We've also been having internet connection problems over the weekend .... poor signal strength, losing our connection for hours on end etc .... as you know, I blog via satellite internet & it is as bad as dial up at times ;) so please bear with me - I am still here .....

Mountain Songs ..... & Ginger Tea

Ginger tea from the Usambara mountains & a CD of traditional Tanzanian songs recorded on Mt. Kilimanjaro - read on if you'd like to stand a chance of being the lucky recipient of these uniquely Tanzanian items !

Sitting here in a remote corner of Africa & often not seeing anyone one other than my husband, kids and staff for weeks on end I am constantly amazed – and delighted – by the number of people I manage to ‘connect’ with on a daily basis from every corner of the world through this blog. I receive emails on an almost daily basis from readers the world over, packages in the mail and numerous comments on each post. All this really helps to keep me ‘connected’ and not feel so isolated or out of touch with what’s going on in the world, and I only have YOU - the people who read this blog - to thank for that ! (Along with the fact that your interest in my blog continues to keep me inspired and encourages me to keep on blogging - no matter what !) As a full time mother and wife, this blog is probably the only thing that I do 100% for myself and for MY own enjoyment - and sanity ?! ha ha ... well, I certainly have no intention of giving any of THAT up anytime soon ;)

I was also honoured to have recently been chosen as a ‘TravelAvenue Favourite Blog 2010’ (you can see the ‘badge’ in my right sidebar) and they are publishing my travel related posts there now as ‘Food, Fun & Farm Life In East Africa ‘ is listed as one of their ‘top African blogs from the travel community and around the web’. What makes me really happy about this, is that I am blogging about East Africa and promoting the beautiful country of Tanzania, and hopefully making more people aware of the fact that Africa really is a fantastic and diverse continent to visit ! (And not only stricken with poverty, war and disease as so much of the international media will have us all believe).

My readership has also grown locally through the South African ‘All For Women’ site which publishes my recipes several times a month in their weekly cooking newsletter, and last week my ‘Fat Free Waffles’ recipe was featured as ‘Recipe of The Week’ in their main newsletter. (Thanks, ‘All For Women’ !)

Afrigator (Africa’s largest blog directory) currently ranks ‘FOOD, FUN & FARM LIFE IN EAST AFRICA !’ as no. 659 in Africa and no. 12 in Tanzania and once again, this blog would not be in those positions if not for all you wonderful people who read me … so, thank you for that !

In appreciation of all my readers, I have decided to have another blog giveaway ….. of 2 uniquely Tanzanian products. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post (or email me via the 'Contact Me' tab at the top of the blog if you are unable to post a comment) telling me your favourite childhood food memory before 11 am on Thursday 29th July, when I’ll close comments for this post and randomly draw a winner (I’ll contact you through a blog post announcing the winner, and you can then provide me with your postal details) and I’ll post the ‘prize’ to you - wherever you are in the world !

So, do you want to know (as pictured above) what I’m giving away ?

A 100 gm bag of ‘Lutindi Ginger Tea’ which has been grown in the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania (you can read a post I wrote about these beautiful mountains over here). The tea is grown without pesticides and is handpicked in tea fields which support the Lutindi Mental Hospital (East Africa’s oldest psychiatric hospital). The tea is packaged in a unique cloth bag made from local Kitenge cloth (you can read a post I wrote about Kitenge cloth over here).

A wonderful musical CD recorded live on Mt. Kilimanjaro with mountain guides and porters called ‘Kilimanjaro – A Cappella Mountain Singing’. It has 10 songs on it – all are traditional and well known Tanzanian songs which will enable you to really ‘feel’ part of the spirit of this wonderful country when you listen to it !

So, who knows ? You might be the lucky recipient of these 2 items, just leave me a comment and the winner will be announced in a little over a week …

Good luck, everyone !

Thanks For All The Comments .......

View from a neighbouring farm, out towards our neighbouring country of Kenya

Sunset from another spot .... I get so used to seeing the sunset from our veranda, it is nice to see it from a different angle for a change ! (P.S. Best viewed with a G & T in hand !)

Thanks, everyone for all the lovely comments on my recent two posts, and also for the great feedback on my new website/venture. I really appreciate it - and all of you !

I have been busy this weekend, didn't manage to get much blogging stuff done but hope to get back into the swing of it soon ..... have been sorting through lots of recent photo's of my 'adventures' on the farm and have lots of interesting things to post about ..... finally introducing you to our askari (guard) Simon & his dog Pasta ... errrr .... Buster .... and another new staff member who has joined us ..... a tree felling project that could have ended in disaster *gasp* ..... update on our pets and village stray feeding 'project' ..... new farm equipment which has arrived from a far flung land (Holland !) ..... banana Mama's and school trips ...... and a few recipes too, of course !

In the meantime (as I'm getting ready for a big trip to the city tomorrow & flat out busy with preparing for that) .... I'll leave you with the two scenic photo's above - taken from a neighbouring farm at sunset just last weekend .... which gives you a slightly different 'feel' for this beautiful part of the country which we live in ....

Back soon ;)

Just Popping In To Fill You All In .......

Some flowers photographed in my garden recently

Thanks so much to each and every one of you for the blog comments & messages to both my email & Facebook over the past week. I’m just popping in to say that things are quietening down this end, and I plan to start blogging again soon – hopefully I’ll have some time over the weekend (or early next week) to get started again !

I know that you are all wondering exactly WHAT things were going on in my life …. I don’t want to elaborate because I choose to keep very personal things off my blog, but it has mainly been to do with my son (who’s just turned 1) … long time readers of my blog will know that he has been born with a severe congenital condition which is going to require one (or more) operations over the course of his childhood, the first one of which is being performed in December, and we received some (not great) news relating to that recently, which is what I was referring to by ‘personal issues’ on my blog.

Farm wise we’ve had some issues about crops, planting, work related stresses etc which anyone will have in any job so nothing new there – but coupled with other ‘stresses’ (above), it all got a bit much.

We are also (and I hinted earlier this year about some ‘big news’) in the process of trying to buy 2 acres of land to build a family home on, between the farm and the city so that our daughter can start attending school full time, using the farm as a base for weekend’s/holidays and my husband will commute when he has to – but we are having lots of delays with that. Land in Africa is never an easy issue, and we were hoping to be much further ahead in the land purchase than we are right now - which just adds to the stresses !

Other news keeping me busy – after several years of requests from local people here , aswell as a demand for tourist accommodation in this area, I have finally relented (‘Never Say Never !’) and am in the process of renovating and upgrading our farm guest cottage as a proper self catering unit, for both local and international guests. So, I have been very busy lately getting a website off the ground and marketing/advertising the cottage.

I have been inundated with Tanzanian travel queries coming through the blog lately, too …. well, at least 3 emails a week with people asking me all sorts of questions about travel in Tanzania and whilst I love helping people out, I must admit this is getting a bit much for me now (I am not a travel agent/advisory bureau !) …. giving out endless info, input on where people should stay/visit whilst here and answering all sorts of other Tanzanian travel related questions (many times from people who are not even regular readers of my blog but have just happened upon it that day, other times I spend time composing detailed replies – often to never get a reply or so much as a ‘thank you’ from the person who emailed me !). So, I am hoping to channel all similar requests in future through the new website, where I can refer people to local businesses here who can help them with what they need. (There’ll be a new page/link appearing on my blog soon to explain this.)

So, that is all my news for you today, and if you’d like to have a look at my new website, you can find it over here -:

KILIMANJARO SELF CATERING ACCOMMODATION

Thanks so much everyone, for understanding my reasons for 'freezing' the blog for a while, and for all being here for me as I get back to blogging again soon !

Followers, Visitors, Even More Rain and ..... Addictions !

Well this week my blog hit just over the 200 Blogger 'Followers' mark (for those of you who don't know about 'Following' - this just means that 200 people with Blogger accounts are following my blog daily, and are getting updates on their Blogger 'dashboard' whenever I update my blog. Thanks too, to my 28 'Blogged' followers) I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who 'Follows' me - as well as those who don't, but still log in daily to see what I've got to say ;) and to all my new 'Followers', too - it's great to see the numbers increasing, because there's nothing worse than blogging and thinking that no one is reading you ! Thanks to everyone for reading, commenting & emailing.

This week was a busy week for me, and I'm quite glad that it's over actually ! First off, we had to rush through to the city last weekend as hubby and I were both quite sick. Hubby has a severe form of tick bite fever, and I had bronchitis and sinusitis and had to have a hydrocortisone injection (the most painful one of my life I think - it burns like fire going through your veins !) and we are both now on antibiotics and feeling much better. I hardly ever get sick and when I am, it's really annoying. Of course hubby - as all men do (with apologies to my male readers !) - acted as though he was just about to die, but I assured him that the only thing that would be killing him off anytime soon, was is 20 + a day cigarette habit (behind the farm workshops and out of my view, according to the staff as he has 'given up' in front of me that is - ha ha !)

Then we had 2 school runs, shopping and visitors out from Holland, Israel and Australia to the farm mid-week (the visit was supposed to be last week but some of them were delayed due to the Icelandic volcanic ash saga). I laid on morning and afternoon tea's for them, and lunch aswell. The two photo's above are of morning tea set out on our veranda, as we waited for them to arrive. (Didn't take any photo's of lunch, as at that stage I was running around like a headless chicken !)

The rain continued to bucket down, with 109 mm's since Thursday, so I took the photo above out of my office window (where I blog from daily) / view from my desk to try & show you the rain - you can't see it, but you can see the wet, red mud which we have everywhere (and banana trees in the background).

I've also been busy redecorating the kid's bedrooms and am busy with my son's this weekend - but that's for another post, another day .... At the end of each day I have been relaxing by watching my latest addiction - 'LOST' .... I know that the 6th and final season is airing in the US this month - I'm currently on the 4th season so have lots more ahead of me to enjoy ! (Including my two LOST favourites here and here ;)

I've had a few requests from readers about what they'd like me to blog about, and I was wondering if there was anything you'd like to see on the blog - a part of farm life, Tanzania or whatever that you'd like me to do a post about - let me know in the comments section or by email, and I'll happily oblige if I can !

Well, enough of my rambling .... I will leave you with a sunset photo taken on the road just outside our house earlier this week - in between all the rain - and wish you all a wonderful and relaxing Sunday, wherever in the world you may be .....

Sunday's .............

A photo taken earlier this weekend of flowers in my parent's garden ....

Sorry no proper blog post from me today ............. have had a really lazy Sunday ... baby son woke me up around 7 am for a feed - I brought him in to bed with me & we both went back to sleep again until around 9 am ... him cuddled in my arms ... precious times ! My daughter went down to the beach with my Mum and the rest of the day has just sort of gone past in a lazy blur ... as any good Sunday should .....

Sunday's have always been my least favourite day of the week (too many memories of having to return to boarding school, or college, or leaving then-boyfriend's farm to head back to my job in town ... depending on what life stage I happened to be at at the time !) so I'm always glad when they're over & the new week has begun.

Hubby is heading back to our farm today - hooray ! He spent last night in a town called Morogoro. (Hasn't that got a lovely ring to it ?!) Have been keeping in touch via SMS and hope to talk to him on the 'phone properly tomorrow.

Instead of blogging, I'm off to bath/feed the kids so that I can have a nice, early, kid-free evening & watch 'Strictly Come Dancing' (which my Mum has got be hooked on !) .... enjoy the rest of your Sunday, everyone ;)

Oh, To Be Home !

Justin (who prefers not to look directly into the camera if he can help it !) smiles as he tackles the mountain of ironing out on the veranda - there hasn't been much ironing for the past few months as we've been away, so he assures me he doesn't mind a bit !

Gorgeous Dibble has given me lots of licks and cuddles since my return ...................

And Maxie has grown into a fluffy, lovable dog - who follows me around everywhere !

Ssshhhh ...... there's a baby sleeping in his carrier - balanced atop the kitchen table so that I can keep an eye on him as I cook & potter around my kitchen .....

And another beautiful African sunset viewed from our veranda once more ........

Yes. There certainly is no place quite like home !

The Easiest Way To Cut A Pineapple

I thought that it might be quite interesting for me to show you how I usually cut my pineapples as it's such a quick, simple & relatively fuss-free way to cut them. To test if a pineapple is ripe, see if the middle leaves can be easily removed with a gentle tug - just pull one or two & this should give you an indication. The outer skin colour of the pineapple will also indicate to you how ripe it is - there should be no green colour or pale patches - just even, orangey golden coloured skin.

Firstly, take your pineapple and cut the 'top' and 'tail off it' (as in thephoto above).

Next, stand it upright (cutting the top & tail off will create a square base which stands easily on a surface) & slice all the skin off in wide strips, as seen in the photo below. (I cut it quite thickly so as to get all the little 'hairy' bits out, too. Any bits that remain, I simply cut out with a paring knife.)

Then, just slice your pineapple in half and now it should look like this -:

Then slice each half (straight down the centre) into halves again, so that you have 4 pieces/quarters -:

Notice the white 'ridge' running along the edge of each quarter above ? Well, this can be a tough and tasteless part of the pineapple, so you just want to remove it by slicing it off each quarter like you see in the photo below (the 4 sliced off bits are pictured horizontally).

Now simply take these 4 quarters & slice them in to cubes, any size you like (you might prefer yours a bit smaller than the ones pictured below) -:

Voila ! There you have it - easy, hey ? When I see my pineapples getting ripe, I cut them like this & keep them stored in a covered glass bowl in my fridge for up to 3 days. The cubes can be eaten fresh or added into a salad, and after a day or two as they begin to soften I usually use them for cooking - thrown into stir-frys etc. (My current favourite is a vegetable stir-fry with pineapple cubes added and stacks of garlic & Soy Sauce added !) I do not like the taste of fresh pineapple much, but adore it when it's cooked.

Jelly Boats

A real hit with children, these Jelly Boats are not that difficult to make - I use an old egg tray to hold the orange skins in whilst the jelly sets

Bright & colourful, & always refreshing on a hot day !

I remember as a child growing up in Zimbabwe, having these "Jelly Boats" served at all the kids parties. My husband remembers them from his childhood, too and as they are almost always a hit with the kids, I decided to make them for my daughter's birthday party this year -:

Jelly Boats

10 Oranges

2 pkts of Jelly powder (Jello) in contrasting colours

Water

Toothpicks, paper & coloured pens

Cut the oranges in half & squeeze the juice out of them. Gently turn the skins inside out and place on a firm surface so that the pith can be removed with a sharp knife - they should be completely clean inside. Gently turn the skins the right way again. Make up the jelly according to the instructions on the box, and carefully pour it into the orange skins. Balance carefully in the fridge (I use an empty cardboard egg tray). Once set, slice each half again & stick a toothpick in the middle, topped with a colourful triangle of paper to make a 'sail'.

These are easy for even very young children to eat (remove toothpicks first though !) & I know a few adults who have been known to enjoy them, too ;)