namrata singh mcgroarty

new blog.

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:53:11 +0200

hey guys, i’m now i’m blogging at landofnams.com

click on over for my new posts!

blog maintenance.

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:34:59 +0200

Namrata Singh//cape peninsula

i’m in cape town exploring what is one of the most beautiful places in the world. i’m also spending a few hours doing blog maintenance on the advice of some people who know what they are talking about while p is interviewing people today. so i leave you with this beautiful flower we saw when driving around the cape peninsula. i can’t wait to show you the photographs of the rest of this place.

25th october, 2011

cupcakes: how to edit your baking recipes for the altitude

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:00:05 +0200

Namrata Singh//carrot cake cupcakes and maple cream cheese frosting.

i finally got around to baking here for the first time for some friends last week. the most exciting part about it was that i visited kadies and found neon pink dusting powder. i used my usual smitten kitchen recipe and they tasted delicious but didn’t look as delectable as they normally do because i was in denial that we live on the highveld and therefore should have adjusted my baking practices according to our altitude.

Namrata Singh//carrot cake batter

because of the lighter air pressure foods (and my lungs, ~~i can barely run 5 kilometres~~ i can barely run) respond differently than us low altitude dwellers are used to. so, the first thing you need to do is decrease your amount of leavening agents by about 15-25% percent per 5,000 feet. in jozi we are at 5,751 feet so i now take out about a quarter of the baking soda (i.e. take out 1/4 teaspoon for every teaspoon the recipe calls for). you also need to increase the amount of liquid to counter the dryness….add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid per cup of flour (note: in baking, eggs do not count as liquid but butter does). the internet also recommends decreasing the amount of sugar by 2 to 3 tablespoons per cup of sugar but i say ‘pshaw’ to that.

the last recommendation is to raise the cooking temp by 20 degrees F or 11 degrees C (math people i know that 20 degrees F does not equal 11 degrees C in a direct conversion) and slightly shorten the cooking time. i can’t help you with that, you’ll just have to poke your cupcake with toothpicks to figure out exactly when to take them out.

while they weren’t as lovely of a color or perky as they normally are i was able to hide the imperfections with the heavenly frosting. and they were absolutely delicious which made up for what they were lacking in looks. and now i hope you can use my misadventure to avoid having one of your own!

ps. for you fellow americans baking soda is called bicarbonate of soda here and confectioners or powdered sugar is called caster sugar and both can be found in the plenty even at the most basic grocery stores (which is not the case for you poor berliners).

24th october, 2011

fashion fridays.

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:39:48 +0200

Namrata Singh// in our living room

i realize that this outfit is a bit plain and a bit of a cop out since i already featured the shirt and necklace this week in a post about neighbourgoods. my reason for using it anyway is that i should focus on local african designers as much as possible. and to make up for my lack of creativity i have a little extra for you: my nails. in a ~~pathetic~~ heroic attempt to save money since we are dropping hard earned cash for cars sometime this month i decided to do my own nails, (p, my parade please).

i wore this outfit to lunch at my friend bing’s house (she cooked and hosted a delicious lunch with some other ‘real’ bloggers- heather, martina, sine and clare) and to my first photography class. i learned a ton at both. a very successful day in south africa.

glasses: garrett leight via shopbop

necklaces: ruby, skermunk il, and i don’t remember from an nyc flea market

shirt: take care clothing via neighbourgoods

black bandeau: h&m because see-through shirts need bandeaus

jeans: mavi via the mavi store in hackesher markt (berlin), they were like 2 for 1. i don’t really like them though because they get super loose after one wear.

and le manicure. i got my inspiration via this pin on pinterest. i think it turned out okay. it is a feat to properly photograph your own nails though.

Namrata Singh//homemade mani

grey: opi in moon over mumbai

gold glitter: opi in only gold for me

top coat: essie in no chips ahead (i only mention because it works preeetty well)

i am off to cape town for the week with p tomorrow and i am incredibly excited to see the city that the whole word talks about (and by ‘see’ i mean ‘drink my way through several wine farms’). i hope your weekend is fabulous and restful. bis nächstes mal meine kartoffelköpfe!!

21st october, 2011

things to do in joburg: wolves cafe (adorable, unlimited internet in an internet challenged country)

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:00:06 +0200

Namrata Singh//wolves cafe

if you’ve ever lived or visited south africa you know this country is a bit internet challenged. never before had i had a thought about how many bytes of internet i use. i was blissfully sucking all the magical internet i pleased through my various apple devices. since arriving here we’ve been surviving on an overpriced stick (who uses internet sticks?) from vodacom. i had to think twice before clicking on each ~~gawker recap video of real housewives of new jersey~~ radiolab podcast. so you can see how pathetic my life was becoming. at present we have no stick and we are waiting for our relocation service to get its act together for proper internet at our house and i thought i was out of luck for a whole week. think about it. a week. without. internet. after having an existential crisis and deciding that yes, in fact if i do not have internet then life is meaningless i ~~ordered p to~~ set out to find a place with unlimited internet.

IF cafes here or even hotels have complimentary wifi they usually have daily limits on it. if you didn’t know how quickly you go through 75mb you’re going to be in for a rude awakening. never fear, wolves café to the rescue. it is located in illovo on the corner of corlett and oxford road (right next to oliva). first of all it is ADORABLE with adorable little bunting flags strung up everywhere and delicious baked goods. as you can see, i said f**k you to my newly slightly slower metabolism and had a red velvet cupcake and latte. best of all, i lazily sat for hours using the free, unlimited, delicious internet. they also sell some adorable wares including pieces by skermunkil design. they do sponsored movie nights sometimes and this week the film was Dirty Dancing, so in addition to having delectable treats it is clear that they are tasteful cinephiles. if you are looking for a charming (and yes, trendy) place to enjoy some solitude and internet then wolves is a good bet.

20th october, 2011

our first dinner party in joburg

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:39:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//caramel cake

in berlin we loved to entertain on the trusty long black ikea dining table and in joburg that hasn’t changed. so last week we decided that the house was ~~in a state of ordered chaos~~ ready for our first dinner party in south africa. on sunday I spent the whole day cooking a french menu while p dutifully painted the bathroom and put up pictures.

i like this menu because ~~if you have your sh*t together~~ theoretically you can cook all of it beforehand and keep it warm which is perfect for entertaining. in fact, the coq au vin, mushrooms, onions, and soup all taste BETTER the more time they’ve had to stew. the menu:

soupe à l’oignon (french onion soup) from smitten kitchen

coq au vin (chicken in red wine) from the incomparable julia child

champignons sautés au buerre (butter drenched sauteed mushrooms) via julia

oignons glacés a brun (brown braised baby onions) via julia

french mashed potatoes from tasty kitchen

caramel cake is from woolworths*. oh snap! that’s right i didn’t bake for our precious guests. and i bought a cake from a huge department store. it’s ok ~~i’ll~~ they’ll get over it.

*for people who don’t live in rsa, woolworth’s is a whole new world down here.

Namrata Singh//bud vases

i managed to clip a few flowers for our test tube bud vases (thanks mo). i could only get a few simple ones since i knew where they were in the dark and i didn’t have time to do the song and dance of turning on the outside lights on (our property is an acre!). the french onion soup turned out well enough but since our day was chaotic i didn’t manage to heat up the broiler to a high enough temp by dinner time to get that delicious burned crispy look on top.

Namrata Singh//soupe à l’oignon

we got use our wedding stuff for the first time so it was fun to set the table. (and um, we’re still working on our thank you cards. gulp.)

Namrata Singh//table setting

the other tragedy is after the first course i guess i started drinking a little too much wine (hehe) and forgot to take pictures of the subsequent courses. so instead, i’ll leave you with one more gratuitous shot of that delicious cake.

Namrata Singh//good enough to eat

the night was a success as our guests were hilarious, the food was gone and we were a tad hungover the next day.

19th october, 2011

recipe: vegetarian bibimap dinner and bento lunch

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:04:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//korean style bento lunch

last week as i was organizing the kitchen i came across a package of gochujang sauce that p brought back for me from south korea when he was covering the g20 summit in seoul last year. then i thought wistfully back to the huge south korean spread my friend bo’s mom made for us when we visited her in philadelphia a few years ago and became inspired to create my own bibimap for dinner…and for lunch the next day! bibimap is a traditional korean dish with rice as a base and many different vegetables (and often beef) mixed in.

when i have time i like to try my hand at the japanese art (ok, i’m using the word ‘art’ loosely here) of bento. i prefer the boxes by black & blum, because it really is an all in one, with a container for sauces or dressings and a fork/knife. so i made enough to insure that i would have enough for my bento lunch.

i used a combination of recipes that i found online (here, here,here, and here). there is not much skill involved in this recipe, mostly patience as it takes a while to prepare the many different vegetables.

to make this post less chaotic i’ll list each topping, its ingredients and how to make it separately. this was plenty for two people, a generous lunch the next day, and i still had to throw away some.

rice:

prepare one cup of long grain rice as per the directions on the bag. i used basmati, but jasmine would also work.

cucumber salad dressing:

1 small cucumber, or half a large one.

2 tablespoons gochu jang paste

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

first, cut the cucumbers in to tiny pieces and let stand in a bowl with the salt mixed in. mix the other ingredients and whisk together nicely. press the cucumbers with a paper towel and take out as much moisture as possible. then, mix together the sauce and the cucumbers. place the bowl in the middle of your platter. (oh yea, the platter is not necessary, but it is so nice to see your beautiful work arranged all together at the end!).

spinach:

8 oz of spinach, washed

garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

salt to taste

steam the spinach for one minute. if you don’t have a steamer, just put a bit of of very shallow water at the bottom of pan, boil, put the spinach in and put on the cover for one minute. rinse in cold water to stop the cooking, squeeze out the excess, mix the spinach with the sesame oil, seeds, garlic clove and salt. place it on your platter!

carrots/shiitake or mixed mushrooms/spring onions/sprouts/broccoli

the easy thing about these is that they are all cooked in the same way. separately of course! but one after the other, and you can use the same frying pan.

it basically goes vegetable +

1 tablespoon veg. oil

1 garlic clove minced

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

salt and pepper to taste.

julienne the vegetable, then saute it in the oil with the garlic. add salt and pepper to taste. mix with sesame seeds and place on your platter.

i used: one carrot, a small bunch of brocoli, 4 oz of spring onions, two bunches of sprouts, and about 4 oz of mushrooms.

egg:

fry an egg sunny side up for each person on the same frying pan.

after all of your ingredients are arranged on your platter, fill a bowl with rice for each person. dress your rice with your veggies and cucumber gochu jang sauce, with your fried egg on top. pause to take in the lovely arrangement, mix together and devour.

after you are nice and full it is time to make your bento lunch. fill your bento box with rice and vegetables with separators in between each. try and do it in a way that is pleasing to the eye since that is half the fun- bright oranges next to bright greens, etc. the black & blum boxes come with one separator, but you can buy additional accessories. put the cucumber gochu jang dressing in the sauce container. if you are using the black & blum box, replace you’re the fork/knife with chopsticks. put it in the fridge and enjoy the next day for lunch, cold. et voila!

18th October, 2011

things to do in joburg: neighbourgoods market

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:45:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//neighbourgoods market sign

this weekend we visited the neighbourgoods market. it was just lovely! it is located on the corner of juta street and de beer street, in downtown joburg. it runs on saturdays until it dies out around 3 (we were there until 4). hot tip: when using a satellite navigator in joburg, typing in an intersection gets accurate results more consistently than entering a regular street address…but more on that in another post! it is not unlike the Arts on Main market, in that there are delicious foods and such.

Namrata Singh//plants in a bag at the neighbourgoods market

the crowd is sexy, the food is yummy, and after you’ve had a few belgian beers or margaritas you might find yourself dancing with some new friends. the market only opened a little over a month ago so you should visit ~~before it becomes oversaturated and cliché~~ soon. i heard from a new friend that renting a stall is only about three or four hundred rand per day, so i’m thinking of selling my cupcakes or other baked goods if i can ever get it together. i think an exploratory visit to kadies is in order!

Namrata Singh//sexy people at the neighbourgoods market

as noted, local fashion designers and artisans fill the stalls of these markets, so I found this white shirt from Take Care Clothing and that tube necklace from Skermunkil Design Studio, (you can find her blog here to find out where to buy her awesome pieces).

Namrata Singh//loot from neighbourgoods

i am so inspired by ladies like them…creating beautiful pieces for affordable prices, running their own businesses and not letting things like Fear of Failure stop them. for me, one of the biggest appeals of going to these markets is seeing people selling their wares…it is like they are baring a piece of their soul and saying: Hello. I made/designed/created this. I’m standing here and hoping that you like what I made and want to further my business and creativity by buying one. although the designers probably don’t think about it like that since they are used to doing this type of thing a lot, for me watching it is a profound experience. one of the reasons we made the decision to move to joburg was so that i could decide what it is i want to do with the rest of my life. i am forced to not work for a while as a holder of a dependent visa, and I don’t want this time to be for naught. i want to make the right decision for my career path, and not let fear keep me from making the right one.

17th October, 2011

fashion fridays.

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:07:00 +0200

okay i’m doing it. fashion fridays. disclaimers: 1) i don’t claim to know anything about fashion, except that i like it. 2) i’m just learning how to use my camera, and take pictures of my outfits so bear with me! maybe i’ll be too shy to do this again and 3) i must apologize for my look of fear-masked-by-determination in this photo, i’ll get it one day. ok, let’s get started shall we?

i wore this to watch the south african ballet perform sleeping beauty at joburg civic theatre.

sunglasses: miumiu via galeries lafayette. i had a bad day at work and they made me feel better like ~~p couldn’t~~ no one else could

tank: h&m. that is because jcrew recently decided to make their tanks out of ~~shit~~ very thin material. bad move jcrew. i loved your tanks.

neon maxi skirt and necklace: anthropologie. i got that ish on sale, yo.

bag: alexander wang via shopbop. because mr. wang is a bad*ss. and now by the transitive property, so am i.

bracelet: adia kibur via shopbop.

alright, i hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend! singh: out.

14th october, 2011

springtime bonus post.

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:38:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//one of the many new blooms in our garden

it is springtime in the southern hemisphere so i thought i would share one of the many new flowers which are popping up around our ~~estate~~ yard. it looks like a veritable botany garden out there. i’ll share some of the more exotic flowers as summer gets closer.

13th october, 2011 bonus post!

on finding usable public transportation in joburg (really!)

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:25:00 +0200

when you move to a new city (let alone country) it always takes some time to get your life ‘going.’ this includes taming your home, finding your favorite markets, your routines, figuring out some of the cities ‘secrets,’ and eventually instead of feeling like a newcomer in a city, you feel that the city has become yours. every time one of these things happens or something clicks you feel like it is a small miracle and then you are intangibly closer to calling the city your own. for example, i recently found out where i can find endless baking supplies in jozi. victory! in berlin this was a real problem for me, and i was constantly lugging back proper baking supplies from the states. our visitors got stopped in airport security to answer what the white powder (baking soda) was in their suitcases. (i didn’t figure out until the end was sold in pharmacies and not grocery stores).

we have had one victory this week that can’t be overvalued. first of all in this huge, controversial, beautiful city it is was a fact that you cannot easily or safely use public transportation. everyone knows the only reliable, safe public transportation is the gautrain which takes you to Pretoria or the airport. but! the gautrain also has a safe, reliable network of buses that take people from their neighborhoods to the train stations. now, if you live across the street from a big shopping center and work across the street from a gautrain station…..it may be that you have nothing short of a miracle: public transportation to get you to work. in johannesburg. really. do you live and work reasonably close to a gautrain bus or train stop? find out, (make sure to click on the station closest to you physically and then look at their surrounding bus schedule) and tap into cheap public transportation. you can take a bus to a train station, or more likely just take one of the gautrain buses from your neighborhood stop to another. so go ahead, check out on your commute…read a book, zone out! it doesn’t matter because you won’t be driving (swoon!). normally, we are ~~self righteous about~~ take pride in not owning cars but living here forces you to buy one for each person. this really opens up the doors for us…if in our two person family one person can use public transport to get to work maybe we only need one? at least until I get a job. we’ll see, a girl can dream…

13th october, 2011 (happy birthday dad!)

the simple things in life: spicy cherry tomato pasta sauce.

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:15:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//this entire series was shot by me, obviously

unlike those of you ~~poor~~ brave people in the northern hemisphere, it is spring here in south africa and a lot of interesting fruits and vegetables (a lot of which aren’t available at higher lattitudes and therefore new to me) are just starting to hit the markets. but today isn’t about exotic fruits or veggies, it is about enjoying the simple tastes of ingredients you probably have lying around your home or growing in your garden no matter what hemisphere. i whipped up this pasta sauce and took lots of pictures…the recipe i used is a summer twist of an old favorite around here, mark bittman’s minimalist tomato sauce and some additional ingredient ideas from epicurious. this is for two people with maybe some left over for a small lunch the next day. obviously, the main ingredient is cherry tomatoes -about one pound. i got an array of colors:

the tomatoes are accompanied by 4 cloves of garlic, half an onion, a green chilli, an african bird’s eye chilli because we like things spicy around here, half a cup of white wine, a big ol’ bunch of basil, oregano and italian parsley, salt, pepper, and a good dose of parmigiano reggiano at the end. obviously the chillies are optional depending on your tastes. i used 8 oz of spaghetti for two. if you don’t have a counter top food scale, you should consider getting one…it will make your cooking life easier and may do wonders for your waistline.

first, chop up those garlic cloves and your half onion.

pour a tablespoon of olive oil in a saucier pan (hehe i have a fancy new saucier pan). turn it up to medium high heat and when the oil has warmed up a bit, you can slide in your garlic and onions. after a few minutes when the onion is starting to turn translucent put in all of your cherry tomatoes. that’s right, put them in whole. how easy is that? (obviously people, a saucier pan is NOT necessary, you just need a pretty wide vessel and in a pinch a frying pan will work though the sides are kind of low)

let your tomatoes cook down for about ten to fifteen minutes until their skin starts bursting and they begin to get mushy. you can help them along by smashing them with your spoon a bit (only after they are soft and ready!) like this:

while this is going on, slice up your chillies if you are using them and grate your cheese. you can also get your pasta going.

after the tomatoes have been simmering for about 30 minutes add in your wine, and chilies if using, along with your salt and pepper to taste. i used some south african sauvignon blanc that we had around, so use what you have but i wouldn’t go too sweet. now is also a good time to turn down the heat. your sauce will be smelling heavenly by now!

let the wine reduce and the flavors mix. go ahead and chop up your herbs- i used some basil, oregano and italian parsley. this is all about what you like though, so use what you love and have on hand. now add in your herbs and mix. be sure to keep an eye on your pasta and drain it when it’s ready.

divide the pasta onto two plates and then the sauce. serve with your grated parmigiano, freshly cracked black pepper, and basil or parsley to garnish. enjoy with the wine you used to cook.

thanks for letting me practice my food photography! i cooked this in the afternoon when i had the time and let it sit on the stove (turned off with a cover on, of course) until dinner time. the flavors mixed and mingled until i reheated it for dinner and it tasted even better than when i tried it immediately after preparation. obviously, i did not boil the pasta until just before we ate. this just goes to show that you can have a wonderfully complex, flavorful, and healthy meal without getting fancy with skill or ingredients (though it’s fun to do that too). it is especially healthy if you follow mark bittman’s advice of more sauce than pasta.

sometime in the not so far future, i hope to grow some of these ingredients in our own garden. we are practiced at growing tall and robust indoor herb gardens…as for the more formidable outdoor plants i spoke with our gardener (yes our house comes with a gardener) and he said that he would help me.

bon appetit!

diy retail therapy.

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:01:05 +0200

via oh joy! for hygge and west

my ~~need~~ desire to exact aesthetic control over my surroundings started in berlin. in nyc i couldn’t even be bothered to unpack all of my boxes. in fact, my mom had to fly in a year into it and literally unpack about a third of them for me. srsly. anyway, it might be silly to put so much effort and dollars/euros/rand into decorating spaces i rent and only live in for a few years. nevertheless it is a creative outlet, it creates a haven from the outside world and i can feel proud of it. in the fantastically democratic sphere of the internet there are tons of bloggers who i ~~hit like an addict on a crack pipe~~ take inspiration from on a daily basis. one person whose design aesthetic, style, and general bad-assery i ~~obsess over~~ admire is Joy D. Cho at oh joy!. let me tell you, that b*tch got talent. one of the millions of things that she does is design wallpaper (available at hygge and west). well, it sells for something like 125USD per teensy roll (get down girl, go ‘head…). when i did some rough calculations i found it would cost something like 800USD to cover the walls of our tiny entry way which has FOUR doors that dont even need covering. well i am a ridiculous person but not 800-bucks-for-a-rental-entryway ridiculous. imagine my ecstasy when some clicking around later i found her ‘stones throw away’ wallpaper (above) for 10, yes TEN USD per roll in the ‘wallpaper by the yard’ section at hygge and west in the champagne color. well i ordered ten rolls of that before p even knew what was happening. i can’t wait to show you what it looks like in the end. here’s hoping the shipment makes it!

11th october, 2011

our weekend and radiolab.

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:49:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//Sunday’s lunch in the backyard

our weekend was very productive, how was yours? the second weekend in our new place was again spent trying to ‘tame’ it- unpacking, cleaning, and painting all night friday, all day saturday and sunday. when we’re painting or cooking or doing the types of activities when your hands are busy but your mind is free, we like to listen to an npr program…usually ‘this american life.’ but lately we’ve discovered ‘Radiolab.’ maybe it is old news for you but for us it is a revelation. i’m not even sure how to begin to describe this amazing show- it both piques and sates my curiosity for the world. it asks big questions and explores the answers in a unique way: mixing science, sound, experts, research, and the human experience which all result in excellent reporting and a great show. dare i say it, it is better than this american life. if i was still in education i would definitely be finding a way to use this in my curriculum. there are two hosts, robert krulwich and jad abumrad. both are smart and curious, and jad recently won a macarthur genius grant so good for him, big shot (read more about him here). anyway, the show is so good i can’t wait to get back organizing the closet just so i can listen to it some more. if you have 15 minutes right now or while you’re cooking dinner tonight or spacing out on the couch why don’t you listen to why genghis khan probably has at least 16 million male descendants all the way from mongolia to tajikistan. you will not regret it, i promise you. afterwards when your mind is blown you can subscribe to their podcast.

10th october, 2011

Rhiney has a new home… for those of you who never visited...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 18:17:00 +0200

Rhiney has a new home…

for those of you who never visited the berlin place, the beloved rhiney the rhinoceros used to hang in the old apartment on a little side wall….now she has a place which fits her regal personality. we painted the little display area above the fireplace a light sky blue and hung her up. i think she will be quite happy watching the happenings from her spot. i posted it from my hipstamatic app because 1) i wanted to celebrate the fact that my iphone (after 4, FOUR visits to vodacom) is up and running so i’m a real person again and 2) i didn’t want to show you too much of the living room until it is finished.

9th october, 2011

our wedding.

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:42:00 +0200

weddings are fraught with so much pressure to be perfect. the perfect details, the perfect favors, the perfect vision…perfect weather even. well our wedding wasn’t blogosphere perfect, but it was PERFECT. and with that i’ll leave you with our highlights reel. the most awkward part is in the middle where we have to stand awkwardly in poses for the camera.

8th october, 2011

maboneng.

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:27:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//Pata Pata at the 12 Decades Art Hotel

my favorite area in jhb is easily the Maboneng Precinct which is an artsy neighborhood in downtown. it contains my favorite activity to do on a sunday: go to Market on Main to eat delicious foods from all over the world and shop locally made products that i definitely don’t need (that’s how i found our first new piece of furniture). following that, we head next door to the roof top bar on the 12 Decades Art Hotel (more on that amazing place in another post) and try and fit in with a crowd that sports impossibly cool hair-do’s and electric pink shorts with retro sunglasses. the Market is open every sunday and the first thursday of every month. it is housed in a place called Arts on Main which is a great concrete space with studios and workshops etc. on these sundays i feel especially happy and proud to live in jo’burg and happy to be alive in general, even if i regret the drinks on monday morning. we can’t wait to take you there! i love all of those things so much that i am going to bring my camera and give them their own posts. anyway, last night we enjoyed the thursday night market with our friends and i couldn’t really take good pictures because it was dark and i didn’t bring a tripod with me. afterwards we grabbed a drink at Pata Pata (above) as it was closing down. i took the above picture and messed with the definition and shadows a bit to give it the effect of a drawing or painting, just so i could explore my mac’s editing software.

7th october, 2011

he got that super bass….. . a couple of nights ago at...

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:01:00 +0200

he got that super bass…..

a couple of nights ago at dinner p was telling me that he loves it here and likes his beat so much more than berlin and that he hasn’t felt THIS stimulated at work in a while. and i was so ~~jealous of~~ happy for him. we should all be lucky enough to find ~~employment .~~ a career which stimulates us and isn’t really ‘work.’ well today i was doing a quick google search of his name, which i do periodically even with my google alerts, and found out that google even fills in the rest of his name if you start typing it, let alone him being the first choice that shows up.

google doesn’t do that for my name, or at least not for THIS namrata singh. i am always proud of him and his work but sometimes stuff like that makes me pause and reflect on how awesome and bad @ss he is and how he inspires me to be awesome and bad @ss too. so this is a shameless admiration for p post. it’s ok p, don’t be embarrassed. instead of going on more about it, i’ll let nicki tell you how i feel.

7th october, 2011

local fashion

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:54:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//in our backyard….sorry the africa necklace is twisted backwards!

my ~~addiction to~~ penchant for shopping is fortunately (p might ask fortunately for who?) finding a good home in joburg. so far i’ve mostly only been shopping (and by shopping i mean making daily frantic runs to) in builder’s warehouse and this store called @home for curtains and paint and stuff. then last weekend when i was supposed to be picking up lunch for my hungry husband (who was painting the dining room per my ~~orders~~ request) i wandered into a store called young designers emporium. um, so it is a store that carries the clothing of young south african designers. a cool thing is anyone can submit their designs and get a ‘rail’ (if you are good enough and commercially viable). so to recap you can find fashionable, cheap clothing & accessories and support young, local talent. srsly. so i wandered in and had to restrain myself to walk out only with the above necklace which is a gold plated silver pendant in the shape of africa on a silk thread. so simple and bad ass, and most importantly inexpensive. and the designer of my necklace is ruby. so put YDE on your list of places to shop when you come to south africa or if you like this necklace just order directly from her website. (fyi mom, i also managed to grab lunch for p and didn’t just present him with my necklace to eat)

6th october, 2011

a night out in joburg with the hubs

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:49:00 +0200

Namrata Singh//oliva restaurant’s spicy duck risotto

last night p and i dined at an spanish/italian fusion restaurant called oliva in illovo (a neighborhood next to ours). they have tapas and regular sized dishes depending on what you’re in the mood for. i had the spicy duck risotto, i snapped a pic of the left overs above (not bad, eh?) and it was a buttery spicy delicious dream. if you come and visit we’ll take you there! it was a tiny dark industrial little space with concrete lions and fountains and the wine was delicious. you feel like you are sitting in a restaurant that is a labor of love, with the owner walking around to the small number of tables and making wine suggestions.

all of the africa correspondents for p’s paper were in town for a continent wide meeting so after dinner we headed to a neighborhood called melville on the suggestion of p’s colleague for a fun night of drinks. while it is wonderful to meet and make friends with local south africans, there is something so fun and satisfying when you live abroad about getting tipsy with your fellow countrymen and talking about godknowswhat after a few drinks. topics that we ~~slurred about~~ discussed included a declaration that we agree australia shouldn’t get the designation of its own continent. there are only 21 million people there and we should henceforth refer to it as the largest south asian island. i wish i remembered the name of the bar but all i remember is the men were patted down to make sure they weren’t packing which always adds a little excitement to your evening.

5th october, 2011