Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011: A year of parties, bruises and housework



I'm not too sad to see the back of 2011 - it's been a long year in all respects. We've now spent one whole year in the Caribbean, we've survived it and now we're ready to move on....

Firstly for a Taurean who dislikes change as much as I do, moving from one side of the world with 3 children, a geriatric cat, a parrot and a 40 foot container has its moments.

Secondly, this has to have been the year of living dangerously or more specifically weird accidents. In March I wrote the car off and 'did something' to my neck. In May I managed to tip a roasting pan just out of the oven (with chicken) all over my back sustaining 2 & 3rd degree burns. In August, whilst trying to rescue our boat which had drifted during the night and was headed out to sea - via rocks - whilst we were camping on a deserted island, I managed to crunch my leg on the transom (?) and still have the bruises and now finally, just to finish off the year in style - a large barbell rolled off a table on Boxing Day and bounced on my foot, crushing my big toe. All deeply glamourous, not. All deeply freaking painful. I'm a bladdy cripple.

The past few days have been quiet (nursing the swollen toe) and we've been home a lot. Tonight we are packing up a picnic and taking it to the beach to toast marshmellows by moonlight. We may go off to Trellis Bay Fireball Party. [Postscript: We did head off and it was a lovely evening. Spectacular fireworks and Caribbean razzmatazz].

Trellis Bay Fireball New years Eve 2011 and Moco Jumbies

We are very focused on setting up the bakery now and are speaking weeks and no longer months. It's going to be tough for the next few months whilst we both work 2 jobs and keep the show on the road - but we're preparing ourselves for the marathon. One of our key projects is still to get a good website up and running as our main marketing/shop-front for the first few months, which I'll link to this blog.

Speaking of which - I've enjoyed writing the blog. It's quite cathartic sometimes and I can mull over things and get a bit of perspective on life. I'm conscious that I seem to whitter on about the same old crap most of the time (housework, sailing, taxi driver) but it's still Shock of the New.  Soon I'll be going on and on about how exhausting it is to run your own business or whatever, but in the meantime thank you for reading my ramblings and for all your lovely comments.

We've made some wonderful friends on the island and we've taken to the close-knit community. We've had incredible acts of friendship and generosity, for which we are truly grateful. The support and goodwill for our new business has also been heartfelt and appreciated.

We have family in Ireland, England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia and so we will raise a toast to absent freinds and family tonight, wherever you are. We wish you peace and prosperity for 2012.

Our our love
The Dawson Windies
x

Monday, December 26, 2011

Happy Christmas

It's Boxing Day and I'm still in bed, albeit with a nighty and an apron on, as I make sporadic attempts at tidying up the hellhole that is downstairs. I'm reading one of my Christmas presents (Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking) catcing up on emails and Face Book and the world and chatting to my Ma and others on the phone. Tyler is, of course, working. The boys are charging around with walkie talkies shouting things like "send the full army NOW" and "turn DOWN THE VOLUME on your walkie talkie to SURPRISE THEM' and such like. We even have some neighbourhood kids as well, wading through about 2 weeks worth of washing (on the floor) and making more mess.

Someone once mentioned that South Africans generally stop whining about housework after about a year. She said she wasn't sure whether it was because they just got use to it or if their standards radically dropped. It's most definetly the latter. It would never be the former!

Christmas day was lovely. We went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve at our local St Georges (just keeping the continuity with St Georges Cape Town, St Georges Parktown and now St Georges Road Town!). A lovely service, all 2.5 hours of it (!) which saw us stagger out of church at 12:30am. We still managed to fit in some midnight shopping to top up with a few things (like presents...) and Tyler put the ham in the oven when he went to bed at 2am and took it out of the oven when he got up at 4;30am. Extreme cooking, or what?
We had our neighbours in for drinks at 1pm with lots of smoked salmon and champagne and we finally ate lunch at about 5:30pm, after Tyler got home from Scrub Island. We then went next door for pudding and more champagne and then collapsed into bed around 9 and slept like the dead.

To say that the last 2 weeks has been a bit of a marathon is to put it mildly. I honestly dont know how Tyler has kept going, but he has. We've been thrilled with the response to our first efforts and now are champing at the bit to bring in our big ovens and get the factory up and running.

2012 is going to a beeeegg year for us. We're going to try and buy a house, start the business and keep standing. There are also a few over sideshows happening, but we wont dwell on those just yet!

We're off to the Blakes for a mid-afternoon barbecur/braai (can't get use to saying barbecue but no-one knows what we are talking about when we say 'braai') and more eating and drinking.

Hope everyone, everywhere had a lovely day yesterday and are enjoying their holidays. I'm certainly looking forward to mine.

In the meantime there's a few hours of washing up to get through!



Friday, December 23, 2011

A 100 Stollen later....



Our first day as a 'family' business - me clutching a Red Bull  

OK, a quick post whilst I wait to put in a new batch of mince pies into the oven. It's Friday evening - the 23rd. We've cancelled on the party we were meant to go to in order to bake and fill orders which have been coming in. I think Tyler has literally had about 10 hours sleep max this week and we've just heard that he has to work on Christmas Day. This has me hitting my lowest point here, to date - mainly driven it has to be said, by sheer exhaustion.

However, we count our blessings:

Firstly, and most importantly - Greg is out of the danger zone and it looks like he might be out of hospital, as of about an hour ago. Can't tell you howmuch joy that brings us.

Secondly, after about 100 stollens, 500 gingerbread men, 500 mince pies, and about 1000 Christmas biscuits - our first little outing as a bakery business has been wonderfully supported and very positively received. It's been so long in the planning that it is hard to believe it is finally happening. But it is, even as I type - Tyler is baking sourdough loaves in our tiny little kitchen and I need to go in and make 30 gingerbread girls and 30 personalised gingerbread hearts.

I think we may be having Chinese take-aways for Christmas lunch, as so far I've not managed to get to the shops. An interesting place to be in about 24 hours before Christmas, especially on an island (things run out quickly). We might have to do one of those quirky 'alternative' Chritsmas meals that bored Food Editors dream up and nobody makes (spaghetti bolognese for Christmas anyone?).

Thirdly: It's been winter here this week. Fabulous! I think I've managed to wear a long sleeve T Shirt every night. We've even switched off the fans and the boys have their duvets on their beds.

Finally: We're happy, we're all healthy, the boys are thriving and we see a great future on the other side of all this hard work and sacrifice. We miss our friends & family most desperately. My heart aches with it. But here we are, our second Christmas away (this time last year our container arrived today and we unpacked all of  Christmas) still standing.

Happy Christmas everyone, joy be with you and yours.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Family & Life

Early Friday morning a friend of ours living here on the island had a heart attack and is now recovering in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Greg was only moved into ICU a short while ago, and it sounds like the recovery will be a long process.  Although we do have a hospital here and 2 small private clinics, the cardio team had to fly down from Miami to try and stabilise him before he could move. It took ages to sort out all the visa nightmares and he finally got to Miami almost 24 hours later. 

Greg is a fit, rugby-playing Saffa, so more's the shock. It has been awful to watch hopelessly as he went from the laughing Dad we all saw on Thursday afternoon at the school Christmas market to fighting for his life a few hours later. It would seem that the very worst is over, but we have all been waiting and watching anxiously for news - using Facebook to keep in touch. Belinda, his beautiful wife is with him and their best friend is flying over from South Africa, arriving tomorrow. Luckily various people from the island are in Miami and have been able to spend time at the hospital and help out. It makes one realise what a tight-knit community we are here, and how we are all effected when things like this happen.

On a lighter note: Our first sale of 'family' food on Wednesday was sold out in under an hour. We were overwhelmed with the response, but so tired it barely registered! We had baked through the night on Wednesday to make sure we had enough, but we were still not able to go onto 'house' after the school market, as we had nothing left!. We have a stall on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday this week at 'house' and we really are fired up now. 

This time next year we hope to be selling all our wonderful goodies from our own outlet with a restaurant kitchen as well. The main reason for calling the business  'family - food & bakery' - is that it says exactly what we are about - our family business making food for family and friends. And there sitting in the corner of our beautiful little bakery this time, next year - sipping champagne hibiscus cocktails and eating organic turkey sandwiches will be Greg, Belinda, Zoe and Joss - fit, healthy and happy.   





Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Getting there slowly

Christmas cookies
I only have about 5 minutes to post this as I need to jump in the car and pick up the kids, drop them off at piano, do the shopping, come home and make supper and carry on baking (is everyone already in a coma with boredom, because I am).

I've been loitering around at home today with flu - or whatever a swollen throat, achy body and thumping head is called (exhaustion?).

Anyhow it did give me the opportunity to take the photos' for the famous website that never seems to get finished. Since we actually start selling on Thursday (DON"T REMIND ME) it would seem fairly critical at this stage.

Anyhow I'm quite pleased with the results with my first attempts at food photograghy, given that I hardly know how to use Tyler's fancy Nikon and coudn't even get the tripod open let, alone use it. Also had to chase chickens and push the cat off the table several times and got very dizzy standing on the table looking down on the biscuits to get all those professional-looking shots but think, in the end,  it was worth it. Have to keep reminding myself that's this is meant to be a dream and not a nightmare.

Stollen

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Coming back fighting

I wish...

Jane said today that she had nearly eviscerated her family yesterday after doing 3 hours of laundry, which made me laugh so much I realised I must be cheering up. I love articulate mothers.

Since the only way is up, here's what I'm listening to at the moment to get over myself:

I LOVE this song. I do keep wondering if I'll ever grow up (along with wondering if I could manage longer than about a week without alcohol) and when I hear music like this I couldn't care less and just flow: Drake's 'They Know'. Play it loudly in your car for pure joy.

Oh boy I think I may love this song even more. Katy B could be the kind of girl that I might want one of my boys to marry oneday. Maybe. Magnetic Man's 'Perfect Stranger' featuring Katy B. So sweet.

This is what I listen to when I'd rather be eviscrating someone, but put on my Skype headphones instead and play this VERY loudly. It puts my Happy Face back on. The Used's Burning Downing the House. (yes it is the old Talking Heads song). Works every time.

Here's an oldie that still puts a smile on my face, Lupe Fiasco's Superstar. Yep, a song has already been written about me (hahahha).

Also need some Empires of the Sun. This one's for you, Susie G. Missing you : (

OK, some MJB because she's a S.U.R.V.I.V.O.R. I've had this song on a loop before and it features 50 Cent who is also fabulous. "I'm gonna shine until my heart stops".

OK, we also need some airline music since I've just done about 60 hours of flying (that's all the movies, all the playlists and the Duty Free magazines a few times). Kazabian. Very Brit Poppish.

Right, need to go and cook the supper, do the homework, sort out the laundry, finish the webpage for family and remember to smile.



Sunday, December 4, 2011

Another day

I feel a bit like the kid in the background
I'm going to spare you yet more birthday parties, beach outings, sailing expeditions to Sandy Spit (George) and whingeing on about howmuch there is to do.

Since that's what we did for most of the week, there's not much else to write about.

The christmas tree has already gone up and we trawled off to 'Christmas on Main Street ' last night which is a cross between  going to see the lights in Regent Street and a large Christmas jumble sale - but nicer. Casting aside all the 'Made in China' stalls, there were gems of local produce (soursop ice cream, guavaberry liquer and tamarind paste for example) and some delightful crafts, beautiful straw hats from Jamaica, lots of fried chicken and henna tattoos. As you all know, shopping here is a challenge. We have also set ourselves the task of getting most of our christmas presents 'on-island' - so luckily I did see a few things last night. We also went to visit Jane who was having her first exhibition. Jane paints images of Caribbean life and I love her 'Festival Angels' series.

Jane Clatworthy
I'm feeling a bit flat post-trip and also with starting up the family business, which has to happen in the afternoons, at night and early mornings. We are doing a small range of goodies like Stollen, biscuits and rubs which we are selling by order. I'm also meant to be finishing off the website today but am feeling too tired to have the patience to fiddle around with photos of biscuits and tinsel. It's also about as wintery as it gets here - rainy, gray and cooler - so the kids are indoors driving me nuts.

I'm off to have tea with a friend and hopefully my mood will improve for a chattier blog next time.