Bridget McNulty

It’s Arbor Month! Plant a tree!

// September 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Cape Town, Nature

Seriously.

Everybody knows how important trees are. Need I list the ways they help us out? Let’s start with oxygen, because we couldn’t very well continue without it (ha! Ecological joke!)

But I know how difficult it can be to hunt down a tree and find a spot to plant it, especially if you (like me) live in an apartment in the middle of the city… Which is why I was so delighted to find Grow a Tree (www.growatree.co.za), an organization that sells everything you need to plant a tree, in a bag. Yup. Everything you need, and you grow it from seed in a handy little bag that can quite happily sit on your verandah or window sill. And all the seeds (and, therefore, trees) are indigenous to South Africa! And they come in a cool coloured hessian sack! There is nothing I don’t love about this project.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I’m going to do this afternoon after work: I’m going to plant a tree!
Why don’t you?

PS: If you want to find out more about Grow a Tree, watch this short video (I made it!)
PPS: I’ll post updates of my tree’s progress from seed to seedling to tree… Apparently it takes 9 months to get to replantable size. Like a baby, only without all that other stuff…

A lovely place to live.

// August 23rd, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Cape Town, Decisions, Time, travelling

While I am and always will be a Durban girl at heart, I have to say that Cape Town is a lovely place to live. It’s such an easy city to live in – we have an independent cinema on our doorstep, bakeries on practically every corner, and you can walk around town. I absolutely love being able to walk around town, it reminds me of my days in good ol’ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, when I was a college student and spent hours wandering around the city…

Nowadays, of course, I am a Career Gal (believe it or not!) and I have to occassionally go on Business Trips to Big Cities. I was in Joburg for most of last week, a city I do not love (sorry to all those who live there, but it’s true…) Everyone is in such a hurry, there’s so much going on all the time, and I always feel tiiiired when I’m in the city.

I was there, oddly enough, to interview farmers for work (so that I can make videos of them for the website), so I got to meet a cucumber farmer, a strawberry farmer, a roasted seed producer and a man who sells grow-your-own-tree kits! More on that later… Nevertheless, it was still Joburg, with traffic and long distances to drive and altitude.

So I was very happy to return to Cape Town yesterday. Even happier when I discovered the MyCITI shuttle! It’s like overseas! Only here! A clean, spacious bus that arrived at the airport right on schedule and took me into town for only R50. What a pleasure! My only concern is that unless we all start using it more, it might stop running (there were only two of us on the bus yesterday). I think for solo travellers an airport shuttle makes so much sense – it’s kinder to the environment, kinder to your family and friends, and much much quicker than getting a ride. And it’s totally guilt free… What a pleasure!

Check out the schedule here, and tell all your friends. One more reason why Cape Town is a lovely place to live, hmm?

Photo: eguidetravel

Local bloggy gems:

// August 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogs, Cape Town, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Links, food

I’ve recently stumbled across not one, not two, but THREE local bloggy gems, and I wanted to tell you about them. It always makes me so happy when I find local blogs that I love, because not only can I totally relate to what they’re talking about (especially if it’s about food), but because it means the South African blogosphere is growing! Great stuff.

So, in no particular order, three lovely blogs you should check out:

* Mint The Shop is my idea of heaven. Gorgeous vintage and retro homeware, from kitchen stuff to quirky home decor. Be warned! It’s difficult to leave without having bought something (because it’s reallly reasonable). That gorgeous vintage yellow Le Creuset pot is now mine! Thanks brother. Visit Mint here: http://www.minttheshop.com/

* Still Life With Wooden Spoon is a blog about cooking…. with a full time job, which I appreciate. Funny, self deprecating and with some incredible recipes, this is one to bookmark and look at just before you go home to cook dinner. I may even try the gnocchi-ravioli combo… Yum! Visit Still Life here: http://slwws.wordpress.com/

* love made me do it is extremely girly and whimsical and lovely, and I read the whole thing in one sitting. The author is actually going to be our wedding photographer (more on that soon!), and we have so much in common: a passion for old knick knacks (she’s also collecting vintage plates for her wedding), a love of proteas, a fondness for the phrase ‘love is all’ etc etc etc. Visit love made me do it here: http://lovemademedoitx.blogspot.com/

Happy bloggy browsing!

PS: It’s time for the SA Blog Awards, so if you’d like to nominate me, please visit here: http://www.sablogawards.com/or click on the banner on the right. I’m under ‘Best Personal Blog’. Thanks!

Image: love made me do it

One wonderful weekend…

// August 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cape Town, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Nature, food

This past weekend was one of those weekends that will stick in my memory for a long time to come… My man and I went away with five other friends to a tiny little town called Prince Albert in the Karoo. It was a four hour drive (a stunning four hour drive, through some really majestic scenery) to get to the little town, and we arrived on Friday just in time for dinner. I fell in love then, even in the dark, mainly because there were succulents everywhere. Everywhere! Excitement overload.

The next day I fell in love even more. The whole town is centered around a main street, which has lots of the expected restaurants and guesthouses, but also has a Saturday market run by Afrikaans tannies and ooms (aunts and uncles, for those not from SA). They were selling pancakes for R3 each, big slices of homemade cake for R5, pots of tea for R3 and homemade roosterbrood for R8. It was like being in the land that time forgot…

Before the Saturday market, I’d gone for a long walk into the surrounding orchards and then out into the veld. It’s extraordinary how vast the Karoo sky is – like a completely different country, with a 360 sweep of sky. Incredible.

The weekend was spent strolling around, stealing succulents (see above), sitting in the sunshine eating delicious food, visiting the dairy (yes! A dairy!) to sample the homemade cheese (yum!), and playing a particularly fun game called Post-It (our name) where you think of a famous character, write it on a Post It and then stick it to someone’s forehead. Then they have to guess who it is in 20 questions, while dealing with the humiliation of sitting in front of everyone with a blue Post It on your forehead. Ha! Hilarious. Until it’s your turn…

The highlight of the weekend was our ghost tour – dinner combo. Prince Albert is a  town rich in history (and ghosts) and we went on a ghost walk around the town with a fascinating storyteller (dressed in a long black coat) who told us all the local tales… Creepy! We then went to African Relish for a superb dinner – bacon and spinach fritters (wow), Karoo lamb stuffed with roasted celery and pecans with the most amazing polenta I’ve ever tasted, and hands-down the best milk tart in the world. The dinner was long and full of laughter and I can’t wait to go back.

Oh! And how could I forget! That afternoon we’d visited African Relish (which is also a cooking school, and is co-owned by our friend’s father) and I tasted jamon for the first time! Jamon! The real deal! Made in South Africa using all the Spanish techniques! It was extraordinary.

So, all in all, a pretty wonderful weekend. We stayed in the most amazing cottage (see below), we ate some truly special food, and we spent good time with friends, laughing. What more could you ask for?

Photos courtesy of the extremely talented Mark Peddle: www.markpeddle.com

Day 25: Cute sand set…

// July 26th, 2010 // No Comments » // 29 Gifts, Cape Town, Love

… For the cutest girl in the world. Seriously, my neice just keeps getting cuter and more fun and cleverer and prettier and and and. I’m a bit of a doting aunt, can you tell?

So when I saw this Hello Kitty sand set I had to get it for her. She loves the beach (in summer), and kids love doing useful things like scooping up dirt. I gave it to her yesterday and we played with it in the garden… So in some ways I got a gift, too – spending time with her is always such a treat.

Day 23: Fulfilling a chocolate craving

// July 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // 29 Gifts, Cape Town, Reviews, food

Open-plan offices are so weird, aren’t they?

Never mind that everyone can hear your conversations, and easily deduce whether you’re working or just hanging out online, there’s also the whole hearing-other-people’s-thoughts thing. Obviously, we’re not all talking out loud as much as we would be if we had private offices (I, personally, would chat to myself all day if I had a door), but there’s still definitely an element of open thought that you don’t really get anywhere else.

So when one of my colleagues said today (in a wistful and forlorn voice), “I feel like chocolate cake”, I decided to make his dream a reality

And, okay, it was a brownie and not chocolate cake, but it’s the second-best brownie in Cape Town (from the delightful Sidewalk Cafe. The Best Brownie in Town award goes to Khayelitsha Cookies). And it tastes so many million times better than it looks!

Day 22: Much-needed money

// July 23rd, 2010 // 1 Comment » // 29 Gifts, Cape Town, Decisions

I’ve spoken before about how easy it is as South Africans to become jaded towards beggars. There are just so many of them, and if we reached out to all of them, we’d soon be penniless and depressed.

I’ve had a realllly busy week, and I must confess that I didn’t even think about a gift yesterday – I was too busy driving to and from Gordon’s Bay for a Fresh Living TV shoot. Very exciting!

But as I pulled up to the traffic light near my house, I saw the old man who begs there every day. And while this may sound like a simple statement, the fact that I saw him was quite remarkable, because I usually drive past and don’t notice that he’s there. So, on impulse, I reached into my wallet and gave him some much-needed money. Much more than I  usually would have. Because sometimes you just have to follow the impulse, you know?

Day 21: A trio of macaroons

// July 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // 29 Gifts, Cape Town, Tea Parties

For a lovely gift-giving colleague who is always passing on delightful gifts, and who deserved one in return.

Who doesn’t love a macaroon?

Day 11: Get well mug

// July 12th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // 29 Gifts, Cape Town, Life (and the living of it)

Cheesy as all get-out, it’s true, but when you’re feeling sick (and have been all weekend, as a lovely friend of mine had), something this cheesy can help to brighten your day. What do you think?

She said she’d think ‘be well’ thoughts every time she drank out of it. A good idea for all of us, hmm?

Day 9: Pair of apples

// July 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // 29 Gifts, Cape Town, Decisions, food

I’ve been thinking, lately, about what I really want from this whole 29 days experiment… I don’t want to just spend a lot of money on last-minute prezzies or approach it in a half-assed way (and let me tell you, there’s a temptation to do that what with life being so busy all the time).

Ideally, what I want is to teach myself a new way of being in the world – always aware of other people and what they might need, open to the possibility that I could help someone in some small way. I want to train myself into a new habit, you know? Hence the apples.

I eat a lot of fruit, but I have a bad habit of buying large quantities all at one time (I feel panicky if I don’t have fresh fruit at all times) and then occasionally not being able to get through it fast enough. And then I’ll just sit and stare at it. The smart thing to do would be to recognise I’ve overbought, and share it with someone who might need some fresh fruit – one of the many people who lives on the street in Cape Town, for example. So that’s what I did yesterday: recognising that if I left the apples they would go off before I could eat them, I took them while they were still fresh and gave them away.

A small thing, yes. But if I could remember to do this all the time wouldn’t it be a good habit to get into?