1940's New York

When I walk the streets of Manhattan, I find myself looking up at some on the very old buildings and wondering what life must have been like here years ago. I love to look at old photographs of places I know and have been to to see how much things have changed, but most of the time they are in black and white leading you to only imagine the colors and vibe. JG Mango has curated a capsule of photographs from the Charles Cushman Collection. All in color, the photographs depict New York City life in the 1940’s.

NY's lower East Side



Stores near corner of Baruch Pl. and Broome St. Lower East Side



Drinks stand at Bowling Green



Collecting salvage on the Lower East Side

Jewish residents of lower Clinton St.



Hot Potatoes on Sidewalk Store

Chinatown

McSorley's Old Ale House. E. 7th St.

Peter Minuit Plaza lower Manhattan

Spending the day at the Bronx Zoo with my pregnancy brain.

I love the zoo. For a long time I wanted to become a Zoo Keeper (okay, I still do!) So when a coupon for 25% off popped up in my email, I jumped at a chance to get to spend the day at the world famous Bronx Zoo.

The tickets sat in my handbag for a couple of weeks thanks to the endless rain that seems to hit New York every weekend, until yesterday when (even with an afternoon shower prediction) we drove to the Bronx so that I could get my gorilla sighting fix. We parked the car and made sure we had everything. Wallet? Check! Phone? Check! Camera? ~THUD! (That is the sound of my heart dropping as I realize my little black camera is sitting on the TV stand back home waiting for me to pick it up after the battery was charged.) My mind started racing as to whether or not I was about to get back in my car and sacrifice over an hour of zoo time after just paying $12 for parking. Mike soon snapped me out of it and off we went to enjoy a camera-free zoo adventure.

We had not gotten far (to the butterfly garden to be exact) when I realized I had thrown our tickets in the trash just after we had made our way through the entrance. The exact tickets that we would need to get into the super cool exhibits (like the very gorilla enclosure I had come all this way to see). In my defence, I had decided to go handbag-less that day and there was no way I was carrying around those useless scraps of paper that I had yet to realize held the key to the total Bronx Zoo experience. So there I was, 5 minutes into our trip, fishing through the trash like a homeless man for the tickets while families with small children (and cameras) looked on in disgust.

After retrieving our Golden tickets we were free to enjoy the rest of the day pretty much incident free. Mike got to see lions for the first time and I got to see my beautiful Gorillas, which always amaze me with their human-like gestures. There were just too many fascinating animals to see and smell (oh, camels!) and after 4 hours of non-stop walking my pregnant feet were DONE for the day and could barely make it back to the car.

Halfway through the trip I did realize that in the day and age cellphones double as cameras so I did manage to snap a few pics like a good blogger.

It's the most wonderFALL season of all!

The season of Halloween, pumpkin spiced lattes, apple picking, orange leaves, walmart scarecrows, dunkin donut's apple cider and the biggest event of the year ~my birthday, has arrived! I am so ready for the cooler weather (although my wardrobe isn't) and have so far enjoyed the crisper mornings. Unfortunately with that comes the darkness that reminds me that waking up at 6am to go to work is way too early. 

Credit

You might remember my Summer bucket list that I put a lot of effort into at the beginning of last season? Well the other day I came across this creative Fall list and couldn't resist blogging about it.

A tribute to Summer 2011

Dear Summer

Today is our last day together and I can tell you are sad by the low-lying grey clouds outside. Cheer up! Soon you will get to hang out in the Southern Hemisphere and we will be reunited when I go home for Christmas. Although it feels like you only just arrived the other day, we have had some great adventures together during your visit.

I will never forget the breath taking views after our hike up High Tor and getting so close and personal with some deer on our camping trip was one of my life's top moments. We chased storms while eating pizza, hung out with family, went to a few roller derby matches and got to watch one of the craziest Broadway shows in town. On a personal note: I finally became a US resident, the hubby and I toasted our 6 month wedding anniversary in the very spot we were married and a couple of months later we found out we were expecting our very first Llambok.

Although I will miss trips to the beach, bbqing on the weekends and eating way too much Rita's Italian ice, it is time to move on and tomorrow Fall will take your place. (please tell him to be kind!) Summer, you truely outdid yourself this year and I look forward to seeing you again and introducing you to my little Llambok next year.

All my love,

Kate

When you're craving crepes, you just gotta have 'em.

Since the proverbial "bun" starting cooking in my proverbial "oven", not much real food has been cooking in my "real" oven due to morning sickness or just plain tiredness. But when pregnancy cravings hit, they hit hard and have no respect for what time of day it may be. That is how I ended up cooking cinnamon-sugar crepes at 10pm on a Thursday night.

A little fun fact for you: Remember when we were talking about regionalisms the other day? Well in South Africa we actually call crepes, pancakes and what americans call pancakes we call crumpets.

And now without further ado. Here is my recipe for...

You will need:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• little bit of oil to coat the pan

1. Mix all your ingrediants in a bowl (easy right?) till smooth. Your batter should be pretty runny.

2. Grease your frying pan and heat to a medium temp.

3. Pour a little of the batter into your heated pan and swirl it around to form a flat round shape.

4. Cook evenly on both sides. The crepe should move freely and you should be able to flip it when it is ready. (I just use my spatular since I lack the skills it requires to catch the crepe again after flipping it in the air)

5. When you are finished with your batter, you should have a stack of about 10 crepes.

There are tons of different fillings you can use. Some of my savory favorites include chicken with a creamy cheese sauce, and savory ground beef.

As far a sweet crepes go, the possibilities are endless. You can spread nutella over the crepe and add sliced banana, fruit salad and ice-cream is yummy too. But when it comes to my crepe of choice, I like to keep it simple and yummy with a cinnamon-sugar mix and a few drops of lemon juice. (trust me!)

6. Sprinkle a tablespoon of the cinnamon-sugar mix onto your crepe. Add a few drops of lemon juice and roll up.

A mild case of Summer Feet

You know its been a good Summer when you end up with a flip flop tan. 

I wish I could blame this "great look" on the many hours I (didn't) spend at the beach, but the truth is: when Summer hits, flip flops are the ONLY shoes I wear. Day in and day out. I blame this on growing up at the beach where flip flops (or slip slops, as South Africans call them) are the year-round footwear of choice.

We have already had a couple of days where my toes have begged for a sock or two, but I'm making the most of my comfy rubber flip flops for as long as possible.

I've been very busy (a post with a wonderful surprise!)

You may have noticed a lack of happenings and goings-on at this ol' blog of mine lately.

The truth is that there are actually A LOT of things happening and going on around here.

Some of those things would be: 20 trips to the bathroom in under an hour, taking up to 3 naps a day, getting through a day without throwing up, cooking crepes at 10pm because I just had to have 'em and my intense new exercise routine that consists of simply walking up the stairs to my apartment (after which I am totally breathless).

This little stick might indicate the cause:



And in case that's not enough, we brought backup.

Our very first Llambok will be making his/her big debut into this crazy world

April 2012!
and we couldn't be more thrilled.

10 years

10 years and only a few minutes ago, New York was changed forever along with Washington, DC and the rest of the entire world.

I will always remember being home sick from school that day and watching as that 2nd airplane struck the Twin Towers. Memories like that are etched into your brain forever.

9/11 affected everyone, even a 14 year old South African girl who would one day call New York her home.

Today we remember all those who lost their lives on such a tragic day. RIP.

Every Monday should be a holiday!

Being new to America, I had to turn to my good friend (Wikipedia) to find out what Labour Day was all about. 

"Labour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers."

I don't know about economic, but I shall definatly celebrate working those 12 hour shifts each and every day. Today we should all be relaxing on the beach, soaking up the last of the Summer sun or perhaps bbqing some big ol' steaks sipping on an ice cold beer? Well, instead I have so far cleaned my apartment, watched far too many online videos and I am busy cooking up some artichokes (we sure know how to party around here!)

~image~

What are you guys up to today? I hope you are relaxing!