pretty little thing, waiting for the King, down in the...

Wow it feels like I have been away from my blog forever! A whole month, can you believe it. So much has happened in this last month.

Where to start?

So I left job in George and moved to St Francis Bay...and let me tell you, I am madly in love with my new job...my new home.

I slotted right in in the new kitchen, I had no worries getting comfortable.   After 2 weeks of being there, management was called together and we were told that our full staff was going on strike the eve before the start of 2 weeks of non stop functions and conferences.

We managed to pull off a wedding, a matric farewell, and 2 weeks of rather important conferences of120 pax day, breakfast, lunch, dinner as well as 3 snack beaks a day. We did this all with management only staff of 42. I have to admit 20 hour days were a lot of fun, the team I work with are just so amazing.

I now have internet access, so I can return to blogging. This is just a quick post to let you all know I am still very much alive and well, was just crazy busy!

I am going to try and get to everyone’s blog soon! Just bare with me for now!

I really have missed all my friends from the blogs.

I have been asked many times where does the name of my blog come from…so I thought why not just get it out there…

Living in the USA gave me many opportunities to travel that I would never of had if I did not take the risk and go over…I never planned on staying for 3 years…after my 1st year I decided I wanted to stay forever. I got the chance to see 28 States, and I loved every single one of them…but the one trip I took that stood out the most was my trip to Memphis, Tennessee.

I was lucky enough to have a friend who lived in Paris, Tennessee, so another friend and I went there for a long weekend…and got to go to Nashville (home of country music), Memphis (home of Elvis), Paris (miniature Eiffel tower) as well as Lynchburg (home of Jack Daniels Distillery)

Now…the blog title…”there’s a pretty little thing, waiting for the king, down in the jungle room” comes from the classic Walking In Memphis…original did by Marc Cohn, but for me, its Cher’s version that got me hooked. It is my “feel good” song, I often put it on and immediately I am in a good mood, it gets me up and ready for the day.

Walking in Memphis

Put on my blue suede shoes
And I, boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
W. C. Handy - won 't you look down over me
Yeah, I got a first class ticket
But I'm as blue as a girl can be

Then I'm walking in Memphis

Chorus:
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

Saw the ghost of Elvis
On Union Avenue
Followed him up to the gates of Graceland
Then I watched him walk right through
Now security they did not see him
They just hovered 'round his tomb
But there's a pretty little thing
Waiting for the King
Down in the Jungle Room

When I was walking in Memphis

Chorus

Chorus 2: 
Walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

They got catfish on the table
They got gospel in the air
Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer
But boy you've got a prayer in Memphis

Now Gabriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see him
They asked me if I would
Do a little number
And I sang with all my might
he said: "Tell me are you a Christian, child?"
And I said: "Man I am tonight"

Chorus 2 (Repeat)

Now…I look back at my trip, and I fond memories are brought up…and I love it!

Bordering the plane

Gates of Graceland

Beale Street

The Jungle Room

 And…that is where the name come from…

And some more pictures of my Tennessee trip…

Jack Daniels Distillery

Eiffel Tower

I was so disgusted with this service at this restaurant, I had to put it up here.  This is the same compliant I lodge with both the local restaurant as well as the national complaints for the OB group.

Ocean Basket - Garden Route Mall

George, Western Cape

I went for dinner at the local OB last night (17 / 7 / 2010 between 7pm – 8pm), and after a lovely meal, the waiter ruined it.

 
She didn’t bother to explain any specials to me (which I left slide).  After battling to get her attention to bring me the bill and then again she took her time to bring the card machine, I was paying with my debit card, when she swiped the card, handed it back to me, looked at me and told me my card was declined.  I was a little taken back, she then smiled and said “just joking”. I was disgusted and just left. A perfectly good meal ruined.

 
I find this HIGHLY unacceptable behavior from a waiter.  I am in the industry myself, as a chef of a local restaurant in George, and because of this pathetic behavior from this waitress, I shall NEVER return to OB George (or any other OB), I shall also proceed to tell anyone and everyone how disgusted I am with the service of this OB.  I am often asked for recommendation in the area, OB George will not be one of my recommendations.   
I was table # 41, and my waitress was Desiree.  

It's been raining all day, and am told that there is snow on the mountains, I had this icy day off, and spent the day in bed watching movies. But later in in the evening, I was in the mood for some pancakes...but not your normal pancakes...I wanted the American style pancakes that I use to love o much when I lived overseas. I wanted to have blueberries with my pancakes; however, I couldn’t find anywhere, so I opted for Strawberries and a few pieces of the new chocolate that Cadbury has launched called Mint Tart. With some fresh cream...and some warm maple syrup.

This I what came out...

Follow the photo to my basic American Style Pancake recipe. It was taught to me by a pretty cool cook that worked in a 24 hour diner in Chicago...so I can say that it comes all the way from the U S of A!

Enjoy!

love and bubble

iky

Something just got me thinking…actually a few things have lead up to this post…

Working in the building with me are a few other people, there are two specific “smoke break” buddy, who are regulars in my life. Now I stopped smoking about 2 months ago (again) and going strong…so now I just go with for the break in my day…and this little smoke break happens anywhere between 4 – 8 times a day…and more often than not, after work drinks follow – yes I have rekindled my sordid love affair with Mr Daniels…and let me tell you, I don’t think we have ever been happier..

This is how it goes down…

We either connect on skype:

Buddy 1: Smoke break, come join us

Chef: ok…brb

Or smoke break buddy 1 comes up to my office or kitchen:

Buddy1: Smoke break, do you have a lighter? Coming?

Chef: yup…ok

How we get to the smoke break is not the important part of the post…

Now we walk down to the smoking area, and we sit down…and this is the whole important part of the post…

Out comes the Blackberry’s & Iphones, we lay them all nicely on the table, for anyone and everyone to see our accessories…I tend to keep mine in my pocket…but have to admit I often take it out and place it on the table. And then the discussion goes on…

SBB 1: Did you see the new Sissy Boy Jeans at Forchini?

SBB 2: I bought myself 2 pairs yesterday

Chef: I saw the perfect Sissy Boy Shoes that would match those jeans

SBB1 : You have to get them for me when you see them again, I will pay you back

Chef: Will do, when I get there again

SBB1: I love my designer jacket I got from London

Chef: Yeah, I brought a few designer things back from the USA, love my JLo double down winter’s jacket

SBB2: You must see the sexy designer lingerie I got today

And at this point I loose interest…and I just kind of phase out and listen to them go on about their designer outfits…

Yes, I do have a few designer outfits, however…does that define who I am? Does our “labels” make society accept us better? I sit back and just realize how materialistic people are…and how we are never happy with what we have. We earn R10 000.00 per month, we spend R15 000.00, and wish for R15 000.00, once we earn R15 000.00 we start living a R20 000.00 lifestyle…when does it end?

I by chance got home at an hour last night where some style program was on the tv…and this woman was standing on a bridge with balloons…and the psychologist told her to let goof her anger and resentment, and for every one of her angry thoughts she let go, she let go of a balloon as well. That’s pretty cool if you ask me…what a great metaphor for letting go of anger. But one of the issues she had was that society always judged her because she had bad teeth, or was slightly bigger than a size 0. And again, it comes back to just how hard we are on ourselves because we believe society is hard on us.

Then…while stumbling this morning…I found this page about how make up changes us…now let me tell you…I don’t put my nose out the door without my make up on. I do keep it very natural…I look nothing like this :

But again…isn’t society judging us…and we have to now be a certain way? But shouldn’t we take pride in what we look like…without looking like a clown? Just a little bit of effort can make us feel so much better about ourselves…we should do it for ourselves…not to impress others?

I think what it all boils down to…really…is that we all want to be wanted…to be accepted…and sometimes we think that a certain superficial look will give us that…but in the end…this world needs so many different people to make it spin…

I say do what makes you happiest…live your life to the fullest…and screw what society things of you…what right do they have to judge you and your choices…but having said that…respect others enough and their choices in return…live your life without judgement

love & bubbles to all

iky