Goodbye Tata Madiba

The man who would be president ...Nelson Mandela

The man who would be president …Nelson Mandela

Everyone it seems has a Nelson Mandela story to tell and so do I, although I am very sad I never got the opportunity to actually meet him in the flesh I am happy to say that he ate our cake.
Way back in 1993, just after I had opened Lollipops in Yeoville a young woman came into the shop. I wasn’t there at the time but she spoke to my mom about having a cake made. She said she had been to a few places and they had all refused to make the cake or couldn’t make it for whatever reason. My mom turned around and said that she thought it would be no problem to make, but what was the cake? The lady replied that she wanted a cake that was half the ANC flag and half the flag of Quebec, Canada.
She also said that she wanted the cake because Nelson Mandela was coming for lunch and she wanted to present the cake to him. We took the order. When I heard this I had to laugh, who was this woman, was she nuts and why on earth would Nelson Mandela be coming to her for lunch? Regardless, I instructed the baker to make the cake and as luck would have it I wasn’t there when the cake was collected so I couldn’t get my questions answered. A couple of weeks went by and the same lady came to the shop and dropped off the picture you see above. I could have slapped myself.
The young woman is Jay Naidoo’s wife, the older her mom and the man in the pic, well his face speaks for itself. Nelson Mandela, then the future president of SA, had gone to the Naidoo’s for lunch.

Yesterday, Sunday, we went to Houghton to pay our respects. I have to say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I can only say that I am grateful and privileged to have lived through the changes that have come about in this beautiful country.
It felt quite fitting that we had to park a few blocks away and walk to the house, in fact as we were walking towards the house a young boy and his father passed us walking back to their car and we overheard the little guy say, dad, it is a long walk, just like The Long Walk to Freedom. Yes, that is exactly how it felt, the long walk to the house felt like part of the journey and added to the overall experience.
I have seen comments posted by people, that I am friends with, who wonder why all this fuss over an ex terrorist. I can only feel sad for them because they have obviously missed the point and have yet to move forward from their sheltered points of view, particularly since you do not have to actually be a fan of Nelson Mandela to honour the man for his courage, his strength of character and for his magnanimous generosity. I personally was and still am a fan, I think he was one incredible human being.
People dancing, people singing, the atmosphere was alive, electric, the vibe almost carnival. It was not an atmosphere of mourning but one of rejoicing, people celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela, the Father of The Nation
For me, my long walk through Houghton yesterday felt amazing. To walk amongst white, black, Indian, to hear almost every language under the sun spoken and to have interacted with these people was an honour.

Scenes From Houghton, The Home of Nelson Mandela on Sunday 8th December 2013

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Scenes from 98 Oxford Road, Blue Moon Communications

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Coffee, Kink, Buddha, Cake and Killing Kebble Nov 2011

Very, very hot greetings and salutations today puddings! J

As I sit down to write this newsletter at 9.20am it is already 30 degrees outside in Jozi today and it is getting hotter! Just looked at the weather forecast for the next 5 days and there isn’t a drop of rain lurking nearby but there are some clouds! (however the newspaper says differently – there will be severe thunder storms from tomorrow but who knows who is right) The temperature looks like it will remain in the high 20’s and early 30’s! Whoopi!  So remember to wear sun screen and drink loads and loads of water!

Now that my weather report is over, missed my calling apparently, look out Simon Geer.

The Coffee Pot:

I know it is hot and coffee is so not what you are thinking about right now but I have to tell you about the plungers again! They have taken off fabulously and so for November we are going to introduce you to a fabulous Indian coffee that is both full bodied and medium roasted and delicious!

About the coffee …………………

From mystical India comes a medium roasted medium bodied single origin coffee aptly called Indian Monsoon. Full of flavour this coffee will have your taste buds begging for more whilst the superb aromas will have your mind whisked off to somewhere between the eternal snows of the Himalayas in the north to the cultivated peninsula of the far south. This beautiful coffee is 100% Arabica and because it has been roasted locally it freshness is guaranteed.

Plungers make around 3 cups of coffee and cost just R25. You will also find the coffee in 250gram bags for sale on our shelves at R65 per bag!

Fetish & Kink Flea Market:

Just a quick reminder about the market happening this Saturday, 29 Oct at Indulgence from 2pm to 5pm. This is not for everyone’s taste but it is an eye opener for the uninitiated and those looking for a little something else in life! So if whips and chains are not your thing but you are interested in seeing them pop in and say hi, have a look what is on offer! Have something to eat, make some new friends, browse and have fun! Regret NO under 18’s allowed! And while  you are here try our delicious Iced Coffee Granita!

AuthorTalks:

Again this month we are going to spoil you rotten with two AuthorTalks. The first of which is on November 5th  with Daniel Jardim…………This book is a real treat, a vegetarian cookbook with a difference. Also showcased in the book is work by potter Anthony Shapiro, the pottery teacher that I go to for classes

anyway,

Daniel Jardim &The Cake the Buddha Ate: More Quiet Food

 

 

Daniel Jardim  hails from a family of cooks headed by his mother, well-known Portuguese chef and cookbook writer, Mimi Jardim.  He lived in the UK for 11 years, where he  ran a private practice in Nutrition and Massage Therapy.  After his return to South Africa he manned the kitchen at the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo sharing the food that he usually served for friends and family.

 

The Cake the Buddha AteMore quiet Food asks us to change our attitude to this seemingly mundane human need and make it into a joyful, flavourful journey, full of delights and surprises.  Food is one of the first casualties of our hectic pace of life – in the way we eat it as well as in the way we prepare it.

There is more to the book than outstanding food.  The book has photographs, showcasing the ecological beauty of the BRC, anecdotes, poems and haikus all of which offer a glimpse of the Centre’s magnificent setting and the range of workshops and retreats conducted there.

The bulk of Daniel’s time is dedicated to teaching and he conducts a number of retreats, workshops and demonstrations in Gauteng and KZN. The focus is on healthy eating according to the seasons and he is fast becoming a well-respected teacher with a flair for interesting, but unpretentious vegetarian cuisine that bursts with colour and vitality.

I am going to make a special vegan dish to accompany this talk so if you fancy eating a different kind of lunch with no animal products or by-products please order our lunch special on the day!

Then author number two on the 19th of November is Mandy Wiener with Killing Kebble! This event is bookings only please.

We were fully booked a week ahead of the Piet Byleveld talk this past week end, I had to turn away at least 20 people and in the end I had quite a few no shows and ended up getting into trouble for having the audacity to voice my opinion. Although my comments were not aimed at any table in particular one table took huge offence and has now deleted me from their Facebook profiles. What a fascinating world we live in today, you no longer have to end friendships you just delete the offending parties off your different profiles and they cease to exist. I think it is quite a fascinating phenomenon actually.  Anyway as usual I digress. What I am trying to say is if you book, please remember to come or you end up disappointing someone else who I had to turn away. Unfortunately I have a tendency to be somewhat unsympathetic  to people who let me down but if you give me a heads up that you cannot make it , that is also much very much appreciated (even if I don’t sound it at the time)

Mandy will start her talk at around 2.15pm please be seated well in advance if you are coming for lunch. There will be absolutely no service during the talk.

 

Mandy Wiener and Killing Kebble:

In September 2005 one of South Africa’s most prominent mining magnates and businessmen, Brett Kebble, was killed on a quiet suburban street in Johannesburg. The top-level investigation into the case that followed was a tipping point for democratic South Africa, exposing the corrupt relationship between the country’s Chief of Police and Interpol President, Jackie Selebi, and suave Mafioso Glenn Agliotti.

A lawless Johannesburg underbelly was revealed – dominated by drug lords, steroid-filled bouncers, an international smuggling syndicate, a shady security unit moonlighting for the police and sinister self-serving sleuths abusing state agencies.

Indemnified by an agreement struck with the state, Kebble’s killers Mikey Schultz, Nigel McGurk and Faizel “Kappie” Smith come clean to Mandy Wiener in exclusive interviews about the events of the night Kebble was shot dead. As Wiener unpacks the chilling events we are given insight into the accounts of the life paths leading the “bungling assassins” to Kebble’s killing. The man accused of orchestrating Kebble’s murder, Glenn Agliotti has provided Wiener with exclusive access to his story, as have a cast of other characters whose versions of the events are as yet untold.

As always please bring along two books per person one to swap and one to donate……………THIS IS THE TICKET PRICE FOR THIS TALK, NO BOOKS NO ENTRYJ

The books are collected and in February we hand over all the collected books to Animals in Distress, a most worthy charity of Amiga’s choice.

Both authors will start at 2pm so please be seated and comfy with orders in well before that time

We had a fabulous write up in Artslink.co.za if you feel like reading it just follow the link http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=28460

If you would prefer not to receive these newsletters please just forward me an email with “unsubscribe” in the subject line!

Feel free to follow us on any of the following:

Indulgence Café http://www.facebook.com/pages/Indulgence-Cafe/136482686444382

Lollipops Catering http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lollipops-Catering/6174591596

Cakes by Lollipops http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=13189496459

Follow us on Twitter @indulgence_cafe

Follow Amiga on Twitter @AmigaFriedman

Follow our blog https://lollipopsandme.wordpress.com/

We have more frozen strawberries in so strawberry granitas are back after their incredible sell out last Saturday!  The perfect summer drink and guilt free with no fat, no dairy and no added sugar, just a little fructose!

Start swimming, stay cool, drink lots, come visit us soon!

Love ‘n Lollipops

Mandi Friedman

Lollipops Catering

“Food, Passion, Life”

Tel: 011 782 5063  Fax: 0866 33 9331 Cell: 082 895 3698

Indulgence Coffee Cafe, 1 Mount Dev, 225 Beyers Naude Drive, Northcliff ext 5

welcome to 20heaven

Welcome to 20Heaven

May your year be absolutely fabulous! May it be filled with love and happiness and lots and lots and lots of money and other lekker stuff that money can’t buy! Let someone else (like the bank manager) worry about the stresses for a while, nurture your love, your family and remember above all else………………….wear sunscreen J

Welcome back to everybody, I hope you had an wonderful relaxed holiday and festive season. I hope Christmas was delicious and New Year was a party of note.

Old year’s eve is a really good time to reflect on the year just passed and ponder the year going forward. What have you decided to change? I don’t make resolutions. I just make decisions to do things differently, that way when nothing changes apart from the date, I don’t feel like I have let myself down………….I have obviously re-thought the whole thing through again and my solution was…………..why fix something that ain’t broke!! Okay, not really, but you know what I mean!

I was sitting at the computer towards the end of December with a calendar in my left hand pondering the happenings @Indulgence Café for the year 2011 and I have to say we have a pretty full line up.

I am going to cram as much as possible into this year so prepare to be bombarded with social engagements at Indulgence Café this fabulous year 2011! So I have almost mapped the year out already, I know when every Author Talk is, just not who every author is. I know when Mom’s day and Dad’s day are. The Jewish Holidays, the Christian Holidays and a huge amount of public holidays! Rest assured that something will happen at THIS coffee shop every public holiday this year! No, that is a lie, the only things that will happen over the Easter and Christmas holidays is that the shop will slumber through them but as for the rest…………………party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So after all that WHAT is happening @Indulgence in January 2011???

Our new menu is up and out already, come on in and try out some of the new items on the menu……. There is an entire section dedicated to crumpets, another to French toast and another to those Pint Sized people in your lives! Plus a new salad or two and even if an old favourite of yours is no longer on the menu…………….we will still make it for you…………all you have to do is ask!

We don’t usually entertain authors in January, however….. place drum roll here…. I have stalked Arthur Goldstuck relentlessly and he has agreed to do an extra special Author Talk @Indulgence on the 11th of January @ 15h00. This is a Tuesday folks, so please take note of that and try not to turn up on the Saturday following as neither Arthur nor I will be here! Who is Arthur Goldstuck you are wondering? Well carry on reading and I will tell you…………………….

 

Arthur Goldstuck

 

Arthur is an award-winning writer, analyst and commentator on Internet, mobile and business and consumer technologies. He is editor and columnist for a number of publications, and heads the World Wide Worx research organization, leading groundbreaking research into how hi-tech change is affecting businesses large and small.

Arthur is author of 18 books, including South Africa’s best-selling IT book yet, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Internet”.

Through Penguin Books, he has published six books on urban legends. The most recent, “The Burglar in the Bin-Bag”, appeared in 2010. It follows “The Ghost That Closed Down the Town”, published in 2006.

As for February and March 2011 we have Michael Bowery returning to speak @Indulgence again with his memoirs and Caroline Addenbrooke with her first published novel, The Gates of Hell. Even April already has an author lined up but I don’t want to overwhelm you with information or spoil you too much so early in the year so I will keep that information on ice till next month!

I have not lined anything else up for January 2011 as I will be away from the 12th to the 31st. Which does mean that you will not be able to get hold of me. However both Lollipops Catering and Indulgence Coffee Café will  continue to function none the less. Gladys, Fortune and the rest of the team will take care of anything you may need and if you have the need to get hold of me, please feel free to email me. I will be able to pick up my emails, even if I am running about 8 hours behind youJ

There are some delicious events packed into the month of romance, February 2011 for you

We are having our 3rd kinks flea market……..this is only suitable for the more risqué of you, who are so inclined to come and have a look. The event is not  open to anyone under the age of 18, so sorry no kids! Please contact Cass for more information on  cassie.kelly@gmail.com

Author Talk is on the 12th of Feb. This is the month when we hand over all the books we have collected to Animals In Distress and start collecting all over again! So please remember to bring along your books and any food or animal friendly stuff that is still lurking around the house. By the way, thanks for everyone who came to Amiga’s 5th birthday party, she was spoiled rotten by all of you and we raised with your help R575 for Animals in Distress. I am very chuffed, so thanks very much! Please give yourselves a pat on the back!

Pre-valentines breakfast/lunch haven’t actually decided which one to do………….would you like to let me know your preferences?  Also let me know if you would prefer a set menu or to eat off the menu! (on the Sunday 13th Feb 2011)

Valentines quickie breakfast  on the Monday 14th Feb 2011……………early Monday morning before work pop into Indulgence for a quickie………….breakfast that is, we will open early so you can be at work on time, or maybe just a teeny weensy bit late!

Full details about February will be in next month’s newsletter though so look forward to receiving that next monthJ

Follow us on the 3 Facebook groups…………… for all the latest news and pictures of all our events and jobs

Indulgence Coffee Café http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=5962325892

Lollipops Catering http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Lollipops-Catering/6174591596

Cakes by Lollipops http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=13189496459

Follow us on Twitter @indulgence_cafe

Follow Amiga on Twitter @AmigaFriedman

And of course, pretty soon you will be able to find us on Foursquare as well!

As ever we look forward to feeding you this year. Have a fabulous one and let’s chat again in February

If you would like to be removed from this mailing list please just pop me an email with “unsubscribe” in the subject line and I will remove you immediately

Love ‘n Lollipops

Mandi Friedman

Lollipops Catering

“Food, Passion, Life”

Tel: 011 782 5063  Fax: 0866 33 9331 Cell: 082 895 3698

Indulgence Coffee Cafe, 1 Mount Dev, 225 Beyers Naude Drive, Northcliff ext 5

passing through your life…………

People are amazing creatures. They come in all shapes and sizes, short, tall, fat, or is chubby more politically correct these days? Tall, dark and handsome works quite well for me, but then I digress a little.

I meet huge numbers of people, new faces every day, some faces you see on a regular basis in the traffic, you pass the postman, the man you smile shyly at as you  pass with your cumbersome trolley in the supermarket or the lady  behind the bread counter who puts up with you whilst you chop and change your mind about rye bread or whole wheat, and if you lucky each of this beings passing instantly through your life will add value in one way or another. Maybe it is just a smile to brighten up your day, maybe you chat for a few moments, maybe you run over someones heel with that over loaded trolley and have to grovel for forgiveness but each one of these people adds from and  infinitesimal amount to something more gargantuan to your life.

Not heeding my mums advice I have always chatted to strangers. It is a good way to make friends I find or just get get laid occasionally. I made eye contact with a man in a supermarket once. I found him outside the door after I had done my shopping, we chatted for 5 minutes then went home and shagged. He wasn’t the greatest shag in the world (I have a little experience on the subject) but he made for interesting memories. What does picking up and man in a supermarket and shagging him make me? A slag maybe in your mind. But no, to my  mind it makes me an opportunist!

So because I have made friends with the butcher lady, who is as wacky as I am if not more. I know from my intermittent 5 minute chats that she is divorced, has a teenage son, works longgggggggggg hours, and has the bosses twenty something year old daughter hitting on her every day! I think the bosses daughter has good taste but the lady in question is straight so she is definitely barking up the wrong haunch of beefess.

Another being who has made a lasting impression on me in the car guard at one of the other supermarkets I go to. He is an older guy, thin, austere looking, Indian from Durban whose wife died suddenly about 18 months ago after about 30 years of marriage. Apart from looking sad for a time after she passed away he has ALWAYS had a smile on his face and something nice to say. I am always made aware of up coming specials and which is the best manager in the store to ask for favours (don’t ask! Just sometimes a girl needs something more from her favourite super store). He makes shopping such a pleasure that I always over tip with which ever note pops out my pocket first……………needless to say now you know why I don’t shop there so often, it’s costing me a fortune in tips!

I have to tell you about some of my clients who have made my day, driven me insane, angered me beyond belief, become friends, become good friends, become close friends and those who have passed from this mortal state of being into the next but that is for another day or four……………..

Me