Mountain Biking

I think I have discovered a new hobbie... 

This past weekend my good blogging friend Ricardo over at The Wine Oak (link below) came to visit:

http://www.thewineoak.com/ 

After demolishing three bottles of wine off on the first night and a pint of a bright blue cocktail concoction the next.. on Sunday we decided to give our bodies a health kick to even it out. SO... we rented mountain bikes! 

The trail we went on is at the Farleigh Nature Reserve - it was actually supposed to be closed to the public due to logging taking place but we decided to hell with it and started the cycle anyway. 

There was only one big tree that had fallen across our path but we managed to get through it and push on with the ride. 

I swear..... I thought that I was going to die at one stage. No exaggeration. 

15ks uphill is not for sissies!! Especially not when it is a blistering 31 degrees and all you have on is a bikini top and some yoga pants. 

It got the the point where we drank the water from puddles in the ground that was trickling down the mountains from the waterfalls. It was so cold and refreshing... I am all for living off of the earth and using plants instead of the crap we buy from chemists or cosmetic companies. At first though, I must admit that I had been slightly skeptical to drink the water from the ground. In a huge way this adventure completely opened me up to even more than before and just reminded me just how special and important nature is.

At first I absolutely hated the downhills and preferred the uphills, which soon changed let me tell you!! 

When there were downhills I really did think my life was going to end at first.. especially when I crashed into a ditch and my back wheel lifted up and chucked me over the handle-bars! But it was such good fun regardless and I absolutely loved it... 

The smell of the forest.. the creaking of the trees.. the sound of the waterfalls in the distance.. views of the greenest hills spanning out for miles on end... it was breathtaking. 

It was one of the best Sunday's that I have ever had. 

I had never mountain biked before.. so I did it and concurred it.. and will definitely be doing it again! 

Think it's time to invest in a bike!

Playing Catch-Up

Sorry that I have been so quiet... to be honest I needed some alone time. I've been back in touch with my creative side - and exploring nature, the beach and new musical instruments with the start of Summer looming close.

I've decided to learn the didgeridoo... it is such a unique and beautiful instrument and I'm having so much fun with it!

I have been back in touch with good friends that I hadn't seen for a while - having proper girls days.. something I haven't had in a very long time. It has been wonderful to get away from technology and just embrace friendships and fun days out in the sun filled with laughter, ocean, wine and sand.

I have pretty big plans and ideas coming up for 2014...

I plan on taking the online TEFL course so that I can go to China and teach English to children for a year! It will only start in China... from a few months residing in a flat there with some friends, I plan to hop across to Beijing, Vietnam, Bali, India and South America. This new journey will be the life I lead for the next year or two... the course is 120 hours and can be completed in your own time.

If anyone is keen to know more please inbox me because this is going to be the journey of an absolute lifetime!!!

Someone asked me what it is that I am seeking... and my answer was this: Travel, culture, adventure, experience, friendships, spirituality, freedom, love... my list could go on. You earn GREAT bucks doing teaching over there but it isn't about that for me... it is about so much more than money.

I also have been reading the most incredible book called Breaking Free by Chett Vosloo... its a South African book but please for my overseas readers that have a yearning to travel... try and get your hands on a copy. It has changed my life!!

Life is undergoing a major transformation for me. For this inner awakening to take place, I need to be away from home. I need to be away from all familiarity, in a place where nobody knows me. Both my friends and family know me so well by now that the personality I am around them I so deeply ingrained that I automatically behave in a certain way whenever I am with them. What I need now is to take off all these masks That I have worn for so long and to find out who I really am when I don't have to play the Jade Wright that everyone know me to be.......... Wow. Thank you Jed Matthews (Chett Vosloo) for those awe-inspiring words. Your novel just summed up everything I feel inside. Wherever you are in South Korea, I hope you are touching the lives of many others as you are with mine. Namaste.

For The Love Of Surfing!

For the Love of Surfing 

Written by Jade Wright 

The alarm clock jolts you awake during the early hours of the morning, before the golden contrast of colours illuminate the sky with another perfect sunrise. It’s 5AM; your boards’ are strapped to your roof-racks as you drive the silent roads down to the beach. All the while you can’t seem to shake that giddy and excitable feeling stirring inside at the thought that there is something special and new awaiting you down on the shores. Polystyrene cups filled with your frothy garage caffeine fix in hand, you head over the hills and smile at the perfect vision before you. Crisp, fresh waves ready for the taking; the salty spray back of water in the fresh off-shore wind – it’s all too inviting. Suiting up and strapping the leash around your ankle, you make your way down to a sand-dune accompanied with good friends and a bar of wax to share amongst yourselves. You watch the waves, you count the seconds between the breaks; choosing the perfect spot to paddle into. It is all part of the process to get to where you want to be… stealing down the face of a wave.

To be a surfer you need to have patience and loyalty toward the ocean. You’ll wear your heart in your throat at the drops you’ll take. You’ll be consumed with the undying faith you have as you fall, plummeting down, putting all the courage and trust you have into it. It is like falling in love – but better. Kelly Slater once said, “I have felt married to surfing and all it offers at times.” 

As a female surfer living in the Garden Route, I am all too familiar with the right-handers dwelling in the comforting swells of Buffelsbaai. I attend the Ross Taylor Surf Competitions in August every year and finally had the guts to compete in 2012. I got owned by a girl of about thirteen, doing all these nifty little tricks that I had never seen or heard of before, but that is one of the beauties of this sport. Age and sex doesn’t matter – if you’ve got it, you’ve got it. 

I took defeat with pride and respect, smiling admiringly at her as she grinned with pure delight. A salt-encrusted glowing happiness I remember so well when I first cupped my hands as I paddled for an intimidating wave, picked myself up and wobbly cut through the water on my first ever ride. 

You learn to move with the rhythm of the ocean, you dance with the flirtatious waves with everything that you have got. Naturally, I am a terrible dancer. On land I have absolutely no co-ordination, but there is something about the ocean that brings everything together. Suddenly I am whole and able – capable of so much more. It connects me, it fills me; it makes me fall even more in love with the sport every time I surrender myself to it. In a quick, fluid movement I become graceful with bended knees, eyes cast forward; aided with but a board and a wave.  

Surfing can be your best friend, your one true love. It can be your medicine after a bad day, your natural high. It revitalizes your body and soul; it cleanses your spirit of all negativity. However, surfing is not for the faint hearted. It takes power, commitment and muscle; but most of all, it takes passion. You have to have unconditional love for the waves. It is a love-hate relationship. Sometimes you will get knocked down and feel infuriated, yet at other times you will have the ride of your life. It is something you have to learn to accept for the love of the sport. 

“Surfing is very much like making love. It always feels good, no matter how many times you’ve done it,” said Paul Strauch, a Hawaiian born surfer who has been doing the sport since the age of four. 

Having recently come back from backpacking and camping my way through Europe – there was definitely one place that really stood out to me. In between gnawing on ginormous lamb knuckles and attempting to down litres of beer in the famous Hofbrauhaus am Platzl in Munich, I went on a bicycle tour with a company called Mike’s Bike Tours. Right at the end of the bike tour, after passing through the Englischer Garten we came to a river called Eisbach. An artificial wave has been created there and I was lucky enough to experience it first-hand. Surfer’s line up and one at a time they take turns in surfing this never ending wave. 

A permanent wave has often been described as the best training ground for a new surfer but I beg to differ. As incredible and as fascinating as it was – nothing quite beats the feel of a natural wave forming around you. There is something about a wave being completely unpredictable that one should learn early on if they want to surf. As a beginner, that is what you need to learn, the unpredictability, to truly appreciate the sport to its true beauty. 

No wave is ever the same, nor should it be – Enjoy the journey.

Finley Quaye - Dice

Finely Quaye - Dice

That song tells a special story in my life. I remember listening to it while lying sprawled out across the floor with my best friend, Rachel. Surrounding us was scattered paper and scibbles - all ideas and chapters for a book we had started writing together. One thing that we were absolutely certain about was that our story was good enough to be made into a film... and the dramatic high spot of our film-to-be would be accompanied by this song. 

The dramatic high-spot had been a scene where we would run through the Heathrow Airport and into the arms of the men that were in our lives. 

To this day, even though the book we had started way back when is no longer in existence, every time I hear this song I think of that romantic moment.... running through the airport, trying to find the love of my life. The vision is so strong - maybe it will happen one day. Who knows? 

The face of the man has always been clouded over, fuzzy and unknown... a face I can't quite put a finger on.

How exciting it is to not know the future. 

Chicken Ala King Recipe

This is such a lovely, simple recipe for chicken ala king... It's quite surprising how good it tastes because you really don't use that many ingredients at all! That's one of the beautiful things about this easy dish. (plus, it's kid friendly! All kids I know that have tried it have loved it! So enjoy this yummy recipe!)

What you'll need (serves 4):

•  Chicken Breasts
• 1 Red and Green Pepper
• A pack of your preferred mushrooms (I like portebillini)
• A big chunk of butter
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• A chicken or vegetable stock cube
• Milk
• 3 handfuls of Cake Flour
• 2 x egg yolks
• Cream
• Salt and Pepper

First, put two pans onto your stove. One pan with extra virgin olive oil and another with a big wad of butter. 

Slice your chicken into thin strips and put into the pan with extra virgin olive oil to cook through. 

Thinly slice your peppers and once the butter is melted in your second pan / pot, add them in, sauteing until soft.

While your chicken and peppers are now cooking, keep yourself busy by putting your chicken or vegetable stock cube into a jug and add 150ml of boiling water. Stir until fully diluted. 

In a second jug add in 150ml of milk.

Now slice up your preferred mushrooms and add them into the pepper pot. You'll see due to the butter that the mushrooms will go a beautiful golden color. Let this cook until soft. 

Once this is soft, take the peppers and mushrooms off of the heat. 

Take three handfuls of flour and mix it in with your mushrooms and peppers. It will fast become very stodgy and dry and it will not look very nice. Now put the pot back onto heat and add in half the jug of chicken / vegetable stock and half the jug of milk (make sure no lumps form in the sauce!):

After this, you should get something that looks like this:

Next, add in your chicken all cooked and ready to go! You'll notice the sauce thickening up really quickly now so add in the remainder of the milk and about 50ml of water - mix this is and put the heat down to as low as possible. Grind in some salt and pepper to taste. 

Now, crack your eggs and separate the yolks. On this particular recipe I cracked my egg open to find a double-yolker inside one egg! How special :) 

When your yolks are separated keep them aside in a bowl to add later.

Put a lid over your chicken and sauce mix on the lowest possible heat and let it simmer while you start on your rice. 

If you notice your sauce getting dry while simmering just add little lugs of milk here and there to prevent it. 

When you're rice is done, drain it and take the heat off of the sauce mix. Add in your yolks and a little bit of cream and stir quickly!

Voila!!!

Sprinkle a little bit of fresh parsley over as a garnish and you're ready to serve up! 

Hope you enjoy this delicious, easy and simple chicken ala king recipe! 

Have a great Wednesday evening bloggers'!