Cutest cloud surprises with Cloudees

Cloudees

An awesome collectable surprise with a weather-based theme. What's not to like? Kids get a magical cloud container, with a surprise Mattel Cloudees pet inside. There are 14 large Cloudees and 14 accompanying Cloudees Mini pets to collect. They are super cute!

We give our rating below why we love this collectables so much. (We maybe love small desk buddies more than we should, but look at them!)

Check out the Miss Fine Insta IGTV's first.

Foodie Friday with Disney's Cookabout - Cornbread with Cheddar and Herbs

Cornbread with Cheddar and Herbs -
Image: Anita Reed/Disney Channel

Every Friday I get a Foodie Friday recipe in my inbox. Inspired by Disney's locally produced live action show Disney's Cookabout on Disney Channel, they are sharing some of their healthy and totally delicious recipes that were featured on the most recent season of the show. Kids learn where our food comes from by visiting farms from around the country, before they head back to the kitchen to learn to cook with the ingredients.

I made this absolutely divine cornbread. We have an issue with our oven in our rental, but it still came out super delicious. See our version in a photo, where we used the exact same recipe. Which is a first. We usually add, or substitute something in a recipe, but this one is perfect, and super easy to make!

See recipe, which I copied exactly as is:

WIN online tickets to DON'T BURN YOUR SAUSAGE, with Chris Forrest and Pete Goffe - this Saturday

Staying in is the new going out:  Chris Forrest and Pete Goffe-Wood re-create a night out 

In these strange and challenging times we need more comedy to keep us sane. What better than the upcoming Don’t Burn Your Sausage, via Mzanzi Live, featuring Chris Forrest and Pete Goffe-Wood this coming Saturday. 8pm, on your couch!
We can't wait!

Two readers can win tickets on Instagram to attend the show. @karentoittoit

View this post on Instagram

GIVE-AWAY! >>> What are you doing this Saturday evening? We need comedy to keep us sane during this time! There’s nothing better than a double whammy of comic genius, Chris Forrest, and celebrity chef, Pete Goffe-Wood, who are creating a night out by scrumptiously blending comedy and cooking together into the ‘Top Gear’ of cooking shows with their lockdown version of Don’t Burn Your Sausage on the 18th of July. The show will be a live online broadcast with Pete cooking from Tintswalo Atlantic in Cape Town and Chris from his home in Randburg. Following sold-out shows in Grahamstown, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Windhoek, the duo has cleverly and successfully delivered this live food show to rave reviews from critics and adjusting to the times, this will be their first online show. The show promises to be an absolute hit for both food- and comedy-lovers alike. Tickets for Don’t Burn Your Sausage on the 18th of July are available at R80 via https://mzanzilive.tv/. The show starts at 20h00 CAT. Proudly brought to you by Mzansi Live in association with Tintswalo Atlantic and La Vierge. Two online tickets are up for grabs: - Tag a bestie - Follow @tintswalo_atlantic @laviergewines The two winners will be announced Friday 17th June at 15pm.

A post shared by Karen Du Toit (@karentoittoit) on Jul 16, 2020 at 12:34am PDT

Getting creative online (and in the kitchen), comic genius, Chris Forrest, and celebrity chef, Pete Goffe-Wood, are re-creating a night out by scrumptiously blending comedy and cooking together into the ‘Top Gear’ of cooking shows with their lockdown version of Don’t Burn Your Sausage on the 18th of July.

Deliciously funny and rather ‘whisk-qué, this cheeky duo will demonstrate how food and sex are delectably intertwined as they prepare the ultimate seductive 3-course meal with a naughty line-up that will have you salivating salaciously and crying with laughter.
This refreshingly funny show is jam-packed with great humour and great cooking – with Chris working his special brand of South African humour alongside Pete Goffe-Wood’s unmatched cooking talent, candour and naughtiness.  This pair will win over your hearts and your stomachs.

Chris Forrest has been on the SA comedy scene since the late nineties and Pete Goffe-Wood (best known as the Masterchef South Africa judge known to crack a joke or two), has been making great food for nearly 30 years.  When the two of them met on the set of Celebrity Masterchef SA in 2015, they found that they had a couple of things in common – one of them being the same dry sense of humour and the other, a liking for mouth-watering, delicious food.  After the series ended, they decided to combine their respective talents to bring you this culinary comedy show, the likes that have not been seen before in SA. 

Tickets for Don’t Burn Your Sausage on the 18^th of July are available at R80 via https://mzanzilive.tv/.  The show starts at 20h00 CAT.

Proudly brought to you by Mzansi Live in association with Tintswalo Atlantic, which launches on 29 July, and La Vierge.

We are planning to sort Miss Fine with a movie, while we will be sipping wine and escaping, with humour and food. 


Disclaimer: We are also getting a ticket!                   

The INSTAX Mini Link smartphone printer is all you need - review

INSTAX Mini Link 

Ever since we got the INSTAX Mini 9 as a gift at a Fujifilm INSTAX launch a few years back, we have been doting on the INSTAX range for that instant photo gratification. We got the INSTAX Mini Link smartphone printer to test, and we now believe that it is all gadget you need! The 200g INSTAX Mini Link compact palm-top printer comes with unique functions to make this printer a must-have for any event, function or party.

The INSTAX Mini Link app is a free app on the iStore and Google Play store which downloads super fast and easy to create high-quality INSTAX instant prints via bluetooth from a smartphone camera roll. The set-up is quick, and very user-friendly.

INSTAX Mini Link printer 

The following features of the INSTAX Mini Link are worth mentioning:

Lock-down day 104

Social distancing 2020

Nearly three and a half months that has gone by in lock-down. We did not think it would last this long, and now we realise it is going to stay like this for quite a while. At least for another year... It's not the rest we hoped for, and not the sabbatical we wish we could always take.

I did not blog as much as I planned I would. I had time, but no motivation.

Things are not the same, and maybe it's never going to be?

What has been happening during these three months of lock-down? Some notes for future reference.

How Lock-down are looking right now:

- Miss Fine has been going to school for her second week. The first week was a full week, but from this week they are only going every second day. Her school is doing the Covid-19 regulations very well. The kids stay in one class, and the teachers rotate. It also helps with isolating Covid-positive risks, and minimise the impact to the whole school. Only the classes and children affected quarantine at home. Miss Fine loves seeing her friends again. She is enjoying school and her new teachers (they had shifted everything again). We are also very relieved to have her back at school, and not having to to constantly trying to get her to work at home. Which did not go as well...
Some days she goes through three masks at school, and some days one is enough. It helps to have a variety at hand.

- Hubby has been retrenched, as so many people we know. He is looking for a new job, and we are hopeful. No, we are stressed about it! He is a teacher, and a financial adviser. If somebody knows of a job opening?

- Our company is also retrenching, so that's an extra stressor. I am hopeful that our department won't be affected, as we are short-staffed already. But you never know... I still go in when there are requests, and keeping up to date with our collections. Luckily I have my own studio, and can keep my distance very easily at work. I feel very safe with the safety protocols they have in place with regards Covid-19.

- We miss the family. We miss the regular visits, and weekends braais (barbecues). We miss seeing our parents. That is the most difficult thing! We miss them!

- We miss spending time with friends as well. I know we will have get-togethers again, but it is difficult not being able to spend some quality time.

- We love our new lodgings. It's a rental, but for now it's home. I do not miss our house as I thought I would. We have unpacked, and made this place our new home. Even Miss Fine has settled in quite well. She does not like change, but given some time, she has adjusted. I bought some curtains online, when it was still not allowed to be bought in the shops. Half of the order was not what we expected, but it is hanging and we love it now. This move has made us realise how much easier it is to change, and take on new adventures.

We have realised that we won't do well with Tiny House Living, but we still enjoy watching all the Tiny House programmes.

- I still dread going to the shops. It is very stressful. Not only trying to avoid catching the dreaded Virus, but also trying to find the products that's now not available. Also, the costs have gone up quite a bit during this time.

- We wear our masks going out of the house. I do it out of respect for you, but also to keep myself safe, as well as anybody I get into contact with. I expect the same from anybody else, and judge people who don't respect the rule, or us.

How long are we going to live like this?
How have you been doing during lock-down?