Back to Real Life

Yawn. Sheesh, the days are a lot longer when you spend them working instead of lazing at the sea-side with a good book ;)

But I haven't completely forgotten my trip and I get to relive it all week with my holiday posts ... I tell you, I think that is one of my favourite things about my blog, being able to go back and read up, see the photos, remember and relive all my big overseas trips since 2004 :)

So yesterday we pretty much got back into the swing of real life. Except that I skipped gym due to flooding, there wasn't anyway I was braving the storm last night or the traffic it caused to start gym ... gym can wait till today. But I loved the storm, the thunder & lightning were right above us at some point. Although the boons weren't too impressed. I was busy being all "wow, animals are amazing, the storm is rumbling and there the 3 are just chilling on the grass, relaxed like nothing is happening". Turns out that was just the start of the giant storm to hit us and it was still far from on top of us, no wonder they were still chilled out. Shortly thereafter with the first loud crack of lightning and deafening thunder Lily scooted inside and hid in a corner. And then I herded in the other two and kept them inside while the storm raged. Much better, than in their hutch! They, of course, loved it ... they haven't been inside for a while so it was exploration at top speed for the first while and then it settled down into their general my-lounge-is-is-their-jungle-gym antics jumping up on all the chairs and the couch. I missed them, cuties!

For dinner, since I'd been craving Nacho's since our visit to Cantina Tequila before we went away, I made a form of Nacho's. I guess it could only be referred to as "Nacho Pie", which is what I've now dubbed it since it will *definitely* be made again ... although obviously not while trying to be healthy or anything (which I've given up all pretense of this week since we're off to Taste of Joburg on Saturday :) ). Unfortunately I have no photos, and there's no recipe to speak of, but it goes pretty much like this:

Cover the base of a oven-proof dish (I used the one I usually use to make my crustless quiche in) with Woolies Nacho Chips. Line Nacho Chips around the sides on the dish as well. In another bowl mix up 2 tubs of Chunky Cottage Cheese, 1 tin of Mexican Tomato mix and 1 tin of drained Kidney Beans. Spoon mixture on top of Nacho Chips (this is the pie filling basically). I also added chopped up Chicken Fillets on top. Then I topped the filling with another layer of Nacho Chips and covered this with grated cheddar cheese and a few Jalapeños. Then it goes in the oven to bake for a while. I can't say how long, we didn't quite get the time right - the cheese was melted but the inside was still not warm enough, so we nuked it in the microwave for a bit :) I think next time I might bake it in the oven for a bit before adding the top layer of Nacho's and cheese and baking it again just to melt the cheese. It's all made up in my head, so I can change the recipe like that ;)

Serve with a generous helping of Guacamole or sliced Avocado. Yum yum. It was delish and I have some of the leftovers for lunch today :)

While we ate we watched The Last King of Scotland (I saw someone in Zanzibar was reading it and remembered it was on my list).

Sheesh. I didn't think it was a great movie, filmically or story-line-wise, really. But it's one of those you kinda *have* to watch. Even if all it does is inspire you to investigate further (which it has for me). I mean I knew Idi Amin was a bad guy, but it's one of those things from the past that I think we need to know more about. I think there are too many examples in history of dictators killing masses of people in their own country while the rest of the world sits clueless. I can't help but wonder how on earth it ends up happening. But it does.

I have more I want to say, but I don't really know quite how to word it and I try and stay out of politics ... mostly because I don't know if any country has got it all figured out. I definitely lean more to the opinion that a country should be run more like a corporation where you hire teams of the best people from your Country in certain knowledge areas to make decisions regarding those areas, instead of say, a School teacher to be the Minister of Communication, for example. I also don't think people in government should be highly paid, they should be averagely paid like the rest of us, and given performance based bonuses (this would be key, I think!). In my opinion then hopefully the people with a passion to do good will end up in those positions.

All of this is just my opinion, so please don't shoot it down in the comments section. It's one of those things that I have vague ideas about but have never really bothered to think about in depth because really, what difference is it going to make? I don't have a yearning to make great strides in politics and am really not very educated on the whole thing (I doubt I could even name more than 5 people who've worked in South Africa's government! I know, shocking :P). But even with my limited knowledge, I can still tell right from wrong ... which sometimes I'm not sure the folks in power remember how to do.