Fairlady August 2018

International Women’s Day on 8 March has always struck me as a little odd. It just seems somewhat arbitrary – a bit like International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I suspect you all already have that highlighted in your diaries, but if it’s somehow slipped your mind, just a reminder that it’s on 19 September. You’re welcome, matey. Arrrr. These days there are days for everything: apparently today is Pineapple Day – who knew? It all becomes a bit annoying and meaningless. But I’ve always loved South African Women’s Day, because it commemorates something real and essential and magnificent: the sunny August day in 1956 when nearly 20 000 women – led by the absolutely formidable Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn – marched on the…

MARLI MEYER We are so proud of features writer and digital editor Marli Meyer for winning the prestigious PETCO (South African PET recycling company) award for her really excellent story on single-use plastics in our December issue: ‘The last straw – our big fat single-use plastic problem.’ Marli wrote the story after characteristically in-depth research and unearthed some fascinating – and terrifying – facts. These stories can often leave readers feeling depressed and helpless, but Marli included a section called 22 Small Changes You Can Start Making Now! which laid out a very simple game plan, accessible to all of us, on easy everyday ways we can change the status quo. A brilliant piece and a great award. Well done, Marli! Watch her interview on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/ OoBKWHmcZiI DR…

WINNING LETTER Mindful choices I have to say I was quite taken aback by one of the choices on the ‘Stuff We Love’ page in your May 2018 issue. There has been so much publicity and awareness around single-use plastic that it was quite shocking and, I believe, irresponsible, to see a picture of a plastic bottle of flavoured water on this particular page. Even more ironic is the article ‘Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot’ (May 2018) with its strong message about reducing our waste. Yes, other products listed on the ‘Stuff We Love’ page are also in plastic containers and so it becomes tricky, and where do we draw the line? It starts, I believe, in the conscious choices we make as consumers and retailers. While plastic bottled drinks,…

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Sweet Lionheart The Sweet Lionheart Gurls (their nickname, not mine) are actually from Cape Town, but a friend went to one of their textured buttercream workshops in Joburg and said it was a blast. The Gurls, she says, were ‘lovely, kind and helpful’ and they really took the time to help you get the cake decorating techniques right. Since they’re based here, the Cape Town workshops are a bit more varied: they have a biscuit stack and rocket pops workshop, a painted buttercream workshop and one where you learn to make a ‘flamingle’ cake, which looks really fun. In a few hours, you learn all kinds of cake decorating techniques, you get to take your creation home and you get a bubbly break. What’s not to love? Go to sweetlionheart.com/workshops/…

‘ I feel that eating is so much about grabbing the moment.’ Nigella Lawson pitter-patters barefoot across cool tiles in a high-ceilinged Victorian kitchen. Between set-ups for the photoshoot, she has slipped back into her simple black slacks and T-shirt and come foraging for lunch. The larder is stocked with every delicacy imaginable but the queen of British home cookery goes straight for a crusty loaf of sourdough bread and spreads a slice thickly with sunshine-yellow cultured butter. She washes it down with a cup of English breakfast tea strong enough to stand a spoon in. ‘Perfect,’ Nigella observes with that cryptic half-smile she sometimes employs on-screen when contemplating caramel. ‘I’m very particular about bread and butter,’ she adds. Whether making short work of a bunch of parsley with her…