bokkie bags

as is the way of kalk bay, a mom at luca's old montessori school was doing tai chi with the creative guru behind 'trip' and spotted her bag, telling her to swing by my store immediately. here are some of her "faun"tastic leather bags. i just love them. it never ceases to amaze me how much talent there is behind the lentil and muesli curtain!

bailey doesn't bark

i didn't think that 'bailey doesn't bark' could get any better, but she has out done herself with her new ceramic collection. available at her shop on etsy.

bazaar mentions

traversing google yesterday, i couldn't believe how many mentions of beatnik bazaar there are. thank you to everybody who has added me to their blog lists or mentioned me! top billing magazine is out, and beatnik bazaar's heart necklace by skermunkil, cushion by skinny laminx and my retro heart cup feature on their valentine's spread! many items including my yellow melaware cups and bowls and tessa's aqua pottery will appear in food & home magazine in about a months time.

revolutionary road - hell in suburbia

Revolutionary Road

Adapted from the revealing novel by Richard Yates, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is an incisive portrait of an American marriage seen through the eyes of Frank (three-time Academy Award® nominee Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (five-time Academy Award® nominee Kate Winslet) Wheeler. Yates's story of 1950's America poses a question that has been reverberating through modern relationships ever since: can two people break away from the ordinary without breaking apart?

Frank and April have always seen themselves as special, different, ready and willing to live their lives based on higher ideals. So, as soon as they move into their new house on Revolutionary Road, they proudly declare their independence from the suburban inertia that surrounds them and determine never to be trapped by the social confines of their era.

Yet for all their charm, beauty and irreverence, the Wheelers find themselves becoming exactly what they didn't expect: a good man with a meaningless job whose nerve has gone missing; a less-than-happy homemaker starving for fulfillment and passion; an American family with lost dreams, like any other.

Driven to change their fates, April hatches an audacious plan to start all over again, to leave the comforts of Connecticut behind for the great unknown of Paris. But when the plan is put in motion, each spouse is pushed to extremes - one to escape whatever the cost, the other to save all that they have, no matter the compromises.

into the good books

roll "sushi" sandwiches for your kids

if you have kids, they would have experienced their first few days back at school right now and if you have a 6 or 7 year old, they would have just started grade one. with this comes the challenge of packing enough healthy food to keep them fed over TWO lunch breaks, that is interesting and yummy enough to be eaten. so i've compiled my own little suggestion post for first time moms of grade ones, and for anyone else who wants to pack a fuss free and realistic lunch box that is healthy but child-friendly!
buy those little individually wrapped cheeses, they rock both your kids and your world, when it comes to convenience. pack a few provitas to munch with them, and you have a friend for life, also alleviating the boredom of another peanut butter sandwich. then you can get really creative and buy those ready peeled tiny carrots and a little cream cheese and show your little one how to dip them into the cream cheese and chow down on an uber healthy snack. dried fruits and mixed nuts always rock and should be a fixture in the box along with 2 fresh fruits like an apple and a nectarine...try and limit the bananas 'cos they get real hot and squishy! packing some pasta, cous cous or a rice dish that tastes good cold, will ensure a healthy and low fat way of providing slow release energy. try a simple pasta salad mixed with cheese, cherry tomatoes and a bit of salami or a rice dish made the night before, stir-fried with chicken and soya sauce. a few titbits of protein in the form of last nights roast chicken or some cold meats always seem to go down a treat, and paired with the hard cheese, cream cheese and nuts mentioned earlier, your children are getting their recommended daily allowance of all things good.

alternating sandwiches with rye, seed bread, pita breads and rolls can bring a fresh angle to the sandwich, and stuffing them with as many fresh ingredients as possible will really earn your kids some brownie points with their teachers, who really do cast their eyes over your sprouts lunch boxes. for a totally fun twist on the sarmie, fill white bread sandwiches with cream cheese and cucumber, roll and tie with seaweed and cut into sushi sized rolls. buying a cookie cutter and cutting your daughters sarmies into flower shapes and hearts is a really cool idea, but boys will cringe and run for the blerrie hills if you sneak up on them like that. boys want biltong and naartjies and lunch boxes filled with things they can create themselves, but i imagine girls want a tea party everyday, complete with a bashews bottle of cranberry juice and jam rolypoly's. remember to be 'green' and pack organic foods, re-usuable cutlery, a cloth napkin, yoghurt in a glass jar, juice in a glass bottle, limiting the plastic and promoting recycling!

here are some cool links:
http://www.healthylunchbox.co.uk/about.html
http://www.health24.com/child/Nutrition/833-855,23815.asp
http://www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au/hav/articles.nsf/pages/Healthy_lunch_boxes_for_children?OpenDocument

how bazaar

i got to chatting for ages to simone, local kalk bay goddess and manager of india jane, and to my utter glee i found some interior books there and unearthed this treasure. its called 'bazaar style," and is amazing in so many ways, the most prolific being that not only is it part of my name, but illustrates the "bazaar" interior style that i covet in my store. so now its there for all to see and shows off how to use and incorporate all things retro, vintage, shabby, worn, handmade and recycled in your home, altogether in a colourful razmataz of collectable cool.

the meaning of beatnik

many people ask me what "beatnik" means, and some people foist their own understanding (or lack thereof) of what it means onto me, so i thought i'd clarify what my own "interpretation" of beatnik is, in terms of choosing it to name my shop. the beatniks were a small group or counter-culture movement in the 1950's, who were non-conformist in their views of working, living, religion, appearance and musical tastes, amongst other things, celebrated by beat writing and poetry, jazz, communal living and free thinking. strangely, my favourite writers are from this period, namely william burroughs, jack kerouac and aldous huxley and some of the most interesting musicians ever to have graced our planet were influenced by the beatnik culture, such as pink floyd, bob dylan and the beatles. if there were any group that i would have been a part of, would i have been around in those days, it would have been the 'beat generation' and my shop represents this in the way that it offers a choice of unique and individual pieces, for those who express themselves through their surroundings and see the beauty in the unconventional. the beatniks were more of a movement of consciousness towards celebrating free thinking and individuality, of choice and creativity - a reaction to the syrupy sweetness of the cake baking pastel pink housewives and suit wearing pen pushing morgage paying men of that decade who attended church without question or thought, ate dinner at 5 o'clock, listened to and read unchalleging rubbish and complained about elvis and his hips.

modern day beatniks have no title or group to belong to because there are so many people who now put alot of thought into their choices in life, into what music they listen to, what they read and how it moves them, what they surround themselves with and what it expresses and who engage in the poetry of living dangerously on the other side of the conventional.

retro kitchen

inspired by the gorgeous and colourful retro kitchen 6 seater table and chairs i bought, as pictured below, i thought i'd do a "retro kitchen" post. have a squizz!

milk for the morning cake

straight into bed cake free and dried is one of the best blogs i have ever read. i came upon it quite by mistake. not only does the author's writing style transport you instantly into another time with your feet transplanted into her kitchen, wearing an apron and tending to the oven with the engulfing vanilla scent of hot cakes filling your senses, the blog is also beautiful, informative and filled to capacity with healthy recipes with decadent titles such as "boozy babycakes" and "hazelbutter cookies with cocoa butter truffle." the most insane thing is that all her recipes are gluten free cos she's actually a homeopath, making her yet another amazingly talented creature lurking in the undiscovered warmth of her own kitchen.

herewith, an excerpt: "Easing curls of zest from a clementine, I noticed both its roundness and twelve perfect segments forming a whole. Fin peeled the red wax from a babybel with the utmost care, bit into the round cheese within and closed up the shell again to make it new. Birth and death, whole and half, sweet and salt, twelve months yielding to the frost of January, stripping back the land to its bones. Mornings standing at the four ring stove, warming a round cast iron pan, I looked down at those cadmium yolk globes and felt lucky. A bush outside the window groaned with the weight of ruby beads that kept our blackbird family plump - what abundance, thought I with a skip in my heart."

off to see the wizard

i'm going on a field trip of sorts so that i can write about some of the places in and around the overberg for the travel website i write for. i am looking forward to experiencing greyton for the first time and having a little bit of an adventure! maybe i'll even find some great stock.

retro kitchen

new at beatnik bazaar is this retro kitchen set consisting of a 6 seater table and 6 chairs in excellent condition.

swimming with the horses

i rode to the dam on redhill with a friend yesterday and my dad met us there with our kids, dogs and the camera. utter bliss!

retro coffee table

i've just collected a new retro coffee table that is similar to the one pictured, although better because it has a glass top too, and extends with a flap. It is so clever! hurry if you like this one, it will go fast!

cherries

i love cherries and am dedicating a blog post to items that i love with cherry prints. a symbol of sassy decadence, 1950's cocktails, cheek and flirtation. these syrupy sweet sexy little fruits should be part of our daily lives and should definitely be a part of every single gal and hitched mama's naughty kits...next to the whipped cream and nutella!

looking for a shop assistant

beatnik bazaar is looking for a shop assistant to work in the afternoons from February, during the week. if you know someone who lives near kalk bay and has a design mind, can style the shop like a pro and is confident, bubbly and interested in vintage/retro/handmade, then please let me know! email me on beatnikbazaar@gmail.com

school holidays

until my son starts grade one at the end of january, i'm on holiday with him, and he's been up to some really cool things like horseriding and body boarding! i've been trying to get him to ride for the last one and a half years and not even being at the stables a few times a week has tempted him. but he decided that this past weekend was a good time for him and he even trotted within 2 days of starting! i'm so proud.