1. Lunch outside in the sun. The thing about a Joburg winters day is that as long as the sun is out, outside is often warmer than inside. Since lockdown lunch has been enjoyed outside in the sun. The nature, fresh air and vitamin D is medicine.
2. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat on Netflix. It came out 2 years ago, making me late to the party. It’s just 4 episodes; but is worth the watch. Samin Osrat is the definition of joie de vie and watching her absolute love of food is a delight. Granted watching her travel, shop markets and taste as she goes along and enjoy meals with a crowd is jarring. My goal is to one day make a meal that yields the level of reaction Samin has every time she puts a bite of something new in her mouth. Aside from just being a joy to watch, I’ve learnt something from every episode. From salting water according to the time you are cooking something in it; to always facing a chicken legs towards the back of the oven when roasting it whole (it takes the longest to cook) and making different heat areas when cooking over an open fire. After each episode, I’ve walked away with new cooking knowledge and notes of recipes and food combinations to try.
3. Hot water bottles with furry covers.
4. Sweatpants that have fleece inside. Same goes with sweatshirts, just give me fluff!
5. Videos of my nephew and niece.
6. Facetime with loved ones.
7. Our teal velvet office chairs. We got them in the beginning of the year after searching and testing dozens. We fell in love with the color and fabric. They were the most expensive single item we bought during our home office renovation and have been worth every cent. They’re comfortable, pretty and functional.
8. When a recipe or meal comes out perfectly.
9. Finally getting through my pile of books to read.
10. Seeing how my petrol tank is still on full even though I filled it up over a month ago (less joyous about how many rands I could have saved if I had kept it on empty)
