In one of my past lives I was an au pair, and for a few years I ran a local agency supplying au pairs to families.

What Is An Au Pair?

There are many definitions of au pairs and childminders, but during my time running the agency and trying to put some structure to a very new environment and service, this is what we decided on with regards to providing an explanation for each service:   

What’s in a name?

Whilst one might think of Gin & Tonic when hearing the name of my blog, and whilst you won’t be wrong, you won’t be right either.

Whilst I do like the occasional Gin & Tonic sundowner, alas that is not the “tonic” I am referring to in the name of my blog – Tonic & Tiaras.

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 I have a love-hate relationship with the different chat groups I am part of in my WhatsApp world.

Our Telkom line has been down and with it my link to the outside world, I’ve been on edge.. no really it’s all I can get on my mobile. I mean what else do we use our phones for. Calls? Pfft

Last weekend the Hubster and I grabbed some popcorn and settled in to watch Arrival.

Arrival stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Remmer who are on an important mission to find out why alien craft have suddenly appeared around the world. As it turns out these pods are trying to communicate and it’s up to the pair to figure out why they arrived on Earth and this needs to be done before war breaks out. I thought this was just another lame sci-fi but it turned out to be so much more.

I have mixed emotions about sci-fi movies, but when you marry a man who lives for them and requires me to throw a tantrum before we get to watch something girly (which more often than not proves to be a massive disappointment) you have to learn to cope. So what I thought would be the background soundtrack to me working on my Pinterest life, has managed to leave me so deep in thought and reflecting on this whole parenting/adult journey and choices we make.

I love cooking and trying new foods, sometimes to the detriment of my family and friends.

I think my palette is different and it does not like to be bored. My palette is its own entity controlled by weird and wonderful tastes and emotions. One could say my palette is an acquired taste. I have decided that besides my fascination with all things trending in food, my palette is making me a bit of a foodie outcast.

On advice I am going to start with the basics again instead of going straight to making kimchi. Firstly, because not a lot is known about this superfood and then to top it off I do not have many taste testers knocking down my door. So maybe I need to start with more basic South African ingredients and experience that first. I do find myself drawing the line at “walkie talkies” I know what they are but have no desire to cross that road.