Decorex Durban

Happy Monday folks! I hope you all had a really lovely and (hopefully) rather relaxing long weekend. I am sure some of you went away and soaked up the sunshine somewhere nice and beautiful and you are back at work today sighing, shaking your head and thinking "where did that weekend go?". I bet some of you have even looked up when the next public holiday is, you have haven't you?

Over the weekend, Darren, myself and 2 of our close friends decided we would go on down to Decorex and spend the day meandering around and getting home inspiration. We started the day at the Shongweni Farmers Market, which was lovely as always, and then headed home for a quick powernap (some of us battle with early mornings *cough* Paul *cough* Darren.

Darren and I have recently moved in together after a total renovation of the house I was previously living in, so we were really looking forward to getting some exciting home inspiration at Decorex, because lets be serious, it is much easier trying to convince your boyfriend that pineapple cushions "are so now" in real life, as opposed to pointing them out on pinterest.

After the recharge we parked at the ICC and met up at Decorex. Upon arrival we paid our R65 each and we received our "sponsored by Plascon" Decorex "gift bags" or whatever you call them.

Spekko Rice - The number 1 Durban gift bag item (can't wait to get my next bag at House & Garden Show!) Everyone that goes to all these exhibition shows will know - you always get Spekko!
Lifebuoy - Yay soap!?
Comfort  - Yay Fabric softener!? I got one of these free at checkers the other day too.
Nivea Sachet of cream - a sachet?
Pamphlet - Very interesting to look at for the first few pages and then choc a bloc with bad ads

Overall I was quite disappointed, but I was not surprised. I have never really received a great one at any of the shows I have been to in Durban. When are we going to get with the program and realise that people love value for money and people love free things? Guys, it is not that difficult - when you are a HUGE decor expo, to organise sponsorships. Tiny paint tins? washi tape? Tiny vinyl wall sticker? a paint brush? I don't know. Anything other than Spekko rice. I would be more than willing to pay more if I got something good in the bag, I am sure a lot of people would.

Anyway aside from the gift bags, as we walked in, I was beyond excited. The first "stands" as you walk in were beautiful! They were current, bright and full of very trendy and exciting home ideas.
AS I EXPECTED, there were pineapples, which I happily pointed out to Darren and my point was made and yay pineapple cushions here we come WOO HOO!

Pot plants in brass hangers, sausage dog benches, white ceramic pineapples, a fabric banner, pom poms, bright floral arrangements, patterned cushions. All very trendy and very current. Unfortunately this was the only section of its kind - with 1 or 2 half exceptions.

There were your usual kitchen displays, fancy but a bit boring. Couches from Sutherlands, too much french country for my liking and about half of the stands there were selling pots, pans, knives and milk frothers. The coffee-bar section was lovely and very lovely to look at, not a lot of seating but very well done.

The "food court" looked great and there was a great variety of food to be had. There was limited seating here too but we squished up and enjoyed our Afros chicken and gourmet hot dogs.

I was very impressed by the "look" of the food court and coffee bar, they were both fresh, current and very trendy but I found the overall show desperately lacking much decor at all. I expected so much more from Durban, we are such a beautiful little city full of creative and talented people but that Decorex left me feeling quite uninspired and quite frankly a little but bored.

There were pieces here and there that I coveted and there were stands whose product wowed me (See: Homewood OMG) but overall I felt like something along the lines of the caravans Terry Angelos orchestrated at last years House & Garden show would have gone down well at Decorex. A homegrown hall or just a large section where local interior designers, even bloggers decorate a section/stand/room with locally sourced products. Even converted Mr Price things and cleverly used cheapy items, better than yet another "comfy bed" display.

I understand these big company's foot the bills and they are necessary at a Decorex, because it is not only about decor, but about big items too, but my goodness guys, it is time to do a bit of a refresh! Do some work! Aproach designers and bloggers! Get something interesting going here!  We need more!

Other than my lack-of-creativity rant, I had a nice day out with my friends and it was great to have something different to do in Durban, be it a bit generic :) Here are a few of my highlights:

Have a happy Monday and I will catch you on the flip!

Duffymoon
xxx

Oreo Cheesecake Brownies

Happy Sunday morning folks! It is nice and overcast in Durban and the perfect weather to do what we love doing most on a Sunday: going to Gateway to look around at "stuff", meeting friends for lunch and then heading home for Sunday afternoon baking (me) and playing playstation4/xbox (Darren). Alas, as much as we would love to be doing that, we have a full day of moving ahead of us! LAST DAY!

On Thursday evening I posted a picture of my Oreo Cheesecake Brownies and promised a recipe! So here it is!

Ingredients

+- 30 Oreo Cookies (1 1/2 boxes) more if you want to garnish with Oreo
1/3 cup of melted butter
250g cream cheese
3/4 cup of sugar
4 eggs
250ml sour cream
1tsp vanilla essence / extract
250ml cream
270g dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C. Finely crush around 24 cookies - I did this by smashing the hell out of them with the end of my rolling pin in a mixing bowl. roughly chop the remaining cookies and set those aside for later. Combine the fine cookies crumbs with the melted butter in a bowl and press into a baking tray. Depending on the size of your baking tray you may need to make a little more of the base. If this is the case, just smash a few more cookies and add a little melted butter until it resembles the mixture you already have squished into your tin.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until it is bound and creamy then add 1 egg at a time until they are just incorporated. If you beat the eggs extensively, the surface of your cheesecake will crack. Mix in your sour cream, vanilla and coarsely chopped cookies. Pour the mixture onto your Oreo-butter base and spread to all corners. Bake for 45 minutes or until set. When ready the surface of the cheesecake should have a slight wobble - but not VERYT wobbly. As the cheesecake cools down t will set.

Allow the cheesecake to cook while you make the chocolate ganache for the top. This is really simple: Heat up your cream, take off the heat and add the chocolate pieces and mix until they are combined and make up a smoothe and creeeeeamy ganache. Set this mixture aside and make yourself a cup of tea and go on facebook or read a book or do something that distracts you from the cooling cheesecake and cooling chocolate delishiousness for about an hour. For me this was unpacking boxes and washing dishes. YAY moving!

When both the cheesecake and the chocolate ganache are cooled down, pour the ganache over the cheesecake and set in the fridge for 2-3 hours. When you take the cheesecake brownies out of the fridge the ganache should be set and ready for cutting. The best way to cut these brownies is with a hot and sharp knife. Run the knife around the edges of the baking tin and then cut into neat, cute, delicious squares. Remember to cut all the way down to the cookie base - this will be quite hard and biscuity.

I really hope you enjoy these cheesecake brownies, they are not overwhelmingly cheesey, but the 3 layers give 3 very distinct textures (thanks ma) and 3 very different tastes that make up a trio of amazingness. I am really looking forward to playing with this recipe a bit more, perhaps trying some different filled coookies like lemon creams or mint romany creams topped with a caramel? Ya. Tell me about it. Seriously though, if you try this recipe, or a variation of it, please let me know how it goes - or even better - send pics!

I hope you enjoy the recipe as well as the last day of the weekend before Monday! Make the most of it - bake, snuggle, have coffee, paint, run, walk your dogs and end it with a hot soak in the bath or something equally relaxing

Duffymoon xxx

2014 & The Pretty Little House

Hello & Happy New Year!

I'm a bit on the late side with the well wishes and blogging, but I am very excited about the year ahead. There is so much exciting stuff on the go and I can't wait to be able to share with you! In due time folks, due time.

2014 means Darren and I are moving in together (officially)
2014 means we added a ginger kitten called Jagger to our family
2014 means that we bought a porta pool
2014 means we are going to kick it into high gear in our vegetable garden
2014 means we are adding chickens to our lives
2014 means more in love than ever
2014 means fresh starts
2014 means renovations...

At the beginning of this week, renovations started on our Pretty Little House. We live in 106 year old wood and iron house in beautiful Glenwood. It is a sweet home, but exceptionally old and falling down in a few places, so before Darren fully moved in, it was decided that it was high time for some restructuring. Enter our landlord and yay for renovations! We packed up all our prized possessions and stacked everything in the spare room and the carnage began!

Anyone who has tried to live in their hundred and six year old house while a FULL floor to ceiling renovation is taking place will know, that it is in no way a good idea. We thought we could do it, but no one can. Ya hear? no one! There is 106 years worth of dust on those ceilings that are being ripped out , BUT you are getting sparkly white ceilings put in their place, so the moral of the story is, don't be a chop, move out while you are renovating. You don't get an award for going to work with dusty streaks on your butt from the chair you sat on, just really weird stares and eye infections.

We have been so lucky with our renovations because the house is quite old, there was a lot that has to be done anyway, so we were encouraged to throw in any ideas we had for what we wanted at the end of the day. Because I wanted to be super helpful and I can be really efficient when i want to be, I did this in 2 parts:

Part 1: Make a ridiculously detailed drawing of your current home and then edit it to what you would like to end up with at the end of the day, including plug points, lighting, counters and floor finishes. I used www.floorplanners.com to do this. I found it really easy to use, very easy to edit and I was able to place furniture in each of the rooms so Darren and I could get a good idea of where we wanted to put everything once the renovations were done as well as a good idea of what we needed to sell/buy/repair.

Part 2: Send the detailed drawing to the person doing the building and meet them at the house to do a walk about. Lets be serious, unless you are a qualified architect or something or other, you are going to have put in a few unreasonable requests in your plans, poor Richard having to deal with some really funny stuff..."Jordyn you can't really make a wooden bathroom a "wet room". I'm sorry Richard, but you really are the kindest gent I know.

We are now letting the builders do their thing and we are trying to stay as much out of their hair as possible . I cannot wait to share some of the progress with you as soon as it is done, which according to the schedule should be in about a month! Thats the advantage of living in a non-brick house and having the most amazing team working on it.

This is going to be a great year and I can't wait to share it all; our home, work, friends, food and more.

Our internet should be up and running in about a month, so you can expect some more regular blog posting around about then. Until then, random-kepping-you-on-your-toes-stuff!

Love,

Duffymoon