chocolate...

 Hi

The lack of posts = crazy silly madness... You know the kind were you husband is on leave, you have a house to paint and fix, the kid has school project, outings, orals and activities, the emails keep piling in and the cleaning never ends, and you want to fit in a week away somewhere.... well that has been the last +/- a month.

I am just trying to get my digital,online legs back / the pile of emails sorted / photos edited etc...

So please bear with me

I feel so bad for not popping in sooner. BUT brownie points to me for:

• Being able to update the Betty Bake facebook every now and then. 

• Do the occasional pin on Pinterest because who doesn't like a pretty party? or a chic looking home? or creating a cute craft?
• Tweet some crazy food stuff or random thought
• Of course if there was a pretty coffee to photograph or thing I thought was nice- I instagramed it

During this crazy time Ive also learnt to say No sometimes and not feel guilty! - well kind of ;) I work through it and in the end all is good.

What have you been up to?

Hope you are amazingly well :)


 
ps while we were away I did manage to bake the chocolate loaf cake in the pic... hope to share it with you soon 

WIN R1000 Checkers Voucher

Would you like to win R1000 voucher to shop at Checkers for wine, cheese or anything you like? I can see a giant basket of lindt!!! Or maybe it will just help out with the grocery shopping?


WIN:
1 x R1000 Gift voucher to use at Checkers in South Africa

REVIEW: Lampedusa Pie by Andrea Burgener

WIN a copy of LAMPEDUSA PIE by Andrea Burgener with www.bettybake.co.za and Pan Macmillan

ABOUT THE BOOK:

WIN a yummy Food Hamper

The V & A Waterfront in Cape Town has opened their very own food market with individually owned stall holders so you can shop for a variety of yummy homemade and fresh foods.
Its the kind of market everyone can find something to eat or drink - its very tempting to try lots of delicious goodies! so beware (don't say I didn't warn you)


WIN a very cool and yummy food hamper from V and A Market on the Wharf

ON HOLIDAY ... see you soon!

The husband is on leave so I am happily drinking coffee and wine tasting and ignoring regular life... as much as possible (there are still dishes but eating out means less of them :) YAY!

If you would like to see what I'm up to follow me on instagram (@bettybake) 
or twitter


See like this Caramel Mousse cake that I found at a nearby town Patisserie .... bliss!
Of course I Instagramed it!

My daughter actually ate it (it was wheat-free) but not before I photographed it and took a bite ;)

See you soon!

10 THINGS EVERY FOOD BLOGGER SHOULD KNOW.. (OTHER BLOGGERS TOO)

I am not a major food blogger, I haven't won any awards and I don't think I am the BEST! but I do feel after blogging for a few years that I have noticed a few things and this blog post is a pep talk to me for the days I feel like Im just not cutting it! 


1) Your Blog matters
Even if you only reach one person it IS OK! (If I only effect the life of one person then my blog has done its job...) Your writing mattered to someone out there

2) You are cool enough
There will ALWAYS be someone bigger than you. Suck it up. And Always be kind to someone smaller than you (blog wise or twitter wise) you were once there too.

3) Stats suck but look how far you've come
Don't judge yourself against Mr or Mrs big blogger, take a step back and go look at your stats from a year ago - really do it!

4) Pictures are worth a thousand words...
ALWAYS work on your picture taking. We live in a media based world where graphics and photos are throw at us daily.. just think of blogs, facebook, twitter, pinterest... etc... photos, photos - this is what people judge your blog in seconds flat so make it pretty for them. This includes your layout *(note to self - declutter blog layout)


5) Sometimes you post won't be perfect
Sometimes they just won't be - and thats ok. We all have creative slumps - its about the keeping at it! GO GO GO - you can do. Go for a walk and go photograph something... It WILL help.

6) Not everyone will be kind...
People will steal your photos or your content or both! fight for your stuff - YOU ARE WORTH IT!
and likewise don't steal people stuff - ITS NOT COOL!

7) Your regular readers count
Its not only about  getting new readers and more numbers. Think on the kind readers that keep coming back. They are sometimes more important than some fly by night follow and unfollowers.

8) Don't over tweet or facebook your links
Its not cool to keep repeatedly tweeting or updating your time line saying look at my post! its ok to remind people but air on the side of caution. You will put them off and they may even unfollow you

9) Comment
This goes both ways: comment on the blogs that you visit = Every blogger loves to know there is someone on the other end reading.
Comments on your blog: Reply to peoples comments = its polite and lets your readers know you care that they read your work and took the time to write something to you.

10) Copyright
Don't steal people recipes or content (even magazines) EVER - it doesn't matter if others are doing it. Clearly give credit where credit is due. Link, state and thank your source and even drop them an email or comment on their blog stating you would like to use their work with credit etc...

Hope this has made you feel a little better about your blog... I shall be back to read this again next week when I need a pep talk ;)

Remember YOU ARE SPECIAL AND YOUR BLOG MATTERS!

Would you add anything to this?

UPDATED AGAIN: Coffee Espresso Machine - BREVILLE

flat white made by a professional Barista - not me!

PLEASE READ TO THE END OF THE POST TO SEE THE OUTCOME!!!

So recently my husband and I went coffee machine shopping. Before we set out I never realised how daunting this would be. We had been browsing for almost a year now and we had a rough idea of what we wanted. We knew we wanted an espresso machine. We had a stove top peculator already and we were now wanting to progress to the next step :) yay! well so I thought...

Organising a Bloggers Get Together

So on Thursday I am looking forward to being part of organizing the Cape Town bloggers get together (with the helping hand of Being Brazen). Now we have utilized Twitter and Facebook as well as some very kind bloggers who have re-posted our invites.
We have been offered wine by Zandvliet Wines and changed venues...It was quite a search.
Thankfully the Grand Daddy Hotel will have us with no venue hire fee = we don't have to charge for people to come - YAY!  So I'm hoping people will support their bar and buy a drink or two (fingers crossed)
Ofcourse the FREE wine isn't going to help this - so we have decided to limit the wine to 1 welcome glass of wine per person to hopefully start things off and then hopefully everyone will order from the bar - after all we would like to be invited back again or be on good terms with the Grand Daddy Hotel for other events ...(if there are any) .... I maybe CRAZY at that POINT!!! (insanity here we come).
We just realized we don't have any snacks for everyone and were hoping to get some donated (good luck on that!!!!) so far no takers. If you are a nice kind soul (read - company) who would like to give us some food for roughly 140 (yes you read right) we would love you FOREVER!!! and of course tweet about it on Thursday night.

Let see if 140 people really pitch? - if half pitch thats 70 people - still not bad for a get together in Cape Town when people tend to hibernate when the weather is cold!

;)

Hugs
 

Relax - Life Down the Rabbit Hole

Hello

Sorry for my absence. I have been doing too many things at once - and getting soooo distracted by the internet world. It's like the rabbit hole in Alice in wonderland - ooo that looks pretty and before you know it you've been to 300 websites, 10 flicker accounts, 15 facebook pages and a whole bunch of twitter followers and you've tweeted 20 things and it leads to another 300 websites!
Let's just say I'm trying to be a bit more disciplined online right now. Let's see how long it lasts.

So that is why I haven't posted. I always check my comments and check on this blog everyday but posting takes time and I've been so easily distracted lately - sorry. *sheepish grin*

So how is life with you? I had a lovely night away at Welgelegen Guest House in Cape Town on the weekend compliments of them - So very kind!!! And what a lovely place. Comfy bed, lovely decor and delicious breakfast and very thoughtful staff :) what more could you ask for? It was oh so delightful :)
To check out the place go here

Hope you are well.
My cat is attacking my leg. Must go... oh but what is this pretty link... click click