Wednesday 29 April 2020

Traditional Afrikaner Melktert


Over the past weekend we celebrated Rob's 38th Birthday. Tradition in our home is that if it is your special day you get to choose the meal for the day and your choice of birthday cake. This year Rob wanted something a little more traditional, something that reflected our heritage. He chose a simple Melktert. I of course had to change it up a little and turn something as easy as a simple tart and make it look like a cake. It was after all his birthday and birthdays call for cake!

Tuesday 28 April 2020

His Birthday


Hello there,

We hope you are all well. We are still here keeping to the rules of the lock down and staying put until we are told otherwise. News has it that our government has decided to ease the rules and very slowly start on the economy going again. For most that would be something to celebrate. I on the other hand am so very nervous about it all.

Monday 20 April 2020

This and that...

Dearest Friends,

I do hope you had a wonderful weekend? The sun shone and we spent so much of our time outside clearing last season's garden to make way for the new season of planting what we can. Unfortunately this year we were not able to get in as half as much seedlings as we would have like to due to seeds and seedlings not deemed essential on the essential lists that we have to follow here in South Africa. So with a heavy heart, growing winter cutting flowers will not be part of my adventures for now as I had hoped. The last of the light brown/white discoloured rose petals from my kitchen bouquet have fallen and I may only have one or two more cuttings left from our rose bush for the rest of the season. But with this being said, the Calendula seedlings I planted before lock down have one little bud that might open in the next week or so. I am excited for that.




Today we are back to home school lessons. We have had a well deserved break and we are all now ready to jump in and tackle the term ahead. The syllabus doesn't look to daunting this term aside from Natural Sciences and Technology which seems to be quiet involved and may take up more time than normal and probably makes up for Social Sciences being a little more placid.


This morning Rob left for work. He got the call on Friday to say that they are now listed as part of the essential business that may now operate under certain conditions. We are not sure how today will pan out for him as there will be adjustments made to the structure of the company with many being retrenched or laid off. There are certainly difficult times ahead. We thought we would be more prepared for this but last night we decided we may not as prepared as we had hoped for. I'm sure there are many who feel the same way. I am still wracking my brain to help the household financially now since all my homemade soaps and salves and essential oils that I sold to bring my part financially to our home have been put on hold until further notice.




So, for now I am keeping myself busy baking and adding rows to Danika's Lock Down Pull Over. I cast on for it on the day our lock down started. Another panic for me that set in on the day was that I hadn't thought to prepare my knitting cupboard for this time. So, I am just finding bits n pieces of left over wool from older projects. I suppose this is a better time than any to use it all up and pray for the time to come when I can order more so that I can keep the sanity in me through it all.


Last week we had to take Rob's father (aka Oupie) back to hospital. He hasn't been well and when he finally allowed us to call his specialist I was told to get him straight back to hospital and for them to admit him straight away. All his symptoms on arrival pointed to the dreaded virus, although we were certain he didn't have it. He was admitted immediately and tested at the same time. Of course, the test results came back negative. But, due to his deterioration over the past couple of weeks he does have a lung infection and his kidneys are not doing so well. He has now been put on a dialysis machine. Please keep him in your prayers.

This weekend is Rob's birthday. I am prowling the recipes for the day. We will be having a traditional Afrikaner day which will include a braai and all the trimmings. Oumie (Rob's Mother) is getting out her dusty handwritten notebook for me to peruse through for Afrikaans inspiration. It should be fun and will definitely add a little of our heritage to the day.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on our last posts. AND for the lovely emails and encouragement sent our way. We feel truly blessed to have such a caring community here. May your week ahead be filled with glorious sun shine and each and everyone of you will be in our prayers.

Say safe. With much love,
The Pitout Home.

Thursday 16 April 2020

Queen Anne Squares


These didnt last very long once I had cut them and set them out for the family to snack on. They are absolutely delicious and if I could only remember where I jotted the recipe down from I would go on back and rate it with a gazillion star rating. 

So then it goes without saying that I had to add this to our recipes here on the blog so that you can all share in this scrumptious treat too.

Bottom Layer
2/3 cup melted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
4 table spoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 egg

Beat all the ingredients until smooth and spread evenly in a lined baking pan

Middle Layer
1 can condensed milk
2 cups coconut flakes
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together the three ingredients until completely blended then drop by heaping teaspoons onto the cake batter layer.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius.

Top Layer
2 cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup of butter

Beat the icing sugar, cocoa, vanilla, butter and just enough milk to make a thick but spreadable layer. 

Once cookie has cooled ice and cut and enjoy ❤

Wednesday 15 April 2020

Easter Sunday


Dearest Friends,

We hope you had an Easter filled with chocolates galore and of course an abundance of Easter cheer and blessings.

As you can see, the South African Easter Bunny was let out of lock down (just for the day) to fill the gardens in the neighbourhood with shrieks of delight as the small humans found chocolate treasures scattered all about.

The day bought about it such warmth not only from the weather but the time spent galloping about desperately searching for the Real Easter Bunny.

We have been given an extension on our lock down. We are all homebound until the end of April. In the darkness of that message, Easter Sunday's light lifted the heaviness of the news.

We send you all much love and strength through it all.
The Pitout Home

Tuesday 7 April 2020

Lock Down Day 12.... and counting

















Dear Friends,

It is day 12 of our 21 day lock down in South Africa and for the first time in these past couple of weeks it is raining and cool and I have a chance to sit down at the computer and catch up with you all while our veggie garden and precious Calendula seedlings soak up the glorious droplets coming from the sky. Rob left for a call out to the sugar mill early this morning so I was also up at pre-normal pre-lockdown time to get most of my chores of bread making and cleaning and dishes and washing done early. We have adopted a "wake with the sun" instead of alarm clocks rhythm during this period of time so life has been somewhat laid back and calm through the storm of the beginnings of this ugly pandemic.

How have you been adjusting to all of this? I must admit that our normal daily happenings haven't changed much except that we now have Rob home with us and the kids are loving it. We have carried on with home school lessons and chores and tried to keep to the daily rhythm as much as we can. The big boys have finished off their first assignments for their TEFL course and Garren has completed the whole first term syllabus except for a wee bit of Science that we will tackle and complete today. Then we are on our official Easter school break.

I know our uploaded photographs are all a bit of an unorganized mess! I do promise to get a little more organized again and find the cord to charge our camera and use that to snap moments instead of using my old phone. The intentions are all there I promise. But for now and for this post - here are a few of the moments we have captured over the past 11 days.. Bread making, Tea parties for the girls, pineapple beer making, avo picking and just a few of our daily family selfie snaps.

How have you been spending your time at home with your loved ones?

From our home to yours - we send you so much love and strength.

The Pitout Family.

Wednesday 1 April 2020

Hello, Welcome Back


Hello Friends, 

Just to let you know we are all OK! 

Thank you for your messages and emails. I am just popping on to let you know that we will send our updates here on the blog again and hope to hear from you too. So, click on our follow by email tab to the side of the page and subscribe to get all our updates in your inbox.

We hope you are all well and that you are spending your time loving on your loved ones and reconnecting with them and your home. 

With much love from us all 
The Pitout Family.