Chicken Rice and Burritos!

Check out the food blog for the recipes.

PORTUGUESE CHICKEN RICE

BREAKFAST BURRITOS

Time to change your templates!

You know I change mine ALL the time, I guess I get bored easily.

I've had a lot of questions on how I do it, where I learnt HTML and if there's a way I can teach you all some tricks to making your own templates.

I pretty much taught myself everything I know, the easiest way is to find one of the free templates you like and then go from there......the more you mess with it, the more you will learn what code does what. I would suggest though doing what I did.....setting up a separate blog for templates so that you can play around and if it gets lost or really messed up, you won't be affecting your main blog.

So first steps:

1 - Make a separate blog for your templates
2 - Find a free template that you like and download it. You can find some great ones at Pannasmontata and Caz Templates
3 - Once you find the template you like, copy it into your blog



Now we're ready to start. I'm going to give you a free template for you to play with, so download THIS template and paste it into your templates blog.

Don't freak out, all that code is actually easier than you think and once you know what it does you will be like me, shocked at how easy it really is.

The first thing you're going to do is make yourself a new header. Use a program like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop to make it, just remember to look at your template to see how big you need to make it.

But before we get into that, how about something quick.....like changing your background?

Scroll down on your template to this part of the code:

body {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
background-image: url("http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/2743/pattern1402jq3cg0.jpg");
text-align: center;
font-family: 'Geneva', Verdana, Times, sans-serif;
}

See where it says Background-image: the code in bold is where you need to insert the link to your background image. Try a few until you're happy with the one you like.

By changing the way it's worded, you can also make it a solid color.

body {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
background-color: #ffffff;
text-align: center;
font-family: 'Geneva', Verdana, Times, sans-serif;
}

Now, it will make the background white. Just play around with that a bit.

Next thing you're going to learn is how to change the color of your links. Right under the Body Code is this one:

a:link, a:visited, a:active {color: #b8707b; text-decoration: none ;}
a:hover {color: #Ffffff; background-color: #000000; }

The first line will be the color of your links as they will show up on the blog. The second line is what it will look like when you click on it with your mouse. You know how sometimes links will change to a different color when you hover over it???? That's where it's done.

The part that says text-decoration, is also a fun one to play with. If you add text-decoration: underline.......then your links will have an underline. You could also do text-decoration: underline overline......then the link would have two lines one on top and one on bottom. I prefer to use that code under my hover rather than my actual link color. All you do is add that code to the bottom right after background-color.

Go ahead and play around with that one too. Don't forget to save your changes as you go so you don't loose it all.

Next time we're going to make our own headers, so make sure you have a graphics program you can use. You can download free 30 day trials from Paint shop Pro and Photo shop. I use Paint shop Pro for mine.

Remember that I'm in NO way an expert and I'm sure other blog designers use different techniques, I'm just sharing with you what I do know of HTML and how I change my blog.

Hope this helps a bit, I can't wait until you all start doing your own designs.

Stop and Stare!

I come bearing photos, some fun ones some educational ones and some of where we'll be heading in May of this year.

You all know by now that I'm going home, home to South Africa, to boerewors and koeksisters, Nando's Chicken and the Lost City. I'm beyond ecstatic, as the time nears I can't control my emotions, I go from smiling like an idiot to wanting to break down and cry, it's such an emotional roller coaster but so well worth it when I step off that airplane and smell the South African air and get to walk into the arms of my family.

But first let's talk about what's going on here at home. Yesterday afternoon, the kids and Curt decided to play some softball in the backyard, it was fun watching them all laugh and have fun. I even got in there too, though for some reason the minute Curt throws the ball my way I tend to shut my eyes and cover my face. Not very conducive to actually catching the ball, but hey, who said I was perfect??? LOL





Love action photos, they're so much fun to watch :)

While they were playing I decided to snap some more shots of the lemon tree. Do you know that it produces these gorgeous white flowers and when they start blooming the scent is just heavenly, oh my goodness, I could sit out there all day, under that tree just with that wonderful scent all around me.


They are just beautiful!

Here's some baby lemons growing


And there's a few more pinkish buds starting to form.


But now going back to South Africa, do you want to see some of the places I'll be visiting???


We're starting with a trip to the Kruger National Park where the kids will get to see the big five up close and personal, I can't wait for this......I have such fond memories of our vacations there.

After we are heading straight to Mozambique, my country of birth, I can't tell you just how excited I am to return Home, to show my husband and my children the country I was born in, it's one of those beautiful lands that are not very well known, as a matter of fact when I usually tell people where I was born, they look at me like I'm crazy and then ask just where exactly is that.



One of the beaches we want to visit again is Bilene. How can you NOT want to just sit there and relax???

Then it's back to Johannesburg, if we have any time we may go down to Margate but if not, we will most likely be going to The Lost City

My favorite place to go for the day, there's a casino and restaurants, there's an artificial beach and waterfalls and just so much to do.

Another place I'm hoping to return to is Gold Reef City.

International travellers savour the offering of traditional African music, dance and history found throughout the complex. The carefully-documented history of Apartheid, chillingly yet beautifully depicted in the Museum, is a must-see on a South African visit. And nowhere else will the tourist find such a comprehensive and colourful depiction of mining life at the turn of the nineteenth century.

But it's not all about the sights because the food is something Curt and I are dying to get into again.

Calamari Steaks with garlic and lemon......*drool*

King Prawns



Crab Curry

Boerewors

Alheiras - I absolutely LOVE these and haven't had them for about 10 years

Bolas de Berlin - my favorite desserts, you can find them in portuguese bakeries. It's like a donut with a creme filling and rolled in sugar

I think you get a general idea of what a good time I'll be having LOL

Right now I've got laundry to do and I need to mop the floors too.

Spring break is over so it's back to school for Jasmine tomorrow and not a minute too soon, she is bored and getting cranky. The fighting and bickering between the kids is escalating and I'm just done, you know when you reach that point that you can't take another word? They fight about everything and everything is a competition....who gets their food first, who gets to have their bath first, who got what color towel, who drank out of what cup, who watched tv first, even the first one to take a bite of dinner is the winner........UUGGHHHHH!

I left you a great recipe for breakfast, Breakfast Delights and let me tell you, you can't just eat one, they are SO good, good enough that I offered to send a bunch of them to work with Curt in the morning and he quickly denied saying that they are too good and he is NOT giving them to anyone LOL

For dinner tonight I'm fixing a portuguese Chicken Rice, I'll have the recipe on the blog later.

Have a great sunday everyone.

Breakfast is Served!

Well good morning, have you had breakfast yet????

If you haven't I have the perfect treat for you and I've posted it on my food blog.

BREAKFAST DELIGHTS

You gotta try this chicken, because I said so......

I'm serious, you have to make it for dinner, it's so easy and SO SO good.

Go on over to Full Bellies for the recipe.

CHICKEN IN CREAM SAUCE