Sometimes you just need to take a break.

Greetings.
Wow. What a super busy week! Between work and my second assignment for my Internet Marketing course, I've had no time for anything else. I think I only had one bottle of wine last week (Shock, Horror!)

So as mentioned before, this week we had to create a website for a business (real or fictional). As we progress through the different aspects of Internet Marketing, we will be applying our knowledge to this site.
I met up with my friend on Saturday morning to chat about a few ideas I had for the site. Decided to multitask and have breakfast at the same time. I was joined by my sister, her husband and another friend.
I just love the cappuccinos there!

As promised, if you can guess the coffee shop that I have based my fictional site on, the coffee is on me. (That means I'll pay...don't go throwing your coffee on me.)
So, check out the first draft of the site and hazard a guess in the comments section below. Really, it's not that difficult..

In the midst of finishing this assignment, I had some serious issues with the site builder that we are using. The templates are limiting and, when you do select a template you like, it's a bit tricky to place things where you want them. Add to that my dodgy Cell C connection and the site freezes. I'm not one for saving after typing every word (far too tedious) so if the site freezes, you have to start all over...very frustrating.

On Sunday I was making slow progress, so I decided to take a break and head off to the Blaauwklippen Family Market at Blauuwklippen Wine Estate. This is fast becoming one of my favourite markets. It's a nice drive out there and they have Alpacas!

Last time I was there I noticed a stall that was selling chopping boards and Japanese Chefs knives. I didn't take much notice then, but this time something caught my eye. If any of you are old enough to remember La Linea (Italian for 'The Line') you will appreciate that this is the best chopping board...EVER!

La Linea

I decided to buy this one for it's absolute quirkiness. The company who makes it is Setta, a local company. They have quite a selection of boards (Natural Bamboo and Solid Surface) so go check them out. The guy at the stall very kindly told me that you can watch all the episodes of La Linea on Youtube...(I've started already).

A trip to Blaauwklippen Family Market is not complete without stopping by Cold Gold Ice Cream for some awesome Artisan Ice Cream. A double scoop of the best chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone? I'll take two! Janine really knows her stuff when it comes to the cold stuff. I stopped by for a chat about how she got into the business and she sneakily told me that she was a fan of my blog.. Flattery will get you everywhere.
She then told me that she had brought takeaway containers, just in case someone wanted to buy some Ice Cream to take home. I went with a tub of Vanilla and a tub of Fat Free Macadamia, Nougat and Cranberry (so healthy, it's practically a vegetable).

Yum

So after my little excursion, I headed back home to finish off my assignment. I was a lot more focused and I was able to finish it off in no time. You definitely need to take a break every once in a while. And when you live in Cape Town, a decent destination is not far away.

Check out my site and let me know what you think.
http://derrycoffeecompany.yolasite.com/

Till next time.
N.

Busy Busy - Quick Update

It has been a pretty hectic few weeks between work and my Internet Marketing course that started last week. The first module was fairly straight forward, I just hope my marks reflect that..haha

The second module is a tad trickier. We need to select a business and build a basic website. Easy..right?
Not quite. We need to make our choice carefully because, as we go through the various modules, we will be tweaking the website with our new found knowledge. I'm looking forward to that, but in the meantime I've been trying to figure out what business to use for my site. Thankfully, someone awesome has come to my rescue and allowed me to use his coffee shop as my inspiration.

As this will be a work in progress, I am going to use a different name for this assignment website. I do not want to pull any traffic away from his current site, but pretty much everything else will be about the shop. I'm hoping I can use my 'expertise' to build an awesome (or at least semi-functional) website for him.
Keep an eye out here and see if you can guess the correct coffee shop. If you manage to guess the name, I will buy you a coffee (and the coffee is good!).

In other news, some of my colleagues from the Social Media course have decided to brainstorm a new support group. I found the discussion forums very helpful and stimulating, so now that the course is over, we want to continue learning from each other. I'm really looking forward to meeting up with them next week and seeing where this takes us. Very exciting, for me at least.

Catch you later.
N.

Getting Smarter with Get Smarter.

After 8 (plus) weeks of studying, and it's been a while since I last studied, I have finally completed my Certificate in Social Media Marketing through UCT and Get Smarter. It's been quite a learning curve as I do not hail from a marketing background, but I have enjoyed every second of it. Learning the nuances of using the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Blogging (to name a few) to it's full marketing capabilities has been a real eye opener.

I will definitely use the skills that I have learned on this course in the future and am looking forward to testing them out! I've made quite a few new contacts through this course and am looking forward to watching their development.
I enjoyed the course so much, I decided to sign up for the Certificate in Internet Marketing course as well.
And that starts today, so here's to 10 weeks of learning new and exciting things!

You're never to old to learn, so go and check out the courses that are available at Get Smarter. The courses are affiliated with UCT (unless stated otherwise) and the level of support that you get from the course conveners and coordinators is fantastic. I'm pretty sure this won't be my last course...

Meat Is Meat And A Man Must..Make Biltong

On Saturday I woke up and was craving biltong. It was then that I remembered that my mother had received a gift of a "Mellerware Biltong King" biltong maker a few years back that had never been used. I believe these to be fairly scarce of late. I remember a friend of mine was hunting high and low for one and could not find it anywhere.

Lightbulb sold seperately

So a little trip down to Fruit & Veg City for some of their pieces of 'Biltong Strips' (literally strips of silverside beef) would be my first task. I managed to pick up around 1.5kg for a little over R100. The trick then was to obtain my spices. I picked up some coriander and black pepper from the local spice shop, but I was keen to do something different as well. I decided I'd do a chilli piece (with some really hot chilli powder and peppadew salt) as well as a paprika/nutmeg piece.

Spicy

After a soak in vinegar, I applied the various spice mixes and left the meat in the fridge to draw in some of the flavours (about 2 hours). I decided to spend the time watching my beloved Province beat the Sharks in the Currie Cup Final (YES PLEASE!!)

That's a lot of coriander

The Biltong King (the machine, not me) comes in pieces, so some minor assembly had to take place. Once this was up and running (checked that the lightbulb and fan were working) it was time to hang some meat.

The recipes all suggested leaving the meat to hang for 3 - 5 days to ensure that it is thoroughly dry. I'm not a big fan of wet biltong, so I bargained on sampling my goods on Thursday. I checked my handiwork daily, just to be sure everything was going according to plan.

Day 1 - Decided to make some Droë Wors too

Looking good

By Monday evening, the biltong was starting to look good. I decided by Tuesday, that it was time to sample the goods. And it was good. Ready to come out.

Not a bad haul

I'm pretty happy with the end result. The Biltong tastes good and the droë wors is not too bad either. The chilli biltong definitely needs to be cut thin and you should have a beer handy. It starts with great flavour and then, when you least expect it, the chilli klaps you. I took a sample of the regular biltong to work today and got good reviews from my colleagues. I had to show them the pictures as they didn't believe that I had made the biltong. Pretty chuffed with my first attempt at biltong making.