Phuthu Stay Phut, Don't go!

There is excitement-a-plenty in the Phuthu office this morning. Kerry got married on Saturday!

We wish you and Neil happiness, loads of cozy late night chats, laughter (together, at each other and at yourselves) and above all, love – and lots of it!

Mrs. Kerry Paterson looking beautiful.

Her proudly South African bouquet.

Neil & Kerry.  I love this photo, she looks so happy.

I have an odd sense of humour; most comedies don’t really tickle my fancy. Someone that makes me scream with laughter is Aaron McIlroy. Looove him! He can just do one of those silly hip moves of his and I wet myself. Ok, not really, but still. He is funny!

Went to watch Monkey Nuts earlier this week; Matthew Ribnick is seriously talented. I must admit that I didn’t laugh that much; it was more like a constant smile that eventually made my cheeks hurt. And absolute awe at his ability to transform so smoothly from one character to the other.

While others were laughing, I was doing some deep thinking:

1. How long did it take Geraldine Naidoo to come up with this complicated storyline?
2. Wonder how long it took him to learn the lines? And study each character in order to portray each one  in a very real way? It was obvious that he didn’t just learn the lines and then hit the stage; he seemed very settled in each role.
3. How does he do this without getting the 20 characters confused? In the beginning of this 1-hour show the stretches between the character changes were quite long, but closer to the end he switched them quicker than Mr. President can come up with excuses.

“The brainchild of Geraldine Naidoo, Monkey Nuts made its debut at this year’s National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, where it packed the house to capacity. After the extraordinary performance by Matthew, the show was instantly booked in several of SA’s major theatres. The rib-cracking comedy sees Matthew tackling well over ten different characters and is a clever mix of situational comedy, storytelling and hilariously unforgettable characters.

Monkey Nuts tells the story of Edgar Chambers, an odd individual who is obsessed with entering all sorts of competitions. A bank teller by profession, he has flair for sniffing out freebies and special offers. Although he has this gift, he is even more obsessed with monitoring the prices of grocery items in various stores. In fact, he has become so good at it that he can name the price of any item anywhere, anytime. However, it is his obsessive competition entering that introduces us to Edgar and his wild tale. All the characters we are introduced to connect back to Edgar and throughout the events, the audience is presented with hilarious stories that leave them gasping for air.” – One Small Seed Network

His previous two shows, Hoot and Chilli Boy were both huge favourites with the public. I would definitely recommend you go see Monkey Nuts – it’s divinely South African and a great opportunity to laugh at ourselves and each other! It’s currently showing at the Elizabeth Sheddon theatre in Durban. Wait, there’s more! They have a special on, on Tuesdays and Sundays: R50-something pp.

Go see it!

Photo credit: Louis Chetty

Hoorah. The score Malema 0 : Public 1.

I almost burnt my bottom lip with tea this morning when reading the front page story on Malema. He actually got a little bollocking for all the kak he’s been causing recently. Okay so it’s not verging on King Henry VIII style of punishment but it’s a lil’summin, you know what I mean? It made my tea taste good. The tea cup even tasted good…

This is the outcome of Malema’s National Disciplinary hearing, the punishment list:

1. Publicly apologise to Zuma, the ANC and the nation in a statement drafted for him. This statement was printed in the paper this morning and no doubt you’ll be able to read it this evening when you have dinner. Promise it will make your peas and carrots taste a little better.
2. Attend the ANC political school for 20 days within the next year. Whilst you’re at it Jules, why not find a blackboard and write out 100 times “I will not be a naughty boy anymore; I will be a good boy”
3. Attend programmes on effective leadership communication and anger management or other appropriate programmes at local institutions to be determined by the party. Nah, think you should go directly to the BBC headquarters for a course or two. Spend some time with the agents.
4. Pay a R10 000 fine within 3 months to a youth development project to be determined by the party.

We’ll wait and see what happens next won’t we……

Have you been wondering what the effect of the influx of tourists will have on our Health Care system and if we have the facilities and staff to deal with this increase? What happens if we have a medical emergency on a grand scale can doctors and hospitals be mobilised in time to deal with this scenario? Well I didn’t think so, but that was until Carte Blanche Medical covered a story about precisely this.

Dr Wayne Smith, 2010 Health Co-ordinator for the Western Cape, thinks so. What with 300 trained emergency staff joining their team, 45 new ambulances, two new choppers and available beds across all hospitals to be updated immediately to a centralised control centre.

One project in particular that has sent waves through the medical sector, is the newly designed mobile medical unit that turns into an eight bed ICU in about 45 minutes! Sounds very new age, first world country kind of stuff, don’t you think? The ‘Pod’ as it is referred to by the experts, carries its own oxygen, ventilation, cardiac monitoring, vital signs monitoring, suction units and emergency surgery can also be performed in the procedure room. These pods will be scattered around the stadiums and In the event of a disaster, patients will be evacuated to a casualty clearing station, whereby they will be triaged according to a scale colour coding: minor injuries , very severe, life-threatening.

Apparently they have already tested the pods efficiency during the Argus Cycle Tour and although there was only minor medical injuries to contend with, Doctors feel that the pods will stand up well to the rigors of the Soccer World Cup. Now let’s just hope that nothing major happens (touch wood).

To any travelers coming over for the world cup, I would just like to give you some words of wisdom with regards to the health care system in South Africa.

Firstly we have excellent hospital facilities within all major cities and surrounding suburbs. You will find that in rural areas the clinics and hospitals deal with primary health needs, and therefore do not offer the range of medical care that the large metropolitan hospitals do.

Our private hospitals are some of the best in the world and chances are you would be sent to one in the event of an emergency, but please be warned that good medical care is very expensive here and a patient generally has to prove that they will be able to pay for treatment before it is administered. A simple operation, such as an appendectomy, may cost approximately R15 000. It is recommended that visitors to South Africa take out medical/life insurance before leaving home.

By: Kerry

Ref: Carte Blanche Medical

The Fifa World Cup now has an official song called Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), co-written and performed by Shakira and featuring some Freshlyground.

Besides for a bit of healthy envy, I have absolutely nothing against Shakira. But why on earth choose her for the soccer world cup song when we, South Africa, are hosting it? We have such great local talent, it would actually be difficult to choose. Surely it makes more sense to have Freshly Ground perform all by their lonesome. Ok. Or have them feature some international talent, but the song should have an African vibe, opposed to a Latino flavour.

Anyway, here’s the song:

PS. Can’t say that the waka-waka-eh-eh tune got me out of my chair, groovin’, but enough from me. What do you think?

Fathers, husbands and kids of all ages, listen up! It’s Mother’s day on Sunday, so why not do something that she will really appreciate. Flowers are sweet and generally the easiest option, but why not go all out this year and make mommy some breakfast in bed?

We have put together an easy recipe that won’t have the kitchen burning down or mom having to clean up the mess afterwards (by the way, cleaning up afterwards still falls under the Dad/kid duty on Mother’s Day).

All you need to do is-

Get your ingredients ahead of time……..
Ingredients:

• 8 slices of bread (keep it healthy and use brown or whole wheat)
• 50g butter, melted
• 8 large eggs
• Punnet of baby tomatoes
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste (don’t overdo the pepper)
• 50g grated cheddar cheese
• Freshly chopped mixed herbs

Variation:

• Replace tomatoes with sliced fried mushrooms
• Fried bacon can be added to the filling too (make sure you fry it first)

And cook like you have never cooked before……..
Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180’C
2. Remove crusts from bread.
3. Butter each side of the bread and place into a muffin tray
4. Break an egg into each bread cup
5. Arrange the tomatoes, bacon, spring onion and seasoning on top of each bread cup, being careful not to break the egg
6. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and the eggs are cooked.
7. Remove the bread cups from the muffin tray and sprinkle with the mixed herbs
8. Serve immediately

To all moms out there, we hope that you have a fabulous time on Sunday and that your family will be at your beck and call, listen to your every whim and treat you like the Goddess that you are. You deserve it!

Happy Mother’s Day