Thebarefootfoodie

  Putting Things Together ( Le Cadeau Chapter 11 ) OCTOBER 3, 2016 BAREFOOT HOME I am quite the shameless, consummate serial shopper. Until quite recently, I was mostly preoccupied with my wardrobe and how to get the best deal out of Ebay, Amazon and Vpost with online purchases. Now, I am solely preoccupied with kitchen and pantry; and still looking for deals. Before this house grew up, I was shopping for a virtual dream house and picking up stuff along the way, either at home or abroad, with the intent of fitting them somewhere in a corner where they belong. Mr Y felt this weighing heavily upon his shoulders as he put the finishing touches to the house. I wanted Al Fresco dining,an outdoor kitchen and a coffee bar amongst other things and along with it trudged years of stray, accumulated odds and ends which I considered cute but Mr Y sadly did not. Despite his protests ( which I did not take seriously ) the man rose to the occasion and managed to place several of the strays into t...

  A House called Le Cadeau – Project Growing Up Part 10 FEBRUARY 12, 2015 BAREFOOT HOME The Gift Homecoming Today, House is renamed and christened. It had been a humbling, enriching, empowering experience to tear down, rebuild and totally transform my home into something so ephemeral that I still pinch myself sometimes wondering if this is indeed something I can call my own. This is a divine gift from above. On my landmark birthday in 2013, my fingers inexplicably turned to this verse which I never knew existed. 1 Chronicles 17:10 “….furthermore I tell you that the Lord will build you a house…” Filled with a deep sense of awe and gratitude, I kept this in my heart, sharing with only a few close confidantes. Le Cadeau lives up to its name and more. Mr Y has outdone himself although he remains modest. We work seamlessly and effortlessly as a team. The touch of the Master’s Hand upon a gifted professional, weaving the excesses of a whimsical and unconventional birthday girl into subli...

  Better Than An Ultrasound Like an expectant mother waiting for the BIG day, my days are filled with childlike curiosity and joyful anticipation.  I know  by now how my baby  looks like. The facade is up and set in stone, concrete and steel. She has the complexion of pale plaster, gently enhanced by the right touches of rouge and  gray eye-shadow. Organic , eco-centric, raw , fiercely individual.    Going Green My sense of wonder is piqued daily by the leafy friends moving in and taking residence. They exude an aura of vibrance and serenity. Soon, I expect them to  pervade every conceivable nook and corner devised by Mr Y. He has promised transcendence and meditative retreats of privacy infused by visions of nature. A bonus treat is the relaxation of modesty encouraged by the garden screens all across the thoroughfare. Exciting!   From concrete to greens   There is a marked preference for bird’s nest ferns and staghorns at this sta...

  Descending Flights of Fancy – Project Growing Up Part 8 OCTOBER 17, 2014 BAREFOOT HOME (First Posted 21 May 2014 ) AT THE HALFWAY MARK 10 months from the day the bulldozers razed House to the ground, I am now looking at three and one half levels of structure, steel, concrete, pipes and wires.    Mr Y conducts his intricate orchestration and casts his spell in this myriad of organized confusion. I have laid out my wish list, now mostly debunked, or dismissed by Mr Y as inappropriate, BUT he has gamely gone along with some whimsical requests, and has even added to it. I am pleasantly surprised – this man is not all of function, but has a bit of funk up his sleeve after all! It is all coming together, and the ephemeral glob of abstract space, light and flow solidifies as substance.   LESSONS I HAVE LEARNT   I have learnt to appreciate that function comes before design. A well thought out house is a well built house,  is a comfortable home to roost. Mr Y is a...

BETTER THAN AN ULTRASOUND Like an expectant mother waiting for the BIG day, my days are filled with childlike curiosity and joyful anticipation.  I know  by now how my baby  looks like. The facade is up and set in stone, concrete and steel. She has the complexion of pale plaster, gently enhanced by the right touches of rouge and  gray eye-shadow. Organic , eco-centric, raw , fiercely individual.  GOING GREEN My sense of wonder is piqued daily by the leafy friends moving in and taking residence. They exude an aura of vibrance and serenity. Soon, I expect them to  pervade every conceivable nook and corner devised by Mr Y. He has promised transcendence and meditative retreats of privacy infused by visions of nature. A bonus treat is the relaxation of modesty encouraged by the garden screens all across the thoroughfare. Exciting! There is a marked preference for bird's nest ferns and staghorns at this stage. I welcome an open migrant policy of...

Send In the Bulldozers Getting the Green Light While I learn to appreciate and cherish my country more and more as the years roll by, there are some things that I do not understand nor try to do so. One of them is why it had to take 9 months for approvals to come in to start reconstruction works and the phenomenal cost of real estate, whether for rental, purchase or to rebuild.  As friends and relatives in other parts of the world embarked on similar projects and pictures of their works in progress appear fast and furious on social media, I had nothing to show for mine. But life goes on, and in the throes of being kept waiting, I got on with life, went on holiday, celebrated a major milestone, made allowance for other projects...while this almost dwindled into a non event.  Until the morning of 8 June when an innocuous beep on my iphone went off, and a message from Mr Y flashed " Good morning can start packing and planning for moving out to start works." Oh, this ...