Safari Cat Dancers and Acrobats

Posted on by

1

Last night I went to Safari Park Hotel for dinner and a show.  To start, the hotel is amazing.  It has beautiful grounds and includes six restaurants, a casino and a nightclub.  I visited the Nyama Choma Ranch where they have a large variety of meats that are cooked in a massive barbeque at the entrance of the restaurant and the chefs walk around and serve you off the skewer.  I tried the lamb, beef, pork ribs, crocodile, ostrich and goat.

The menu at Nyama Choma

One of the chefs at Nyama Choma and the giant BBQ filled with meat

Getting my first piece of meat (pork ribs)

After dinner, there was a really fun show of dancing and acrobatics that was on the stage right in the restaurant.  From my table, I was basically front row.  The acrobats were my favorite, doing tricks like standing four people tall on each other’s shoulders and limboing under a flaming stick.  After the show, I sheepishly went on stage for a photo-op with the performers.

Safari Cat Dancers

Fire Limbo!

With the Safari Cats

All in all, it was a really fun night!  I would definitely recommend, that if you are visiting Nairobi, you go to Safari Park Hotel’s Nyama Chroma for dinner and see the Safari Cat Dancers and Acrobats.  The performance is every Saturday night at 9pm and the show is 500 KSH or free with dinner.

xo

-s

 

Night Shift

Posted on by

0

Manufacturing is a tough environment.  You rely so heavily on you’re suppliers to get you what you need to produce what the customers want.  If you can’t supply the customers immediately, they aren’t going to want to wait and they will go somewhere else for the business.  Luckily for Dormans, our Customers are pretty loyal and they WILL wait for backorders, which is exactly what many of them have had to do for our top selling blend, 3K.

Our packaging supplier got delayed on delivering almost two months, which dropping our stock down to zero.  Once the packaging material was delivered, there was only one option to catch up on stock: night shift.  Starting early this week, our roaster, grinder and packager have been running almost 24 hours a day.  This will most likely continue for several weeks until we are back on track.  Among many negative factors of the night shift, such as cost, I am missing some of my buddies during the day that had to switch to the night shift for the time being.

Hurry up and get the stocks up guys!

-s

Tuesday Shoesday: Dystinct

Posted on by

0

Oh hey Steve Madden, it’s been awhile. I’d like you to meet my black leggings and polka dot blouse.

Steve Madden ‘Dystinct’ ($129)

The Dystinct features a high wedge with platform and a cutout. I like that it can be dressed up or down, and that the platform will make them slightly easier to walk in. But lets be honest, a 5″ heel isn’t comfortable for anyone. I’d grin and bear it wearing these babies.

xx

-h

Lil’ Wayne’s Sarah Burke Inspired Shirt

Posted on by

0

Lil’ Wayne launched a clothing company in June called TRUKFIT. It’s a skateboard style line, featuring lifestyle clothing items. He recently came out with the “Tommy Burke” T-Shirt that has the TRUKFIT character Tommy wearing ski clothes and gold medals in honor of Sarah Burke. Sarah was and continues to be an inspiration for all female skiers. She was one of the nicest, most driven people I have ever met.

Read more via Freeskier and buy the shirt ($37) here. Proceeds from the shirt will benefit the Sarah Burke Foundation, established in her memory to promote the ideals she valued and embodied.

xx

-h

 

Maasai Market

Posted on by

1

Today, I visited Maasai Market in Nairobi and was pretty overwhelmed.  The bright colors everywhere are what immediately catch your attention and the range of product is immense.  There is handmade jewelry, baskets, bags, clothes, wooden kitchen utensils and much more.  However, the place is covered in “brokers” who take you around and tell you ridiculous prices for everything.  One tried selling me an item for 15000 KSH and I easily talked him down to 1500 KSH.  The brokers at the market have some pretty unique marketing tactics too, one told me that a particular piece I was looking at was so special it could be put in a museum when I was finished with it.  Luckily, I am a hard bargainer and got some great deals (I think?).  I left feeling pretty exhausted from all the bargaining and intense badgering.  Be warned: Maasai Market is not the place to go for leisure shopping.

Hope I can fit all the goods in my suitcase on the way home!

xoxo

-s

Kikoys from Mombasa

Posted on by

2

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful coast of Kenya-Diani Beach, Mombasa.  I got a chance to get out of the city with some truly genuine people and found what has become one of my favorite Kenya souvenirs-the kikoy.  They can be used as a sarong, wrap, head cover, towel, scarf, blanket or really anything you want.  For awhile, I was accidentally calling them kiokos, which incidentally is a common African last name and was causing a lot of confusion when I was asking the women on the beach if they were selling Kiokos….

Several of the kikoys I bought at Diani Beach

Kikoys can be bought for about 500 ksh (roughly $6.50) with some bargaining.  The ones that I especially love with towels sewn on one side (shown in photo above-purple stripe one side, solid purple towel other) can be bought for about 900 ksh (roughly $10.50) with some serious bargaining.  One late afternoon on the beach, on the suggestion of my new friend, Philip, I took a picture of the women who sell the kikoys leaving after a days work.

I think this picture is really beautiful.
Thank you for the kikoys, women of Kenya.

I am planning another trip to the coast in November, it is safe to say I will be on the lookout for more kikoys.

xoxo

-s

Neiman Marcus/Target Team Up

Posted on by

1

Mark your calenders. Neiman Marcus and Target have teamed up with some of the hottest designers to bring you affordable holiday pieces, THIS IS AWESOME.

Refinery 29 has the slideshow. I’m already lusting for the cocktail shaker set and black/gold tray from Altuzarra.

photo: Refinery 29 via Target

photo: Refinery 29 via Target

Marc Jacobs black scarf and pouches!

photo: Refinery 29 via Target

photo: Refinery 29 via Target

And, this Phillip Crangi trinket box.

photo: Refinery 29 via Target

So many good gift ideas! It goes online and will be in Neiman Marcus and Target stores on December 1.

Here’s hoping Target.com doesn’t crash like it did when Missoni went live on the site.

xx

-h

Developing a Taste for Coffee

Posted on by

0

I have been a regular coffee drinker for almost seven years.  The year I got my drivers license, I cruised through coffee stands ordering lattes like I had been doing it for years.  I drank lattes all through high school, but when I got to college my budget shifted and I needed a cheaper drink.  I switched to americanos and drip coffees with milk added.  Still, I think I never have devolved a real taste for distinguishing the difference between blends and roasts.  One of the quality specialist at Dormans Coffee has challenged me to develop this taste.  Each day, when they are quality testing, (called cupping) he calls me to come  taste the coffee too.  Today, I tried our Espresso and Suprema blends side-by-side and then the dark vs. medium roast Suprema blend.  He tells me that before I leave he is going to test me with all of the coffees (thirteen blends in all) and have me guess which is which.

Hope I am up for the challenge!

xoxo

-s