Memories of my childhood and what I think now...

I remember eating Nesquik out the can
Dedicated to my beautiful friend Kimmy


So I remember actually eating nesquik and not really drinking it !!
My best friend Kim and I would grab a can and just spoon out the entire content in weekend...

Probably taken in 1992 - we where 15 / 16 - OMG 20 years ago - EEK






Kim with one of our chocolate fondues... 1999
It was our staple diet when my mom wasn't looking - well so we thought ! However, funny enough there where always spare cans in the house whenever Kim came to play.

If I think of my childhood and my best friend and our relationship - Nesquik defined us !

We would share all our secrets and thoughts over a can of Nesquik ( Odd ) , but we where not your usual teenage girlie girls...
We where Tom boys but cute girls ( not the butch type - but the confident type - we can do exactly what boys can do type - ra ra ra - Sheera !! (God how embarrassing) - we loved each other and our very close sisterly type friendship that still to this day is tight, was pretty much defined by Nesquik binges. Our friendship has endured years of separations, husbands, children and many miles appart - but the minute we pick up the phone to each other it is as if we saw each other yesterday.

nesquik archives...lol

I'm getting quiet teary as I write this because i havent seen her in 5 years and she has had two more children since then and I have had my 2 monkey children since then. My God child (her oldest) is now almost a teenager and I feel like we are missing out on each others lives so much - but that is the way of the world and things might change in the future (who knows a move to Oz might be in evitable). Maybe one day our kiddies can play together and be good friends like we where and still are.


Ok so you thought this was a post about Nesquik - but it is ! Nesquik is and was amazing stuff. You really could use it for so many things. 
Firstly just to eat out the can to get your teenage hormone chocolate fix
2nd - sprinkling it on vanilla ice cream that your mom kept 5 ltrs of in the fridge. 
3rd to sprinkle on waffles or better in waffle mixtures !!!
Lastly to drink !! ( absolute last resort )

I loved the chocolate flavour that was my brand - Propably where my chocolate addictions started.
The strawberry one was for my sister because she was the girlier one of us two... 
We each had our own flavour - my poor little brother who is 11 years younger was allowed a glass every now and then of the chocolate one from Kim and my left overs (poor boy) ...
This is how I remember Nesquik the most...
This can, you see above is how I remember Nequik - I remember the distinctive sound of the tin popping open and listening astutely to the eco of the tin opening to try remember and gage how much would be in the can - and if I would be disappointed or not (because when it was empty you never threw the can away you just put it back in the cupboard - lol!!)...I remember the label being made of paper and peeling it off as we ate our way through the can.
I remember opening a new can and it had an aluminium seal on the top of it and puncturing it to peel it off - often cutting myself on the sharp foil in the process ( nothing like we have now - these cans where designed for parents to use and not for the kids to use - this was the 1980's - (We where still chewing on the led paint on our cots back then) )

It seemed to evolve its packaging to a lit on the top of the can

What I think now 

My thoughts on Nesquik now are really bitter sweet
My daughters nesquik kit - smurf glass and red straw 
On one aspect I want my kids to have the same enjoyment of this flavoured milk treat but on the other hand Nesquik is part of Nestle and I'm not a nestle company fan - they are a very unethical company. So what do you do ??? Well my daughter just LOVES her pink milk (nesquik strawberry) - so I know I introduced her to it but Nesquik is the lump sum limit of Nestle products in our house - I now simply avoid all other Nestle products - I know its a bit of a cop out - but till I find a good substitue the Pink Nesquik Bunny will have to be in my trolley. I will keep you all posted on alternatives. 

Follow the below link to see more about Nestle's terrible and unethical business practices. 


Tree's out your ears 
I remember being told if you eat apple cores or the seeds from nectarines a tree will grow out of your tummy and pop out your ears ... when I was little I would actually scrub and check my ears as much as possible to make sure there where not tree's or branches growing from them. I did however think it would be rather handy if I was hungry. 
My other favourite was if you swallowed bubble gum your insides would stick together (as children most of us have very vivid imaginations - very graphic imaginations...) I never swallowed bubble gum as a result . 

What i think now
HHHHMMMM - I still dont swallow pip's of any kind !! I carefully dissect them out of grapes, nectarines, apples even watermelons - also I don't eat the inside of cumbers because of the little pip's ...
This just makes me think about what I say to my children and what imagery's I put into my children's heads. So next time you make up a story think for how long your child might remember that story ...


I remember playing with Shongololo's !!!





Growing up in South Africa and in Zululand / Natal in a small farming village called Empangeni - we got to play with all sorts of funky bugs and animals ... Shongololo was one of my favourites - we where allowed to play with them purely because they where not poisons or harmful and didn't send parents screaming for the insecticide ( which every good house hold in Empangeni has an onslaught of ) . 


I really loved them because of the way they moved - with their millions of tiny little legs like millions of little fingers moving them along and well if you touched them they would curl up into a ball - hence the name Shongololo - which means to curl up in Nguni. 

Red shongololo - about 1cm thick & about 10 cm long



I think with children anything that curls up or reacts to touch is just awesome...
They come in red and black - the red ones where small and fast and the black ones where HUGE!

Black shongololo - about 2cm thick & 20cm long




I remember finding them in the garden and putting them in clear bags and watching them squirm around and poo ( i know really gross - but as kids this is AWESOME ) ... then once that was over we would let them go and onto the next thing...











What i think now ...

Definitions first - 
songololo, shongololo [ˌsɒŋgəˈləʊləʊ]
n pl -los
(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Animals) a millipede, Jurus terrestris, having a hard shiny dark brown segmented exoskeleton
[from Nguni ukusonga to roll up]


I would love my kids to play with these they are just so wonderfully interesting and fascinating.
I do regret torching some people with them while I was young and drunk on peoples reactions to squirmy bugs... But it is ever so funny to see a grown person run away screaming from a little bug that hasn't even touched them... 

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