What's new
Published updates
A running log of what has most recently gone live on the site, newest first — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
23 September 2026
Ntombi's good news — the exercising is working
Journal
Ntombi shared that the exercising has truly helped her healthwise, and her life is improving. A short, joyful cheer from the sidelines for someone taking her health back one walk and one tai chi session at a time.
22 September 2026
The woman who opened the door to French food
Journal
A love letter to Chantel Dartnall and Cass's first eight-course meal at Restaurant Mosaic — French menus, wine pairings, The Orient's opulence, the 2011 wedding-photography chapter, and Chantel's new life at Château des Tesnières in Brittany. Her Michelin connection is clarified accurately: she trained in starred kitchens and is pursuing a star in France; she has not yet been awarded one herself.
21 September 2026
Meant to be born in Rome — spaghetti with anchovy butter
Journal · Recipes
The dish Bobby Flay fell in love with at Roscioli in Rome on Bobby & Giada in Italy — made on Saturday, and AMAZING. The recipe is live, with a nod to Bobby, Giada and Roscioli, and a Trevi fountain coin already spent on a return trip.
21 September 2026
Matchy-matchy with Carrie Bradshaw — the striped suit and Pete
Fashion
Carrie walked Aiden's dog Pete in a crisp striped suit — and then Pete ate her Manolos. Today I walked my stripes with Stretford photobombing the frame, pink mules intact. Stripes, city energy, a dog in the shot — I cannot believe how matchy-matchy we are.
21 September 2026
Orange, guava and mint granita — summer snuck up on us
Recipes
Spring for who? Close to 30 degrees this week, so a sunset-coloured granita went into the freezer — orange, pink guava and cool mint, raked fluffy. The newest recipe, ready to scrape.
21 September 2026
Clock it, girl — New York energy, pink heels and Britney's Fantasy
Journal · Fashion
Slept through, walked, did tai chi — back on track. Then the outfit: black bodysuit, pinstripe capris, hot-pink mules and a sequinned cap, so New York it could be the Bronx or Brooklyn. Fantasy by Britney in the air, a beef red Thai curry on the stove, and Stretford photobombing the frame, as is tradition.
20 September 2026
New favourite: smoked salmon Lyonnaise salad
Recipes & Ratings
Right up there with the niçoise — silky smoked salmon, warm potatoes, asparagus and homemade garlic croutons (crunch level: yours to control) under a Dijon dressing, with a Chablis vs Paul Cluver Chardonnay wine note. A full meal, made for hosting the girls.
20 September 2026
Focus on the shoes — emerald silk, shell heels, and Light Blue
Journal · Fashion
Sunday in emerald — a ruched green dress with exquisite material, shell-flower heels with real inches, D&G Light Blue from the Red Square days, Rome/Paris energy, shop-window mannequin poses, What Lies Beneath, and a campaign to make Van Wilder the next movie night.
19 September 2026
Rusks meets matcha — arigato, Ambassador Shimizu!
Journal · Recipes
A first-ever matcha latte and a love letter to the Japanese ambassador's South African food challenges — plus a new Ouma-style buttermilk rusks recipe, and a Save button on every recipe so readers can bookmark favourites for later.
18 September 2026
In the trenches — achalasia, seizures, and bile upon bile
Journal · About FND
A raw account of choking, fainting, a seismic seizure and relentless vomiting — plus a new plain-language achalasia guide, the manometry test, emergency signs, and a grateful source credit to Mayo Clinic.
17 September 2026
No one puts Baby in a corner — I want the lift
Journal · Fashion
A bucket-list entry: big, crazy, breath-stealing love, opulence and indulgence, and the Dirty Dancing lift to "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" — plus the couch look of the day: orange tee, leopard leggings, white Kappa sneakers. I am a gqwegakazi. I'm Xhosa. I am the one.
16 September 2026
Churchill's scare — denim, espadrilles, and a rush to the hospital
Journal · Fashion
Churchill fell ill and was rushed to hospital. Cass went in the denim jumpsuit, the perfect espadrilles, and Ted Baker — because even in a crisis she is still me.
15 September 2026
She saw more for me
Journal · FND Journey
Crying at Jay Shetty's interview with Oprah, a grandmother who saw more despite the horror of childhood, honouring her four-year-old self — master of my fate, captain of my soul.
13 September 2026
Goodbye, my baby girl — Sarah Jessica
Journal
On 12 September Cass said goodbye to her thirteen-year companion, Sarah Jessica. A tribute to the bravest Jack Russell — the garden search, Dr Caitlyn's kindness, a pink dress, Viktor & Rolf, and Labrinth's Jealous.
11 September 2026
Broken, but grateful
Journal · FND Journey
A raw morning prayer — broken, tired, and yet immensely grateful for grace that arrives unearned and holds the shattered bits together.
5 September 2026
240 days, reset to 1
Journal · FND Journey
A milestone reset, the want-versus-need dichotomy, grace and faith, and Elizabeth I as the red-headed superhero who dragged England into better days.
3 September 2026
Built, not raised — and another fall in paradise
Journal · Fashion
A hard fall, Boudicca and Marie-Antoinette heroines, Cardi B as a fellow Libra, FND falls and bone-density warnings — and a defiant pop-art tank with baby-pink espadrilles.
2 September 2026
So hot, so sick, and a granita in the freezer
Journal · Fashion · Entertaining · Recipes
A heatwave entry — lángos with labneh for Ntombi, a compromised immune system, a lemon-grapefruit granita scraped from the freezer, and a red Spain look in the kitchen.
26 August 2026
I am an eagle — physio day in cobalt
Fashion · Journal
A cobalt playsuit owned since 2016, the perfect studded espadrille wedges, Tom Ford Lost Cherry, and a day of hugs and smiles. Happy, loved, supported — soul flying high.
26 August 2026
Physio day with Josh, and the denim maxi
Journal · Fashion
A cracked rib that feels like a heart attack with every breath, physio with Josh and the team, gratitude for readers in Taiwan, the US, the UK, France, Panama and Qatar — plus yesterday's one-shoulder denim maxi jumpsuit, clear heels, Tom Ford F'king Fabulous, and Stretford posing.
24 August 2026
The one picture that made it all make sense
Journal · About FND
The vagus nerve collapsed onto her stomach and the superior laryngeal nerve no longer working — the anatomy behind gastroparesis and the daily fight to keep food down, with a plain-language explanation added to About FND.
24 August 2026
I thought I couldn't, and then I just did
Journal
Another fall, a bruised arm and neck, and pain to the marrow — but Cass got up and walked anyway, with Serena Williams' fight, Pastor Steven's Samuel sermon, and a reminder that God never slumbers nor sleeps.
23 August 2026
Stracotto — the Tuscan ragù that makes bolognese taste average
Entertaining · Recipes
A slow-braised beef chuck in Chianti, tomato and fennel from Jamie Oliver's Italian cookbook, served over tagliatelle or as a proper Italian secondo with greens and plenty of bread.
22 August 2026
Still relevant, still fighting — and I saved the pigeon
Journal
On Lance Armstrong's refusal to be erased, and a morning when Cass had to put her big-girl panties on and rescue a pigeon from two bulldogs and a cat.
21 August 2026
The blitzkrieg inside my bones
Journal
A raw, distraught early morning entry on unrecoverable loss, the seizure support of Churchill, and the difference between the person in the pictures and the life that is lived.
20 August 2026
Maiden surname — name change day in pink and F'king Fabulous
Fashion · Journal
Reverted to her maiden surname at Home Affairs, dressed in a TPD pink ruched dress and Brazilian heels. A new Journal entry and a Fashion look with Tom Ford perfume notes.
19 August 2026
Introduction to 2026 — bold print, big bag, beautiful heels
Fashion
A scorching Sunday church look in a Nicolway boutique print dress, massive Louis Vuitton tote, Socrati Brazilian heels, lemon-and-mint crushed ice-tea, Elie Saab in the air — and the reminder that the miracle is strutting in heels despite the pain.
18 August 2026
Disappointment roars like a lion
Journal
On disappointment as a roar, time as the leveller, and refusing to be anyone other than Cassandra, authentically so.
17 August 2026
Dandelions, four-leaf clovers, and a moon made of cheese
Journal
The first walk in three weeks under Jo'burg's blue pre-summer skies, loeries and pied crows, why the dandelion is her favourite flower, her grandfather's wishes and his eat-drink-and-be-merry line, four-leaf clovers, a moon made of cheese — and a mint corset dress that could cause all manner of chaos.
16 August 2026
Singing at the top of my lungs, and a dress that could cause coronaries
Journal · Fashion
Whitney, Oleta Adams and SWV at full volume with only the cats as audience, less pain after tai chi and stretching, plans to see the girls again — plus the strapless leopard-print maxi with the thigh split, the cork platform heels and Jean Paul Gaultier.
15 August 2026
The ten plagues, my mother, and a proper laugh
Journal · Fashion
Exercising with her retired mom for the first time since the cracked rib, Outbreak on repeat, new spectacles, coffee and real laughter, lángos again for a roast chicken lunch, a girls' supper club idea and a Saxon birthday theme shortlist — plus the gold-shimmer knit, taupe cargos, wool baker-boy cap and gold heels.
14 August 2026
Faith is most tested in the unknown
Journal · FND Journey · Fashion
Choosing your path every day, owning the decision, and refusing to be defined by chronic illness — plus the rose-print blouse, high-waisted jeans, bulldog-chewed pink flats and Tom Ford Soleil with orchid.
11 August 2026
Ulysses, a Libra tee, and Chanel No. 5
Journal · Fashion
Tennyson's Ulysses in full voice, the Libra tee with black over-the-knee boots and four unimpressed dogs, the Chanel No. 5 bottle and its notes, a proper definition of the Libra scales — and a nod to tonight's prawns in prawn bisque. Older fashion pictures added to the gallery too.
10 August 2026
Unbothered — the twins, a tornado omelette, and my first choux
Journal · Fashion · Entertaining · Recipes
Four dogs, two cats and two English bulldogs with too much character; 2025 physio-day pictures with the Pierre Cardin sneakers and Chanel No. 5; plus five new recipes — tornado omelette, Jamie Oliver's fresh pasta, butternut and ricotta ravioli with toasted hazelnuts, burnt butter with candied pine nuts, and choux pastry filled with bananas Foster.
9 August 2026
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
Journal · Fashion · Entertaining · Recipes
A repeated outfit in a jersey knitted by her mother, Victoria Beckham's softer contouring, an international Sunday lunch of first-time homemade ricotta and Bobby Flay's reimagined chicken chasseur — and a chin bruised blue on a marble countertop.
8 August 2026
The lángos boerie-roll, and my excited is excited
Journal · Entertaining · Recipes
Lángos is now Cass's favourite bread — a vetkoek's skinny cousin. Boerewors browned with onions the Italian way and finished in beef stock in the oven, piled onto lángos with lemony labneh and a chive-and-lemon-oil salad.
8 August 2026
An avocado pip, three toothpicks, and a whole lot of hope
Journal
Growing an avocado tree from a pip in a glass of water, the price of avos in South Africa, a flu that refuses to lift, and why Women's Day and Women's Month matter here.
7 August 2026
One hundred films, and a batch of lángos
Journal · Entertaining · Recipes
A hundred movies in one varsity year, why film noir and the auteur rubric are not for Cass, and why X-Men and Batman Begins are — plus Hungarian lángos: hand-stretched fried bread brushed with garlic water and piled with soured cream and cheese.
6 August 2026
Truffle hunting in Mzansi — Fernbank Farm
Entertaining
Black Périgord truffles farmed in Dullstroom, Mpumalanga, found by a Weimaraner under seven-year-old oaks. With thanks to Food & Home South Africa, November 2015.
6 August 2026
Bless you — Ntombi's flu, and the molotov cocktail
Journal · About FND
Sick with flu when getting sick isn't supposed to happen — plus plain-language explanations of Sjögren's, antiphospholipid syndrome, lupus, scleroderma and medically induced liver failure.
5 August 2026
Green and gold runs through me
Fashion
Cass's SA supporter uniform — khaki cargo trousers, gold chainmail top, gold glitter heels, orange bag and Elie Saab perfume. Boks, Proteas, Bafana Bafana… anyone.
4 August 2026
This is how I went to church
Fashion · Interiors
Burgundy cardigan, Freddy stretch jeans, Ralph Lauren spectacles and Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb — plus a before-and-after of the entrance wall, from soft French to New York edge with the gold hanging shades.
4 August 2026
Subtle for who?
Fashion
Cass's absolute favourite look — black organza-sleeve bodysuit, hot-pink tiered tulle skirt, pink mules, soft smoky make-up and Ted Baker Polly perfume.
4 August 2026
What was, and what will never be
Journal · FND Journey
The ugly truth — mourning past abilities, disbelief, blame, twenty-four miscarriages, and the loneliness at the core of the fight.
3 August 2026
Breads from Spain — eight loaves and a churro
Recipes · Entertaining
Molletes, rustic Spanish bread, torrijas, empanada gallega, flatbread, pan de horno, pan de leche and pan básico — plus churros con chocolate and a full Spanish topping table of cold meats, cheeses, fish and salads.
3 August 2026
The drinks trolley — ten party cocktails
Entertaining · Recipes
Gin sling, screwdriver, Harvey Wallbanger, Chi Chi, between the sheets, sidecar, tequila sunrise, Americano, B-52 and Boo Boo's special — with a full garnish tray guide.
3 August 2026
One year into the best day of my life
Journal · FND Journey
A watershed anniversary — twelve months with Gio, the man who helped Cass shower, walk, exercise and gain weight when doctors were confounded.
3 August 2026
Fifteen favourite vinaigrettes
Recipes · Entertaining
The dressing drawer — classic French, green goddess, Julia Child's, lemon garlic, honey-mustard lemon, herb and citrus, carrot-ginger, apple cider, lemon-shallot, basil, spicy coriander, balsamic, sumac, za'atar and pomegranate, each with a photograph and full recipe.
2 August 2026
Baked trout with fennel and capers — a lazy Saturday lunch
Recipes · Entertaining
A French trout tray bake with blanched asparagus, French potato salad and baguettes with truffle butter, plus South African trout farms and Spier and Paul Cluver wine notes.
2 August 2026
Provençal tart — sunshine on a rectangular plate
Recipes · Entertaining
A light, sunny tart for a crowd: roasted tomatoes, black olives, herbes de Provence and buttery pastry, with Provence wine pairings.
2 August 2026
Deep thought, pink leopard, and a new classic
Fashion
A casual anniversary-eve look — white tee, pink leopard leggings, clear mules, hummus and hope.
2 August 2026
Doc gave me my smile back
Journal · FND Journey
A full upper zirconia set of crowns after a year of work — and a thank you to the dentist who carried me through it.
2 August 2026
New SMA diagnosis — Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome
Journal · FND Journey · About FND
A raw, honest entry about the new rare diagnosis, plus a plain-language FAQ on what SMA is and how it is diagnosed.
30 July 2026
Sarah Jessica & Ntombi
Interiors
The Jack Russell is now Sarah Jessica everywhere, and her photo with Ntombi joined the pets gallery.
30 July 2026
Pet peeve Wednesday
Journal
A rant about people who smell their food before eating it. And slurpers. And gulpers.
29 July 2026
Shouting for the unheard
About FND
FND Today magazine, @fnd_revolution, and links to the free digital edition added to trusted sources.
29 July 2026
The face that stops men in their tracks
Fashion
New portrait, a fresh-yet-polished makeup guide, and a new welcome image on the home page.
29 July 2026
The big rebellion of beauty rituals
FND Journey
Why lipstick on a bad day is not vanity — it is defiance.
28 July 2026
Prized & beloved — white lace and denim boots
Fashion
The Young Designers Emporium lace dress, plus a guide to never bruising your perfume.
28 July 2026
Fresh flowers & green plumes
Interiors
The Queen Protea, green-on-green texture, and the lemons-in-the-vase trick.
28 July 2026
Concussion, bruised ribs, and a lost weekend
Journal · FND Journey
The fall, the blur, and the days that cannot be accounted for.
27 July 2026
Spring ladies' breakfast
Entertaining
Breakfast tart, enormous lemon and poppy seed muffins, and lemon marmalade as a gift.
26 July 2026
Seven million and two lemons
Recipes
Lemon and mint curd, and the lemon and mint meringue pie it becomes.
Newest entries always sit at the top of the Journal and FND Journey pages too.