“I believe in organic ingredients, as well as using the best local produce”.

This is the basis of Chef Lebo’s culinary creations, as well as crediting her parents who encouraged her passion and inspiration for perfection in the hospitality industry as they made every meal time interesting and exciting.

Lebo hails from Cape Town, but grew up in Johannesburg. With over 10 years’ experience under her chef’s apron, this seasoned Chef initially graduated from the renowned City & Guilds chef school, Capsicum Culinary Studio, in 2014 where she completed her Level 2 diploma in food preparation, NQF Level 2 professional patisserie, international level and graduated with Merit.

After she graduated, Chef Lebo was hungry for a challenge, so packed her suitcase and travelled the world, gaining international experience in the industry. Having worked at the Hilton Group Hotels Double Tree in Guangzhou, China, Chef Lebo was invited to participate on the award winning cooking television show, Top Chef, where she came in the top 10.

Having had this experience, doors began to open, with her working with big brands like Whirlpool SA and Kitchen Aid. She was appointed as a brand ambassador and started working on large product content shoots and consumer brand awareness campaigns.

Chef Lebo has been featured in many recipe and lifestyle features with House & Home magazine and True Love Magazine, just to mention a few. This launched her career into food styling and content creating.

In 2016, she opened her own private chef and catering company, having cooked for prominent families, one of which is the current US Ambassador.

Her work includes that of curating and planning large scale events, such as the Hope Craft Gin Penthouse Experience, Decorex Media Room, and all whilst still working as head sous-chef at restaurants on a seasonal residency, where she also remodeled chef work stations, improved menus for bars and restaurants, one of which was the Blu Flame Bar and Grill in Johannesburg, as well as filling her time working on corporate event cooking groups.

In 2019, Chef Lebo opened her own private cooking studio in the trendy dining hot-spot Maboneng, where she offered her clients cooking classes and intimate five-star dining experiences.

She has trained and worked with many small culinary businesses and assisted young chefs to develop their products and menus in order to broaden their skills.

In 2020, Covid-19 hit, and Chef Lebo unfortunately had to close all her business doors and decided to relocate to Durban in 2021.

This did nothing to deter her, as she went on to work as a private chef, as well as entering into a contract with a hospitality firm. She assisted them with kitchen design, the building thereof, menu formulation, cost development and procedure structure for three UKZN canteen restaurants in and around Durban. She is now making Granny Mouse Country House & Spa her new home, set in the picturesque Midlands.

When she is not in the kitchen, Chef Lebo loves experimenting on new culinary delights, and now that she is living in the Midlands area, she is up for exploring and finding the best fresh local produce to introduce to the menu at Granny Mouse.

Rings have symbolized so many things over the years, and serve as being an emblem of love and commitment, and can also be seen as a matter of status. The modern wedding ring is worn by both men and women and the significance has shifted over time to being a symbol of marriage union.

If you are married, you are more than likely wearing your ring every day, without giving it much thought. But have you ever wondered what the history is and how it became an important wedding tradition?

It’s said the tradition of exchanging rings dates back 3 000 years, while the first diamond wedding ring was recorded in the will of a widow who passed in 1417.

There are also historians and jewelers that have agreed that it dates back to ancient Egypt, and pharaohs were thought to wear rings to give them eternity. They also wore their ring on the left hand, on the ring finger, also known as the vein of love.

The Egyptians then went on to conquer Alexander the Great, and the Greeks adopted the Egyptian custom of exchanging rings to signify a couples love and devotion by exchanging copper and iron rings at their marriage vows. Wedding rings began to evolve to show off wealth and be more customized by incorporating different metals, such as gold, and precious gemstones, like diamonds, that are symbolic.

Up until the last few centuries, marriage was a much less formal affair that rarely involved any official paperwork or legal witnesses. Throughout ancient times and the Middle Ages, a verbal exchange of commitment, and the occasional wedding ring, was all a couple needed to declare themselves married.

It wasn’t until the 12th century that the Christian Church established marriage as a “holy sacrament”, requiring an official wedding ceremony, which included placing a ring on the bride’s finger.

Even then, marriage was viewed primarily as a business transaction or exchange between two families—not as a way to show your lifelong commitment to a soulmate.

The Puritans in colonial America considered jewelry frivolous. The husbands gave their wives thimbles instead of rings. After brides used their thimbles to sew clothes and textiles for their new home, they could then saw off the tops of their thimbles to create rings.

The formal marriage proposal only began as a ritual in the 20^th century in North America when couples gave each other a ring.

Up until then, it was mostly the wife wearing a simple band, and husbands were often ring-less. The soldiers in the Second World War began the tradition in the 1940s when soldiers leaving for war wanted something to remind them of their loved ones waiting for them back home. It was a turning point, not only for engagement rings, but also wedding bands.

World War II was also responsible for establishing the tradition of men’s wedding bands—something that wasn’t common practice throughout earlier history. Married soldiers began wearing wedding bands during deployment as reminders of their wives back home. The tradition eventually caught on among the civilian population, and men’s wedding bands are still widely worn today.

https://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/blog/origin-of-wedding-rings/