Reflections in, on and round about…with a lot of cooking on the side
The garden is another place where I get soul food – it’s possibly in my genes. I love growing vegetables and I love flowers and arranging them….
Here today, gone tomorrow just about epitomises last week. Summer arrived with a vengeance on Monday and the thermometer hit 38 degrees Celsius (just over 100 Fahrenheit). Overnight, a little swarm of bees took residence in our Cotoneaster.
Late last summer, a pair of African swallows, built a nest under the eaves of our front veranda. At the time, we thought it a bit late in the season for a brood, but a brood they had. Many a late afternoon, we watched as they went about the very frustrating job of getting their babies … Continue reading When spring flew in!
This year we grew peas. So what? There is something almost magical about peas that you pick and shell - to pop into your mouth - in the pea patch. Little can beat the flavour of those little round orbs as they pop with their unique sweetness. Peas are "up there" as my favourite vegetable. I remember … Continue reading Sweet peas…Tiger’s chilled minted pea soup
My basic cooking and food choices are largely influenced by my English and Scottish background and living in South Africa. Over the last 20 or so years, as ethnic foods have become both more fashionable and available, it has become easier to experiment with flavours and different ingredients. My mother cooked "English" food and through a woman who … Continue reading Veld Kos
Our valley is one of contrasts, and last week reflected this. It began with a slow burning fire on our mountains which had, a week earlier, been covered in snow. Neither the farmers nor the conservationists not know what started the fire, although a human element is suspected. The wild animals are fleeing down the mountains, … Continue reading Wicked and wonderful things in the valley
I love edible flowers. Nasturtiums are just another gift we get from our garden. Like gooseberries, they are indigenous to South America. Before I moved to the Western Cape, I tried - in vain - to grow nasturtiums. Now they simply just grow... like in the picture, which are in the corner of our plot that we … Continue reading Noble Nasturtiums so versatile in the kitchen
A couple of weeks ago, the new season of Master Chef SA started, and I was watching with half an eye, as I was preparing our supper - angel fish. Imagine my surprise when the first episode concluded with a boot camp - on a wharf in the Cape Town harbour - with the contestants having to … Continue reading Angel fish – astonishingly versatile
I have always loved eggs. As a little girl, I loved eating Dad's scrambled eggs; of course I had had my own, but they were much nicer when I perched on his knee, eating them off his plate. He loved his eggs on buttery toast and topped with a good sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper. Another … Continue reading Anyone for eggs?
I have flirted with vegetarianism on and off for about thirty years, particularly when I lived alone - which I have done, not unhappily, on and off, until I finally settled down with Tom. One of the first, if not the first, recipe book I bought, was the A - Z of Vegetarian Cooking in … Continue reading Veg-ing out
In Afrikaans, they are called "appelliefies", and the direct translation is "little apple loves". Cape Gooseberries are endemic and we haven't planted any in our garden. They just grow, and are one of the many gifts we receive from our garden. As a small child, not long after we moved from East London, we would travel … Continue reading Glorious Gooseberries