Wow!

I was reading News24.com last week and saw this video clip about a local guy, Selim Kagee here in Cape Town. I followed the link and it blew my mind away. This will give Andrea Bocelli a go for his voice. As teenager he was advised to sit out in the school choir. He was persistent though and went for private lessons.  Go to http://t.co/tH6GzZjs to listen to this guy. Beautiful, full, rich voice. The link is in Afrikaans. Scroll down to the bottom of the article and you will find the video clip

Remember for more cd's and reading material you can visit http://www.booksmatic.com. You will find a wide selection of updated information.

This week was the week of leaking kettles. Why is it that the products we buy are not the same quality anymore. After many years, my kettle started leaking and the handle came loose. I tried to fix it, but in vain. Off I went to the shop and bought a kettle, brand new, out of the box. I could not wait to get home to test it out. Alas, as I switched it on, it started leaking. The next day I went back to the shop and they exchanged the product without question. Back home I went and tried it out. Guess what? Yes, you are correct. it started leaking again. This time I informed the head office of this particular shop that that the design is faulty and it is advisable to withdraw the item. Whether they did I don't know. All I know is that I went to another shop and bought another make. And yes, the kettle is working fine thanks.

Now the recipe I am placing today is homemade tempura. easy to make:

Beat one egg together with 1 cup soda water (club soda)
Add one cup flour and pinch of salt
Mix well
Heat up 2 cups of cooking oil in pan with medium to high heat
Test oil by dropping small piece of batter in oil. If it puffs out, it is ready.
Cover 200g green beans with the batter.
Fry a few at a time for a minute or two until golden brown
Take out and place on kitchen towel
Dish it up warm with a sweet-chili sauce

For more recipes go to www.booksmatic.com 

I am still around

What a week in Cape Town. Summer is really not in a hurry to reach the southern shores of Africa. Besides the fact that the South Easter wind was howling and blowing all and sundry around, Cape Town also experienced a  Black South Easter.

The prevailing wind bringing rain to the western Cape is the Northwest wind and mainly blows in winter. In summer the prevailing wind is the South Easter. At times this wind also bring in clouds and this causes heavy rain with floods. This was exactly the case last Friday. It not only caused severe floods in areas like Gordons Bay and Stellenbosch, areas about 50 km's out of Cape Town. This front moved up the southern and eastern coasts of South Africa and caused floods with roads being washed away and a few drownings when the rivers came down. Today, the wind is blowing, but only mildly with a few clouds fleeting across the blue

sky.

My dog Roger, a Canis Africanus, loves playing with his Frisbee in the river. This is a daily ritual. When I arrive home, he will come and place his front legs on mine and then he "hugs" me by pushing his head into my chest. the more I encourage him, the more he pushes. Then he goes and grabs his Frisbee. At times however I do not feel like playing with the frisbee and then I ask him to choose another toy like a tennis ball or at times, I will tell him "No toys today" and he will wait at the garage door without any toys. In such cases he will grab his leash in his mouth and "take himself" for a walk with me following behind him. He always make his way to the Liesbeeck River. This is a shallow canalized river and roger loves playing in the river with his frisbee.

This Liesbeeck River used to be the border in the days of the Dutch settlers round about 1657. On the other side  was "wild Africa". It is difficult to think that this was the border and very close by my home the first "racial" clashes took place between the settlers and the Koi-San. A few of the original homesteads are still around.

This actual diverted my attention from what I was actually going to tell you. At times vagrants break bottles in the river and one does not see the glass shards. And low and behold, only after roger was finished playing, I saw that he had cut the cushion under his left paw open. Fortunately I had Latogen on hand I administered this for a few days. He was limping and on Friday I decided to take him to the vet as I was worried about infection. The vet however, reassured me that the treatment I gave Roger was 100% correct.       

Now you might wonder what wonderful recipe I am posting today? Well here it comes!

Wonder sauce 

3/4 cup brown vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 egg

Mix ingredients together and boil till bubbles form. Watch closely as it might burn.

Add to: green beans, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, small onions etc

Remember to visit www.booksmatic.com

                    

Who am I?

I live in Cape Town. The wind is blowing so strong, that I might end up living somewhere else. Jokes aside. This wind blowing today is called the Cape Doctor. It not only cleanses all the smog and pollution in the air, it also brings rain inland. So we Capetonians should not complain. If the inland suffer with drought, we suffer as the food prices go up and up.

Cape Town is the capitol of the Western Cape Province and is a winter rainfall area. We do get the occasional downpour in summer, but it is the exception rather than the rule. We do get snow in winter as well, but mainly on the higher slopes of the mountains. Fortunately Cape Town is a coastal city and this causes us to have fairly mild winters with an average maximum temp of in the high teens or early twenties. 

I have decided to run a virtual shop and my host is Amazon.com. I also design customized items which is for sale. Check this electric pressure cooker out: It is on sale!

Secura 6-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker 6qt, 18/10 Stainless Steel Cooking Pot, Pressure cooker, Slow cooker, Food steamer, Rice cooker, Browning/sauté pan, Soup maker

    

This is to be found at www.booksmatic.com at a very special price.

For reading this today, I am going to post an absolute delicious salad recipe.

One broccoli/Cauliflower/or shredded cabbage (broccoli and cauliflower broken up into florets)

One avocado pear

One cup mayonnaise

4 teaspoons suger

1 dessertspoon vinegar (brown or white)

Mix and enjoy as is. Refreshing!

See you next week Monday. Have a safe week