The white tribe from Africa

Of course I have updated my website, http://www.bestforreading.com  since I have last written my blog. I try to update http://www.bestforreading.com as often as possible to keep up to date with new publications and to inform you of HOT NEW RELEASES. 

Scroll through my website at http://www.bestforreading.com. Not only do I have books on sale, but travel packages, discount furniture and many more. Anything under the sun is available at http://www.bestforreading.com.

I am an African, a white African and belongs to the only White Tribe in Africa. I am of mixed European heritage, but the person whose surname I am carrying today arrived in this country from Leipzig in Germany.       

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/europe/european-union/germany/leipzig/

My forefather arrived in Cape Town aboard the Borsselen in 1723. This ship belonged to the Dutch East Indian Company (DEIC), who ruled the Cape Colony at that time. To find out more about the DEIC, read more in this link; http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/dutch-east-india-company-deicvoc. In 1725 my forefather received citizenship in the Cape Colony and settled in Drakenstein Valley (Dragon) near Paarl.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drakenstein as a miller. 

By 1727 he owned a horse, a slave (http://www.sahistory.org.za/south-africa-1652-1806/history-slavery-and-early-colonisation-sa) and a weapon. Most likely an old musket gun of some sorts. 

Although not my forefather from 1723, this is a photo of my grandfather  (top right) and my great  grandparents. 

I hope you click on all the links given. I think it gives a wonderful insight of another world out there. A world you can discover at http//www.bestforreading.com.... 

My book choice of the week taken from my website at http://www.bestforreading.com is a historical book   

The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? [Hardcover]

Jared Diamond (Author)
Book Description

Release Date: December 31, 2012

Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeable wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence. Societies like those of the New Guinea Highlanders remind us that it was only yesterday—in evolutionary time—when everything changed and that we moderns still possess bodies and social practices often better adapted to traditional than to modern conditions.

The World Until Yesterday provides a mesmerising firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of years—a past that has mostly vanished—and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today.
This is Jared Diamond’s most personal book to date, as he draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesn’t romanticise traditional societies—after all, we are shocked by some of their practices—but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. A characteristically provocative, enlightening, and entertaining book, The World Until Yesterday will be essential and delightful reading.

My recipe of the week is a different version of the sauce bean recipe I posted last week

(http://www.my-easy-cooking.com)

The ideal bean for this recipe is the black-eyed bean, also known as the black-eyed pea.This popular bean was most probably first cultivated in West Africa, but these days it can be found in many cuisines across the world. There are many beliefs and rituals associated with the black-eyed bean but the most common one is that eating black-eyed beans on New Year will bring prosperity and good luck. 

I am not a very superstitious person, but I do know that replacing some of your meals with a vegetarian bean option will not only benefit you health wise, but you will save a whack on groceries every week and that is a step in the right direction towards prosperity.

Curry Beans

serves 6 

Ingredients

1 x 500 gr dry black- eyed beans

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion - chopped

2 cloves garlic - chopped

1 heaped tbsp curry powder

2 tsp ground turmeric

1tsp fennel seeds

1tsp gara masala

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp white vinegar

water

1x sachet tomato paste

salt

125ml coconut milk - optional 

Heat the oil in a heavy based pot and add the onion, garlic and all the spices. Stir for a couple of minutes until the onion becomes translucent and the slightly browned. Add the beans and cover with water. NO SALT ( the salt will prevent the beans from softening). Cook the beans until they are soft, about 40 minutes, adding boiling water if needed. After about 30 minutes, take a bean from the pot and press between your fingers, if it is soft, reduce the cooking time, if not keep cooking. What you want is a pot of soft, but not mush beans with a little liquid. Now add the tomato paste, salt, sugar and vinegar and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Taste and adjust to your liking, adding more sugar or more vinegar as required. The vinegar will thicken the beans slightly, but if you feel your beans are too watery, take a potato masher and mash some of the beans, it will help thicken the beans some more.. Add the coconut milk if you are using it.

This is an exceptional enjoyable meal and can be eaten as is or as a complement to a main meal such as a barbecue!

Visit http://bestforreading.com  for more recipe ideas!