When the English language takes on a new meaning!

This morning I am not going to write about what happened in and around Cape Town the past week. I am at first going to have a book available in my on line store, http://www.bestforreading.com reviewed. If you have not visited http://www.bestforreading.com, do so without hesitation fore great bargains!.

The book has been reviewed and is available in my store http://www.bestforreading.com:

The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future [Paperback]

Jonathan Cahn (Author) This book is available at only $9.99. You save at least $7.00 off the retail price.
Book Description
Publication Date: January 3, 2012

is it possible...
That there exists an ancient mystery that holds the secret of America's future?
That this mystery lies behind everything from 9/11 to the collapse of the global economy?
That ancient harbingers of judgement are now manifesting in America?
That God is sending America a prophetic message of what is yet to come?
Before its destruction as a nation, ancient Israel received nine harbingers, prophetic omens of warning. The same nine harbingers are now manifesting in America with immediate ramifications for end-time prophecy.
Hidden in an ancient biblical prophecy from Isaiah, the mysteries revealed in The Harbinger are so precise that they foretold recent American events down to the exact days. The revelations are so specific that even the most hardened skeptics will find it hard to dismiss or put down. It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller with one exception... IT S REAL.

The prophetic mysteries are revealed through an intriguing and engaging narrative the reader will find hard to put down. The Harbinger opens with the appearance of a man burdened with a message he has received from a mysterious figure called The Prophet. The Prophet has given him nine seals, each containing a message about America s future. As he tells of his encounters with The Prophet, from a skyscraper in New York City, to a rural mountaintop, to Capitol Hill, to Ground Zero, the mystery behind each seal is revealed. As the story unfolds, each revelation becomes a piece in a greater puzzle the ramifications of which will even alter the course of world history.

On a visit to Beijing a year or two ago but after the Olympic Games I have had so much fun. Not only because my friend and I could speak my mother tongue and there is not a hope any one would understand us but because of the translations from Chinese to English. I do not understand why the Chinese do not get a person who can correct the English idiomatically. Here follows. I took the photos and are all original. I will write a short story as a caption below each photo!


This was taken in the compound where my friend lives. Every time I walked past this notice, I was inclined to look around if I could see "slipper" as he might steal my camera.


Yes, do not trip over the "hilly road"! You might injure yourself.


In the Beijing Zoo. A place I was not impressed with at all. Since when is a peacock a peafowl? I could not believe my eyes!


Yes, people do not want to listen. Who will "frolic" at a pond?


I could not believe my eyes in a toilet. See the full description below.


Just listen to what is asked. Do not s...! Please


This baby is a goner for sure. There are thousands of cars in Beijing. How will this poor baby survive on the road among all these cars?

Please, no visitors today. Mountain cough maintenance is in progress!

Remember to visit http://bestforreading.com. Not only for your reading needs but for whatever you are looking for!

An old-fashioned fruit becomes fashionable again

At http://www.bestforreading.com I cannot believe that another week has gone by. Here in the southern tip of Africa we are preparing for winter and what better idea is it to go to http://www.bestforreading.com, purchase a book and then curl up with your latest book. Those of you living in the northern hemisphere visit

http://www.bestforreading.com to have something to read for those long summer holidays. This is especially if you are heading for the beach.

In one of my previous blogs, The Cape of Storms became the Cape of Good Hope, I have written about  how sudden the storms arrive here at Cape Town at the beginning of the winter season. Well, last Wednesday this is exactly what happened. For one day only the heavens opened and everywhere there were floods. I hardly could get into my house and when I left at lunch time, I had to travel another route as all the other roads were flooded.

When I took my dog for a walk later that afternoon, most of the water had run off but the Liesbeek River was still in flood. Here are a few photo's of the Liesbeek River.

Nearly over the banks

The river flowing towards the camera

A beautiful scenery

I am not going to write about the weather today. This I have done in a previous post, as mentioned before. I am going to give you a recipe about an "old fashioned" fruit which in a way is not grown anymore. When I was a child every yard either had once bush of this fruit in the yard or if you were on a farm you most likely would have had a lane of these bushes. This is the quince fruit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quince. It is also known as an extremely healthy and nutritious fruit. http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/quince-fruit.html.

Stews are a very popular dish in South Africa. A very traditional South African recipe is a quince stew. This recipe comes from Hetta van Deventer-Terblanche.

Ingredients:

4 onions chopped up coarsely

4 carrots, peeled and diced the same way

Cooking Oil to sweat the above

5 ml fine cassia

2.5 ml fine nutmeg

30 ml fine coriander

5 ml turmeric

Salt and pepper   

1.4 kg lamb. Preferably the ribs, cut into pieces

8 washed quinces

2 l lamb or beef stock

3 potatoes coarsely chopped

Hand full of fresh herbs

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 deg Celsius

2. Saute onion and carrots in oil until onions are golden brown. Use a heavy duty oven pan with a lid that can go into the oven. Take out onion and carrots

3. Rub spices into meat and throw in used pan and saute meat until brown.

4. add onions and meat 

5. Cut 4 quinces with cork and all in quarts and add between the meat.

6. Add stock to meat, add more water if necessary and bring to boil

7. Place lid on and place pan in oven and leave for 90 minutes

8. In the mean time bake the remaining quinces on a baking tray in the oven -about 40 minutes. as soon as the quinces are soft, take out and keep to the side.

9. take meat out of oven after 90 minutes and add potatoes.

10. Add more water or stock if it looks to dry.

Add salt and pepper to taste and place back in oven until the potatoes are soft and thoroughly cooked.

To present, cut baked quinces into big pieces and throw over stew and sprinkle the fresh herbs over.

Dish up with rice and salad.   

Remember for delicious cooking recipes visit http://www.bestforreading.com  

              

      

Freedom of Religion and the French Huguenots

It was a blue Monday here at http://www.bestforreading.com. It was not just blue but as blue as the African sky. That intense blue that one only can look at it wonder. Please visit my on line bookstore at http://www.bestforreading.com for all your in store shopping needs.

On Saturday, 13 April 1688, 325 years ago  a group of people arrived in the Cape Colony on board a ship, the Voorschooten. After that a few other ships arrived as well. This group of people's descendants  had a huge influence on the development of this country. They where called the French Huguenots who fled France after the king of France revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This edict http://www.crommelin.org/history/Ancestors/Scheffer/EdictOfNantes/EdictOfNantes.htm gave the protestants religious freedom in France. The Sun King, Louis X1V revoked this edict on 22 October 1685.

http://www.louis-xiv.de/index.php?id=49. Many of these protestants fled to the Dutch Colony here at the Southern tip of Africa. They brought Afrikaans surnames such as De Klerk, Malan, Le Roux, Viljoen, Retief, de Villiers and Cronje among others, 

This group of people, the Huguenots tended to stick in one group and settled in a valley called the Franschhoek Valley. The town today is still called Franschhoek. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franschhoek. Although very little remains of the French language and culture, the surnames and the names of farms such as La Rochelle, Champagne and Bourgogne still lingers on 325 years later. Franschoek, along the Berg River

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berg_River is a must see if you visit South Africa and is situated about 50 kilometre outside Cape Town.

In this quaint little town a monument was erected to honour these Huguenots who left their country behind and came to a strange new continent. http://www.flickr.com/photos/south-african-tourism/3881457560/    

Do not forget that this region produces some of the best wines in the world! http://franschhoek.org.za/.

Now that you have read the above, I want to give you a hints

To prevent that onions burn your eyes when peeling them, place the onions in a bowl of water with ice for 20 minutes in the fridge.  

To get rid of mosquitoes and flies, place a small bowl of vinegar where you need it. Vinegar will get rid of smells in your fridge as well.

A pumpkin that sounds hollow when you knock on it, will keep longer than one with no sound.

If you boil cauliflower, place a bay leaf in the water to get rid of the smell.

Visit htpp://www.bestforreading.com for more books on cookery or history!

Did you know that the Anglo-Boer war of 1899 to 1902 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War was the first war to introduce trench warfare, the first large scale use of concentration camps http://www.boer.co.za/boerwar/hellkamp.htm; http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/black-concentration-camps-during-anglo-boer-war-2-1900-1902 and the longest period of guerrilla warfare by a conquered nation. The Boers where the first to use camouflage dress and the first film for news and propaganda was used.  

           

A war is not always a war. There is fun in between as well.

Apologies for those who were waiting for my blog last week, I was out of town once again and did not have any access to the Internet. I really hope though that this did not prevent you from my on line store at 

http://www.bestforreading.com. In my shop you will find everything you need at bargain prices. Remember to visit http://www.bestforreading.com.

While I was a way we once again started talking about the South African National Defence Force who pulled out of the Central African Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African Republic. This brought the conversation to the period when South Africa under the apartheid regime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid_in_South_Africa  was involved in the Border War on the boarder between present day Namibia and Angola http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War. Once again I am not interested in the politics or the pros and cons of these wars. 

War is not always war and in between there is laughter as well. When I did my stint on the border during my two years national conscription, my unit was stationed at http://www.africastay.com/namibia_map.html. Soon after that my platoon were moved to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshakati. A military convoy had to take food and ammunition to a base camp a few kilometres from the Angolan border. Now for those who do not know a platoon is divided into four sections. My section was chosen to be the rear -guard of this convoy. Besides the trucks to convey the stock, the troops guarding the convey travelled in armoured vehicles called Buffels (Buffalo).  

Buffel from the front

A armoured troop carrier

Our Buffel not only formed the rear guard, but had to hook on a trailer with ammunition. We were not far gone when the truck in front of us broke down. As my section formed the rear guard we had to wait at this truck. After a while we realised that the ammunition had to be delivered at the base, Ntalie. My Section

 Leader told the driver to follow the road.  By this time we had lost radio contact and my section leader to travel on and to see if we can find the base. We kept on travelling on this dirt road until we saw South African soldiers waving at us. we stopped but also noticed buildings in ruins and with bullet holes.  The soldier asked if we travelled on this dirt road and when we said yes he asked us if we knew we are in Angola and that this dirt road has not been swept for landmines at least for two weeks. 

This did not frighten as (or so we would have liked to show our fellow soldiers). My section leader, after consultation with all us, decided to take the ammunition back through the bushes. Needless to say after two punctures later we decided to go back onto the road. If we hit a landmine tough luck, The Buffel had no more spare tires and we had to take a change. A few kilometres back in Namibia, we saw the bunkers with the old South African flag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_African_flags. Needles to say after the ammunition was dropped off and had a cold beer we had to rush off to get back to Oshakati to reach the curfew. We reached Oshakati grey from dust and dirty. So much so that we hardly recognised each other.

Remember for ANY book on any war visit my on line book store http://www.bestforreading.com