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.
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