Mother's Day and the traditional food we ate!

In  the daily life of http://www.bestforreading.com not much has happened since I posted my blog about my crazy parakeet last week. I trust my readers do take a peek at my online bookstore at http://www.bestforreading.com.  

The only significant happening here in Cape Town and in many countries across the world is Mother's Day of course. Have any one given a second thought where Mother's Day originated? I doubt that as it is just a day we celebrate each second Sunday in the month of May. http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day. Although it is a fairly modern institution that started in the USA in the 20th century to honour our mothers, the idea stretches back for centuries. 

Now, what did we have on table to spoil the mothers in our family. Lets see. There was the traditional chicken pie. A delicious recipe that I will post at a later stage. This chicken pie must have a slightly sour taste. Then there was a leg of lamb and steak pie. Besides greens on the side, were rice and roast potatoes  dished up as well. Meat, rice and potatoes goes hand in hand in many Afrikaner homes. I have nearly forgotten about gem squash and the pumpkin fritters made the Afrikaner way. Watch this for a mouth-watering recipe how to make pumpkin fritters. Each family had to bring something to celebrate not only the mother's day but also to celebrate the fact that the matriarch of the family is still with us at the good age of 88 years.

I brought meatballs - frikkadelle as it is known in Afrikaans. Most nations have one or other version of this dish and each one would like to think theirs are the best tasting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frikadeller. 

This what my dish looked liked.

My version. I added tomato paste and braised onions.

              

What the meatballs look like without the onions and tomato paste! Not mine!

The recipe comes from a traditional Afrikaans cook book. Unfortunately I cannot give you the name of the book or who wrote it. the book is very old.  

Frikkadelle or Meatballs

500 g mince meat - mutton or beef. Minced pork or ham may be added for flavour.
5 ml ground coriander
1 ml ground gloves
pinch of ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion
1 thick slice of bread
125 ml water
10 ml sugar
1 beaten egg
12.5 ml chutney
10 ml Worcestershire sauce, vinegar or lemon-juice
flour -optional

Season meat with coriander, cloves, nutmeg, salt and pepper
Grate onion finely
Soak bread in water and with the water to mince mixture
add beaten egg. chutney. Worcestershire sauce, vinegar or lemon-juice
mix well and shape into round balls and roll each one in little flour if desired
put in well-greased oven-proof dish and add 50 ml boiling water with a dab of butter in between
bake in moderate oven at 180-190 degrees Celsius until done
Baste from time to time with liquid formed in pan
ENJOY!

For a dessert afterwards I made another very traditional Afrikaans pudding known as a Jan Ellis Pudding.
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Hobbies/South-African-Foods-17434.html

He was a Springbok rugby player in the  60's and 70's. This type of pudding is very similar to the Malva Pudding. The only difference is the adding of brandy to the Malva Pudding.
http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4851183735409143&pid=15.1&H=160&W=94

 This recipe comes from Dina van Zyl's "Die groot Boerekosboek"

250 ml cake flour
15 ml (1 table spoon) Bicarbonate of Soda
1.25 ml (1/4 t spoon) salt
1 egg
250 ml sugar (1 cup)
 15 ml (1 table spoon) fine apricot jam
250 ml (1 cup) milk
15 ml melted butter
15 ml grape vinegar

Sauce
125 ml (8 table spoons) butter
125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) warm water
125 ml cream (1/2 cup)

Warm up oven to 180 deg Celsius

Grease oven-proof dish by approximately 30 x 20 x 5 cm
Cut a piece of tin foil the slightly bigger and grease as well

The Pudding itself!

Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and keep separate
Beat egg and sugar with mixer until creamy and add apricot
Beat milk, melted butter and vinegar with above until beaten well.
Add flour gradually and beat well.
Add mixture in dish and cover with tin foil with greased side under.
Bake for about 45 minutes.
Take foil off and bake open for 10 - 15 minutes.

While this is going on, add melted butter, sugar and water together and heat up slowly. Let it boil and see that sugar has melted completely. Add cream.
When the pudding is caramel brown, pour sauce over. Every thing. It is a wet pudding. Serve with custard.

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4643805551527919&pid=15.1&H=120&W=160

Besides having a great week ahead , remember for more recipes please visit http://www.bestforreading.com 

 


















                                                                                       

A little bird called Lollipop who thinks he is a parrot

You would have noticed that today I am starting my blog in a totally new approach. Obviously there is a reason for this. At the end of 2011, I was in two minds whether I should get another dog or another type of pet. I was looking at different types of pets on the Internet and eventually sourced pets on a local website. There in between all the bewildering types of fish, rats and snakes I saw a picture of a conure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conure.

Years ago I handled a conure and then already that type of bird stuck in my mind. This specific one for sale was a black capped conure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-capped_Parakeet. Below is a photo om my black capped conure.


Lollipop - about 3 months old

This is a very busy little bird who at times rule this house. Often I would get home and Lollipop are no where to be seen. He then decided is time for a nap and then Lollipop will climb down and go to an old-fashioned sewing machine where he would climb up and go and "rest" in a dark spot away from the buzz in the house. Anything for peace and quiet! In the beginning I was worried especially when I could not find find him. I searched every where and then I remembered that conures like dark places and I lifted the flap up and there Lollipop was, fast asleep.

He demands attention and will screech to get his way at times. One day I was talking to my neighbours in front of my house. I left my garage door open. My garage door is at the side of my house. When I turned around, who would I see come walking down the road? Lollipop. He came looking for me. That is loyalty. He would do the same when I am busy in the kitchen or in my bedroom. If I turn around, he is there.

Lollipop decided at a very early stage that he does not want to sleep in his cage. I was late placing the cover over his cage and Lollipop made a plan. Watch this video:


Since then he has been sleeping under his blanket. When it is cold, he is a late sleeper and only wakes up at about 10 am!

He demands to eat a morsel or two from my plate, eat chilies and just becomes silly at night. Maybe he is happy because I am close to him. If he is not climbing under my shirt, he would get into his bed and lie upside down to do tricks.


Who is watching me?


I demand food from your plate. It looks better than mine!


More tricks!

I love to bath every day. I am a very clean bird! 

I love chilies, the hotter the better. look at my angle!


I love doing tricks. anything for attention 

For more books and pets and what they need, please visit http://www.bestforreading.com

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 

       

          

When the Paternoster is not a prayer.

I hope you have paid many visits to my website http://www.bestforreading.com for all your on line shopping needs.

Along the west coast of Cape Town is an off the beaten track route. This route follows the R27 and is known as the West Coast Route.http://www.route27sa.com/. In high summer this could be a dull wind-swept drive, but when winter arrives the whole veld turns into a joy to behold on the eye with the culmination of colours in Spring. http://www.langebaanlagoon.co.za/namaqualand-flowers.html.

About 150 km from Cape Town, you turn off the R27 towards Vredenburg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vredenburg. Another 15 minutes drive towards the coast you will find the small fisherman's village, Paternoster. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster,_Western_Cape. This is mainly a fisherman's village as I have mentioned earlier, but it is it a holiday resort for many as well. A certain West Coast "style" must be kept and all the houses must conform to that. http://www.paternoster-villas.co.za/die-opstal-apartments  

Another good site to visit is http://paternosterrentals.co.za.

A photo taken years ago. 

The original fisherman's cottages.

Sunset in Paternoster

The West Coast Style

Same

Another house built in the West Coast Style

Just about 5 km further on, you will find the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve and Lighthouse. This in itself is worth a visit. http://www.sa-venues.com/things-to-do/westerncape/visit-the-cape-columbine-lighthouse/

 This area is known for its shipwrecks as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Columbine 

My recipe of the week has to do with fish stock

2 kg fish bones, fish heads or any off cuts

4 onions

4 carrots diced coarsely

4 bay leaves

4 twigs of celery

4 twigs of parsley

10 ml wonder pepper (all spice) corns 

10 ml (2 tea spoons) black pepper corns

500 ml (2 cups) dry white wine

3 l boiling water

Place all the ingredients in a pan and bring slowly to boil. This is to prevent foam forming. Cook slowly for about 40 minutes. Sieve through fine strainer. Use the stock to make a seafood dish or use it in fish soup. 

Easy breezy!!!!!!!!!!!!

And visit http://www.bestforreading.com