Family Holidays

Family holiday are always filled with mixed feelings and experiences. That’s beside the fact that you’re travelling with two teenagers and a six year old. Unless you’re staying in accommodation you’ve been to before, it’s always an adventure filled with guess work and hope.

We’ve just been to Oribi Gorge which an amazing place a short distance from Port Shepstone in KZN. The accommodation was very basic, but neat and clean – two very important features for me. The fresh air and the lack of modern conveniences is something you need to experience once in while when you live in a city like Johannesburg. Unfortunately the lack of television during the 2010 World Cup is not very welcome, only quelled by the fact that a cellphone can provide you with up-to-date information including goal scoring accompanied by the emotional rantings of kind friends – thank you to my Twitter friends for this. I did know that there would not be a television for this one night though.

Nonetheless it’s fun to be in nature and to see new places.
We left Oribi Gorge this morning to Port St John’s in the Eastern Cape - Unspoilt South African splendor. Traffic was awful and the journey took us far longer than we expected, road works – I’m not really complaining, how can you complain about bad roads being resurfaced. Thanks to modern technology, you know longer have children in the back seat asking “are we there yet?”. Now they’re fully aware that we’re not there yet but insist on checking the navigator for updates on how long it will take us to get there every half an hour, almost as annoying. Unfortunately, along with our beautiful setting on the beach in untouched South Africa came accommodation that is way below standard. I’ve spent my entire first evening scrubbing and cleaning just so that we could eat. Linga Futi? Don’t put your futi!!! Now, I’m a fan of not having the television on holiday (only because of DSTV on demand), but once again THE WORLD CUP is on people!!! Why is your television not working and why have the wires to your satellite dish been cut and what do I do with my smart card. We’re going to have to find the nearest pub for our World Cup pleasure.
Well, we did bring all our board games and playing cards and this will have to entertain us for tonight along with some strange creepy crawlies that are living with us.
From the wild coast of South Africa, goodnight!

P. S. No cellphone reception (I said it was untouched) but if I stand on the eighth decking slat, two and half metres from the railing I can check Twitter and send email and update my blog! With a Savannah in my hand and the sound of the waves below, this is still quite something.

Costly Ingulgence!!!

As someone who has an intense appreciation for all things tasty and sumptuous, it’s always difficult to say what my favourite thing to eat is, but for today it’s strawberry cheesecake and ice-cream. The clever people at Häagen-Dazs have combined these two delicious treats and created an amazing blend of creamy cheesecake- flavoured goodness with the most wondrous nuggets of moist biscuit in every mouthful. I know this is not a new flavour; in fact, I’ve been eating it for a few years. This is unfortunately an indulgence reserved for moments of insanity when you are overcome by desire to such an extreme that you’d be prepared to spend almost R80 for a mere 500ml tub of ice-cream. But as we know, this is no ordinary ice-cream. For goodness sake, it even has its own shop in Sandton City which I avoid - if only to spare my pocket.

So what has urged me to provide an already burgeoning business with free advertising? Guilt! Guilt at just having eaten one whole 500ml tub by myself, that is. I figure that the universe will acknowledge my good deed and in return not nourish 500ml of full cream, sugary goodness unto my body.

I thus urge you to go out there and have a taste of the Häagen-Dazs experience, you won’t be sorry.
Häagen-Dazs ice-cream is available at selected petrol stations and Pick ‘n Pay. Feel free to contact me for more details.

No Miracles for the ill-disciplined!!!!

With passports and tickets in hand we are all ready for a week on the beach but for one thing; my miraculous body transformation will unfortunately not be joining us on holiday. For this I can blame no-one but myself and my ill-disciplined nature when it comes to food. Please understand that I am by no means apologizing just merely stating a fact. My biggest problem lies not in that I generally consume anything in front of me - in fact I prefer to eat good, healthy food – but the mere mention of a diet turns me into a goblin and I start to crave things like Steers burgers and any number of fast foods that normally would not appeal to me. So, here I am!! No closer to a beach ready body than I was at the end of winter 2009. Thing is, I will be on a beach in a few days looking all but fabulous in my granny swimming costume which I am now forced to wear. Nonetheless, I shall soak up the sun, frolic in the sea and eat to my hearts delight because let’s face it, it’s too late anyway. And who am I to pass up three full meals a day plus snacks and all the drinks you can drink?

The ill-disciplined for whom no “miraculous body transformations” are reserved!

The taste of a memory

Don’t you find it amazing that a simple taste or smell can trigger a vivid memory? I know that this subject has been contemplated before but as I licked the cupcake batter-covered spoon this morning, I was flung right back to my childhood. I was in my mother’s kitchen and she was handing me the wooden spoon to lick after making her vanilla sponge cake. The smell of cake baking in the oven and the prospect of a slice later filling the air; I was happy and carefree. I can’t remember when the last time was that I actually tasted cake batter - this experience now belongs to my children’s memories.

Our tastes and smells are intrinsically linked to our memories, our past and probably have a great influence on decisions we’ll make in the future. With many of our memories riding on what we eat, should we not be indulging these senses with only the best? I don’t know about you but I’d prefer my memories were filled with amazing tastes and experiences and not those of plastic cheese and artificial flavours.

Feed your body, feed your mind and feed your soul with all that is good and delicious ensuring that it serves to enhance your life experiences.

And…….

……. my memory for today? Well, I hope that every time I eat a sparkly, pink, vanilla cupcake I will remember the day my baby girl turned 16, the tears I shed out of pure joy and pride and the knowledge that the baby I once cradled in my arms is all grown up.

Breakfast and a show!

There are a few things in life that bring me great joy, one of which is eating. I indulge myself with the extra edible moment of satisfaction now and again which includes stopping at Fourno’s in Dunkeld to enjoy a poppy seed Danish and a cappuccino. These are precious moments. Moments that allow you to be quiet, relax and just savour the experience as the rest of the world goes by unnoticed.

This morning’s experience unfortunately included me noticing a lot more than the world go by. There are little creatures rumoured to only venture out in the dark and in the absence of human beings. Well, the Dunkeld variety are far more brazen. My quiet moment was disrupted by not one, but several tentacle twitching, crawling creatures no doubt salivating over my treat. I carried on eating of course, I’m not one to be wasteful, but I was momentarily disturbed that such a popular venue would have such unsavory residents.

Do I want to go back there? I don’t think so. But where would I get my poppy seed Danish? I’ve tried elsewhere with no luck. Mmmmm, what to do, what to do?  I’ve read somewhere that cockroaches, in fact, don’t like dirt and should not be maligned as disgusting creatures of the filthy kind. Yes, I’m trying to justify going back there for my Danish.

That said, should I notify the proprietor and risk my next Danish tasting of insecticide that could cause genital malformation in unborn babies? Or should I just wait to find this particular bakery on the cover of the Star newspaper sporting cinnamon buns with more than just raisins?

Authentic Food

Prompted by a recent conversation with and Indian friend, I've been trying to find out what an authentic breyani is - a journey that will include other popular dishes shortly. The breyani "recipe" I use, and I use the term "recipe" very loosely, I learned from my mother who grew up in Durban. I therefore assumed that it was a typical Indian breyani. This notion was challenged by my Indian friend who questioned the incorporation of boiled eggs, something she had never seen before. Whilst this has not been an exhaustive or scientific study at all, I have managed to find lots of literature on the subject. It seems that the authentic Indian breyani contains only the very basic ingredients I, and most people I know, would use. This breyani has not a lentil, boiled egg or potato in sight, embellishments clearly added due to circumstances. I can imagine a vegetarian substituting the meat with lentils or boiled eggs and some unknowing individual picking this up and adding to the existing meat dish. Anyhow, I attempted the "authentic" Indian breyani today. Lamb marinated in yoghurt, garlic, ginger, chillies, coriander (dhania), chilli powder, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, oil and lemon juice (very similar to my usual), then covered with fried onions and par cooked basmati rice. The final ingredient is warmed milk infused with saffron and poured over the top of the dish which is then sealed and baked/steamed in the oven for around 45 minutes. Simple, right. Certainly less labour intensive than what I would usually do. The result? A fragrant, tasty and absolutely moreish plate of food! Please sir, can I have some more!