Curried potato soup on a cold and rainy day

Caught a little sun spot for the pic, it was drizzling ever so slightly

Did I mention that it's very cold this side of the mountain... we've dropped to 10 degrees, you must understand that for us in the southern hemisphere that's quite frankly -  shocking.
Soup needed to be cooked and with lamb ribs still on my mind, there was only one choice, an old favourite adapted from an Ina Paarman recipe- Curried potato soup with lamb ribbetjies. I don't have the original recipe anymore, but here's how I do it-

500 g lamb ribs- ask the butcher to trim them in half, so you have little fingers
4 potatoes sliced
4 big organic carrots sliced
4 Celery sticks sliced
2 Onions diced
Curry power, turmeric, flour, lemon juice and cream

Firstly saute the lamb ribs until browned in some oil, then set aside, next up saute the onions, carrots, celery in a little butter and oil until soft, add the sliced potatoes, saute a bit more, then add 2 tablespoons curry power and 1 tbsp Turmeric, stir for a bit and add 2 tbsp flour/rice flour making sure to saute for another minute then add your chicken stock, and the lamb ribs, gently cook until lamb ribs are tender, add cream and a squeeze of  lemon juice.
By the way, for my little vegetarian, I did exactly the same, replacing the ribs with butter beans and she declared it yummy.
I'm thinking a nice bottle of Shiraz, in front of the fireplace....maybe winter and I should get better acquainted..

A little wood farm in Hout Bay

Entrance to the 'wood farm' in Valley Road Hout Bay

With the temperature plummeting on our side of the mountain, we needed to urgently stockpile some good wood for the fireplace. Our favourite destination is this little spot in the Hout Bay valley, just past the World of Birds. Strangely the translation for Hout Bay, is Wood bay- and you can see why we call it a little wood farm.....

Massive whole felled trees everywhere, mountains of chopped wood , so many different varieties and interesting stacks of logs that have been sawed through whole, presumably curing so as not to warp...I see some wonderful kitchen tables?

Whole planks drying

little mountains of  wonderful firewood

After explaining we wanted slow burning dry wood that flames nicely for the fireplace, the guys choose Bluegum for us and load the little Citroen to capacity, the fragrant smell of the wood is a welcome change from the usual smell of food.
Leaving the little wood farm, we were tempted to stay,  there's nothing like Hout Bay on a beautiful day...

Our little cottage is small, but it has one thing that I wouldn't trade for all the sculleries, extra bedrooms or bathrooms.....it has a fireplace in our bedroom.

You, me and everyone we know market at the Labia

Some very serious shoppers

It was a strangely balmy evening preceding the bad weather that is expected this weekend,  the you, me and everyone we know market  must have some very good connections.
Predominantly vintage and retro clothing stalls, its home is the front of the iconic Labia theatre - great setting for a little market.

Old movies projected onto the wall creates a great atmosphere

It's 7.30 pm, the last friday market of the season and its packed with beautiful young fashionistas riffling through the clothes rails for something special. You can buy cocktails, wine and beers, but sadly very little in the food line, opportunity here for something portable and retro?

Lady Bonins gorgeous caravan

Parked at the entrance is Lady Bonin's gorgeous tea caravan- if only I drank tea....she makes the whole tea experience look so good.

Cannibals and Crocodile tears at Erdmann Contemporary

Great art and fabulous people

Those are the titles of two of the artworks we admired last night at Heidi's gallery, Erdmann Contemporary.
Our favourite gallery - Heidi's openings are always excitedly anticipated, an alchemic blend of quality art and fabulous people.
Last night was no exception- 'Present History' consisted of works by talented artists - Karlien de Villiers, Marna Hattingh, Diana Hyslop and Haidee Nel  

Karlien de Villier's ' I met history once' with hand painted wooden cut-outs

loved Marna Hattingh's  'dance'

Perfectly curated, the different artists compliment each other harmoniously . If I'd had money to spare, it would have been a difficult choice.

The sourcerer   with Diana Hyslop's work

Karlien de Villier's work

Its Erdmann Contemporary's 10 anniversary and Heidi has some great exhibitions coming up- July 6- everyone's favourite photographer Gary van Wyk, its a debut exhibition for this talented young man.
The celebrations culminate in August with Present History II- a group exhibition and street party with everyone's favourite band Time Flies- yay! See you there.........

Heidi working her magic

The rookers and drinkers spill onto newly pedestrianised Shortmarket street

Pomegranate love potion

One of our precious fruits

Our baby tree has been growing two luscious pomegranates, we've been anticipating their ripeness for weeks now,  yesterday they started to burst revealing those ruby jewels inside.
But what to do with these two precious fruits.....
Our love affair with pomegranates started with our friend Sumien, her previous home had a great old pomegranate tree and bore abundantly, she would arrive at parties generously bearing pomegranates, bottles of pomegranate juice and once the most divine pomegranate sorbet. We now have a mini orchard in the making, with infant plants we have nurtured from the seeds of that great tree.
Which is exactly what the pomegranate is all about- an age old symbol of fecundity- fertility and abundance.
A love potion seems excitingly appropriate, this one is from The foods of love, by Max de Roche and it tastes like Halva.
2 pomegranates,  2 tbps ground almonds, 1 tbsp sesame seeds, 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds, 1 tbsp pine nuts, 2 tbsp sake- honey to bind
You remove the skin from the pomegranate and finely grate the pith, add all the nuts & seeds, grind to a paste with the sake, add 2 tbsp of the pomegranate fruit flesh- maybe more?,  and mix with honey.
I'm thinking drizzled over ice-cream, on fingers of melba toast for breakfast, hmmm.......

Another very sexy fruit...

Skoonheid first Afrikaans film at Cannes

I thought I'd have a peek at Skoonheid (Beauty) as its the first Afrikaans film to be selected for Cannes and has just won the unofficial Queer Palm, an award which recognises films for their gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender themes.
Apparently the jury was' blown-away', the words, 'disturbing, radical and real cinema' were used. Its directed by South African Oliver Hermanus.
Did a bit of googling and the gist is ..... an Afrikaans husband and father from Bloemfontein who has to deal with his emerging attraction to a young man.
After watching this very disquieting trailer, I'm very eager to see it as well.

The lamb rib and bean curry that made me cry

Lamb rib and bean curry like my grandmother made

It was the curry from the blue bird garage market, that lovely lady at the 25 rupees stall- I should have known by the way she dished her food up, with such grace.
One mouthful and I was a little girl in my grandmothers kitchen...it was my grandmothers curry.
I could taste all her delicious bredies, green bean, tomato, cabbage,
so many curries, chicken, lamb, sugar bean, meatballs- plain and curried, often wrapped in cabbage, pickled fish- she brought all her spices with her from Cape Town to Canada.
I remember hours spent pricking watermelon skin for konfyt, the thought of the syrupy treat giving me extra strength to stab just a  little bit harder
The stinky smell of my grandfathers tripe, and the fun of collecting those long forgotten
periwinkles from the rocks, boiling them and using a needle to coax them from their shells-so tiny.
If my grandmother wasn't cooking, I wouldn't eat.
When we traveled by car, at roadhouse pit stops, it would be milkshake and buttered toast for me with tennis biscuits in between.
Mostly we traveled by ship, my grandmother said she was afraid to fly, she was a clever lady......
I would sit in the grand dinning rooms with them, reading the long menus and order milkshake with buttered toast with treats from ' high tea' in between
I know my grandmothers cooking must have been good  to have sustained me, made with love and the knowledge of the generations of cooks before her- food that nourishes a child's soul.
My tears were because in this busy life, I had forgotten her and her gift- so this Sunday I made Tomato Bredie for my family, remembering her as I cooked.