Probably the most accurate cartoon I’ve seen in a while:
Rice (as described in this ancient legend) seems to have the power to be increase exponentially – even (especially?) when cooking it to go with your chili con carne. The above scene has been repeated in my kitchen time and time again.
I never learn.
More true to life observations from I AM ARG! here.
UPDATE: Eggs. Yes, same issue.
Mrs 6000 is lucky enough to work in an amazing old building in a posh suburb of Cape Town. Not only is the building amazing, but it has a huge and beautiful garden as well. The garden has peacocks and our kids love to feed them.
Recently, while we were searching for peacocks to feed (this is actually harder than you might imagine), I found this stone plaque hidden in the undergrowth right at the end of the huge lawn:
It’s a poem called My Garden and I recognised it (yes, even before I saw his name at the bottom) as being by T.E. Brown – the famous Manx poet:
A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Ferned grot–
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not.
Not God! In gardens! When the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign;
‘Tis very sure God walks in mine.
My Auntie Belle used to have this same poem framed just above her rocking chair in her cottage in Grenaby – she too was a keen gardener. Evidently, she had a helping hand from up above, if Mr Brown was is to be believed.
Not much more to add here, save for the fact that it’s rather nice that Manx culture has permeated this far south.
For those who wish to read more, his collected works are online here.
After trying the exquisite pairing menu at Gabrielskloof (covered adequately, if not exhaustively here) last week, I’m suddenly the world expert in pairing things.
So far, I have paired a steak and some chips – which may seem rather unoriginal, but was nevertheless entirely successful – and then, in a fit of wild and daring experimentation over the weekend, I paired some Black Label with some more Black Label. Repeatedly.
It went surprisingly well. As far as I can remember, anyway.
Then, last night, the pièce de résistance as I paired some Lindt and Sprungli Chili Chocolate with some Louiesenhof Marbonne Brandy.
At first sight, this might appear to some to be nothing more than a thinly-veiled excuse to eat chocolate and drink brandy, and those individuals wouldn’t actually be far wrong. But what an unexpected and serendipitous revelation.
Suddenly, the steak and chips thing and the Black Label and Black Label thing paled into near insignificance.
This was unequivocally my third and best pairing to date. The tastes complimented each other perfectly, mingling pleasantly before producing something almost akin to a citrus burst upon my palate. I’m no culinary expert, but I’d hazard a rough guess that it was the mixture of chocolate and brandy which gave this result, based mainly on them being the only two things present on or near my palate at that particular moment.
Approaching this scientifically, I have decided to further pursue this research by testing the blend again this weekend: reproducibility being the cornerstone of any solid scientific result. It’s probably also worth checking out the components individually (especially the brandy) as well, right?
This “pairing” thing may well become a recurring theme on the blog. After all, food is ever so cool right now. Sadly though, the chili chocolate and really good brandy thing was just so good that there’s part of me that thinks that I’ve probably peaked too early (again) and future pairings just won’t match up to this one.
I will keep looking though.
Yes. Really.
Herewith the photography of Daniel Naudé, who currently has an exhibition on at the Stevenson Gallery in Cape Town. Naudé has been taking photographs of cattle in Uganda, Madagascar and India, and some of the images are astounding.
These guys are my favourites: Ankole cattle from Nyabushozi in Uganda.
In the days before Christianity arrived in this part of Africa, the Bahima people made offerings of milk to herdsman gods, and their language has many names for cattle that describe their characteristics. Even now, the keepers of these animals live pastoral lives, their culture deeply rooted in these cattle. The survival of the Ankole is at the heart of cultural and economic debates about indigenous African values and symbolism versus a Western emphasis on commercial concerns.
For this and much more fascinating information on the subject of sacred cattle, plus many more fantastic images, have a look at the gallery page, which also has opening times for the exhibition, which is on in Woodstock until 26th May.
The Afrikaner press has caught up with superbug crisis:
As a microbiologist, I really should have told you about this ages and ages ago.
Oh, wait… I did.
Maybe I should have told you in Afrikaans.
Sorry, bit of an oversight on my part there. Here you go: Ons is almal gaan sterf.
Better now?