Category: this is south africa

Potjie Club

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The first rule of Potjie Club is that there are no rules.

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Here’s the potjie that I’m currently making. (Yes, it’s posing for the photo, not actually being used yet.)
It’s got beef, chicken, stock, Hendo’s, a splash of brandy, some Milk  Stout, seventeen different sorts of vegetables and eleven types of herbs and spices in it. Ish.
None of these ingredients are measured in any way: there are no rules in Potjie Club. You just chuck in what you want, however much seems right, just like my Great Aunt used to do with her much ridiculed floury fudge.

The product of my creativity this evening is yet to be tested, but my track record and selection of quality ingredients suggest that is going to be fairly awesome. Hashtag HumbleBrag.

(Over?) Friendly Courier Guy

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It’s decorating time chez nous and new light fittings for the living room are the order of the day. While we managed to source one locally, the other had to be bought online from a company in Boksburg, way up North. No issues though, because they swiftly and efficiently arranged for the fitting to be shipped down to us and the whole thing – from order to delivery – was completed in a very impressive 48 hours.

That delivery guy though. He was friendly. VERY friendly. Tactile, even. It all seemed a little uncomfortable at the time, but it was only when I looked the waybill again last night that I finally understood:

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Check out that tagline: it’s all part of the service. He was just doing his job.

And I have to say that he was doing it well, too. Given the large and somewhat unwieldy nature of my package, he handled it beautifully. It was treated with great care and careful attention and appears to have come through the whole process completely unscathed. Everyone gathered round the dining room table and they were all very impressed when it was unwrapped so that they could check it out.

I’m obviously looking forward to getting it up this weekend, once I’ve given it a quick polish.

30 Seconds To Mars Postpone SA Tour

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Incoming from Computicket:

30 Seconds To Mars @ Grand Arena, Grand West is POSTPONED to 23/11/14 @20:00
USE SAME tickets for NEW DATE or REFUND @ Computicket till 23/10.
Info: 08619158000

More as we get it…

News24 reports that it is because of a “private medical issue”.

There’s nothing on the band’s page about this yet. The Cape Town concert was to be the opening of a 69 concert tour, taking in Europe, North and South America. That tour was due to end on October 24th. It’s not yet clear how many of these concerts will be postponed as well.

Jason Hayden Cape Town storm pic is wow

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There were thousands of tweets and much general sharing and admiration of a photo, apparently taken by one Jason Hayden, of the storm which hit Cape Town early on Saturday morning and woke up all the children in the city by about 5:30am.

[EDIT: Nov 17 2017 But then, suddenly  3½ years after I wrote this post, Jason got in touch, angrily demanding that I tell him where I had got the photo from (the hint’s in the first line of the post, mate) and objecting to my sharing it, so here it isn’t:

 

[nowt]

 

 

Ugh.]

 

What followed for anything south of Hospital Bend was a day of high winds, heavy rain and general seeking of shelter, blankets and red wine.

If you’ve checked the forecast for this week, we’re going to do it all again on Wednesday!

Things were much quieter this Monday morning, so while we’re doing a blog post of borrowed photos, how about this one from the new Kirstenbosch Treetop Canopy Walkway – “the Boomslang”?

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Two very different mornings in Cape Town.

Photo credits: not Jason Hayden & Adam Harrower via twitterttp://