Down at the cottage. Braai. Beer. Beautiful evening.
I need to braai. And Spotify is doing its thing. So please allow me to share some Kae Tempest with you.
Delicious.
We’re onto Working Men’s Club and my fifteenth Milk Stout now, so I’d better get on with the cooking.
More. Tomorrow.
It does rather look like South Africa is cementing itself on the wrong side of the whole Russia/Ukraine thing. For clarity, I am aware that there are many different viewpoints on the conflict, but I’m using the term “the wrong side” because the side SA is landing on is not the side that I agree with, and when I look at the people who do agree with it (Tinfoilers, Republicans, Trumpies, Racists, Tankies, Antivaxxers, and “Tyranny” users), then I am wholly convinced that I am on the right side.
SA is making sure that they end up on the other side – the wrong side. And they’re about to help make history for all the wrong reasons by hosting the Russian Navy (and the Chinese Navy) while Russia attempts to launch the first ever hypersonic missile:
The Zircon, sometimes translated as Tsirkon, is a hypersonic missile, a class being furiously developed by China, France, and the United States among others. With speeds that Russia claims can hit Mach 9, the weapon could be effectively unstoppable if correctly deployed…
Not good.
I have to break off here and wonder if Business Insider is actually a serious news source though, with lines like this:
That sounds like an unfunny line from this blog. (An oxymoron, I know.)
How far can a Zirkon/Tsirkon go?
If the claimed range of the Zirkon is accurate, such a capital ship could be destroyed by an enemy as far away as Durban is from Cape Town.
To be fair, if it were launched from Cape Town and it hit Durban (it would take less than 7 minutes to get there), it might tidy the place up a bit.
But look, this is serious business, and it’s not great, but we’re not alone in our (soon to be more than) tacit support of Putin:
And I recognise the history and imperialism, but I really don’t see the difference between that and the current stealthy colonisation of Africa by China and Russia.
If the joint exercise were in Cape waters, I’d be there waving my Ukrainian flag. But it’s in Durban, and don’t want to get sick, so I’m feeling ashamed from a distance instead.
With apologies to Faithless.
I’m hopeless without sleep.
One night without sleep is unpleasant, but I can handle it.
Two consecutive nights without sleep finishes me. And I can confidently state this, because this morning, after two consecutive nights of no sleep, I am finished.
Ironically, we watched a documentary last night on insomnia, so now I am finished and I know the scientific reasoning why.
I could have gone to bed early last night, and it probably would have been a good idea, but United were beating Wrexham in the FA Cup and so I had to stay up. And even having allowed a sufficient amount of time to allow the adrenaline to exit my system (or so I thought), I couldn’t get to sleep, and when I finally did, I couldn’t stay asleep.
Today will be rubbish, but at least there will be several (or more) hours of good sleep tonight.
There simply has to be.
Some intriguing developments today after the truly awful news that broke last week.
Firstly, this from local food manufacturer, NOMU.
Now, the fact that they’ve gone down the “Don’t Panic” route, when all the real mayo lovers are absolutely – and justifiably – panicking, does tend to suggest that their upcoming product is intended to replace Hellmann’s. And that’s no mean feat, because while there are many mayos [mayoes?] out there, South Africa wouldn’t be panicking if they were all as good as Hellmann’s.
So in order to “replace” Hellman’s, this needs to taste like Hellman’s. Clearly, it’s not quite ready yet, but when it is… well, the proof of the pudding… as they say.
But why wait for a local company to make some replacement mayo? Why not do it yourself with this recipe from local Digital Food Influencer (?!?), Sam Linsell?
One can never copy a product that is mass-produced like Hellmann’s exactly but what one can make is something that is more real and even better than Hellmann’s.
“Even better than Hellmann’s”…?
Wow. That’s big talk. Let’s read on.
It actually seems fairly simple, albeit with occasional lines like:
When you have established that you have the right stick blender…
I’m beginning to think that maybe I’m not the target audience here. I mean, how many stick blenders does the average person have?
And there are several important “do do this” and “but don’t do this” bits. But I reckon it’s worth a try.
Problem is, we don’t have a kitchen at the moment (and only one stick blender), so this would be a terrible time for me to attempt to follow this recipe, but when I have the time (and the means), I’m going to give it a go.
Updates to follow.
We all know about this one.
But very few people know about Cape Town’s other castle, near the waterfront.
This one:
I spotted this Fisher Price Play Family Castle while I was wandering around the canal district near the bottom of Buitengracht. Apparently, it’s been there for a while (although probably not since 1679), and guards the entrance to the Waterfront. However, parts of it were looking a little worse for wear: the drawbridge was missing and at least one of the turrets needed a paint job when I was there.
This sort of specialised restoration work is difficult, and I can understand why it can take time to find the perfect contractor who can recondition the building sympathetically.
And otherwise, things were ok: the roof was intact and the Somali flag was flying proudly from the highest tower. This second castle is yet another big attraction in the Mother City, and further explains why we simply don’t need to market our country as a potential tourist destination.
People will read blog posts like this and just want to come and see for themselves.