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Monday, December 29, 2008
Reviving the dining room
The dining room in the house in Constantia has been taken over by my father and turned into an office larger than the study which was designed for the purpose. The heavy stinkwood table and yellow wood riempie chairs have become repositories for piles of legal briefs and bristling stacks of sharp pencils, as well as a special cushion for his white cat Spook.
For the small, family Christmas dinner this year we banished the books and returned the room to itself. Flowers from the garden and lots of candles, the old Waterford crystal hauled out for its annual airing, the silver unwrapped and placed on clean white damask.
Absurd, perhaps in the light of photographs in the newspaper, bombings and burnings, cholera and Gaza...
For the small, family Christmas dinner this year we banished the books and returned the room to itself. Flowers from the garden and lots of candles, the old Waterford crystal hauled out for its annual airing, the silver unwrapped and placed on clean white damask.
Absurd, perhaps in the light of photographs in the newspaper, bombings and burnings, cholera and Gaza...
Roses, nicotiana, jasmine, fuchsia, night-scented gnidia, purple heliotrope, agapanthus, and light.
Green asparagus veloute in Woodstock custard glasses
Prawn and mushroom gratin
Nigel Slater's roast leg of lamb with potatoes
Nigella's lamb shoulder with pomegranate
Peas and asparagus
Passion fruit mousse
Chocolate profiteroles
Champagne to start - Piper Heidsieck, NV
Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon, 1999
Below, earlier in the day, my mom preparing retro scallop shells with mushrooms and prawns to be placed under the broiler and gratinated with a vermouth sauce...
Labels:
Cape Town,
Food,
Seasons without and within,
South Africa
Picnic at the beach: Bokramstrand
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On days following a storm piles of kelp may be washed up on shore and the little kelp flies and decaying seaweed smell keep one away. But after the kelp has dried or washed back out to sea the striped shades of turquoise and azure, caused by various shallows and deeps close to shore, are unsurpassed by any other, I think, around this lovely coast. A 25 minute or so drive from home, it is not the closest beach, but one of the emptiest, and a frequent picnic site.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Tree tomatoes
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The wonderful family Solanaceae brings us the tree tomato, growing in my mom's herb garden, bought as a one gallon plant about ten years ago and now heavy with fruit every year.
Cyphomandra betacea.
Yum.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Bread
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Labels:
Cape Town,
Food,
Seasons without and within
Hout Bay Dog Party
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It is also true that I can't throw a ball into the waves for Estorbo to fetch. And these dogs are most obliging and a lot of fun. Maggie chases the ball like a little low slung rocket. Ben the black lab leaps deep into the water to retrieve, and Ted supervises from a safe distance. I don't think Ted has ever picked up a ball.
There will be a separate post about poop-scooping. It warrants one. Another reason I prefer cats.
Happy Christmas!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Brigitte
A box arrived at work a week ago, just before I left for SA, from Beloeil, Quebec, where my sister-, mother- and nephew-in-law live. Inside it were some very pretty and unexpected presents...And at the bottom lay a long flat book, which I imagined to be an album. As I unwrapped it I saw a picture of a rose on the cover. Hm. That looks familar, I thought, that's one of my Abraham Darby's...and that's my photo!
I opened the covers and could not believe what I was seeing. Brigitte had made a book about 66 Square Feet, with the help of her Mac's software, and had had it beautifully bound. Software is one thing and wonderful, and now I want a Mac, but what it can't do is impart taste, or do it in its own time. The photo's and layout with occasional quotes from posts are so thoughtful and done with such a discerning eye that I believe Ms Mounier should consider a new career in publishing.
A husbandly hand looking through the pages...
Thank you, Brigitte. You have collected my flowers, food, cat, and memories, and made them last forever, beautifully.
I opened the covers and could not believe what I was seeing. Brigitte had made a book about 66 Square Feet, with the help of her Mac's software, and had had it beautifully bound. Software is one thing and wonderful, and now I want a Mac, but what it can't do is impart taste, or do it in its own time. The photo's and layout with occasional quotes from posts are so thoughtful and done with such a discerning eye that I believe Ms Mounier should consider a new career in publishing.
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And that about sums it up.
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Labels:
66 Square Feet: the terrace
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Roses in spite of everything
There is a house up the road, here in the cul de sac in Constantia, recently renovated by its refugee owners from Johannesburg, and omsingeled by a new 8 foot stone, brick, mortar and electric wire wall. The house has a name, stuck onto the wall in big brass capitals.
ENGLISH ROSE.
Ag no, man. Maybe it's a joke. Maybe they forgot the word NOT, after the rose...As dit is wat julle will he moet julle verder trek.
We can't see any roses through their parallel wood-barred gate. I see a lot of pink gaura. Texan native. The owners told the builders who made the wall that snakes would soon be introduced to the garden. Night snakes, day snakes, and, especially, wall climbing snakes.
There are some grass snakes in my mother's garden, and there are some roses. There is no wall. Above, the 8 foot tall David Austin rose, Graham Thomas.
Below, Rosa "Sharifa", with cat. The rose has a famously strong scent, but I find it no more lovely than Abraham Darby's...
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Labels:
Cape Town,
Flora,
South Africa
Monday, December 22, 2008
Flowers
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before the sun has risen enough to warrant the awning being extended to shade the hot bricks beneath.
Labels:
Cape Town,
Flora,
South Africa
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