I still haven't sorted his bench out....

It is coming up to two years since Dad died. I promised him a bench, looking out to somewhere nice, and I still haven't sorted it out. I've made some half hearted attempts to find out how one goes about organising these things, but there isn't much info out there.

A month or so ago, I had another google and I think that you just buy the bench and memorial plaque and then check with the local authority that it is ok to place it somewhere. There are some rules about how it must be fixed. So I think the start point is to choose a place, get permission and go ahead.

So I was just reading back on the blog of Dad's last days.... bit stupid really as I got myself a bit upset. Anyway I realised that I forgot to mention how, on the Wednesday that he died, Mum came in to his room at about 6am and he looked at her and mouthed "Good Morning". That was pretty much the last time he communicated with anybody.

Mum is in hospital at the moment. She fell and cracked a bone in her pelvis whilst crossing the road last Wednesday. For somebody whose mobility is already limited by her osteoarthritis, this is the last thing she needs. She's now in a rehab unit learning to walk and transfer from bed to chair and back. Not good. But she's battling on and I hope that she gets full mobility and independence back. Knowing mum, she'll be worried that she doesn't. Oh, and she HATES the hospital food.

Sri Lanka Blog

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jan-and-Roy/

Our trip to Sri Lanka is posted on travelblog.......

Back to the '80's

Quick update - we decided not to do Yala park. Didn't want to take the chance on not having insurance cover.... having had to use insurance in the past!

Check out Duran Duran's Save a Prayer video. Not only is it a damn good song, but the video was filmed on Sri Lanka. See that big rock? I'll be walking up there a week tomorrow. Yup, all 700 steps. Wish me luck.............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCD4rtcOgHE

Post cognitive dissonance

As ever, immediately after booking a trip, I've become fraught with anxiety about whether I've put the perfect itinerary together. Have I made ALL the right decisions?

Here's the dilemma this time:
We were offered a two night stay in Yala National Park, camping - albeit in a "luxury" tent.
http://www.srilankaecotourism.com/camping_Leopard_Safari_in_Yala.htm
At first we were all for it, and then I got some advice on Tripadvisor from a guy who told me that the Foreign Office have advised against all travel to Yala. This in itself did not put me off - I think there were isolated incidents on the eastern fringe of the (huge) park some years ago - however, while that advice is on the FO website, we will not be covered by our travel insurance if we go in to the Park.

British travel companies have taken Yala out of their brochures for now, but Red Dot continue to offer the camping trip as an option. I asked Ayanthi at Red Dot to take this section of the trip out and put us an extra two nights on the beach.

Now I am tormented - was this the right decision? Yes - absolutely in terms of following advice and keeping insurance cover. No - not if we want to chance to stay in a beautiful setting and see leopard. We've never seen leopard in our safaris in Africa.

Now, IF I can convince Roy to lose two nights of the beach stay, then we could always ask Ayanthi to put Yala back in. Just mentioned it to him but he doesn't seem fussed.... hmmmm... not even the lure of leopard has him this time. Strangely, when we were first looking at the trip he wanted to leave Yala in, it was me who was being cautious........

At last! March trip is booked....

Zanzibar and Ceylon were two places that conjured up exotic and exciting images whenever I read or heard about them as a child. I never actually believed that one day I'd see either of them - the furthest I travelled as a kid was inside the UK.

Zanzibar was one of our honeymoon destinations and we loved every second of it.
We knew that we wanted to visit Sri Lanka and this year seemed like the perfect time to do so - outside of the euro zone, not US dollars - in light of our weakening pound, we've had our eyes on Asia or South Africa for our travels in 2009. We've planned to travel in March and November. I've been procrastinating over our March trip for months now. Once I started to research Sri Lanka it became apparent that this was a big island and with a lot to see and do. It seemed unrealistic to try to "do it all" in one trip and that's where the real research kicked in - where to go, where to stay, who to travel with... etc. etc. There are SEVEN Unesco World Heritage sites in Sri Lanka! I've planned that we'll get to see 5 (maybe 6) of them.

We finally decided on Red Dot Tours, a UK owned Colombo based agent. I also had quotes from Kuoni, but I have to say that the travel consultant there could not have seemed less interested about our trip if he tried! Prices were about the same for the itinerary we eventually decided on. Kuoni were trying to flog me a "standard" tour which on the face of it looked fine and was certainly great value. But when I phoned to ask about a private tour and particular hotels I was met with a grudging acceptance that yes, they could tailor make our trip. The guy tried to fob me off with "We don't do that hotel" for a couple of my choices, but when I pushed back on this he finally managed to come up with a new quote. Maybe I pushed him over the edge yesterday when asking for my tenth (and final) price for our tweaked itinerary. I just wanted to sense check the price that Red Dot had given....

So, here is the outline of our trip:

We fly Emirates out of Manchester on Friday 13th (yes, I know!) March. We arrive in Colombo at 8.30am the following day and will be picked up by our driver/guide and taken to:
http://www.reddottours.com/Accommodation/Hotel/hotel.php?code=CulturalTriangle-VilUyana

After four nights here we travel to Kandy, to stay overnight at:
http://www.thekandyhouse.com/

And then we move on to the Hill Country, to stay for three nights in:
http://www.teatrails.com/
This one looks special - it is our extravagance for the trip!

On to the coast, we're staying in two beach hotels - the first on the South Coast, for five nights:
http://www.thefortress.lk/

And then two nights further up the West Coast, and getting us a bit nearer to the airport (2 hours drive!):
http://www.samanvilla.com/

And then we fly home on 29th March. Arriving back at 7pm.....

The research to find the hotels was extensive! Tripadvisor, Fodors, Red Dot's website (which is very good), and various travel blogs that I stumbled across. Oh and the Rough Guide to Sri Lanka book.

https://www.reddottours.com

We've an outline for the things that we want to see - some of them are built in to the itinerary that Red Dot have put together. But next I need to finish my research and have a plan for the other things we can do whilst in Sri Lanka. If it were up to Roy we'd just go and take it all as it comes and decide what to do once there, but in my opinion, that isn't the best way to take a trip.....

If only....

If only I'd known that Your Greatest Guide to Calories, 1990 edition, was now worth £10!

If only I'd kept all my old diet books.

If only I had time to faff around trying to sell old crap on ebay.

I was googling around today for a calorie counter book - I can't believe that after a lifetime of trying to control my weight I actually do not possess one of these! I thought that my old favourite - Greatest Guide to Calories - might still be in publication (although I failed to find one in Tesco yesterday) and when I googled found only "antique" versions of it for sale on ebay and elsewhere. Interestingly the 2006 version is only worth £1.99.

So I'm currently considering the latest versions of calorie books and deciding which one to order. Why? I'll tell that story some other time. I have to laugh when I look at the various guides from years gone by - they started out life as Calorie Counters, then Fat started to become important and they began to include this info, too. Now it's Calories, Fat and Carbs. Tells a good story of diet history. Today's version is, by the way, called the Calories, Carb and Fat Bible. I have to laugh at the Bible bit.... dieting is the new religion??? Well maybe not so new, I guess...

I'm a walking case story of diet history. It all started back in the 70's when I left school. My first day at work, the department Manager, Tony Greenhalgh, took me to one side for a chat. Amongst the general "welcome to Royal Insurance" blurble, he mentioned that I was a nice slim young girl and that I'd probably been involved in sports at school. He was right, I'd played netball for the school and generally didn't mind getting stuck in to all the PE sessions we did. Hockey being my least favourite (a winter sport) and Netball and Athletics being the ones I really liked. He commented that making the transition from active schoolgirl to sitting at a desk all day was quite a big one and he recommended that I join a sports group at work. We had a staff sports facility (and bar) and in his opinion, it would be good to get involved in things like that. Otherwise, I might start to put weight on. He'd seen it happen before. I remember mentally rolling my eyes at this - Tony Greenhalgh was a big fat, ever so slightly sleazy looking guy in his 40's. What would he know about it?

So, I dismissed his advice and the nearest I ever got to the staff sports hall in the 15 years I worked at Royal was the bar. Now that I did like!

Slowly but surely I started to gain weight. By the time that I was 18 I was starting to feel fat, although I'm sure I wasn't really. So I looked at the diets in the Vogue Body & Beauty Book (also on sale from ebay for about a fiver) and the Cosmopolitan Health and Beauty Guide. I'd orginally bought these books because I was interested in make up and hair and skincare and stuff, but they had very interesting diet sections.

My diet of choice was the Helena Rubinstein "crash off 10lbs in one week" diet. Originally devised by Madame Rubinstein in 1938. The menu was more or less similar each day and was:
Breakfast - half a grapefruit and black coffee
Lunch - 1 egg, 1 slice melba toast, 1 orange
Dinner - grilled steak, lettuce, tomato, half a grapefruit

Occasionally, dinner would be eggs instead of steak.

I still have my copy of the book - pencilled in next to the daily menus, you can see my scribbles where I've "cheated". Stick of chewing gum, mushrooms and onion with the steak, ryvita instead of melba toast (which was quite a hard to find exotic food stuff back in those days in the UK!). Oh and I also had some Fresca (diet drinks had launched in the mid-70's) and a splodge of salad cream one day.

I can't remember the results I got after that week, but I can remember how bloody hungry I was all the time and how I got sick of steak. And it was the beginning of my descent into diet hell and a lifelong battle with my weight. How wise Tony Greenhalgh turned out to be - I should have just joined that staff sports club instead.

If only......

Another year over, a new one just begun.....

Quick update on Christmas. Well, we had a nice time. Nice as in nice, not as in boring.


My roast beef Christmas lunch went very well. At the very last minute I found a meat thermometer for sale in Sainsburys so was feeling pretty confident of success with my first ever attempt at roasting a joint of meat. However, in retrospect, I feel that what I should have purchased is an oven thermometer! That damn oven of mine is SO hot! At about 45 minutes before the recommended cooking time for "medium" beef, I stuck the thermometer in to see how it was doing. "That looks done" Roy announced as he passed through the kitchen for another bottle of wine. I shushed him and told him to wait to see what the thermometer said. I was quite alarmed to see the temperature reading going up and up and up.... yes, it was done. Well done - not medium. Luckily I was able to whip it out of the oven then, while it was done but perfectly moist and not over cooked. I'll know better next time. Before and after pics are here...







Spuds with semolina? Yeah they were good. But I think they'd have been good in any case - no real need for the semolina, I don't think. That said, given that I have a huge tub of semolina (Had to buy a 3kg bag last summer just to get one tablespoon out for a crabcake recipe!) then I might as well find ways of using it up.....


New Years Eve was ok. We stayed in, ate party food and drank lots of fizz at Gary and Renee's place. Emma and Jan were there too. Roy and I left shortly after 1am - we phoned a cab thinking it would be ages before it turned up and it arrived within 10 minutes!


So here I am sitting here pondering the year ahead and feeling quite overwhelmed at the things I need to do (or want to do) and haven't yet started on. Which, of course, is the perfect excuse to procrastinate on them and not get on with it.


We're going out somewhere tomorrow. Don't know where. But just out.

What would Auntie Alice think?

My Christmas lunch menu this year is:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Smoked Salmon Mousse, Smoked Salmon, Soda Bread, Salad

Roast rib of Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Stilton & Port Gravy
Roast Potatoes, Sprouts with Pancetta & Chestnuts, Mustard & Maple Roast Parsnips, Carrot & Swede Mash, Horseradish Sauce

Christmas Pudding & Cream or Brandy Sauce

Coffee, Liquers & Chocolates
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We decided to have a change from Turkey and all the trimmings. I have to confess to several things. First, I've never cooked a joint of beef before. And the one I bought is HUGE. 8lbs or more. Might not seem big to some, but for me, it's approximately 16 times bigger than the only beef I've ever cooked (steak). So, I'm seriously thinking of investing in a meat thermometer. Otherwise I'll just ruin the thing by constantly opening the oven and poking it with a huge knife.
According to Nigella (and indeed, St Delia) this size joint is going to take about 3 hours to cook, for medium. I can't cook it rare, as the in laws won't like that.

Actually, now I think of it, I've never cooked Yorkshire Puddings either, but I'll have two Mum's on hand to assist with that. Although you couldn't get two more different Yorkshire Puds than mine and Roy's mums. My mum's is cooked in a roasting pan, huge and shall we say solid in the middle. The edges rise up the pan and become light and crispy - but the centre section is like a stodgy, centimetre thick pancake (possibly like a Toad in the Hole without the Toad). Roy's mums are cooked in a bun tray, and light as a feather. I like both types - I was brought up on the stodgy version but have to admire the skill of my mother in law in making hers so light. Apparently, the secret was to let my father in law and all of their 4 sons have a good old whisk of the batter!

Second confession - many of the items on the menu will be shop bought. The smoked salmon mousse, soda bread, Carrot & Swede mash, oh - and the Christmas pudding will all be courtesy of Messrs Marks & Spencer, or Tesco.

And third, and possibly most sinful decision for this Christmas is that I am going to try sprinkling my roast potatoes with Semolina for added crunch. Now this, I have resisted for years - ever since I came across Nigella's recommendation of this method. I've transitioned from lard to olive oil to vegetable oil to goose fat over the years. In fact, I've even made no-fat roasties - that would be 1995-1997 when I was fanatical about eating less than 30% of my calorie intake as fat. But, it has to be said, the knack making of perfect roasties is a family thing that I like to think I inherited! It was taught to me by my mum, long before I ever heard of Delia or Nigella, and passed on to her by her Auntie Alice. Auntie Al was my Great Uncle Joe's wife, who sadly died very young (in her early 50's) when I was maybe 5 or 6. I remember her - but vaguely. I recall being fascinated by her as she had a jewelry collection (unusual in my family) and I think she was offering me to choose a ring - just to try on. Must ask Mum about that.

To digress from the roast potato, when she died, Uncle Joe (who my mum was really close to) gave Mum one of Alice's rings - a heavy gold Mizpah ring. I used to wear it when I was in my 20's and took it on holiday to Spain once. I managed to lose it - it came off my finger whilst I was playing in crashing waves...... Mum was not too pleased but I don't think she ever told Uncle Joe.

Anyway, back to potatoes. Mum had learned this method from her Auntie Alice and while I was growing up I knew that wherever I ate roast dinner, the spuds were NEVER as good as my Mum's. Never. So, once I moved out of home I asked her to show me how to make them (you can tell I never helped much in the kitchen when I was at home) and she did. Telling me how she'd got the method not from her Mum but from Auntie Alice. I mean, it's no big secret, and I've since read Delia who advocates pretty much the same method, but there is a lot to be said about the end result when you make your roasties this way.

Boil the potatoes (you should cut some of them lengthways if possible so that you get some nice flat sides and not just all round potatoes) in salted water.
At the same time (or preferably before) you should get your fat heating in a hot oven.

After a while, when a sharp knife just eases in to the top centimetre of the potato, drain them and stick a lid on the pan. Take a tea towel and hold the lid onto the pan and shake it vigourously, in various directions, so as to bash and roughen the edges of the potatoes - this is what gives you the crunchy exterior.

Take the fat out of the oven and tip in the potatoes from the pan, taking care to stand back and avoid splashes! Take a big spoon and baste each spud with fat. Stick them back in to the oven (on about 200) and leave them until the bottoms have gone gold-brown. Turn them, baste again and leave again. About 10 minutes before the end of cooking, tip out most of the fat - again this helps with crunchiness. I can't give precise times, the trick is to know when they are brown enough. I usually allow about 40 minutes in the oven.

So - if my potatoes are perfect - why the semolina? Well, for years I pooh poohed the goose fat trend, and then when I finally tried it, was impressed with the difference. So, having scorned the semolina idea - in my view you should not need it for crunch, if you make the potatoes properly - I do want to experiment with it.... just to prove myself right, I guess. And if I was wrong all along, well - to improve on perfection will be no big heartache for me.

As a caution, I think I'll make two trays of potatoes - one with and one without semolina. Although with a HUGE joint that is going to take hours to roast, I may not have space in the oven for all these things! Wish me luck. I will report my findings.....

Food Blog fan #1

I've been collecting food blog links for a little while now (I guess they replaced my Cancer Website collection last year). I LOVE to read people's descriptions of the food that they cook, eat or grow... and even more so when food porn photos are involved. There are some stunning food blogs out there - in fact, they have competitions and all sorts of things that I don't really understand, but they get mentioned occasionally.

One thing I've noticed is that whenever a food blogger (and most of the sites I've seen are by women) posts a photograph of themselves up, they are invariably very slim. How?? Maybe they never eat the stuff they cook? Maybe they have incredible will power and self control. I don't know, but it fascinates me. Maybe one day I'll learn the secret.................

Evil Green & Blacks.....

I mentioned my new G&B chocolate cookbook recently. Kate - who is Joe the lodger's girlfriend - was here last night and mentioned that she loves flapjacks. She also likes chocolate (strange is the woman who doesn't!). So I grabbed the book off the shelf and pointed at the picture above the Chocolate Flapjack recipe. "You'd like them, then" I said (trying to contain my excitement for I knew I had all the ingredients in stock). "Ooh yes they look all squidgy and yummy" says Kate (or words to that effect).

So, tonight, after dinner (Kate was here again, more on that another time, she is now our second lodger) I wandered into the kitchen to clear up. And make flapjacks. Now, I've only ever made "healthy low fat flapjacks" before and to be honest they're a waste of time - they pretty much crumbled as soon as they came out of the tray. So this time, I meant business - I mean, 350g of butter?? This is most definitely NOT a healthy recipe. But it is so easy.

Melt 350g of butter with 6oz muscovado sugar and 60z soft brown sugar in a pan along with 3 tbsps of golden syrup. (Actually I only had 150g of butter and so made up the balance with Flora Buttery - my nod to healthy eating). Once they are all melted and combined, throw in 450g of oats (I used 200g of extra special large oats, that I buy in to make Granola and 250g of regular Scotts porridge oats) and 6 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Green & Blacks, naturally. Mix it all well and then pour into a baking tray - I lined mine with greaseproof paper to avoid knife marks when cutting. Bake at 140 for 18-20 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes. Cut into about 20 squares. Wait until completely cold until removing from tray. This last bit is difficult... you just want to dive in and eat them, but they fall to pieces until completely cooled. I put mine into the garage to speed up the cooling process...... There is, I have discovered, no instant gratification to be had when making flapjacks. Not even a trace of cake batter to feast on whilst waiting for the finished baked item.

A modification suggested in the book is to add dessicated coconut and I'd have loved to, but Joe the lodger is allergic to coconut and so I decided it would be mean to make a tray of flapjacks that he couldn't eat. This boy, on arriving here in October, told me he didn't really have a sweet tooth - interesting then that he has wolfed down every sugar laden treat I've cooked up since then!!!

So, we finally got to taste these flapjacks at about 9pm. Roy declared them to be "Stunning, better than the muffins". Kate said "oh yes they were all soft inside" (she must like this in a flapjack. I liked them too. Oh Evil Green & Blacks, what have you done to me!

I said to my sister by text tonight that since Joe arrived I'm turning into Aunt Flipping Bessie! She replied that I love it really. And I think I do!

Oh, I will try to put up a pic of the flapjacks tomorrow....

The wonders of baking

One of my favourite things in the whole world (well the world of food) is a Millie's Muffin.
http://www.milliescookies.com/products/muffins.php
The Chocolate Chunk version, to be precise. I've occasionally strayed and bought Cappucino, but the Chocolate Chunk remains my preference. It has become a tradition, when travelling, for Roy and I to celebrate the start of our holiday with a Millie's Muffin and coffee at the airport. They're £1.89 each now. I can remember the time (around 5 years ago) when you could get a Muffin and a coffee for £1.10 as a special promotion. Actually when trawling that website for information, I noticed that the calorie content of these muffins is HORRENDOUS! No wonder I never want to eat anything else all day when I've had one. They come in at around 760 calories! I am pleased to say that the Chocolate Chunk is not quite the highest calorie version - that honour goes to the Double Chocolate at a whopping 780 calories. I wish I'd never looked....

After dinner this evening, I mentioned to Roy that I had an urge to make White Chocolate & Blueberry muffins. This is a recipe I tested, and loved, when my niece Emily was staying with us last summer. In fact, it's about the closest in texture to a Millie's muffin that I've ever baked. It's that fantastic combination of crusty top and soft interior that I like. Of course, my baking urge was in part due to the niggling in my brain telling me "you still have one more bar of Green & Blacks in the fridge". Needless to say, the two bars of Butterscotch had well disappeared, but the white chocolate was sitting there, waiting to be used. I'd originally earmarked it for a duo of chocolate pots (recipe from the G&B book) but then the muffin idea took hold.

It is amazing how quickly you can conjure up a batch of 14 muffins! I got the urge just after 7pm and before 8, there they were - ready to eat, still slightly warm from the oven. And they were as good as I remembered. The only problem is that the top goes soft over night - you just can't retain that fresh from the oven crust. But still pretty good the next day. And the day after that......

Baking is magical.. I know it's a science and so on, but it never ceases to amaze me how people figured it all out... how the combination of some wet and dry stuff can produce instant comfort on a plate.

Sunday 9th November

No idea what to call this blog, so have just dated it.

It is a miserable, cold, windy and rainy day - so the walk to Temple Newsam did not happen. Instead I pottered around at home. My one achievement? Making dumplings for the first time ever! I did a beef stew and dumplings for dinner. Thanks to Jamie Oliver - I followed (more or less) the recipe from Ministry of Food. I actually have purchased this book as one of Roy's Christmas presents but on leafing through it realised that in all my 40-odd years, I have never made dumplings and the recipe was there, so....

They were pretty easy actually and turned out well. As did the stew.

I also found a huge butternut squash in the garage and because I could not recall exactly how long it had been there (it looked ok) I decided to roast it and then I stood pondering over over to do with the pulp. Eventually I plumped for a butternut squash soup, with a base of onion, garlic and veg stock and spiced up with cayenne pepper and ginger. It is pretty good actually. I'll freeze some and use the rest tomorrow evening.

Still on the topic of food, in Tesco yesterday they were offering a "free" Green & Blacks chocolate recipe book when you purchased three bars of G&B chocolate. I needed no encouragement. I left with 2 bars of butterscotch choc and a bar of white choc (having stocked up on 70% dark choc last week) and my lovely new recipe book. And it is very lovely - there are some fabulous recipes and ideas in there. I can't wait to try some.

I just realised that I haven't yet updated about my lodger! Since early October, we've had my nephew Joe living with us. He's studying at Leeds Uni until the end of this year, and with it only being a sort term placement there, there wasn't much point in him finding accomodation elsewhere. We've enjoyed having him here - his girlfriend Kate is also in Leeds (but living in a shared student flat) and she is here quite a lot too. It's been fun playing surrogate parents! And probably one of the things that prompted back in to the kitchen and my recipe books...

Autumn is well and truly here

So now it is dark by 5pm and the trees are absolutely stunning this year. I don't know if it is because we had such a wet summer but the colours are incredible and the leaves seem to be sticking on the trees for a long time. The reds, golds, ambers, russets and browns are beautiful. I might venture down to Temple Newsam tomorrow to see what kind of display the trees there are putting on.

Mum has finally had her nose job. She had a basal cell carcinoma (which sounds more alarming than it apparently is) which was mis-diagnosed for many years and therefore being wrongly treated with creams and antibiotics. Finally, it was recognised as a rodent ulcer - the non technical name for it - and she was referred to a specialist. Removing these growth is supposed to be straightforward. You may recall that the removal was supposed to happen last June - on the day dad died - but was cancelled because mum's heart rate was erratic and because the numbing agent contains adrenaline they did not want to go ahead. So, after a long process of referral back to her heart specialist, waiting for cardioversion to correct the heart rate, and waiting again for skin specialist referral - she finally had the ulcer removed this week.

All went well - they did not use a general anaesthetic - but my god her face is a mess! She looks like she has been badly beaten up. This is due to the fact that at the same time as the ulcer is removed a skin graft is taken to cover over the area. The graft was taken from her cheek. It's all very clever, and I am sure it will look great when it has healed but for now it is pretty horrible. Underneath mum's eye is bruised and puffy and she has two big lines of stitches on her face. And through all this she's been terrific - in fact the only thing she's bothered about is having the stitches removed!

The recent cook fest went well. The mushroom risotto was excellent and I will definitely remake. The sticky stuff for the binfire party went down a treat - they'll be repeated too. Salmon fishcakes were also good - and I also made a Nigella chocolate cake which includes half a jar of marmelade - I'd forgotten all about this one, but found the recipe again when I was leafing through "Domestic Goddess". I LOVE the Nigella Christmas book - it's fabulous and there are lots of recipes in there that I intend to try. When I do I need to try to take some pictures - not that I'd ever compete with some of the fantastic food blogs out there.........

Brrrrrr.....

Did I say it was sunny and warm three days ago? Scrap that - it is now freezing cold and parts of the UK have had snow!

So, my cookfest will continue shortly with:
Mushroom Risotto
Salmon and Broccoli fishcakes
Sticky Gingerbread
Sticky Toffee Pudding
Sticky Sausages

I realise that there is a lot of stickiness going on, but it is that time of year!

The risotto and fishcakes I want to try and happen to have the ingredients for - might make them tomorrow. The rest are for a binfire party on Saturday night.

And the great news is that my new Nigella book arrived (the Christmas one) this week so I've been earmarking some other things to try. I'm definitely going to have a go at chilli jam. And I'll probably remake the grotesque sounding but really yummy choc, prune and tia maria fruit cake.

Ok, I'm off to check my stocks of sugar and dates.....

Martha or Maxine?

Martha or Maxine?
Martha:
Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of an ice cream cone to prevent ice cream drips.
Maxine:
Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake! You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it, anyway!

Martha:
To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
Maxine:
Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix. Keeps in the pantry for up to a year.

Martha:
When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
Maxine:
Go to the bakery! Hell, they'll even decorate it for you!

Martha:
If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant 'fix-me-up.'
Maxine:
If you over-salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too bad. Please recite with me the real woman's motto: 'I made it, you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes!'

Martha:
Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
Maxine:
Celery? Never heard of it!

Martha:
Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.
Maxine:
The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust, so I don't.

Martha:
Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
Maxine:
Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink! All your pains go away!

Martha:
If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dish washing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
Maxine:
Go ask that very cute neighbor if he can open it for you.

Martha:
Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.
Maxine:
Leftover wine??????????? HELLO!!!!!!!

A friend sent this to me. I was reading it, laughing and then thought about the left over egg whites and wine in my freezer, and the fact that I reaching for a pen to jot down the tips about lime for headaches and potato to mop up excess salt..... hmmm.... I am most definitely a Martha!

Soup season, with carrot muffins thrown in for good measure

It is getting to the time of year when I like to make (and eat) soup. Mind you, it is so sunny and mild outside today, I feel a bit of a fraud saying that!

I decided yesterday to make a pan of my favourite "healthy, tasty, warming" soup - Lentil & Carrot - but I ran out of time (and energy) having made a batch of granola, cooked a roast dinner, done some shopping, taken Mum home etc. etc.

So this morning, I got into gear. The lentil and carrot soup is SO easy.
Chop a large onion, 2 sticks of celery, 2 carrots into a pan - saute in a little olive oil for about 15 minutes. Don't forget to drop in the leaves from the top of the celery (assuming that you don't buy those soul-less neat little packages of celery hearts).
Rinse about a mug ful of red lentils in cold water. Add to the pan. Top up with approximately 1 litre of veg stock and simmer until the lentils are cooked and the veggies are soft. If you think it's getting a bit dry during cooking add a splash of water. Season with pepper. Blitz with a stick blender until you get the consistency you like. My preference is for the odd chunk of veg to be left in.

This freezes ok, too.

So, whilst cooking the soup, I remembered having some left over (cooked) cauliflower in the fridge from yesterday. Being a Martha and not a Maxine (I will clarify that on a later blog) I keep this sort of stuff! I decided to make a cauliflower and cheddar soup out of that - just one portion, for me, for lunch. I chopped half an onion, 2 small new potatoes and 1 stick of celery into a pan. Sauteed in a little oil. Added the cooked cauli and about a pint (maybe just under) of veg stock. Simmered until all the veg was soft. Blitzed it up with a dash of double cream (also left over from yesterday) and decided that this was just SO good it did not need the cheddar adding.

I think I'll "plan" to have left over veggies every Sunday in future. A bit of stock and a tiny splash of cream can transform them in to the most wonderful soup.

And finally, while I was in the kitchen, I decided to try out my new silicone cupcake cups! I had a recipe from a supermarket magazine for Carrot Cupcakes. They are very tasty indeed - I've eaten one, and plan to freeze the rest for an easy "on the run" breakfast. And fairly healthy - they are made with wholemeal flour, raisins, carrots, apricots, seeds. I guess the bad bit is the sugar and to be honest, you could easily halve the amount and still have a great tasting muffin.

Dreaming of Dad

Well it has been one year and 4 months since Dad passed and in that time I've never dreamed of him. On Sunday night I did. I recall seeing him come toward me and he gave me a big hug. It was lovely - he looked, felt and smelled like my Dad. In good health. And then he took my hands and was holding both of them and looking into my face and smiling at me.
His eyes were that beautiful deep "Alman Blue". We didn't really speak, I think I was trying to speak to him but couldn't and I don't remember him answering.

I woke up feeling nice about it.

But now I'm wondering why he came to me?

Nothing to blog about?

On 6th April I wrote this:
I have yet to report on our recent trips to Horsham, Maidstone and Canterbury
and I didn't ever blog those trips. Since then, we've had little jaunts to:
Dundee and Swindon
and I haven't written those up either.

I doubt I'll get round to it now. Suffice to say, all of those trips were excellent, revolved around my work and contained lots of driving and a fresh appreciation of how diverse and beautiful Britain can be. Especially when the sun shines, as it did for a lot of the time we were away.

Ok, patriotic bit over.

June has been manic, work wise. I found myself out on business every single day - except for two days this week Wednesday and Friday when I have full days "in the office". It's been good though. Seeing lots of different places, lots of the same motorway and a few nice hotels.

On Thursday this week I'm going over to mum's after work. Lorraine, Mum and I are going out. On Friday, we're visiting the graveyard, as it will be one year since Dad died. The year has gone over so quickly and I feel as if so much has happened since - what with mum's house move, changing jobs, South Africa, Roy's work situation etc.

So I did have a lot to blog about, (the travels) but I never got round to it and I'm fed up playing catch up.

Next scheduled trip is 12th July when we'll celebrate our third wedding anniversary (belatedly, it's on the 1st July) with a stay at the Pheasant Inn in Chester. I think we're also going to Chester Races on that day, too.

In memory of Frank Scott - 6th June 2008

My cousin Frank passed away on Friday 6th June. He had been ill for a little while and was not able to have the surgery that might have saved his life.

Frank lived on the Isle of Man and in my younger years I would visit him there a lot, with my other cousin, his sister Joan. I haven't seen too much of Frank in recent years.

He leaves a widow and two daughters.

Rest in peace, Frank.

In memory of Barry Alman - 18.5.2008

Just over a week after we returned from South Africa, we had a call to give us some very sad news. My cousin, Barry (who had been ill while we were staying in SA) had passed away.

I hope that Barry is resting peacefully. We never got to see him when we were there, but I met Barry years ago at my parents, when he was living in the UK.

On 26th May (the day of his memorial services) we laid family flowers at Goodison Park football ground in Barry's memory.

South Africa Holiday - the end!

So I've been bringing my SA blog up to date and now it is finished. I am sure there is tons of stuff I missed.

I do love Africa. I also find it a very strange place - full of contradiction. There is so much beauty (the land and the people) and also so much brutality. I also find that I am drawn to politically "interesting" places like SA and Cuba. It makes me think. And that can only be good, hey?

Now that is a real South African-ism. Adding "hey" in a questioning manner at the end of sentences or statements. I am trying not to copy it in everyday speech, because it irritates Roy when I do!

Other things they say are "oh shame" all the time. And not only if you're telling them about some mishap or unfortunate incident. And "is it?". Another question, but not always used in that context, or "correctly". I'm trying to think of an example. Here's one.

Me: "We're going to Durban next week".
South African person: "Is it?".

The one I like is "we'll make a plan". This is said all the time - and sounds really grand and formal, but can be as simple as "Let's have coffee. We'll make a plan and meet up". I love that one!

And "ja" is used a lot instead of yes, even by non-Afrikaners, I think.

Finally, "just now" is a commonly used phrase. As in "we'll see you just now". With "just now" meaning any length of time - not immediately. Actually, they use this in Scotland a lot, too.

My personal favourite expression was one often used by Korbie, the Afrikaans lady who we met on safari with her British husband, Brian. As we drove around, Brian would often point out birds to her. She was a very calm, relaxed lady. Slowly, she'd raise her binoculars to her eyes, look at the bird and gently sigh out "Stunning". With absolutely no enthusiasm whatsoever! It was so funny. "Stunning" became one of the catch phrases of our trip, thereafter.

I think I went to SA thinking that it would be a good place to live in. I've changed my views about that, largely due to the political situation and also the crime rates. I think it would be nigh on impossible for a white couple like us to emigrate there now - unless of course we had our own business and were self sufficient. I don't think immigrants are wanted. The government is trying hard to rebalance things (racially) and opportunity is granted only to some.

Many parents are actively encouraging their kids to get qualified and then get out of the country. SA is losing talented people to the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It's so sad.

I guess I had in mind that things were on the way to being "mended" now, post apartheid, but the truth is that they are nowhere near resolved. There is a long, long way to go - and I don't quite know how it will all work out in the end.

But I'll be back. Definitely.

The last day - going home, and one final palaver

I just missed my last sunrise by 10 minutes. Shame. By the time I wandered in to the lounge at 6.25am the sun was casting a gorgeous red/orange glow into the room. I couldn't get back to sleep so I stayed up. G&M had to pop out to sort something out with the bakkie, and Gail arrived to see us before we left.

It was a beautiful, hot sunny day. We had breakfast and then sat in the garden chatting all morning, interspersed with bits of packing here and there. I am determined not to exceed the luggage allowance of 20kg each, and so I'm throwing away all sorts of clothes that we won't use again and leaving all my leftover sunscreen etc. with the family!

Before we left I gave Dad's little journal of his time in SA to Margaret, and asked her to pass it on to Gordon. I didn't want to give it to him directly as I thought it might all get a bit emotional.

We left the house at about 2pm for the airport. We had a clear run and G&M parked up and came in to see us off after check in. However, we encountered a big problem at check in. Whilst we had paperwork confirming our South African Airways (SAA) flights from Durban to Jo'burg and then on to Heathrow, the BMI agent who booked the flights for me had not properly ticketed them - so the check in girl was missing a ticket code for the DUR-JNB leg. Without it, she could not issue us boarding cards. She'd already tagged the luggage and sent it through.

After much faffing, she came back from the SAA office and said her manager was dealing with it and was trying to contact London to get the code. In the meantime we'd have to wait. The next update we got was when she told us that is was "highly unlikely" we'd be on our flight to Joburg (due to leave at 15.40). But that she'd be able to put us on the 16.40 (provided that London sorted the references out) and we'd still make our Heathrow connection. In the meantime she was going to have our luggage taken off the flight and brought back round to check in.

Ok, we sat and waited. Time marched on (we'd told G&M to go before the traffic out of Durban built up) and still no answer... then I saw a guy bring a piece of paper to her and say "this is what you need". So I assumed she'd be calling us over soon. She didn't. Instead, she disappeared for a very long time and was last spotted hovering at the stand by desk. Maybe the flight was full and she was struggling to find 2 seats for us? It was by now 10 minutes before the 16.40 flight was due to close and I was getting really anxious. I went looking for the check in girl and found her in a small office near the main SAA offices. She looked at me and said "Oh". I said that the 16.40 flight was about to close and what was happening.... another girl dragged her away by the hand and they were giving each other sly looks!! She turned and said to me "I promise you'll be on that flight". NOW I was getting worried.

I went back to Roy, who was waiting by the check in desk. She came back and started to check us in, but was making a complete hash of it. Eventually her supervisor came along and helped out but I could not relax until I'd seen those boarding cards print out! Just at the last minute, I noticed our cases trundling away on the conveyor belt with JNB labels on them. I asked her "have you checked those bags through to Heathrow?". She said "Oh shit" (no kidding) and ran after them to put the proper LHR labels on. I guess the only good news about today was that our bags weighed in spot on 40kgs!

So we then hot footed it through security and pretty much straight on to the flight. We weren't sitting together but it was only an hour flight so not too bad. I read the in flight mag, had a much needed glass of white wine and watched my last African sunset just as we landed in Johannesburg. A perfect red ball falling below the arc of the earth. Wow.

Joburg Airport is hideous (think Heathrow but with hustler) and we had our last tourist sting of the holiday happen! Our own faults for standing about looking confused as to how to get to International Departures. A smartly dressed guy came and asked what we were looking for and before we knew it was showing us the way and politely demanding a "nice tip" for his trouble!

Ah well... soon enough we were in the Baobab lounge and relaxing for a short while. Unfortunately we missed the early boarding call for Business Class passengers and ended up in a HUGE queue to board the flight.

We ate dinner and then tried to sleep. It was SO hot though, and I did not sleep well. Watched a movie (Juno) and tried to sleep again. Not much joy. I thought the drama of today might have exhausted us!

We landed on time and had enough time (but not much spare) to collect our bags and get through to the domestic terminal. The walk to baggage collection was about 3 miles long. Don't you just love international airports? I was a bit worried about whether our bags would actually have made it through - the one place you don't want your bags going missing is Joburg! Most of the SA passengers seemed to have their suitcases shrinkwrapped in cellophane for security reasons!

So we stood at the carousel and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Ever the voice of doom, Roy decided that our bags were lost. But then, just as we'd given up hope, out they came. Leaving us now quite short on time to make the connection, and we were tired and irritable. So getting to domestic check in, we thought it would be quick and easy as we'd checked in online and printed boarding passes at Margarets the day before. But a nice "jobsworth" security man was determined to hold us up (he'd seen us trying to sneak through a "no entry" section of the BMI area) and made us go to a separate set of scales to have our luggage weighed. When we got there, the woman looked at us and said "why are you hear, just go to the bag drop". We explained that we'd been trying to but got stopped. Grrrrr... as we passed the guy again he just smirked at us.

So finally we were in Leeds. We booked a taxi and were home at last.

The end.

Battlefields - Day 2 (with a mini drama included)

It is our last full day in South Africa. Who needs an alarm clock when there are hadeha birds around? Not us. We woke at 6. We'd been told that breakfast would be served at 8 so we packed our bags and took a quick stroll around the gardens. There is a memorial to Foy's wife in the garden, which is very touching.

I have to say that if you are looking at the pics of the bedrooms on the Penny Farthing website, they seem a bit old fashioned and dreary. They actually are incredibly comfortable and much nicer than they look on the site!

Breakfast for us was cereal, papaya and toast. We haven't really been eating cooked breakfasts - which is probably just as well, given some of the evening meals we've indulged in!

Foy told us that we would be driving our own car on the tour and so with him (and our heavy case) in the back, we set off down the dirt track. We dared not to criticise it as Foy proudly told us he'd built it all himself when he was a young man. As we went over the first big bump (there are lots of them - water pipes I assume) I felt the underneath of Gordon's car scrape the ground. I was very nervous that we'd wreck his car. I think the combined weight of Roy, myself, Foy (a big man) and the suitcase was a tad too much!

Back on the main road, I breathed a sigh of relief, until a few minutes later when Foy instructed me to turn left onto another dusty, stony track! There were chips flying up everywheree. Foy advised me to stay above 60kms per hour to "even out" the road. Actually, it works. Wish I'd learned this tip earlier in our holiday!

First, we stopped at Rorke's Drift. This is the scene of the film Zulu and Foy gave us a very detailed overview (using a scale model of the area) of the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, and also what had happened at Fugitive's Drift. We then went to the rebuilt hospital at Rorke's Drift, where Foy gave us chapter and verse of that battle and how the 100+ English fought off 4000 Zulu Warriors. Fascinating. Details here, if you want them:
http://battlefields.kzn.org.za/battlefields/about/192.xml

Next, we drove across the Buffalo River to Isandlwana Hill. This, I think, is the most poignant battlefield of all. So many men killed in such a short space of time. Standing on a slope overlooking the hill and the battlefield below it, the sense of history is incredible. And just to see all the white stones marking mass graves makes you sad, and for the pacifists among us, also a bit angry at the waste of young lives.

Foy told us the story of the battle - all 1.5 hours of it - and then we headed back to Penny Farthing where we ate a picnic lunch before heading home. We were on the road by 2.30 - well in time to reach G&M's before dark.

We'd consulted with G before we set off and he'd recommended that we should NOT take the R33 route via Greytown. We checked our maps, and realised that to go back the way we came (via Dundee and Ladysmith) would add about 100kms to the trip. Ann had warned us off the R33 too - she said "I wouldn't use it, and I live here". Foy, however, was insistent that we use it - "You'll get to see proper rural Africa, Zulu villages and farms. You'll be fine, and it is a beautiful drive". Ann's final comment on the matter: "It's ok for him to say that - he speaks fluent Zulu so if he broke down in the middle of nowhere, he'd be fine".

What did we do? We took the R33 of course. Tempted by the shorter trip, and the promise of beautiful valleys and hills. We'd asked Foy if there were gas stations along the way. Oh yes, he'd said, you can fill up at Greytown - 100kms from Penny Farthing. Roy asked me on the way back from the Battlefields how much petrol we had left. I told him a quarter tank. Foy said that would be plenty to get us to Greytown.

So, with Roy driving, we were about 10kms from the house, when he challenged me on the petrol situation. "This is nowhere near a quarter tank" he said. Hmm. "Well I'm sure it was when I looked". So now we have a problem. We are effectively in the middle of nowhere and we have insufficient petrol to take us 100kms to Greytown. We have no idea where the nearest gas station is. But we know we're about to hit a town called Pomeroy, so there was bound to be some petrol there, wasn't there?

Actually - no, there wasn't. We did find a gas station and pulled in to find a queue of trucks there. Most of them brimming with workers, hanging out of every available inch of truck! Sitting in the front of our little Mazda 3, GPS in one hand, wallet in the other, camera round my neck and with two mobile phones in my lap - I started to feel that I was the focal point of every pair of eyes within 20 metres and ever so slightly uncomfortable. Then I noticed a sign saying "Diesel". I said to Roy that this was a diesel only station and so we had to drive off. Where is the next place? According to our map it was Tugela Ferry, I couldn't work out the distance, but it's a lot nearer than Greytown. I also couldn't tell how big a place it was.

So we climbed up some hills - Roy was coasting down them and the anxiety of not knowing if we would make it to a gas station was really spoiling our enjoyment of the fantastic scenery! I was silently trying to figure out a contingency plan if we did run out of fuel in the countryside. I didn't really have one. It was not a good time for Roy to advise me that the Fuel Warning indicator light had just come on.

Eventually, I started to notice the familiar "taxis" along the route. Not many of them, but I saw at least one white minibus pull in to drop somebody off. Ah ha, here is contingency. If we break down, we'll have to stand on the road, hail a taxi, get to Greytown, buy a can of fuel and get a taxi back to the car. Hardly ideal (and would probably take HOURS) but at least there is some sort of plan there.......

As we coasted down a really big hill, we started to see signs of Tugela Ferry in the distance. Oh - good news - it was looking like a fairly big place, and not just houses - some industrial looking buildings too. Surely there would be petrol here? Down and down the hill we dropped, and then all of a sudden, we hit a traffic jam! As we crawled round a bend, the anticipation was excruciating... finally we could see the main drag of the road as it went through town, but there were no gas station signs. Not one. Oh dear. We saw cafes, restaurants, shops - surely there is petrol here? Another bend in the road, and this time, as we came off it, there it was, in all it's red and yellow glory: SHELL. Ahhhhh... BIG sigh of relief, a bit of cheering and air punching and in we drove.

This was the best petrol station I've ever seen! Not only were there goats and chickens running around all over the forecourt, but there were ladies selling fruit and veg and all kinds of stuff along the edges and all along the roadside. Roy got out. Getting out of your car at the gas station here is totally unnecessary. In fact, filling up is a great experience because somebody comes and does it all for you. And while the tank is filling, they wash all the windscreens and wing mirrors too. All for a small (R5-R7) tip. I wish we had that in Britain! But he'd decided to get out and stretch his legs and chat to the attendant. I could hear him lying. "We're very tired, we've just driven from Johannesburg", he fibbed. What was all that about? According to Roy, he felt unsafe here (well, Ann had spent a while telling us how evil Tugela Ferry was) and so he'd decided that the best defence was to get out and be friendly and also go for the sympathy vote by claiming to be on a long road trip. Whatever!

In actual fact, we were merely a curiosity in Tugela Ferry. Lots of folk wandered past and peered into the car, but then just smiled, waved and passed on by. To be the only white faces in a town which clearly gets very few tourists, did not mean that we were threatened at all - just a novelty. The attendant came round to my door to chat to me. Actually, this was a feeble attempt at getting money. She told me that she'd heard we were flying to England tomorrow (Roy must have filled her in on our travel plans). Oh, she said, she'd LOVE to fly to England, but she had no money. She didn't quite have her hand stretched out toward me but the implication was clear. Well we could always swap, I said. You have my ticket and I'll stay here? She burst out laughing and wandered off.

So, with a full tank and peace of mind we left Tugela Ferry. NOW we could enjoy the stunning surrounds of the hills and valleys. Now we could marvel at the sheer number of people walking on the roads. I think school was just out so we were waved at by dozens of happy looking kids. Now we could appreciate how interesting the landscape was, and try to spot the "hills that look like elephants" that Foy had mentioned to us.

Women carry babies on their persons wrapped in towels. Around the waist, around their back. Sometimes more than one. And many women have umbrellas up to shade their heads from the sun. We also saw some people carrying goods on their heads - first time we'd seen this in southern Africa. And women gather reeds along the road - presumably for thatching, as a lot of the houses here are thatched roofs.

It was a beautiful drive down to Pietermaritzburg, where we picked up the N3 motorway. At times, it looked and felt like England. But soon we knew we were in Africa as we saw the sun setting over the hills behind us. We drove into G&M's drive at 5.40 - good timing! Had a quick chat and then got showered and changed as we're taking G&M out for dinner tonight.

We went to La Strada - an Italian in Hillcrest, about 10 mins drive away. I drove tonight.
http://www.restaurants.co.za/details.asp?resId=3976

We shared a pizza bread with various cheeses (including Gorgonzola) on top. It was delicious. Then we all had Fillet steak (apart from Gordon who had a chicken salad) and that was also excellent. Then home, for coffee and a chat. We had a VERY late night tonight - 11pm.

Battlefields - Day 1

We woke at 6.15am to............ sunshine! Please let it stay sunny.
We had breakfast with Gail and then left her place at around 9.30 to drive into the Battlefields area where we are spending the next 2 days. This part of the trip was organised, booked and paid for by G&M but as I explained they are now unable to join us.

Our first stop was Spionkop. This was the site of a British defeat by the Boers in January 1900.
http://battlefields.kzn.org.za/battlefields/about/191.xml
What struck me most was that it is a very beautiful place, and somehow you can't imagine it being a place to fight. There are 360 degree views from the top of the hill - and it is such a clear day we can see along the entire Drakensberg range. Stunning.
We had Spionkop to ourselves, there was nobody else around at all. You can drive right to the top of the hill (yay, no walking!) and then do a self guided trail. It is interesting and also very sad - to see all those graves (mostly mass grave sites) and read how young most of the men were.

I also find it strange that this particular battle was between the Boers and the British - both fighting over something that didn't belong to either of them!

The famous "Kop" stand at Anfield is named after Spionkop, in tribute to the many local people who fell at this battle (the West Lancashire regiment had a large presence there). I only learned this recently! But luckily before we travelled to SA.

So after leaving Spionkop (along a 7km dusty dirt track, of course) we drove through Ladysmith, and had planned to stop there. We decided against this as there was no parking near the museum (which specialises in the Battlefields story) and there didn't seem to be many tourists around... just a working town. We drove through Glencoe and Dundee - where we stopped to get a sandwich at Pick n Pay - and parked up just out of Dundee to eat lunch. Lunch included the biggest custard slice I've ever seen in my life. But we did share it!

Our B&B - Penny Farthing - was about 30kms past Dundee and we arrived there just after 2. Penny Farthing is a lovely property in the middle of nowhere - 2/3kms along a dirt track off the main road - and we were greeted by three dogs barking excitedly as we opened the car doors. It was only 2 days later, back at G&Ms, that we realised one of the dogs had badly scratched the passenger door!

http://www.pennyf.co.za/index.htm

Ann, the housekeeper, greeted us and showed us to our room. It was lovely, and as it was still hot and sunny, we had a little walk round the gardens and sat by the pool to read for a short while. Everywhere we went we were followed by the dogs!
Roy wasn't feeling so good so he had a lie down and then we went out for another walk, venturing further out into the open farmland. It really is tranquil and beautiful here. Foy, the owner and our Battlefield guide for tomorrow, dropped some reading material in at our room and said he would see us at dinner.

We had drinks at 6.30pm and then we all sat down to eat. Dinner is a communal affair with all guests eating with Ann and Foy. Ann is the cook (although she does have a lot of help) but eats very little as she says she would get too fat if she ate the meals she cooked every night. I was starting to suffer with dog allergies as those dogs have the run of the house, including the dining area. But they are nice dogs! The only other guests are a Dutch couple, and they are not on the tour with Foy tomorrow. In fact, it looks like we'll have him to ourselves.
Dinner: Mushroom soup (delicious!) with croutons/ Lamb, sweet potato, broccoli, samp & beans, carrots, cauli, gravy/Strawberry cheesecake and ice cream.

Now, Margaret has been worrying about us driving after dark here. And so she asked us to speak with Foy to make sure that he would have us back off the tour in time for daylight driving. It is a good 3-4 hours back to Durban and sunset is now shortly before 6pm. So he agreed, and said that to "save time" in the morning, we would watch a video whilst having after dinner coffee. The idea is that he gives a lot of background info to the Anglo-Zulu War before the tour commences.

We all went through to the lounge. About 5 minutes into the first film, the dutch lady was fast asleep! I had the "fidgets" and could not keep still. I went to take an antihistamine and came back to the lounge. The film ended and I thought "oh great - bedtime". Foy came back in. Instead of wishing us good night, he put another video in the machine. We watched that. Surely now we can sleep? Not quite. He then came back in and said he would do our "orientation"! This consisted of him telling us where the Boers, Zulus and English were coming from in the months leading up to the Zulu War. So all incredibly interesting, but I'm sure I'll have forgotten everything by tomorrow!

It is a chilly night - the fire has been burning since 6 - but we have electric blankets and sleep well.

Sani - the Pass to surpass all Passes

As you may have read we've driven a LOT of mountain passes in the last 3 weeks. And loved pretty much every single one of them, even the ones we've moaned about. So today we're heading up the Sani Pass. This time it's different - we will not be self driving this one. The state of the roads and the steep, sharp bends near the top, mean that this one is best left to the experts.

Woke just before 7. It is windy and cloudy. It is Autumn here and I'm totally discombobulated. All around us are the beautiful colours of Autumn - red, gold and brown trees. And yet back home, the trees are just starting to bud (or where when we came away) and everything will by now have turned to green.

We got up out of bed when our coffee and wake up call arrived at 7.30am. Oh - and the extremely tasty home made biscotti! No sooner had we finished that, it was time for breakfast! We wanted to eat early-ish and then take a stroll. The food, as expected, was lovely. With light as a feather home made scones being the crowning glory on the buffet table. I also had some poached eggs.

Walking around the dam, we stopped to watch two herons fighting over domination of a tree and a small island in the lake. One of them eventually managed to harangue the other one off his patch!

We checked out, paid up, chatted with the owner and receptionist, complimenting them on their hotel. They told us we have to come back! I'd love to. In fact, they've even told us the best room to ask for! Funny, but I already thought we had the best room.....

Then we wandered outside to wait for our car to take us up the Sani Pass. It didn't seem as if any of the other guests in the hotel were on the same trip as nobody else was waiting. We'd been told that the driver would be there between 9.30 and 9.45. We'd filled in all our passport/border control forms.... the other exciting thing about Sani Pass is that it actually takes you from South Africa, across the border into Lesotho, an independent Kingdom.

It was almost 10 before a 4WD with "Sani Pass Tours" pulled up into the hotel drive. As the driver got out we strolled toward him and introduced ourselves. He looked at us blankly. "Sorry, I don't have any tours booked today, who did you book with?".
I explained that we made our booking via the hotel. He asked us to wait and said he'd go and have a word with the hotel people. He came back out and explained that there had been a mix up (we'd gathered that already). I'd actually changed the date of our hotel reservation (and the Sani tour) before we came out here, and unfortunately the hotel had forgotten to let him know. As far as he knew we were not due to do the trip until the next day!
But, no matter. He jumped in his car, told us to get in (apologising he'd not had chance to clean it out) handed us a "Birds of the Sani Pass" laminate and set off driving. On the way, he started telling us all about the history of the road leading into Lesotho.
http://www.sanitours.co.za/default.htm

On the way to the Pass, we saw basotho people, wrapped in brightly coloured woollen blankets, leading some horses down the road. Our guide explained that they come down to trade things, look for work or steal cattle and other animals.

Soon after, our guide took a phone call and explained that there was another car from his tour company only 5/10 minutes ahead of us, so if we didn't mind, we would be joining that tour. No problem. I was glad that he'd got his day back! Soon after we were with Viv, our new guide and Muriel - a Swiss lady who was the only other person on the trip. And off we went - up the Pass.

Sani Pass is without question the most horrendous road I've ever travelled on. The rocks, stones, water and potholes cover 100% of it. Having done the trip, I don't think I'd have been scared of self driving (in the right car!) but I don't think it would particularly enjoyable - it just takes far too long. And the concentration required would make that hard work. It takes over 3 hours to get up (including a few quick stops) and 2.5 hours to get down.

We saw reedbok, eland and angora goats on the mountains whilst going up. At the top we saw a cape vulture and a Drakensberg Rock Jumper (beautiful orange bird unique to this area). On the way back down, Viv had to stop to pick up a stunning chameleon off the road as he would just not move out of the way of our car!

At the top we went into a basotho woman's (small) hut. They have a flag system outside to show what they're trading on any particular day (beer, bread, garments, etc). We tried some local beer (all I can say is that it was "refreshing") and some excellent wholewheat bread. We learned a few words in the local language (which I have of course now forgotten) and then we were invited to peruse her collection of traditional hats which were for sale and scattered across her bed. The big hats were quite nice - not for wearing, but being woven I had in mind that they'd make good food covers if we were eating outdoors! Anyway, in the end, I just bought a tiny hat - easier to pack (and not much cheaper!). I guess it's just a little souvenir and I figured that it would be a small contribution to this lady to say thanks for letting us in her hut.

Talk about a tourist sting! Just after I picked up and paid for the hat, Viv asked if we'd maybe like to make a "small donation" to the lady. Muriel announced that she had no small change whatsover, and so Roy ended up handing over more cash "from the three of us"!

After the visit to the hut (which was pretty brief and a little less informative than I'd imagined it would be) we were taken to the Sani Top Chalet - the highest pub in Southern Africa.
http://www.sanitopchalet.co.za/index.htm

Here we drank local beer (but not the home brew!) and ordered lunch. Whilst waiting we wandered outside on the balcony and took in the fantastic views. But we didn't linger too long - the sun was out by now but there was a howling wind and it was pretty cold! Inside we ate with Muriel. Roy had sausage and mash which was pretty hearty! I got a a "Famous Sani Sausage" with bread. It actually turned out to be a giant hot dog - but the bread was home made and really good. Muriel ordered smoked trout and it looked very good.

After lunch we set off back down... Roy learned a lesson: do not eat a huge meal when you're going to be bounced around on a horrid road for 2 hours straight afterwards!

Back at the hotel by 3.30pm, we collected our car and headed off to Gail's house, as we were staying with her that night. We had a good drive - on the proper road! - there and arrived just as it was getting dark. Gail lives in Hilton, a beautiful suburb of Pietermartizburg. Or just "Maritzburg" as the locals call it. We haven't been into the town itself, and I don't think we'll get time to.

So, Gail cooked us a spag bol and we chatted with her over a bottle of red, until we were both yawning and tired and so went to bed early. Oh - we'd watched a lightning storm from the dining room. We stayed in a self contained cottage at the side of the main house. Candy and Katie were there but just joined us for dinner as they were watching movies.