Spring is being a bit coy in the Cape this year. When I look at the weather report I see the rest of SA is starting to flirt with pretty summer frocks. Not so much the case down south. I live in hope that I’ll be able to put a match to the ugly Uggs in the next week [...]
We may have had the hottest day on record for the last hundred years in Cape Town last week, but change is definitely in the air. The mornings now have a distinct chill, which has me reaching for my cardie. As the season turns, I’m starting to thinks stews, bakes and pies. Warming comfort food really doesn’t get any easier [...]
A friend recently remarked that I am very fond of gluten. I’d never particularly given it any thought, but she’s quite right. I love carbs. Period. And top of my list is wheat. Pasta, bread, pastry… Wave these in front of me and I'm not responsible for what happens next. Frightfully unfashionable in a world where seemingly everybody is banting. [...]
I sometimes worry about the amount of time I spend contemplating totally pointless things. Like wondering what animal I would prefer to have with me if I were marooned, Robinson Crusoe-style, and had to fend for myself for the rest of time. The answer is pig. I simply cannot think of any meat more versatile than pork. Think bacon, German [...]
I have a thing for sweet with meat – it’s a particularly South African thing. Take sweet potatoes. They aren’t sweet enough the way nature made them. Oh no, we have to add truckloads of butter and sugar, and roast them slowly to glistening, treacly perfection. So I’m constanty looking for new sweet-with-meat combinations. My latest obsession is fennel. [...]