Sophia Lindop - A Unique Food Experience

Lazy days and Sundays...

On my way upstairs, I saw the dreaded squirrel approaching our resident turtle dove on her nest, so I ran downstairs to chase the menace away from her.  Motherhood doesn't come easy around here!

I didn't sleep much last night - I suffered from hayfever and didn't have the brains to get up to take an antihistamine.  So I lay there, suffering in the dark of the night, rubbing my eyes and desperate for some sleep.

So, this morning I am struggling to feel awake!  Sitting upstairs, with the balcony door open, my eye caught a video that a friend had given me a long time ago, and that (I must confess) I haven't watched - Jamie Oliver.  Now, although I admire Jamie, watching him can be a little irritating, but I looked past him skateboarding down the passageway in his friend's New York apartment, playing with the basketball, not washing his hands before he stuck them straight back into the food, and looked at his ideas - which were brilliant and practical.  Thanks Jamie!

 

Baby showers

I survived!  One of my best friends is about to have her third baby and we chose to have her baby shower today, in this Cape heat!  But, there's more.  Not only did we celebrate her baby shower, but we combined it with one for her cousin, who is also about to have a baby.  Wait...  There's more!  Attendees included five other pregnant ladies, and three ladies with small babies!!  There were nappies (diapers), baby grows, breast pumps, toys and books flying around this hormonally charged room, and there I sat, knowing that my little belly was growing due to my love for good food, and not for the good reasons that were being displayed there.

Tables were heavily laden with savoury tarts, cakes, chocolates, cheese platters, pork sausages, meatballs, and more - and some healthy iced tea to swallow all this down with.  We laughed.  Then we cried.  And, we were having a good old hormonal time!

Right now I feel slightly ill from combining pork sausages with cheese cake, but I thought I'd share this wonderful recipe with you nonetheless.  It truly is divine and easy to make! 

Too hot to handle

Yesterday was one of those killer hot days here in Cape Town.  Paddy always says that these days are the price we have to pay for what happened last night - we had a dead-still, warm, cloudless evening!  Perfect!!

We were invited to the launch of a new restaurant last night - Caveau at The Mill - as always the food was great, and the guys did a wonderful job!  From the guest list to the band - every little detail was taken care of.  At last someone is putting the old Josephine Mill to good use.  I have always thought it a shame that this beautiful historical building just stood there, and now she has been restored to a new glory.

A twist in the tale

I presented a wonderful Cape Malay meal to a group from London on Monday evening, and happened to have made much too much of the 'smoorsnoek'.  OK, let's explain to the non South Africans - 'snoek' is one of our local fishes, much like barracuda, and to 'smoor' means to cook, usually with onion, garlic and fresh tomato, slowly on a low heat until all the flavours have mingled well.  'Smoorsnoek' is a favourite with our local Malay community.

Paddy will tell you that for me to have prepared too much food is a given - these Lebanese genes!  Anyway, I looked at the last bit in the pot last night, wondering what to do, when I decided to make a "Smoorsnoek Millefeuille".  I love that word - millefeuille - "a thousand leaves".  Traditionally this is served as a dessert - single layers of phyllo pastry are stacked one on top of the other, with a wonderful vanilla crème patisserie in between. 

I'm outta here...

OK, so this week I've had to fire a staff member, conduct interviews, hire a new employee, attend a course, write an exam, conduct a tour for overseas guests, and plan two important functions.  So, you'll understand when I say, "Ciao!  I'm outta here.  Need one night away from this all to enjoy time away with Paddy!"

In my kitchen...

"In my kitchen, I preheat a memory, I fold in old friends with new, I bake a good laugh..."

Isn't that beautiful!  I stumbled across this advertisement for kitchen appliances in an Architectural magazine.  And it rang true...

Isn't that just what happens?  I always invite people into my kitchen, then I ask them to help, and before you know it, you are engulfed by laughter, infused with passion and enthusiasm, excitedly sharing stories with one another, and as I stand back and watch this, a thousand memories come flooding into my heart - and I can hear children's laughter as we run through Granny's kitchen, carefully stopping to peep into a pot; I can feel how loved I felt when I walked into our home after school and smelt the freshly baked bread - and found the crust waiting for me, buttered; I remember loved ones that are long gone but that live on in my heart and in my memories; and I can remember learning about good food and cooking from my three wonderful teachers - Granny, Ouma and Mommy!

Fire up the stove, the troops are coming!

"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." - Emily Dickinson

I am so excited!  I have ordered new aprons, and my first cookery course for 2007 is fast filling up!  I love sharing my passion with people!  What a privilege to be occupied every day with something that blows your hair back!  And to get the opportunity to share it with others, is an even bigger pleasure. Paddy always says that the only thing that's better than really loving every minute of something you're passionate about, is seeing someone else love it too. 

New year. New website...

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." - Ursula LeGuin

As a small business owner I find that one reaches for the 'end' of one journey, only to be led onto the next one...  And so it truly is the journey that matters!  And like any journey, it is useless to say that one is on a journey when you are going nowhere!  You have to move - forward, preferably!  A friend of my dad's always says that, if you want to hitchhike to get from point A to point B, it is no use if you sit under a tree in the shade.  No motorist will recognise you and stop to drive off the road to you!  You have to stand on the road, and put your thumb out!

Obituaries

I sat downstairs this evening, after another magnificent meal, paging through today's paper, and somehow I ended up reading the obituaries (which, might I add, I found fascinating!)  There I stumbled upon the death of a lady who used to teach art (I think she was close to 60 years old).  The things people said about her were encouraging, inspiring, quirky, and frankly, brought a smile to my face!

One of them read, "Janet from another planet, I knew you too briefly.  Dammit! R"  And so they continued...