Sophia Lindop - A Unique Food Experience

Dead or alive?

I had a frantic call from a very good friend in Johannesburg last night, and when I answered the call, I heard a sigh of relief on the other side, and something like, "Thank God you're still alive!"  She then proceeded to wrap me over the knuckles, making me promise to never, ever eat wild mushrooms again, tell everyone about it on my blog, and then disappear for a few days with no tiding!  "I thought that your foraging exercise had proven fatal," she said, with a nervous giggle.

So, no, we didn't die.  And, yes, the wild mushrooms were amazing.  No, they weren't deadly.  Yes, we were only on a short break...  Thank you, Gwyn, for caring!

South Africa, our land!

Are we lucky or what!?  We live in such a beautiful and diverse country!  I have been reminded of this again over the weekend (well, OK, we took a long weekend and escaped to the farm...)  Seeing the animals, the plants, the birds, making fires, cooking on fires, watching the magnificent sunsets, seeing four planets at once in the night sky - Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter with four of its moons - reminded me of how lucky we are to live in this beautiful southern part of Africa!

Before we headed on out of the city, we spent two hours at the Good Food and Wine Show - I must say, I enjoyed it more than other years this time round.  It truly is a world-class production that I hope to get involved with in the years to come!  Hope you made time to get there...

We foraged, we ate, we survived

So, on Sunday afternoon, between showers (rain, that is...), Paddy and I decided to go for a walk in Cecelia Forest, about a five-minute drive from home...

Now, before I continue, I have to fill you in on some details - there is a community in this city that know all about mushrooms, which are edible, where to find those, etc.  And, heaven help you if you try to find out!  And, Cecelia Forest, being a place where many people go every day, and take their dogs and their kids for walks, we have never found anything edible there at all.  It's as if "they sweep in before dawn, raid the forest floor, and disappear into the morning mist..."  Besides, although Paddy and I bought a field guide on mushrooms, who wants to take the chance (if you know what I mean?)

On Sunday, there we were, me with the camera to take pics of all the wild mushrooms (the poisonous ones are very 'photogenic'!  They're beautiful...) and Paddy out to have a good time.  No sooner had we started walking, or I saw my first photo session opportunity.  And, as I was venturing up the slope, takings pics of all these wonders, Paddy mentioned that he had spotted a 'pine ring'.  Edible!  So here's how I put him to the test.  "How sure are you that it's a pine ring?"  "Positive."  "Positive enough to eat one right here?" "Yip."  "Positive enough to let me eat one right here?"  "Yes."  "Don't just stand there.  Let's get dinner together."  And so it began.  The Foraging Frenzy!  Soon, what started out as a few pine rings for a pasta dinner led me to find the first gem...a cep or porcini!  I have never known one of these to make it past the professional mushroomers!  But there it was.  Perfect.  Without a doubt.  And then we went mad.  In the end we were collecting mushrooms in the rain, focusing on the feast that would follow.  We were laughing and running around like kids, and met another mad couple along the way, who were quite generous with their information, and who do this every year.  They confirmed that we were not on our way to killing ourselves, and that stamp of approval was all these Lindops needed.  They were everywhere.  And all we could think, was that the rugby of the previous day, along with the rain on Sunday, had kept all the fanatics (a group I have now joined!) at home...

In total, we found much more than we needed, and have been eating mushroom-related meals for the past few days.  Paddy's sister was frantic, and happened to ask nervously whether we had 'all our affairs wrapped up...?'  Well, I am happy to announce - we foraged; we ate; we're alive!

Special requests for special friends...

I have two special friends who live in the UK and who visit Cape Town regularly.  Jenelle sent this e-mail yesterday (excerpt...)

"Still loving your blogs and I always click on the email links as soon as I hear that “ping” of the RSS Feed to let me know that you have posted another one!  Keep the great work up and if I could make a request... can you post a recipe for Bobotie – I’ve tried a few but it didn’t taste right. PS I’m going to try you lamb stew one this weekend!"

So, this one's for Jenelle and Jake and all of you living abroad who are as in love with our wonderful country and it's fascinating cuisine...

You can do it!

The Blue Bulls DID IT!  Well done.  I spent a few moments watching the last moments of The Weakest Link where this evening's winner was asked, "Who did F.W. de Klerk succeed as Prime Minister?"  Her answer?  "Jan Smuts..."  She clearly DIDN'T DO IT! 

Today we did it!  I taught the last in a three-week cookery course.  I love these events!  What I love most is to get more people excited about cooking and confident in their abilities to do so!  Here's a pic as proof of the fun we had...

Winter's here...

I had an hectic week!  And this evening, as I was arriving home from the supermarket (thank heavens they stay open until 20h00!), I found our neighbour's car outside, broken into!  It left me thinking...  I think it's best to stay indoors for the rest of the weekend, lock everything I own up safely, alarm what needs to be alarmed, stoke up the fire, and have a happy time, forgetting what's out there (especially the looming storm and cold...)

So, to equip you for this self-imposed curfew, here is a suggestion for some sustenance.  Who can go 'underground' on an empty stomach after all?!

Sleep, glorious sleep!

I lay awake all night again last night.  This is a new thing for me.  At 03h00 I felt like screaming!  I was so tired, yet I couldn't sleep.  And today I feel tired and uninspired.  I even lacked my usual sense of humour, until I found this quotation: "His insomnia was so bad, he couldn't sleep during office hours." - Arthur Baer.  I had a good giggle, because that's exactly how I've been feeling!

A single's nightmare - Part 2

...the finale.  I promised a recipe for a yummy lamb stew to add to yesterday's rice.  Well, here it is.  It goes like this...

   +               +              =  YUMMY STEW!                                                                      

A single's nightmare - Part 1

I am regularly cornered by single people who have arguments like, "It's hard to cook for just one person.  It's fine if you're hosting a dinner party for a couple of friends, but try cooking for yourself!"  And, although these arguments are real, and my days as a single woman are still fresh in my memories, there is hope! 

I have a single friend who loves cooking, and is faced with these same issues.  She spends Sundays preparing a few meals that freeze well, like lasagne (spinach and feta, or with a bolognese), lamb stew with something like green beans, chicken or vegetable curry, lentil or traditional bobotie, rice, and more - she has invested in many plastic containers to freeze food in (the right size for one person), and she freezes a few meals for the week.  I think this is really clever!

There are a few things that don't freeze well in my opinion, and these are potatoes and pasta, so I used to freeze the basic stew, for example, and when defrosted, cut a potato up into small blocks, place the stew in a pot to heat through, add the potato to the concoction, and cook until the potato is soft.  And seeing that pasta cooks in around 10 minutes, I used to freeze the sauce (like a bolognese), prepare the pasta, warm the sauce, et voila, dinner's ready.  The only pasta that freezes well (my opinion again), is lasagne.  My Granny used to prepare the most amazing homemade pies for one, with blocks of steak, onion and potato as a filling, freeze these, and we would pop one in a preheated oven as we needed - her potato froze just fine.  But generally I prefer not to freeze potato.

I think that planning ahead is the secret ingredient.  Good news is, it can be done!  Why not pop out quickly, buy these few ingredients, and start today...?  Here goes with this today's idea -

Who said it's easy to be a man?

Paddy bought a mirror that we hung in our garden about four years ago.  And, although it's been hanging in the same spot for all this time, it was recently discovered by a frustrated male olive thrush...  He has been driving himself mad!  He flies up and down the mirror, sits on the rock in front of it, squawks, pecks at the mirror, all the while carefully sowing his droppings on the rock to mark the times he has failed...  I have come to the conclusion that he is attempting to mate with that 'chick' in the mirror, and finds her a hard nut to crack because, all she does, is imitate him rather than respond to his advances...  All quite funny.

So, you see, today I feel sympathetic towards the male of the species.  And I dedicate this to all the guys out there.  There is an easier way to get her to respond.  The mating dance burns up far too many calories.  How about trying this one tomorrow morning...?