Porcupines and Pickled Fish

It's been  bit of a day today. First of all, the porcupine climbed over the top of the fence I had rebuilt and then had to dig a massive hole to get out, so the dog had the freedom of Kommetjie at about 5.30 this morning.  I set off for the Kom a little later to see where he was and spotted him with my neighbour and her two little dogs walking round the Island. He always behaves perfectly with her and will walk quietly at her heel without a lead. Isn't that typical. So after a pleasant chat and stroll along the beachfront, we got home and I set about plugging the holes again. It wasn't long before I noticed that Monty wasn't anywhere to be found, and realised that somehow he had gone straight out through the fence again. I must have blinked. This time he was trailing a lead and it wasn't long before the phone rang - someone had picked him up because they saw the lead and knew that he had escaped! Clever people. So those name tags round the neck do work. When I went to fetch him about a block away, I saw that the same porcupine had tried to dig under their gate, but had be foiled by the round rocks that lie just below the surface all along this part of Kommetjie, a throwback from when it was the seabed no doubt. For some reason, our plot is pure sand about 8 feet down when it becomes a flat sheet, according to the water diviner who blew out our wellpoint. That's why the porcupine has such easy access. Of course he ate the last of the vegetables, so bang goes organic gardening again!

After threading bamboo through the fencing in another desperate attempt to thwart our nocturnal digger, it was back to work in the office and I didn't leave my desk for many hours. I forgot completely about the beetroot on the stove, and a chance visit to the kitchen for a glass of water alerted me to the smell of almost burning sugar. If you want to know how much natural sugar is in a beetroot, cook it dry. The thick sticky syrup in the bottom of the pot has to be seen to be believed. I caught them in the nick of time, and so I think they can now be classed as almost sugar-free!

At the end of the day, my son decided that I needed to be treated to dinner at The Pickled Fish at Imhoff Farm. What a treat! I had the most fabulous Keralan (!?) Tiger Prawn Curry. A culinary delight, delicate yet full of flavour, not hot yet spicy, substantial but not too much. I can recommend it to everyone. We have eaten at the Pickled Fish many times and have yet to be disappointed.

So in the end it was a good day, and I've left a bowl of water and some fruit under the hedge for the porcupine to let him know there are no hard feelings. But if he keeps coming back, I'll trap him and relocate him to a mountain far, far away!