Our local supermarket has recently started to stock 'traditional' vegetables such as cow peas, madumbis, fresh root turmeric and other unidentifiable items. Today I took the opportunity to ask a young man who was selecting madumbis what they actually were and how you cooked them. His face split into a wide grin, showing a perfect set of white teeth, and he seemed so pleased to explain that they were like potatoes and that you had to boil them with the skins on and then peel them. They should be eaten with stews and curries, he said, and seasoned with salt and pepper and olive oil. His mother used to cook them for him in Durban, which means he is probably Zulu, and he said that only good cooks could make them properly without boiling them first! Apparently they are a bit grey when cooked, but are very nutritious, being the African yam. So I bought a couple and will let you know if it was worth it.
Getting back to the local birdlife, the field outside my kitchen window was quite lively today, with a very elegant black-headed heron stalking through the long grass in search of something tasty - a small snake perhaps - while nearby a small flock of francolins scratched in the undergrowth. I have watched this flock grow up from the time they hatched, being the size of R5 coins, and they all survived the crows and other hazards. They range up and down the road and sometimes when I am visiting my fishing friend they come into his house, as he throws out grain for them in the evenings. They are much more gentle birds than the raucous and somewhat stupid guineafowl, who are also prone to digging your lawn to shreds and pecking at the petunias.
The flu is passing by and I am just relaxing a bit, watching the tennis and doing a bit of this and that. Any exertion causes an increased heart rate, which is a side effect of flu and is not to be taken lightly. I hear that we are expecting more bad weather tomorrow, but as usual will wait and see whether it eventuates!
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