Birthday celebration

Today I attended the 1st birthday celebration of my great-nephew, Alexander. He was born on 11 November 2011, believed to be a most auspicious day in the cosmic evolution. I like to think that he is going to turn out to be a remarkable person who will leave a worthy legacy for generations to come.

In the meantime, he is a very sturdy child, contented and easygoing and a very good traveller. He has already been to Spain and been the youngest guest at his uncle's wedding in Marbella, and I can tell you from personal experience that he took it all in his stride, or rather the length of his pram. His mother handled all the details with aplomb, and there was nowhere that Alexander wasn't to be seen; even the pram is in the beach pictures. How marvellous to have the conveniences of today that enable you to travel with small children - imagine how difficult it must have been before the age of disposable nappies - dragging a sterinappi bucket with you?!

He has the darkest eyelashes I have ever seen (looks like mascara) and the deepest blue eyes any boy could wish for, and I believe there is an awful lot of wisdom in that young head - he is one of the new generation of children who are going to change the world for the better. This is something I just know. Look at this photo and see what you think.

Gallivanting with Granny

My grandmother was a remarkable woman. Devoted to her four daughters to the exclusion of all others, she was not an easy granny, and it is unfortunate that, although she died when she was 86, it was only afterwards that we began to become more tolerant of her personality and understand that everyone must be allowed to be themselves without having to conform to what you expect they should be - especially when the family traits began to show in other members of the family! If I had known she had so many stories to tell, I would have taken the time to ask her about them, but fortunately my mother has imparted many of them, which should surely be recorded for posterity.

She was a talented artist, pianist and card-player, and doubtless her artistic bent can be used to explain away   her apparent forgetfulness in the course of daily life. The following story I found particularly delightful:

Living in Kalk Bay at the time, Granny decided to visit her sister-in-law, who lived in Clifton. She got into her little car (we are talking about 72 years ago), taking her youngest daughter with her (the others were at school) and set off along the primitive road that crossed the Fish Hoek valley and wound over Chapman's Peak, through Hout Bay, up over to Llandudno, along the coast to Camps Bay and at last Clifton. This was no small journey.

No sooner had she arrived than she remembered she had left a pot of soup on the stove, and immediately got back in the car and drove straight back home! What a marvellous way to live!

Sandy story

Well, as I predicted in my blog the other day, nature was inhaling during the brief respite we had from the wind, and now she is exhaling like a student at a Qi Gong breathing class. Sand is blowing from the beaches of the Peninsula to form new beaches in places no one ever thought the beach would reach.

Before the advent of settlements in the Fish Hoek valley, where the natural to and fro movement of the dunes according to the prevailing seasons was unhindered, a strandloper gathering shellfish might have been irritated by the stinging sand on his legs, but would have accepted it for what it was. Now that we have built railway lines and roads across the broad expanse of shifting sand, we have altered the free flow forever. It is not unknown for sand to reach as far as the Main Road through Fish Hoek or for the railway line to be completely covered after a good blow.

In Hout Bay, the dunes are reclaiming buildings which have been erected too close to the beach and even the round around the harbour would be reclaimed in only a few years if the sand wasn't regularly taken back to the beach in a truck. This beach supplied the sand for the dunes which stretched up the mountainside and over to Sandy Bay, returning with the north west gales of winter. All of this has been covered in townhouses and high density housing. Those unfortunate enough to live in this natural path of dune formation must spit grit most of the time and wonder why they are living there!

A visit to the local museum of the history of the valley will show cars being pushed through deep drift sands in the early 20th century before roads were built or 4x4s invented. How ironic that we needed the 4x4s before the roads existed, and now that we have smooth tarred roads, we should be driving the little thin-tyred cars of those early days, but 4x4s predominate, most of which have never seen a dirt track, let alone been bogged down in drift sand. We seem to have got it all the wrong way round.

Weird weather for November

An eerie stillness has settled over the Peninsula. After days of howling wind from the south east, as is expected in November, the past four days have been windless, a gentle drift from the south west. It is almost as though nature is pausing between breaths, having let it all out, and is preparing to inhale again before lashing us with another gale. The clouds have formed and vapourised, formed and vapourised, sometimes as ice clouds high up and at other times almost fog. And intermittently, there is blue sky and the sun, which is currently the most dangerous thing around, scorches down on us with an intensity not experienced in the northern hemisphere, where the ozone layer still protects more efficiently. In between, the drift from the sea is icy, necessitating warmer clothing. In November!

The Atlantic is glassy and pale grey, with no swell, allowing the tuna skiboats to skim across the water at maximum speed, not something they can do very often. On the False Bay side, the sea is crystal clear and the colour of a pale green bottle. You would be able to spot a great white shark coming from Seal Island!

People are starting to wonder what has happened to the weather. It's probably a demonstration of what to expect in the future - the unexpected. In the meantime, we Capetonians can enjoy a respite from the wind and keep our doors and windows open without fear of having the contents of our houses blown out through the back door!

More quick and easy recipes

Tonight we are having baked chicken. Every day my son phones to ask what's for supper. I always say baked chicken and then he can be surprised, because it's always different, depending on what I decide at the last minute. Even now I haven't quite settled on the recipe.  Here are the alternatives:

1. Mix 1 cup tomato sauce, 1 cup chutney, 1/2 cup syrup, 2 Tblsp worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Add chilli to taste if liked. Place chicken pieces in a casserole, cover with sauce and tin foil, bake for 30 minutes at 180 deg C, take off foil and cook another 15 minutes until brown and crisp. Serve with rice and salad or peas, carrots and squash. This is my personal preference. You may eat what you like!

2. Mix 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup mayonnaise, 1 cup chutney. Chop an onion and place in the bottom of a casserole, top with chicken pieces and pour sauce over. Follow instructions as above.

3. Put chicken pieces in casserole. Cut some large potatoes into wedges and place among the chicken. Mix a tablespoon of hot Durban chilli paste with some oil and brush over the chicken and potatoes. Bake without tinfoil.

4. If you don't want something so rich, do the chicken and onion and potato wedges bit, then sprinkle lavishly with salt and Herbs de Provence (a delectable mix of rosemary, thyme, oreganum, parsley and winter savory that I get from a friend in France or if I am there myself). Bake without tinfoil.

Hmmm. I think No. 2 tonight. Better get going...

The simple life

With the world in the state of disarray and impending chaos that it is in, and which you and I don't seem to be able to make our voices heard over the ka-ching of cash registers in the back office of big business, a return to the simple life seems more and more attractive.

We are constantly bombarded with adverts exhorting us to aspire to greater and greater degrees of material possession, but with that comes the albatross of increased subservience to the financial system, which owns everything you think you own, and can take it away from you in the blink of an eye if you fail to make two payments. More people than you think are two paydays away from the street. So next time you see a homeless person sleeping under a bridge or a scruffy individual with a cardboard sign at a traffic light, imagine yourself in that position and you may realise how tenuous your link to the good life is.

Now for the good news. It is possible to rid yourself of the 'trap'pings of commercialism without actually physically suffering. Your mental attitude is your own problem, but that too can be fixed by you. Take the time to sit under a tree and look at the sky through the leaves - no thoughts are required and you may not even know that you have benefited in any way, but whether you like it or not, your soul has been restored and your body rejuvenated. It matters not what you believe in, but communing with nature, and this doesn't mean talking to it, is a natural restorative that costs nothing but your time. Only you can know how valuable that is.

Working barefoot in the garden is another great way to release stress, as long as you don't stress over dirty toenails! Although a manicured (funny how that came up) lawn is the socially accepted norm, and a neglected garden is seen as uncared for, if you look closely, you may notice that even weeds have beautiful flowers and something down among their leaves is finding it useful in some way. Imagine a meadow of wild flowers in place of a lawn that needs to be cut and fed and watered continually. The financial implications of maintaining a showpiece garden are not inconsiderable either. Who needs the stress? Indigenous is the way to go, failing which, whatever seems happy with the least possible attention is fine by me.

You may think that this train of thought is inspired by experience, and you may well be right there, but life only turns up events designed to allow you to learn from them - you can choose how you react to such events.

I choose the simple life!

Peppered steak for dinner

From time to time, I treat the family to my peppered steak for dinner. It's not really mine, just my version of a very basic but mouthwatering recipe, if you are inclined towards eating large quantities of red meat and rich sauce over a pile of crispy chips. I sometimes just have the sauce part over some vegetables, as red meat and potatoes don't really feature high on my menu. Here it is:

Take a large rump steak, about 500g (enough for two) and roll it in crushed black pepper, not too fine. Heat a large pan (preferably quite deep as the sauce needs to boil) and drop in about 100g of butter (not margarine or oil). As soon as it is melted, throw the steak in and sear on one side for a few minutes, then turn over and do the other side. Cook until it is as you prefer it - best is medium-rare to ensure that the meat is not dried out and inedible. Before it is quite the way you like it, remove from the pan and put on a plate to rest (it will continue cooking, so be aware of that) under a lid or tinfoil.

Immediately throw 500ml of fresh cream into the pan, together with a good swig (1/2 cup) of medium cream sherry or brandy (or even port if you're desperate) and bring it all to the boil, stirring frequently and most importantly, draw down the sides as that part cooks the quickest. It will take about 5 minutes before the sauce is reduced to a thick brown glossiness, and it must not be left unattended, as there is a crucial point where the whole lot separates into two parts which are irretrievable and will have to be thrown away! The ideal point is where it just lightly coats the back of a spoon.

In the meantime, your magic wand has produced the crispiest chips and laid them, together with the steak, on warmed plates. The sauce produces a generous portion for 4 people and is guaranteed to become a favourite!

I'm off to make it now...