The adventures in becoming a domestic goddess are continuing!
Last night, I was invited to a South African meal, hosted by my South African neighbor, and attended by two South African friends, myself and British Jackie. Of course, being the considerate guest that I am, asked what could I bring to contribute towards the meal. Philip, my neighbor, asked me to bring Beer Bread (a fancy cowboy recipe from my Montanan buddy Grace) and also to cook some funky wheat thing. The Beer Bread was no problem, though I did have to send an urgent SOS text message to Uganda to get the recipe from said Montanan. Thankfully, the recipe came on time and I was able to bake a lovely loaf of beer bread. The recipe was supposed to just take 1 can of beer, but the dough was amazingly sticky after adding just one can, so I opened a second can of Heineken and poured about 1/4th of that in there, too. The rest of the Heineken... well, we won't talk about what happened to that :)
Unfotunately, I learned that you're not supposed to wrap warm-ish bread in plastic, because it makes the crust tough. Who knew? I just knew that I didn't want the dust or the flies to land on my bread, nor did I want Zane to get curious about it! But I ended up with some pretty chewy crust :(
Anyway, I also had to cook this South African pearl wheat barley thing. Philip had made it for us for a BBQ a few months ago, and I raved about it. It was so good! So he brought me some from S. Africa, and then asked me to bring some for the meal last night. He gave me verbal instructions on how to cook it, but I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about cooking a South African specialty for a group of South Africans, after never even having seen it cooked before!
But I bravely squared my shoulders and figured that it couldn't be THAT hard! And in fact, it wasn't hard - you just boil the water with a bit of salt and thow in these wheat kernals. Philip had told me to put in about a handful for each person. So I did. And I boiled. And I simmered. And I boiled some more. They were supposed to boil for about an hour, according to the package directions and Philip. But after an hour - there didn't seem to be a whole lot of wheaty stuff and it was a bit crunchy. So I boiled it for a few more minutes, but then figured, well, they all said 1 hour, so...
I took it out of the pot, put some butter on it, and served it up in a little bowl (a little bowl, because there wasn't that much of it!). My good natured South African friends informed me, though, that it probably could have cooked for another 30 minutes to make it good and soft and big and fluffy! Anyway, they appreciated my first try at it.
And there was more than enough lamb stew from a giant cast iron pot to go around, even with a meager portion of wheaty-thing. Man, was it every good. The meat was just falling off the bones and tasted a bit like my granny's pot roast! I ate so much! Then we had nice coffee and banana bread (which I had also baked, and only burned slightly on the bottom :( ) for dessert.
The best part about it was that we ate outside on the patio at my nieghbor's house. She has been doing so much gardening, and the garden looks beautiful - flowers, herbs, veggies, and little bits of artistic things strewn about. The garden is just so pretty and it was lovely to sit outside and enjoy a good meal with friends.
Today, since it was a bit cooler and overcast, I figured it was a good day to play in my own garden. The paths have become so overgrown with weeds in the past few weeks, that I was getting bitten by bugs every time I went out there to do any watering or anything. Plus, since I found that last snake in the garden, I have been fearing walking through the long weeds when I go out there, especially in the evenings. So my goal today was to clear some pathways through the weeds so I can get to the areas that are planted.
Man, that was a LOT of work. Even though it was cooler and overcast (and probably only about 30C), it was humid, and I was sweating! Swinging the hoe and pulling the weeds... phew. I was wearing a pair of gloves, which was a very good thing, because I came across some seriously crazy looking insects as I hacked my way through the weeds and pulled out the roots! At one point, some tiny little red things started biting my toes, but I managed to dance around they left me alone. I finally had to quit when my arms started breaking out in a crazy itchy red rash! But I did achieve the goal of making some paths and clearing through some of the brush. While I was out there, I also harvested some leaves to cook up into a little veggie side dish for our potluck tonight! I was rather excited to be able to bring an offering that came straight from my garden :)
However, my domestic goddesity still has one flaw - the gardening gloves and garden tools are stored in Richard's house while he's away. And while I was in there getting the tools today, I smelled a smell that makes me want to run away - something has died somewhere in that house :( If I were a true domestic goddess, I would sweep out the corners, move the bed and the chairs, and sweep that dead something right out of there. But I really fear coming across a very dead something. And by the smell of it, it is very dead.
I might go and ask for assistance tomorrow from a real domestic goddess - one of the women who works in the guesthouse! If I have some moral support, I can face that dead rat... I think!
By the way, no luck yet on trapping my own house-rat. I still hear him scampering in the ceiling, but he hasn't been caught in the trap yet.
Last night, I was invited to a South African meal, hosted by my South African neighbor, and attended by two South African friends, myself and British Jackie. Of course, being the considerate guest that I am, asked what could I bring to contribute towards the meal. Philip, my neighbor, asked me to bring Beer Bread (a fancy cowboy recipe from my Montanan buddy Grace) and also to cook some funky wheat thing. The Beer Bread was no problem, though I did have to send an urgent SOS text message to Uganda to get the recipe from said Montanan. Thankfully, the recipe came on time and I was able to bake a lovely loaf of beer bread. The recipe was supposed to just take 1 can of beer, but the dough was amazingly sticky after adding just one can, so I opened a second can of Heineken and poured about 1/4th of that in there, too. The rest of the Heineken... well, we won't talk about what happened to that :)
Unfotunately, I learned that you're not supposed to wrap warm-ish bread in plastic, because it makes the crust tough. Who knew? I just knew that I didn't want the dust or the flies to land on my bread, nor did I want Zane to get curious about it! But I ended up with some pretty chewy crust :(
Anyway, I also had to cook this South African pearl wheat barley thing. Philip had made it for us for a BBQ a few months ago, and I raved about it. It was so good! So he brought me some from S. Africa, and then asked me to bring some for the meal last night. He gave me verbal instructions on how to cook it, but I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about cooking a South African specialty for a group of South Africans, after never even having seen it cooked before!
But I bravely squared my shoulders and figured that it couldn't be THAT hard! And in fact, it wasn't hard - you just boil the water with a bit of salt and thow in these wheat kernals. Philip had told me to put in about a handful for each person. So I did. And I boiled. And I simmered. And I boiled some more. They were supposed to boil for about an hour, according to the package directions and Philip. But after an hour - there didn't seem to be a whole lot of wheaty stuff and it was a bit crunchy. So I boiled it for a few more minutes, but then figured, well, they all said 1 hour, so...
I took it out of the pot, put some butter on it, and served it up in a little bowl (a little bowl, because there wasn't that much of it!). My good natured South African friends informed me, though, that it probably could have cooked for another 30 minutes to make it good and soft and big and fluffy! Anyway, they appreciated my first try at it.
And there was more than enough lamb stew from a giant cast iron pot to go around, even with a meager portion of wheaty-thing. Man, was it every good. The meat was just falling off the bones and tasted a bit like my granny's pot roast! I ate so much! Then we had nice coffee and banana bread (which I had also baked, and only burned slightly on the bottom :( ) for dessert.
The best part about it was that we ate outside on the patio at my nieghbor's house. She has been doing so much gardening, and the garden looks beautiful - flowers, herbs, veggies, and little bits of artistic things strewn about. The garden is just so pretty and it was lovely to sit outside and enjoy a good meal with friends.
Today, since it was a bit cooler and overcast, I figured it was a good day to play in my own garden. The paths have become so overgrown with weeds in the past few weeks, that I was getting bitten by bugs every time I went out there to do any watering or anything. Plus, since I found that last snake in the garden, I have been fearing walking through the long weeds when I go out there, especially in the evenings. So my goal today was to clear some pathways through the weeds so I can get to the areas that are planted.
Man, that was a LOT of work. Even though it was cooler and overcast (and probably only about 30C), it was humid, and I was sweating! Swinging the hoe and pulling the weeds... phew. I was wearing a pair of gloves, which was a very good thing, because I came across some seriously crazy looking insects as I hacked my way through the weeds and pulled out the roots! At one point, some tiny little red things started biting my toes, but I managed to dance around they left me alone. I finally had to quit when my arms started breaking out in a crazy itchy red rash! But I did achieve the goal of making some paths and clearing through some of the brush. While I was out there, I also harvested some leaves to cook up into a little veggie side dish for our potluck tonight! I was rather excited to be able to bring an offering that came straight from my garden :)
However, my domestic goddesity still has one flaw - the gardening gloves and garden tools are stored in Richard's house while he's away. And while I was in there getting the tools today, I smelled a smell that makes me want to run away - something has died somewhere in that house :( If I were a true domestic goddess, I would sweep out the corners, move the bed and the chairs, and sweep that dead something right out of there. But I really fear coming across a very dead something. And by the smell of it, it is very dead.
I might go and ask for assistance tomorrow from a real domestic goddess - one of the women who works in the guesthouse! If I have some moral support, I can face that dead rat... I think!
By the way, no luck yet on trapping my own house-rat. I still hear him scampering in the ceiling, but he hasn't been caught in the trap yet.
1 comment:
hopefully that dead something is the rat from your house :)
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