2014 - December - jazz and turkey dinner

On 14 December, we went to see a jazz show at Nelson Mandela Square Theatre.  Our dear friend, Tony Yoko, played the drums with some other fabulous people.   

We haven’t been to one of Tony’s shows in a while, so it was great fun!  And sitting on the square sipping coffee, its always interesting to watch the people. 

 At Piatto restaurant, we had some lovely food while watching the people on the square.

On 16 December, we went to a braai at Jurgen & Jenny’s house.  It was a ‘bring and braai’ and I took a lovely green salad.  Made with julienned carrots, julienned cucumber, cucumber slices, halved cherry tomatoes, feta cubes, tin of drained kernel corn and lettuce. 

There was a big turkey on the Weber and guess what?  I had the pope’s nose / parson’s nose / the turkey’s ‘tail’ piece.  I don’t really understand why people are grossed out over it ...  I mean most people will eat oxtail – and that’s also on the ‘back side’.  Anyway, that was just fantastic!!!  And on the picture you can see it was quite a nice size parson’s nose.

This Xmas we spent the day with my family.  My sister, husband, teen girls of 20 and 17, boy of 7 stays in Wonderboom, Pretoria.  They had her husband’s sister, her partner and 2 boys, 5 and 3, from Adelaide on a visit.  And my mom and dad.

We decided early on that we’re not going the normal xmas route.  So Hein made a beef shin pot with vegetables and my sister made a creamy chicken pot with vegetables.  My parents brought some hard-boiled eggs, meatballs and cheese viennas to nibble on.  Hein started his pot just after 8 am.  

The boys were splashing around in the pool and it was a glorious day.  It was lovely to catch up with the Adelaide family.  For dessert we only had a yummy trifle made by my niece and some of the sweets from my previous issue.  Late afternoon Hein and I drove back home, had a quick nap and then had vegetables for dinner. 

For the 31^st December, Marne & Jaco invited us to their house for a party.  Every couple had to bring a ‘lucky food’ dish.  For example:  pig is a ‘lucky food’, since it pushes forward, rooting itself in the ground before moving.  Fish is also lucky, cause in the older days before fridges / freezers, Cod could be salted and preserved. 

Any fowl is a no-no – cause it ‘flies away’.  Lobster is also not good, cause it move backwards and cause setbacks.  It was all very interesting.  I had to bake 2 corn breads, cause the golden colour is of course ‘lucky’.  I nearly had a meltdown, because my ovens were both freaking me out.  But I managed.

Some of the others brought black-eyed beans resembles money because of their shape.

Now Marne and Jaco are both avid cooks and experimenters.  (They went to a dinner and made parmesan ice cream to serve with Gazpacho soup!  Yum)  Anyway,  Jaco has this ‘Weber mountain smoker’ and he had a few pork bellies in it and some other yummy pieces of pork.  It smoked for quite a few hours and was deeeeeelish!!!!  There were 15 people, some old friends and some new faces.  It was just a nice relaxing party with goooooooooooooood food, goooooooooooooooooood conversation, good laughter and fun.   

Afterwards, there was a huge plate of grapes and we were supposed to eat 12 grapes – one for each month.  When we checked the time it was nearly midnight.  After good wishes, we carried on drinking coffee and loads of yummy chocolates and left close to 2!  Wow, rarely are we still awake at that time of night/morning.

Thank heavens we didn’t have any plans for the 1^st January – we just chilled at home.

On the 5^th January, everyone started work again and it was back to normal.

I am still knitting one beanie a day.  Some days I knit two beanies and skip the next day.  Hein tries to avoid the traffic in the morning, so he leaves early.  I then knit my beanie before I have to shower and go to the gym.

Ok, so my mug is empty and my fingers are complaining ... will chat again!

Alma