on the mountain with Juno

Last week I went up Table Mountain for lunch with the Shillington/Grimsrud/Kusler families. It was a seriously beautiful summer day in Cape Town.

It was also hot as heck. Very hot and very sunny. Sunburn central.

Anyhoo, before too long it was nap time for Juno but at midday on top of the mountain there wasn't much in the way of shade. Her parents, being the resourceful folks they are, made a plan.

She slept like a baby, which luckily comes naturally. After lunch Junerific entertained us with her new funny faces and fledgling straw skills.

Love that face at the end!

holiday retrospective

Brace yourself...this is going to be a lengthy and picture-filled post.

Way back in December, which feels like ages ago now, we kicked off our holidays with a trip to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for Carols by Candlelight with our friends Linda and Anna & Graham (and Juno, who was dressed as an elf). We picnicked, watched the sun go down, lit our candles, and sang our little hearts out.

Christmas Eve found us with the entire Crede family for a massive feast that concluded with all sorts of treats not the least of which was Sarah and Andreas' rumtopf. Christmas day began with breakfast with Sarah, Andreas, Hannah, Dave and Sue. We chowed, popped the homemade Christmas crackers Sarah made, and then went inside for presents and stockings. Later that afternoon we had a massive braai (BBQ) with the Credes and then went home to spend the next 12 hours digesting.

I sewed Hannah a super girl cape for one of her pressies

Part of our Christmas present to the family was a three course brunch on Boxing Day. The food was great, but playing with Hannah was probably the best part.

To end Boxing Day Brendan and I went up Table Mountain in the cable car. The table cloth (cloud cover on the mountain) was coming in thick, but that didn't stop us from enjoying some tea and dessert up at the top. I also saw my first dassies on the mountain. Did you know these little whipper snappers are the closest living relative of the elephant? Well now you do.

And then there was New Years Eve. Brendan and I got up at 5:30am and zooted up to Langebaan (about an hour and a half up the coast) to have breakfast with Anna, Elke, Graham, Dan and Juno. I baked us a pumpkin pie and we all over-indulged in true celebratory fashion, because eating croissants, brie, ham, and bubbly alone simply wasn't enough. After that all the menfolk went off kite surfing and the womenfolk (and babyfolk) went up to Paternoster (a town a bit further up the coast I have likened to a very windy, Afrikaans Greece) for lunch at Oep ve Koep. And oh what a lunch it was. I'm still dreaming about it. By 3:30pm Big B and I were zooming back to Cape Town to host the fam that night for a New Years Eve feast. We served baked camembert with a tomato pesto, caprese skewers, and prosciutto, ricotta and roast tomato nests for starters. This was followed by a chilled cucumber soup. The main course was an Asian vegetable stir fry, peanut noodles, and surf & turf (sesame crusted seared tuna and steak). For dessert there were mini rhubarb and custard souffles. It all went down a treat. We played some Taboo to pass the time until midnight, and got to ring in 2012 with Ant and Kate joining us on skype. Brendan and I ended the night by grabbing a glass of champagne and walking down to the ocean. We talked about all the excitement in store for 2012, which we have deemed our rock star year. Our three month South American adventure is now less than a month away. We will move into our house in May. We hope to travel to the States in July to see friends and family, and perhaps to Turkey in September (cross those fingers!). I'm going to start a new job and have the goal of running a half marathon. Brendan is going to keep churning out the publications and might just run that half marathon with me. Next Christmas will likely find us in York with the MB fam and hopefully next New Years Eve we will be in Paris, smooching under the Eiffel Tower. Oh la la! And even if half of these things don't happen, 2012 is still going to be one rockin year...I can just feel it.

Paternoster lunch spot

amuse bouche: calamari bobotie

watermelon gazpacho

sandveld potato dumplings with mushrooms, dune spinach, almonds and pine nuts

nectarine pavlova

mini rhubarb souffles

an app to facilitate our countdown to 2012

Happy New Year!

And on the morning of January 1, 2012 what was the first thing I ate? Leftover pumpkin pie in bed. Any year has to be a good one when your first food is pie!

Happy New Year to one and all! Here's to every plan and goal and dream coming to fruition!

xx

Thanksgiving 2011

Last night Brendan and I stood with ten friends and family members, held hands around the incredible feast we were moments away from tucking into, and each of us spent a few moments verbalizing the things we gave thanks for this year. I love this tradition. I am, as always, so thankful for health and happiness, the many people whom I love and who love me in return, beautiful sights and sounds, delicious food, and a partner who is really just so dadgum wonderful. This year Brendan and I gave an extra special thankfulness shout-out for the house we bought this week! We are (soon to be) the proud owners of the lovely Victorian cottage we had been living in since our arrival in Cape Town last year. We move back in next May upon our return from our three month South American adventure.  The universe is smiling upon us in a big way.

In the mean time, here are some Thanksgiving highlights. We had a grand ol' party and I'm so thankful to everyone who made it possible (and to the dishwasher for handling the bulk of the clean up)!

Coldplay recap

Coldplay was amazing. It was a great mix of intense (fast songs, strobe lights, fireworks being set off from the roof of the stadium) and mellow (since plenty of their music has a slow, melancholy vibe). I was a happy little concert goer as I heard all three songs I had my Coldplay-loving heart set on. Here are some clips.

Cloth

Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary, the cloth anniversary. The bulk of our celebrations of marital bliss took place on Saturday, though, when we went out to the Warwick wine estate for a Big 5 wine safari, wine tasting, and gourmet picnic. We were lucky enough to have *pristine* weather, which made the day feel all the more festive. The safari was a hoot. Eight of us rode around in a big Land Rover type thing and we "spotted" the big five wine grape varietals. We now know that:

cabernet sauvignon = lion (bold flavor)
cabernet franc = elephant (a taste you'll remember for a long time)
merlot = leopard (subtle taste)
pinotage = buffalo (very strong, aggressive flavor)
sauvignon blanc = rhino (distinctive nose)

We rode up to the top of the vineyard to enjoy the views of both Table Mountain and Paarl Rock and have a glass of sauvignon blanc.

see the silhouette of Table Mountain in the background?

Once we hunkered down in our lovely picnic spot, we gave pressies and feasted.

We both did our best to include the traditional gift of cloth. I gave Brendan some honey and coconut coated apple rings, a t-shirt I put a funky design onto, and a Kindle with a hand-sewn cloth cover. I got a gorgeous hot pink Le Creuset mug, a meter of block printed fabric I have been lusting over from a shop in Kalk Bay (I am open to suggestions for what it should be turned into!), and a pair of lovely heart-shaped earrings. The picnic was scrumptious: caponata salad, sun dried tomato puree, green bean and feta salad, salami, camembert, cheddar, smoked salmon with buttermilk dill dressing, two loaves of ciabatta bread, biltong and brandy pate, smoked smoek pate, and dark chocolate brownies for dessert. Yum.

Last night, we enjoyed a bottle of Spice Route pinotage (served at our wedding) with some sesame-crusted seared tuna steaks and sushi rice salad.

Then we scooted down the road to share a mini lemon meringue with Anna & Graham. I love having wonderful neighbors. All in all, it was a great start to what will be an exciting third year!

Coldplay!

Tonight we are off to see Coldplay live at the Cape Town Stadium and couldn't be more thrilled. Have a look and listen to the video for one of the singles off their new album. I'm loving this song!

(And if a message pops up saying the content is restricted just follow the link to watch it on You Tube)

this week

On Monday the MB parents left Cape Town to go back home. We had a wonderful two week visit during which, among other things, we celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary (!!) with a very special dinner.

On Tuesday I made some heavenly macaroons. The simple coconut kind, not the fancy and incredibly complicated French almond kind. I'll take simple over complicated any day. In need of a macaroon? Just ask Becky Brown.

On Wednesday I got stuck in an hour of Cape Town rush hour traffic (something I am wholly un-used to) and resigned myself to the fact that this will be the story of my life for the next five Wednesdays while I conduct a workshop out of town. But my oh my, what a view to be stuck with.

On Thursday Brendan called me out onto our porch to see the rainbow over our neighborhood. These beauties are a wonderful byproduct of our rainy winters. I also channelled my inner Julia Child and made the most *EPIC* and delicious boeuf bourguignon. The six hours of effort were fully worth it.

And today is Friday. We are going out for a big sushi supper. Life is good.

Becky Brown, best in town

It is because I love cooking and baking,
because so many friends/family members have encouraged my efforts,
because it's nice to have an outlet for creativity,
and because it just seemed like it would be fun...

that Becky Brown is here!

If you're in Cape Town and would like delicious home-baked goodies made to order, just ask Becky Brown. Call 076-588-9530, email becky.brown.baking@gmail.com, or visit beckybrown.moonfruit.com.

3 things

Tomorrow I begin the Great Northern Hemisphere Tour of 2011. There will be visits with friends & family, hot weather (at least once I get to the US), oodles of good food & wine, a special wedding, belated, future, and on-time birthdays to celebrate, a reunion with Big B who left nearly two weeks ago, and a birthday of note for yours truly. I'm beside myself with excitement. I'm even taking my famous guava swirl cheesecake on the road, where it will be making guest appearances in York and ol' Virginny with the two fams. Good times.

But before I say adieu for now, here are three quick stories of the recent goings-on around here.

Brendan has been an all star in the birthday department (which will be getting its own post next month). We went away to Franschhoek a few weekends back for a pre-bday celebration as I won't be seeing him until after the big day. Among the many wonderful gifties I received were two pizza baking trays, thus ensuring Brendan with an abundance of my absolute favorite savory treat food for years to come. I wanted to take the trays for a test drive before he left, so I dug out a pizza crust recipe and got to work. However, being winter here, it was a cold, drizzly day and I was nervous the dough wouldn't rise properly. Time for Plan B: I filled a hot water bottle, rested the dough bowl on top, tucked it into our bed, swaddled it with the duvet, and voila! Parker and I might have crawled under the covers to spoon the bowl, enjoy the warmth, and have a nap at some stage too. The end result was delish. I highly recommend the snuggle-your-dough-to-make-it-rise method.

On said weekend away we came to possess about 30 lemons. I'm not going to go into details about how these lemons came to join us, but let it suffice to say they became ours after a champagne tasting at the Graham Beck Estate*. After a few glasses of pre-lunch champagne, anything sounds like a great idea. So last weekend I made lemon curd with my friend Annabelle. It is tart and bright yellow and the next best thing to sunshine on a winter's day.

*As an aside, the Graham Beck Brut was the sparkly stuff we served at our wedding in Connecticut AND it was the bubbles of choice for Obama's inauguration. I can't believe he took our idea. I bet he gave our wire beaded animals as favors too.

Finally, a lesson in parenting. When asked what he wanted for his birthday, or nephew James asked for a dog. Kate, being the generous mom that she is, responded that James could have Digger. James was thrilled. Digger is her parents' dog, who lives in South Africa (while Ant, Kate, James & Matt live in England). James is now a proud "owner" of a dog that his parents never have to care for. Best parenting move ever! To continue this trend, Brendan and I decided to give him a "cat", so James got a large printout of Parker to call his very own. As James prefers chats with Parker to us on Skype, this seemed a great plan. So Parker now lives a double life, and James got two pets for his birthday. 

Enjoy the rest of June. Have a glass of champagne on the 23rd for the youngest looking 30 year old around!

birthday party

Our friends Trevor and Jahro have been in Cape Town for the last ten days. You might remember them from the post that went up after we visited them in Canada before our move. Jahro turned three on Tuesday, so we decided to make full use of the election day holiday and throw him a birthday bash. The birthday boy has a beloved hedgehog toy (aptly named Hedgie) so I decided to make him a Hedgie cake.

Hegdie was a delicious almond cake with chocolate frosting and almond sliver spines. Jahro rocked up in a clown suit ready to party with Hedgie.

"Happy birthday" was sung, a wish was made, candles were blown out.

Then it was chow time. Jahro wanted the head. Later he came back to eat Hedgie's bum.

I think he liked it. 

For his birthday, Brendan and I gave Jahro a real South African vuvuzela. People who don't have kids can do such things and vaguely get away with it. We'll see if Trevor and Dale are still on speaking terms with us in a month. 

Happy Birthday Jahro!