The Holiday Cactus

These plants are epiphytic cacti (plants which grow on other plants, but non-parasitically).
Over here, we know them as the Holiday Cactus.

I know a of a place nearby where they bloom every October.

They grow in hanging baskets in shady areas. 

They bloom in all sorts of colours and sizes and the show is truly spectacular!

Some of the more established plants have well over 70 flowers on them.

These are a series of collages of the ones that I managed to photograph this year. After this they will lose their flowers and return to their state of looking like a regular old cactus in a hanging basket. 

The show is well worth waiting a whole year for! 

Last Weekend...

We had sick animals.

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary

Played with the dog...

...and kicked the ball for her

We enjoyed the views of early summer...

...and the beautiful flowers

All for now.

Apple and sqaush bake- Thank you Mennonite Girls!

You might know about Meat Free Mondays. If not, you can read about it here http://www.supportmfm.org/

I was in search of a vegetarian recipe for Monday night's supper and decided to have a look on the Mennonite Girls can cook blog. I found a recipe for a lovely recipe veggie curry which you can find here http://mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com/2008/06/vegetable-curry.html
I made a curry, but used the veg I had in my fridge.

And I found a lovely side dish for Tuesday night's roast chicken. Apple and Squash bake. I used a butternut. I could not get hold of any peacans, but I decided to add some ground cinnamon and nutmeg. It was absolutely delicious and I will definitely be making it again! I even had an urge to eat it with vanilla custard!
You can find the recipe here http://mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com/2008/10/squash-and-apple-bake.html

Thank you to the Mennonite girls! I love your blog (and your individual blogs) and will be trying many more of your recipes in the future!

Bloggers block

I will attempt to blog on a more regular basis from now on, although I am a little unsure of content at times. I am still waiting for my light bulb moment. I'm not really sure I know where this blog is going. I have been told by more experienced bloggers, that the more I write, the more things will come to me, and the more my content will improve and that I should not think about things too hard.


I find reading other people's blogs very inspiring, but when I sit down and begin a new post, I tend to lose my mojo and wonder why I am doing this! Who could possibly be interested in what I have to say?! How can my blog I make a difference in someone else's life?

I have been thinking about it a bit, and some of the things I would like to achieve are to improve my descriptive writing. I often have all these creative thoughts and have no idea how to put them into words. I would like to showcase our beautiful country and perhaps make a positive difference in someone else's life, some how. These goals may change over time, but this is where I am at this point.

So, please bear with me on this journey. I hope that my content improves over time and that I do not bore you too much.

Dom

Back to normal

Greetings! Sorry for the long silence! It has been rather busy lately. I got married last month, and the months leading up to the wedding were quite busy and I could not focus on much else. Anyway, I am back now and am enjoying my life as a missus. The wedding was wonderful and our honeymoon was very relaxing. It took us about five days to come back down to Earth.

Summer is now in full swing and we have had some regular rain and some lovely thunder showers. Johannesburg is looking lovely, with a beautiful sea of green trees as far as the eye can see!

I am enjoying settling into our home and doing homey stuff. It's nice to be able to get back to doing the things I was doing before all the wedding planning. Hopefully I can finish one of my many projects before the end of the year.

That's all for now.

Spring is n the way!

Greetings!

Sorry for the long silence. The reason for this is that I am getting married in two months, so things have been rather busy with all the wedding preparations.
Well we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring. We have had enough of winter and cannot wait any longer. We do expect a few more cold snaps though. However, the trees all have buds on them and there are many flowers in bloom already. And the bees are already busy!

Anyway. Gotta run, but will make an effort to post more often. Until then, take care.

Unity in diversity- South Africa

Hello! It is very, very cold here! Seeing as my post today, has to be on something South African, the weather is cold and someone has requested a recipe. I will give you a potjie recipe!

A potjie (pronounced poykee), is a round, cast iron pot with three legs. One normally cooks a stew in it over the coals of a fire. If you can't get hold of a potjie, I am sure a normal pot on the stove would be fine, as long as you keep to the same method of preparing the food. 

Here is one of the very first recipes we tried. Remember, if you do not have a potjie, use a regular pot on the stove.

Recipe:

Beef Shin and three bean potjie

250 g kidney beans

250 g Haricot beans

1 litre cold water

15 ml cooking oil or olive oil

1.5 kg beef shin, sawn into thick slices

250 g pork belly, cut into pieces (keep rind on)

1 medium onion chopped

1x 410 g canned tomatoes, chopped

500 ml beef stock

10-15 ml salt

1 ml peri-peri or 1 small piece of chilli

250 g green beans

2 large Frankfurters 

Rinse dried beans thoroughly under cold water. Place in a number 2 potjie (or a smaller port on the stove) with 1 litre cold water and slowly bring to the boil. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, leave lid on and allow to soak for an hour.

Heat oil in a number 3 potjie (or a bigger pot). Add meat and brown. Add onion and sauté lightly until golden brown and transparent.  Drain beans (from potjie number 2) and place on top of the meat. Heat tomatoes, beef stock, salt and peri-peri or chilli and add to the meat. Cover with a lid and simmer for 2-2 and half hours or until meat is almost tender. Do not stir it. Top and tail green beans and place on top of the meat. Cut frankfurters into thick slices and place on top f beans.  Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes or until beans are just cooked but still crisp and the sausages heated through. Stir gently. This is a one pot meal and does not require any side dishes. 

Enjoy!