wine and wild dogs

Easter  weekend has been a joyful reunion with Bianca, Lorraine’s daughter, and her husband Ben, who have brought baby Ethan to Africa from Australia. First great grandchild for Dad. Great gramps has been so pleased, bonding with Ethan immediately and Ethan has been the most relaxed, smiling baby I’ve ever seen who has just travelled thousands of miles in a plane. After being used to holding the delicate little girls in our family, cuddling this solid little mass of wriggle-power feels like controlling a rugby ball!
Lorraine and Wayne, proud new grandparents, travelled from Binga.
Bolliti Misto was on the menu for a celebratory dinner Friday night. I simmered ox tongue, silverside and a whole fat chicken in stock with a clove-studded onion and celery, and served it with roasted cherry tomatoes from Steve and Clare’s garden and butternut risotto.
Kelli’s wonderful Christmas present to the whole family was a voucher for us to have a family photo shoot with a professional photographer friend of hers. Michelle hauled her cameras (and ladder for fun shots!) today, and we gathered in the Borrowdale garden , all dressed in white shirts, for our photographic debut with Ethan……..
Can not wait to see the photos, although sadly Clive could not be here due to work pressures. Glenn and family have been tied to Senuko, so their presence was also lacking.
Tonight Kelli and Michele have accompanied Bianca, Ben, baby Ethan and Bianca’s dearest friend Robyn, to Coimbra for peri peri chicken. I have made a chicken omelette for Dad and we have retired early,  happy with the lovely day we have just had.

This morning the three baby starlings flapped and pooped with increased enthusiasm,  until one took the plunge and dived for the opening of the roof where the parents have been vociferously encouraging them from. Success as out he flew into the bright light of day. One of the others not so lucky, he misjudged and fell to the floor of our bedroom, where I  later found Dzidzi , our jack russel terrier,  mouthing him. He was dead to the world. Sad that all that effort on the part of his parents came to nought. The other flew I know not when, but I have since seen the two surviving chicks happily fluffed on a branch outside the room, being fed red fruits from a vine that grows nearby and generally being fussed over by the parents.

Jade and Rayne are coming to visit this evening after a week of school. I have started a dress- up box for them. Have heaped old scarves, belts and shiny stuff for capes into my grandfathers’ old box trunk which stands in our lounge. Added a miniature wedding dress which Bianca then Kelli used to dress up, which I have kept in the attic until today. My mum made for it me to play in when I was 6. I know they will be so excited, and they will probably play the drums excellently in our lounge as part of the dance show they will immediately devise in their new regalia.
I shall boil eggs and stuff them for the little girls, for an early theatre supper …yummy !

Cajun-spiced Stuffed Eggs

Ingredients:

Eggs – 6 hard boiled
Mayonnaise
Cajun spice mix – 1 teaspoon or more if you like it spicier. See recipe below.
Salt

Method:

Hard boil and half the eggs length ways. Scoop out the yolk and mash it with mayonnaise and Cajun spice mix to taste. ( Less cajun spice in the eggs the little ones will get!) Add salt as necessary. Pile the yolks back into the white shells and serve on a bed of coleslaw .

Coleslaw

Ingredients:
Cabbage – 2 cups finely shredded
Carrot – 1 cup grated
Apple – 1 cup grated (skin and all)
Mayonnaise – 1/2 cup mixed to creamy consistency with milk, and salt and pepper to taste
Trail mix – 1 cup (including delicious nuts,raisins,sunflower and pumpkin seeds)

Method:

Mix cabbage, carrot and apple with mayonnaise. Stir in trail mix.

Cajun spice mix

Ingredients:

Paprika – 1/2 cup
Cayenne pepper – 1 and 1/2 tablespoons
Black pepper – 1/4 cup
Onion powder –  2 tablespoons
Garlic powder – 2 tablespoons

Method:

Combine spices thoroughly, store  in a jar in a cool place.

This morning’s sunrise at Tsavene is a soft glow of clear yellow in a clear sky, a gentle start to the day with freshly ground coffee sitting in bed, after I have let the dogs out of the back door.
Shortly comes the expected rude awakening and an explosion of excited squawks as the female Red winged starling arrives breathlessly over our heads to feed her three hulking babies their breakfast. Nesting above our heads in the wooden beam, these teenagers need to GO. Fly the coop. I have had enough of their prolific poops and cacaphony. Side-stepping the mound of fecal sacs, dismembered Armoured land -crickets and other splurge below their nest, I escape the noisy bedroom and spend the morning sketching a painting-three African wild dogs leaping exuberantly across the large canvas.
Five o’clock wake ups make for long working hours, and by noon I am starving.

Clive and I get busy and create lunch.

Thai Chicken noodle stir fry with coconut, garlic and ginger sauce:

Ingredients:

1 or 2 cups of chicken, shredded off the carcass of a whole bird which has been slow-simmered in water, with onion, garlic and chillies added.
(After simmering a whole chicken in water, together with an onion and a bay leaf, chopped garlic and a couple of bruised whole red chillies, I had jointed and removed the legs and thighs to use in the Chicken Gumbo that I made yesterday.)
Chicken stock – 4 to 6 cups, depending on whether you want more sauce in the end result.
Coconut cream – 1cup
Salt
Pepper
Egg noodles – 4 portions dried noodles
Carrots – 2cut into long thin strips
Onion – 1 cut into half slices
Garlic- 4 cloves, crushed
Ginger- 1 inch piece, grated
Red chillies -2 small  hot ones
Green pepper – 1cut into long thin strips

Method:

Simmer chicken, stock and salt and pepper in a saucepan, together with the egg noodles, until the egg noodles, about 10 minutes, until the noodles are nearly soft enough to eat. Do not let them get too soft and mushy!

Meanwhile heat a tablespoon vegetable oil in a wok and add Carrot, Onion, Garlic, Ginger,Red chillies, Green pepper. Stir until vegetables are softened but not over-cooked.

Add the chicken noodle mixture to the wok, giving it a final stir and checking for seasoning. Heap the aromatic mix into a deep soup plate and enjoy.

(Thai people use forks and spoons for their saucy curries, and you can do the same. Or use chopsticks and Chinese spoons as the mood takes you. You can add a finely crushed stalk of lemon grass to the simmering soup stock for extra authentic Thai flavour.)