Tea Time

Because South Africa was one time an English colony, there is, of course, a lot of English influence there. One custom I really enjoyed was having tea. I'm actually more of a coffee drinker, but I loved the tea rituals. They say that if you're visiting in some one's home for longer than thirty minutes and you haven't been offered tea, you should feel insulted.

The tea is always served in bone China cups and saucers, usually with matching cake plates. And the tea spoons and cake forks are so cute. They are very dainty and much smaller than our tea spoons and dessert forks. With the tea comes "biscuits" (cookies), cakes or scones with jam and cream. Depending on the occasion, the "spread" can be modest or elaborate.

When I returned to the States, I brought sets of the forks and spoons which I continue to use today. I also brought a set of bone China tea sups, saucers and cake plates, as well as a coffee set. (They didn't use coffee mugs when I was there). Whenever I serve tea or coffee in these I hear a lot of "oohs and ahhs" from the women, who really seem to enjoy them. Men probably think they are too dainty.

And of course, these lovely pieces are placed on a tray that has been covered with a tray cloth. These are beautiful pieces of linen, often embroidered and also dainty -- a suitable object on which to display the beautiful dishes.

Tea time in South Africa is a quite formal, enticing and enjoyable custom which I do miss.

Swimming with Penguins

For a truly unique experience at the beach, how would you like to go swimming with penguins?


This is what I did in the Cape Province in South Africa. Boulders Beach, in the southwest part of the Cape, is a tourist attraction for the beach, swimming and the penguins. Here is a protected colony of jackass penguins.


It was a real treat to watch these penguins swimming and roaming freely among the tourists, and listening to their braying noises that give them their name. I couldn't believe how I and the other tourists could walk among them, getting as close as three feet, and they showed no fear. They appeared almost tame.

When leaving, there is a big sign in the parking lot that reads, "Be sure to look under your car for penguins before leaving."


Playing and swimming with the penguins in their natural habitat was a real delight.

Seeking a Pure Race

I was intrigued when I recently heard of a book about South Africa written by an Australian author, Bryce Courtenay, who spent his childhood in South Africa. The book is Whitethorn. He deftly describes South Africa as "...a dark, fierce landscape where kindness and cruelty, love and hate share the same backyard."

I had heard the book was hard to read because of some of its content, so it was with some trepidation that I opened it. There were some hard parts, but overall it was an interesting story about a little orphan boy with an English name living in an Afrikaans orphanage in the northern Transvaal during World War II.

The Afrikaans and English are the two dominant white races of South Africa. The Afrikaans enforced apartheid from 1948 to 1994.

What I found most arresting was the portrayal of the Afrikaans people who ran the orphanage. They were among very radical Afrikaaners who supported Hitler during World War II, and who shared the same dream of maintaining a pure race. Hitler, by eradicating the Jews, and the Afrikaans by suppressing the blacks. I have even heard Afrikaans people refer to themselves as "the chosen race."
This support of Hitler came as a shock to me. I had not heard this before, and I have lived there.

Fortunately, as is explained in the book, not all Afrikaans were so radical. But they are known to be a stubborn and proud people.

Mealie Pap vs. Polenta

I'm sure that the discriminative diners among you are familiar with polenta, an Italian side dish made of corn meal. It can replace potatoes or pasta in many dishes with sauces, such as meat sauce, alfredo sauce, or tomato based sauce.

I was surprised to learn of the Italian origin, as I had learned to eat a simplified version of it years ago in South Africa. It was called mealie pap, which is a thick porridge made from corn meal. It had been the staple of the black people's food for years.

The white population loved to serve it as pap en vleis, (porridge and meat) at cookouts instead of potatoes or bread. Next to your lamb chop or boerewors (sausage), or steak, a portion of pap would be placed on your plate, so thick it was often eaten with one's hands, just like the blacks did.

When first offered this, I had to politely say, "No, thank you!" It sounded and looked very unappetizing to me. But over time, I grew to really like it and found it to be a very good accompaniment to meat -- but it had to have lots of butter! It was also served with a sauce called sheba at the cookouts, which was made with tomatoes and onions.

Polenta is more sophisticated than plain pap, with the addition of cheeses or herbs. Some people even like to fry squares of it, but here's how I usually make it:

Polenta

Bring to a boil 4 cups of water (part chicken broth) and salt. Gradually add 2 cups of cornmeal, stirring vigorously, taking the pan off the heat. Stir till relatively smooth, return to heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring often. You can then add butter, (1/4 cup), and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. I like to also add garlic.

Just pour over your favorite sauce and you are in for a special treat!

A Special Caramel Sauce

I had another remembrance of South Africa the other day when I was looking at a recipe in a magazine.

It was describing how to make a caramel sauce using caramels and condensed milk. I knew there was a much easier, less expensive - and foolproof way - to do it.

In South Africa, condensed milk is a common comodity in every household, and nearly everyone there knows how to caramelize condensed milk:

Just simmer an unopened can of condensed milk in a sauce pan for three hours. Just be sure to keep the can covered with water the entire time - or you just might have a sweet explosion!

When you open the can, a tempting, luscious caramel sauce will burst forth.

Enjoy!