Cape Winter Food and Caribbean Girl

“I quickly glanced at my watch; 4:45 a.m. Zulus have a word for this time of the morning – uvivi – which means the darkness before the dawn. And it’s true. In the Zululand bush, the darkness is most intense just before the first shreds of haze crack the horizon.” (Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer. Learning about Life, Loyalty and Freedom from a Remarkable Herd of Elephants.) In similar ways it is with the tides of the ocean and other phenomena such as the Cape Winter: we have passed the time of mid-winter and are now going into the depth of it. The vineyards are lying bare, we have seen and felt the first snow on the mountain tops, the wind is increasing its strength and vast regions of semi-desert veld of the Karoo are flooded – possibly a foreboding of things to come. Now is the time to huddle together in whatever abode is yours, hoping not to be swept away by wind or rain and warm your hearts with good company and good things to go with it …

… such as Waterblommetjies, found in ponds in the Western Cape, ready to be used in a stew or Waterblommetjiebredie …

… a basket full of pine rings (lactarius deliciosus) freshly picked in the morning …

… pears done in white wine …

… and captivating company …

… while having a fresh visitor with us – our Caribbean girl:

One of our acquired daughters – now semi-permanently settled in the Caribbean, not terribly happy about the Cape winter weather, but here, happily, basking in a moment of winter sun at Betty’s Bay.

Naomi has chosen a life of wind and surf, diving and flying with kites … stuff movies are made of.

With love from a wintery Cape
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Colleen & Walter