Day 34 of 35 days in quarantine

Friday we are going from level 5 to level 4 lockdown, I don't think it is going to make a lot of difference to us. Everyone has to wear a mask when out of the house or in the shops etc., it looks like cigarettes will be on sale but still no alcohol. There will be no recreational travel allowed and a curfew between 20h00 and 05h00 will be in effect, draconian measures limiting our freedom, measures which may even be unnecessary but what can we do?

Along with a great many other people we are now trying out a wine recipe; two cups of white sugar, four litres of pure red grape juice and one packet (10 grams) of yeast. Shake it well until the sugar has dissolved and leave it to stand with a loose top for at least one week. We have no idea what it tastes like but I got the recipe online, it's worth a try - next week I'll let you know.

This Chinese virus has has really set us back, the people who are buying our house are trying to sell their house in Capetown before they can do anything. All of the furniture, clothing, ornaments, books etc. that we are taking with us overseas have been packed and removed so we are living in a mostly empty house but there's nothing we can do. We will have to start paying for the storage from May.

I have to sell the furniture, kitchenware and other items that remain but I can't do that yet because people are not able to come and buy, lots of things have been booked but we must wait, On top of all of this our British passports expire in September so if we cannot travel before then we have to go through the hassle of renewing our passports. Damn the Chinese!

At least we can still go shopping for essentials and I have been a couple of times on the bike, I went this morning in absolutely beautiful weather and managed to add an extra twenty or so kilometers to my trip home by going the long way. I really am hoping for just one more ride with my club before I hand the bike over to Murray, once we are allowed to ride he's going to want it and I won't blame him.

Crazy times we are going through. Stay safe everyone.

Day 32 of 35 days in quarantine

So three days to go and then they are apparently going to start phasing out the lockdown so that we can slowly get back to normal, I don't think it's going to affect us much yet, we still won't be able to buy booze and recreational travel is still prohibited. Luckily friends and family have helped out with the booze problem.

After complaining online about my booze predicament our Club Pres., Anton gave me a bottle of whisky and two other brothers; Gerrie and Murray offered me wine and whisky, that is what the brotherhood is all about, we take care of each other.

I managed to buy a nice big Snoek last week for R100 which I consider a bargain because we will get three meals out of it. It was delivered frozen to my house but had not been frozen for long. On the weekend we had a braai, I cannot remember the last time we had a Snoek braai and being a seafood lover I was in my element. I am not an expert, there are thousands of Snoek fans in the western cape alone but this is my favourite way of preparing it.

I lit my fire at about 11h00 because a Snoek does not take long to braai, so while that was burning I made my sauce. Snoek is a western cape favourite and there must be hundreds of different sauce recipes as well as methods of braaing, here is my favourite;

I start with a small amount of olive oil to which I add between 150 - 200g butter and the same amount of Smooth Apricot jam, melt the butter and jam and stir in a good tablespoon of crushed garlic, add the juice of half a lemon and a good spoon of parsley.  Stir, boil over medium heat until it reduces and thickens.

Paint the skin with the sauce to stop it sticking to the grid, I also eat the skin, then start braaing skin side down over medium coals. Liberally "slosh" the sauce over the top and when the skin is starting to blacken and you can see small cooking bubbles on the top then turn it over to darken the top.

I was in such a hurry to get started that I forgot to take a photo when it was ready! Here you can see that there is just light colouring of the top, the flesh is mostly white. - It's ready!

This is what I was waiting for, a piece of the backbone, my favourite starter!

Here's the meal; local Snoek lovers seeing this will probably all choose the same part of the fish; the stomach lining and belly fat so when there's a braai with a bunch of friends there's a fight for that and for the backbone starter. This time there was just the two of us and Janet's not that particular. I thoroughly enjoyed that meal, there was a lot left which I separated into two containers and froze. One will go to fish cakes and the other will go to "Smoorsnoek", I will tell you what that is when I make it.

Day 28 of 35 days in quarantine

I'm experiencing cabin fever, the trouble is this damn virus, because of its public relations makes me feel apprehensive when I go through to the shops. None of the other viruses that affected us; SARS, Ebola, Swine flu etc., had the impact that this Chinese one has because they weren't promoted and publicized by self proclaimed experts on social media the way this one has been. You can't go on line without seeing all manner of contradictory messages and dire warnings of impending doom, take for example the way it started off with panic buying of toilet paper of all things, why? There are people who now sit with cupboards full of toilet paper, they won't have to buy for years! I'm tired of it, I want to ride my motorbike, I want to ride it now. As the old song goes.

With that in mind here are some photos from past rides to whet your appetite before the roads are opened up to us again, soon please Mr. President!

I'd even take a crappy weather ride now

At the start of Clarence drive

Eating wild rock oysters at Breede River lodge

Ten years ago now we took a couple of days off and rode down to Witsand, stayed a night in the Breede River lodge and ate rock oysters and fresh seafood. The weather was lousy at first but cleared by day three. Great ride.

Local bikers know this place very well, the "hole in the rock" between Ashton and Montagu built by Alfred Bain who was responsible for several mountain passes in the Western Cape. The road and the tunnel through the Kalkoenkraanz was opened in 1877. Just above it is the old blockhouse built by the British during the Anglo/Boer war.

It's a beautiful area, I love riding there. Since these photos were taken there has been extensive roadworks which I am sure will greatly improve the ride between Ashton and Montagu, I can't wait to go and have a look.

This one is from a different part of the Province, this is between Piketberg and Eendekuil and I cannot resist a picture with a derelict building. Lovely riding area this is too.

This is the R44 coming down from Porterville back to Piketberg, we have ridden this many times, western cape bikers will know it well, our annual "Polar Bear run" has been in Porterville for the past five years and this is the way home on Sunday with a hangover.

This happens quite often, after a nice lunch and a couple of glasses of wine Janet has a sleep, amongst bikers though this is not unusual, I know of lots of ladies who sleep on the back of the bike.

That's it, the ride is over. Let's get out there real soon. Our club members are dying for a ride and as soon as this lockdown is over we'll all be out there, see you on the road.

Day 25 of 35 days in quarantine - and an old Freedom Road rally

Well here we are only (hopefully) ten days to go and since I last posted the wine's finished, the beer's finished, there's only half the whisky left and so we'll start scratching through the left overs. Otherwise we are both well and keeping our spirits up. (Excuse the pun!)

There's not much to report, I spend a lot of time on my computer and we binge watch Netflix and YouTube. I have thousands of photographs which I am sorting through, many of them are club photos which I am putting together and copying for the club before we go, that is keeping me busy. Almost ninety folders to be copied onto a stick which I will hand over to Gerrie.

Last Wednesday I went through to the mall near Vredenburg to do a bit of shopping at Pick 'n Pay, I went on the bike and it was wonderful! It's only roughly 20km round trip, I did extend it a bit on the way back but although I didn't see any Police checks I was hesitant to take chances. I blew the cobwebs out of the zorst on the way back and I really did not want to get off the bike, I so badly wanted to go shopping in Stellenbosch or Worcester or somewhere like that. I'm going again this Wednesday and I'm definitely going to extend the ride a bit. Lovely stuff, normally I hate going shopping!

As I said I have been sorting photos and here is a shout out to Jim and Daphne Barker who I know read this blog, they live in England but have been visiting South Africa almost annually for ages, they were here a couple of months ago and we chatted about the old rallies we attended together. They used to ride a lovely British Racing Green Triumph which he kept here.

Way back in 2007 we attended the Freedom Road rally in Stilbaai together, that was my first one but I went to quite a few after that including some in Struisbaai. We rode together, Jim and Daphne and I along with my old riding buddy Frank, they have all since stopped riding but those were the days. I particularly remember that Friday, fueling up at Ashton and then hitting the wonderful 46km stretch of the R60 to Swellendam on the N2. We blitzed along that winding, undulating piece of biker heaven, Jim and Daphne two up and loaded with kit could certainly ride. I had to slow him down as we neared Swellendam, warning him about the ever present traffic cops, it was an exhilarating ride and I felt the adrenaline rush subsiding as we waited for the others.

Braai time in the campsite after the tents had been set up, here's Jim and Daphne with another well known character from those days of weskus biking; Des whose introduction was "Hi my name's Des, what do you think of me so far?" That evening he announced that he was going to be the Naked Chef and dropped his rods but was prevented from going any further!

 

Jim and Frank go way back, long time friends

 Because the Freedom Road rally was under the auspices of the Christian Motorcycle Association there was no bar tent on site so a lot of the partying took place in various establishments around the town, we would then visit the bottle stores to take our preferred beverage into the campsite for the evening braai.

We had great times at those rallies and it was the memorable characters who took part that will keep those memories fresh. Thank you for the memories.

Sadza balls, worth writing about again

This is a food blog as well as a biking and beer blog and as the biking has been curtailed somewhat I will write a bit more about food. Also of concern is that fact that I have only four quarts of beer left, the wine is down to the last five litres, as well as one bottle of Merlot and one bottle of Pinotage Rose',  I have one bottle of whisky and then we're down to odds and sods in the cupboard. The last two weeks are going to be tough.

But I digress, I was talking about food. After the braai on Sunday we had quite a bit of sadza left over which we wrapped in clingwrap to stop it from developing a crust and put it in the fridge. We have a few recipes for left over sadza but by far the favourite is this one;

Roll the sadza into balls, push a block of cheddar cheese into the middle and then wrap with rindless, streaky bacon which you have first thinned out with the back of a knife. Pin the bacon in place with a toothpick. I also tried two long rolls with a long piece of cheese in the same manner.

Place on a grill tray under the grill until the bacon is cooked. If you have enough bacon you can use two slices on each because it does shrink while cooking.

Add salt, the cheese melts, the bacon fat soaks into the sadza, this stuff is so good for you, believe me you'll love it.

Day 18 of 35 days in quarantine

Halfway? I certainly hope so. I'm going shopping tomorrow morning, there's something to look forward to! Sad isn't it? Under normal circumstances I try to avoid going shopping. Will we ever get back to the old "normal" again? I think things are going to change.

Let me tell you about the braai we had yesterday, I haven't got anything else to talk about and it was a good one even if I do say so myself. I would have loved to have had a couple of mates around too though.

Cheers, happy Easter!

Fire on the go, ons gaan nou braai

I should have been smiling in that picture, but with concentrating on setting up the camera, getting back to my chair, picking up my glass and holding my stomach in I just didn't have time!

First on the coals some lamb's tails, with garlic, lemon pepper and rosemary and braaiied crispy.

These make a delicious starter which we had with our second last bottle of Fernskloof Pinotage Rose' which we bought a long time ago on one of our trips, I cannot remember exactly where we bought it but on the back label is it states;

"Fernskloof cellar is situated in the arid Prince Albert Valley. The name takes after a shady kloof that is abundant with beautiful ferns and stalactites. This has been the home of the Le Grange family for the past six generations. Our wish is that this wine will be an enjoyable experience for you. Here's to health and to all things significant and worth toiling over."

It certainly is a lovely wine, a medium dry rose', neither of us enjoy sweet wine. I know the Prince Albert Valley area having ridden there many times, I hope I get to go there again.

I built the fire back up and went to the kitchen to make up a batch of "Sadza", it is made with maize meal and elbow grease and was a Rhodesian staple, now Zimbabwean if they can get it. When I say "elbow grease" I mean that the traditional way of making it requires stirring small quantities of the powder at a time into boiling water until it gradually thickens up. You have to stir continuously while adding the meal as well as other flavouring, a good bit of salt and I also use Aromat spice. 

The idea is that the sadza is stiff enough to take a bit in your hand, roll it into a tight lump without it sticking to your hand, that is the test of a good sadza, and then you dip it into the gravy. We eat a bit like that before putting it on a plate, it is particularly good with boerewors and a tomato and onion relish, which is what we did.

 Karoo lamb chops on the coals and some nice local boerewors on the flame, time to eat.

The finished meal, a collaboration between us, clockwise from top; Karoo leg chop, pork and beef boerewors, bottom centre an egg/mayonnaise salad - a particular favourite of mine and bottom left the sadza doused with a tasty tomato and onion relish. It really was good, we love a braai and let me tell you that is not unusual here in South Africa, the braai is a way of life.

Cheers for now, stay home. If you want to see the pictures full size, click on them.

Day 17 of 35 days in quarantine

The quarantine period has been extended until the end of April, so far. So now we have eighteen days to go instead of three. I was expecting it, I did not think the original three weeks would be enough but it is getting tiresome and during the course of this coming week we are going to run out of booze! That's going to be serious, we can go to the shops to buy food and essentials but bottle stores remain closed. Cigarettes are also not being sold, I fail to see the logic in this, if people have to stay home let them be calm and happy! We'll manage I suppose, at least we don't smoke.

We have another problem coming up though, we are/were in the middle of making arrangements to emigrate to the UK, our house has been sold although the sale has not gone through yet we were supposed to have been out of the house at the end of April, I have delayed this until the end of May now to give us time to sell our stuff, we can't do anything until people are able to move around. I don't know what's going to happen if this lockdown is extended further. Oh well it's out of our hands, we'll just have to wait and see.

The Meeulanders President called for another check in to make sure that we are all good so we dutifully stood in front of the camera again, I am really going to miss these people and the way things are going I am now wondering if I'll be able to ride with them again. My club brother Murray is buying my bike and he's going to want it soon, I really hope to get a ride or two in during May before handing it over.

Pres. Anto and Rinette

Sampie and Kathy

Roleyn and Gilbert

Jeanre' and Jannie

Antoinette and Willie

Laureen and Murray

Linicia and Sooi

Stephen

Stefanie and Henrico

Us

Heine and Gerda

Cheers my family, all good so far. It seems like ages since we have been together. We need to ride! I need to go shopping again this week so I will go up to the Mall on the bike, it's not very far, about ten kms so a twenty km round trip - looking forward to that!

Stay safe everyone, stay home as far as possible and keep washing your hands. Strange times we are living through at the moment and one wonders what the world will be like when we come out of this, what social habits will change, we'll see.

Day 9 of 21 days in quarantine

Going back briefly to day 8; our Club President, Anton called for a "Virtual drink together" at 18h00, we were to take a selfie of ourselves drinking a shooter and post the photos to our facebook page. It turned out to be a wonderfully uplifting experience. I have mentioned that I have been missing my mates, my club brothers and this was just what I needed, it wasn't quite the same as being in their company playing pool and talking shit or riding with them but it affirmed the brotherhood and the camaraderie upon which I thrive. These are the photos that were posted;

Pres Anton and 1st lady Rinette

Kathy and Sampie

Laureen and Vice Murray

Prospects Gilbert and Roleyn

Sooi and Linicia

Janet and myself

Stefanie and Henrico

Antoinette and Willie

Bev and Road Captain Daan

Metjie and Adrie

KTM and Stephen

Heine and Gerda

Johan aka Koos aka Cactus Jack

Most of the members are shown here, some couldn't take part for various reasons such as Uncle Frank who is so technologically challenged that his old Nokia phone is only good for calls and sms and he won't change it. We are assured that he had a shooter at the prescribed time though. Great people.

Now back to today, Saturday 4th and Cimeron Mcc called for a National Bikers Braai Day so Janet and I took part - as I said; having a braai anytime is no hardship.

We had our colours on as requested at the start but it was too hot to keep them on, just for these pictures and then we took them off. "Ons gaan nou braai!"

I started with marinated baby chicken on low heat, gotta cook them right through, nobody likes their chicken medium rare. I built the heat up after a while to brown them nicely on the outside.

The chicken goes into the aluminium (aloominum for my American friends) pan to rest and finish cooking while I built the heat up for Karoo lamb chops.

Karoo lamb chops

Veranda furniture's been sold

The lamb chops have to be done properly with the fat nice and crispy, meanwhile Janet got the sides ready and we had a very good braai lunch. I didn't have any boerewors unfortunately so that has gone on the list for my excursion next week, a braai is not considered a proper braai without "boerie" but it was damn good even if I do say so myself.