Braais, (no bloody) beers and (not much) bikes

Since the end of March when we went into this totally unnecessary and extremely harsh lockdown we have not been able to buy alcohol, now the Government has decided that as we have been good boys we will be able to buy alcohol again from Monday 1st June - hallelujah! I will not be going on Monday though, it will be chaos although maybe I'll go down there to get some photos.  Also I would like them to sell out of all their stale stock and get some fresh in. 

The smokers have evidently not behaved themselves and will continue to be punished by not being able to buy cigarettes or tobacco, they will no doubt continue to pay exorbitant prices on the black market. I am so happy that we gave up smoking more than 40 years ago, maybe I should have given up drinking as well? Nah. No names, no pack drill but the word is that a certain Government minister is involved in the illicit cigarette trade and is coining it while the ban lasts. I'm not surprised.

As far as biking is concerned I have managed a few local rides, mainly to go shopping and then taking a slightly longer route to get home and whilst this has been lovely I am desperately in need of a long ride before I hand my bike over to my brother Murray. Maybe soon.

Braais; 

These are not affected by the current state of affairs and we have had quite a few, the last one was on Sunday; yesterday and it was a very nice one. We sat out on the back veranda, the weather was very pleasant and I tried a new starter.

I carefully de-boned a nice little piece of Lamb flank which is not as difficult as you might think, I then liberally sprinkled and rubbed it with my own favourite combination of herbs and spices and braaied it over good hot coals. I love a braai, Janet and I sat drinking and chatting in the warm sunlight, she drank Lime juice and soda water and I was on a very biker/macho Peppermint liqueur and Soda.

Ya gotta get it crispy on the outside so hot coals and frequent turning, don't let it burn. It doesn't take long so I was soon slicing it up. More wood on the fire for the main course a bit later, ~"Put another log on the fire."~

Crispy outside, soft and moist on the inside and eaten with a favourite HOT sauce from West Coast Chili in Langebaan they were very nice. Certainly made for a good starter, we waited a little while before we started with the mains.

Pork chops and boerewors on the braai and Janet did the sides; Potatoes, egg mayonnaise salad, a miellie and some tomato. A very loaded plate but for a Sunday lunch I handled it like a big boy.

Snoek/fish Cakes;

 

The other day I told you that I make fish cakes out of leftover Snoek, well here they are;

 

I flake the fish very small, diligently de-bone it, weigh it and then mix it into an equal quantity of mashed potatoes. Add herbs and ground pepper and this time I threw in a good handful of grated cheese. Make sure it is thoroughly mixed, shape into patties, dip in flour, whisked egg and then breadcrumbs and set in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Shallow fry, I love these and make them whenever I can. This simple recipe works with most types of fish, I haven't tried it with Hake because there's not much flavour there but it should work fine.

We will have a few more braais in this house, we have to be out by the end of June. See ya!