November 26, 2024
Nothing cooking this year!
As I was checking my spices I noticed I had run out of turmeric, an essential ingredient, and remembered that my husband had scraped the last powder out of the jar a few days ago. I was about to wake him up and send him on a supermarket search when I remembered turmeric is growing fresh in the garden.
A beautiful lily with a layered lilac and pale yellow flower, it colours the soil around it an amazing yellow ochre. I dug up some tubers and grated them fresh into the food. The potato curry is now nicely yellow (as is almost everything in our kitchen) and it is one example of how our hard times have taught us resilience and innovation.
A friend visiting from Cape Town commented on this characteristic after lunching with friends who run a store in the rural areas. All the food they ate was very local — chicken from a neighbour, milk from another neighbour, fresh vegetables, ginger and garlic from the garden.
It was delicious and as fresh as can be, a far cry from South Africa where almost anything comes from a shop.
But in spite of our ability to produce delicious meals at home we wanted to eat out. Lots of places are closed in this season in contrast to tourist mecca Cape Town where this is the time of year for outlets to cash in on the busy season.
We were a mixed group including two food savvy teenagers with appetites to match the 10 cm they’ve grown since they last visited in April.
We opted for Newlands and chose the ‘mixed grill’ — two restaurants sharing one kitchen — Baobab Grill and Blue Banana. It seems like a good idea but practically doesn’t work very well.
Two tables were pushed together for us and we sat enjoying a fine view of the Newlands car park.
Drinks orders were taken quickly by an old, dignified waiter. Starters on the ‘asian fusion’ side were satays, spring rolls, thai triangles — all for US$5. On the grill side were deep fried haloumi, buffalo wings (US$4) and deep fried mushrooms and chicken livers for (US$5).
We went straight for the mains and most of our party opted for the grill menu — racks of pork ribs for the boys (US$15. Chicken and chips, (US$10) fillet steak. (US$17) It was the better choice — but very ordinary — and took over half an hour to arrive.
My friend and I remembered the spectacular salads from the early days of the Blue Banana when it was a newly opened adventure in the avenues. The Thai side is disappointing. ordered chicken salad which came with incongruous croutons sprinkled on top and a dressing lacking in punch. When I asked for extra chillie I got the chillie sauce, good enough, but not what you want to spread on a salad.
My friend had pad thai noodles with prawns and deemed the dish not very authentic.
The grill meals were satisfactory . The fillet steak was tender but the sauce a little sweet. The ribs were good although the Cape Tonians said the portions would have been bigger ‘in South’. All the same the boys declared themselves too full for dessert.
We had a taste of the chocolate mousse and the chocolate brownies. The mousse was very sweet and the brownie more like a cake served with an insipid white chocolate sauce.
The meal was adequate but dull and far from the innovative freshness our friends had experienced in homes. I am on the hunt for something special in the new year.
