Penguins!

Mary and the gang went to a national park to see the penguins. I would like to see penguins in the wild as I always felt sorry for them that they were plucked from the icy cold.. so here are penguins molting and frolicking:

Lunch at the Winery

Mary writes:

I had bobotie, a traditional Cape Malay dish and Michelle had samosas and a Caesar salad. Picture thanks to Tom. It's ground beef and spices with a custard top. I really liked it in spite of it having curry.

 

 

And the boys, Tom and Dave, Mary describes as:

 

Dave had lamb curry and Tom had the same thing as Michelle only with chicken on the salad. Forgot to include Meredith's lunch. She had spinach and ricotta canneloni.

 

 

 

And now for the helpful lesson, this time on boboties:

 

Bobotie also speled bobotjie, is a South African dish consisting of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping. It is thought to have originated from the Indonesian dish bobotok, which consisted of meat with a custard topping that was cooked in a pan of water until the egg mixture set. Colonists from the Dutch East India Company colonies in  Batavia probably introduced bobotie to South Africa. The first recipe for bobotie appeared in a Dutch cookbook in 1609. Afterwards, it was taken to South Africa and adopted by the Cape Malay community.^] It is also made with curry powder leaving it with a slight "tang".

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile back on the homefront

Fran went over to visit with Milo who is hiding on her. Mary does have a regular cat sitter. So Fran is trying to woo him out of hiding with treats. It's raining in DC and Fran sent this photo of Mary's block.

More from South Africa

Mary says: We saw this owl in a tree during our tour of the Kirstenbosch gardens.

And now for the geography lesson from Pat: Kirstenbosch is a national botanical garden. And now I'll cut and paste: When Kirstenbosch, the most famous of the gardens, was founded in 1913 to preserve the country's unique flora, it was the first botanical garden in the world with this ethos.  Furthermore, what makes the Gardens so famous worldwide is that (with minor exceptions) only indigenous plants are cultivated.

And below are two photos from the Kirstenbosch:

Cheers to Me!

Meredith tells me Mary and Michelle were toasting me. Great. I wish I were there as well.

This reminds me of a sentence I use when I am coaching writers. Most new writers try to use very fancy language -- words that they would never use on their own. So I quote a sentence from Hemingway, someone everyone has heard of, no matter how young. He wrote:

We sat in the sun and drank wine. It was good.

I love those two sentences... and I hope Mary and Michelle sitting in the sun and drinking wine was equally good!

First, here's the Constentia winery where they had lunch.

So let's rewrite Hemingway and say, "We sat in the shade and drank wine. It was good."





View from where Mary is Staying in Cape Town

Reminds me of a jigsaw puzzle picture!

Cape Town View from Dinner

Mary says:
Here's Meredith at dinner in this lovely restaurant with Table Mountain in the background.

And now the geography lesson from Pat: Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of  Cape Town and is featured in the flag of Cape Town and other local government insignia. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the cableway or hiking to the top. The mountain forms part of the Table Mountain National Park. 

You can see how it got its name: