Garden Update

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ~ Genesis 2:15

My peas are growing beautifully in my garden.  I’ve been watering them before leaving for work each morning.  Here are some photographs:

Knitting: Single Bed Blanket–Week 2

I’m 2 weeks into my wool blanket project.  The design can be seen here…………..

Here is the progress on the first rectangle.  It’s just over 100cm in length and needs to be 150cm. The photograph was taken on Aunty Di’s table!

It is a long way from complete, but I’m really enjoying the process of creating it.

My Holiday (part 4)

The final part of my holiday was the trip back to Bloemfontein from Queenstown.  We drove over Penhoek Pass which was covered with snow, even at midday 2 days after the snow happened!

Here are the photographs:

Mark, at a stop point on top of Penhoek Pass.

The stop point on top of Penhoek Pass (scenery)

Driving up Penhoek Pass, the view.

We got back to Bloemfontein safely after 4pm on Monday.  Mark’s brother, Michael, was good enough to help us offload the furniture I brought back with me (photographs to come after I have arranged it in my house).  Mark and I then rushed to get the trailer back to the rental place before 5pm, only to find out it was open 24 hours and we had until the next day 10:45am to return the trailer.

I had supper with Mark’s parents (his mom is a brilliant cook), showing them the photographs of the trip, and telling them about the trip. 

And that was my holiday!

News: My Holiday (part 3)

Queenstown

Sunday morning I woke up late.  After all the travelling, I decided to sleep as long as possible.  I got out of bed after my mom got home from church.  She called Mark and myself to look outside at the mountain.  This is what we saw from the community balcony at the block of flats where my mother lives:

WOW is all I can say.  The photograph doesn’t do it justice.  This image has not been edited in any way.

We had dinner with my mother, then went out on the Sterkstroom road looking for snow.  My dad always said that if the mountain in the picture above has snow, then we will come across snow on the Sterkstroom road.

Our Sunday dinner (mom did a great job!)

Pictures of the snow (from the car window)

Pictures of Mark and myself in the snow at a stop point along the road

We quickly hurried home because my mom had to go to work.  She works at Queenstown Girls High School and the hostel girls were coming back to school from Winter break, so she had to be there to help out.

The early evening I spent visiting my Uncle, Aunt and Cousin.  And the late evening I did a bit more research on my ancestors (Carsten Langhein and descendants).

The last day of my trip you will get tomorrow!

Sunday News: My holiday

Hello everyone, this is a quick news update post for all my readers.  I’ve been travelling all over the Eastern Cape the past couple of days.

Here is a map of the route we have travelled in the past 3 days.

We started off in Bloemfontein (point A).  This is the place where I work and live, as well as Mark.

Bloemfontein to Queenstown

On Thursday we travelled to Queenstown.  It was quite a slow trip up until Aliwal North, due to construction on the roads.  They are going to look great when the construction is finished.  From Aliwal North to Queenstown the route was much quicker.

A picture of Mark when we were stopped at the road construction site, waiting to be let through.

Queenstown to Frankfort

On Friday we found out that the route we were originally planning to take, through Fort Beaufort to Port Elizabeth had a snow warning, there were rumours that the road was already closed.  We decided not to chance it and rather take the coastal route to Port Elizabeth, which is 2 hours longer.

My mom booked us into the Gonubie Caravan Resort on Friday night, and came with us for the trip.  We left Friday afternoon.  Just after passing through Stutterheim, we saw the sign to Frankfort, and we decided to drive there to take a look.

Frankfort exploration

Frankfort is the town where my ancestor, Carsten Langhein, and his children as well as some of his grandchildren are buried.  When they came to South Africa from Germany in 1858 they lived in Frankfort.  Carsten Langhein was the first Baptist minister of the Frankfort Baptist Church, which doesn’t appear to be a Baptist Church anymore.

I did a little research on Frankfort.  The population is 362 now, and 100% African.  All the German settlers descendants have moved on.  I should have taken photographs, but what I can say is the village is quaint, but in desperate need for attention.  I can see the population there is very poor and unable to care for the village.  They do have a police station, a school, and a post office.

We were successful in finding the graves of my ancestors, the graveyard had street signs showing the way to it, but the entire cemetery is completely overgrown with thorn bushes and various other vegetation common to the area.  We had no problem entering the cemetery because the gate locking it had been broken down by vandals and had never been fixed by any authority.  Carsten’s grave was one of the graves that had had the tombstone smashed, along with many others.  It it hadn’t been for a metal plaque put up by the Baptist church in 1961 we wouldn’t have known it was his grave.

His son Claus’s gravestone was intact.  Here are the photographs from that leg of the trip.

An eerie looking tree greeted us on the way to Frankfort, Eastern Cape

The signs pointing us to the German Graves, the last of 4 (all along dirt roads)

The entrance to the graveyard.  The remains of the blue gate locking the graveyard can be seen on the ground towards the bottom of the photograph.

The overgrown graveyard of the German Settlers in Frankfort.

The plaque on Carsten Langhein’s grave (for some reason our surname is always spelt wrong).

The Grave as it stood on Friday 13th, July 2012

This is what is left of the tombstone.  It is lying face down on the grave.

And this is what is left of where the tombstone would have sat.

The tombstone of Claus Langhein, Carsten Langhein’s son.  Claus is my great, great grandfather.

The grave of my great grandfather, Julius Langhein and his wife, Johanna.

And this post is to be continued with more of the trip … Adventure is out there!!!

A typical meal

This is a typical meal that I prepare in my home.  It is my lazy meal, the one I make when I don’t really feel like cooking anything special.

I cook these meals in the steamer.  As a rule of thumb I cook the following per person I am feeding:

• 1 portion orange vegetables (carrots, potatoes, etc.)
• 1 portion green vegetables (green beans, peas etc.)
• 1 portion starch (rice or potatoes)
• 1 portion meat (fish, chicken, beef or pork)
• 1 portion salad

Here are the photo’s of my meal:

Those where the veggies, fresh before going into the steamer.

My steamer waiting for the food.

The finished meal.  With this specific meal, I didn’t  make any starch, but normally you would see potatoes or rice on the plate with it.

Recipe: Crumbed Mushrooms

This is the starter I made when I had my friends over last Saturday.

So here is the recipe for my crumbed mushrooms:
Ingredients:

• Button or brown mushrooms (quantity of your choice, amounts below are for 3 cups of button mushrooms)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1 clove garlic
• breadcrumbs

Method:

1. Clean mushrooms well
2. Place in a bag with flour and shake well to cover mushrooms
3. Beat egg and add garlic
4. Add mushrooms to egg.
5. Place mushrooms in a bag with breadcrumbs and shake well.
6. Place on a tray and leave for 30minutes
7. Deep fry until golden brown
8. Serve immediately

And the last 2 pictures of the evening, Annalenne helping in the kitchen and my puppy Zoey passed out from all the excitement of having so much activity in the household.

Recipe: Chicken and Pumpkin Curry

I’m sorry that I didn’t take a photograph of this dish, but here is the recipe.
Ingredients:

• 50ml Margarine (2 tablespoons)
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 10ml garlic, finely chopped (2 teaspoons or one clove)
• 10ml ginger, finely chopped (2 teaspoons)
• 25ml curry powder (1 heaped tablespoon)
• 1 chicken, cut into portions (or 4-6 chicken fillets)
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 750ml pumpkin, peeled and cubed (3 cups… but I used 5-6 cups)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 25ml coriander leaves (optional – I left it out on the night I made this)

Method:
(HINT: Chop and cut everything you need before you start.  You won’t have time to cut the chicken pieces and tomato while the onions fry since you have to keep them moving!)

1. Heat the Margarine and fry onions, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes
2. Add curry powder and fry for 1 minute
3. Add chicken pieces, tomatoes, pumpkin, salt and pepper
4. Stir well with a metal spoon
5. Cover pan and cook slowly for 30 minutes
6. Stir in coriander leaves and serve on rice.

And here is another photograph from the evening.  Mark (left) and his cousin Stéfan (right) – pulling faces for the camera – men never really grow up do they?  I think that is why women love them!

Recipe: Apricot Cinnamon Cake

Last night I had some of my friends, Hannes, Maryann (who has been my best friend since Grade 4), Stéfan, Annalene and of course Mark over for Dinner.  The meal was as follows:
Starter: Crumbed Mushrooms
Main: Chicken and Pumpkin Curry
Dessert: Apricot Cinnamon Cake
Over the next three days I’ll be giving you a recipe a day, as well as a photograph taken during the course of the evening.
So here is the first recipe and it is the dessert, Apricot Cinnamon Cake.
Ingredients:

• 250ml flour (1 cup)
• 5ml baking powder (1 teaspoon)
• 125ml castor sugar (1/2 cup)
• 2 eggs beaten
• 150ml Margarine, melted (bit more than 1/2 a cup)
• 1 can apricot halves, drained
• 5ml ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon)
• Apricot jam to glaze

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC (356ºF)
2. Grease a 20cm round cake tin (7.8inch – just find the closes size doesn’t need to be exact)
3. Sift together flour and baking powder then add sugar
4. Add eggs and melted Rama to dry ingredients and beat well
5. Pour into cake tin
6. Place apricots, cut side up, on top of the mixture
7. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes.  Glaze with warm jam.

And as I promised, here is a photograph from the evening, my best friend since Grade 4, Maryann, and her boyfriend Hannes.

Snow in Bloemfontein, South Africa

Last weekend (Saturday, 9 June 2012) it was so cold in Bloemfontein, South Africa that it actually snowed!  It wasn’t a lot of snow, definitely not enough to play in, but it was still snow.  The last time it snowed here was in 2006.  Here are some pictures of the snow in my garden:

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This one is taken looking out of the living room door into the garden.

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A close up of the tiny little snow flakes:

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The flower bed:

Mark and I spent the day indoors wrapped up in blankets on the couch.  It was definitely too cold to do anything!

The end of an awesome weekend

Sunday morning I finally got around to hanging up the black curtains in the living room.  I have only had lace curtains in the living room since I moved in. 

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Zoey decided that my washing basket was a great deal like her bed and made herself comfortable there.

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Mark finished off the project he started on Saturday morning.  I found a metal wire spider in a tree in the garden, so I decided to hang it where it is more noticeable.

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Zoey was playing in the leaves, and got a leaf stuck to her.  With it’s position it reminds me of the drawings of Adam and Eve in children’s Bibles!

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We had a lovely Sunday Braai with Mark’s cousin and his fiancé. Here are some pictures of the food we ate.  The Braai was held at my house.

The sandwiches I prepared (to be toasted on the Braai)

Mark preparing the Mushrooms.

The food on the Braai

The meal on the table

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My Sunday finished off with Church at the Kovsie Kerk (the student church for those who don’t know).  We had a wonderful sermon on Daniel 6.  And lastly coffee from McDonald’s.

Lego City

I simply have to share the photo’s I took of MY Lego City this morning:

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This is one of the pictures of my Lego City.  You’ll notice the building with the Red Roof.  This is actually 2 Lego sets that I own which were combined to make the Museum.  Mark added the entrance and wall in front last night… it is meant to be part of a ruined castle.

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This is the station I got with the passenger train set.  I added in the barrier and the turn gate from parts of other sets.

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What was left of the stable, was used to make this area for all the horses.  You will also notice the mechanic’s garage in the background which Mark made to house the motorbike, the only broken piece in my Lego sets (which I started collecting at 2 years old in 1987).

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This picture shows the Blue and Red house, which was the first BIG Lego set I owned.  It went off the market in 1987.  All the pieces are still there, but the men are a little faded.  It has been built on a different platform though so there would be more garden area.  I also improved the fireplace on the side.  You’ll also notice the lighthouse restaurant and the main street.  In the front right there is a postman with a letter box that I made.

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This picture is of a little beach bar that I made on Friday night, and the reason Mark and I were late in meeting our friends for supper – I had inspiration and wanted to finish!

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I also made the rock pool fishing area on Friday night using the pieces left over from other sets.  I still have all the pieces to all the sets, just some of them don’t fit in with the theme Mark and I were creating (like the fort), so we are using the sets to make things that fit in with the theme.

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This is the entire city as it looked this morning (we have made changes to it during the day.  The photo’s on those changes will be coming later.  The city takes up the baseboard of a single bed.

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And this is a hint on how we are expanding Lego City.  This is the construction in progress!

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What I love the most about Lego it can keep a creative mind entertained for hours.  It allows me to work with my hands.  It is an innocent distraction.  It brings back memories of my childhood and it is just general FUN!  It is definitely something I’ll never grow out of.