South Africa: Our First Potjiekos

My third weekend on the reserve already. You can take the girl out of Essex but not Essex out of the girl! This morning I had a chilled hour painting my toe nails and reading my book, "Cry of the Kalahari", on the porch. We then went into Colenso to get the meat, and a few other bits for the potjiekos. When we got back we made some fresh lemonade thanks to Monet who had given us some lemons. Then we headed up to Liam and Rachel's house. I absolutely adore their house! I love the open plan living space, the veranda and the built in braai. Not to mention the fireplace that stands in the middle of the lounge area and their bedroom. When we got there Rachel was making mint chocolate chip muffins which were amazing, and were eaten before the potjiekos.

A Potjiekos is basically a big stew which is sat in a clay pot on a BBQ (braai). Rachel marinated the beef (including bones) in coca cola and red wine, then we chopped up the potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, and prepared all the other veg to go in. The meat, wine, coke, onion and garlic went in first, then the potatoes and hard veg, and then eventually the softer veg. We left it cooking while we drank away the afternoon. It was a lovely. Rachel also made some samp to go with it. Michael came up and joined us just in time for some dinner and it was an amazing dish. Once again, a big thank you to Liam and Rachel for a fab day. I especially enjoyed watching funny adverts on the laptop. All in all another lovely day.