As soon as we arrived in Jo'burg (or very near there after), Mom insisted all of us try sushi, because she saw lots of sushi-serving restaurants. I balked. But, Wednesday evening, while Dad was in Lesotho, that's what we had for dinner. We ordered a vegetarian sushi platter, a regular sushi platter, a plate of squid, and a plate of calamari. I tried nearly everything, even a piece of raw fish, and some of it was ok. I liked the calamari, and the veggie sushi was ok, but I didn't like the raw fish or the squid. Sushi still isn't my first choice, it's still near the bottom of the list, but I'm glad I tried it. My siblings all enjoyed most everything - they like sea food in general a whole lot more than I do.
Thursday, Mom and I visited the Bryanston Market while my siblings were all still in school. We picked up veggies, inquired about raw milk cheese, ordered some new shoes for me (a Christmas present from Mom!), and shared lunch together. For dessert, we had a piece of milk tart, and it was delicious!
"Meaning "milk tart" in Afrikaans, melktert is a South African dessert. It is a sweet pastry crust containing a creamy filling made from milk,flour, sugar and eggs. The ratio of milk to egg is higher than in a traditional European custard tart or Chinese egg tart, resulting in a lighter texture and a stronger milk flavour. Some recipes require the custard to be baked in the crust, and others call for the custard to be prepared in advance, and then placed in the crust before serving. Cinnamon is often sprinkled over its surface." ~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_tart
We're definitely going to be on the lookout for an authentic recipe for this.
Dad came home that evening, to not the most pleasant circumstances. Both Mom and I weren't feeling good, having caught some sort of stomach bug that's apparently been going around. I slept if off overnight, and by the next evening Mom was feeling better. Dad has a cold of his own. Prayers, please, for continued good health and healing!
The next day, Dad stayed home from work, something he often does after having been gone on a business trip, and I got to share lunch with him while Mom went to school to help supervise a farewell pool party for a teacher. I haven't gotten to have lunch with Dad all by myself for a loooong time so that was really nice. During our lunch, we had some workers over working on house and property repairs, and Friday's job was eliminating our rain flow dilemma.
During rain storms, water flows in under our doors and attacks our wood furniture and electronics. The main cause of this, aside from the fact that our doorways aren't sealed (yes, that needs to be fixed too, but it's lower priority), is that on our roof there's a _______ about 5 inches deep, and, by this point, full of rainwater. When it starts raining, it overflows and a sheet of water comes over the edge, heading straight towards our doorway, instead of into the lawn.
To solve this problem, Dan and a worker drilled a hold through the standing wall and put a drain spout in. Through the hole, however, came a waterfall, and in the waterfall was lots of dirt and muck and rocks and all that. Yuck! We haven't had a storm yet, but we're hoping the new rain spout diverts water away from our door next time.
Yesterday, Teresa, Mom, and I all went peach picking again (we've been going every weekend), and pick 20 kgs to can on Monday. We also picked some nectarines and plums. Afterwards we visited the local craft market, were people sold jewelry, bags, snacks, felted crafts, sand art, pottery, etc. It's held on the lawn of the library, which we also visited and we're looking at joining. We stopped by Woolies, the name for Woolworths, and picked up two turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner today.
We're roasting two turkeys, grilling a third, baking a butternut squash pie, and hoping our guests will bring enough to eat. We're having 24, 25 people over; a bunch of Dad's co-workers, as well as Nathan and Adrianne. Crowded and fun!
My exams are nearly done, only two more to go. I don't have to take the second Afrikaans exam, on Tuesday, meaning I don't have to go to school at all that day! One more week of school, and then we're out on summer break.
***My camera is dead, so a lot of the pictures on here are off of the internet; only the drain spout*** ***and the sushi are of my taking***
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