South African Rusks

When I was a child dunking biscuits into drinks was frowned upon in my family; that priviledge, acording to my mother, was reserved for old people who no longer had teeth! I wonder if it had more to do with being a messy activity with bits of biscuit dropping off, splashing into the drink, and forming a residue at the bottom of the cup.

This prohibition lead to an aversion to dunking in my adult life.  Whenever Andy would dunk a Rich Tea biscuit, especially when a piece fell off, or I was washing up the cup afterwards, a mild annoyance would rise up and my mother's words would come back to me.

Now, my only experience with 'rusks' was when my children were being weaned onto solid food, and I would sometimes give them a rusk to suck or chew on.  At the time (1980's) there was only one brand on the market, Farley's Rusks, thick, round, the size of a can top and baked hard.  I must admit, I wasn't keen on them, as I thought them too sweet and containing a lot of sugar for infant gums, but nevertheless, as a young mum, I did have a packet in my store cupboard and my children did munch on one occasionally.

So when we came to South Africa in 2007, we would often be presented with rusks as an accompanyment to a drink: coffee & rusks, instead of tea & biscuits.  These are chunky blocks of biscuit/cake which are baked hard in the oven. Although it is possible to eat them without dunking, espeically if they have a more crumbly texture, so that chunks break off when you bite into them, the SA way is to dip into hot liquid, preferably coffee or Rooibos tea, so that the rusk 'sucks up' the liquid and makes it soft enough to chew easily.

Although curious to try, I had several hangups to overcome, but our friends were so enthusiastic about them, that it wasn't long before I joined the ranks of 'dunkers'.

In the SA supermarkets large sections of shelving are devoted to rusks: plain or healthy, with seeds and nuts, with raisins or cherries and so on. There are even speciality shops for rusks, with special recipes and unusual added ingredients.  It seems that everyone has a favourite recipe, often their grandmother's (or 'ouma', in Afrikaans): in fact Ouma Rusks is one of the brands sold here. 

Curiously, I like rusks more than Andy, who still prefers a thin Rich Tea, or Marie biscuit, which I can buy here.  I've bought gift packs of special rusks to take as presents both to England and Ukraine, thereby introducing people from other cultures to this most South African snack food. I particularly like the ones with cherries added.

Recently, some SA friends and I spent an afternoon making and baking rusks, as they shared their experience with me to demonstrate how easy they are to make. As you can imagine there are hundreds of recipes out there, but I chose one from this interesting blog,  
http://food-and-family.blogspot.com/2006/09/south-african-rusks-recipe.html.
I was looking for a simple recipe with ingredients I already had in my store cupboard, so this one seems to fit the plan, and I only had to buy buttermilk, the key ingredient in most recipes, which gives a creamy, slightly acidic taste, which cuts through the sweetness, much like when you add natural yoghurt to a dish.

I replaced the raisins with a mixture of sunflower, pumkin and sesame seeds and used self raising flour instead of plain, with some wheat bran added to the flour, as I didn't have any wholemeal flour. Andy is not keen on raisins in biscuits and I wanted him to try them.

The process was very straightforward, but my dough was too sticky to roll into balls, and I knew that many recipes don't bother with that part.

When it has shrunk away from the edges and is firm in the centre, when inserting a knife, you take the tray out of the oven to allow to cool slightly to be able to cut into chunky fingers. The oven is then turned right down ready for the drying out process.

After cutting, the pieces go back into the oven for several hours, with the cut sides exposed top and bottom, so that they thoroughly dry out. (A tip is to keep the door ajar with a wooden spoon, allowing the moisture to escape). There are no exact timings for this part, it really depends on how long it takes - some recipes recommend overnight, especially if you bulk bake and fill the oven. This long slow drying out allows them to be kept for a long time, just like ordinary biscuits keep for a long time in an airtight container.

However, you should always keep back a few to enjoy warm and crumbly and be able to compare the texture with the finished rusks.

My friends say you can tell a good rusk by the amount of liquid it sucks up. And there have been competitions to see how few rusks it takes to draw up all the liquid in a small coffee cup. May be that connects to the notion of bedridden toothless grannies who can no longer drink from a cup!

 

From Winter to Summer - overnight!

We travelled back to Cape Town a couple of weeks ago and the outside temperature rose 30 degrees.  Many people would find that uncomfortable, but I loved it - I think I must be a summer person!

Here are a few new places visited, since arriving:

Hillsong Church, Cape Town, has recently moved into this building, which used to be a former night club.  Some changes needed to be made, but in many ways it is an ideal and interesting building to hold church. It is in a prominent position near a huge shopping mall, business centre and amusement park, called Century City.

 The whole area has been redeveloped from marsh land, with canals now part of the infrastructure. The building style is 'over the top' fake mediterranean facards, with lots of pillared walkways, spired domes and ornate plasterwork.

 However, the many walkways and bridges provide residents, shoppers and visitors with some pleasant surprises. At the farthest end is an Environmental Educational Centre, where individuals and school groups can learn about how the area was reclaimed and is now part of the Cape Town water recycling system.  

 Intaka Island has several large pools, through which water flows and is filtrated and aerated, before rejoining the main waterway again.  It is a popular spot for bird watchers.  On the day I visited we didn't have time to enter the Island, which occupies as much land as the developed area.

 Curiously, also near Intaka Island are these two old steam locomotives, one from Zimbabwe. I love coming across hidden gems like this, which most people who just visit the shopping mall would never see.

Another day I visited Groot Constantia (groot is the afrikaans word for 'big'), the oldest wine farm
in Cape Town, and largely protected from the winds by Table Mountain.  However, the day I visited it was very windy!

                                        
                                             
The grapes are almost ripe and will be harvested soon for the 2011 vintage.

                                        
On display in the old restaurant were these small bottles and wooden packing cases, which are replicas of the original bottles sent overseas in 18th Century. 

 The original manor house, coach house and outbuildings are traditional Dutch Cape style with period furniture throughout, enabling visitors to the wine farm, to also learn about the lifestyle of the first settlers to this part of Africa.

Groot Constantia is also famous for the number of old oak trees which line the avenues and paths. 

 Some are so old and decayed that three people can hide inside!

 Everywhere we walked we were crunching acorns beneath our feet.  I thought it was unusual to have so many acorns still littering the ground in summer.  Perhaps the squirrels in South Africa don't have to bury their hoard for winter?

 Another interesting feature was a huge bath built into the slopes around 200 years ago.  We wondered how they had filled it and surmised that they channelled rain water flowing off the mountain. We then found lots of channels which have now been redirected to irigate the vineyards and gardens.

Constantia is a great place to visit as there's so much to see, without even winetasting!

Winter can be beautiful!

Near Andy's mum's is a small lake, which was formerly a lime pit.  The surrounding area has been made into a nature reserve.  Ducks swim across the lake and anglers fish from its edges. There are bridges and paths, wooden walkways across boggy areas and logged steps cut into slopes, all encouraging families, dog walkers and runners to make the most of this local beauty spot. Close by runs a canal with more wildlife and the whole area is surrounded by farmland. It really is a hidden treasure on the edge of urbanization.

I often walk and run in this area, so during the holiday I set off with my camera to see how the snow and ice had changed it.

 The path runs next to farmland. This was around 3pm, so the sun was very low in the sky.

 The lake was frozen solid with animal and bird tracks all over it, and even a few footprints.

 Snow-covered fungi growing from the tree trunk with the sun setting between the tree.

 This hoar frost on a blackberry thorn appeared like leaves growing out from the stem.

 Frost-covered ferns, making them look like flowers.

Fabulous! Creation at its best!

Christmas Family Gatherings

Between Christmas and New Year we had three different extended family gatherings. First, my older sister, Sandra celebrated her 60th birthday.  This was a meal for her immediate family (14 in all) at a Fairlawns, a local restaurant.  It was lovely to spend time with Sandra's three grandchildren, who were impeccably behaved throughout and a credit to their parents.

 Here's the whole group...

 Sandra about to blow out the candles...

  The beautiful cake made by her son-in-law...

Then, we had large family gatherings for the James' (Andy's side of the family) and the Rhodes' (my side) and for some reason I forgot to take any photos at both events! We played lots of games, exchanged some gifts and ate up the Christmas left overs. It's always interesting to see how the children have shot up during the previous twelve months.

On New Year's Eve it was very quite, as everyone had returned home. Andy & I sat with his mum to welcome in 2011.  Around 12.30am we drove back to our house and noticed that the sky was dotted with chinese lanterns, all drifting in the same direction, as the breeze caught them. It reminded us of six months ago when we were in Kiev for the launch of CVCIS.

 On the final evening together we wrote prayers on the paper balloon before lighting the small flame and releasing them into the sky...

I had never seen them before, but I understand they are now becoming quite popular for special events, such as New Year's Eve. I think they are good alternative to noisy fireworks and as they're made of tissue paper, are probably 'greener'.

Snow, snow and more snow!

Just before Christmas our son and daughter-in-law, Adam & Shelley arrived along with another downfall of snow.  By now we had moved into our home, also in Walsall, as our housesitter visited his family over Christmas.  This arrangement works very well and enables us to accommodate our family whilst holding the main events at Andy's mum's house.

With fresh snow calling them, Adam & Shelley became kids again and built a huge snowman in the garden. Does he remind you of anyone? (hint: children's storybook character)

Late on Christmas eve our other son, Pete, finally arrived from Dublin, after having his flight cancelled and then delayed.

By now I was well into the food preparations for the next day:

 The turkey wrapped in bacon to keep it moist during it's long cooking, and just before we carved it. (notice the space where delicious crispy bacon had been!!)

 The chestnut stuffing, dotted with butter on top. This is a firm favourite in our house, which this year I mixed fresh cranberries (cooked) to half. The concensus was 'don't bother with the cranberries next year'!

The trifle (for teatime), before the custard and more fruit were added just before serving.

The tree surrounded with our gifts to each other.

Let's get started!

Well, this is a new year and not far into the new adventure, so I thought it was about time I got blogging again. 

We've been in Cape Town since October, but returned to England for Christmas/New Year, so that's where I'll start, in the cold and deep snow of December 2010.

This was the scene we woke up to on the day following our arrival at Andy's Mum's house in Walsall. :

  We didn't take the car out for three days, so on Andy's birthday, five days before Christmas, I added a candle, ribbon and 'Happy Birthday' to a tiny fruit cake that happened to be in the cupboard:

Andy always looks forward to a Chinese take-away meal when we go home, so we rang our usual place and asked if they were delivering, despite the deep snow. He was delighted when they agreed to venture onto the estate where his mum lives and bring his favourite dishes. It really made his birthday special!