On faith and politics...

"The faith of a church or of a nation is an adequate faith only when it inspires and enables people to give of their time and energy to shape the various institutions -- social, economic, and political -- of the common life."

James Luther Adams

I encourage you to read a post by South African political scientist, Laurence Caromba, called "Is 'racial violence' worse than 'violence'?"

What does South Africa's current leadership and general status quo inspire in you?

Happy Birthday, Donna!

"Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time"

Jean Paul Richter

Donna is a lady of many talents. Aspiring writer, hobby-artist, small-business owner, wife, Womble-master, dear friend and general blessing - she is a charming person to know.

Many happy returns of your special day. I'm so glad you were born and that I have the pleasure of knowing you.

Restaurant Review: Fresh Earth Food Store

Since moving back to Pretoria from my beloved Cape Town, I have been silently mourning the lack of freely available gluten-free fare. In fact, most restaurants seem to think you are swearing at them when you enquire about the gluten-free status of menu items.

As fate would have it, I could've heard the heavens open up to hear old Will S. singing: "Sigh no more, lad(y), sigh no more...And be you blithe and bonny, converting all your sounds of woe into, 'Hey, nonny, nonny'", on the happy day I perchance stumbled across the website for Fresh Earth.

Situated in Komatie Road, Emmarentia; this health food store/bakery/eatery is a coeliac sufferer's dream come true. All suitable menu items are coded (gf) to offer peace of mind when ordering, and bakery items are labelled with a full list of ingredients when perusing the display cabinet.


The menu is diverse, offering breakfast options, salads, hot meals, burgers, sandwiches, smoothies, fresh juices, a variety of beverages and sweet treats. Temptation for trying a variety of menu items dictated that we conquer this corner of Emmarentia two Saturdays in a row. Below is the resulting photographic feast:

Frittata (gf)

Oven baked omelette filled with pesto roasted vegeatbles, saute tofu, goats feta and mozarella cheese.

This was delicately flavoured with a good balance of toppings. Vegetables were roasted to perfection, while the amount and varieties of cheeses used were not overpowering.

Avocado Pizza

Spinach, avocado and mozarella cheese (on a gluten-free base).

Base was crisp (a bit too crisp in places). Topping was, according to my hubby, "Simple yet tasty."

Pesto Pizza
Basil pesto, spinach, olives, Italian tofu, tomatoes, oregano and mozarella cheese (on a gluten-free base).

This topping managed to amalgamate a profusion of tastes, with none being singularly over-reaching. The basil pesto was sufficiently bouyant to make its presence known, while the Italian tofu was a little taste of vegan yum.

Tramazzini

Roast veggies, olives and mozarella cheese (served with a side salad) (non-gf)

While I can't vouch for the taste, my mom did take her leftover pita slices home with her, which is a testament of its own I suspect.

Chocolate Cake (gf)

Ah, the cake...my favourite part :-) Moist and dense without being overly sweet. The cocoa is what comes through here, which is exactly what a fan of 70%+ dark chocolate Lindt is wild about. Big thumbs up.

The Carrot Cake (gf) was also exceptionally good. We bought this as a take home version at R45 for a decent sized log cake. Ingredients are listed as: Rice flour; pineapple; carrots; oil; sugar; eggs; pecan nuts; cream cheese and spices. The topping adds a subdued lemon zesty zing, which balances out the sweetness of this extremely moist cake to perfection.

Since price and value-for-money are relative concepts, I can only offer that for two people (breakfast x 2, beverages x 3 rounds, cake x 2), the outing came to R240, while for three people (breakfast x 3, beverages x 2 rounds, cake x 3), the total was R340. Make of that what you will. A full menu with prices is available on the Fresh Earth website.

Having graduated from The Prue Leith College of Food and Wine in 2001 (now known as Prue Leith Chefs Academy), excellence in service was a mainstay in my training. As such, the make or break point of most restaurant outings for me is the service. Fresh Earth strikes a good balance here - friendly waitrons (fast, efficient, knowledgeable about their product, and attentive without being overly so...thank you Michael and Tryphina), impeccably polite manager (kudos to you, David) and smiling cashier (shine on, Rebecca!)

As with any production, the stage plays a part in making a lasting impression. The outdoor setting is lovely, with wooden tables under an awning, flanked by wheat grass and a red tractor (which seems to give most kids something to happily clamber about on, while having the odd side-effect of making my IT-ish husband want to refurbish old VW combis). The interior shop is well-stocked and lends itself to the element of 'browsiness', which I like.



In an otherwise stellar review, I have only two minor gripes. One, the bathroom arrangements are cramped, noisy due to the extractor fan, malodorous due to the trash cans and somewhat lacking in privacy should someone look out of their windows in the surrounding block of flats. Two, the indoor seating area. This space is cramped and lacks a good supply of fresh air, which isn't helped by the patroness using this area as a space for a rather loud Saturday morning business meeting at the adjoining table. That's it, end of complaints.

In summary, was the food good? Yes. Was the service good? Yes. Was the setting good? Mostly - outside is lovely. Would I go there again? A resounding, yes!

I offer up a hale and hearty high five to this quirky little gem :-)

Oh, for the love of all things gf...

After years of finding myself in varying degrees of discomfort and pain after eating, I was finally diagnosed with Coeliac disease, which is a severe allergy to gluten (found in wheat, rye, barley, oats and their products).

At the time of diagnosis, the most exciting gluten-free flours one could lay your hands on here in South Africa were rice flour or sorghum flour (which tended towards creating muffins which could seriously injure someone).

These days, there are a choice range of gf flours from which to choose, the products of which taste akin to the best glutinous creations that can be offered up for comparison.

However, just like Sarah Michelle Gellar's character in the movie Simply Irresistable whose emotions were poured into her culinary creations, causing those who ate them to exhibit the same - I am of the opinion that a heaping helping of love helps to sweeten any baked good. Enter...my mom.

Now, mom is a baker of note. Every childhood birthday party offered up a new and exciting cakely creation. Upon hearing of my coeliac disease, she was saddened at not being able to bake up a storm for me to enjoy anymore. However, just as the range of gf flours grew, so did my mom's adventurous ways in the kitchen.

Enter...modified versions of the old favourites. Below is just such a recipe. Please bear in mind when baking with gf flours that the consistency often has to be adjusted according to feel (usually just a little more flour or a little more liquid). Use baking intuition, have fun and most of all...born-up-a-tree!

Gluten-free Yoghurt Cake

Rebaked recipe in July 2011 (this one works):

• 175ml yoghurt
• 175ml self-raising gluten-free flour (I used Nature's Choice, which isn't self-raising, and the cake still rose sufficiently...although it is a denser cake)
• 175ml castor or white sugar (not brown)
• 87ml sunflower oil
• 2 large eggs
• pinch of salt (I always leave this out)

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Place in a very, very well greased loaf tin (also dusted with flour), and then bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (sometimes it's best to decrease your oven temp by 5 degrees when trying a new recipe, as oven temps differ....so 175) for 40 to 45 minutes (or until just golden and a cake skewer inserted comes out clean).
   

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ingredients (original 2009 recipe missing sugar...ignore):

• 175ml gluten-free flour (I use Nature's Choice, which is a mixture of gf flours);

• 175ml full-cream yoghurt (mixed fruit or strawberry is particularly yum);

• 1tsp xanthum gum;

• 1/2 tsp each of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar;

• pinch of salt; and

• 1 egg.

Method:

1. Mix ingredients together (gently) in no particular order.
2. Pour into a greased loaf tin.
   
3. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

Check out some cool blogs dedicated to gluten-free cooking:
http://gfsouthafrica.blogspot.com
http://milkforthemorningcake.blogspot.com
http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com
http://glutenfreeday.com
http://www.thespunkycoconut.com

Details are the hinges of the universe

Oupa with my newphew,
Christmas day, 2007.

It took me just over 10 months to read The year of living biblically by A.J. Jacobs. A self-confessed agnostic, he spends a year following the bible as literally as possible with some suprising results. Being a usually voracious reader who devours books in single sittings, it is possibly the longest I have ever taken to read a book because this is the kind of book you want to allow your mind to marinate in slowly so you can reach some conclusions of your own.

I've been pondering a lot lately on the 'whys' of life. Perhaps feeling a bit overwhelmed by them is more accurate.
For instance, why is there so much suffering in this world? Why doesn't God intervene? What happened to miracles?

Standing in Woolworths on Wednesday, holding sleep-wear for my 78-year old grandfather who suffered a stroke on Monday night and was being admitted into hospital that afternoon, I was feeling a little more overwhelmed than usual. An older woman dressed stylishly caught my eye and, when our paths crossed at the end of the tills, I complimented her on her clothing and how lovely she looked.

She looked at me with shock on her face and said: "I would never have thought it after the day I've had. You see, I've just found out that my second husband, who has been in and out of work for a few years now, has two policies that will not pay out a cent when he passes away. My son also died and I don't have a pension. I don't know what I am going to do. It's bad to say, but I feel cross with God."
I told her that I thought God is big enought to handle it, then I prayed with her, mostly unsure of what to pray for other than some peace and her own version of a God-sent miracle.
She gave me a hug and said: "Thank you. I feel like our paths were meant to cross today."

It was then that I was struck by a mini-epiphany. 'Mini' because it doesn't really answer any of the 'whys' definitively, or generally make the tough parts of life easier to handle in any way.
Instead, what it offered was a realisation that though your needs may be great, at all times, there are other people in this world whose needs are probably greater, and in that you can give thanks. Not for their suffering, you understand, but rather for your blessings.

It is, I guess, the quintessential metaphor of looking at the glass half-full. Taking notice that for those five minutes, my belief in prayer was the answer to someone else's need. Giving thanks that I didn't ignore that tapping on my shoulder that all was not as it should be with my grandfather's medical treatment. Accepting the quiet, "Thank you and God bless you", from the mother with the baby standing begging at the robot, grateful for the groceries I bought them. Getting up everyday and smiling instead of moaning about the day's work ahead, because many would like to be in my position and aren't. Enjoying tender kisses from my dear husband. Cherishing a laugh with my parents who gave me a good upbringing and excellent education. Giggling at the adorably odd individuals my niece and nephew are becoming. Appreciating the accomplishment of a student thanking me when I've explained something they didn't understand.

In essence, God is in the details, if you choose to see Him there. And most days, those details are what keeps you pushing on.

Growing old disgracefully

Laa-Laa rocking the faux fur
jacket and curly hair, July 2006.

I was sitting around the kitchen table at work the other day, listening to my fellow teachers waxing lyrical about family stories. Particularly those stories that related to their parents and the process of aging. The History teacher said something which caught my attention (which can sometimes be difficult for History teachers the world over, if you catch my drift). She said: "Why isn't it possible for all people to get old with dignity?"

I recall reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom a few years back, detailing sociologist Morrie Schwartz's slow and painful delivery into death's hands as a victim of Lou Gehrig's disease. What caught me the most were the parts in which he talked frankly about the humility this disease impressed upon him in the guise of, for instance, having others wipe your derriere because you could no longer do it yourself.

Little did I know that this process would be played out all too soon with my maternal grandmother, nicknamed Laa-Laa, who succumbed to the vicious ravages of cancer with as much spirit as she could muster. I was horrified by the barbarity of the treatments she was encouraged by the medical fraternity to endure, hoping to eke out just a little more time here on earth. However, her frail body and brittle porcelain skin belied the courage which lay within.

She was a fighter. She threw the notion of growing old gracefully to the wind. Before she lost her beautiful, thick hair to chemotherapy; we marvelled at the fact that she no longer even knew what her true hair colour was. Every Saturday was about a visit to the hairdresser for perming and colouring. A ring adorned every finger. Years of wearing only fashionable shoes had left her with bunions the size of small planets, and even then she was remiss in letting go of them to err on the side of practicality and comfort. Yes, she was a spitfire, my Laa-Laa. The type of old gal a song like Mustang Sally should have been written for.

She attended her own funeral before beginning her descent into the stuff medical nightmare's are made of. Indeed, her very own living funeral (an idea borrowed from Albom's book). For one perfect day tinged with a side-order of sadness, songs were sung; past hurts were made right; favourite foods were eaten with true abandon; hugs were freely handed out and lashings of laughter mixed with tears were shared.

She held on almost a year after that day spent celebrating a life rather uniquely lived, passing peacefully in my parents' home in 2007, surrounded by her husband, her children and children-in-law. Everyday, she is missed.

Here's the thing...my maternal great-grandmother, Gaga, lived into her nineties quite sanely (despite her nickname). Now, how the hell did my gran lose almost two decades in the race against time with genes like that on her side? I'll tell you this much, prune juice started looking a lot more appealing as my drink of choice once having done that little sum.

I'm not sure about growing old too disgracefully, especially since I'm not one for the noxious fumes associated with hair dyes. No, I think I'll rather content myself with trying to grow disgracefully old (my husband reckons 120 ought to do just fine, although I still think we're both holding out for some Twilightesque immortality... :-)