Yes Kim's birthday was in fact at the begging of this month. However she was so plagued with exams that the party had to be moved till month end. Lots of fun people and laughs last night!!


























The Nice bar crew, these guys are great!!






A Springbokkie ready to be devoured. 2 parts mint liquor 1 part Amarula. Yum..

One of my favorite traditional Namibian (or Southern African) foods discovered in the last three years is Roosterbrood. I remember the first time I had it at a bbq. It had a fantastic consistency, slightly chewy, faintly sweet and salty. It was sliced in two and nicely buttered. It is simply a side dish to be served with meat, however I thought very highly of it from the start.

On my second last day here at the office my dear friend offered to give me a lesson in making Roosterbrood the traditional way. I plan to make it for some friends and family when I am back in Canada. Can it be made on a gas grill? That is what I will soon find out.

The following volume should make about 20 Roosterbroods.

1 kg of cake flour
I small package of instant dry yeast
1/4 cup of sugar
1 pinch salt
lukewarm water

Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Form a little pool on top and add a little bit of the lukewarm water. Knead the dough gradually adding more water as needed.


Just like making any dough you want to get it mixed thoroughly and with the right consistency, not too wet and not dry. You should be able to form it in a ball and not have it stick to your hands.




The dough should rise for about an hour. Ours doubled in volume. What really makes this bread special is that it is cooked slowly over a wood or coal bbq. In fact most bbq's in this part of the world are done using this method. Having a bri or bbq is usually a family or social affair which takes the greater part of an afternoon or evening. I love using real wood for cooking, you can taste the difference in the food you cook. The only thing that drives me nuts is the smell on your clothes following a wood bri, it is fairly unpleasant.

You need to do the usual preparation of your fire and bring it down to nice coals. As mentioned earlier I do plan to give this a try on a gas grill when I am home. Break off a piece of dough and roll it into a ball just smaller than a tennis ball. Then flatten it out and lay it directly on the grill.




Make sure they are arranged in a straight line, this is very important according to Derrick.


When they are fairly browned on the bottom you can flip them over. You should see them starting to rise.


Once they brown on both flat sides, you can start to roll them on the narrow side. They can lean on each other for support.


It is hot on this grill, and I more than once burned my hands moving the roosterbroods around on the grill. You have to be quick like Juanita, or use a set of good quality tongs.




Success!!!


I made a pretzel as well, just for fun.


Just like a proper steak, you want to get nice grill lines on the bread. Looks beautiful to me!

Labels: Recipes

During my stay in Namibia I frequently took trips to the coast, typically for rest and relaxation. If you have been following this site you certainly know how often this has been. I aimed for the sea every two or three months. It is hard to imagine that I will not soon be heading down that lonely road across the desert to a place that has become so special to me.

Here is my last set of coastal pictures for 2008 and possibly some time.

The famous Raft restaurant in Walvis Bay.




Enjoying the calm waters yet extreme winds of Walvis Bay.










Fishing vessels spotted while out at sea on a boat trip.




Dolphins










This boat has been completely taken over by birds. It was eerily quiet as we approached. Very Hitchcock'esque.





An exceptionally bitey seal boards the boat!!!








Walvis Bay oil exploration is presumably starting sometime soon.


The little boat at left tows the rig at 5km an hour.




The South Western African Coast will always hold a very special place in my heart.

Some pictures from our staff end of year function. My last with the department. I will miss this crazy bunch.


















































Winner for the best wrapped gift in the secret santa event!!!


Hi mom!!!

Went on a little hike this weekend as we were out of town for our end of year function.

Picture sourced from Wikisauga

Really good fish and chips are hard to come by. I find the type found in these parts to be generally quite soggy and lame. Growing up we had a fish and chip shop just up the street from my house. I remember when you got take out it would come in yesterdays newspaper; unhygienic? No, that was the best part.

Inside the restaurant was like the belly of a ship. Salt, pepper, ketchup and vinegar on every table - the perfect dinner companions. The menu was simple, fish, chips, some other deep fried seafood, and drinks. The food came quick and on a plate which was forever lightly greased.

I thought I would give it a shot in my home kitchen. This recipe came to me via Madelines Adaptations as adapted from Closet Cooking so much respect to the original posters!

Beer Battered Fish:
1 bottle/can beer
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 beaten egg
1 pound white fish fillets (use whatever fresh white fish you have available)
salt and pepper
->insert something here<-
1/2 cup flour (for dredging)
oil for frying

Chips:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 large potatoes
1 large egg white
Salt and pepper


Prepare the chips first. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Slice the potatos lengthwise into 1/2-inch thick slices. Then turn each slice flat and slice again lengthwise into fries, 1/2-inch thick. The trick is to cover your pan with parchment paper to protect them from sticking. I ended up bringing home wax paper from the store, which I discovered is not the same thing!!! So I lightly oiled the pan but this did not prevent these puppies from sticking. I think the egg adds even more glue for sticking.

Whisk the egg white till light and fluffy and pour it over the chips in a large bowl. The egg white will make your chips nice and crispy. This is a really neat trick that I just learned! You can also season your chips at this point. I kept it simple with salt and pepper.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy; halfway through the cooking time scrape the potatoes from the baking sheet and flip. Mine were so stuck after 15 minutes. I thought all hope was lost, however they still turned out really nice once I had scraped them off the pan.


Start preparing the fish as soon as you slide the chips in the oven. Fresh fish can be hard to come by in the desert so I used frozen kingklip fillets which I thawed out in advance. Season the fillets with some freshly group pepper.

Combine the beer, flour, baking powder salt and beaten egg in a flat bottomed bowl. Before adding the fish to the batter dredge them lightly with flour. Put the fish into the batter and leave them to soak for a good ten minutes.

Set up a little assembly line for your fish to take its last dip.


Remove the fish from the batter and gently place in hot oil. I used a combination of vegetable oil and olive oil. I believe that my oil was not hot enough. Also I think that olive oil is not meant for frying.


Fry the fish until golden brown, about 5-7 minutes, flipping half way through.


Drain on a rack and serve immediately with fresh lemon wedges.


The chips were really good, but I am still washing the bloody pan. The fish was missing something, as you can see in the recipe above I am still planning to find out what it was. Some sort of seasoning needs to be added to the batter. Maybe just more salt. It was not too crispy but the batter had a very nice consistency.


I also sauteed some spinach with garlic for a little iron. The local fish and chips place would be devastated.

Labels: Recipes

Before the end of the year and the end of my time in Namibia we thought it best to pay a proper visit with Kim's family in Tsumeb. It was a chance for me to get to know the household. I had met her mum and brothers before on numerous occasions but I had yet to crack the ice with papa.

Kim's street is really beautiful. I love the trees that drape out over the road.




Tsumeb is a mining town and the decor in town reminds us so.


Friends of the family, double trouble.








We decided to cook dinner for the family. Since we had so much luck with the Potjie at the cook-off a while back, we decided to try another one. The Potjie pot was not big enough so we had to do it on the stove. This really means that it was more of a stew than a Potjie, but it was a hit regardless!


Family dogs.




Kim with her Papa!


Little cousin Jinkies sippin on coca cola.


Kim's mom and friend getting down to the tunes.


I had to join in, friend in the middle, mom on the right.


Best buds




Up and coming MC's






Family photo time, Kim and her brothers.




The weekend went really well. On our last morning Kim's dad made us a soup from scratch which was a real honor, and delicious too. Wish there was time for another visit!!!

There is a sense of pride and admiration in the air.

Seven of the ten Namibian beauties from the Miss Namibia competition 2008 got together recently.