Oh, we do so want 2019 to be a good year for all of us, and for our beautiful country. A positive outlook, cooperation (and sharing, and teaching) between ourselves, and Respect for one another will get us there. Fingers and toes crossed …
In the meanwhile, a few highlights of our Goodbyes to 2018 and Hellos! to 2019.
Left What is a celebratory season without a few bubbles? Right December 25th lunch: Although this was by no means the only aesthetically satisfying (and taste-sensory) dish we were presented with at resident chef Bradley’s home, I did like the graphic nature of this photo composition (thank you, Hirsh!): kingklip ceviche with coriander, lime and chilli.
Even the iron Cockerel sculpture at the bottom of the garden got into the spirit of things.
Just don’t ask about the artist — the rooster came with the house.
Hello, 2019! We are privileged to have as friends members of the Henderson family, who originally hailed from Zimbabwe, and from which a father and two sons originally built (in the late 1930s and, later, 1970s) four of the stone castles that sigh gracefully into the indigenous forest creeping down to a gloriously remote, and generally empty, Noetzie Beach east of Knysna. We can tell a lot of stories (actually, the castles’ walls could too) of numerous party-filled stays there, but today the castles are in the hands of a handful of private owners. So … our privilege is to have continued sleepovers in a serendipitously situated beach cottage — right at the centrepoint of the beach — belonging to another longstanding Noetzie family.
Naturally, there were long, lazy lunches … think grilled watermelon (yes, really) with pesto, spring onions, feta, sprouted greens; and salmon with ginger, lime, chilli, coriander and green beans. Thank you, resident chefess Sharon!
Proof of the pudding … watermelon on the coals
Roast vegetable couscous; cheese platter with preserved orange-rind curls.
No words required.
Of course there has to be a resident pooch. Meet red border collie, Ruby Tuesday.
Happy 2019!
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