A toast to new year!

Have a fantastic new year. I hope that you had a good break over the holidays, and are ready for the next year. I cannot believe that 2008 is almost over, and they in just a few hours it will be 2009.

What is even more scary is that in just a few hours, South Africa will be the 2010 football world cup in less than 600 days! There is still loads of preperation and building to complete, but I am sure that we be ready!

So, what have been my hilights over the past year?

• I became an uncle to Sebastian - I am now three uncles
• I visited Malawi
• I wrote an ebook
• I watched Ben Zander speak
• I was appointed as Lt.Gov, Education and Training for Toastmasters SA
• I went to Canada and USA
• I drank some great wine
• I renewed my drivers license (hopefully)
• I ate some great food
• I won a speech contest
• I had some great braai’s with friends

There are a few low-lights, but this is about celebrating the good things, so here’s to 2009!

(image source)

Here is a quite cool map of countries that I have visited. Visit the link below, and you can create your own. When you look at it visually, it really does not look like much. I will simply have to travel more!

visited 15 states (6.66%) Create your own visited map of The World or try another Douwe Osinga project

These are the Christmas tree lights from a friend of ours – Jana Barnhill. Their whole house lights up in time to music, and they even have the music broadcast on one of the local radio stations where they live in Texas, so that you can watch the show as you listen to the soundtrack in your car.

When not putting on Christmas light-shows, Jana is the International President of Toastmasters International. She is a very able president, and a fantastic person!

Enjoy the show.

The braai is probably one of South Africa’s most traditional meals. It is practised by all cultures in South Africa, and as often as possible! Probably the only thing that will prevent a South African from having a braai is a rugby game, in which case they will probably simply braai before or after the game!

If you drive through any suburb in South Africa on a summer weekend, you will smell the delicious smell of grilling meat.

Braaing is a very casual and social affair, but there it is taken quite seriously by the cook. You simply NEVER interfere with somebody else’s braai without asking them very politely first (even if the meat is burning!)

So, what exactly is a braai?

Very simple really, it is a South African BBQ. However, it is almost always cooked on wood or charcoal – very seldom on gas. A braai will typically consist of one or more of the following:

• lamb cutlets (chops)
• sausage (boere wors – literally farm sausage made from beef)
• traditional pork sausages
• beef steak
• chicken pieces or kebabs
• beef or pork ribs

Let’s get going

You will need a braai (in which to make the fire). Many public picnic sites have brick braai’s available, or a Weber will do. You will also need wood or charcoal – we often buy “brikettes”, which are small round compressed pieces of charcoal.

Blitz, which is a paraffin-based firelighter, helps to get the fire going, but if you are a boy scout, matches and an axe will do!

Put a few pieces of the blitz (firelighter) onto the grid

Light the blitz. and give the coals a few minutes to start burning. Note that with the braai, you will always use “direct heat”.

Lighting the wood fire

Some nice coals starting to burn – it should take about 40 minutes to get good coals.

While waiting for the wood to burn, cook some garlic bread on the fire.

Garlic bread ready to eat – yummy!

From top to bottom - wors (beef sausage), chicken, and chicken kebabs in the front. You can also see some ostrich kebabs at the top on the far right.

Braaing is thirsty work – you will need plenty of liquid refreshments

When you can hold your hand above the grid for three seconds, you are ready to cook. Put the meat onto the grid, turning every few minutes or so.

Looking good – almost ready to eat.

After about two beers (40 minutes or so), you are ready to eat, so dig in!

Ready to eat – looks great, doesn’t it?

After a good braai, the plates will be empty!

One more think, we often have “bring and braai’s”, in which the host supplies the fire, rolls and salads, and the guests all bring their own meat and drinks. Simple and easy.

Look what I found sleeping in the waste-paper basket in my study today…..

Crazy cat - full of rubbish

Crazy cat!