6/28/2009: Knights of De Gama Chicken Braai

Being a Knight of Columbus, I have been involved here with our brother organization, the Knights of De Gama (a Portuguese explorer who went around the horn of Africa). Their annual fundraiser is a chicken braai, wherein we serve around 1200 plates of half chickens, potato salad, and green salad. I was on braaing duty by the grills.

The chili day the night before ran a little late, so I arrived shortly after 8 a.m., when I was supposed to be there at 7 a.m. I made up for my tardiness by working until the thing was over (after a two-hour diversion to take the wife and kids to Mass) at around 5 p.m.

That's Joe there manning the grill, a bucket of raw chicken halves resting on the ground behind him. Let me tell you, Knights worldwide are all the same - I was greeted with chorizo sausage on a bun, a couple of spare ribs, and a cup of Old Brown Sherry, because it "will make your toes warm". Oh, and the guys were out there drinking beer at 8 a.m. - just like home! It was a fantastically successful event - we completely sold out of chicken!



The event was held at a place that I figure my dad would appreciate, being that he went to Christian Brothers High School. Here we have the entrance to the chicken braai, held at none other than Christian Brothers College in Lynnwood (Pretoria). Small world, no? It just serves as one more reminder that Catholic really does mean universal.

6/27/2009: Texas Chili Day!

I had invited several colleagues from Vodacom over for some real Texas Chili, and today was the day! I needed to start cooking around 11:30, so I forewent the pancakes and served the kids doughnuts instead. At the grocery store on Friday John approached me and said, "daddy, can we get doughnuts? I know that making pancakes every Saturday must be a lot of work." How could I resist? It was self-serving on his part but there was some truth to it. In any case, I rewarded him for being clever.



The kids ate the doughnuts and we went to the Irene Market, but there were no camels there this time. We were thinking it must have been to chilly outside - that, or too early in the morning. We let the kids play on the playground, ran a couple errands, and made it back to the house in time to start cooking!

Here is the first batch cooking - the "fake" chili with beans. I made sure to make it mild enough for kids.



And the result:



Here's the spread we presented - chili with beans, "real" chili without beans but with jalapenos, corn bread, Fritos, guacamole, cheese, onions - you name it. It was fantastic. April and I are flexing our cooking muscles here!

6/26/2009: Family Fun Night

It's Friday, and we were going to be doing a lot of prep work for Saturday, when several colleagues of mine from Vodacom were coming over for some real Texas chili, so I decided to get pizza ingredients at the grocery store and let the kids make their own. I had prepared for the next day by getting a case of Grolsch and putting it in the cooler:



Yes, it is outside in the freezing cold and I just open the window to get beer! I'm amazed by my ingenuity sometimes...

The pizzas turned out wonderfully - salami, mince, peppers, sweet chili sauce, cheddar, and mozzerella all on a french roll?! How could it NOT turn out great?

6/25/2009: Daddy Day Care Redeux

April was heading to Rayton and Mamelodi today to again help Francis with the bead classes/workshop/etc., so I was going to have the kids by myself all day long (again). We needed to leave the house at around 7:15 a.m., so I rousted the kids from bed and stuck them in the car. It was around 2 or 3 degrees Centigrade, so I brought them out in their blankets then covered them all up with a sleeping bag. I couldn't resist the cute resultant picture!

6/24/2009: Work

I was heading up to Vodacom today to have some meetings and whatnot, so I started the morning off right by making - you guessed it - an omelette!



Meetings were OK, so I stayed at Vodacom for lunch. Here is what the canteen was offering on this particular day. It was:

Ox Tripe served with Pap and Gravy

Yikes. I'll just have some BBQ chicken, thanks.

6/23/2009: Daddy Day Care

Today April was heading to Mamelodi with Francis to help with the bead work classes, so I made myself an omelette (like always). Cheesy!



I was watching the kids all day, so I took Mary to her dance class as well, and then got books at the Irene Library. It was a fun day!

6/22/2009: A Reason Why We Have Kids

6/21/2009: Father's Day

Somehow I ended up with no pictures of our little vacation weekend to Rustenburg on my phone - I will have to post some pics off the main camera when I get a chance. In the meantime, it seems I only have food pics. This is the breakfast we were served at the B&B Cozy Nook, the place we stayed in Rustenburg:



Cozy, no?



For my special Father's Day meal I chose Cape Town Fish Market (or something like that). I ordered a 20 piece sushi variety meal. It tastes just like sushi in the States! That's a mojito next to the plate, and it was delish.

6/19/2009: Sarah's New Trick

I made one of my famous omelettes this morning with cheese, meat, and pico de gallo. I love making omelettes.



Sarah has a couple new tricks - in the first, she will reach over and grab your nose. The second, where she "gets" someone, consists of her putting up her fists and fake punching someone. HA! She also complements this action with a faux serious look on her face. I love it.

6/18/2009: Cute and Hurt Children

It seems that John wasn't content to have Sarah as the only injured child, so he put a blanket over his head and walked around my office, until he slipped and busted his skull on the corner of my desk. He was quite upset when he realized half his head and face was covered with blood - typical of head wounds. April put him in the bathtub to wash off the blood, and here she is showing the nice golf-ball sized bump that arose.



Vin wasn't all that excited about the whole thing.



Blurry but still cute!



We ventured away from the exclusivity of Pinotage wines and tried Raka "Spliced". It was excellent, and I might yet be able to get April to drink red wine blends!



Here is Sarah's bruised face from falling down the stairs in the playhouse then having a door fall on her head.



I gave these candies to Philemon ultimately because no one liked them but me. During Apartheid they used a racial slur in the name rather than calling them "black". Really.



Here is Mary relaxing in the tub. Using a flotation device cracks me up.

6/17/2009: Mexican Leftovers

We had leftovers from Mexican night, so I made a quesadilla for April and myself for lunch today. Tortilla, cheese, beans, ostrich meat, and rice make for a very tasty combination!



THAT is what I like to call low-cal!



With dinner tonight we selected a bottle of Spier Pinotage 2007. It's pretty nice, but Beyerskloof is still our (budget-conscious) favourite.

6/16/2009: Soweto Day!

Today was a national holiday in South Africa - Soweto Day - when the students had an uprising against the government after being forced to learn in Afrikaans rather than English or their native tongues. We just hung out - I stayed in bed for a long time.

The kids decided to go open a pack of wet wipes and clean the car however. Expensive car wash!



John refuses to sit still for a haircut, so we've pretty much given up. I think he's agreed to a trim to keep his bangs out of his eyes. Until then, he is using Lego track pieces to keep his hair up.



We're not really that worried about him even though he looks funny, since he is writing love notes to Mikaela:



April and I shared a bottle of Beyerskloof Pinotage Reserve 2007. They are justified in charging double the regular price (R80) for this stuff! It was delicious and the different flavours (whatever they are) came through distinctly, even the woodiness!

6/15/2009: Mail and Poor Sarah

Here is what happens when you folks mail us stuff - this envelope is not too worse for the wear, although it took quite a while to arrive. Seems the Post doesn't bother to notify us of our packages for a week or so - I had to pick up three when I went today.



Big story today is Sarah's mishaps. The kids were all playing in the playhouse out front and John decided to leave the responsibility of Sarah to Vin and Mary. They were responsible enough to tell us that Sarah fell down the stairs, about 1.5 meters high (five or six feet). Mary said she jumped down them or something like that. She broke her fall with her face and neck:



After this little incident, she was playing with a broken closet door in the boy's room and it came down on top of her, blackening her eye. Thank God she is nothing more than battered and bruised!

6/14/2009: Sunday Treats

We have sort of made a habit of heading over to Menlyn Park Mall after Mass on Sundays to eat and walk around a bit, and maybe catch a movie. This Sunday was no exception - I took the family to Primi Piatti, a decent Italian restaurant to get some pasta. I forgot that pasta here gives me gut rot. Oh well.

Sarah is a cutie, no?



Here she is doing her new trick - saying "tee hee hee" whilst bending over and putting her hand to her mouth. Hilarious!



I took the kids to see Coraline in 3-D, a decision I regret. That movie is weird with a capital 'W'. Of course they liked it. Here is how they have to wear their "Real 3-D" glasses, however:

6/13/2009: To Market, To Market

After our traditional breakfast of pancakes, we went over to the Irene Market today. April has been getting some supplies to bring back to the States, we've been buying some foodstuffs, and the kids get to ride the camels. They never tire of this it seems.





Sarah is a climbing fanatic. She climbed all the way up on the playground equipment by herself, under the watchful eye of mommy. See her new $4.50 shoes?

6/12/2009: Funeral Time

Lydia's 32 year old daugher Sheila passed away about 10 days ago, and today was her funeral. Another daughter, Chili, came by with her male friend to pick up wood for a bonfire and to give Philemon a ride to Winterveld where Lydia's family stays.

The baakie they used had only two seats up front, so Philemon had to make a nest from a cardboard box and a blanket for the hour-long trip on top of the wood pile in the back. Not sure if you can see him back here, getting closed in:



And they're off!



Vincent has taken up the new habit of putting anything and everything on his PB&Nutella sandwiches - including mustard...



...mayo, and ketchup. Nasty.



I took the family out to Doppio Zero since we had eaten at home for the past couple of weeks. They've revised their menu and have added hummus bruchetta with Peppadew (TM) peppers on top. They were very good (as was the Beyerskloof Pinotage 2007).