Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Father&Daughter Stellies Trip

 



My daughter is interested in the Somatology course at the ISA Carstens academy in Stellenbosch for next year. We did a father/daughter trip to attend an "Open Day" they held.

We took the InterCape bus, leaving late at night. . . .  in the dark.




We stayed with my son who shares a student house with 3 other mates. We had some time to kill and visited Exotic Animal World in Klapmuts.






 "Costume dress-up" in a Chinese shop πŸ˜ƒ



Went for a stroll above Coetzenburg stadium while Tiaan gym, around the dam and under trees.



We even watched the Maties womans rugby team play for a short while πŸ˜€


The next morning was spend at the ISA Carstens open day. 😱 It was a complete eye-opener for me! Very professional and service oriented. The dissipline and passion is also next level!







Late afternoon we went for a properse walk in the mountains around Stellies.



Too soon it was time to leave again. Special thanks to Tiaan, Lenz, Ferdi en Anristo that we could crash at your place, much appreciated !!


Want to end-off by saying, we are super proud of both our kids! Tiaan is doing well on an insanely tough varsity course and Shani stuck it out with difficult subjects at school that required lots of extra hard work, but now it paid off big time in her career choice !!


Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Old roads, new experiences

 


The new experiences were mostly new eating experiences. Ruhan had some great meal surprises for us on this trip. Stuff that I have never eaten before, that surprised the heck out of me. But more about the food later.

To stretch the trip a bit and to do things a little differently, we decided to hike to the Murasie at night. 

We started hiking at around 21H00. The first amazing thing was a HUGE flock of birds we encountered on the beach not even a kilometer from the start. They flew up and circled us,eventually landing at the same spot once we passed. In the light of the tjokka boats we saw them passing and it felt like literally millions of birds.


Closer to our destination, we pass this cow skull, perched on a rock. Eerie. . . . . . 


When we got to the Murasie, I craved a cup of coffee and the water was boiling in no time. After that we set up "camp" and only at around 02H00 we finally went to sleep.





The next morning the goal was to get fish. All the dishes Ruhan planned, had fish as the main ingredient. First we tried spearfishing, but the water was freezing cold, so the dive was short and unsuccessful. I did manage to get a few massive "perde-pote", but no fish.


Survival tip of the day:

If you get yourself into a survival situation at the ocean, make sure you have a buddy with you that can properly fish with a rod and reel. 

I was there for moral support of course πŸ˜‰


The fish just came out, one after the other.


In less than an hour, we had more than enough fish for the day


First on the menu was sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi paste. I ate a lot of fish in my life, but raw fish was just not something I even felt like trying after a bad experience with a rollmob. What a pleasant surprize !!


The rest of the fish were prepared for a curry dish. 




To accompany the curry dish, Ruhan prepared naan flatbread.


First the fish were braai-ed and the curry cooked seperately. Then the two were joined to simmer for a while.





This curry dish with naan bread was something else I tell you !



The next day I did some chores like gathering fire wood, fetching and purifying drinking water, while Ruhan went fishing again. 


I also took a nice "bath" in a rock pool later.



Ruhan had huge success with the fishing again and even got three different species that we could test sashimi style.



We also threw in the "perde-pote" for a sashimi platter of note ! (All food prepared and served on reclaimed wooden planks washed out from sea)



Apart from work and eating, some nice "chillaxing" with good music and scenic senery. 




The meal surprizes were not over yet and for the big one (grand finale), Ruhan prepared Ceviche !





This for me, is probably one of the best ways to prepare fish. (And I never had it before🀦)
It's fresh and light and best described as a fish salad. 

Ruhan added a pot-bread to compliment the meal 🀩🀩



I must also mention that each evening was concluded with fire-grilled marshmellows
 


For some homework, I got myself a nice piece of driftwood. Cut it smaller for easy transportation.


A clue to the idea I have with it:




And so another trip came to an end. One that will long be remembered for the exquisite meals prepared !

Till we hike and fish again !!!


PS: Homework done:

The piece of wood I carried out from Murasie, was crafted into two spoons: a long stem teaspoon for Ruhan and a tablespoon for me.