Alexander McCall Smith: Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
This brand new book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series could not have come at a better time for me. Sorting through, giving away, selling my car – it all takes a toll. It’s a little like dying, this moving. I know I will be “resurrected” in another life, but in the meanwhile, I have so much grief, and I just stuff it away and keep going. These books are my carrots; they are my reward at the end of the day.
I have a stack of books and I am going through them like a locomotive – just chugging along.
Mma Precious Ramotswe and her totally different world in Botswana sweep me away totally. I love the sweetness of the way she thinks, her love for her country, and her tolerance. In Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, several things are going on at once, not the least of which is that she, also, must part with her dearly loved little white van, which has gone as far as it can go, and can go no further. The engine cannot be revived, not even one more time, by her dear husband, mechanic J.L.B. Matekoni.
Just in time, just when they need a new customer, comes Mr. Molofololo, the owner and manager of the Kalahari Swoopers, who hires Mma Ramotswe to find the traitor who is causing the Swoopers to lose their games.
Last, but not least, Mma Makutsi’s fiancee (she is the Assistant Detective now, remember?) Phuti Radiphuti, is being assaulted by Makutsi’s old rival from the secretarial school, Violet Sephotho, who is looking for a rich husband, and would love to steal Grace’s fiancee away, for all the worst reasons. How can plain Grace, with her big glasses and her unfortunate complexion, compete with the glamorous and seductive Violet? Can Phuti resist her wiles?
When I reached the last ten pages of the book, none of these crises had been resolved, and I thought “Oh no! How can the book end with all these loose ends out there?” but in a deft drawing together, McCall vanquishes the devils, finds simple solutions, and leaves us with Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi having tea together at the President Hotel.
This book is a great way to end the day with a smile on your face. 🙂 I bought this book for $21 in a bookstore, but Amazon has it for $14.37 plus shipping. I don’t buy a lot of hardcover books, but this one was worth every penny.
Neuleiningen Castle and the BurgSchanke
For many many years, we have been going back to the BurgSchanke in Neuleiningen. We would see the ruins of the old castle, high on a hill, as we would be driving by on Autobahn A6 between the Heidelberg area and France. When AdventureMan got his company command (it was a big deal) I saved up my money and treated him to dinner at the BurgSchanke.
This is where we sat:
The menu doesn’t change much. Most of these entrees were the same ones on the menu many many years ago:
Here is what AdventureMan likes to have – Franzosiche Entenbrust, or French Duck Breast (I think the French part is all the vegetables)
I don’t eat meat very often, but when I do – this is what I had – the Knoblouchsteak (garlic steak)
It used to be served on a wooden platter. I am guessing that health and sanitation standards now require porcelain or something less porous and prone to bacteria than wood.
And here is what we had for dessert. We totally hate the presentation, but it never fails to make us laugh, long and loud, and in spite of how it looks, the mousse is truly delicious.
We talked about all the years we had been coming to this restaurant, all the guests and friends we had brought with us, where we had been sitting with different people – including, more than once, my parents, coming back for their own sentimental journey. Ahhh . . . sweet memories. 🙂
One time, my youngest sister and her family came for a visit, and their son also tried the duck, and thoroughly enjoyed it. His father ordered the Eisbecher Burg Neuleiningen, and we didn’t tell him . . . we waited to see his face when they brought him a bowl the size of a punch bowl, filled with fifty scoops of ice-cream. 🙂 Oh, what fun!
We stayed in a truly darling hotel, and felt very lucky to get the last room. “Two hours ago, we had four vacancies,” the very nice manager said, “but now, we have just one!” In a heartbeat, we took it. The view from the Burggraf was amazing.
Breakfast in Schwetzingen
German breakfasts are anything but light. There wasn’t a piece of fruit to be found! We were lucky to be guests at the hotel, because most of the tables were reserved, and people were turned away, even at nine in the morning, the breakfasts at the hotel Cafe Journal are so good.
You could have smoked ham, cold cuts and cheese, too, but we chose not.
Breakfast bread basket:
Yummy condiments:
Fresh orange juice:
Herb and cheese omelettes:
We were astonished – in Germany and in France – that there is absolutely NO SMOKING in any of the restaurants. If you are sitting outside, you can smoke, but we could not believe how well enforced this law is. We had heard about it, but frankly – the French not smoke in restaurants? We would not have believed it possible! Germans are very law-obeying peoples, but the French??? Never, not once, did we see a person smoking in a restaurant. It was amazing.
Revisiting Romance in Schwetzingen
When we met, AdventureMan and I, we didn’t date for very long. We knew, almost as soon as we met, that we were going to be married.
We met in Heidelberg, one of the most romantic cities in the entire world. My sister was getting married in the Heidelberg castle. It was a grand wedding, and AdventureMan and I were both supporting characters.
One of our first dates was going to the castle in nearby Schwetzingen. Schwetzingen has a beautiful castle, but it is not as famous for the castle as it is for its white asparagus, called spargel. It may sound funny to you, but this is a great delicacy, only served from mid-April to early June.
Schwetzingen really celebrates their white asparagus; this is a statue in the city square of an older woman teaching younger ones how to sort spargel:
Spargel is served a hundred different ways, in soups, in salads, and in big bunches, with vinaigrette sauce, hollandaise sauce, bernaise sauce, or sometimes with just butter. You can have it with schnitzle, with ham, or just with new spring potatoes. Who would believe asparagus could taste SO good?
So here is the story. We were so young, and had so little money. AdventureMan had taken me to the Schwetzingen Castle to walk, and as we walked and talked, I could tell he was really talking about getting married. He had planned on having enough money that we could sit afterwards, in a little cafe, and have a glass of wine, but we were both hungry. We dug into our wallets, and between the two of us, we came up with just enough for two glasses of wine, one bunch of spargel and one tiny little schnitzle. It was enough. We were in love.
That night, he asked me to marry him.
We go back to Schwetzingen and eat spargel every chance we get – and we have been blessed, through the years, to have lived nearby, or not so far away, and the thrill of our memories there never wears off.
OK Ok, enough of the mush gush stuff. On with the spargel!
This is my spargel with hollandaise. I just had it with potatoes, because I knew I also wanted dessert. 😉
AdventureMan had his with schnitzle. He had spargel with hollandaise and potatoes for lunch, too, and he didn’t plan to have any dessert.
While we were waiting for our spargel, we had a little sunshine, and watched the brides as they came out, every thirty minutes, from their weddings at the Schwetzingen castle:
Here comes the bride:
And here is my dessert, called Heiss Und Eis. As soon as I saw it on the menu, I had to make a decision – whether to start with the spargel or to start with the Heiss und Eis. The Eis part is the vanilla ice cream, and the Heiss part (hot) is a hot raspberry sauce poured over the cold vanilla ice cream. Oh YUMMMMMM.
We stayed at the ErbPrinzen, where we stayed before once when we were going to a ball in Heidelberg. It was wonderful. We were right across from the Schwetzingen castle, they have a fabulous restaurant and we ate all our meals right at the hotel, sometimes outside, sometimes in.
I had tried, unsuccessfully, to make reservations online. Good thing AdventureMan said “just run in and ask! What have we got to lose?” They had a room, it was a wonderful room, and parking was FREE! That’s our room, at the top right corner. We were on the no-smoking floor, which meant hauling our bags up two long floors. I guess the put the non-smokers on top because they don’t worry so much about us having a heart attack.
Here is one view from our corner room:
And here is another view, towards sunset, with some weather drama going on in the background:
The Camera-Phone Diet
Sometimes AdventureMan will say “Take a photo! You can talk about this place in the blog!” I give him the look that says “get your own blog, AdventureMan.” Like if there is no one else in the restaurant, I might try, IF there is no one watching us. If there are other people I might do it IF I can do it subtly . . . I don’t like to attract attention, and especially if it is a place I like going back to regularly, I don’t want them figuring out who I am.
But now . . . I have a whole other excuse! I think this diet from Real Age is a total hoot! Keeping a food diary is known to help lose weight, but snapping a photo BEFORE you eat helps you think about how much you are eating, keeps you conscious of it . . . who knew? I wonder who thinks these things up?
You can read all about this diet HERE
Try the Camera-Phone Diet
Could your camera phone help you lose weight? One study seems to suggest so.
When people in a small study snapped a picture of everything they ate for 1 week, something interesting happened. They took better stock of their meals — and ate less or ate more healthfully because of it.
Snap Your Way to Slimmer Hips
Just think of it as a digital version of a food diary — but better — because it forces you to think about what you’re eating before you put it in your mouth, instead of after. With written food diaries, it’s too late — people log their choices after the fact. Watch this 60-second video on how to dish up just-right portions.
Worth 1000 Words (and Calories)
In the study, the simple act of taking a picture caused people to pay closer attention to how much they were eating, how diverse their food choices were, or how healthful the food was. And that extra thought and attention actually helped them eat better.
Here are some more slim-down tricks to try:
Pace yourself. Find out how eating slowly can help you eat less.
Be regular. Here’s why you don’t want to skip meals.
Learn to decode labels. Yep, reading is good for weight loss.
Chart your weight loss with this nifty weight loss tracker that lets you see your daily progress.
RealAge Benefit: Maintaining your weight and body mass index at a desirable level can make your RealAge as much as 6 years younger.
Bees and Bee Keeping in Kuwait
Also from the Kuwait Agrifood Website – who knew? Who knew there was a family in Kuwait working to build a viable honey-production culture? I came across this accidentally, and love the site.
Growing up, i remember hearing that people with allergies should eat local honey, it helps build resistance (don’t ask me, I’m not a doctor!) and, in addition, we are all trying to shop and live more locally, so having Kuwait honey is – to me – way cool.
Have you seen honey from this farm in the markets? Can you tell me where?
Established in 1996 as a small apiary with 1-15 hives. A year later the apiary was supported with 5 hives imported from Al Yahya Company in Egypt which appeared to be a good start and was of distinguished quality and quantity. That encouraged us to invest in this field and plan to take it as a side job
Ever since that time the apiary grew year after another till the number of hives reached 300 in the year 2002 and it greaw rapidly in the following year till it became 700 hives distributed in different areas of Kuwait
Our production is divided into 3 Seasons. We produce 4 different kinds of honey: These are Cidar honey (main products) lasts from 10/9- 10/11 every year. The second season includes 2 products: flowers honey. (Rhanterium epoposum) and spring honey i.e. flowers of inhabited areas this lasts from 10/3-10/5 every year. The third season started in 10/5- 10/7 and is mainly kina honey
We bread a good kind of bees internationally well known: Crinoboly and Italian, both are originated from AlYahya Company- Egypt. We are producing Italian queens of a very good quality able to adapt with Kuwait environment. A test is being implemented in our apiary upon which we will decide whether we will be able to fill our needs and the needs of local market
We have a specialized team who know how to choose good places, provide wooden hives, import bees and settle it inside the wooden hives and carry out all necessary care such as follow up, supervise, feeding and honey cultivation
FAHAD BIN AJAJ Apiary
Jaber Al-Ali Suburb 7th – block 1 – Street 5
7911796-7192738 7192738 – 7911796 – Tel
e-mail: hunyQ8@yahoo.com
Pecan Pie Muffins
A friend brought these to a meeting the other day. She made them in these really small tins, so one muffin was like three bites. They were SO rich, three bites was enough. . . . except that we couldn’t eat just one, they were SO delicious. Just five ingredients . . . a piece of cake!
Pecan Pie Muffins
SUBMITTED BY: prissycatÂ
Allrecipes.com
“It’s hard to believe there are only five ingredients in these wonderful little muffins! The brown sugar makes them taste like pecan pie.”
Original recipe yield 18 mini muffins
INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs, beaten
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 18 mini muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour and pecans. In a separate bowl beat the butter and eggs together until smooth, stir into the dry ingredients just until combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Cups should be about 2/3 full.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks when done.
He he he – I challenge you. Try to eat just one!
The REAL French Aioli Sauce
My beautiful French friend looked at me sadly, considering how to deliver the bad news in the most gracious way possible.
“Yes, Intlxpatr, it is a very delicious garlic mayonnaise, but . . . it is NOT aioli,” she said, regretfully honoring France and all of French tradition. “The real aioli uses potato, and has a totally different texture from this mayonnaise.”
Back a long time ago, I published instructions for making your own mayonnaise, aioli and rouille and it has been one of my all time high statistics grabbers. How embarrasing to be so wrong!
But I am not alone. This morning as I went looking for “real” French aioli, it wasn’t until page 3 I found this recipe, which sounds very close to what I remember eating down in Les Leques, as we stayed in a family hotel on the beach and ate breakfast and dinner with all the French families. Aioli is both the name of a dish – a white fish, usually cod, served with vegetables and a huge bowl of garlic sauce – and also the name of the sauce itself. We adore both.
Here is the recipe I found for REAL French aioli found in a recipe site called Big Oven:
INGREDIENTS
6 Cloves garlic; peeled
1/2 c Pine nuts
3 Potatoes-boiled; peeled
1 Juice of a lemon
1/4 c Olive oil
1 Egg; lightly beaten
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine the garlic and the nuts in a blender or food processor and puree.
Add the potatoes, and puree.
Pour potato mixture into a bowl and, using a wisk, beat in the lemon juice, a bit at a time.
Gradually add the olive oil in a thin stream while continuing to beat so oil combines with potato mixture. When oil has been absorbed, add the egg and beat well.
Giovanni de Bourbon
Most of the other recipes that sound the most authentic start with garlic crushed in a mortar and pestle, ground together with salt, then the oil added drop by drop until a thick mixture is obtained. Those are the basics – where to go from there seems to be evolving away from the original Provencal recipes.
Smoke House BBQ
AdventureMan and I miss two kinds of cuisine living in Kuwait – American BBQ and Vietnamese. When I read on Mark’s blog 248 about the Smoke House, I couldn’t wait to grab Adventure Man and give it a try.
It’s the best American BBQ in Kuwait.
OK, the restaurant itself is small, and not that easy to find, but it is immaculately clean, and there is all the parking in the world. That matters to me.
The service was quick and professional. We already knew about the pie, because we saw it in the display case when we came in, and knew we needed to save room.
We like BBQ, but for us, it is also all about the sides. I adore baked beans, and the baked beans at the Smoke House are very very good. I love potato salad and I love cole slaw, and they had both, and they were both very good. I adore the genuine, very dill pickles that come with the meals.
AdventureMan had the cajun fish and I had the half chicken. They were delicious. We were already stuffed when they brought our order of sweet potato pie. Oh yummmm. The crust is like a sugar cookie, and the filling is perfect. We couldn’t eat it all. It was huge.
I am not critical. I enjoyed all the sauces too much – so many varieties, including the vinegar-y sauce I learned to love in Kansas City and the sweet and hot sauce I love from the Carolinas. I want to go back. I want to try the mashed potatoes and gravy, and the steamed vegetables and the Pecan Pie. I am not a French Fry girl, but these were crispy and very tasty, and I found myself eating even while telling myself “No! No! No!”
I adore ribs, and I hear their ribs are very good. I am just so thrilled that they exist, that someone thought American BBQ would work here in Kuwait. It sure works for me! 🙂
Here is a direct link to the Smoke House Menu.
Here is a map of how to get there, from their website:
It doesn’t have to be magnificent to get my vote – it just has to be good enough, authentic enough American BBQ to fill my need. The Smoke House is a great find.
So now that just leaves Vietnamese . . . anyone?
Mubarakiyya Glimpses and Public Art
Every time I go to Mubarakiyya, I see something I haven’t seen before. We found some scenes in the meat market – see if you can find them.
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