Saturday, November 13, 2010

Suid Afrikaanse Fair

The day of the South African Fair dawned bright and clear - praise God for a sunny day for the fair! Our school was hosting the event as a fundraiser, but at the time of writing I don't know what funds were raised. It was an awesome day though and the different stalls really came together so well - there was so much preparation involved from some very dedicated and enthusiastic South Africans to make the day a success. We had a fishing game and a beat-your-competitor-off-the-log game, a baking (tuisnywerheid style) stall, face-painting, a bric-a-brac stall (at which I picked up two gorgeous bone china cup-and-saucer sets), and then the food stalls: vetkoek and mince, pancakes, drinks, and of course boerewors rolls with traditional shewa. What would any SA event be without the smell of genuine boerewors cooked on a fire drifting on the breeze? So tantalizing. In the kitchen the ladies were hard at work to serve tea, coffee and a selection of cakes to the coffee-shop patrons seated at tables in the hall. Well done to all involved!!
By the time the cleaning up was done we were thoroughly uitgepit (ooh dear, the Afrikaaners reading this entry might have to correct my spelling). We weren't home for long (during this gap I walked to the corner garage to buy a copy of the Timaru Herald in which I had another 'pic of the week' published, yay!!) before the next event which was a music practice at the church with Bronwyn, followed directly thereafter with a 'do' at Andreas and Danielle's house - a 'thank you' to all those involved with the fair at which we were served left-overs from the fair and from Andreas' 40th birthday celebrations the night before. We sat ourselves on their lawn which boasts a magnificent view over Timaru.
Rushed to eat though as we were due at our next and final event of the day - bonfire night for Josh's birthday at the Camerons! We missed the lighting of the fire but by the looks of the smokey heap it wasn't a roaring success :) I walked up the *steep* hill to say hello to Rachel who has thrown her back out in a big way and got embroiled in a conversation about a poor cow with a disjointed hip, and horse manes and the best way to trim them. It was educational. When I went out again to join the bonfire, I was dazzled by the evening sky...and discovered one of life's ultimate disappointments (second by a long way to talking to people who have no desire for Christ) in having the wrong lens on the camera...a 50mm prime lens is highly unsuitable for sunsets!!!!! I captured only a sliver of what was available - it was absolutely magnificent and kept getting better until an 8.45 pm desaturation.

1 comment:

Genevieve said...

I forgot to ask questions here...
what are boerewors?

Also the things you call pancakes we call crepes, are they very Suid Afrikaanse? We went into a pancake house in Cape Town thinking we would get American pancakes (which maybe the rest of the world calls flap jacks, I am not sure, but they are puffier and mostly served as a breakfast food). We loved the pancakes or crepes and were thrilled to be able to get them with all sorts of fillings. I have tried to make them once - yuk. What do I need to know? Do I actually need to special kind of pan?