Love it All

We had another great weekend in South Africa, and lucked out with the weather once again. (Although as I'm writing this now it's pouring down rain with lots of wind outside.) Friday night we had over 2 very dear friends, Mike who went to school with Eliot in Maine and who also lived with us for 6 months in China, and also Scott, a Chinese guy that the guys worked with out in China and who is in South Africa for another month, working on logistics. We had a nice time, sipping wine and teasing Scott about the South African accent he's picked up.

Eliot and I have also signed up with a local market to get fresh organic produce every week. On Thursday we get sent a newsletter via email telling us what is going to be in the next weeks "Wild Bag" and we reply to it by the following day, in order to pick up our produce the following Wednesday. The market gets all their produce from local farmers in the area and it's all certified organic. I have to say, it's a ton of stuff and when we picked it up last week I was worried that we wouldn't be able to use it all up. But so far nothing has gone to waste, and it's a good way to guarantee that we cook veggies for dinner every night.

This week in out Wild Bag we got turnips... My mom has never cooked turnips, I don't think I've ever had them in my life, so needless to say I was a bit unsure of what to do with them. Of course since the internet has EVERYTHING I was able to get a good recipe for them here. Carrot-turnip gratin. I know it's not the best way to use fresh veggies (coating them in sour cream and cheese), but it seemed like every recipe I looked at for turnips called for either excessive amounts of bacon or butter. But everyone seemed to love it, and it's definitely something I would make again.


~Turnips and Carrots~


~Chopped and ready to be cooked~


~Before going into the oven~


~The finished piece~


~Gorgeous Grapefruit~

On Saturday we had a pretty laid back day. We went out to have lunch and then ended the day at the beach. Eliot got in the water to go body boarding and I mostly just froze on the sidelines. But now we've gotten me a board too, so I can join in. Here's a photo of the Cape Town sunset.


And finally, Sunday we went over to our friend Will's house. He just got back to South Africa (from China) for a couple of months and his folks were having a "small" get together for him and his girlfriend, Rebecca. We had an awesome braii, and his family is the type of family that makes you feel right at home. Thanks you guys! And here's Rebecca, her first time not only in South Africa, but also ever leaving China. I'm so happy she's here! It's so nice to have familiar faces around in a new place.


I know, completely random blog, but that's kind of how things have been so far. Just to add to the randomness, here's some flower I bought on the day we arrived, and two weeks later they are still looking beautiful. (And no, they're not fake.)

Alright, that's all for now (I know thank goodness right?), but I hadn't written anything in a while and thought I would just let you know what we're up to.