Wine Ambassador

I never thought I would be an Ambassador, but this week I became one for Kleine Zalze, a South African Wine Estate. They are searching for 100 people to compete in a blogging competition, and I’m one of them. I have done my first post to which I am getting a good response so far……..

Greetings fellow tipplers, my name is Sue, I live in Pietermaritzburg with my husband Roger and our dog Kitty.  I love nothing more than cooking for family and friends and I had better fess up now and warn you that I have a bit of a reputation!

I have been blogging as Supagran (my SA Blog)  for over 3 years, during that time I have become synonymous with drinking wine out of vases….. I can hear the collective gasp of horror from here.

I related the story about two friends of mine, who sadly are no longer with us. We had enjoyed one of those all-fall-down long lunches and Lynn suddenly decided that our glasses were mush too small and promptly liberated a few vases from the tables and we continued to quaff the afternoon away until one of the husbands came to fetch us.

So there you have it, I’m a mature reprobate, check the worry in my eyes!

I think this forum is going to be lots of fun, I’m looking forward to the challenges and drinking lots of lovely wine……Cheers!

Nice wine and the correct drinking vessel.

If you would like to leave a comment to help me win then follow this link.

Wintery South Africa

Underberg, Natal, South Africa

Many people don’t realise that parts of South Africa can get very cold during our winter, we even get snow. Himself left home early on Friday to see some customers in Underberg a small country town nestled under the southern Drakensberg mountains, about 2 hours drive from Pietermaritzburg.

He took the above  pic at about 8am just outside of Underberg.

This one was taken about 45 minutes later, what a difference when the sun comes out, in the distance you can see the snow on the mountains. I think these photo’s are stunning, particularly as they were taken on his cell phone.

Underberg, Natal, South Africa

Recalling Recordings

Himself upgraded his cellphone, he is really pleased with it because the letters on the screen are sizable enough for him to read without his glasses and he can also see the time (he doesn’t wear a watch). He was even more pleased when I pointed out that it had a music facility. Now as Himself has yet to master the art of sending a text message, yours truly got the job of downloading music onto it.

 Technology has come a long way baby. My first experience of recording music was back in the 60’s, my Dad purchased a reel-to-reel tape recorder, an amplifier and some tall speakers, it was state of the art in those days. He taught me how to record from records and I would happily spend my time making these huge tapes that played for hours. I would love to hear some of the tapes I made back then.

 Then of course came cassettes, I imagine even some of you whippersnappers remember them? They were wonderful except for when they got entangled in the player, then you sat carefully with a pencil lodged in the wheel painstakingly rewinding it. So I dragged out our box of cassettes and had a mental dance down musical lane.

 Don’t get me wrong I think i-pods are marvelous and the ease of being able to download tracks is fantastic, but there is something special about a compilation cassette painstakingly made so that you don’t hear the thud of the stylus as it hits the record. I can reveal that I was a tad anal, I even used to make my own covers and type the titles…..on one of those new-fangled daisy wheel typewriters no less!

Football

I confess that I have feigned an interest in sports in the past.

I recall an early boyfriend who played for the Bournemouth Cherries at one point, so football was very important to him. I dutifully stood on the sidelines of the local pitch freezing my nether regions, a girl had to look her best and mini skirts were all the rage, even in winter! As the relationship moved along I got wiser and sat in the car with the other more experienced WAG’s only we were just called girlfriends back then.

Then there was my friend Sue who adored football, she supported Southampton (aka The Saints), her bedroom was a shrine to her team, as were most of her clothes. Those were the days that Terry Paine (who now does soccer commentary on TV in South Africa) played for The Saints.  Thus Sue & I would board the coach that took us from Ringwood in the New Forest to The Dell in Southampton for the Saturday matches.

I learnt the rousing and very often rude footie songs, I wore a long football scarf, I drank warm beer but I still didn’t like football. However, it was worth it just for the coach rides, did I mention we were generally the only females on the bus?

Now-a-days I don’t pretend to like any sport of any description, but when I watched the Bafana Bafana* match with Himself, he nearly choked on his Hansa* when I yelled ‘OFFSIDE!’ to the ref, guess I did learn something all those years ago.

His name is Ronnie Davis, he’s the leader of the team,

The greatest centre forward that the world has ever seen,

You always can rely on him to score the final goal,

And as for (insert opposition name) you can stick im up your……..

 Maybe the vuvuzelas aren’t such a bad thing.

Vuvuzelas

*Hansa is a local beer that’s very popular in Natal.

*Bafana Bafana is our national football team.

*Vuvuzelas are a long trumpet played loudly at matches, causing much controversy here during the World Cup.

Sunday delivery.

Himself went into the office on Sunday morning to do an urgent repair and upon his return he asked if I fancied a nice trip into the countryside?  I was immediately suspicious, now you dear reader might wonder why that was?

He is a firm believer in giving our customers good personal service, I can recall delivering supplies as we were on our way to a dinner dance and Himself was in black tie  I can’t go to Durban without having to fetch something from a supplier, or drop something off.

I even remember him tying in an installation in Newcastle on a trip to Johannesburg to see family. Get the picture?

‘So why are you so keen to go on a drive?’ I asked, sure as nuts it was to deliver the machine he repaired to Kranskop. ‘It’s a lovely drive’ he said encouragingly ‘and besides I need you to help me load it!’

So off we went, nothing like a nice drive through the rolling hills of KZN.

Driving through the Natal countryside towards Greytown.

After an hour or so we arrived in Kranskop, only Himself hadn’t mentioned that we still had another half hour of the worst dirt roads I have ever been on, that meander down the mountain side into the Tugela valley with drops to the left that made me feel faint!  It was bone shaking, nay it was kidney achingly bad, and I swear most of my internal organs have been displaced.

Driving down into the Tugela valley.

We arrived at the very neat & orderly school, off loaded the machine and then it was back up the mountain! *sob* Meanwhile its past lunchtime, I’m thinking maybe he’ll stop somewhere nice for lunch? He certainly did, I was rewarded with a packet of crisps and a can of Tab in Kranskop….what more could a girl want?!

South African National Pride

I have been blogging on a local South african site for over 3 years, during which time I have made many blends (blogger/friends) one of which blogs here. Side View challenges us weekly giving us a theme to work to, this last week it was National Pride, inspired by the forthcoming Soccer World Cup to our country.

We are awash with South African flags fluttering from cars, patriotic tv advertisements, I even saw a guy selling homemade brooms and such with a flag strapped to a broom. I’m not a footie fan myself, so I won’t be adorning my wheels, but one has to enjoy the different ways South Africans of every colour show pride in their country.

I saw this at a local watering hole, another blogger friend commented that only I could find National Pride in a pub!

Sandwich anyone?

Cousin Bob (my son) likes to regale people with exaggerated tales of his tortuous childhood at the hands of his mother. Everyone always hoots with laughter ‘You used to freeze his sandwiches?’ they exclaim. Now, before you all go rushing to report me to Child Welfare, he survived and is all grown up.

Quite some years ago when we first started our business, money was tight to be frank. The poor boy suffered through my various economy drives and the powdered milk stage…to this day he will not have milk in tea or coffee. He also, very bravely wore all Mom’s homemade clothes…ok the fluorescent orange track suit was a mistake, but the material was on sale you understand.

Anyway, back to the sarmies…

Ever practical, I would make up a weeks worth of sarmies and freeze them, it saved a lot of time in the morning you see.
In my defence there are many fillings that freeze perfectly…..and, seemingly, some that….. er, don’t!

Cheese and chutney apparently thawed to a sodden lump in the heat and his absolute worst was peanut butter and syrup! No one would swap sarmies with him at school…..pause here for you all to sigh and say ‘ag shame’  *  Even the borders, notorious for scrounging off the day boys, gave him a wide birth.

I phoned my son today as I couldn’t remember which fillings didn’t freeze well. ‘Tuna was a success, wasn’t it?’ I asked.

‘TUNA….TUNA? I didn’t ever get tuna! I got jam, Bovril and flipping sandwich spread!’  he bellowed. Then he asked if I was writing a blog about it and I confirmed that indeed I was. ‘Don’t forget to tell them about the IOU you gave me for my birthday will you Mom?!’
*ag shame is a South African expression that expresses sympathy.

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