Bo-Kaap

 Believe it or not, there is Groupon South Africa!  When I saw a coupon for a cooking tour on there, I knew it was meant to be.  Who doesn't want to learn how to make Cape Malay Curry, Chili Bites, Samosas, and Roti?  So on Saturday I headed to Bo-Kaap, a 15 min walk from my house. The neighborhood is full of colorful houses and home to much of the Cape Malay population in Cape Town.  The Cape Malay community are descendants of slaves brought over from Indonesia, Malaysia, other parts of Asia, and the Middle East by the Dutch East India Company in the 16th and 17th centuries. Cape Malay is actually not a correct term as many are not from Malaysia, but they were all clumped together by the Dutch.  Many practice Islam and the Bo-Kaap area has many mosques today (though they were originally not allowed to practice their own religion, they were able to maintain it). 

We (a group of 16 South Africans and me) were met by Zainie at the Bo-Kaap museum (which has a small exhibit on the history of the area).  She gave us a brief orientation to the area and some of the history and then took us to the famous Atlas spice shop which has supplied the community with the essential spices for years.  She pointed out some the essentials and then we walked to her house a few blocks away.  Walking down the street we were greeted by the aroma of delicious smelling curry and knew we were headed in the right direction (she had already spent the morning preparing chicken curry since the group was so big).

We started by making Rotis.  Basically flour, water and oil but then after they have "risen" a bit you roll them out in a special way, spread butter on them, roll them back up, freeze them so the butter sets, roll them out again and then fry them!  Quite a process, but it results in buttery goodness.  While the rotis were rising we start on the chicken curry, but she instructed me, and the other vegetarian, on how to make a butternut squash, carrot, lentil curry that was delicous!  Then we made our own samosas, quite fun to fold.  And chili bites as appetizers.  After 2.5 hours of cooking we sat down to a spectacular meal.  At the end we each got a recipie book and a starter package of spices to go home and try for ourselves!  Looking forward to attempting it one day soon ;)

Here is a slideshow of photos (have to go to the actual blog for the slideshow as always ;)
The first few pictures are of a movie set next to my house.  No photos were allowed when they were actually shooting, but they stopped filming on Friday. On Saturday morning as I made way to Bo-Kaap, I noticed that the set was still there.  So if you every see The Great Britian Story you might recognize something from these photos and will know that it was filmed next door to my apartment complex ;)

Hikes

20 years ago if you asked me to go on a hike, I complained, had to be bribed with M+Ms, and "hated" it! I am also NOT a morning person.  So many would be surprised to learn that I agreed to wake up at 6 am last Sunday for a hike! My how things change, as I now love hiking ;) But really, who could refuse a hike with views like this one?

When people think of Cape Town, they often think of Table Mountain, but Table Mountain is actually one mountain in a whole mountain range and there are tons of awesome hikes.  One of the participants, Allan, who attended the training that I conducted last week, asked me if I wanted to join him and a few of his friends for a hike.  I would have preferred to start a bit later in the day, but people here like to get up early.  We drove to Noordhoek, a suburb of Cape Town and ended up hiking for 4 hours.  It was a beautiful day and we were joined by two gorgeous and super well behaved dogs.  We went along the trail at Silvermine and ended up in Elephant's Eye cave (which is where the picture above was taken).  From there you can look out on the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.  Interestingly it is a great view of Pollsmoor Prison (an infamous high security prison in South Africa) which is situated right next to an extremely posh golf course community!  How is that for interesting zoning?

Here is a slideshow of the day:


The previous Sunday I also went hiking.  This time up Table Mountain.  I have been up Table Mountain a few times, but always on the cable car.  It was probably not the best idea to try to hike it the day after fasting for Yom Kippur when it was 90+ degrees out, but I made it.  I went with Bev (who I met at a Rosh Hashanah dinner) and her friend Jon.  It was nice that I got to attend services this year for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, though it did make me miss B'nai Keshet and it's fabulous co-presidents even more ;) We went up the most direct route which is basically straight up and it is in the sun the whole way.  It was a rough hike and next time I will make sure to drink water and eat the day before ;) But it was worth the sense of accomplishment at the end!

Here are some photos from that day:

Heritage

September 24th was Heritage Day in South Africa.  September 24 used to be Shaka Day in KwaZulu-Natal (a large province along the Eastern coast of South Africa) in commemoration of King Shaka (an influential Zulu king).  After the end of apartheid it was not initially included in the public holidays bill, but the Inkatha Freedom Party, a political party representing a lot of Zulus, objected to the bill without the Sept 24th holiday.  As a result, a compromise was reached and the holiday was renamed "Heritage Day" and made into a public holiday in 1996.  The holiday is intended to celebrate "the rainbow nation" and all the diverse cultures which are represented in SA.  A nice idea.  Recently many people have started calling it National Braai Day since Braaing (or BBQing as it is called in the US) is certainly a part of the culture here.  Everyone loves to have a Braai.  

What it met for me was that all the government run museums in the city were free for the week!  So I took advantage and decided to explore a few of those which are literally in my front yard.  I went to the South African Museum which reminded me of the National Museum of history in NY (large skeletons of whale, mineral collection, etc.)  I also visited the South African National Gallery which had some interesting art.  And the Castle of Good Hope which is the oldest building in South Africa.  It was built on behalf of the Dutch from 1666 to 1679.   It was complete with torture chambers and a posh palace for the governor which has turned into a museum of artwork and antiques.  Imagining some of the awful things that I am sure went on in the Castle was a sobering experience.

Some photos from the day....