Number 8 28.11.2022

The blue skies of Franschhoek, Western Cape

What a lovely sunshine day we have in Rivonia, Johannesburg, South Africa. My plants are growing; and I still have seeds to attend to. A friend’s mother came from India to visit and she brought me some seeds as a gift. It is time for me to get on and get in the soil. And maybe I will be able to write about it later on.

Yesterday I looked at my tender plants that are barely breaking soil; I wonder how on earth they are capable of doing that? They are so tender and fragile and here they break thru soil. So strong and yet so tender and fragile.

I learn such a lot working with my plants and seeds and stuff. Life and death are in my maternity ward. I think that I told you why I call it my “maternity ward”? Because of the simple fact that it is the place where plants are born and where some don’t make it and just pass on.

Today it is 22°; it is a lovely sunshine day and we have some wind. This reminds me of my late uncle Cobus Vorster [my late mom’s brother] who was rather blunt and fiery at times, especially when it comes to you expressing some opinion about the weather. When I would say: “Uncle Cobus, it is too hot today!” He would, without fail and hesitation, react to that: “Neels, keep quiet. You can’t do anything about the weather!” “Yes, Uncle Cobus. I know that. I am just saying.” He: “No, you were not just saying anything. We cannot do anything about the weather.” Or if I would say: “Uncle Cobus, it is cold today.” By this time, you can most probably read my mind – and you are spot on.  

Malawian pumpkin cut in half.

I am so proud of my Malawian pumpkin, well actually it is not mine. It is my neighbours’. She grew it from one of my pumpkins I gave her and then it came full circle back to me. And now I have some in the soil at my house in Rivonia.

The blue skies of South Africa are so spectacular! I took this image at Franschhoek in the Western Cape round about March 2022. And I still look at it and stand in awe and the spectacle it is.

Please write me a letter: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

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Number 7 27.11.2022

Kurt Vonnegut

 Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut! I referred to him in Number 1 on 21 November 2022. And now I want to pursue his story further.

Back to Kurt. I just read his story on Wikipedia and have some sympathy for the man. And yet, even with his background he kept at it and that is writing. That is what he could do best.

I downloaded a write up of his, telling us how shy and embarrassed he was “not being good at any of his myriad of hobbies.” And the teacher’s reaction liberated him for ever. A lot of different things to do? All at the same time? Or you chop and change as you go along? Embarrassed about it? No, Kurt, was the reply, you don’t have to be embarrassed. What is more, you don’t have to choose – just keep going!!

The story on Wikipedia is, to my mind blunt and to the point. It discloses a lot of very personal things about him and his family. And he wrote about a lot of these things. What a story he had to tell.

You tell me that you have a lot of different hobbies? You are reading five or six books at a time? You have far too much to do? You don’t know which to choose? My short reply is: “Good for you.” My question to you: “Do you have to choose?” My motivation to you is: “Go for it!” You should live until the day you die!

You go on and tell me that you can’t even draw a straight line with a ruler? I don’t buy that one! No, not at all. You don’t need a ruler to draw a tree! You don’t need a ruler to sketch a flower. You don’t need a ruler to draw a face! You tell me that you brother or your sister or you mother was the really artistic one in the family; you were not even born when talents were dished out. You miss the point: You have something inside you even if it is to tell yourself that you can’t. Start with something. Get on with the job. Are you scared to face the white sheet of paper? Me too. Get over it. It won’t bite you.  

Thank you, Kurt, for your story.

Write me you story, please: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

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Number 6 26.11.2022

The book cover.

 

My ox-tongue is cooked.

And it is delicious.

It was the first recipe that I tried out of Marlene Van Der Westhuizen’s BORD [that is PLATE in my home language, Afrikaans]. I can’t even remember when last I cooked it. In legal jargon I might say it is since time immemorial – can’t even remember! Please have a look at her website - it is really something special.

I got stuck with the sauce I had to cook – I did not have all of the ingredients. Yes, I can hear you telling me you should have … Now it is another excuse to go out and to get the special ingredients.

It was a pickled one and she recommended a fresh tongue; what to do now? Marlene knows and she says it should be doused in cold water for about one hour, which I did. Then the cooking started – olive oil, cloves, carrots coarsely cut, celery [some time back another friend gave me a celery plant; I quickly went outside and got my celery and into the pot it went!], some berries, salt and black pepper kernels. Fill the pot with cold water and toss in the ingredients.

Two and a half hours later, 

I took it out and it was perfection. 

I love to think that Julia Child would be proud of me – and if she isn’t, maybe Julie would be. If she isn’t, I am still very proud of my ox tongue. It was the first after such a long time of no cooking, let alone an ox tongue. Maybe Marlene would ...?

Marlene: credit to her website. What a lady!!

OX TONGUE À LA’ NIÇOISE – that is what she calls it. Ah, and all of sudden my learning curve started climbing! What on earth is OX TONGUE À LA’ NIÇOISE? My good friend came to the rescue. Professor Dr G. Oogle provided guidance. And now I know. This is what the learned Professor tells me about it:

“À la Niçoise is a French cooking term that can be used to describe the various elements of a side garnish, usually either: sautéed tomatoes, artichokes, sautéed potato balls (Pommes Parisiennes), vegetable marrow; or sautéed tomatoes, artichokes, sautéed potato balls, French beans. Or, it can describe ingredients that can be expected to be found in a dish. In this sense, the ingredients would be anchovies, black olives, capers, garlic, lemon juice, and tomatoes.”

A French cooking term in my kitchen in Rivonia South Africa – I find it fascinating. The learning curve is extended to the term: “sautéed.” I recognise it because my dear wife explained it to me previously on a fair number of occasions. I am still learning. Academics refer to it as “life long learning.”

Later this morning we will get the ingredients to create the sauce. You probably noticed that I have already tasted it? Oh yes, how else? To repeat it: It is delicious!

Some guys get a Michelin star or two or maybe three – I am in the running for a second-hand re-tread Dunlop tyre. And I am doing my best to get the award. My friends and my wife think I am the best and that is what really matters and what really counts.

It wasn’t easy to get it; that is the ox-tongue and not the award which is up for grabs. Close by my house there is a well-known butcher that sells it; I was so disgusted with the packaging and client service that I decided I will never go back. The packaging was covered in fluids and the manager was not interested to listen to me. I went to another butcher in Morningside, Sandton. He simply cannot keep up with the supplies. He put my name down on a waiting list. Can you imagine your name on a waiting list for an ordinary ox-tongue. On a waiting list! The promise was there that she will phone me once it is in the shop. And so, the waiting game started.

When we were buying groceries, I went around to the butchery and got it.

It was cooking away, when I got a whatsapp call; she was so happy to tell me my order has arrived. She was even happier when I told her it is cooking already.

Tell me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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Number 5 25 November 2022

My sharpened knife, stone and sliced chillies with olive oil

Today I am cooking ox tongue. It is so exciting to cook again; I started cooking round about 2015 and then about 18 months ago I more or less stopped. I really don’t have a specific reason except to say that we were in the process of selling our home where we lived for almost 41 years and I got somewhat ill as well. I had to concentrate on the logistics of re-potting plants to take with, selling, transferring the house linked to the purchasing of the other property. And the logistics involved in that venture were involved: change of address, new internet providers, new neighbours new everything! Living in one property for as long as that, makes you forget what it is to get involved with this lot: what an adventure it was. It was more stressful than what we wanted to admit at the time. And one of the things that bit the dust was my cooking.  

But I have to come back to the cooking bit. Just the other day my new neighbour, who is a retired mining engineer, gave me about five or six different chillies [13 in all]. That night at round 23:00 I put on my apron and cut it in very fine pieces; all different shades of green with the whiteish pips and off-green of the insides. First of all, I had to sharpen my knife; I took a sharpening stone from my workshop and kept in the kitchen. Then the sharpening process began. First you wet the blade, then you wet the stone before can sharpen it. It was a kind of meditation to swipe the blade very rhythmically back and forth, back and forth. 50x. Now it is very sharp; the cuts are crisp and clean. When it slices through the flesh of the chillies, you feel it in the handle. There is no resistance from the chillies. Clean cuts. Wash the stone, put it away and use the knife.

Sterilize the bottles and take a teaspoon and put the sliced chillies inside the glass bottles. Pour pure olive oil on top to cover the flesh. Let it stand for an hour or two before screwing on the lid. I store it in the fridge and use straight from the fridge onto my plate.

And I took a small bottle as a present to my neighbour. He told me that he always cooks his chillies first before he bottles it. He was excited to try mine. I never cook the chillies; always the cold fresh chillies, sliced and stored in pure virgin olive oil. After a couple of days, even the olive oil gets infused with the chillies.

How to eat it? Very carefully. With a glass of cold milk close by. Don’t touch your lips or eyes after slicing it – you will regret it.

You will ask me what has this got to do with the ox tongue? Probably nothing – but wait, I will write something very special about the ox tongue. I got side tracked by the chillies and my knife and how to sharpen it. And how to preserve finely cut chillies in pure virgin oil. What the heck!! It is all about cooking – relax and enjoy it.

Now I am off to the kitchen to attend to the ox tongue.

Please write me a letter: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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Number 4 24 November 2022

 

Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia – the movie about Julia Child and Julie who was inspired by Julia. Oh, my word! I get carried away. I should start at the beginning. And the beginning is Number One. I mentioned Julie and Julia right at the start. Some of you might be familiar with this movie; some not. I was not familiar with this at all. I was only aware of Julia’s cookbook; have seen an original at a restaurant in Morningside, Sandton. And I paged through it and decided it is not my scene. That was a couple of odd years ago. And people change over time; and did I.

My one friend and her husband went to France for her work’s sake and he to wander around in Paris. And she joined him wandering around. And they ended up in a second-hand bookshop and they got lost in there. When they emerged, she had the 1983 edition of Julia’s book in her hands. She made a dish from it for a church function. I ate a portion. And got in touch with her to get the recipe; she shared it with me.

My wife then told me part of the story of Julie & Julia; and I was mesmerized by it: 524 recipes in 365 days. Can it be true? Is it possible? Is it practical? Remember I am a lawyer and I can cross-examine you till the end of time [I cannot dance otherwise I could have said: I will dance you till the end of time]. We watched a youtube documentary featuring the actors and the Julie herself. Yes, is it true. Yes, she really did it in 365 days; she cooked 524 recipes in 365 days.

Some of my photographer friends took on the challenge of taking 365 photos every day one photo at a time. Another friend challenged me to make doodles for 365 days a doodle a day. I declined.

And then I started thinking. I created my own challenge: 31x blog write-ups for 31 days. That is more in my line of thinking. Perhaps not so daunting as for 365 days! The write up on this link: “The bestselling memoir that's irresistible....A kind of Bridget Jones meets The French Chef (Philadelphia Inquirer) that inspired Julie & Julia, the major motion picture directed by Nora Ephron, starring Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia. Nearing 30 and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, Julie Powell reclaims her life by cooking every single recipe in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the span of one year. It's a hysterical, inconceivable redemptive journey -- life rediscovered through aspics, calves' brains and cre me brulee.”

At 72 years of age, I am a fairly young cook – started more or less 2015 and haven’t cooked for about 12 months.

Sometime ago I invited a friend for supper with specially cooked oxtail.

He declined. “I don’t eat oxtail.” Understandably!

Oh well, “What about ox-tongue?”

“I don’t eat ox-tongue.” Also, understandably!

Oh, my word, what does he eat?

Me: “Tell me, do you eat chicken eggs?”

He didn’t think it was funny. No comment! Understandably so.

So, we skipped the invitation or maybe my wife cooked some chicken for supper, chicken with rice [basmati rice that is] – cannot remember.

And now, from Julie & Julia to 31 blog write ups. I don’t want to commit to more.

Goodbye for now, I am off to my art classes coupled with a show of frivolity, gaiety, laughter, hatred for certain music, loooove for other movies, music and sometimes something about art. And discussions about fashion, fabric and what irritates you the most! Wish me luck! 

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Number three 23.11.2022

 

My doodles - this is the doodle that created havoc in my friends mind 

about my sanity!!!!!!

I started attending art classes and it is great fun – at the moment I am the grandpa and only male amongst a couple of ladies. They are noisy, fun to look at, and always discussing things at the top of their voices; this is not my normal scene. They are not shy to speak their minds. And they become quite animated; ask them what their favourite movies are or were and they will end up with loud shouts, laughter and gestures about the most disgusting restaurants they ever visited and to top it all they had to pay for such a horrendous experience. “Claim your money back!” they would scream. “That is the only language these rip-offs will ever understand.” This will open a new topic: rip-offs!!!!  In the meantime, background music is blaring and that in itself always causes some animated discussions. And they try to paint.

When I was much younger my hands started itching when I was idle doing nothing with my hands. The only cure was to go into my garage and start working with my tools. Now that I am much older this has cooled off because I am always busy making things. I love wood.

I am not a doodler by nature – my entire life I am practising law. My telephone conversations were mostly with other lawyers discussing legal things. No – doodling and I were not friends. And now? I just told a friend of mine that I started doodling. And it is as if it is a spiritual experience – it opens up my mind, spirit and soul. And my fear of the white page evaporates.

Now with art classes [it feels as if I am attending a free stand-up comedy show and I get a cup of tea to top it off] I became interested in doodling and I must say I really like it. It stretches the mind; it loosens up my hand and I learn serendipitously – as I blunder along. And the other day my art teacher showed me a little greetings card with the most intricate and interesting doodles on. It was a “wow” factor. And she allowed me to take it home to copy and to wonder about it. What was in the artist’s mind? I used a toothpick and my fountain pen to sketch it. 

She put a picture of a cat in front of me the other day and my very first reaction [I did not disclose it] was to say, no thank you I don’t like cats. But I kept quiet and started sketching it. Why not? And I really liked it.

My cat

And I created my own. And posted it as profile image on my whatsapp. Someone reacted and wrote me; she was shocked and under the impression that I lost all of my marbles; there must be something drastically wrong with my mind to have created this lot. Well, I leave it to you to decide – I assure you that I am feeling fine, just fine!!

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Number two 22.11.2022

What is his story? Help him to understand

Stones, wood, Petria, colour, texture and ... 

Had my early morning walk and pottered around my land art-doodles on the pavement [side-walk]. My one friend, I met him at genealogy, referred to this pottering around as land art-doodles and I like it. It encapsulates the gist of it. I cannot go into the wild like Strijdom Van Der Merwe  or Andrew Goldsworthy and create their incredible ephemeral art installations. And yet, I want to do something; I think of myself to be an activist although on a very small scale. I am connected to the earth. While doing that I am also reminded of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter LAUDATO SI wherein he encourages us to get involved with life.

Yes, we get all these whatsapp messages encouraging people to start to do something, for instance, grow your own food, write a poem, sketch something, sculpt something else.

And I am reminded of Jasper Johns who famously said: Create something and then you do something else with it, and then you do something else with that and then you do … and so it goes on. You can have a look at his NUMBERS, FLAGS & TARGETS.

Later today I will do my usual rounds in my garden – I love making plants. I have re-named my nursery: this is my maternity ward. This is the place where plants die and where they are brim-full of life. The place is pregnant with life, the life forces I experience there is just too wonderful. Oh the sacredness of it all – thank you Karen Armstrong.

 

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