Author: Steve

First off Amy would only let me post this if she could title it and pick the pictures.

The kids are busy with school during the morning and swim in the afternoon.  Amy helps them in both of those areas plus she gets her workouts in at the club.  Since I have been labeled the TA (teachers assistant) for the kids’ school and I haven’t been needed lately . . . what do I do?   Other than fill my time with stuff like taking my paint-by-numbers elephant project back to the toy store because the numbers on the painting didn’t match up with the paint it comes with.  Here I am sitting with my nice glass of wine and my cheaters on my nose and the number for the mountains need to mix with black (you know 21/31 mixed together) but there is no 21 (no black)!!  “Amy come here . . . what the heck, look at this”!!   That’s just not right!  After I explained this to the store owner, he immediately took all the paint by number elephants off the shelf, so I’m sure I saved some kid a night of crying and years of therapy over the shear frustration; check your numbers people!  Okay so other than working out, which has been great fun; I thought maybe I should start to venture out in some other areas.

While we were in Joburg I had what I believe to be the most beautiful and fantastic tasting poached eggs ever.  Since I had it more than once I asked the waiter how they consistently make it that great and the kitchen was kind enough to give me a few tips.  I’ve tried to replicate that poached egg here in Cape Town and I honestly give my results a 4 out of 10.  Amy and Keegan (Kendal’s not an egg fan) give it a much higher mark but I think they’re just patronizing me to keep me in the kitchen.

To make this long story shorter, I’ve known for quite a while that I stink at cooking so I was very excited to find and start a “Basics of Culinary” course this week . . . wow, was that a great decision!  There are 14 students in my class.  The head chef has 6 assistant chefs that also graciously help us throughout the night. Much better than Chef Ramsay!!  When I first walked in I heard music pumping in the kitchen, was shown to my station and asked what I wanted to drink. The head chef is a beer-man, in the middle of the kitchen is a beer station (looks like a shrine) that is always tapped.  He likes a beer called Windhoek, from Namibia.  Above the tap is a message, “Chef can not cook with out his Chef Juice”.  He’s been cooking for over 22 years and just this week signed a book deal with a publishing company.  He definitely has a great passion for his work, taught me a ton in 4 hours and had the class laughing throughout the night.  I met some great Cape Town locals in this class and at the end of the night, as I waited for my taxi, I had a great conversation with the head chef about South Africa (what it was like when he was younger and what it is now).  I’m so excited that I have 3 more weeks left.

Let me change the subject – I received a message asking if we’re always happy like we seem in our pictures, the answer is no, we are not in a constant state of euphoria. We have the same silly arguments that we had back home, you know; pick up your clothes, who’s putting the dishes away today, no one said life was fair, you need to get another hour of school work in before bed, Steve are you listening to me?! (I love that one), etc.  But I can honestly say they are much less frequent.  It’s just like home; once the argument is over we quickly realize how silly it was and laugh it off.  When it’s so quiet you can cut the air with a knife and we are all still mad we can always rely on Kendal to come up with some funny movie or TV scene to relive to make us all laugh (watching her tell it is half the fun because she laughs so hard she can hardly get the story out).  So to answer the question; yes we argue but we are all still very happy!

On a not so nice note, but great in self-discovery: I think I may be lactose intolerant (so Amy is making me believe).  I don’t want to get raunchy on this blog but as humans all of us, at one time or another, have flatulence (gas).  Well, I’ve been trying a lot foods I’m not use to while traveling, as of late things like, kudu, impala, ostrich, biltong, etc.

In regards to the above two topics, here’s a sample of a silly argument that happened while driving in the car last week:

Steve: Oh…sorry, excuse me. (It was so incredibly small, like adorable small.)

Amy: (looks at me) God Steve! You are so lactose intolerant!

Steve: What?

Amy: You’re lactose intolerant!

Steve: Well you have ADD! (I know, pretty mature but that’s the quickest thing I could come up with.)

Amy: I’m choosing to ignore that.  You’re just in denial but you are definitely lactose intolerant. You’ve probably had it since childhood.

Steve: What the hell does than mean?!

Amy: You’ve been in denial for years.  Whenever you start eating cereal for breakfast with ‘milk’ consistently this happens to you.

Steve: I drank milk all the time at home.

Amy: Really? Really Steve?  I disagree.  You typically only drank milk right before you went to bed and just enough milk for your 2 cookies. Yes…we all knew you had cookies after we went to bed.

Steve: Oh. (Damn…is nothing sacred!! I decided to not look at her anymore and stare out the windshield)

Amy: So just stop drinking milk for a few days and see what happens.

Steve: Whatever! (I’m still staring out the windshield).

Kendal: (Sitting in the back seat taking in all the action) Remember that episode in ‘The Office’ (ha, ha, ha, ha) where Michael puts his grown college nephew over his lap (he, he, he, I can’t catch my breath) in front of everyone in the office and spanks him. That was hilarious!!!

Guess what; all good in the stomach since I took her advice but I still don’t think I’m lactose intolerant, I just think I have a highly sensitive stomach to new foods.

Cheers!

Some good wine, nice music and a paint-by-numbers project makes for a great night...if you have the correct paint. BTW I didn't ask for a refund I tried to be creative with the colors and it turned out...well, I'm still working on it.

I guess that's a funny picture of me with a turtle...

This is my station and one of three courses I was taught at the Sense of Taste Course on the first night - Salmon Rose and Beetroot Salad. It was incredible!

Here's another one - Chicken Roulade and I'll be attempting this one this weekend at our apartment.

Last week we went out for sushi to celebrate our 100th day on our trip - that's why Keegan has his finger up.