Joburg

I made it to lovely Joburg where I'll spend the day and night before catching my flight to Maun tomorrow morning.  I'm not sure how much the pigeon guano shows up on the shutters behind me but there's a lot of it.  Needless to say my room is the best part of this fair city.

Lunch at Aunt Elly's

I've arrived back in Minneapolis after our Minnesota lake vacation at Madden's.  My Aunt Elly and my brother John whipped up a gorgeous lunch of salad, zucchini blossoms stuffed with Maytag blue cheese, cold lamb chops, and a cheese plate.  

Fishing with Walleye Dan

This morning Katy, my mother and I went out fishing with Walleye Dan, our very enthusiastic fishing guide.  I caught five fish!  My mother caught one (the first one) and Katy caught three.  We mostly got walleye and bass but Katy got one pike.

John Sails!

I never knew my brother could sail!  I think he would make a very good pirate.

Gull Lake

Well I'm finally here on Gull Lake in Minnesota for my family reunion.  I'm looking forward to swimming in the lake, fishing, spa-ing, and catching up with the fams.

Portland, OR

Last weekend I flew out to spend time with my brother John in Portland.  He's busy building the most gorgeous and well crafted food cart in all of Portland (possibly the world).  Food carts are very popular here and often serve locally sourced, delicious, well made food.

On Saturday morning, at 6am, we got up to go to Zenger Farm where John helps take care of a flock of turkeys and chickens in exchange for fresh eggs.  We let them out, gave them clean water and fresh food.

We had lunch with two friends of John's at a yard with four food carts surrounding a few picnic tables.  John had a tuna sandwich and I had a leek and potato quiche.  Both came with spiced potatoes and a huge glob of fresh mayo.  Very yummy!  For dessert we all shared a Nutella and strawberry waffle from another cart.

After lunch John and I went for a walk in Forest Park.  We took a winding trail up and around the side of a mountain.  The tall evergreens and loamy forest floor were so beautiful.

We had a long dinner at Genoa which I thoroughly enjoyed.  The next morning I got up early and flew back to NYC.  But I'll see John again soon in Minnesota where I am currently.  We have a family reunion up on a lake here for the next few days.  I'm looking forward to fishing, swimming, boating, and all that comes with a summer getaway in Minnesota.

Thomas Keller Dinner

Well I've arrived in New York and have been having a great time.

Katy hosted a Thomas Keller dinner party where everyone brought a dish from one of his cookbooks.  We certainly ate well and had a good time doing it.

I had just worked a shift at my food coop in Park Slope (I do think that I travel the furthest for my work shifts and no longer listen to anyone grumbling about coming from Queens) and so I brought along a lot of gorgeous cheese and some figs.  Katy made the yummiest salmon rillettes that we enjoyed with bread from Bouchon.

The next course was Caroline's endive, rocket, peach, and pine nut salad.  The tangy dressing and spicy lettuce helped cleanse the palate after the creamy cheese.  We decided to be quite proper about the whole dinner and enjoyed every course individually.

Next up were my crab cakes with a spicy, smoked aioli.  The crispiness of the panko crumbs and hint of old bay seasoning was lovely, if I do say so myself.  

Katy also made super yummy mussels with the most divine saffron broth that we all sopped up with our leftover bread.  

Last up was a dessert medley courtesy of Meredith.  She baked an almond cake set off by the best rhubarb compote and creme fraiche.  She also brought along Thomas Keller's oreos which I had been looking forward to all week and was not disapointed.  

We had a fabulous time and I look forward to the next chef's dinner.  

Goat Clipping

Here are some more photos from the cattle post.

Maun to NYC: Step 1

Well this is how my day started and how I got myself to the airport in Maun today.  I'm traveling light.  On my way into town I stopped by my neighbor's cattle post and asked one of the boys to take a photo of me.  My mother had been after me like Looloo on the scent of salty corn kernels to get a photo of me on my scooter.  Ta-da.  

Clipping Hooves

On Sunday afternoon I visited my neighbor's cattle post to teach him how to clip his goats' hooves.  I spent about half an hour clipping five goats and then my soft hands opened with wet blisters and I let TT take over.  The goats' hooves were in pretty bad shape.  Most of them had some form of hoof rot and all of them were deformed.  I did the best I could but it will take time and regular trimming to get them all on track.  I left TT with a pair of clippers, a hoof pick, blood stopping powder (never made use of it until yesterday), and hoof oil.  I'll visit him again in August to help out.  We had fun though and I learned a lot.  My goats' hooves are so easy to do because I take quite good care of them.  It's important to really learn what the problems are.

My Father Is Cool

My father just returned from a two month embed trip to Afghanistan.  He's legally a senior citizen yet runs around with men and women younger than me in a war zone.  He's a photographer and this is only the latest of dozens of trips to the region.

The caption for this photo is something like, "MREs are yummy!"  (But not as good as my mother's food, by far, which I very much hope is appreciating at this moment.)

Another walk with Looloo and Feefee

On Monday I took another walk with the goats.  This was quite the meet-and-greet day.  We came upon a herd of goats and Looloo and Feefee were quite excited to say hello.  The other goats weren't so interested in them and I was grateful they weren't in estrus.  I looked on with such pride that I have these fearless and outgoing little kids!  After a few minutes I called to them and we continued on our way.

Near the end of our walk we arrived at a cattle post near my house.  The family has left for a funeral and it's been all but abandoned for the past few weeks.  We found their baby donkey near the road and Feefee got up on her hind legs and challenged this little mellow fellow before calming down and saying hello.

Then out of the brush a little cat came over.  She had ticks and fleas all over.  (I returned later on my scooter and poured on her some anti-flea and tick medicine.)  The goats came over to her and sniffed all over.

We had a lot of fun and I think Looloo and Feefee enjoyed meeting all the different animals.  Before I left the abandoned cattle post a young man arrived.  His name is TT and he's looking after the place as best he can while his parents are away.  We talked about goats and their health and management.  We both agreed that goats are fabulous animals and I made plans with him to help him trim hooves on Sunday.  This will be quite a bit project as he has about 60 goats and 6 sheep.  I'll keep you all posted on how it goes.

My New Compost Pit

I've just started, very belatedly, a compost pit on the edge of my yard.  I don't know what took me so long but Mopipi is on a mission to grow grass in my yard and I'm trying to help out with composting.  He likes to go to my neighbor's yard (he used to work for them but then quit and is now working just for me) and steal their horse manure.  I told him that was unnecessary and I could go and ask for it but he shook his head and said, "No, no, I do it quiet-quiet like for you."  I get lots of manure from the goats so that will go in as well.  Mopipi threw a dead bird in the other day but I'm not sure if that will be a problem or not.