It was so cold that we ate inside, with the fire on. I took a quick snap of the table just as I heard the guests arriving - before adding wineglasses,flowers & candles .... but you get the idea ! (Our dining table - which we've had for years & has travelled across Africa with us- comes from the beautiful country of Malawi, & is hand carved mahogany & one of my favourite things in the whole world !) Yes, you read that correctly – despite our remote location, last night we held an impromptu dinner party on the farm ….. exciting stuff !
Let me explain. As you know, the only neighbours we have here are a family who live on a farm about an hour away from us, and a new (British Expat) farmer who moved to the area recently. (I wrote about the time we met him & had him over to our farm for lunch here). Well, there is also a Dutch owned farm in our area which has not had people living on it permanently until just recently. They live on it semi-permanently and split their time between the farm and the city, and last night they happened to be on their farm for the night, and they invited us over for dinner.
I was a bit reluctant to take our daughter out at night, especially since we have just returned from holiday and she is settling back into her old routines again, and also because it is so cold at night at the moment. So I suggested that they come to us on Sunday for lunch instead. As they are not here on Sunday, we said okay then, well why don’t you come for a meal with us tonight, instead ?
Luckily my husband had been to the ‘big city’ earlier this week to get farm supplies & had collected food supplies for us too, so we are pretty well stocked with food and fresh produce at the moment.
The dinner guests consisted of a young Dutch guy and his girlfriend (who is a New Zealander who works here for the United Nations) and his brother-in-law. It was really nice to chat to them, and to have some female company for a change, too !
I made Butter Chicken (curry) with rice, sambals and poppadums (fiery ones with bits of chilli in them which I bought in Nairobi last year) and finished the meal off with Malva pudding and custard (the pudding was a real hit !) and some freshly brewed Tanzanian coffee. Oh, and the (good South African) red wine flowed during the meal and my husband brought out a bottle of whiskey for the coffee afterwards !
Let me explain. As you know, the only neighbours we have here are a family who live on a farm about an hour away from us, and a new (British Expat) farmer who moved to the area recently. (I wrote about the time we met him & had him over to our farm for lunch here). Well, there is also a Dutch owned farm in our area which has not had people living on it permanently until just recently. They live on it semi-permanently and split their time between the farm and the city, and last night they happened to be on their farm for the night, and they invited us over for dinner.
I was a bit reluctant to take our daughter out at night, especially since we have just returned from holiday and she is settling back into her old routines again, and also because it is so cold at night at the moment. So I suggested that they come to us on Sunday for lunch instead. As they are not here on Sunday, we said okay then, well why don’t you come for a meal with us tonight, instead ?
Luckily my husband had been to the ‘big city’ earlier this week to get farm supplies & had collected food supplies for us too, so we are pretty well stocked with food and fresh produce at the moment.
The dinner guests consisted of a young Dutch guy and his girlfriend (who is a New Zealander who works here for the United Nations) and his brother-in-law. It was really nice to chat to them, and to have some female company for a change, too !
I made Butter Chicken (curry) with rice, sambals and poppadums (fiery ones with bits of chilli in them which I bought in Nairobi last year) and finished the meal off with Malva pudding and custard (the pudding was a real hit !) and some freshly brewed Tanzanian coffee. Oh, and the (good South African) red wine flowed during the meal and my husband brought out a bottle of whiskey for the coffee afterwards !
I only got to bed at 2 am this morning, and poor Justin was greeted with piles of dirty dishes this morning when he came to work …. so we’re all on a bit of a “go slow” at the moment, and I am settling in for a very lazy and relaxing Saturday afternoon (well, as lazy and relaxing as an afternoon with an active 3 year old can be !)
