An African Winter ... & My Winter Garden

There's not much colour in my garden during the Winter months ....

The lawn is quite dry and not the lush emerald green colour it is during the Summer months


This flower bed is usually ablaze with colour during Summer .....


You can see our banana trees to the left of this photo (& various fruit/nut trees beyond). The bed in the foreground is a fish pond I filled in - too dangerous with young children around !

We’re nearing the end of our Winter months here in Tanzania, with 01st September being the ‘official’ start of Spring. As Winter is my favourite season, I’m always a little sad to say goodbye to it, but the newness and bright blooms of Spring soon cheer me up !

Because I get a lot of questions about it, I thought I’d just add a bit in about our Winter temperatures here in Tanzania – our lowest temperatures on the farm are around 6’C/43’F at night and we can average a high of around 15’C/59’F on a very cold day. The wind blows right over Kilimanjaro’s icy snow cap & blasts us here on the farm sometimes ….. brrrr !

Now, those temperatures may not sound that cold to some of you – but for a born-and-bred African, that’s cold enough for me. Remember, too, that our homes here are not built for cold temps – no double glazing, under floor heating etc but rather cool tiled or cement floors, high ceilings, no such thing as fitted carpets and doors/windows that are not really wind proof. Not to mention things like our electricity supply which cannot handle things like heaters or electric blankets & sometimes erratic hot water which can sometimes make for cool Winter baths … brrrrr !

The photo’s in today’s post show what my ‘Winter’ garden looks like at the moment (I took them a few days ago) and if you’d like to see how different it looks in Summer, you can click over here to see a post and photo’s on that.

'Eton Mess' Inspired Dessert

Traditionally made with cream, I opted to use vanilla yogurt in my version of an Eton Mess instead

I had some leftover meringues from the recipe I posted the other day (you can see that over here) so decided to make an ‘Eton Mess’ inspired dessert with them.

Eton Mess is an English dessert which has been known by this name since the 19th century, and which is traditionally served at Eton College’s annual cricket game against students of Winchester College. (For those who may not know of it, Eton College is a well known British boy’s school founded in 1440 by King Henry VI.)

The traditional ‘Eton Mess’ is made with (sweetened) strawberries, cream and meringue pieces but I used vanilla yogurt in place of the cream in mine -:

Eton Mess Inspired Dessert

2 – 3 Vanilla Meringues, broken into pieces
150 ml tub Vanilla Yogurt (you could also use flavoured yogurt – or cream)
Handful of strawberries, washed & chopped

Place half of the broken meringues into the bottom of a wine glass. Top with a couple of spoons of the yogurt, then add some strawberries. Repeat the layers until the glass is full. Serve quite soon, as if you leave the meringues to stand like this for too long, they do begin to break down and ‘melt’ a little.

A Catch-Up Chat .............

Not much colour in my garden at the moment ..... so just thought I'd share this lily with you (we have them growing in abundance right now !)

I just thought that I’d catch up with you all & let you know what’s been going on in my life lately ….. firstly, I must apologise for my blog having been a bit uninspiring lately. I read everyone else’s blogs and see what you’re all posting about at the moment and then I look at my own recent posts and just think ‘ummmm ….’ But, on the other hand, I see my ‘Followers’ increasing each day so figure my blog can’t be too boring at the moment – so thanks to everyone for ‘Following’ (both old and new readers alike !) as you guys are what are keeping my blog motivation levels up !

I guess it’s also partly down to the fact that I’m very busy at the moment & am not at my computer much. We have a lot going on on the farm with a busy harvesting season, upcoming work related visits to the farm, my new guest cottage venture (which is going really well !) …… so I have been ‘neglecting’ the blog a little – along with time issues which have meant that I've not been in the kitchen as much as usual – I’ve just been cooking old family favourites which have already featured on the blog.

School starts again in 2 weeks time, we are hoping to take a few day’s break as a family before then and go somewhere exciting (if I can drag hubby off the farm – if not, I’ve threatened to take the kids and go on my own with them – ha !) - sometimes you need a break away from your day-to-day life in order to recharge and start to appreciate it again – don’t you agree ?!

And on the subject of inspiration …. I am fed up with the new background I’ve put on the blog (spots ? I’m not a spotty person and don’t have anything spotty in my home or wardrobe !) – it was the only one I could find that sort-of matched my header colours. I’m also aware of that irritating 'photobucket' box which still pops up as the background is loading – so I am working on a complete overhaul and a new looking blog … sometime soon. I know exactly what I want it to look like, but now just have to find a way of creating it all. Mmmmmm …..

On that note, let me be off …. I have a busy week ahead with visitors due out to the farm aswell as a trip to the city planned …. oh, and trying to convince my husband that yes, he really does need to join us on a short family break and that the farm will not collapse in a heap without him here for a few days !

Have a great week, everyone !

Sunset from our veranda this weekend ................