(with Recipes)  by Deirdre Marlowe

My adult children and I made a flying trip – both literally and figuratively – to South Africa this month. We began with a safari (from Arabic safara meaning journey) in Kruger National Park. Yes, we saw the Big Five as well as some of the Small Five and the Ugly Five. I was most taken by the giraffes – towers when standing still and journeys when moving, and the belly laughs of the hippos. We were mock charged by elephants and rhinos; mock or otherwise, it was scary. Two days later, we saw eland and ostriches on the beach!

Cape Town sprawls into the water against the backdrop of Table Mountain and is truly one of the world's beautiful harbors. We met Servas day host, artist Juanita Oosthuizen, for coffee on our first morning in Cape Town. She took us for a drive alo

ng the coast to Camps Bay and recommended that my son and daughter climb Lion’s Head. (The Table Mountain cable car was closed for maintenance; she said the trails could be a bit confusing.) Lion’s Head has some ladders, some scrambles and some chains for climbing. 

Juanita suggested that I walk back to the Cape Town waterfront along the shore. Both my children and I enjoyed Juanita’s recommendations. My daughter said that after looking over the side of a ladder while climbing up, she didn’t dare do it again – the drop was intimidating. When I looked to my left, I was reminded of the south coast of France, or southern California, but when I looked right, the mountains told me South Africa.

The next day we took a day tour to Seal Island, the Cape of Good Hope – which is NOT where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, that is Cape Agulhas, Foxy Beach to see the penguins, and ended in Bo Kaap, a formerly Malay neighborhood of multi-colored houses in Cape Town. We saw one of the most amusing sights of our trip at Foxy – a territorial penguin scolding and chasing some hyraxes (small furry animals similar to groundhogs) while kicking sand at them.

Juanita picked us up the next morning for a drive – and some tasting -- in the wine country. First stop, Babylonstoren, a self-sustaining winery and farm established by a Dutchman in 1692. (Today there are hotels, restaurants, and a spa on site, too.) Their wine museum explained more than everything a visitor would want to know about wine making and wine drinking. We tasted seven wines in all. Everything on the snack platter we paired them with was grown and made on the farm.

We stopped at two other wineries. Each winery not only had its own version of an art collection – sculpture in one case, tapestries in another, but one was also the home to an internationally prize-winning olive grove. We asked at one of the wineries if they might seat us for lunch, but they were booked. My daughter who was a professional golfer after graduating from university expressed interest in visiting Ernie Els’ winery.  As we made the drive, I called ahead. However, when we arrived, there was some confusion about seating us – which we eventually were. The manager apologized by offering us a bottle of Juanita’s favorite Merlot. Later he even comped us dessert! The culminating moment of the lunch was my daughter’s drive into the vista.

While the dessert we enjoyed compliments of the manager was Alice Pudding, we’d became fans of Malva Pudding our first night in South Africa and thought to let you try this at home. Here is a recipe for Malva Pudding. If you’d like, substitute crème anglaise for the sauce. Always serve with a little vanilla ice cream. Another sweet we enjoyed in South Africa was Crunchies, a local biscuit or cookie. Here is one home cook’s recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup Oats
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Coconut – grated and unsweetened
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• ½ Cup melted butter
• 2 Tbs golden syrup (Substitute karo or agave for the golden syrup.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix the oats, flour, coconut, and sugar together. Melt the butter. Stir in the syrup and baking soda. Mix wet and dry ingredients. Press into a greased baking tray. (The thicker, the chewier.) Bake roughly 30 minutes. Cut into squares while still hot. Let cool for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy. If there are any left, store in an airtight container.