bo-kaap

bo kaap, originally uploaded by suddenly.

from wikipedia:
The Bo-Kaap is a picturesque area of Cape Town in South Africa formerly known as the Malay Quarter. It is situated on the slopes of Signal Hill above the city centre and is a historical centre of Cape Malay culture in Cape Town.
…
The Cape Malay community is an ethnic group or community in South Africa. It takes its name from the present-day Western Cape of South Africa and the people originally from the Malay archipelago, mostly Javanese from Indonesia. These immigrants started this community in South Africa. The community’s earliest members were enslaved Javanese transported by the Dutch East India Company. They were followed by political dissidents and Muslim religious leaders who opposed the Dutch presence in what is now Indonesia and were sent into exile. Starting in 1654, these resistors were imprisoned or exiled in South Africa by the Dutch East India Company, which founded and used what is now Cape Town as a resupply station for ships traveling between Europe and Asia. They were the group that first introduced Islam to South Africa.

such a sad history behind those brightly-colored walls.

mmmzoli’s – another day of meats

mzoli’s, originally uploaded by suddenly.

when we finally arrived at mzoli’s, the place was already PACKED. mzoli’s is not so much a restaurant as it is bunch of tables and patio chairs under a canopy. and there certainly is no maitre d’. all the tables were either taken or reserved so we shared a table with a group of strangers.

so basically, you go to the meat area and choose your grub: steaks, lamb chops, pork chops, sausages, chicken. you write your name on a slip of paper and place it on your platter of raw meat which waits in the queue (see lower left photo). and waits and waits…did i mention the place was packed? when it’s your turn the cooks can throw it on the wood-fired braai (barbecue).

whilst your meat waits to be braai’ed, you just chill with friends drinking your BYO bevs (no drinks served here). and because the wait for the food is so long, people are whooping it up even though it’s 12:30 in the afternoon on a sunday. by this point we’re making friends with the strangers at the table. we lend them our bottle opener, and they let us store our drinks in their cooler and offer toots from their hookah. the entire area is perfumed with smokey, meaty aromas from the braai. stomach rumbles can be heard over the raucous crowd of hungry diners. most loudly, mine.

more friends join our table, including our expat friend’s co-worker who conveniently is the niece of mr. mzoli. even with her pull, we still wait have to wait a significant time for the meat. i am about to faint from hunger and meat envy.

then finally, our basin full of meat arrives! hallelujah! we tear into the sausages first with our hands, burning our fingertips in the process. the only sides on offer are pap (a polenta-like white cornmeal) and chakalaka (a spicy relish similar to pico de gallo). oh, another thing about mzoli’s: no plates, no utensils. everyone uses their hands and it’s BYO napkins. we’re all pulling meat out of the braai basin, stuffing our faces, licking our fingers, chatting, and drinking more booze. this is primal carnivorous gluttony at its best.

i haven’t had this much fun in a long time: great food, drinks, meeting interesting people in an unstuffy atmosphere. mmmzoli’s, i think i love you.

guguletu township

guguletu township, originally uploaded by suddenly.

all the guidebooks say DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ENTER THE TOWNSHIPS without someone who knows the area. probably because of incidents like this. so it was with some wariness that we drove to guguletu township with an expat friend who now lives in cape town. we were headed to mzoli’s, a famous butcher in “gugs” for some authentic south african BBQ. we made a wrong turn on the way and got to see how some of the locals live. i was expecting the shantytowns out of “city of god” but the part we saw was a step up. some folks were dressed in their sunday best to go to church, others were hanging laundry and newly-skinned animal hides out front, while others glared at the 3 non-blacks driving through in the car. we dodged a herd of goats trotting along the street, and eventually entered the carnivore’s paradise known as mzoli’s. more on that later.

stellenbosch-franshoek-paarl

stellenbosch-franshoek-fairview, originally uploaded by suddenly.

a glimpse of our trip to wine country, just a 30-hour drive from cape town.
stop 1: ernie els – superb shiraz and cab blends, swank estate, pricey for south africa but 1/3 what you’d pay for the same quality in napa
stop 2: hartenburg – knowledgeable and entertaining pours from robert, fantastic chardonnay (eleanor) and shiraz, lovely cheese platter with smoke snoek
stop 3: dieu donné – meh on the wines but stunning view of franshoek
stop 4: chamonix – german-owned winery where the brandy and schnapps steal the wine’s thunder
stop 5: seidelberg – great place to chill with a bottle of chardonnay and gorge on the cheese + charcuterie platters

it’s not the republican party

it’s not the republican party, originally uploaded by suddenly.

election day is coming up in south africa.

the colors of central cape town

the colors of central cape town, originally uploaded by suddenly.