Book launch and a corma recipe

I’d always been a sunshine lover. 

Rainy weather made me unmotivated. 

This time of the year I find myself in love with the cold and the beauty of Winter. 

Saturday was a special day and during the book – #Bergburgers launch we serve Corma Chicken. Corma is a fragrant Indian dish – the king of curries.

Sharing our recipe with you.
12 chicken thighs fresh and organic grown.
Salt and pepper to season the chicken pieces well.
Olive oil and butter to drown your chicken in.
Place the chicken in an oven-safe dish
Use the oil and butter to fry one chopped onion, red pepper, yellow pepper, and green pepper
Add the fried onion and peppers over the chicken.
Mix 8 crushed Cardamom pods, 25ml Masala, 20ml ground Cumin, 20ml Mustard seeds, 4 garlic cloves coarsely chopped, 2.5cm of fresh ginger – peeled and chopped.
50g almond flakes, 2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon ground coriander, cayenne pepper to your taste
Place in a blender and blend.
Add to the chicken pieces
Add 250 ml Greek yoghurt to the pan and bake for 40 min in the oven.
Remove from oven and add
50g sultanas, 50g almond flakes, 250g of mushrooms and 150ml cream to the dish.
Bake another 15min.
Dish with fresh baked bread or rice.

Enjoy your corma and let us know how you have used our recipe.

 

Till next time

Hennie & Sandra

Journey to Stardom

We purchase De Oude Huize Yard and our family moved to Harrismith on 15 December 2000. Our sons did a huge commitment to leave their schools, sport and friends behind and join this new venture into the Free State. Remembering the night that we travelled to Harrismith and the uncontrolled veld-fires were lighting the skies Pedri commented —so beautiful but so destructive. Our new lives away from the hustle and bustle of Pretoria and “retirement” in the town will have to make a difference.

 Everything’s done on impulse.

We bought the old house to save it from the bulldozer and in the words of Adam Small:

proud ou gabou—pathetic pêllie

still ou—djy fancy djy staan nog...

djy word gedemolish sê ek vir djou!...

Hoor djy die pêrepote vannie bulldozers?

Ever since we have spent all our time in renovating and collecting history about our house and the town. Even though everything that we, Pedri and Gerald-Cecil have done did not come easily we still see this as a blessing and we would like to believe that we have made a difference to De Oude Huize Yard and our neighbourhood.

Our neighbours are the best. On our day of arrival, they welcomed us with tea, coffee, rusk and a lot of help. Strange people opened their hearts and hands to help us to move into a very dialectic house. They treat us with love and open their heart to all off us.

On opening the front door of our new dwelling we immediately decided to give it a name — De Oude Huize. The state of neglect was visible and we decided to keep to the original era of the house and try to safe a little history in Stuart Street. We had little experience of such a big renovating process and as the kids at school asked Gerald-Cecil— do your parents know what they are doing—he could honestly answer I don’t know, I think they don’t know themselves.

 We have read articles on renovating but nothing helps until you start with the process. We have asked stupid questions and work our fingers to the bone.

 The renovation process of the original house was solely done by Hennie, Pedri and Gerald-Cecil. They have sanded floors, scraped down old paint remove rotten notion, wood and carpets. They have cleaned the yard from invasive kakibos. They have levelled the garden and made new beds. They have opened up the Attic, painted every room and replaced old floorboards.

To put the cherry on the cake the new sandstone wing was added on the footprint of the old stables.

Till next time

Hennie & Sandra

Hamilton Bridge in Harrismith

During the Anglo Boer War British troops were deployed near Basuto Hill – the area known as Wilgepark.

To enable the soldiers encamped in that area to reach the town, a suspension bridge was built by the by the Royal Engineers for easy crossing of the Wilge river. 

The first suspension bridge over the Wilge River was erected in 1900 by the Royal Engineers. Designed for pedestrian traffic. The British soldiers would now have easy access into the town from the area near the Basuto Hill.

The structure was washed away in March 1904.  By then the regiments were gradually moving to barracks on King's Hill and complete repair of the bridge seemed unnecessary. The troops made a temporary foot bridge of planks resting on barrels.

Today, at the same spot, a more sturdy structure, called the Hamilton Bridge, names after Sir Hamilton Goold Adams, Governor of the then Orange River Colony, provides access to vehicular traffic from the town crossing the Wilge River.

It was open to traffic on 7 August 1907.

In 1910 with the extension of the President Brand Park toward the south the town council kept the tradition of a suspension bridge and the existing suspension bridge was then built.  

The urban area has increased over the past decades and today there are new developments in this area. But the old Hamilton will stand tall.

Thanks to Nico and Biebie for sharing their photo's

Till next time

Sandra