In the olden days farmers also known as boere would toil the lands and finally have a break in the afternoon for "boere koffee en beskuit" Coffee brewed on the coal stove would be brought to the fields in the mid-afternoon as comfort and encouragement for tired workers. Along with a lining of boerebeskuit (rusks), the cup of caffeine provided an energy boost to help the men last till sunset.

History of Zam-Buk:

It is thought possible that a Boer War veteran took home to England (or somewhere else in the Empire, including Australia), a secret ointment that could relieve or cure all sorts of ailments.In 1903, or thereabouts, this new product called 'Zam-Buk', started to appear on chemists' shelves in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Who came up with the idea of creating the 'Zam-Buk' skin-dressing is unknown, but for the first-half of the 20th century it was a very popular product.

Buchu hold the title of South Africa's best-known medicinal plant and it's use has been documented for over four hundred years. Buchu is used to alleviate a number of medical conditions, including inflammation, chronic pain and hypertension.

It was only recently that I asked my mom what the true meaning of Finkel & Koljander really was. It's shocking that Afrikaans used to be my best subject at school, and now I'm as rusty as it comes. Hubby thought Finkel was a bird, while I thought it was the Afrikaans word for "glitter" haha Turns out it's actually names of herbs. Funny, you wouldn't expect a Moroccan restuarant to have an Afrikaans name. It was Friday before last that we found ourselves at a restaurant with this very name. It is run by a guy called Werner and his partner. A word of warning however, it's situated out in the "sticks" part of Durbanville. Thank goodness we were in the 4 x 4, this gravel road to nowhere, past farmlands, chickens and cows eventually takes you to what looks like a large "shack". Well it was a 70th birthday party that we were invited to, so there was no turning back now, besides we were curious and we wanted to see the family.

We were staying over in Cape Town, so my dear "yummy mummy" invited us to stay over for an evening and wanted to take us for "din dins". Those of you who know Table View in Cape Town, will know that there are a multitude of restaurants, we weren't sure where to go to initially but the consensus that evening was the good 'ol Ocean Basket. It's a family chain of franchised restaurants started 10 years ago by proprietors who had dreams of bringing affordable seafood to the South African consumer.

A few weeks ago I was doing a search for a butchery when I came across a link for a Dinner Club in Cape Town. Neil and I love trying new restaurants and our circle of friends have been shrinking of late with some on working contracts abroad etc so it seemed like a great idea. We contacted the Dinner Club and said we would love to book with them for the next event. The lady who runs it is Lucy and her hubby is Mike.