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Re my previous post about the Neighbourhood Goods Market in Salt River every Saturday morning from 9am until 2pm here are some photo's....Firstly of the gorgeous tied bunch of flowers from Okasie...
A new use for a Venter trailer....bread bin.....
There is lots of temptation here...why resist...
and then you can enjoy the spoils...
My favourite port producer (see earlier post) also has a stand.....very yummy indeed!...
This last Saturday it was hot, hot, hot in Cape Town.....36 degrees Celsius in the shade so I decided to go to a movie.....nice, air-conditioned Cinema Noveau and one of the options of offer was 'An Education'. A pefect movie on a Saturday afternoon.....here is the Telegraph's review of the book. Please go and see it if you can....& I've added the book on to my wishlist.
One of my New Year's resolutions was to try & live a simpler, greener life and to this end I've taken to haunting secondhand book stalls to indulge one of my great pleasures in life.....READING....Actually who am I kidding...I've always been drawn to any trestle table loaded with books....I came across this lot at the Country Craft Market which takes place every alternate Saturday in Somerset West. The Lions club run the book stall and it is a veritable treasure trove...Evelyn Waugh (never read anything of his before that I can recall), Joy Packer (an old South African author rediscovered) as well as Nevil Shute(an Australian author best known for his book 'A Town like Alice').
I've spent many happy hours reading all of them - the only one left is Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone with the Wind' - I never realised it was such a thick book.....One thing that has struck me is how relevant the stories still are today given that the average publishing date of the lot above is circa 1950's. And another thing....there is just nothing like the smell of old books....don't get me wrong, new ones have an irresistible allure all of their own but nothing like the rich aroma (& the odd stowaway fish moth) of the old stuff!
I've briefly mentioned the Neighbourhood Goods Market earlier in this blog and had an opportunity to go again this weekend as a dear friend of mine was down from the eastern Cape & hadn't yet been to the market. Special tip....get there early as parking in Salt River is a nightmare....I got there just as the market opened at 9am & took a chance by parking on a yellow line. As sure as God made little apples there was a pink ticket fluttering on my window to welcome me back....I really should have known better!!
Other than that, it is one of the nicest ways to get your weekend in Cape Town started....loads of stalls selling the most delicious looking food - all very tempting!! There are also stalls selling flowers and plants but mostly food and then drink. Foodie mags and various blogs in the UK have been raving about these French macarons & the trend seems to have caught on here in South Africa, so I decided to live dangerously and buy some at the market....
There was a whole range of flavours on display so I opted out of any decision making (having had a fairly late night the evening before with abovementioned friend) & asked the stall holder to choose for me.... and ended up with a box full of very prettily coloured macaroons. I organised a number of taste testers to see what they thought and the verdict was fairly unanimous - the best things about macaroons are the colours. Flavourwise okay.....but nothing spectacular. Reminds of the children's story about the Emperor & his new clothes....but each to his own!
During my last days in the UK, I came across a reasonably priced needlepoint kit - the paint by numbers type that has the design printed on the canvas and gives you the wool all in a neat little bag & I thought it might be a nice winter activity. Patience, however, is not my strong suit so I started it off a bit earlier than anticipated. I have a good reason for this as well - I'm a bit of a tortoise when it comes to needlework projects....so many other distractions......but I've started Moppet & Emu and I'll keep you updated...
Ahemm...it might take even longer than usual as my eyesight is even worse than it once was... don't you just love all the colours....
Wish me luck!