23 April 2014 – The importance of books and pancakes

 

 

In the name of Allah most Gracious most Merciful

23 April 2014 - 00h09

When we moved to Schaapkraal I was a bit irritated with the outages. Not the outages itself, but the extended hours without electricity affect the supplies in the fridge and having a small geyser the water would be cold. Once a week for 8 whole hours sometimes, is a bit much by any standard. Being the practical person that I would love to be, I started keeping candles close by. Out came writing paper and pencils, books stacked on my table, bought a whistling kettle for tea and so on and so forth.

Last night was unexpected - at 8 pm in the middle of a conversation with the laptop, while Abu was making tea, we were rudely plunged into darkness. Someone complained – I have not prepared my new lesson yet! Abu picked up his favourite book of the week – Maqasid Al Shariah by Jasser Auda and I groped around for my spectacles and snuggled up to read some Lin Yutang, (The Importance of Living, published in 1937)  – by the kind light of the candle. As long as I know Abu he collects Lin Yutang’s books and he is always quoting little gems. I opened the book and from the first page, I was hooked.

Listen to how this delightful book is prefaced:
This is a personal testimony, a testimony of my own experience of thought and life. It is not intended to be objective and makes no claim to establish eternal truths. In fact I rather despise claims of objectivity in philosophy; the point of view is the thing. I should have liked to call it “A Lyrical Philosophy,” using the word “lyrical” in the sense of being a highly personal and individual outlook. But that would be too beautiful a name and I must forego it, for fear of aiming too high and leading the reader to expect too much and because the main ingredient of my thought is matter-of-fact prose… (and I smiled and I knew I am going to really enjoy reading the book.)

Let me whet your appetite a bit more – second page of the Preface:

If the professors of literature knew the sources of my ideas, they would be astounded at the Philistine. But there is greater pleasure picking up a small pearl in a trash can than in looking at a large one in the jeweler’s window. I am not deep and not well read. When one is too well-read then one does not know right is right and wrong is wrong… There is an unconventional way of studying philosophy- the incorrect way. Some of my sources are Mrs Huang, an amah in my family who has all the ideas that go into the breeding of a good woman in China; a Soochoo boatwoman with her profuse use of expletives; a Shangai streetcar conductor; my cook’s wife; a lion cub in the zoo …or any writer who does not kill our sense of curiosity in life or who has not killed it in himself…

And so I snuggled down deeply, specs perched on my nose and savoured a few pages leaving the rest for tomorrow, Aah is this not happiness? Try to get copy of any of the Yutang books– the beautiful cover kind, whose pages have turned yellow and reeks of history.

3.00 am The cold April winds have started and I am wide awake. Tomorrow the garden will need checking for progress of the peas and beans climbing, the compost has to be aerated. The washing takes a bit longer to dry and it is not necessary to water the garden as much anymore, come the rains and we can save a lot of water. I noticed that the run off tank needs fixing and although I take every opportunity to reuse water in the flower beds, we have to make more effort to conserve water.

 

 This cold weather makes one conjure up warm bakes and pancakes dripping with honey, baked banana flapped over and a squizz of lemon, hmmm. It’s amazing how the original recipes that we grew up with are always a winner, like the bread puddings and pancakes and doughnuts. Later I hope to be working with a colleague, marking and assessing scripts while a hot pot of tea is brewing. We will take turns to bake some pancakes and keep it warm under a glass dome. In a separate pan I would have already lightly fried slices of banana in warm butter; cut some oranges and lemons for garnish; warmed the honey and put aside some fine cinnamon sugar. I hope to make a chilli choc source that warms the senses and keep the sniffles away and finally whip some cream – actually that’s Abubakr’s job.

Pancake ingredients:

·         2 cups self-raising flour or 2 cups cake flour with 2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder
·         ½  teaspoon of salt
·         1 Tablespoon of sugar
·         1 teaspoon of finally grated nutmeg
·         1 large egg
·         1 heaped Tablespoon of soft butter
·         1 ½ cups of milk
·         About 2 to 3 cups of cold water

Method

1.       Sieve flour and add salt, sugar and nutmeg.
2.       Rub in softened butter.
3.       Make a well in the middle of the flour and add egg and milk.
4.       Stir until it is a thick batter.
5.       Water off to a runny consistency with half a cup of water at a time.
6.       Warm a non-stick pan until fairly hot.
7.       Pour mixture from a ladle and twirl the pan with a fluid circular wrist movement to cover the inside base of the pan and bake until the edges are slightly brown.
8.       Lift and flip over and bake for a few minutes, it should be beautiful brown.
9.       Stack on top of each other and keep warm under a dome or on a plate over a basin of warm
water.

Baked banana: Slice some bananas on an angle and douse with lemon juice. Fry gently in hot butter, not too long or it becomes mushy. Set aside.
Chilli choc sauce: Warm a half cup of milk with a stick of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg and a red chilli – then strain it. Stir the milk mixture into dark chocolate melting over a hot double burner. And keep warm.

 

Lay a simple table with small plates, some knives and forks, a pot of tea and plonk down everything – allow everyone to make their own combination of sensations.

14h15. Waseemah and Safia have left and we made pancakes according to plan except for the chilli choc sauce which I will make later this week inshaAllah. Alhamdulilaah we had a wonderful morning, I made a new friend who shares many of the same passions from organic gardening to finding serenity in earth and soil. As an added bonus. Safia and her husband can certainly teach us more about many things – from planting olives and harvesting optimally to insights into growing artichokes. I loved the advice from Safia:  2 lavender sprigs boiled in a small pot of water for 5 minutes and cooled off is an excellent remedy for upset stomachs. Yay! I love lavender and what do you know, before we knew it there stood Abubakr met 5 French lavender en 5 English lavender plante. Waseemah started to giggle, the smell was quite heady. The day was done far too quickly. Our stomachs were filled with beautiful pancakes. Did I say we would be marking some scripts? I lied.

Thank you Allah for affording us all the barakah of the heavens and the soil and the goodwill and open heartedness of those who touch our lives.

Plant food and keep warm!

Yasmine