Yesterday, our friend Sindee whose husband Bruce passed away several months ago, with whom we’ve stayed in close touch, sent a text asking if we could pick her up at the bus stop last night around 7:00 pm, 1900 hrs. after visiting family in Johannesburg over the school holiday and returning by bus. Many locals use this bus service to get to the big city, which is a five or six-hour drive from here.
Sindee is the principal at a school in Komatipoort and had time off during the recent school holiday to visit family. We were happy to pick her up. We’d have an early dinner, and Tom would pop out in plenty of time to meet her at the petrol station in the Marlothi Shopping Centre.
He suggested that I stay behind since the car is tiny, and this way, Sindee could sit in the front seat. She is taller than me, and the legroom in the back seat is minimal, to say the least. I was happy to stay behind, I ended up talking to my son Greg on the phone on Whatsapp (free calls worldwide), and the time went by quickly until he returned a short time later.
When Tom walked in the door, he handed me the above-shown bottle of red wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, one of my favorites. I’ll savor one glass per evening since its alcohol content is 13%. I usually drink very low-alcohol wine since I don’t tolerate higher-content alcohol. Don’t get me wrong, I love regular red wine with normal alcohol levels, but if I drink the higher content alcohol, I can’t sleep at night and easily get a hangover. So I limit myself to one glass.
Right now, we’re trying to use everything in the freezer, refrigerator, and cupboards, and we’re doing a fine job. Yesterday, I noticed two bags of unsweetened frozen strawberries in the freezer I had purchased to make smoothies for Tom. When he never wanted a smoothie, the strawberries remained in the freezer.
I looked up some keto recipes online and found a quick and easy recipe for a keto strawberry cake topped with keto cream cheese frosting. I doubled the recipe making two layers, one plain without frosting for Tom and the other with a thin layer of keto frosting for me. Each evening, after dinner, we’ll each have a little slice of our cake which is low in carbs and calories.
The two layers came out perfectly, and the cake appears moist. I frosted my layer and placed both layers in the refrigerator on separate plates since they will be kept for about a week. Moments ago, we took chicken out of the freezer to defrost in the fridge overnight, enough for the next two nights, both breasts and thighs, which we’ll roast on the braai to have with salad and rice for Tom.
Tomorrow morning, if the weather is good, we’ll head to Kruger National Park, which is the last time we’ll go before we depart on April 29, a mere 18 days from today. The days are passing quickly. I’ve yet to start packing the bags we’ll t us and the bins we’ll leave behind until we return in 14 months that Louise will store for us.
If we go to Kruger, we’ll do so after our walk but before breakfast, which we’ll wait and have at the Mugg & Bean in Lower Sabie for our final time.
All of the friends we invited to our farewell party poolside at Jabula on April 20 have RSVP’d that they will attend. How lucky is that? We’re thrilled.
Be well.
Photo from one year ago today, April 11, 2022:
