Busy Monday morning…Cooking and tax prep day!…Food photos…Exciting news on the horizon…

I realized it was tax prep day, but I had an urge to cook. All the prep shown in today’s photos was done by 10:00 am, and now I can work on the post. After the post, I’ll work on the tax prep and forward everything to our accountant in Nevada. The vegetables are in the oven now and should be done soon after turning them every 30 minutes during their 90-minute roasting time at 375F, 190C.

The roasted vegetables taste good hot or cold. I may have a cup full during the day and another cup with dinner, heated in the microwave. Often, when I make this much, I freeze half of them to eat the following week. I season them well since I like them spicy, but they can be made mild for those who don’t.

By roasting them now, the oven will be available to cook the two pans of meatloaf. I cook both for ease of use when eating the leftover loaf down the road. We defrost it overnight in the refrigerator and reheat it in the microwave later on both occasions; it’s moist and delicious, like the leftover roasted vegetables.

I prefer to cook a lot at once, leaving me free on other days only to make a salad and the rice for Tom. It’s a rarity that we’ll make a meal for only one night, except when we have guests for dinner and never serve leftovers. Even when we have something easy on the braai, we’ll buy at least two nights of meat but only cook one each evening. It seems to make life easier for our lives.

No doubt, my days are hectic. I hardly ever sit and do nothing, even when we’re enjoying the wildlife, for which I jump up every few minutes to feed them pellets or, in today’s case, fresh veggie scraps. Unfortunately, none of the animals like the veggies visited us this morning. The long holiday weekend ends tomorrow, and our furry friends will return to see us.

We’ll keep the veggie scraps in the refrigerator until they return. We can only imagine how refreshing moist, cool veggies taste to them on a warm day. We can easily detect their enthusiasm. This morning, we did see our usual band of about 40 mongooses. Did we have some treats for them!! Last night Tom had the remainder of a small prime rib, and I had the remaining four tiny chops from a rack of lamb. We carefully prepared the leftover meat and bones in bite-sized pieces for them.

Of course, they arrived this morning, and we couldn’t have been more thrilled to share this special treat with them. I know this sounds unbelievable. When we see the mongoose in the garden, we make a clicking sound, and they scramble to get to us. They know this sound from the old house two km from here, and they respond quickly, all the while making their hysterical cackling sound.

As for the exciting news on the horizon, our old friends from Minnesota, Connie, and Jeff, with whom we’ve been friends for over 30 years, are coming to Marloth Park and will stay with us in the guest house on the property. Jeff always dreamed of coming to Africa, and now, we’ll have the opportunity to share this special experience with both of them. They will be here in mid-September which isn’t too far away! How fun that will be!

The last time friends came here to stay with us was Lois and Tom, in October 2018, whom we met on a cruise in 2016. We had a fantastic three weeks together and loved sharing the wonders of Marloth Park. When we were in Florida in April this year, we met up with Lois and Tom for lunch. It was such a joy to see them and share the fantastic experiences we had in the past.

We’re excited to build these same memories with Connie and Jeff. Nothing can compare to sharing the adventures in Marloth Park and Kruger National Park with newcomers to Africa.

That’s it for today, folks. As they say, “I have other fish to fry” and must continue with today’s tasks.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, August 8, 2021: