Homecooked Dinner

After last week’s delicious homecooked meal of grilled oryx steak, I was thrilled to see the owners had another special dinner planned for Friday night. On the menu was game stew, rice, salad (including avocados, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, sprouts and cucumbers… yum), red wine, and “Tipsy Tart.” In the game stew, they had sheep, oryx, carrots, pearl onions, cauliflower, tomatoes, broccoli, and black beans (I think?). They prepared it over the fire pit near the main house… scrumptious, and totally worth waiting for. (Once again, the 7pm dinner was served Namibian time at close to 9). I had two helpings of both the stew and salad. With after dinner coffee, the owners had prepared a special tart made with brandy and almonds and topped with warm cream. We had it fresh out of the oven and it was absolutely exquisite. To completely put us over the top, they also set out a small plate of koeksisters with the coffee. All this for N$80 ($10 USD) and this was better than anything I’ve eaten in a restaurant, and I’ve been eating quite well since I’ve been here. Good thing Brooke and I went to the gym yesterday! I think the owners like having such enthusiastic eaters at the table. We were joined at the table by a very cute British couple, and a group of three friends from Portugal, France, and Angola, who were living in Angola, Mozambique, and Angola, respectively. They met up in Windhoek for a holiday. The woman from Portugal was 6 months pregnant (!) and quite the trooper – I can’t imagine going on a camping safari while that pregnant – I wonder if she is sleeping in a tent?

Our pre-dinner entertainment was a freak hail storm, extremely rare in Namibia and one of the coolest storms I’ve seen. We were sitting outside by the fire enjoying wine before dinner when all of a sudden, it started to sprinkle. This is a desert country, remember, and rain is extremely rare in the winter dry season. We tried to set up the sun umbrellas that usually go around the pool by our chairs around the fire pit. No sooner than we were protected from the sprinkles did it start to pour! Within five minutes, the rain had turned to hail! It was crazy! Since the bar and dining room area aren’t enclosed, we could see the pieces of hail falling around our flip flopped feet (it was warm out yesterday). Some of the pieces were the size of my fingernail! Hail in a Namibian summer? Nuts. It only lasted five minutes or so but the thundering and lightening continued throughout dinner – very cool.