Bunny Chow

We all know what a bunny is; those cute furry baby rabbits with pom pom tails. We probably all know what chow is; the slang word for food, a.k.a grub, nosh, munch or kos (in Afrikaans). But put two and two together and you get Bunny Chow; a traditional South African meal, predominantly found in Durban or elsewhere along the East Coast. In short, this grab-on-the-go food is a hollowed out half loaf of bread crammed with curry or other meaty-based stew type filling. Carb overload? Yes. Outcome? Scrumptious.

You’re probably thinking, ‘how in the world does this resemble rabbit food’, and you wouldn’t be the only one because those were my exact thoughts when I first came across the expression. Bunny Chow was created in Durban where a large community of Indian people settled but is now eaten among a wide range of ethnic groups.

All I can say that is whoever came up with the ingenious concept of shoving curry in a loaf of bread should have won a medal. For me, it goes hand in hand with the whole gravy in a Yorkshire pudding scenario. Delicious yet practical.

Bunny chow is sold frequently on the side of the road as well as in fast-food establishments. For relatively expensive ingredients that are used in the creation, you can buy it in South Africa for peanuts, roughly R20 (£1.50). Not bad hey? I’m sure it is being served in restaurants too but I can’t imagine there is a market for it in the more classy places. Half a loaf of bread on a plate is unsightly enough as it is, let alone without the bulging meaty filling (that sounds a bit racy doesn't it? I apologise).

You certainly don’t want to be eating too many Bunny Chows unless you want to end up like a heffa lump, but every once in a while it is gorgeously indulgent treat. I first tried it in Scottburgh, a small town on the East Coast when Rog & I were staying with Leon & Neels at Ambercrest Guesthouse. They were kind enough to invite us for supper and when I heard Bunny Chow was on the menu, I was really happy as I hadn’t tried it yet (and it is my goal to sample each and every traditional South African dish).

So if you are ever feeling hungry, and when I say hungry, I mean could-eat-a-horse type of hungry, and you have left over curry or casserole of some variety, then definitely give this one a try. It is a total winner. There are no rules when eating Bunny Chow, anything goes really; sod the knife and fork and instead simply get stuck in. Tug off pieces of bread and then mop up and devour the meaty core. I am thinking it would be absolutely perfect for a hangover. 

To shark dive or not to shark dive?

So I’ll paint you a little picture. It is freezing cold on the East Coast at the moment -not my ‘normal’ kind of freezing, i.e. it’s no English winter that’s for sure, but for South Africa, the last few winter days have been pretty nippy. We are in Umkomaas, an area famous in diving circles as being one of the top places to dive in the world, mainly due to the unbeatable Aliwal Shoal that attracts thousands of visitors each year. So we can all appreciate that these hardcore divers aren't put off by a little wind and cold.

We thought it’d be a good idea for the project, as well as an interesting thing for us, to go out on one of the dive boats and take some footage of the action. We were promised sightings of dolphins, sharks and turtles and if we were lucky, whales. So you can imagine our excitement at the prospect and the sly addition of the early rise of 6am didn't even faze us as this point.

The next morning the alarm yelled out that it was 6 and we headed out a bit before 7. On arrival to the center, I had begun to notice the angry looking clouds looming before us but tried not to let it worry me, reasoning with myself that the sun would burn through and it would clear up. That it did not do. We were told to come back tomorrow when the weather conditions were not forecasted as ‘dangerous’. 2 early mornings, ouch.

This morning when we dragged ourselves out of bed again (fairly reluctantly I may add), I was relieved to see that the day was ever so slightly more cheerful looking. When we got there they asked us if we’d like to do a shark cage dive and I readily accepted, it being something I had always wanted to do. Rog, being a touch anti cage diving (for reasons I wasn’t yet sure of) said he’d film it instead. We were told we’d be going out with a group of divers and that we’d head to the sharks after they had begun their dive.

So there we were, rammed into a sturdy looking rib, the skipper tearing through the waves like a mad man. The divers suited up and before we knew it were throwing themselves backwards off the side of the boat into the cold Indian Ocean. So now our turn for some fun right?

Wrong. We had been left on the boat with the guy in charge of monitoring the water and ensuring the divers were safe. He had no knowledge of our shark dive and couldn’t exactly take us back to shore while he had a very critical job to do. Safe to say, we were pissed off. And cold. We were pissed off and cold. Pretty soon we’d be pissed off, cold and feeling considerably ropey. It is one thing whizzing around on a speed boat, or even casually gliding through the water on a sail boat. But bobbing around on pretty ‘gnarly’ waves certainly wasn’t any of the above. Rog is a pretty experienced waterman, having worked on and with boats for a good portion of his life and I am certainly not a sea virgin, so when we reached a peak of definitive seasickness, we began to regret the trip.

In an attempt to make light of a pretty crappy situation, we decided to take some GoPro underwater footage (consisting of GoPro in hand under the water, hoping to god the sharks weren't hungry) and interview skippy. I was quite naive to the controversy that circles the subject of shark diving and the idea of ‘baiting’. Baiting is when sharks are lured in to coming very close to divers in underwater cages by the attractive sight of a meal. There is concern that these sharks are beginning to associate humans with food and that as a result they are more likely to attack, when otherwise they wouldn't have done so. When we asked skippy about the subject, he seemed to negate it quite firmly. In retrospect, of course he did -he has the dive centre’s reputation to uphold.

In any case, we finally headed back to shore feeling quite disappointed and thoroughly bilious. 

Better luck next time...

What a weekend

Had a bloody fantastic weekend and although I'm super excited to head back to South Africa, I am sad that my fleeting visit (so it would seem) has come to an end.

So the weekend kicked off with a Friday night theatre trip to see 'The Suit', a wonderful South African production which was both laugh-out-loud funny and very poignant at the same time. Mum, Emma, Aunty Anna & sis in law Thit then decided that it would be a good idea to go to for post production drink. All I can say is 1 drink lead to 2...2 lead to 3 and so on. You can guess the outcome. I won't divulge too much but I will tell you this -mum & Anna had a few too many tequila shots and at one point mum was seen being thrown around the air by a very friendly and vivacious Indian fellow.

The next morning I woke up feeling distinctly average but was quite proud of the fact that I was up and out of the house by 9.15am. I met the beautiful Louisa and we had a delicious breakfast at a sweet little find in Balham. Having both had quite forceful longings to return to our beloved India, we ventured out into the world that is Tooting Bec, and to the closest you're going to get to India in South London. We spent a deliriously happy 4 hours perusing the countless shops, picking ourselves up some absolute gems along the way, before going to have the best curry I think we've ever had at a very authentic little joint on Tooting high street. 

Reluctantly we said our goodbyes (I can't explain how much I have missed and how much I will again miss Lulu) and I hopped on a bus to Wimbledon to meet Lucy Lu. Lucy is that friend that I hope each and every one of you have -the one that leaves you in stitches every time you are together. Within 2 minutes, we were heaving with laughter and my sides already had started to ache before we arrived at Katherines. Kath only brought more hilarity and before long, we were LOLling about (excuse the pun) all over the shop. She has just finished her set of law exams (yes she's a clever and funny cookie) so we thought an 'end of exams bash' was in order. Poor Sarah had broken down on the M25 so far more wine was consumed that should have been. I won't disclose the amount but it is fair to say, a lot was drunk. We attempted to be mature and sit down to a nice meal (which by the way was superb...balsamic glaze eat your heart out) but it was soon back to what we know and love best -more shenanigans. Thank the lord we didn't have the maddening idea to go out clubbing to some god awful establishment, instead opting for Sex & the City and pints of water. 

Naturally, I woke up feeling considerably under par again this morning but I had to keep the smile plastered to my face as we had the whole family round for Fathers Day celebrations. Mama served up an amazing meal of rare beef, spanakopita, lentil & giant couscous salad followed by homemade bakewell tarts. 'YUM' doesn't hack it. 

Tomorrow I will leave the wonderful London and head back to my home for the time being -that home being the equally magnificent South Africa. I'll miss people beyond belief but am giddy with excitement about being back with Rog again.

Speak to you when I'm back in the land of the springboks.

Viva Espana

Well...what can be said about Spain..? Aside from the fact that it was sunny and hot all week, we ate constant & delicious spanish food and the company was amazing, not a whole heap more can be added. That pretty much says it all I think.

Having the lovely Heidi as an additional family member was terrific and 'Heidwood' certainly adopted my card game damn fast (thanks Dewey).

It was a sun filled 4 days of pool, beach and Pasteis de Natas (custard tarts). Couldn't really ask for more now could we?

The morning after...

We had such a fun night. It was so great to catch up with everyone and of course, we never stopped talking. And drinking. Woops. Dinner was delicious (if I do say so myself) and it was washed down nicely with about 8 bottles of wine. Oh dear. 

We decided it would be a good idea, of course after too many drinks, to go to the pub and drink more. So that is exactly what we did. Then we had the not so wonderful idea to go to FEZ, the worst club in the world basically! But we had so much fun drinking, pretending it was my birthday for free drinks and dancing. 

Felt absolutely rough this morning but dragged myself out of bed at the un-godly hour of 8am and went for breakfast with my Auntie which was lovely. She bought me a whole lot of L'Occitaine goodies to take back to SA with me which was so thoughtful and such a nice surprise.

I've just got back from a delicious lunch at Orange Pekoe in Barnes. Mum, Ed & I met the lovely Stevens (family friends) and it was great to catch up with them and hear all the news that I've missed (mainly the jubilee, have to say). I had a goats cheese and sun dried tomato tartlet with salad and the others had various other yummies -pate and cheese platter, stuffed pepper, cheese and ham melt...

Tonight I'm going for supper (it's a hard life) with my gorgeous friend, Ali Kirk. And tomorrow we're off to Spain for 5 days. I know it's not quite 'south african-ing' but I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of scrummy Spanish food.