Would you like a dop?

Dop. 

(pronounced “dawp”) – Afrikaans term for any alcoholic drink.

As you guys prepare snacks and drinks for SuperBowl Sunday (Go Broncos!), I thought I’d tell you about the types of adult beverages ZA’ers prefer. South Africans are known for being beer drinkers, but they also like many other types of alcohol including brandy and wine.

From our POV, here are some of the most popular:

Amarula Cream – It is a sweet and creamy after-dinner liqueur that is made from the fruit of the marula tree. It is a favorite of elephants, monkeys and baboons who are said to get drunk and p-a-r-t-y as they eat the fermenting fruit in the wild.

Brandy – South Africans. Love. Brandy.

Rum – Rum and coke = big time. They even sell double-barreled flasks – one side holds Coca-Cola and the other holds rum.

Whiskey – Believe it or not, Jack Daniels is considered a luxury whiskey here. You have instant Rockstar status if you drink it.

Beer – Castle lager, brewed in ZA, is by far the most popular beer. Carling Black Label, Grolsch, and Windhoek are also popular. Ever heard of a Shandy? In its most basic form, it’s 50% beer and 50% citrus soda (i.e. Sprite or 7Up). People LOVE Shandies here.

Ciders – South Africans (and my husband) love ciders. Hunters and Savanna are the front runners here.

Wine – As you may remember from my Stellenbosch recap, wine is hugely popular here. Wine was first produced back in 1659. Fun fact: Pintotage is a red varietal that is found only in South Africa.

Van der Hum liqueur – a blend of brandy, wine, naartjie (orange) peel and spices. This stuff dates back to the Dutch East India Company and is still made in many South African homes.

Obviously, these are just the most popular that we’ve seen. I am sure there are many others that we haven’t seen!

Warning: Too many dops will make you think you can do this…

Enjoy your weekend. We are headed to an Elephant Sanctuary on Saturday!

Love,

Jess & Mat

limited edition chips

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We decided to celebrate the holiday today (Friday) because Mom and I returned from safari too late yesterday evening to cook a proper feast. Also, Mat had to work. Why, you ask? Because South Africa does not celebrate Thanksgiving. Most locals have heard of the holiday but don't know what it is. 

I came across a new limited edition chip flavor: Monkey Gland Sauce. I knew I had to share it with you guys immediately! What do you think? Would you try it? We did and it was actually pretty tasty. Don't worry, monkey glands are not on the ingredients list :-)  

Be back later today with another post.

Love,

Mat & Jess

I can pronounce the ingredients!

One of the things I love about South Africa is that the food seems to contain less crap than in the U.S.  And by crap I mean preservatives and other artificial ingredients. Most of the time, I can pronounce all the ingredients on a label without paying insane prices to do so. Nice!!!

Take a look at the labels on a few items we have around the house.

Nacho Chips:

Salted Caramel Ice Cream (aka heaven in a plastic carton):

Strawberry Jam:

Peanut Butter:

Fruit, veggies, meat, milk, bread and eggs have a short shelf life because they rarely contain preservatives. At first, this was irritating because we were running to the store to replace ingredients way more often than we did at home. However, after thinking about it, I realized it’s the way it SHOULD be!!! If you ask me, bread and milk were not meant to last more than a week. It makes me wonder what kinds of crap they put in our food in the U.S. to make it last such a long time.

This is not to say that preservatives and artificial ingredients are never used here. Of course they are. But it seems to be used in fewer products. Just like the U.S., you will pay a premium for products certified as GMO free, hormone free, cruelty free, organic, free range, pesticide free, etc., but the normal products are still quality, which I appreciate.

South Africa is surprisingly self-sufficient, producing a large percentage of food and food products here in the country. If you read the labels, most things are “made in the RSA” or “a product of South Africa.” Note: RSA is the Republic of South Africa (its official name). I would say that food prices are slightly less than the U.S. if the item is produced here in South Africa. However, the prices skyrocket when the item is imported. And by skyrocket, I mean $32 for a pound of Starbucks coffee beans (just criminal!) or $12 for a small package of double-stuffed Oreo cookies. And, if you decide to splurge on the item, it might be stale or taste different than you expected.

I will be doing more posts on food soon. J

Love,

Jess & Mat

friday pizza & vino

**Happy Birthday, Chelsea!!!!!**

For us, Friday night means pizza and vino. It is a tradition that we are keeping alive even in South Africa. In the U.S., I would make dough and we would make our own pizzas. Since we are still in the guest house, we don't have access to a kitchen. That means take out.

The past few Fridays we ordered from a place called Pizza Perfect but tonight we tried a new place called Debonair. We had a really funny experience that I had to share immediately...

Mat ordered a margherita pizza with meat. The cashier thought he said margherita pizza with miele. In case you missed yesterday's Sh*t South Africans Say, miele is CORN!!! 

So, we got this:

Pizza with corn! Ick!!!! We were hungry so we ate it anyway, but we won't make that mistake again. South Africanisms strike again. :-)

Tomorrow we are headed to Dullstroom to check out some fly fishing shops. Be back with another post on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Love,

Jess & Mat