Flowering Tea 香片, 工艺茶, or 开花茶

One of the world’s oldest ingredients and most popular beverages is tea. There are many legends on the origin of tea and it's discovery, but it is likely to have originated in Yunnan, China during the Shang Dynasty (1500 to 1046 BC). Tea was first introduced to Portuguese priests and merchants in China during the sixteenth century. It found its way to Britain during the seventeenth century and Britain introduced tea growing to India to compete with the Chinese monopoly on tea production. 

Among the many varieties of tea, the most visually appealing are the flowering teas. These consist of bundles of dried tea leaves wrapped around one or more dried flowers. Once these bulbs are made they are set to dry, and they remain in a bud shape. To enjoy the visual effect, a glass tea pot is used. As the bulb is steeped it unfurls and a flowering centre piece is produced. Flowers commonly used for these bulbs are globe amaranth, chrysanthemum, jasmine, lily, hibiscus and osmanthus.

After our small dinner gatherings, there is usually someone wanting tea. We all watch with delight as the flower opens and blooms.

The Circle of Life

Michael's father, Gerald celebrated his ninety-ninth birthday on the 1st of April. Yesterday morning we received a phone call that he had suffered a massive heart attack and was in hospital. Last evening at dinner we received another call, this one informing us that he had quietly passed away. Just like his father before him, he lived ninety-nine years an a bit and then quietly passed the baton to his son to try for one hundred.

In this photo is Emery, the youngest family member, having a conversation with his great-grandfather, Gerald.

We had an after-dinner brandy to cheer the event; the circle was complete. It was lovely to have known him. 

Cheers

The Green Dragon

What do Princess Beatrix and I have in common? We both love Canada, we both own a traditional Dutch boat and we both hold a Dutch Passport.

De Groene Draeck is the private yacht of HRM Princess Beatrix, the former Queen of the Netherlands. The Lemsteraak yacht was built in 1957 in Amsterdam and was a gift from the people of the Netherlands to the Princess on her 18th birthday. 

It was named after the flagship of Piet Hein, the seventeenth century Dutch Admiral from the Dutch East India Company and a famous privateer. His flagship was named "De Vliegende Groene Draeck" , The Flying Green Dragon, and the wood carvings on the Lemeraark depict scenes from it.

The previous owner of our skûtsje had taken exact measurements from De Groene Draeck to use in his design and fabrication of the gracefully curved roofline of Zonder Zorg's cabin.

The Princess' yacht can be seen in the harbour of Muiden with its sail number VA 18 and ours is currently in Harlingen.

The Artist's Studio.

We had moved from Villeria Pretoria to Sunnyside, the heart of the city. Our rented five bedroom mock-Tudor-style house was built in 1930 with peppercorn trees surrounding it for shade. After 30 years of growth, the root structure of the trees stared to lift the foundation and cracks appeared in the walls. The rent reflected these and other shortcomings.

With the commute too far for our nanny, we needed to find a new one. It took a few years of rotating nannies before Linah Makokolo showed up at our doorstep. She was a very small woman, about the same height as my nine-year-old brother and eight-year-old me. We immediately liked her.

This house move also coincided with my father's transition from house painter to portrait painter. There was no real definition to where the in-house studio started or stopped. Paintings lined the walls and hallways and found their way into bedrooms and the kitchen. There was a steady flow of people coming and going through the house-studio. The more prominent ones had their portraits painted.

In slow times, my father practised his technique with my brother or me as models. The process was a long and boring one, which required us to remain in the same pose for hours. These sessions could run for days, while we painfully watched other kids at play. It didn't take us long too spot the telltale signs indicating my father was getting in the mood to paint. We would quietly slip out the backdoor and stay away all afternoon. The dog wasn't a good candidate, so that left only Linah to pose.

There are not many portraits of my brother nor me, but many of Linah Makokolo.

The Art of Cooking Asparagus

My method of preparing asparagus was a hit-and-miss situation. I even purchased a special asparagus pot to stand the stalks upright and boil them in an inch of water.  

On our second date, Michael prepared dinner for us aboard Sequitur and I was impressed. Dry-seared filet mignon with Bearnaise sauce, a crimini mushroom-shallot-cream sauce over Gnocchi with a side plate of perfect asparagus topped with a swirl of mayonnaise. This was accompanied with a bottle of wine from Sequitur's cellars. I decided to linger a bit longer.

i have been watching Michael prepare asparagus for five years now and would like to share his method.

Feel each asparagus by starting at the cut-off end and move up to where it gets tender then snap it off there. The snapped-off ends are the woody parts and can be used for asparagus soup later.

Use a shallow pot or pan, large enough to fit the asparagus in lengthwise, even a frying pan will work. Bring the water to a rolling boil, drop in the asparagus and reduce the heat to a bare simmer for exactly six minutes. Run cold water in the pot till it is just bearable to the touch. This stops the cooking process and will keep the asparagus warm until serving. Do not prepare it too far in advance. 

My seldom-used stainless steel asparagus cooker has become a functioning wine cooler and on occasion a vase.

Happy Birthday Ankie Graaf

As newly arrived immigrants we quickly made friends with other children in Villeria, Pretoria. In turn the children introduced their parents to each other and lasting friendships formed. In this picture are our little friends, and the blond girl is Annemarie "Ankie" Graaf, a Dutch immigrant from the Island of Texel, off the coast of Friesland. We were the same age, a few weeks apart and her birthday is today, the 2nd of May. Back in those days, we could remember birthdays, several telephone numbers and street addresses. 

A few years later we moved from the the third-last-house of Pretoria to one in the centre of the city. I have long ago forgotten her phone number, but her birthday is somehow still engraved in my mind.  There are other birthdays that I remember, those of my parents, grandparents, sister, nephews and nieces and some old friends. I am no longer in contact with most, as the majority have passed away, but the dates remain. I think of them as their birthdays roll past and silently wish them a happy birthday. 

In today's rapidly changing world we no longer need to remember phone numbers; most are on a speed dial. With the internet, telephone calls are down to a minimum and calls are received with a startle and often a search for the phone. Birthday greetings are now sent electronically, prompted by automatic reminders.

I haven't heard from nor seen Ankie in sixty years. So where ever you my be… Happy Birthday, Ankie Graaf, I am thinking of you.

A time of Celebration

Last night we quietly celebrated with a bottle of Champagne Veuve Clicquot and a selection of sushi from our favourite takeout- iSushi on Arbutus.

We celebrated the fifth anniversary since we met.

We celebrated the release of Michael's new book: "SEQUITUR - to Cape Horn in Comfort and Style" and its very gratifying pre-sales and first day sales on Amazon.com.

We celebrated the news that my born again Dutch passport was ready for pick-up.

We celebrated King Willem-Alexander on the start of his reign as King of the Netherlands. 

We celebrated life.

Cheers