Snappy Chef saves the day

I bought a Snappy Chef the other day in Nelspruit after I saw it at a friend's house and heard about this electricity-saving device on Radio Laeveld. My main reason for buying it was my kettle was leaking up a storm, and I really liked the Snappy Chef's nifty, colourful kettles. Then we bought the house and moved in. Only to discover that the stove doesn't work at all! Suddenly, I had only my "braaipan" and the Snappy Chef plate to rely on. And what a joy it turns out to be. No matter if I want to boil water for coffee, cook pasta or rice or make a stew... my Snappy Chef is fast and reliable. I'm seriously considering in actually buying two more induction plates and throwing out the old electrical stovetop forever.
By the way... The guys from the Nelspruit office were very friendly and provided me with ample empty boxes for our move. Only if you stay in a small town, will you appreciate how scarce a commodity empty boxes can be.

Take a break, have some Graskop cheesecake

For many people Graskop in Mpumalanga is the place where you eat pancakes at Harries on your way to God’s Window and the rest of the Panorama Route. While I’ve been a big fan of Harries’ Pancakes for years now, it’s good to know that there are several other places in town which also serve good food. From Tasties and Royal Treat for take away delights to Portugese cuisine at Canimambo’s or a lovely breakfast at Silver Spoon.

If you really want to treat yourself, stay for the weekend, there are many lodges and self-catering accommodation in Graskop and make sure to book your Sunday lunch at West Lodge Bed and Breakfast. The chef in charge at this lovely establishment, Resne Deeks, has a passion for food and you can see and taste it in every bite. The Sunday lunch menu is different every week, but you are likely to find old favourites like roast pork, roasted lamb, baked potatoes, savoury rice, butternut fritters with caramel sauce and creamed spinach on your plate – all for only R85. Her traditional baked puddings are to die for and if you are really fortunate, there will be caramel espresso cheesecake on the menu. I actually don’t like cheesecake, but this one beats all my other favourite cakes, sweets and puddings hands down.

 

Fortunately I’ve heard through the grapevine that she will be opening a teagarden at West Lodge by middle February, which means we will be able to eat cheesecake every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I recommend you try her carrot cake – it’s simply divine.

You can always burn those extra calories off again by climbing to the rainforest on the top of God’s Window or cycling to Sabie if you are extremely fit.

Which one is your favourite restaurant in Graskop?

Moving house in a small town…

Moving into a new house is hectic at the best of times, but trying to do it in a small town like Graskop is totally crazy. After moving to Graskop from Pretoria 18 months ago, we finally took the big step of actually buying a house. Not just any old house, a timber one, because I’ve been dreaming of living in a timber home in the mountains where I can write stories since I was in standerd 6 (grade 8 for our modern scholars, but remember I’m kind of middle aged, so I’ll stick to terms I know.)
Anyways, we bought the house and the date for the big move was set for the end of January 2014. Now in the city you would call a moving company and they will pitch bright and early with their big trucks, load your stuff and unload again at your new home. Not quite the same in Graskop. For one thing, we don’t have any moving companies in town, and should you move more than 5 km, your way out of town already. As it was, we had to move 2 km, too far to walk, too near to hire a truck all the way from Nelspruit (85 km away.)
After considering our options we opted to ask one of the local gardening services to bring his almost-as-big-as-a-small-truck vehicle and four of his workers to help us with our Groot Trek across town. That was mistake number one. The young lad left it too late to organise his workers (it was end of the month and they do like their booze when they have money), therefore on the morning of the big move he was looking for workers, while I was having a panic attack. Not that he searched too hard, because I finally caught up with him at a local restaurant having breakfast. He pitched two hours later with two guys clearly picked up from the streets and clearly drunk.  Anyways he was given his marching orders.

The date turned out to be mistake number two. Learn from my experience… Never, but, never try to move house in January, because it is the raining season! The evening before the scheduled move, Graskop had 90 mm of rain. The results at our new home were muddy to say the least.

But, they do say that things always turn out for the best. A frantic call from my side to Pastor Ken Scrimnger of the Emmanuel Assemblies of God ensured that we had three of his congregation members helping out, while Lucy organised her two sons for the occasion. Fortunately we managed to hire a trailer at MB Trailers in Sabie.

For the first time in more than a week there was no rain and we managed to move the whole house within one afternoon, despite slipping and sliding in the mud. Unpacking everything took a while, especially after young Jordan (11) decided to unpack all my books in the store room. But all is well, that ends well… We are now officially Graskoppers with our own piece of this wonderful town.

Glory Hill Primary School, Graskop, needs your help

Ask any learner or teacher at Glory Hill Primary School what makes the school unique and they will tell you… It’s the place where everybody is somebody special. The children are proud to be part of the school. The teachers and Principal Daan Rossouw still have a passion for teaching and a love for the children. You can feel it when you visit the school. The parents don’t pay school fees, most of the children come from very poor household. The school gets by with a minimum of funds. If something needs to be done, the teachers do it. One thing they can’t do though is build a school hall. The children have to assemble outside, which is not a problem in fine, sunny weather, but Graskop is not famous for its fine and sunny weather. Most of the time it’s raining or everything is covered in mist. Then the children and teachers have to stand in the cold. Please if there is anyone out there, who can help this school to build a hall or even rent a marquee tent please comment or send me an email.

 

Hallo and welcome to MyGraskopNews

Welcome to MyGraskopNews the blog about Graskop, its people and the surroundings. It's summer time which means lots of rain for Graskop. Pierre Jacobs from Blyde Lodge in Graskop reported almost 400 mm rain for January. While this entails a lot of slip and sliding in the mud for residents, it also means that all the waterfalls which were but a mere trickle in the dry season are now joyously overflowing everywhere. This picture was taken at the Gorge just outside Graskop next to the Big Swing were visitors with courage swing and slide from one side to the other. Far too adventurous for my liking but still a huge tourist attraction.