Who likes Housework? Ugh!

When forced to do my own housework, I try to amalgamate the necessary chores, like washing with pleasurable activities like taking photos. Above (excuse the blurry image) I remove the laundry from the machine with one hand while clutching my camera in my other hand

Oh me. *Sigh* Emily is on annual leave. She always has three weeks vacation in August and I always miss her more than anything else while she is enjoying her well-deserved break. I dislike having to clean the house. To me, housework is the pits!

Fellow blogger, Gattina, has a wonderful expression on her sidebar: "A clean house is the sign of a broken computer" Ha! Too true. Nevertheless, I do keep everything clean and tidy and manage until Emily returns to work in the last week of August.

One thing I don't mind doing, is cooking for the gardeners in Emily's absence. I cook porridge in the morning which they have with a cup of milk (served seperately) and a fruit afterwards. For lunch I cook a meat stew with lots of vegetables and gravy. The men dish this meal up themselves and it is eaten with porridge. This is exactly what everyone eats even when Emily is here to cook it for them. It is wholesome, filling and very tasty. To some, like John and David, the only substantial meals they have are those here at work.

Above is a pot/saucepan of stiff pap which I cook for the men while Emily is on leave. Pap - made from maize meal - the staple food of South Africa, is a porridge made from mealie meal (maize meal) cooked with water and salt to a fairly stiff consistency.

John (front) dishes the porridge into their plates while David looks on

It seems to be a sort of arrangement between John and David. John dishes the mealie meal porridge while David looks on. When the pot is completely empty (this is how the local people eat -they scrape the pots!), David takes over and spoons the meat stew on top of this porridge. BTW, Angie always sits patiently and waits for a tidbit. I've asked the gardeners not to feed her but I'm not sure that they obey me in this!

Angie waits patiently for the gardeners to throw her a morsel!
David (right) spoons the meat stew and gravy over the porridge, which John has already dished up

It always fascinates me how the local people like to eat sitting on the ground. John and David have the availability of two garden tables with chairs but they prefer to eat here (see above)

The meat stew and vegetables is served with mealie meal porridge and eaten out in the garden