Jane’s Delicious Garden Blog

I only realised after I had booked our tickets that we would be in Istanbul for Ramadan – or Ramazan, as it is called here. Since I was planning to feast on fantastic Turkish food, I was bit concerned the fast would hamper my foodie intentions. Not! There is food everywhere, all the time.

The day starts with a breakfast spread of olives, cheeses, fresh fruit, just picked tomatoes and crunchy cucumbers, fruit preserves and sesame bread rings (Simit -sold from peddlers’ carts from dawn to well after midnight) dipped in spice and herb flavoured olive oil, topped off with strong black Turkish coffee.

You would think this would last until dinner, but no, this is an intense city.
Bridging Asia and Europe and spanning millenia of history, including conquering heroes, exotic harems, inspired architects and religious fervour, Istanbul has a huge amount to see, draw, visit and explore.


After fairytale castles and covered bazaars, myriad mosques and exotic palaces, I am hungry again within a few hours. Time for a balik ekmek – crisply fried, whole fish on a piece of crusty bread with lettuce, tomatoes and onions.
This fish was swimming in the Bosphorus this morning. Another quick afternoon snack is a corn cob, sold from little carts and roasted over hot coals.

Sprinkled with salt wrapped in a piece of paper it is sweet and scrumptious.
Or you could try a “tost,” a toasted sandwich on light crunchy bread with stretchy melted cheese and a spicy tomato paste. And to wash it down, a freshly squeezed orange juice or a slice of the sweetest, crunchiest summer watermelon.

Fortified, we dive back into the maelstrom, underground into ancient water systems, up steep stone stairs to stare across to Asia, into quiet parks with windswept pines. Until I am hungry again.
Dinner choices are endless.
From quick doners wrapped in bread with vegetables to grilled patlican kebabs, (one large eggplant sliced into thick chunks and skewered with alternating balls of spiced lamb, slow grilled over hot coals).
Or the adana kebab, skewers of spicy lamb accompanied by rice and pine nut pilaf.

One of my favorites is the Iskender kebab; chunks of pide bread covered with hot slices of spiced doner lamb, covered with fresh tomato sauce and thick yoghurt.

The vegetable and salad combinations are endless; seaweed and tomato with lashings of lemon and garlic and beans in olive oil and lemon.

Even the simplest lettuce, cucumber and tomato salad is given a twist when tossed with pomegranate syrup and sprinkled with sumac, a tart local spice. Everything is freshly cooked, ripe and in season.

And then I need something sweet – a tiny taste of lokum (Turkish Delight) or baklava, from shops that have been specialising in making them for hundreds of years. Above shiny, blue and white tiled walls, sepia photographs hang, proud men with splendid moustaches staring out from the last century. Right next door is the patisserie, with thick rice puddings and nutty maceroons.
Piles of crystallised figs, mulberries and walnuts glisten in the window. I am tempted by what looks like a chocolate mousse but under its molten surface is a surprise – it is a deconstructed chocolate eclair, with puffy balls of choux pastry under layers of whipped cream and rich chocolate.

I am in foodie heaven.

Earlier this year when I was in Cape Town I met Sandy from Energize Events. We chatted about doing a workshop in Somerset West and when I mentioned the Grahamstown workshop and the impressive spread the Eastern Cape Gardeners had prepared, Sandy said “Cupcakes! Forget cupcakes, we’ll serve wine!” And so the Winelands Workshop was born . . .
Here is a link to Sandy’s blog http://www.energizeevents.co.za/blog/ where she will be posting details as soon as they are finalised.

Winelands – here we come!

Although it is cold and wintery, it is time to sow seeds in seed trays ready for your spring garden. I have about four trays already sitting in front of a sunny northern window. I’ve planted a selection of tomatoes, eggplant, basil, capers (first time I’m trying them!) Chinese cabbage, savoy cabbage and various summer squash. I still, after all these years of sowing seeds and watching them germinate, get such a thrill when those little green leaves spring up out of the soil.
Don’t forget to spray your seedlings with chamomile spray to prevent fungal diseases. I find the easiest way is to mix up a strong solution of chamomile and keep it in a bottle in the fridge. Each time I fill my mister spray bottle, I add a dollop of chamomile from the jar.

I am trying a new thing with my tomatoes this year. Earlier this year I scavenged eight large wooden boxes from a local nursery that was tossing them. I had no idea what I would use them for – they just looked useful. Sitting planning my spring planting, I thought about how much space my toms take up and decided to put the boxes to good use for them. I have positioned them on warm paving, which is in a full sun and retains that warmth much later into the night than my veggie garden. I have created a cascade of boxes and lined them with black plastic. I will fill them with a compost and topsoil mix from Jacklin Organic I am going to erect a selection of tripods, which will hopefully create a wonderful tomato tower! Will post pics as soon as I take them.

Last week I received a magical surprise – an advance copy of JDK arrived! It looks FANTASTIC!!! And my publisher Ceri (who seldom uses the F word!) agrees. It is a digital copy which is about 98% of what the actual printed copies will look like. The printers do this digital copy as a final check for colour, pics etc before it starts being printed. So it will still only be Oct before the copies are in book stores. But to whet appetites – here are a few sneak preview pics . . . .

It is finished! Jane’s Delicious Kitchen went to print on the same day the World Cup began. So there were millions celebrating along with me!! I can’t quite believe that another book is on its way. It seems like just yesterday that I was waiting to see the first copy of Delicious Garden – which is now nearing 9,000 copies sold!

I have spent the last six months cooking the recipes from the book, which we then photographed and ate. For me the joy of cooking comes when I don’t follow a recipe, but use it a springboard. I couldn’t do that with these – I had to follow the recipe exactly. Even though they were all my recipes, it has been very limiting for me. So I have really enjoyed the last few weeks of letting loose in the kitchen again – sans recipes!

I have been “spring” cleaning, although it is the winter solstice. The dining room had been turned into studio, with piles of plates, cloths, mats etc. So it was great to clear it all out and have our lovely north facing dining room back – with the hammock for lazy sunny winter afternoons.
Which of course the animals love too . . .

The last week has seen the coldest weather in Jhb in June since records began. All my frost sensitive plants are blackened and limp – the moon flowers, poinsettia, hen and chickens etc. But, they will all pop back up come spring. Don’t be tempted to cut off all the blackened bits – leave them on the plant to protect the rest of the plant from further frosts and only cut them back after the last frost is over. The broccoli loves this weather and is busy forming fat buds.

My office is north facing with a window seat and at this time of the year I migrate there so I can bask in the sun while I work. In my veggie garden, I have a Bay tree on the northern border. If left to grow it reaches well over five metres, blocking precious winter sun from my veggies. So in early autumn, this tree is trimmed right back and is one of the few “lollipop” shapes in my otherwise wild landscape. I use the trimmed branches throughout the year as support for all the plants that need it. I also have an elder on the northern border, but it loses its leaves so is not such a sun blocker.

Talking leaves – this time of year is fantastic for collecting masses of leaves for both the compost pile and to create leaf mould. My leaf mould bin is overflowing. I use these leaves for mulching all my beds. In addition to all the other benefits mulching has, it also deters Tosca’s interest in digging up newly transplanted seedlings. Luckily she likes to dig up lawn which, if she is compelled to dig, I prefer too. Tosca is almost the same size as Tilu – here they are in their baskets: Tosca in front.

And on the lawn – note the overturned chair behind her, covering up a bit of dug up section . . .

Exciting plans are being discussed for the launch of Jane’s Delicious Kitchen – revolving around the Johannesburg Good Food & Wine Show in September, so watch this space . . .

I arrived back from the Good Food & Wine Show and went straight up to Dullstroom where I presented Jane’s Delicious Kitchen to the Jonathan Ball sales conference. Ceri had made mugs with pics from JDK on them – including a pic of me. Of course I’m calling it my mug shot . . . .

We stayed at Walkersons Country Manor and after I had made my presentation I had the afternoon free.
After all the busyness it was so relaxing to spend the afternoon walking amongst the lakes.

After dinner that night we sat around a blazing fire playing 30 seconds. The best clue of the evening was “Monkeys in bad lighting” for Gorillas in the Mist! I also discovered a delicious winter warming drink – hot chocolate with whiskey. I can feel the whiskey purists grimacing, but try it before knocking it.

One of my favourite TV shows is Grand Designs and the first ever Grand Designs Live show was held at the Dome at the end of May. I gave two talks there. It was a very cleverly laid out show. I find exhibitions at The Dome can be very confusing. Because of the circular shape, you can never quite walk it in a grid pattern, so you land up walking past the same stall five times and missing others completely. Grand Designs had an impressive pink tented entrance way, which provided a central focus point (sort of like CT’s mountain – you always know where you are . .) The circle was then divided into wedges, with each wedge containing grouped stalls under food, house, garden, etc.

Despite it being the first week of June, I am still harvesting beans, squash and a few tomatoes! I have never harvested these crops this late before.
Picking last night’s dinner!

The Cape winter welcomed me with sideways stinging rain. I arrived at night at the new airport which is very swish but everything has moved and was completely unfamiliar. To get to the car hire you now have to push your trolley down a steep ramp, under the road and then up a steep ramp the other side. I hope they are planning to install an escalator there soon, as it would a mission with a luggage laden trolley.

I was in Cape Town for the Good Food and Wine Show. I hosted the Get Fresh Interactive Theatre, featuring BBC Lifestyle chefs. It was a fantastic experience. I met some inspirational chefs, each with their individual style and character, from Gordon Ramsay to Willie Harcourt Cooze, Reza Mahammad to Giorgio Locatelli. Each celebrity chef cooked on a stage at a central cooking station, with 6 workstations on either side so 12 lucky people cooked along with the chefs. The funniest had to be Reza, who created chaos and laughs with his flamboyant and over the top style. Willie Harcourt Cooze, the chocolate king, arrived back stage looking a little pale and requested a cup of coffee before he went on. He had sampled too many South African wines the night before and had a “babbalanga” which I thought was a great new word!

The very first session was with Hideki Maeda, head chef of the One & Only Nobu. Before I went on I was trying to remember all the info about the chef, the sponsors, products and things I had to mention. Hideki speaks very basic English and speaks very softly and doesn’t speak much. So I had to pick up the ball and keep things rolling. I didn’t have a copy of what recipes he was cooking so I just watched what he did and winged it. I had heard somebody talking about tuna so after glancing at the red cut he had in front of him I started asking him questions about tuna. He wasn’t very animated in his response but it was only after my third tuna related question that he looked up at me and said “Is beef” ! The audience burst out laughing and the cook-along chefs teased me for the whole session. It certainly broke the ice.

On Sunday a friend and I ate at Spier’s fantastic new restaurant, Eight. What a sublime experience. The weather had cleared up and it was a perfect day. We were met by Lorianne Heyns, the head chef who was at Singita before heading up the Eight team. All the food served at Eight is either from Spier’s biodynamic farm or sourced locally. This was at first a challenge for Lorianne, who was used to working with what ever ingredients she wanted. But the limited palette has pushed her imagination and the meal we were served was superb. Our starters were twice baked mushroom souffle and a robust salad with goats cheese. The wild mushrooms with a light yet creamy souffle were perfect for a winter starter. The salad, garnished with pea tendrils and pumpkin seeds was colourful, fresh and delicious. For mains, I had tender chicken pie with crisp tasty pastry served with roast veg (my favourites were the tiny carrots with some of the stem still on). Sue had melt-in-the-mouth lamb shank. After all that we even managed to find room for dessert. One of my favourite flavour combos is one that Keith discovered: cut a date open and pop a block of dark chocolate inside (preferably Lindt salt). Absolutely delicious. Well, one of the desserts on Lorianne’s menu was a date and chocolate tart with a ginger biscuit crust. Served with a lavender cream it was a gorgeous combo of gooey and light and crunchy with dense rich bits. Very moreish.
If you want to find out more – here is a link . . .

Well I have been a slack blogger. The deadline for Jane’s Delicious Kitchen was this week so (almost) everything else went out the window.

Despite having to make and shoot zillions of recipes, there was also the Gardenex expo at the Dome at the end of March. I shared a stand with Talborne. The show was busy and it was wonderful to see so many people that I have made connections with over the last year. Hard to believe that it is now a year since my book came out!

Last year, soon after my book was launched, I received an email from Karen Donkin, in Kzn. She is a keen veggie gardener and her husband Andrew had built her a veggie gardening unit to protect her hard grown veg from monkeys. It had worked so well that friends also wanted one, so Andrew made a couple more. She and Andrew were now selling them at the local market and had set up a web site for the newly fledged company called Home Organic. A year later, I met them both for the first time at Gardenex. The business has done so well that Andrew has given up his full time job at Toyota to concentrate on Home Organic full time. Here is a link to their site so you can see their units. They are also making and selling units designed for small spaces such as a balcony or patio.
On the last day of the show someone left a video camera on my table at the stand. There was no name or anything on it. Despite announcing it on the PA, nobody came to collect it. We checked the footage to see if we could find a clue and there was video of a funeral and babies – nothing to give us any idea whose it was. At the end of the day I was visiting The Gardener’s stand and I mentioned the camera to Andrew and Karen from Home Organics and to Tanya from The Gardener.

The following morning I received a phone call. Andrew and Karen had been delivering a veggie unit to a Joburg house that morning. They were only there for about ten minutes but in that time a missing camera just happened to be mentioned. Andrew immediately asked her if she had been to a funeral recently! And so the camera found its way back to its owner.

The Herb Happening took place in April at Doonholme Nursery in Midrand. What a beautiful spot! Their herb spiral is magical. I gave a talk there and it was well attended. This annual event is a must to visit if you are keen on herbs. I bought some very interesting plants – valerian, licorice mint, tayberry etc. The good news is, Doonholme will be opening to the public on a more regular basis soon.

According to a friend’s records this has been the wettest summer since 1973. It sure feels like it. The sun disappeared for five days last week – made me realise how much I enjoy our sunny (usually!) autumn and winter. Amazingly I still have a few squash plants that are happily bearing. I have planted my winter veg amongst them so there is no space wasted. My hyacinth bean (also called lab lab) has clambered all the way to the top of one of my tripods and is flowering, bright purple happy blooms. I love this plant as it fills the tripods when the summer plants are dying down. It has edible leaves, pods and seeds and is a legume, adding nitrogen to the soil. And it is hardier than most other beans, surviving light frosts.

So, the book is at layout stage now and all the photographs are done (apart from one or two pick up shots) The next time I see it will be to proof read it. Best I do it carefully – Penguin publishers in Australia had to pulp 8000 copies of their book The Pasta Bible after an error was discovered. Instead of “two teaspoons of ground black pepper” it read “two teaspoons of ground black people” Ooops.

Cape Town was beautiful. Well, Cape Town is always beautiful! We arrived in the middle of the heatwave and hit the beach for a glorious swim on our way out to Pringle Bay. We spent two nights there with our beautiful friend Ali (forget Naples – she makes the BEST pizzas, go to her restaurant Perigators and try one . . .) Ali was still fuming over a baboon invasion at her house the week before. They had broken a window and proceeded to cause absolute havoc. Yuk! Ali is busy creating a garden full of meandering streams interwoven with lots of rocks and indigenous plants. Can’t wait to see it finished.
A Cape style lunch . . .

And after the lunch . . .

We visited the penguins near Pringle Bay on the way back from lunch . . .

On Wednesday we went through to CT to Starke Ayers Garden Centre for the CT launch of my book. This Garden Centre is situated in such an amazing location at the foot of Devils Peak in Rondebosch. What a pleasure to have the CT book launch at a spot with such a glorious view!

It was very well attended and it was good to see some old school friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen since I was 17!

The next day also produced a face I hadn’t seen in many years. Debbie Lamprecht (now Hancox) and I were at UCT together and lost touch when I graduated in ‘82. It was wonderful to see her again and connect with that same joyous energy which made us such good friends all those years ago. So it was a great delight (and I promise I did not rig it!) to pull her name out of the hat for the giveaway of my book after the workshop!

Big thanks to Marion Siebrits, the Manager of the Centre for all her organising of both events.

Thanks also to Talborne who gave away bags of organic fertiliser to people who bought my book. I laughed at my friend Mark who, after waiting in the queue, sat down and cheerfully asked for his bag of fertiliser to be signed as well as his copy of my book!!!

It wasn’t the only odd thing I signed that night. After the launch we went to some friends nearby. A friend of a friend popped a bowl of yellow cherry tomatoes onto the dinner table, telling us they were grown by his wife “who had started to grow her own veggies after reading this amazing local book…”! After then being introduced to me as the author, I signed one his wife’s cherry tomatoes to send back to her!

We stayed for a few days with our friend Sue Jowell, an artist who creates beautiful mirrors amongst other things. We felt like we were in a treehouse at her new spot at Clovelly. We managed to squeeze in a visit to my 90-year-old Aunt Margaret, who is still going strong and is an inspiration. We drove back to Sue’s via Chapman’s Peak. I haven’t driven along there for years and it is still one of my favourite roads in the world. Especially at sunset.

We were treated to a superb meal at the Savoy Cabbage by my publishers, Sunbird. So far I have only met Ceri in person and have been dealing with the others via email and phone. It was a pleasure to meet them all. I am lucky to be published by such dynamic, smart and down-to-earth team.

Then it was off the Stellenbosch. After noodling around the Stellenbosch market, which was full of yummy food and delectables, we met up with my cousin Audrey. She and her family live on a smallholding near Sellenbosch, with a magnificent view of the mountains. We picked apples from her trees, small, crunchy and delicious. I am planning to find space to plant an apple tree now! As the sun set, other cousins arrived, including Kiwi who I hadn’t seen for more than 30 years. We gathered around the table to eat slow roasted lamb with fresh rosemary and lemon from Audie’s garden, drink wine, reminisce and laugh the night away.

I have had two invitations as a result of this visit to return for other events, so Cape Town, it won’t be a long before we are back.

And another month has nearly gone by. And a busy month it has been. I had this silly idea that all the publicity for the book would tail off now it’s last year’s book. Not a chance. A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Jenny Cryss Williams, asking if I’d like to join her “for a chat” to the Jhb Garden Club. The “chat” turned out to be to about 100 members in a gorgeous, flowing garden. The microphone refused to work and we had to compete with the singing frogs in the stream behind us. The other guest Jenny had invited was Claire Reid, who has invented a very user and environmentally friendly method of growing veg. Have a look at her page:

Early in Feb I received a call from Jenny’s’ producer asking if she could chat to me on her show that afternoon about my blog. Turned out she wanted to talk about the VEG project. Whenever I am on Jenny’s show I see the traffic to my web site shoot up. Which then led to a journalist calling the next day, wanting to do an article on VEG for Business Day. These things seem to leap frog off one another. (For more on VEG, scroll down to previous posts – I haven’t figured out how to link older posts to this one!!)

A friend who I met walking dogs in the park has a girlfriend who works for a TV show. He gave her a copy of my book. The TV show is called Let’s Chat with Mel. Not long after she received my book, I was invited to come on the show to be interviewed by Mel. I arrived at my appointed time to go into make-up. I couldn’t believe how much they put on my face!

I work in television but do very little studio shooting, so this was different. They kept on reassuring me it would look natural under the lights. But for some one who wears very little make-up, I think my definition of ‘natural’ was a little different to theirs! You be the judge. The interview airs on 3 March, 8.00pm on DSTV Channel 110.

I gave a talk to the Randburg Garden Club this month and one member was celebrating her birthday. She recited a poem about growing old which was delightful. Here is a link to the poem. I am going to learn the poem to recite at my birthdays!

Big audience!

Signing books

Hillary Biller, a journalist on the Sunday Times (she used to be Angela Day for many years on the Star, so she knows about food) interviewed me last week for an article in the Lifestyle section. It will be on three women who have all written books on their veg gardens. I think it will be published this Sunday.

Gardens of the Golden City had a number of wonderful summer gardens on show this month. The first one I visited was Lesley Lewis’ garden in Victory Park. As I walked in she recognised me (something I am still getting used to . . . ) and took me on a walk through her vegetable garden. It was so rewarding seeing my methods being used on a larger scale and working so well.

Her vegetable garden was the best part of all the open gardens!

This sweetly scented snail vine was growing over her archways.

Lesley found a seedling for me to dig up which is now growing up one of my arches

Tosca is growing inches every day it seems.

No longer a ball of fluff, she is now a little dog. A mishievous little dog. She has discovered the joys of wading on top of the pool (which has been covered up for ages – I am planning to turn it into a natural pond, which Keith groans about whenever I mention it!) Sharp little teeth are useful for chewing holes in the netting so you can get under and paddle.

She loves her walks in the park with her big sister.

I get a kiss for carrying her across the mud – this is when she was still little enough to carry.

She also loves mango and water melon!

And loves her sister . . .

In amongst all of the above, I have managed to keep my garden growing. I have a round, yellow squash plant which I have to pick from every day otherwise I land up with a soccer balls.

The beans are still producing – my yin yang beans have been prolific and are quite beautiful.

I will give some to my various seed suppliers so they can propagate them and pass them on. Eggplant, tomatoes and greens continue in abundance.

Yesterday, in my vegetable garden under some rampant growth, I discovered a present a friend gave me a while ago. It was one of those red dragons you see in Chinese shops, next to the till. It is supposed to bring money to the area where it sits. Not really believing in a “money come dragon,” I thought it would look rather nice sitting in my veg garden and popped it onto a log. I am now a firm believer in all dragons and have moved my “money come dragon” to a far more prominent and respectful position.

Maybe I should move it to the kitchen so it can work its magic on Jane’s Delicious Kitchen?