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With a roof over our heads and some warm water with which we wash and flush, what more could anyone want? Well, food, of course, and with food comes the absolute necessity of a table to eat it on; surrounded by those nearest and dearest to you.
In the early days, we had an open fire, commonly known as a braai, but that is really only accurate when you are braaiing meat. It's possible to have a braai and cook soya sausages (I have seen it happen), but in reality, it's got to be sizzling meat, and soya doesn't sizzle. My daughters have a completely different view on what a braai is for, toasting marshmallows.
At the beginning of this adventure, we did braai, on occasions, other times we found ourselves cooking a variety of basic dishes, but mainly, pasta. We love pasta. This led to an innovation, of which I am quite proud, the " braai box " (patent pending).
A braai is a two-dimensional affair with the fire below and a grid above, on which, the meat grills. The only relatively new part of this concept is the grill, I'm pretty sure our ancestors were grilling mammoth on a fire, but without the grill, so they couldn't call it a braai. I have taken a small step for the evolution of mankind, in the braai department. By chance, we had a rectangular box made of metal mesh, lying around. By placing this box over the fire, I discovered I could have a three-dimensional event happening above the fire. The bottom tier is the ‘ coal face ‘ where the meat (in our case, frying pans and other pots too), are feeling the heat. The upper side of the box, is a conventional height to place utensils, chopping boards with ingredients, and anything else that is going on, or coming off , the fire. No table.
When Cath joins us we upgrade to a gas stove, still outside. Alfresco is a good place to be, in these hot, dry months, so that is where we eat too ; sitting at a table that had been the kitchen table in my mother's kitchen. It's so old it's kind of trending again. Formica, faux white marble, with aluminium legs. I can remember being about Oscar's height and having an eye-level view of the wooden rolling pin in action and flour everywhere. This kitchen table, from my childhood, has now become the dining table, of the moment. There is something heart warming about that, neither my mother, nor I, would ever have imagined this scenario.
We are, however, planning greater things, there is going to be a kitchen, the centrepiece of which will be the Table. It won’t be just a kitchen table, it will be the dining table too.
The Table, has been here, on top of the hill, for many years, undoubtedly, because it was too heavy to remove. If it had been any lighter, it would have gone the same way as the water tank and toilet bowl. It is constructed from steel and, "constructed" is the appropriate word., A fine example of something made in partnership, in Africa. The designer was an Englishman by the name of Peter Birch, an artist in his own right, the other partner, who was probably hired, was a man with the ability to cut and weld steel and follow the vision of Peter Birch.
The result is somehow reminiscent of the age when men carried heavy steel swords and jousted with each other, while maidens watched. As with the broad sword, the table is way over-engineered in terms of mightiness. At the same time, there are no fine lines as one finds with sailing boats. Another reason that the Table is still here, might be that it is incomplete. The top of the table was designed to have a surface of ceramic tiles. This never came to be. The reason is clouded in the mists of time, but now this table's moment has arrived. We are going to finish the job.
After all this time, the crowning moment has been left with us, we have carte blanche. We feel that something exceptional is called for, a statement, colourful and unique, and still with the same tiles that the table was designed to carry. Namely, the tiles of Sitra Pottery.
Sitra Pottery was, at one time, a household name. It was an enterprise founded by some post Second World War settlers, who after trying their hand at managing someone else's farm, decided to do something different. At the time, this in it's self, was an act of daring. Everyone was growing tobacco or maize or cattle. The most interesting thing about the pottery, for me, was the tiles. They produced, over many years, everything from dinner services to lampshades and vases, but their tiles were unique in the variety of colours that they could produce and the fact that each firing was slightly different from the last. Almost everywhere you go in Zimbabwe, whether it’s a family home or a hotel in Victoria Falls, there is a good chance of encountering Sitra tiles. Bathrooms and kitchens are decked in Sitra tiles. Often verandahs and swimming pools have them as a signature touch. One could almost say they are endemic to Zimbabwe, they pop up everywhere and are unique, like a ceramic version of the national flower. The national tile, if you like.
Ironically, these beautiful tiles have a dark and oily secret, It wasn't so much a secret, at the time. There was a bus, a typical 50's US school bus, with a large tank in place of the passengers. which did the rounds of all the workshops in the town, collecting used sump oil. It was yellow with the word "Sunshine" hand-painted on it, in black paint. This sump oil was collected for free, saving the garage owners the problem of disposing of it safely. It was also free fuel for Sitra, they had devised a way to use it in their kilns. At the time when these tiles were created, in the fiery bowels of the Sitra kilns, "carbon footprint" was not even in our vocabulary. Downwind of the kilns, were a few acres of African bush, covered in a film of oily carbon. A carbon footprint.
Fast-forward to now and Sitra pottery is long abandoned, the owners have sailed off into the sunset, on a yacht (they say), with the proceeds of their endeavours. The tiles, and the "secret" formulas that achieve the magnificent colours, are still here. Some of the staff, from Sitra, who remember the recipes, or had them carefully written down, are now working for a new company, using electric kilns. The Sitra tiles are still available and now they are green ( if one assumes that the power to fire the kilns is coming from the hydro-electric turbines at Kariba Dam :).
A visit to the new operation, now owned and managed by a young woman, who is also a wildlife artist, reveals that we can buy "seconds". We go through several boxes of tiles that haven't made the A grade.(i.e. they came second). At half the price, they are still not cheap, but we gather together a mixture of everything that catches our eye. A motley crew of cast aside tiles that will adorn our table and make it, finally, what it has long waited to be.
The final challenge is to agree between ourselves, where all the tiles will look their best. It takes a few days to reach that consensus.
Finally, we agree, we have our table, where we can all sit and share the best things in life. Good food, made with love, and the best company.
BRAAI BOX patent pending