Condensed Milk Biscuits

When we go camping, or traveling anywhere for that matter, I always try to bake a batch of home-made biscuits.  People seem to need something to nibble on more often when on holiday, and these crisp biscuits travel well and are delicious.  The recipe makes a big batch of biscuits. 

 

Condensed Milk Biscuits

5 cups of cake flour
1 cup of cornflour (Maizena)
4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
500 grs butter
1 cup of sugar
1 tin of condensed milk
3 Tbsps aniseed OR grated rind of 2 lemons OR glace cherries (optional)

• Cream the butter and sugar
• Add the condensed milk, and mix well
• Mix together the dry ingredients, including either the aniseed or the lemon rind
• Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture
• If the dough seems very soft, chill for 15 to 20 minutes
• Either roll the dough out and cut with cookie cutters, or roll into little balls and squash slightly with a fork or press out with a biscuit gun

• Place the biscuits on baking trays (decorate with cherries if you wish) and bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees C, until slightly browned - be careful not to burn them

• Cool on a cake rack

• Pack into plastic jars suitable for traveling when cold.

These are really good with a cup coffee brewed on a camp-fire, perhaps sitting under a giant wild-fig tree, or watching dolphins and whales play in the sea in front of your camp site!

Camping at Maphelane

Maphelane is a beach camp on the far north coast of Kwazulu-Natal.  It is part of the St Lucia wetlands and coastal forest area, and the dune forests and beaches are so beautiful.  It is however, very wild and remote.

This area is a popular holiday destination, especially with fishermen, but it certainly isn't luxurious, actually, the word 'rustic' is complimentary!

The first time we went there we stayed in one of the slightly ramshackle wooden cabins, which was comfortable, but the camp caretakers were fighting a losing battle against the cabins being re-claimed by the forest - everything living, plant and animal, was trying to move in. There's a LOT of life in an African tropical coastal forest.

We went for a walk to the campsite one day, and I fell in love with camp number 33.  The campsite is situated on a long sandy corridor, stretching back into the forest from the beach. The very last site, number 33,  is tucked into the dune forest, and is so beautiful, that I started planning to camp there.

I had to wait until we had a 4x4, though - the road through the forest over the dune (read 'mountain') is impossible for a caravan without a 4x4 vehicle - sandy, hairpin bends, steep inclines, it's quite a road.

We finally got to camp there last January.  The campsite was as beautiful as I remembered, the ablutions were spotlessly clean and well-maintained, the beach magnificent - the biggest drawback is the camp water.

We knew there was no electricity, this is after all a very remote area, and with a gas fridge and freezer we were fine.  The camp runs a generator (far from the campsite) from 6 am to 10 pm to provide some power, so we hired a plug point at the workshops, and took along a small electric fridge.  This, of course, was for the beers......

But - Maphelane does not have drinking water.  There are rainwater tanks, and the water can be drunk (after treatment), but we brought along our own fresh water.  Trouble is, the water for washing in the kitchen and ablutions is all ground water, and it was brown - literally brown, and slightly sticky, as it was brackish water. High salt and soil content - and this is all that is available for washing dishes and yourself.  By the end of the week, we were all longing for clean, fresh water showers!

Camping in the forest was wonderful, the bush is alive with creatures.  Bird life is prolific - some good sightings were a woodland kingfisher, and the rare palm-nut vulture. Masses of butterflies, and regular visits from the local troupe of vervet monkeys by day and bushbabies by night entertained us.  Vervet monkeys are very cunning thieves, always on the look-out for a meal.  They can do a lot of damage, so one needs to be on the watch when they come around.  Everything needs to be strapped and locked down when one leaves camp.

The bushbabies were so cute, I didn't know they could get so tame. One little chap made a pest of himself, wondering around between our feet in the evenings like a little cat.  We were careful not to try pet it - after all, it was a wild creature.  Bushbabies have a loud cry which can be really alarming, they sound for the world like a baby lost and in distress!  And they are loud!

It was a wonderful camp, but we won't be in a hurry to go back - the road took our caravan apart and Andre is having to re-build bits of it.  I'll put some photos up to show how beautiful this place is tomorrow!

Til next time....

Why Camp?

When people ask why we like to camp so much, I am sometimes stumped for an answer! The biggest objection to camping usually is that one has to share a communal bathroom, and ablution blocks can be grim. But think how little time is actually spent in the bathroom, compared to time spent at your campsite, or doing adventurous things in the outdoors, and it's worth the sacrifice!

Of course, the main advantage of camping is the cost - it is way cheaper than accommodation, even self-catering, and there's just no comparison when one thinks of the cost of hotels.  For me though, there are other advantages to camping.  We have a small easy-to-tow caravan, which serves as bedroom, packing space and a sitting/dining area.  It has a large tent, which is easy to set up, and this doubles our living space and gives us a dry sheltered area.

This is our holiday home, and we get to park it in a different place each time we go camping!  It's always equipped with our own bed, and linen, and kitchen equipment, but the location changes all the time - sometimes it's a camp (or two) in the Kruger Park, where hyenas patrol the camp fence, eyeing out your dinner through the mesh. Then it may be a few days at Mahai, in the crisp mountain air of the Drakensberg, or perched on a dune overlooking the Indian Ocean, watching thunderstorms out at sea, or dolphins vaulting out of the waves. Next it may be on the banks of the Umkomaas River, under a fig tree large enough to park four caravans, with room to spare, or in the dune forests of Northern Kwazulunatal, with a bushbaby climbing down the tent poles to fetch some grapes you have dropped!  The options are endless.......South Africa is perfect for camping.

I find when we do stay in accommodation, that I spend longer packing everything into bags and boxes, than I spend packing into my caravan's cupboards. Then when we arrive at the accommodation, one has to unpack, and then pack up again to go home, and unpack at home!  With the caravan, I pack in before we leave, and unpack when I get home.  Much easier, I think.  I also avoid the cleaning that one sometimes has to do when staying in accommodation that is less than well cared for......

With a caravan, I also get to sleep in my own bed....without thinking about how many people have slept on the pillow and under the duvet I will be using that night...fussy, I know, but that's me. I also never have to deal with a lingering cigarette smell - an anathema to any non-smoker!

So that's some of my reasons for loving camping.  But there's more to it than that - there's the pleasure of being able to be comfortable in remote areas, the satisfaction of living well without any modern appliances, or even electricity.  The pleasure of sitting quietly outside your caravan as buck or birds or other creatures wander nearby, gives a quiet kind of joy.  What do you think?

For a good camping guide and list of camp-sites, please check out this web-site:  Caravan and Outdoor Life Magazine

Camping in South Africa

I have been camping most of my life, first with my family in Zambia and Zimbabwe where I grew up, then as an adult with a family of my own, in South Africa.

South Africa has to be one of the best countries for camping!  For starters, the weather is generally sunny and beautiful.  SA also has such an array of amazing things to see, and an excellent network of spacious roads which makes traveling easy, so it's the ideal country for touring.

We have traveled all over SA, from beaches on three sides of the country to game reserves where you can see the Big 5, to incredible mountains and viewpoints, to tropical dune forests, deserts, cave systems, wild-flower displays in spring, wine farms and modern cities - SA has it all and more, and we've tried to see most of it.

We live in Kwazulunatal, and most of our trips are in this province.  Just recently we stayed at a place called Highover, on the banks of the Umkomaas River, in the Hella Hella Valley.  This is a wonderfully wild, rustic campsite, with incredible bird life, and a peacefulness that is good for one's soul. 

I love cooking on a camp fire, so I'll be sharing plenty of recipes with you, and also ideas on camp kitchens and equipment, how to plan, what to eat and how to cook it.  We don't believe in survival type food when camping, since 'gourmet' is so much nicer!

I would love you to comment or ask questions - looking forward to hearing from you.