The other day, I visited the Kalahari Mall to buy some cooking things to bring back home.

I want to learn how to make a proper South African bobotie and a Malva pudding while I am here — and then to cook these for friends when they come over for dinner back home.

I also went around the shopping mall to see what kind of products I could buy that were special to either Northern Cape or to South Africa.

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Of course, at the top of my shopping list is organic loose leaf rooibos tea.

I’m a great fan of rooibos tea, having first discovered it at a trade fair in Colombo, Sri Lanka (of all places) many years ago.

An exhibitor gave me a cup and I really liked it.

Then, exactly one year ago, I went to South Africa and had tons of rooibos tea. It was our beverage of choice every day at breakfast.

So of course I tried to have rooibos tea at every opportunity.

It’s really hard to get good quality rooibos tea outside of South Africa, and especially the loose leaf kind, which has the most anti-oxidants.

Yes, rooibos tea is supposed to be great for anti-aging and helping to lower cholesterol.

I also got some skin care products made with rooibos tea. Rooibos is supposed to be very good for the skin, when applied topically.

I also stocked up on spices and condiments that are unusual and hard to get in our part of the world. South Africans are big on roasting and stews so they have great spices for these.

So I got enough to make the African peri-peri chicken, bobotie and Malva pudding.

Finally, I got products that are South African-made but not exported overseas.

I found a really good port wine here in Northern Cape today at a garage winery, for instance, so I bought a bottle of this even if I know I actually can’t spare the kilos.

I’m bringing so much stuff home, you see.

I also bought the ingredients for dukkah, which is an Egyptian mix that’s great to serve with good olive oil and freshly baked bread or sprinkled over salads.

I found some dukkah which is locally made, so I bought a bottle too.

Finally, I bought some unusual biltong.

Biltong is the favorite snack of South Africans, and it’s really meat jerky.

I found biltong made out of bacon, which was marinated in Malay spices.

So one of these days, I’m going to host a dinner at home, and my guests are going to feel like they’ve just been to South Africa for the evening, on a never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

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