Tick Tally = 6

I had been back in the bush (from a lovely  and relaxing long-weekend away in Johannesburg) for all of 6 hours before one of them latched itself fimly onto my leg… why me?

Claire’s Tick Tally = 5

I can’t believe I’ve removed 5 (5!) ticks alraedy this season! My last little friend hitched a ride after I spent a while trudging through the african wilderness flushing wild dogs from their resting spot in dense bush…

Eww. That seems the only appropriate thing to say.

And for want of a photo of my own very tick, here’s a photo I got from google… just to illustrate…

Eww. Again.

Desipte my horrible and disasterous last baking attempt, I was inspired (or, more accurately, threatened with grievous bodily harm) to bake again.

With the fear of a riot or buring at the stake looming large, the pressure was on!

I did, though, manage to produce a beautiful moist but light chocolate cake, and I have now discovered that it can be used to hold ransom and demand favours from all those who threaten violence if a cake is not produced in a timely fashion. What favours I shall call in this season, no one knows, but at least I’m storing some cards up my sleeve for the future!

Oh, and yes, it was my original tried & true recipe, which was not altered in any way, shape or form… and that’s the only way it’s meant to be!

There is a species of African Tourist that always puzzles me. They are the “checklist” tourist (Tourista Africana listica). They travel around with thier little spreadsheet / card of birds, mammals and reptiles they should expect to see on their African Adventure. I am convinced they don’t actually care about what they’re seeing, they just want to be able to return home and parade their completed shreadsheet / card of “sighted” animals to their family and friends, with the presumption that the family and friends will be impressed.

Well, I’m not impressed. So that’s not a good start for Tourista Africana listica.

Experience Africa, people. Don’t categorise it into our otherwise categories lives. It can’t be put in a box or condensed into a checklist.

However, for the purposes of illustration, if I was a Checklist Tourist (Tourista Africana listica), my last 3 months would look something like this: (in alphabetical order)

• Antelope (the usual suspects: impala, puku, waterbuck, bushbuck, kudu, wilderbeest)
• Baboon
• Birds (no need to elaborate or we’ll be here all day!)
• Buffalo
• Chameleon
• Civet
• Crocodile
• Elephant
• Elephant, angry
• Elephant, baby
• Elephant, chocolate dipped
• Elephant shrew
• Genet
• Giraffe
• Hippo, hungry hungry
• Honey badger
• Hyaena, spotted
• Leopard
• Leopard, up a tree
• Lion
• Lion, cubs
• Mongoose (slender, banded, bushy-tailed, white-tailed)
• Monkey, vervet
• Porcupine
• Scrub hare
• Serval
• Snakes (black-necked spitting cobra, black mamba – both deadly)
• Squirrel
• Turtle
• Warthog
• Water monitor
• Wild dog
• Zebra

After reading Anne’s book review of Candy Freak, I had a distinct craving for chocolate. I am in the middle of the African wilderness, so-to-speak, so chocolate is a little hard to come by (and I refuse to eat my very last caramello koala which has survived the past 3 months in our refridgerator). My one saving grace was that I did have cocoa buried deep within the wilds of our dry store pantry.

As a result, I decided to make my moist-but-light-chocolately-choclate cake.

It was all going along famously, until I decided that I wasn’t satisfied with my tried & true moist-but-light-chocolately-choclate cake recipe. I wanted to mix it up a bit, try something a little different. “Don’t do it!” I hear you all shouting. Well, I didn’t listen. I did it.

I . changed . the . recipe .

I wanted a better version of my moist-but-light-chocolately-choclate cake, instead I ended up with something that was more or less like a brownie. Now, if I wanted a brownie, then it’s a competely different matter altogether. But I didn’t want a brownie. I wanted a better moist-but-light-chocolately-choclate cake.

Is it edible? Yes. Given that I am in the middle of nowhere, I will pretty much eat most things. Yes, including Hippo sausages, for those of you who are asking.

Will I ever change my tried & true moist-but-light-chocolately-choclate cake recipe ever again? Never, never again.

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