this is seriously good lunch

Billy has been talking about this little butchery inside Zandspruit for months now... I drive past it all the time, it's right along the road heading in to Emthonjeni. From the front side, it just looks like a butchery to me. But, oh, step inside and that is where you will find the magic.

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Order a serving of pap (maizemeal cooked till it is perfectly thick and sticky) a sauce or two ... I don't even know how to spell chakalaka... but it is my favorite and I could eat the tomatoe curry sauce every day and not get tired of it.... and then choose your meat. Fresh meat laid out neatly in the coolers , just waiting for the guys out behind the shop to grill it up for you on the open braai pit

From there it's all family style and messy fingers - there are no need for forks as you make a perfect little bowl with the sticky pap... pressing down a nice deep indentation with your thumb and then scooping up sauce. I had my camera and didn't want to have to keep washing my hands every time I saw a perfect moment to photograph... so I kept stealing Billy's perfect bites - I'll have to practice my little bowl crafting before we go next time, it looks easy but I have a suspicion it is the kind of thing there is an art to or you'll loose all your pap into the sauce. I'll let you know.

We are so amazingly blessed by our friendships here. Good friends. When we arrived a year and a half ago, we wondered if we would ever truly fit in. I'm not saying we completely do now... there is so much to continue learning and sometimes we stumble through it... but we are loved and we love back - oh, so deeply. And we are thankful for everyday moments like lunch that are special because of who we are sharing them with. Well, that and the chakalaka.