Baby's First Braai

 One of the blessed bonuses of being somewhere that language barriers aren't an issue is the ability to make friends easily, particularly around my D&D hobby (which I tragically can't pursue while out and about, being strongly averse to online play).  As such, I've found myself with friends here that I'm hanging out with beyond just the basic-level activity.  I gave them this link so I need to make sure I say nice things about them.  Which is easy, because they're lovely people.  Case in point, they were all too eager to be the first to introduce me to a braai.

 A braai is a South African tradition combining a bbq and a potluck.  It's a common and important enough event that many middle-class-and-up houses have an entire space dedicated to it - this is the bedroom, this is the lounge (living room), and this is the braai room.  Attendees typically bring the meat or similar things that they want to have, everything gets grilled up, and you eat until you feel a little unwell.  Or at least I did.

And how could I not?  I'm a carnivore at heart, which is tricky because said heart would probably stop if I ate like it wanted me to.  And a braai is so much meat.  Potato salad is also a common side, though we didn't have any at this particular one.  The sandwich things on the left there are braai broodjie.  There was also lamb chops, ostrich sausage, kudu (a kind of antelope), beef, and probably other things that I forgot to take notes on.  One of the more interesting creations were oopsies, bacon-wrapped glazed cherries on little skewers.  Then for dessert, milk tart (served in slices like pie) and malva pudding with custard.  Somewhat like bread pudding from the UK, I find myself encountering what is called pudding but is almost entirely unrecognizable for what Americans call it.  Ask a typical American which part of that last picture is the pudding and they might say the yellow creamy semiliquid goop.  Somehow the US drifted in definition away from the baked kind of thing.  Maybe one day I'll research how and why.  Maybe.

My new friends also presented me with a giant overflowing treasure box of South African snacks, candies, etc.  Of particular note are Fizzers, a kind of taffy-coated Pop Rocks; tomato-flavoured maize chips (softer than corn chips, e.g. Fritos, but similar base); Pin Pops, essentially Blow Pops; bacon flavored cheddar crackers; and creme soda flavored milk (yes, really).  I haven't tried all of it yet but so far it's mostly been quite nice.

These friends didn't introduce me to the other South African food I discovered this past week; I found a Gatsby all by myself.  I was ordering UberEats and the picture on the restaurant's page looked roughly like a sub sandwich.  I already had gotten a chicken sandwich and fries (chips, locally), so I thought, better just do a half.

Apparently this is a half gatsby from that particular restaurant.  As long as my head and 2/3 as wide, layered with sauce and thick-cut chips, and this variety having a hearty hot dog-style roll in the middle.  This would probably be enough food for an entire day.  It was great, don't get me wrong, I'll probably get another one someday...but certainly not along with anything else.

As a closing, this is not food but just a family that visited the pole studio I'm training at.  They were cautiously curious, but I don't think they'll come back for classes.