Christmas Eve, South Africa Style
Turns out, I am a pretty terrible blogger, sorry! Here's a short piece about our Christmas Eve dinner in Nelspruit, originally submitted as an assignment for my MatadorU travel writing class. My husband and I, Peace Corps volunteers in a rural South African village, had decided to celebrate Christmas in style. One luxurious week in the mid-sized, leafy city of Nelspruit at a lovely guest house perched on a high hill overlooking town. I dreamt of hot showers, gourmet breakfasts, movies in an actual movie theater, and my favorite restaurant, Saffron. Finally, our holiday week arrived. On a hot and languid Christmas Eve, we descended from our guesthouse aerie, anticipating with relish a six course Christmas Eve dinner. Saffron is a maverick. Co-owners Steve and Vincent serve lovely Mediterranean style tapas and home-smoked meats while the others peddle braaied meats and the ubiquitous “ served with creamy sauce.” Steve, the front-of-house owner, is at the door to greet us becaus