Did I mention I love a good road trip?  Our food-inspired road trips started well before our love affair with the Garden Route (or risotto, for that matter).  Back in the last 1980's when we lived on Canada's west coast, we used to drive the 510 km's to Portland, Oregon just to visit the nearest location of our favourite pizza chain, California Pizza Kitchen (aka CPK).  Six hours of salivating on the drive down, we could barely get the words out to place our order, but somehow we managed.  Then, after gobbling up our gourmet pizzas, we'd wait a few minutes for our eyeballs to roll back to the fronts of our heads, pay the bill and clamber back into the car for the return drive home - another 510 km's.

So, whether it was a flash of inspiration or nostalgia, when the missus pulled our our faded CPK cookbooks this afternoon, it was a foregone conclusion:  I'd be braaiing pizzas tonight.

We cheated a bit this time - we didn't make our own pizza dough like we have with previous patio pizzas.  Instead, we bought a bag of bread dough (which does tend to rise a bit more, BTW).  But all the slicing and dicing of various toppings is time-consuming, so this was a handy shortcut.

Tonight we had two different types:  prosciutto with figs and rocket; and buffalo wings chicken (using chicken breast, not wings, of course) with blue cheese.  Both delectable!

So, how do you do it?  Well, first you roll out your dough - thin is good (though rather wobbly when using bread dough...).  It helps if you stick it in the freezer for a few minutes to help firm it up while you're working on organizing your toppings.

After devouring a delicious roast chicken (done on the braai, of course), served with one of my favourite white wines (a DMZ Chardonnay), it was time for dessert...

Limes are a scarce commodity in South Africa, so when they show up (usually in Woolies), I scoop them up.  This time, I had particular motivation - recreating the fantastic Ginger Margarita I had at the W's Spice Market restaurant a few months ago.  Executive Chef Peter Lloyd was visiting this particular W location from London and we got chatting.  I wonder if he might be interested in a free week's stay at The Island in exchange for whipping up a single fantastic dinner?  hmm.... Anyway, he gave me the drink recipe - but it's also on the web, freely available to all.

If you want to do the 100% real thing, here's the original recipe.  I opted to use this one instead (no lemon grass, and using ground ginger instead of "making your own" from scratch....) - just as good and not quite as labour intensive (well, actually, at two days in the preparation, this was *the* most labour-intensive drink I've ever made!).  Most of the work went into preparing the ginger-lime syrup.

Was it worth it?  You betcha!

I haven't managed to get my hands on Jan Braai's award-winning "Red Hot" cookbook yet (named one of the top 3 "Barbecue Books in the World" at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in June this year - and one of the best in South Africa in Dec 2013 - BTW, the term "barbecue" is their's not mine!) - Jan, is of course, the brains behind South Africa's National Braai Day - but I'm a big fan of Durban's Neil Roake and his Life's a Beach Cottage series (these are also former award winners but most are out of print as they go back 7-8 years now) and, of course, Carmen Niehaus of Huisgenoot fame.

This year's Christmas Dinner was a fantastic "Royal leg of lamb" (the butcher in town deboned it), a great couscous salad, a few veggies and a nice Kevin Arnold Shiraz 2010 (from Waterford Wine Estate).

Of course, what's a braai without a few improvisations?  Sometimes I wonder how I'd manage without a decent hammer (to mostly whack things besides nails) and then duct tape and vice-grips to hold the things I've whacked with the hammer back together...

And yes, my South African friends, I *do* know a gas Weber is not considered a *real* braai!  What can I say, I plead guilty and know I can't offer a suitable excuse.

For those of you who may not be from South Africa, there are pretty firm beliefs/rules here when it comes to what rates as a "real" braai:  a wood braai (the only "real" braai), followed by a charcoal braai (which is barely tolerated by most South African braai fundies), and then much, much further down the list is the lowly gas braai, which basically doesn't even count as a braai - I know, I know... But it was still lekker! :)

Another gorgeous day yesterday - perfect for the walk back & forth from Glentana.  The dolphins were really putting on a show and there was a rumoured whale sighting nearby (whales have been spotted a few times in the last couple of weeks, by the paragliders in Sedgefield as well as hikers at Nautilus Bay, just past Dana Bay).  What better way to top the day off with streaming Jimmy Buffet's RadioMargaritaville and preparing some cream-cheese stuffed jalepeno chillies?  Not the mild ones which Woolies now sells, but the "Russian Roulette" variety found at Fruit & Veg City.  Russian Roulette, you ask?  Well, some are very mild, but some are definitely not... and you never know which one you're going to get.  They give off their oil during the preparation which wafts through the air - thus the "Bear Spray" reference. :)  And be sure to watch where you put your fingers afterwards, as you'll get a bit of a burn going....  And, yes, the generous glass of sangria for the chef obligatory.