Christmas Dinner...

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! :)