Buh-Bye African Pie!

Well here we are, heading home after eating our way across South Africa and Botswana:

We wrapped up our trip Friday night with luncheon at the Sanitas Tea Garden and dinner at the restaurant in the Mokolodi Nature Reserve where we dined on elephant stew from an old tribal recipe. It was a little tough.

For lunch on Saturday during our safari Lady M insisted on going to Borakanelo, a local cafeteria, where she heard they made organic French fries, her favorite food.

Finally! Some decent food! I’ll take one of those weiners too.

Lady M ordered chicken and chips (no fish available in the interior). We wanted some greens of course, butt alas, they weren’t serving any. This menu wouldn’t cut it with the USDA school cafeteria lunch guidelines, butt I guess when you’re on safari you have to expect to rough it.

The safari was a lot of fun. here we all spotted an elephant:

Out of the frame, unfortunately.

For the occasion, Lady M - ever conscious of being a fashion icon and role model for young African girls - donned a fringed, leopard print Prova scarf draped around her neck and paired with a cheap gray cardigan and gray slacks to demonstrate how even ordinary people can appear to be extraordinary.

Here we are, stalking wild game yesterday:

Yeah Mom, you go first

Back home, Big Guy was equally busy. No, not with the budget talks: raising money so he can afford to run a top notch campaign in 2012. New York was a virtual gold mine (thank you, Goldman Sachs!) where he managed to hit 3 different fundraisers in one night last Thursday! He racked up $38,000 a plate for a Daniel Boulud prepared dinner!

Security tent for dinner

Here’s the menu:

Reception

Rock Shrimp Spring Rolls with Ginger Soy Dip
Vodka Beet-Cured Hamachi with Horseradish Cream
Crisp Parmesan Basket with Soft Goat Cheese and Fines Herbs
Brochette of Seared Kobe Beef with Pickled Onion and Tartare Sauce
Zucchini Pomponette with Fontina and Tomato Confit
Comté Gougères with Beaufort Béchamel

Dinner

Maine Lobster Salad with Satur Farms Roasted Beets
Horseradish Cream, Mâche “Nantaise” and Walnut Vinaigrette
Sandhi Santa Barbara Chardonnay, California 2009

Duo of Black Angus Beef
Braised Short Ribs with Young Spinach
Roasted Tenderloin with Stuffed Potato and Hen of the Woods
Copain Anderson Valley Pinot Noir “Tous Ensembles » California 2008

Citrus Marinated Strawberries
Vanilla-Raspberry Gelée, Sablé Breton, Yuzu Sorbet

Chocolates, Madelaienes and Petits Four

Nicely done Danny!

Yum-o!

This while Lady M is choking down African locavore peanut and elephant stew; there’s no end to the sacrificing she does for her country.

Anyhoo, the Boulud dinner was squeezed in between a fundraiser on Broadway for a showing of “Sister Act” with the incomparable Whoopi:

Hey! Big Guy’s Presidential Seal is missing.[linky fixed now] Again. I better keep an eye on this.

…and an LGBT event (where he got heckled – can you even believe it!?)

I think Big Guy should stop fighting with the R-words over taxes and spending limits and just book fundraisers from now through the 2012 election. At $38K per head, we could have the national debt crisis under control in no time.

UPDATE FOR CENTRALCAL:

Are you sure you really wanted to see this? On a Sunday?

UPDATE FOR LINDA:

You MOLs are really testing me today, and my battery pack is pretty low after the safari. Butt here you go:

Butt those aren’t peek-a-boos on the tights: studs. It’s winter in South Africa, after all. Oh, and in case anyone thinks that’s a Palestinian kuffiyeh around her neck: chill. It’s actually a Duro Olowu scarf (who, you may recall, also designed our lovely dress that we wore to dinner on the Vineyard last summer) paired with another ASOS Africa beaded collar jacket.

Linked by: Adrienne’s Corner Thanks!