Welcome Kate!
Welcome to Kate Jack from South Africa for a delightful conversation about Christmas in the summertime! From the most stunning wreaths of succulents to relaxing around a floating pool bar, this conversation just may have you booking tickets to the Southern Hemisphere for this Christmas!!! Best of all, Kate shares her aunt’s recipe for Peppermint Crisp Pudding and we discuss at length a very new to me method of making caramel for this dessert as well as other traditional South African Christmas dishes. It’s a fun one today, so welcome to Kate and to you as well!!
Highlights
Rainy Christmas days vs. Sunny Christmas days
Spray on snow to bizarrely emulate decorations of the Northern Hemisphere
The trend to Africanize Christmas decorations
Succulent wreaths
How Father Christmas can survive in the heat ;-)
Low key Christmas dinner foods for hot days
How to make caramel from sweetened condensed milk
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Kate's Storied Recipe: Peppermint Crisp
https://thestoriedrecipe.com/peppermint-crisp-tart
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Transcript
Becky Hadeed
Hello hey, how are you?
Kate Jack
I'm doing well. Thank you and.
Becky Hadeed
You, oh I'm great. Thank you so much for getting on with me.
Kate Jack
It's such a pleasure. I'm looking forward to this.
Becky Hadeed
Me too. So first I have to ask you. Is your last name Jack?
Kate Jack
That's correct, yes.
Becky Hadeed
So your name is Kate. Jack, yes, that's. Such a great name.
Kate Jack
I'm married into the name, but I'm grateful for it.
Becky Hadeed
Yeah, it's like you're like the female protagonist to a Tom Clancy novel.
Kate Jack
When someone heard my husband's name, she said, "It's like that's a brand name." [Laughter}
Becky Hadeed
That's so well said that's. True, yeah, and you're feeling better.
Kate Jack
Much better I might cough a little. But lingering a bit, but so much better, thanks.
Becky Hadeed
Oh, I'm so glad I'm so glad. OK, well then let's jump in and talk about Christmas and South Africa. So, so first of all, we know that Christmas in South Africa during the summer season feels a lot different than we experience it in the northern hemisphere, but to back up a little bit, I am curious how Big South Africa is and how many time zones does it cover - and does it cover a lot of different climate zones? Does it depend on what region you're in, what weather you experiencing at Christmas time? Or is it pretty much the same for South Africans across the country?
Kate Jack
OK, so we have one time zone but we kind of almost could be two time zones, but officially we only one. So that gives an idea of the size. We are all in the southern hemisphere and so while our climate varies a little bit - like the West of the country where I live has winter rainfall and the east of the country is summer rainfall and it can get a little bit more tropical. Towards the northern parts, especially the northeastern parts, and some areas are a bit dry and some like you know semi arid. But we all. We all experience the summer, the celebration of Christmas in the middle of summer.
Becky Hadeed
And how hot is it?
Kate Jack
So degrees in Celsius, so that varies around the country, so it could be. Around mid 20s to 30s. Yeah, uh.
Becky Hadeed
Hot enough to be in the pool under the summer sun?
Kate Jack
Yes, yes, so some Christmases we do.
Becky Hadeed
Amazing, amazing and I guess of course yeah, so I'm looking, yes that's very warm weather.... According to Google, 25 is 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and if it goes up to 35 Celsius, that's 95 degrees Fahrenheit. So it's definitely squarely in the summer time weather for sure.
Kate Jack
Thank you having time, yes.
Becky Hadeed
And it's and it's mostly dry. You can pretty much guarantee that it's not going to be a rainy Christmas Day, because that happens in the winter time.
Kate Jack
So for us, it definitely is more common. We have a a dry summer, but it's quite bizarre because obviously Christmas days I remember and we occasionally do get rain. In summer, and it always seems to fall on. Christmas, but quite a few rainy Christmases we're sitting inside. But then I I do also remember Christmas days where we enjoy outdoor activities or outdoor Christmas feasts - we're outside kind of having a picnic or we are swimming. So that's also more common. Yeah, and generally the days around Christmas you're gonna have some hot sunny days around.
Becky Hadeed
Right, OK, so I guess when I think about how warm it is in South Africa... So much of Christmas preparations and creating the festive spirit around here is just about the decorations, you know. It's the lights on the house, which of course when it's getting dark at 4:15 or 5:00 o'clock in the evening, you enjoy them for hours. It's like a very wintry wreath. Everything is so associated with cold weather and the hope of a White Christmas, so I'm just having trouble visualizing Christmas, and especially the Christmas decorations in a hot climate. What does that look like if you go out and shop and there's Christmas decorations up. What do they look like?
Kate Jack
So, bizarrely, we still hold on to quite a Northern Hemisphere Christmas in a lot of ways. So definitely growing up it was, you know, traditional Christmas trees - trees were conifers and we had spray on snow. [Laughter]
Becky Hadeed
Even even in the winter time, you don't....
Kate Jack
Get snow? No no no no no. I mean, in some areas like in the mountainous inland areas, but it is no. No cities get snow really. It's not a common thing at all. So our Christmas decorations - We have tinsel and like Christmas balls, I guess yeah. There's been a trend in recent years to try and Africanize our Christmas decorations, so maybe beadwork is quite popular in South Africa, and so, like the decorations we made of beads or wire crafts, or using, you know, using material that's from South Africa like Shweshwe, which is this patterned printed materials - really pretty. So incorporating those kind of design elements on our decorated Christmas tree, but definitely growing up it was all very like snowy scenes like Christmas cards still had like snowflakes on them and it's bizarre. But that was a reality, yeah?
Becky Hadeed
Yes, did it... did it feel bizarre when you were younger? When you were little, what did you think? Why are there snowflakes on all these cards? Why is Santa Claus from the North Pole? We'll get to this.
Kate Jack
Not at all. Like of course we, of course we're gonna spray fake snow on our windows. I mean, that's just what we do at Christmas to get into the Christmas spirit. I didn't think it was weird at all. Maybe I was just too excited about the presents or.... Yeah, I mean obviously Father Christmas has reindeer even though they don't really work in African countries.
Becky Hadeed
Right? Right, so I cut you off.
Go ahead, I'm sorry.
Kate Jack
Umm no. So no, I didn't think it was weird growing up. Definitely. I'm as I'm getting older. I'm like no I want to. I want to celebrate Christmas in summer while South Africa is in full bloom and, for example, now my my mom makes a wreath for Christmas and instead of putting conifers or pine branches, she puts on succulents, South African succulents. And you know, so like we try and add some South African or African elements to our decorations for the Christmas holidays.
Becky Hadeed
OK so I just had to real quickly Google a "succulent wreath" because when you said that it's like a little explosion went off in my mind of wow, how brilliant and beautiful would that be? And wow, I'm looking now and how gorgeous is that? Do succulent succulents just grow wild? Is it pretty much you can just pick them and create one? Do you have to buy the succulents.
Kate Jack
So my mom has them growing in our garden, so in some areas in South Africa they are growing wild. It's actually quite a problem that they have become quite trendy plants, and so they're actually being pushed and and so they need to be protected. But they're also really easy to grow. Certainly some of them, and so you can easily get them in garden shops and easily grow them in your garden. So that's where Mum's got them growing in her garden. So she'll just go and pick them from her garden and and make the wreath from there.
Becky Hadeed
That is amazing. Yes, like I said, I'm looking at some of these and they're gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.
Kate Jack
I feel it works so well, yeah.
Becky Hadeed
How about Christmas trees? What did you choose?
Kate Jack
So pine trees are pretty common in South Africa, and there are pine plantations and and so we'd get a little mini pine tree in our house. So yeah there are few indigenous ones and I've got a pot plant that, it's a yellow word, so it's a really pretty tree indigenous to South Africa.
Becky Hadeed
Yes, I see. Can you tell me the name again? What's it called?
Kate Jack
It's a yellow woood.
Becky Hadeed
Ohhh a yellow wood, Alright, I gotta Google this also. Ohh that's beautiful!
Kate Jack
And so it can make for the pretty tree. Yes, it makes quite a nice pot tree too. I mean they get really big and huge and they form forests in one area of the country as well and in pockets throughout South Africa, they form small forested areas or bigger areas in some countries in some places, but in our garden we've got it as a big pot plant.
Becky Hadeed
OK.
Kate Jack
And then we decorate.
Becky Hadeed
OK ohh beautiful. Ohh wow they really do get huge.
Kate Jack
Yes, yeah, they can get really really.
Becky Hadeed
Big yeah, almost like the redwoods here. Just massive.
Kate Jack
Yeah, there was some really classic, really big big ones.
Becky Hadeed
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