Hi,
As long as I have Internet access I might as well use it. I've had a really relaxing week, lots of time to write and read. I've been walking in the bush every day now and yesterday managed to spot eland, impala, blesbuck, giraffe and a shitload of birds -big ones and small ones. Recognized the hornbill and secretary bird, the rest are what they are. Except ostriches which I also saw. We've only done a pot kudu so far (biltong is drying as we speak) but we'll start hunting on Monday, first on the list is waterbuck but if I see a good warthog I'll take it (I have to get one that='s better than boha's!). We've had thunder daily, on a biblical scale. Yesterday I actually did useful work -helped Tino lay a floor!

There might be a good leopard hunt on offer if anyone is interested, too expensive for me right now but maybe one of the AR breathren (did I spell that right?) is interested? Love playing agent on a small scale!

Latest weather report from home: -25C!

cewe,

Have fun!

Hope you are over your cold.

Gerry

Thanks Gerry, my cold is much better now. The knee could be better but you can't have everything. I'm not just trying I am enjoying every minute.

Sunday I'll treat Tino and his wife to penne al forno which is my pasta specialty. I also have a recipe for birds that I'd like to try out.

cewe,

Great, enjoy EVERY minute and your pasta with a nice bottle (or two) of RSA red! My in-laws are here and I have kitchen duty tonght, my specialty is spicy tomato sauce tortiglioni.

Sorry we couldn't hook up in FKT to have beer.



Cheers,

Gerry

Hi Gerry,
The pasta turned out nice, the zucchini (baby marrows) are beautiful here and the cheeses are also very good. Tomorrow I'll be making spagetti bolognese with ground wildebeest! Should be an interesting experiment. I'll top that off with fried bananas in maple sauce with vanilla ice cream.

Tuesday we start hunting: eland. waterbuck, warthog, bushpig, baboon and jackal are the game planned. I have an option to hunt a PAC spotted hyena but that would be a tradeoff for the eland as I can't afford both so I'll be going with the eland.

I'll be flying from here on the 31 of March through Frankfurt. Feel like a beer on April Fools Day?

The weather is beautiful, wish I could apply for refugee status...

Cewe,

How is it a Finlander is such a good Italian cook?

Looking forward to some hunting reports and photos. I hope you get that hyena, I am looking for one later this year.

cewe,

Have a great time and think of us all back here working and freezing, shoveling snow..
Shoot straight and keep your powder dry...

Mike

I grew up in California and most of my friends were Italian so I think a little bit of that stuck! But the "turning point" for my cooking was when I visited Italy back in the 80's -gained 5 kgs in a week and came back with three new cook books.

I have to choose between the eland and the hyena so I'll have to take the eland -love those spiral horned antilopes!

And to rub it in: Just had a very juicy mango for a midmorning snack!

cewe,

Yeah! I'd be delighted to have a beer with you at the FKT airport on Friday, 01-04-05, April Fool's Day!



Let me know flight details and I'll work out a meet. This Sunday morning I'm meeting another AR colleague at the FKT airport who was in Germany two weeks on military reserve duty. Looking forward to exchanging experiences.

After hunting & shooting - cooking is a passion with me and I do all the cooking in our household - so you & I are already on the same wavelength. Blue Wildebeast Spagetti Bolognese sounds delicious! I'll have to take a very small desert portion, cause I'm always fighting my waistline.

Eland, Waterbuck, Warthog......et al, sounds great - I'm jealous, have to wait until June/July this year, four months to go. My hunting sidekick & I picked up our trophies from last year's RSA trip on Friday. His Eland shoulder mount was huge, even the taxidermist said it was a monster, my Kudu paled by comparision! Good luck. He also shot a Spotted Hyena and had the hide done - beautiful!

You're not missing anything weather-wise here in Europe its' -4C and snowing on & off, so enjoy your time in the sun!

Looking forward to meeting you and hearing about your trip at the end of the month.

Gerry