Lifestyle

Despite every effort to be careful, most of us burn food from time to time. Here is a rare opportunity to be careless, on purpose. We are actively seeking the burnt, smokey flavour that this spendid Middle Eastern dish provides.

Christine and her husband want to build a three-bedroom home on one level, with open-plan living rooms surrounding an atrium with glass roofs.

I saw your ‘tented getaway for campers’ concept in the issue of 2 September, and am looking to build something similar for tourists on a 33ha island property in the Zambezi River.

You’re watching a sitcom in which everybody is enjoying a Chinese takeaway out of cartons. You wish you were eating the same food. Here’s what you do.

We would really like your help. We plan to semi-retire in the Eastern Cape on the coast. We have lived and worked in a bushveld/farming environment our whole lives, and relocating to even a small coastal town is daunting.

Tame cooking takes place in the kitchen. Wild cooking you do outside. A classic example of the latter is a braai, which leaves the cook as smoked as a kipper and with singed eyebrows. A lesser-known example is deep frying, in which meat and fowl meet boiling oil to dramatic effect.

I received a request from Peter, who wanted me to design a retirement home for him in Howick, in KZN.

Kofta – savoury mince meat balls – are one of the best things you can do with lamb. They’re easy to make and even easier to eat, and when they’re anointed with yoghurt tahini sauce, all those good stories about Middle Eastern cooking suddenly come true.

Some time ago, Michael from the Midlands Meander in KwaZulu-Natal between Mooi River and Howick, bought a vacant plot and requested that I design a residential home to be constructed on the property.

Fascination with South Africa’s rock art heritage has drawn Victor Biggs to more than 2 000 sites over the past 60 years. Amongst this number, three sites, all in the Kei River catchment in the Eastern Cape’s Border region, are of particular historical interest. Mike Burgess accompanied Vic here to learn more.

Dear Jonno We want to build a period corrugated iron house on our farm, more or less according to the plans I have attached. The land...

Here are a few budget friendly design and styling options to choose from for a cost-effective home.

Chicken is a national bird in Africa. Where there are people, you will find chickens. Here is an outstanding combination of flavours, all centred upon a slightly boozy version of Sunday lunch.

I received a call from Johan, a resident of east Pretoria, who wants to construct a tented getaway that would attract tourists and campers.

Gill, Adele and Dick gave me a call to see the proposed development site on their 5 000ha game farm near Vryburg.

Madumbi, or the more accurate plural, amadumbe, is the rhizome that made KwaZulu-Natal famous. These flavoursome nuggets grow in our vegetable garden and can be found in fresh produce outlets across the province.

Dear Jonno I am situated in Aliwal North, and want to construct a one- bedroom cottage of 36m² (6m x 6m), similar to the one...

A client, Peter, is keen to add public facilities to his lodge in the White Mountain area of the Central Drakensberg. His plan is...

Cold weather demands easy-eating, easy-cooking hot food in large quantities. Try this variation on a Western cowboy theme. Take along a wide-mouthed thermos of this meal next time you’re home on the range…

Dear Jonno I am looking to build a wedding facility in my hometown in KwaZulu-Natal. I would like the establishment to have a restaurant or...