braai

One of the things I love about Grand Cayman is that I'm a minority. There are barely any Americans here. Don't get me wrong; I still consider the U.S. to be the greatest country in the world, and my favorite people in earth live there, but since I'm living out of the country, it's nice to be surrounded by a variety of nationalities. Most of the expats we've met are from Canada, the UK, and South Africa. Canadians aren't culturally much different than Americans. I've known Brits for years. The UK people have the most developed sense of humor and keep me in constant stitches. But the South Africans are new for us. They are just flat out NICE people. So friendly and hospitable, as we found out tonight. Our new friends D&A, who are newly married, have moved into a one-bedroom right on SMB. Their backyard literally consists of sand and sea. They invited us and a few others over for a traditional South African braai (pronounced "bry") - a barbecue.  The first point they made very clear is that a braai always involves charcoal and never a gas grill. I know Americans are split on this debate, but the South Africans are adamant. The braai is about the entire grilling experience, and waiting for the coals to be good and hot is an expected part.

Although we all brought our own meat, they served us a typical braai food called a boerewors (I'm not even going to attempt pronouncing this Afrikaans word!)

Basically, it's a sausage sandwich served on a buttered roll, topped with onions, "tomato sauce" (ketchup), and mustard.

Here are a few of us hanging out in their back "yard" - a Caribbean sandbox.

The rest of the group enjoying the sea.

The braai ended with a gorgeous sunset.

We plan to return the favor around Thanksgiving - a holiday whose origin I had to explain to the group tonight - and serve traditional holiday food. I expect we'll be on beach for that event as well, mixing old traditions with some new ones.