I’ve added a glossary below for all the South African slang & Afrikaans words.

Alfresco dining: Cool evening breeze, relaxing ambiance, good conversation with friends and family… There is nothing quite like it! When alfresco dining was thrown out as one of the ideas for our September #romanicingthehome series, I just knew that it would be so much fun to do. I may not be original in my idea for my version of alfresco dining, but I was lucky enough to secure a location with the most fantastic view!

So, what is my version of alfresco dining? It’s a good old South African braai of course! Sides that can be pre-made, lamb chops and boerewors over the coals, kids running riot and friends and family catching up. Nothing fancy, but, man, was it good!

I set up on the little picnic table outside, using what I could in my aunt’s rather extensive collection of tableware. It’s always fun for me when I’m granted free reign on other peoples decor items 😀 . I did keep it simple though, because, well, there wasn’t enough space on the table to get fancy!

I had initially set the outside table for 4 (the alfresco dining part), for those who wanted to actually sit outside and eat. This was because that by the time the food would be ready, it would actually be quite chilly.

I soon realized, however, that there wouldn’t be enough space for all the food for me to even put a simple tablescape together. I therefore decided to scrap that idea altogether and just set the table up buffet-style. Everyone could serve up their food and then find a spot to sit. At the end of the day, although this didn’t go with the initial plan in my head, this is how we usually host a braai. There are always more people than seats at the table, so we just find a spot in the vicinity and make ourselves comfortable!

Right, so we’ve sorted out that I didn’t do a set table and let everyone have free reign on where they would be most comfortable to sit. Now let’s get to the food. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t really cook. I’m not very good at it. To be honest, I don’t know if I’m not very good at it because I don’t do it (and therefore, don’t practice it or try out new recipes) or if I’m just simply not a good cook. Maybe one day I’ll be inspired to learn more, but for now, I have too much on my plate to even think about it. (Too much on my plate; hahaha – it’s okay, you can roll your eyes if you want to!) Anyway, back to the food….

I decided to do a butternut, red onion and feta salad from Pinterest. I had found it a couple of years ago and thought that it had worked well. That was as fancy as I got! Pretty fancy, hey?!

Added to that was a standard green salad, a potato bake from mom-in-law and cheese and onion braai broodjies. I mean, what is a braai without a lekker braai broodjie?!

And that was it. Hubs did the braai work…

We made sure that we took the obligatory selfie…

I shoved stuff on the table and took photos…

The kids ran wild and terrorized their aunt…

And the rest of our family kuiered with Ouma Grootjie on the stoep (not pictured).

Once all was done, dinner was served. We all dished up and found ourselves somewhere to sit and eat and chat. We also of course all made our way back for seconds. Because, Yum!

So, while our gathering might not have been traditional in the sense of alfresco dining, it most certainly was traditional in the sense of our family braais! It got too dark to take any more good photos, so no fancy plate styling was done, but I promise that the food was fantastic!

Don’t forget to check out my friends awesome posts as well!

• Ramona at Ruffles and Rust
• Talia at My Shabby Shack
• Liz at Keep It French

I’ve shared mine, so now share yours: What’s your version of alfresco dining? How do your family gatherings usually go? I would love to hear from you!

*Glossary

For my international friends, here is a glossary of some of the South African slang and Afrikaans words that I used in this post. If you feel that I’ve missed something, let me know and I will add it to the list!

• braai – barbecue
• boerewors – a type of sausage made with ground beef, sometimes mixed with ground pork, and a mixture of herbs and spices.
• lekker – nice, yummy, sweet… it’s a multi-use word!
• braai broodjie – a sandwich toasted over the coals. I usually do cheese and onion, sometimes cheese, tomato and onion. Hubs likes cheese and apricot jam as well. We butter the outside of the bread to prevent it from sticking to the grid. You can basically put anything on a braai broodjie!
• kuiered – visited with
• Ouma Grootjie – great-grandmother
• Stoep – porch