PERFECT WEEKEND
J-Something, musician & chef
J-Something goes on about cookbooks and music
I have a kid so we generally wake up at the same time whether it is a Monday, Wednesday or a Sunday. So somewhere around 6:30-7am we’re up. Sundays generally work one of two ways: we either go to church in the evening and do the whole breakfast thing in the morning or we go to church first thing in the morning and then plan a Sunday lunch, with the traditional seven colours menu. I’m a breakfast person so I enjoy either making pancakes for everybody or just spending some time in the kitchen making a nice big breakfast for family. I’m usually the guy making the chow when I’m home because I enjoy cooking so much. Pancakes are a team event. The idea is that I make a pile of pancakes and then everyone goes wild with toppings.
If I’m not gigging, then I’m trying to make up lost time with family. Being at home in our space is what weekends are for. We might go out and grab some ice cream after lunch. When you have a family, things depend on so many different factors. If it’s a really lazy Sunday we’ll switch on the braai and just relax. I’ve just launched a new spirit called Jin Gin so we’ve been taste testing that and might pair it with whatever we’ve got on the braai. In my house I have a built-in sound system, so outside or inside, whatever room you’re in there is always music.
On Sundays we’ll listen to a chilled playlist. At the moment I’m into these new guys who are a brother DJ duo from PE called JM. Phenomenal!
Mi Casa is currently making new music so I spend a lot of time listening to our demos. I’m also enjoying Black Coffee’s latest offering and the Swedish singer/ songwriter, Snoh Aalegra.
One of my and my wife’s favourite hobbies is reading cookbooks. We plan our lives around food so if we’ve got free time we get our cookbooks out and see what we want to cook next.
I’m enjoying Mile 8 by David Higgs, which is a next-level book on aspirational cooking. I’m also enjoying Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi, one of my favourite chefs. Another one I’m loving is Momofuku by David Chang.
Man, I could go on and on about cookbooks and music. If it sounds like all I do is eat food and listen to music that is because my weekend is like that.