A Western Cape winter sunset
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We
live in the most beautiful country and that attracts visitors, friends and
family to come here. Often they are only here for a short while and can't
afford to go upcountry to see a game farm. And they are interested in the
ancient cultures of this land. This week we explored the West Coast and found
two places we think you and your visitors will love and both will enhance the
South African experience.
This week’s MENU, is the last
we will publish for a couple of weeks. As we said last week we will fly to Hong
Kong next Friday to visit Vinexpo and then have a week’s holiday in Vietnam. To
see what we’ll be doing, please follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and our blogs. All the links
are on this page. Choose any of them which suits
you
Thali Thali Game Lodge Thali
Thali is a 1460 hectare Cape West Coast game and fynbos reserve situated just
off the R27 near Langebaan. You leave the R27 just before the Langebaan
turnoff, opposite the Engen Garage and drive down a good dirt road to get to
this small game farm with accommodation and a good restaurant. When you go on
the game drive, you might think you were up country deep in the bush. You can
go for the day or stay a while. They have three West Coast style self catering
chalets and five B&B luxury en-suite tents. The big old farmhouse with 4
bedrooms is the latest addition to the line-up and is separate from all the
others and ideal for families and groups. It has a massive fireplace in the
kitchen and a wrap-around porch that lends it to lazy afternoons in the sun.. And
in the Spring you can see the buck roaming in fields of flowers. We really
enjoyed our night in one of the self catering cottages and the game drive. Read on .....
!Khwa ttu combines adventure, relaxation and education The oldest
culture in the world and the first people to inhabit Africa are recognised as
the San, so visiting this farm is like connecting with our own ancient culture,
as we are all descended from them. Recognition of their culture has been hard
for them, as so many incomers have tried to obliterate it, but this centre
celebrates them and the old ways. As they put it: "At !Khwa ttu
(pronounced with a click at the beginning of each word – easy for those of you
who speak Xhosa or Zulu), we share with our visitors authentic interactions in
a beautiful environment, walking and biking trails, inspiring San nature and
culture tours, good food, compelling art and heritage exhibitions, professional
friendly hospitality and stylish special event venues or corporate
functions." We had a lovely stay there. Read on .....
Tasting Darling Wines with Charles Withington Charles, who
is a wine negociant and owns the Darling Wine Shop in Darling, must be one of
the most hospitable people in the Cape. As we were in the Darling area and we
owed him a lunch, we met at his shop and he produced an epic tasting for us of
many Darling wines and a couple of others. Then we went off for a good lunch
with Charles and his wife Janet at Chicory Cheese Café, taking along some of
the tasting bottles to see how they went with food. Read on .....
Tour through Italy on a plate Each year,
Societi Bistro has this great gourmet tour on offer through the dishes of
Italy. 10 weeks, 10 areas, 10 exceptional wines and this launches on the 18th
of May. Each month features a different area and the food is paired with
suitable local Italian style wine. On Saturday we sampled the food and wines. It
was a large gathering of regular customers, friends, media and wine people and
was a blast. Now all you have to do is look at their website or Facebook page to
see which you should book for. Read on .....
Wine of the week And not because of bias
but because this truly is an interesting, quaffable wine, full of fruit and
dark flavours Charles Withington's Darlington Malbec 2012, available from his
Darling Wine Shop http://darlingwine.co.za/shop
An event to put in your diary:
Wine Concepts annual Burgundy Tasting at the Vineyard Hotel on Friday the 10th
of June. Tickets from them at newlandshop@wineconcepts.co.za or http://www.webtickets.co.za/
You will be able to taste some of the best Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs South
Africa produces. And all the wines will be available for sale at a reduced
price.
Food Fact: A little rice
in your salt shaker will keep the salt dry and free flowing.
We
must apologise. Lynne always tests a recipe before publishing it and that is
what we should have done this week. The chocolate Mousse cake is indeed a
wonderful rich delight but there were a couple of problems with the recipe we
printed, which Lynne discovered when she made it on Saturday..
Sugar
was in the ingredient list, but nowhere in the recipe was it mentioned. You add
it with the ground almonds
The
chocolate we used was very dark and had almost no sugar. When Lynne made the
mousse, she realised that it was too bitter and dry without the addition of a
little sugar, so if you make the mousse, do taste it and, if it needs it, add a
small amount - to your own taste - of icing sugar when adding the eggs. Also,
chocolate should not ever be melted without some liquid or it can seize. So she
has adapted the recipe slightly to prevent this and allow you to make a lighter
mousse. Here is the revised recipe, with a photograph.
Chocolate
Mousse Cake Revised
125g dark bitter chocolate – 100g butter – 100g caster
sugar – 15ml rum or brandy - 15ml strong black coffee -100g ground almonds – 3
eggs, separated
Break
up the chocolate into a glass bowl, add the butter, rum or brandy and the
coffee and heat gently in the microwave or over a pan of hot water until
melted. Take off the heat and stir in the ground almonds and the sugar. Beat the egg yolks well, then stir them into the
chocolate mix. Stiffly whip the egg whites and then fold them gently into the
mixture. Take a 23 cm spring form cake tin with a removable base, line it with
a disk of baking paper and lightly grease the sides with butter, or with a ring
of baking paper. Pour in the mixture, put the tin on a baking sheet and bake in
a low oven, 150ºC for about 45 minutes. This cake is very fragile. Leave to
cool in the tin.
Optional
but recommended: Just before you add the mousse topping, sprinkle over a small
glass of Framboise liqueur or another fruit flavour you like. We used Pear
William. You can also use Frangelico or Amaretto. If you do not use alcohol,
you can use a little fruit syrup.
The
Mousse
300g plain dark chocolate, broken into pieces - 1 T
brandy - 2 T of the cream - 4 eggs, separated - 300ml whipping cream - Optional:
20 to 50g icing sugar
For
the mousse, melt the chocolate in a large bowl in the same way, with the brandy
and cream and allow to cool until lukewarm. Use another 1T of cream if not
using alcohol. Using an electric beater, whisk the eggs whites to stiff peaks. Then
softly whip the remaining cream in another bowl until thickened but not as far
as soft peaks.
Stir
the egg yolks into the chocolate, then fold the cream into the mixture. Taste
and if the chocolate you are using is very dark and has very little sugar, you
may at this stage like to add a little icing sugar. Gently fold in a quarter of
the eggs whites, then the rest, and then spread the mixture over the cake base
and keep in the fridge overnight. Release the sides of the spring form tin and
using a pallet knife carefully smooth the sides of the mousse if untidy. Very
carefully transfer to a pretty cake plate and sprinkle with a little dark cocoa
powder and top with a few raspberries or chocolate curls
18th May 2016
PS If a word or name is in bold type and
underlined,
click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 /
083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea
Point 8005
Our Adamastor & Bacchus© tailor-made
Wine, Food and Photo tours take
small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South
Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made!
Tours can be conducted in English, German, Norwegian and standard or
Dutch-flavoured Afrikaans.
If you like the photographs you see
in our publications, please look at our Adamastor Photo website for our rate
card and samples from our portfolio
Recommendations of products
and outside events are not solicited or charged for,
and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All
photographs, recipes and text used in these newsletters and our blogs are
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are
usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be paid in any way
by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel bad if we
say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is
made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for
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