Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Recipe of the week - Aubergine & Butternut Curry

Lynne made this for Vegetarian friends of ours recently. You may not need all the oil; aubergines do absorb a lot but it does make the dish lush and silky. Frying them first starts them cooking and prevents them becoming slimy. Lynne used coconut oil, you could use Ghee. You can adjust the chilli to your own taste. We used a Durban masala
2 medium aubergines - 1 T salt – 5 to 6 T oil – 1 large onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced - 1 T grated fresh ginger - 2 t curry masala - 1 cup of butternut, cut into 2.5 cm cubes - 1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced – 700 g fresh tomatoes, finely chopped or 700g tomato passata – 200 ml water - 1 t sugar – salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cut the aubergine into cubes of about 3 cm. Cover them with the salt and put into a colander and allow to drain for 20 minutes. Wash off the salt and dry with kitchen paper. Fry the onion in a little of the oil till transparent then add the garlic till soft and then add the ginger with the curry masala. Fry briefly then add the aubergine and the rest of the oil and fry until it is beginning to take on some colour. Stir in the butternut, chilli and then add the tomatoes and sugar and the water. Simmer until the aubergine and butternut are getting soft and unctuous but not falling apart. Season to taste; if the tomatoes are acidic, you may need to add a little more sugar. Just before serving with Basmati rice, sprinkle with garam masala

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

MENU's Wine of the week - Villiera Bush Vine Blanc Fumé

Many years ago, back in the 1990's, Villiera used to make a Blanc Fumé - a wooded Sauvignon Blanc. It was a wine Lynne loved, often bought by the case and, at a Villiera function last year, she spoke to Jeff Grier about it. "Oh, glad you liked it!" he said, "we are about to relaunch it." She was delighted a few days ago when a courier arrived with a sample bottle

It was grown in an old, single Bush Vine vineyard on Villiera, planted with the Weather Station clone. On the nose it’s dusty and grassy with green pepper and granadilla notes. The smoky wood is there on the palate with nice rounded citrus flavours of grapefruit and fig with a long, lingering warmth. It is great with food, very palate cleansing and refreshing. It has been partially skin fermented in an egg shaped tank, had no malolactic fermentation and was racked into 50% new /50% 2nd fill oak barrels for three months. We can't wait to see this with a little age on it. http://www.villiera.com/
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

This Week's MENU. A tourist in your own city, Chenin Blanc and Pinotage at the Wine Concepts, Breakfast at Giulio's Café, Villiera Bush Vine Blanc Fumé, Aubergine & Butternut Curry

Flying off into the sunset
(A bit like our car, which is giving way to a new chariot)

Tourism and the wonderful people who come and visit our city are frequent topics in conversation, but how often do any of us who are Capetonians look at ourselves from a tourist’s viewpoint. Last week, we decided to take the MyCiti bus to Hout Bay with our friends who are visiting from the Netherlands. We also attended a very well organised tasting of South Africa’s signature wines, Chenin blanc and Pinotage and had a lovely breakfast....

We decided to take the bus to Hout Bay and behave like tourists this week. We love the MyCiti bus, it has transformed getting round Cape Town and the routes are growing daily. We topped up our cards (you need to buy them beforehand and they are available at various venues in your neighbourhood. Check out the website. We met our friends at a Sea Point bus stop at 10h55. Sadly, the timetable information Lynne was given on the phone by Enquiries was wrong and we missed the first bus by five minutes, but there was another along in 20 minutes. You can check the timetables online too, but we don't find them very user friendly. You can deposit money onto the MyCiti card and use it if you need cash. You can't board the bus without it. They don't take cash
Friday saw us at Wine Concepts’ Chenin Blanc and Pinotage Celebration at the Vineyard Hotel. A chance to taste new and older vintages of both of these South African varietals, to network and to meet and taste the wine of a few (to us) new producers. Chenin Blanc continues on its climb to the top of the local grape varieties. It can do so much, show a huge variety of different styles, it ages superbly and suits our climate, varied as that may be at the moment. The same could be said of Pinotage, although it receives less exposure, less lauding and, sadly, the amount planted seems to be in decline. Pinotage shows its stellar face when it has some age. Lynne concentrated on tasting the Chenins, John cherry picked both varietals. It was impossible to taste them all; there were 88 wines on show
Another good Saturday morning breakfast, another new restaurant for us; this time in town on the corner of Loop and Riebeek Street. This is familiar territory for Lynne who worked in PR at Safmarine when they moved into their new building on the opposite corner. It is where the Italian restaurant Massimo’s used to be.  Breakfast is served all day and they have good lunch options too. There is a Mangia salad bar, sandwiches and great pastries. And they are licensed. Opening hours Mon - Fri: 7am - 4pm; Saturday 8am - 12.30pm Public Holidays 8am - 12.30pm
Wine of the week     
Many years ago, back in the 1990's, Villiera used to make a Blanc Fumé - a wooded Sauvignon Blanc. It was a wine Lynne loved, often bought by the case and, at a Villiera function last year, she spoke to Jeff Grier about it. "Oh, glad you liked it!" he said, "we are about to relaunch it." She was delighted a few days ago when a courier arrived with a sample bottle. It was grown in an old, single Bush Vine vineyard on Villiera, planted with the Weather Station clone. On the nose it’s dusty and grassy with green pepper and granadilla notes. The smoky wood is there on the palate with nice rounded citrus flavours of grapefruit and fig with a long, lingering warmth. It is great with food, very palate cleansing and refreshing. It has been partially skin fermented in an egg shaped tank, had no malolactic fermentation and was racked into 50% new /50% 2nd fill oak barrels for three months. We can't wait to see this with a little age on it. http://www.villiera.com/
Lynne made this for vegetarian friends of ours recently. You may not need all the oil, aubergines do absorb a lot but it does make the dish lush and silky. Frying them first starts them cooking and prevents them becoming slimy. Lynne used coconut oil, you could use Ghee. You can adjust the chilli to your own taste. We used a Durban masala
2 medium aubergines - 1 T salt – 5 to 6 T oil – 1 large onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced - 1 T grated fresh ginger - 2 t curry masala - 1 cup of butternut, cut into 2.5 cm cubes - 1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced – 700 g fresh tomatoes, finely chopped or 700g tomato passata – 200 ml water - 1 t sugar – salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cut the aubergine into cubes of about 3 cm. Cover them with the salt and put into a colander and allow to drain for 20 minutes. Wash off the salt and dry with kitchen paper. Fry the onion in a little of the oil till transparent then add the garlic till soft and then add the ginger with the curry masala. Fry briefly then add the aubergine and the rest of the oil and fry until it is beginning to take on some colour. Stir in the butternut, chilli and then add the tomatoes and sugar and the water. Simmer until the aubergine and butternut are getting soft and unctuous but not falling apart. Season to taste; if the tomatoes are acidic; you may need to add a little more sugar. Just before serving with Basmati rice, sprinkle with garam masala








28th March 2017

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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
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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 which we apologise. This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.


© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

Breakfast at Giulio's

Another good Saturday morning breakfast, another new restaurant for us; this time in town on the corner of Loop and Riebeek Street. This is familiar territory for Lynne who worked in PR for Safmarine when they moved into their new building on the opposite corner. It is where the Italian restaurant Massimo’s used to be.  Breakfast is served all day and they have good lunch options too. There is a Mangia salad bar, sandwiches and great pastries. And they are licensed. Opening hours Mon - Fri: 7am - 4pm; Saturdays and Public Holidays 8am - 12.30pm 
The entrance. We were so impressed with Giulio himself; what a polite, friendly and gentle young man. He is making a great success of this Cafe. You can read about him on his web site. https://www.giulios.co.za   Service was prompt and efficient
We loved the simple and light decor. The chairs are a little small, but manageable
A table had been reserved for us in the corner
Important to start breakfast with a coffee!
Good crema on the Americanos
The menu

For our vegetarian friends, Shakshuka. From North Africa and the Middle East, it's a nice and spicy tomato and red pepper compote seasoned with onions, garlic, chilli, cumin, paprika topped with two poached eggs
Lynne had intended to have something healthy and then she saw her favourite breakfast on the menu.  When she did her round the world trip in 1992 she found this all over the world and if faced with a plate of congee (tasteless rice gruel) or poi (taro porridge with a texture of wallpaper paste), she chose instead pancakes, maple syrup and crisp bacon. This turned out to be a superb choice. The pancakes at Guilio’s were a revelation; they are light as air, fluffy and full of flavour. Why has she never had them this good before?
John had the good Frittata di Giulio, an omelette filled with spinach, mozzarella, tomatoes, caramelised onion (no mushrooms) topped with parmesan and a side of a tomato basil Neapolitan sauce
A table full of delicious food
They bake all their own cakes and pastries and there is an impressive selection to tempt you

Loraine chose a Florentine with her espresso, which comes, correctly, with a glass of water, something often missing in South Africa
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

Monday, March 27, 2017

Tourists for a day in our own town - a bus ride to Hout Bay

We decided to take the bus to Hout Bay and behave like tourists this week. We love the MyCiti bus, it has transformed getting round Cape Town and the routes are growing daily. We topped up our cards (you need to buy them beforehand and they are available at various venues in your neighbourhood. Check out the website. We met our friends at a Sea Point bus stop at 10h55. Sadly, the timetable information Lynne was given on the phone by Enquiries was wrong and we missed the first bus by five minutes, but there was another along in 20 minutes. You can check the timetables online too, but we don't find them very user friendly. You can deposit money onto the MyCiti card and use it if you need cash. You can't board the bus without it. They don't take cash
There are two Hout Bay buses, the 109 goes to the Harbour side, the 108 to the Chapman's Peak end. We took the 108, direction Hangberg, to the harbour
It is a lovely trip along the coast road and takes about half an hour. Here we are passing through Camps Bay, also worth a stop
Looking lovely on a weekday morning
Time to chat and enjoy the scenery
Past the tourist spots and the curio vendors on Victoria Road, just beyond Bakoven
We arrive and Lynne points out some of the sights
Mariners Wharf
This has a small collection of shops and restaurants
The creamy white sandy beach stretched before us
A street trader with remarkable bead work
Dunes, a pub restaurant on the beach across the bay, is one of our favourite haunts
Paddle surfing, a fairly new and now very popular sport
The colourful fishing fleet in the harbour
We explored the Pearl shop and bought some presents to take home
Watching the gulls
John remarked: "Well, he is not going to get another ship..."
Hout Bay declared itself a Republic several years ago. It's a rather fun tourist initiative
Inside Mariners Wharf fish shop with a selection of fish under plastic. We were distressed to see that they sell live crayfish, which are now so endangered that they are on the SASSI wwfsassi.co.za/ red list and we are all being asked NOT to buy them. They have a sign prohibiting photography. Perhaps this is why
Salted dried snoek, a local fish
Although feeding the seals in the harbour by hand is not allowed, the tourists love it, so it continues
The seals are tame and beguiling, "Kiss me dammit!"
But they can be very dangerous
Fish head stew anyone?
A huge catch of hake had just been landed at the public fisheries. This is where to buy fish in the harbour, fresh and filleted to your specification. Most of this will end up in the local fish and chip shops today
These ladies are very skilled and have years of experience
The NSRI building; it housess the lifeboats and the Atlantic Boat Club. Above it is Hangberg, which means "hanging on the mountain". It's a local township, where locals (many involved in the fishing industry) have lived for a long time
Gulls waiting for fish scraps
Up on the Hangberg, a luxury home that must have been very threatened by the recent mountain fire which came very close to it
We now begin our walk along the beach, intending to go for a draught beer at Dunes. Sadly, it was so close to lunch time that we passed and moved to our lunch destination. Next time.
It was a beautiful hot day and the hot air and cold sea made lots of mist that came into the bay.
It's a dog's paradise
Mine!
A fishing boat heading out of harbour
Into the mist
This is where we were heading for lunch, the Chapman's Peak Hotel on the other side of the bay
The sea mist creeps up the warm mountainside where it drops welcome moisture
The view behind us, where we had just left. You can see how bad was the fire on the mountain earlier in the year
The tourist cruise boat Nauticat coming in to harbour after a trip to Seal Island. John was involved with sponsoring it in the 90s
We disturbed these gulls on our walk. Young, just fledged kelp gulls, losing their baby plumage and learning the skills of flying
Lovely to watch
The Leopard on the rock at Flora Bay. This sculpture has been on the rock since March 1963, a gift from Ivan Mitford Barberton (a local sculptor). The bronze leopard is in memory of the last leopard sighted in the area in 1930 and a reminder of the wild life that used to roam these mountains
A family enjoying the beach. The sea is a marvellous colour, a range of blues
We arrived at the newly painted Chapman's Peak Hotel at 1, just in time for lunch
A table with a view of the Sentinel mountain
It is very popular with locals and with tourists. They don't take bookings, so come early at the weekend if you want a table
The menu
A bottle of Adi Badenhorst's Secateurs Chenin blanc 2016, served by a lovely lady named Temperance
We ordered one serving to share of one of the specialities of the hotel, Peri Peri chicken livers, which we wanted our friends to taste; we converted them. These tender, hot and spicy livers with a Portuguese slant, are superb
Three of us had the succulent calamari, so well cooked, which comes in a light crisp batter, with lemon, and a side portion of golden crisp chips. One of the best places to eat calamari in Cape Town, as well as other seafood and fresh fish. It is a large portion. You can also have it as a starter
John went big with the combo of Steak in a red wine garlic and chilli sauce with calamari
Dessert was not manageable, but a local speciality, a Kahlua Dom Pedro (Kahlua liqueur blitzed with vanilla ice cream) was enjoyed by Peter. It's a uniquely South African experience and you can vary the alcohol
We had good double espressos
 The bill
The sea mist envelopes the Sentinel as we set off to catch the bus home
Chapman's Peak Hotel
The hotel has a deli and wine shop nearly next door
The bus terminus for the 109 back to town
You pass Kronendal, a National Monument in Hout Bay, which houses a very good Thai restaurant, Kitima
and Imizamo Yethu, the huge Hout Bay township which, tragically, had a devastating fire the previous weekend that displaced over 15 000 people, who lost their shack homes. Tragically, three people died. The people of Cape Town came to the rescue with huge aid to help with the loss of all their possessions. Food was provided, and a place to sleep. The City Council is now helping to re-block and rebuild the township so that fire engines and other emergency vehicles can get through in future. The shacks are normally built too closely together
Llandudno beach is another to visit, but go by car. The bus only stops at the top! Take a picnic; there are no shops or restaurants, it is purely residential
A popular view of our glorious Cape Town coastline. It was a lovely day out