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
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
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
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 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
