Our “normal” routine is coming back into shape. This
week, we have tasted some lovely wines, one of them accompanied by really
excellent food, and we continue our story about our Scandinavia on a Shoestring
road trip odyssey. A great week, made even better by some beautiful rain. The
drought continues but our measured rainfall here in Sea Point in June was
actually the third best June rain in the last 10 years. The rain has filled our
koi pond and the few surviving plants in our garden are looking very healthy.
Don’t take that as an incentive to start wasting water; it’s a start but it is
nowhere near enough to get us out of trouble. We are being very abstemious and
we’re very proud of the fact that our most recent rates bill shows that,
together, we only used 150 litres per day in May
Winemag Merlot Report Presentation 2017
Merlot worldwide is a very popular
varietal, producing wines of good fruit and sometimes great quality. We get the
feeling that South Africa has begun to grow it in the right places and is
learning about the correct handling of this quite difficult grape. We all have
experienced those extracted, minty, green and tough Merlots and, if we are
lucky, those voluptuous fruit driven elegant wines that the grape can produce
if properly grown and made
Winemag.co.za presented the first annual Merlot Report in
association with the official producer body known as the Merlot Forum. The
certificate awards ceremony took place last week at Asara Estate in
Stellenbosch. They do not yet have a sponsor and we do hope that they find one
soon, as we feel that this grape is about to do good things for our market and
needs support
2017 De Wetshof Limestone Hill Chardonnay released at La
Tête
This was held
over lunch on a gloomy day at La Tête restaurant in Bree Street and it certainly
helped to brighten up the day. It is De Wetshof's most popular of their five
Chardonnays, the one you are most likely to see on wine lists. And, this year,
it shows real potential to exceed its previous successes. Johan de Wet says
2017 is probably the best vintage they have ever seen
MENU's Scandinavian Odyssey 5. Oslo, Norway
Scandinavia on a Shoestring continues, we
reach Oslo. Why were we being so 'cheap" and not eating out? Well, the air
fares were heavy, the car hire not bad but not cheap for the 3½ weeks we had
it, petrol was shocking compared to our local prices and, while we certainly
saved a bit by staying at AirBnBs the total cost, we knew, was going to be
large. So the one saving we could make was on food and we used that saving to
go further for longer. As we have a food budget while at home, we tried to
stick to it by eating out of supermarkets and taking our wine with us, with one
or two additions. Beer had to be bought too
MENU's Scandinavian Odyssey 6. Sweden, going south
We left Oslo on a cold morning after
doing our usual clean up and tidy of the apartment. We like to leave places the
way we found them. Our next stop was another stuga in Sweden, near Värnamo in
the country, but this time on an estate. It used to be an outbuilding of the
main house and their daughter Sofia has made it into a tiny but well fitted
space for one or two people. We are starting to love varying our stays between
cities and then staying deep in the country. We could have gone to Gothenburg,
but we saw it when driving through it on the way up to Oslo and the
interchanges were a nightmare. They confused the SatNav going up and again
going down, which saw us getting hopelessly lost on our way through the city
but, eventually, we made it...
MENU's Wine of the Week. De Wetshof Limestone Hill
Chardonnay 2017
It has to be. We were so impressed tasting it
at the launch this week. This vintage is like spring sunshine, with apple
blossom perfume and whiffs of pine nuts, with limes and lemons, crisp and lean
initially, but then very full on the palate and very, very satisfying. In fact
with lunch, or any meal, or even alone, quaffable in extreme! R103 a bottle
from the farm. Checkers do have the new vintage, we checked today and their
price is slightly less
We have had quite a lot of meat dishes since we returned and
Lynne thought it time to use up the tomatoes in the fridge, which are Romas and
have very good flavour. There is a bit of preparation needed, but assembly is
quick and easy. You can, if you wish, make your own flaky pastry; we and most
of the rest of the world seem to buy this nowadays. Yes, we know homemade is
the best; it is all about time and inclination. Lynne used the all butter one
from Woolworths
1 roll or square of
flaky pastry - 4 or 5 good Roma tomatoes - salt - 20g grated parmesan cheese -
8 or 10 halved and pitted black olives - some fresh basil or oregano leaves -
100g crème fraiche - white pepper
Defrost the pastry
naturally on some baking paper on a baking tray. Keep it firm in the fridge
when it has defrosted. You do not need to roll it out to make it larger. You
could, if you wish, blanch the tomatoes first and peel them. We leave the skin
on. Halve the tomatoes and, using a spoon, scoop out all the seeds and juice. (You
can use the juices in a salad dressing or in a stew). Lightly salt them inside
and set them aside on kitchen paper, turned skin side up, to drain. You need
them to be fairly dry. Turn your oven on to 180⁰C. Take the pastry out of
the fridge and, using a knife, score a circle around the edge. Be careful not
to cut right through the pastry. Scatter the grated cheese in the centre of the
circle. Then arrange the tomatoes in the circle on top of the cheese, keeping
the edges clear. Put some olives around the tomatoes, sprinkle over the herb
leaves, a little pepper and then spoon on the crème fraiche just around the
tomatoes. You will not need salt, the tomatoes will be salty enough. Put into
the oven and bake until the edges of the pastry and the base are getting nice
and crisp and golden. Take out, portion and serve. This could be a starter for
four or a main course for 2. Delicious with a good Pinotage like the Darling
Cellars, which goes well with tomato, a difficult fruit to pair with wine
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 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.
