A Sea Point sunset - and
a new moon
Late again! Blame it on the visa issuing agency VFS who have
rejected John’s visa application for a lack of nitpicking detail in the paperwork.
Finally managed to get it accepted this morning on the third attempt. The time
taken to put together all the minute details of our plans is extraordinary.
Another wonderful week of spending time with good friends
and taking them to some of our favourite places. Beautiful weather as we expect
of the Cape in late summer, while we try not to be jealous of the excessively rainy
weather our Johannesburg family is “suffering” and at the same time commiserate
with winemakers who have just returned from ProWine in cold, icy, snowbound
Dusseldorf. Greener on the other side of the hill…? Not really
- Tasting at Simonsig, lunch at Glenelly
- On the Town with Villiera
- Visit to Cape Point Vineyards, lunch at the Food Barn Deli
- Breakfast at Shift Coffee bar
- On the MENU this week. Spanish Seafood Rice
- MENU's Wine of the Week. Saronsberg Full Circle 2013
On the Town with Villiera
Some wine farms, intelligently, showcase
their wines at a town venue so that the trade can taste quickly and efficiently
without having to drive out to the farm. If you are restaurateur, sommelier or
wine retailer, taking time out is not easy, and using your day off to visit
farms is nice, but people have lives to sort out. Villiera held their trade
tasting last week at the Cartel Rooftop Bar in Waterkant Street and we had a
very warm welcome from Cellarmaster and co-owner Jeff Grier, CWM
A visit to Cape Point Vineyards and lunch at the Food
Barn Deli
Another
jaunt to the winelands to show our visitors yet another stunning view, taste
some wine and eat a light lunch. The view over the vineyards from Cape Point Vineyards
is spectacular – Noordhoek’s Long Beach is one of the longest beaches in the
country. Here you can visit the Thursday evening market where we used to work, have
a meal in the restaurant or order a picnic and have it on the lawns. We stopped
to admire the view and then told two young men in the small shop that we were
going off to the winery to do a wine tasting ......
Breakfast at Shift Coffee bar
We have not been out for breakfast for
ages and wanted to get together with good friends we haven't seen for a
while. The original plan was to go to
Jason's in Green Point but when we got there we discovered he closes on Sunday
(Memo to self - always check the web site first. ) We wandered along the road knowing we would
find something open in this area and one of the signs above the door told us
this was possibly the place for us. It
read "Death Before Decaff!" and we agree
A winemaker friend recently told Lynne how much he looks
forward to her weekly recipes because it helps him sort out Sunday lunch! Very
flattering. He wants us to put together a cook book from our past recipes,
which we have been publishing weekly since 2003. It is something we have had in
mind for many years, but the time involved has just slipped away. Maybe this
winter.
As it is Harvest time and winemakers are very busy, this
week's recipe needed to be simple and quick. Which set her thinking of a delicious
one pan dish for a late summer Sunday lunch. This is not a paella, just a good
seafood and rice dish, quick to prepare. If you don't eat seafood, you could
use a firm fish like kingklip or monk fish cut into cubes. If you can't find
dry sherry, you could use a semi sweet sherry (but not full cream!) or 100 ml dry white wine
1 T olive oil - 1 large
onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves of garlic, crushed - 1 large red pepper,
deseeded and sliced – 100 ml dry sherry - 400 ml tomato passata - 1 bay leaf
1 t sweet smoked
Spanish paprika - 1 cup of rice - a 500g packet marinara mix - salt and freshly
ground black pepper - 1 T flaked almonds - 1 T chopped flat leaf parsley - 1
hardboiled egg, sliced
Fry the onion and garlic in the
oil till just transparent, then add the pepper and fry until it starts to take
on some colour. Pour in the sherry and boil rapidly till reduced by half then
add the tomato passata, the bay leaf, paprika and the rice. Allow to simmer,
covered, until the rice is just cooked, stirring a couple of times and adding
more water if it seems dry. Then add the marinara mix, season, cover with a lid
and steam for 3 to 4 minutes till it is cooked. Sprinkle with the almonds,
parsley and egg slices and serve.
1 T = 1 Tablespoon 1t = 1 teaspoon
MENU's Wine of the Week. Saronsberg Full Circle 2013
A blend of 89% Syrah with some Grenache, a little Mourvèdre
and a splash of Viognier. We had this with a rich, deep-flavoured cassoulet when
we had friends to dinner last night. It was a perfect match. The confit duck in
the cassoulet (from Woolworths) was quite spicy, which added a rich spice note
to the dish. The wine matched it beautifully. Plum fruit developing to a rich,
dark cherry flavour at the end with the Viognier giving a lightly peachy
overtone. Very complex and intense flavours. A very satisfying wine. Treat
yourself and buy it to put away for a few years. The current 2015 will drink
well now but will certainly improve. The 2013 still has years of life ahead if
we can resist drinking the remaining bottles. It is expensive at around R400 to
R450, but the quality justifies the price. Platter gives it 4½ stars, #Winemag
Rating: 91/100
23rd March 2018
© 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
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
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