To get the whole story with photographs, please click on the paragraph title, which will lead you there. At the end of each story, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to MENU.
We have had another wonderful week showing the Cape
and all its attractions to our visiting friends
And there are some important Holy Days ahead. We wish
you all a blessed Easter and a happy Passover and hope that your days will be
filled with joy.
A stop for lunch at Dassiesfontein On
our way back from our stay in the Hemel and Aarde valley we stopped off at this
crazy fun place on the N2. There are rooms and rooms bursting full of different
things to buy, old and new, interesting and strange. It is a bit like watching
one of those compulsive hoarder programmes but you can help! You can also visit
their rustic restaurant for some traditional South African food. Read on.....
Lunch at The Food Barn We
are always surprised how few Capetonians know about this superb restaurant in
Noordhoek. Franck Dangereux is a classically trained French chef, who helped to
put La Colombe on the map in the years before he opened his own restaurant.
Franck married a local girl and settled here. He has trained many of our top
chefs, all of whom speak of him with great respect. Go and try his food for
yourself, you will not regret it. Read on.....
Biltong and Pinotage pairing The Biltong and
Pinotage Festival will take place at L'Avenir near Stellenbosch on the 16th and
17th of April this year and will be the best opportunity in the year to taste
some of the most impressive SA Pinotages, all paired with Joubert and Monty's
biltong. Get your tickets soon. The festival starts at 11h00 on both days.
A ticket at R150 pp includes a branded wine glass and a pairing card for the
Pinotage and Biltong tastings. Bookings at www.plankton.mobi and selected Joubert and Monty outlets. We had the
opportunity this week to assist with pairing the Pinotages with the biltong.
Read on.....
Muratie Harvest Festival This
is one we never like to miss. Held in the gardens at Muratie, you can drink
their wines accompanied by lovely, simple but satisfying food and enjoy the
live music with lots of your friends.. Read on.....
RMB Starlight Concert This
annual concert, held at Vergelegen, just gets better and better each year. This
year the headliners included South African opera diva Pretty Yende. She has
starred at nearly all of the major opera houses of the world, including the
Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala (where she is resident), Covent Garden,
Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Paris Opera. Bra Hugh Masekela also topped the
bill with his brand of SA jazz and delighted us with his humour and his
trumpet. And, yes, he did play Grazing in the Grass, his #1 smash hit in 1968. Read on.....
Stellenbosch Wines and Pizza On
Sunday, after a night in an AirBnB in Somerset West, we met friends at this new
festival held at Stellenbosch Vineyards (you might know it as Welmoed winery)
on Baden Powell Drive. We found some shade and shelter from the wind, some
chairs and a small table, and enjoyed a lovely day drinking their wines and
eating some pizza and other snacks. Read on.....
De Morgenzon tasting and to Jordan for
lunch One of our visiting friends was celebrating
his 75th birthday here and he invited us to lunch at Jordan. Such a treat to
spend a birthday on the terrace eating marvellous food and enjoying the views.
But first, we took them to De Morgenzon next door to taste some wine. Read on.....
Food fact: Crushing garlic is easy. Put it on a hard surface and
whack it once or twice with the bottom of a small pan. It will be pulverised,
all the skin will come away easily and then you can chop it quickly. Thank you
James Martin.
Wine of the Week: De Morgenzon DMZ
Sauvignon Blanc: this has a
lovely apple blossom nose, so unusual for Sauvignon Blanc followed by some
tropical and herbal notes. On the palate a full mouthful of good fruit, figs
and green pepper pyrazines, in layers of completeness, thirst quenching too.
R90 on the farm
This week's recipe is a nice easy summer salad, great for
using up your home grown basil which probably is going to seed, ours is. You
can add good Extra virgin olive oil to this too. This is lovely with roasted
stuffed vegetables. We had this with lamb and rosemary stuffed roasted red
banana peppers, those sweet long peppers that are easy to stuff. Woolworths has
them this week.
End of Summer Tabbouleh
100g bulgur cracked wheat – 2 tomatoes - 3 spring onions - 4
peppadews - 1 small avocado - 1 tsp finely chopped garlic - a large handful of
basil, or mint, or parsley or a mix of all three - optional pomegranate
molasses or lemon juice
Cover the bulgur wheat in boiling water and leave to soak
for half an hour. Drain. Meanwhile, finely chop the vegetables into approx 1 cm
cubes, add the garlic and season with salt and pepper. If you have any, add the
squeeze of pomegranate molasses, if not add a squeeze of lemon and mix gently.
Taste and adjust the seasoning to your taste. Chop the basil or other herbs and
add to the salad just before serving.
Here is a list of coming events up to the end March. There may be more,
but we will add them as we receive them.
Thursday, 17th
March Summer Sounds at Haute Cabrière, featuring Nuka, a singer-song writer from
Stellenbosch. She is a creative song writer and a free spirit. Her sound can be
described as a fusion of folk, old blues and Jazz. This is the perfect way to enjoy a delicious light
meal paired with great wines. The breathtaking views and sunsets provide a
splendid setting for the entertainment on the Terrace area at Haute Cabrière with
seating on the Terrace and the lawns which overlook the magnificent Franschhoek
Valley. Booking is essential as each event has a maximum capacity of 60 people. Please note
only the Terrace menu is available at these events and no cover charge applies.
For
reservations and enquiries e-mail restaurant@cabriere.co.za or call 021 876 3688
Thursday, 24th
March Summer Sounds at Haute Cabrière, featuring Morne
Meyer, from Wellington, who has recently worked in Dubai as an entertainer for
Regal Plaza Hotel with guitar, vocal and live music. He is talented in multiple
genres including Jazz, Blues, Funk and Pop. This is the perfect way to enjoy a delicious light
meal paired with great wines. The breathtaking views and sunsets provide a
splendid setting for the entertainment on the Terrace area at Haute Cabrière with
seating on the Terrace and the lawns which overlook the magnificent Franschhoek
Valley. Booking is essential as each event has a maximum capacity of 60 people. Please note
only the Terrace menu is available at these events and no cover charge applies.
For
reservations and enquiries e-mail restaurant@cabriere.co.za or call 021 876 3688
Thursday, 31st
March Summer Sounds at Haute Cabrière, featuring Nuka, a singer-song writer from
Stellenbosch. She is a creative song writer and a free spirit. Her sound can be
described as a fusion of folk, old blues and Jazz. This is the perfect way to enjoy a delicious light
meal paired with great wines. The breathtaking views and sunsets provide a
splendid setting for the entertainment on the Terrace area at Haute Cabrière with
seating on the Terrace and the lawns which overlook the magnificent Franschhoek
Valley. Booking is essential as each event has a maximum capacity of 60 people. Please note
only the Terrace menu is available at these events and no cover charge applies.
For
reservations and enquiries e-mail restaurant@cabriere.co.za or call 021 876 3688
18th March 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 which we apologise. Our Avast! ®
Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is scanned
continually for viruses.
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. We own
our mailing software and keep our mailing list strictly confidential. 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.