Tuesday, October 01, 2019

This Week's MENU. MENU's UK Adventure. From Cape Town via Dubai to Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle, which dominates the city from its hill top vantage point

Five and a half weeks seems a long time to be away from home. Looking back on it, the time seems to have gone by in a flash with many wonderful memories of an adventure in which we visited some old haunts and saw many places which were new to us. We visited old friends and family and, towards the end of the journey, visited two South African owned wine estates which are being developed in Sussex. We have many stories to tell and will publish them over the next weeks, interspersed with our reports of current events. We thank our loyal subscribers for their patience; travelling 3700 kilometres, editing 3800 photographs and enjoying many adventures takes time and effort and we could not do all these things and work on MENU. We hope you will enjoy reliving the experience with us. We start this week with three stories about travelling to and enjoying time in Edinburgh
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MENU's UK Adventure 1. From Cape Town via Dubai to Edinburgh

We love travel but, sadly, flying is not the best part. Financial constraints mean looking for the cheapest flight, so we went the long way round with Emirates via Dubai to Gatwick for the start of this year's adventure in England and Scotland. Because John needs a visa, which takes time, it precludes getting any cheap flights early on in the year, which is a major setback. Lynne was born in London, but we had not been back since 2004. And family and friends there are, like us, getting older, so it was now or never…
MENU's UK Adventure 2. Days and nights in Edinburgh

A day in beautiful Edinburgh with soft weather (rain) on and off all day. It started to rain, quite hard, while we were in Prince's Street, so we bought ponchos, expecting to need them at the Tattoo that evening but, as soon as we opened one the rain stopped, never to return - it’s called Sod’s Law…
MENU's UK Adventure 3. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

One of the main reasons we came to Scotland, and to Edinburgh in particular, besides family connections, was to treat John to the famous Edinburgh Military Tattoo, held every August (2nd to 24th August 2019), during the Edinburgh festival. John was a Piper in his school band and we both love the sound of a pipe band. This delivers them en masse. Lynne has been twice in the past and it is one of those very special memorable events. You book tickets on line and we managed to get a night in the last week. The walk up to the castle from our AirBnB apartment was a fairly easy 20 minute stroll uphill, through this beautiful ancient city that has managed to preserve so much. This is where you become part of the gathering crowd all going the same way…
On the MENU this week. Venison Pie

With the strange weather we are having at the moment – from a major heat wave (in September?) to a terrifying gale with rain, it’s quite difficult to plan meals. This is when Lynne dives into our freezer to see what we have. This time she came up with some cubed venison (Springbok) and some good, frozen flaky pastry…
MENU’s Wine of the Week. Leopard’s Leap Culinaria Chenin blanc 2015

Leopard’s Leap is in Franschhoek, but they source many of their grapes from other areas. This lovely Chenin was made with grapes from the Voor Paardeberg, home of so many excellent Chenin blanc producers. It has, as you can see, a lovely rich, golden colour…


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Posted by MENU at 10:29 pm 1 comments

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Leopard’s Leap Culinaria Chenin blanc 2015

Leopard’s Leap is in Franschhoek, but they source many of their grapes from other areas. This lovely Chenin was made with grapes from the Voor Paardeberg, home of so many excellent Chenin blanc producers. It has, as you can see, a lovely rich, golden colour

On the nose, there are aromas of butter, toffee and peach. On the palate, we found crisp and intense flavours of roasted pineapple, then ripe pear with a dash of lime and finishing with dark oak. Another wine which shows the benefit of being kept for a few years in a good cellar. Platter awarded the current 2017 4 stars. It is available from the Leopard’s Leap at R99
Posted by MENU at 9:16 pm 0 comments

On the MENU this week. Venison Pie


With the strange weather we are having at the moment – from a major heat wave (in September?) to a terrifying gale with rain, it’s quite difficult to plan meals. This is when Lynne dives into our freezer to see what we have. This time she came up with some cubed venison (Springbok) and some good frozen flaky pastry

So Venison Pie it was and it fed us on Saturday and Sunday. Not complicated and very delicious. Served with creamy mashed potato, some good al dente green vegetables and a good red wine

 2 T canola oil - 1 kg venison shoulder or leg, cubed - 200 g smoked bacon, cut into 2 cm pieces - 1 large onion, chopped – 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped - 2 carrots chopped - 2 celery chopped - 2T flour - 2 T Mustard powder – 1 bottle (750 ml) good quality dry red wine - 6 Juniper berries, crushed – 3 sprigs of Rosemary and 3 of thyme – 2 bay leaves - Salt and freshly ground black pepper – 2 litres of good meat stock – 1 teaspoon sugar – 200g frozen petits pois - a roll of flaky pastry – 1 beaten egg
In a large ovenproof casserole, brown the meat in the oil, then add the bacon. Remove from the casserole. Replace with the onion, sprinkle with a little salt and fry gently for 5 minutes until soft and beginning to take on colour. Add the garlic and the carrots and celery and fry for 4 to five minutes to allow them to soften. Add the flour and the mustard powder and stir well to incorporate and cook a little, but not brown. This will thicken the stew. Stir in the red wine and let it bubble to boil off some of the alcohol and reduce. Stir while doing this, so it doesn’t stick to the base of the casserole. Add back the meat, then add the herbs, the stock and the sugar. Season well and simmer gently on the stove top or in the oven at 170°C for at least 2 to 3 hours or until the venison is tender but not falling apart. Check and stir the pot every hour or so, to make sure it is not drying out or sticking to the bottom. Add more water if it looks dry. When it is ready, set aside to cool slightly and stir in the petits pois. There should be a good amount of liquid remaining in the venison stew. Some of this will become gravy to serve with the pie

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Take an oven proof pie dish with a rim and put egg wash around the edges. Using a slotted spoon, put the venison stew into the pie dish and carefully cover with the pastry. Seal the edges well and cut a tiny hole in the centre. Trim the edges and scallop them using your thumbs. Use any trimmings to decorate the top of the pie with leaves and flowers or just diamonds. Brush the top with the egg wash to give a golden finish when baked. Bake the pie in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp. Use any liquid left in the casserole as gravy

If you don’t want to use pastry, you could do with mashed potato or potato slices. Or make this just as a stew or a potjie, and you could add baby mushrooms. It is delicious and rather filling. Drink with a really good red wine, preferably a blend or a Shiraz. We enjoyed a bottle of Kloovenberg 2007 Shiraz from our cellar which was such a good match
Posted by MENU at 9:11 pm 0 comments

Monday, September 30, 2019

MENU's UK Adventure 3. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

One of the main reasons we came to Scotland, and Edinburgh in particular, besides family connections, 
was to treat John to the famous Edinburgh Military Tattoo, held every August (2nd to 24th August 2019),
during the Edinburgh festival
John, seen here, was a Piper in his school band, St Andrews College in Grahamstown

and we both love the sound of a pipe band. This delivers them en masse
Lynne has been twice in the past and it is one of those very special memorable events
You book tickets on line and we managed to get a night in the last week
The walk up to the castle from our AirBnB apartment was a fairly easy 20 minute stroll uphill,
through this beautiful ancient city that has managed to preserve so much


This is where you become part of the gathering crowd all going the same way
It was the first night that it didn't rain (if it does, the show goes on; the Scots are used to rain),
but we came very warmly dressed, which was very necessary later as there was a cutting wind from the North
Lynne brought a polar fleece cap and a plaid scarf just to be sure,
and we both had plastic ponchos just in case the rain returned

Gazing around at the stands, the international crowds and the castle before we took our fairly lofty seats

It begins at 9 pm and in August it is still light at this time

A view of the castle ramparts where later, at the end of concert, the lone piper plays

On the right is the covered supporting orchestra 'pit' and on the left, a stand where the choirs sit
The stadium is not permanent;
they put it up every year and, during the tattoo, it seats just over 217 000 people who come from all over the world
It has sold out in advance for the last decade
30% of the audience are from Scotland and 35% from the rest of the United Kingdom
The remaining 35% of the audience consists of 70 000 visitors from overseas
Brigadier (Retired) David Allfrey MBE  has been the Producer since 2011

A wonderful view of the City and the surrounding hills. Note, no high rise buildings in this historic view
The gathering clouds were a bit worrisome, but they did not come close to us

and scanning the flags of many nations, there was our South African flag

This year the title of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo was
"Kaleidoscope 2019 Is A Celebration Of Glorious Symmetries, An Experience For The Senses"

Here, giving the salute after the Anthem is an Admiral (apologies, but the programme didn't give his name

Then we heard the skirl of the pipes and on came the famous band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle
with the band of the Scots Guards

The conductor

The fanfare by the trumpeters of the Scots Guards

and the cannon roared a welcome

Introducing the Kaleidoscope of Colour were Scots lassies with light sabres
that interacted with the lights around the base of the seats to produce a rainbow

and then the massed pipe bands entered:
The Royal Regiment of Scotland, the Scots Guards and the Irish Guards and the other contributing pipe bands
It was a wall of harmonious music that began and then filled the whole arena;
an overwhelmingly emotional sensation if you have Scottish ancestry
Pure grandeur, tradition and absolutely magic. It sets your feet tapping and your heart dancing
See our YouTube video here

It's worth a look to see the immaculate marching and drilling and the dancers
A note from a former piper; listen to the drums. A pipe band is never complete without them
Each pipe tune has a corresponding drum tune and it is the partnership between pipes and drums which makes it all work
The rest of the programme then began and we show photos of only a selection of the performers

and on and on they come to fill the whole arena

Not just a hundred pipers, about 150, with brass and drums

From Nigeria, soldiers, dancers and singers

with the Nigerian military band

The German Army band with their very special drummer

and dancers wearing lederhosen and dirndls

From the Caribbean, a voodoo dancer on stilts swirled and twisted with graphics projected onto the ground

Limbo under a fire pole

The Caribbean nations' Steel band made joyous noise and even played some Bob Marley

Accompanied by butterfly dancers

From France, the French military Garde Republicaine Band played a selection of very popular music including one tune by Michel Legrand which had the audiences humming along, and some modern pop

and then Jacques Offenbach's CanCan from Orpheus in the Underworld

with dancers performing with gusto and managing to fill the huge area with sound and colour

Next, some graceful Scottish dancers accompanied by the pipers of the Scots Guards, the Royal Scots and the Irish Guards

Musicians from the bands of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Scots Guards
accompanied a choir of school children singing famous Scottish songs and we could sing along

A traditional band of  Chinese from North America called the  Tian Guo  Marching Band,
wearing traditional clothing with their dancers. In English, they are known as the Divine Land marching band

Whirling in formation

New Zealand dancers in blue plaid

Scottish traditional fiddlers being joined on stage by more bands

Those girls from New Zealand

were accompanied by the New Zealand Military band who played Pack Up Your Troubles and You'll Never Walk Alone
Some of the band members even danced a bit of a jig while playing

and they did the Haka for us, to the great amusement of the crowd and to loud cheers

The massed bands returned and filled the arena, cross marching back and forth
And then the singing of the National Anthem and the emotional finish with Auld Lang Syne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

Looks like chaos and is not, counter-marching, so neat and tidy and so overwhelming in sound and joy
They even played "This is the Greatest Show" amongst other tunes. British and Scottish Pomp and Circumstance at its best

The fireworks began

and became more spectacular

and went on and on delighting the audience

while the massed bands stood to attention below

After which, we had the lone piper, but he was really difficult to focus on with all the smoke and noise and light

And, finally, the bands marched back to barracks
and the very orderly crowd left the arena
No rubbish was left anywhere that we saw

Two video clips of the massed bands and dancers 
which John took with his camera can be seen at
https://youtu.be/vWwDTB6hWZg
and
 https://youtu.be/pcJGdTgMC8M

Next: From Edinburgh to Rothes in Speyside

All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Posted by MENU at 10:07 pm 1 comments
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