Thursday, January 23, 2020

Chenin and Pizza Party 2020 at The Grand on the Beach

Invited to the annual Chenin & Pizza Party at The Grand on the Beach, at the edge of the V&A Waterfront,
we were delighted to see that they had opened up this great tasting of South Africa's best Chenin Blancs to the public
It was on a sizzling summer Wednesday from 4 till 8 pm. Flip flops and beach wear were obligatory and essential
This event is so ably organised by Ina Smith and Jan Sleet and the team of the Chenin Blanc Association
Winemaker Roger Burton, and Shelley Sandell, owner of Tierhoek in Piekenierskloof,
were showcasing the Tierhoek Old Vine Chenin and their Straw Wine made from Chenin. A great place to start
Paul Kruger, who handles sales for Villiera
Their 2019 Barrel Fermented Chenin really impressed with its background of soft wood and clean elegance
Villiera Cellarmaster and joint owner Jeff Grier
"This too shall pass" is not a tattoo you can miss!
Amorous moments in the sun
The Spier wines always impress, The 21 Gables is one of our preferred Chenins for drinking when out at Restaurants
as it is on so many menus, full, rich and fruity, totally memorable and a great match with food
The Ideology takes Chenin to another level of sophistication and class
The Radford Dale Revelation is one indeed, having something you don't often find in Chenin, pyrazines
and they come from the Durbanville vineyard from which the grapes are harvested
We were puzzled at first but really enjoyed this stand out wine
Nicely presented
Perdeberg Vineyard Collection MCC is crisp and lively and SO good and refreshing in the heat of the day
Jeremy and Emma Borg of Painted Wolf Wines
Their Lycaon (named for the African Wild Dog//Painted Wolf, Lycaon Pictus) Old Vine Chenin
really impressed with its layers of intense fruit and elegance
A portion of profits from their wine sales goes to the conservation of African Wild Dogs and their natural habitat
Oh to be in that boat. At 5pm the heat was so intense  that Lynne was tempted to throw herself into the water
Instead she threw herself onto the deck when her sandal tripped her up climbing it!
Nothing a quiet moment or 14 close to the water, in the shade, with a glass of Chenin didn’t sort out
No bruises, thank heavens. And no, she had not had too much Chenin, just too much heat for a pale skinned gal...
Photographer Gavin Withers and Zelda Furstenburg
Prosper Gundura and a friend with Richard Kershaw
Sheltering under the shade. A fan was a great idea
Shadows lengthening! It was beginning to cool down
Ken Forrester and an admirer making a selfie
Ken's Dirty Little Secret Chenin blanc was getting lots of attention, as was he. It’s a cracker
Winemag editor Christian Eedes, Ken Forrester and Andre Morgenthal of the Old Vines Project, hard at work
And then a cool breeze appeared and everyone moved closer to the sea
Morné Vrey of Delaire Graff with his incredible Swartland Reserve Chenin, which blew us away
It comes from hot country grapes, but has the elegance and restraint of something from the Loire. So well made
Morné pours a glass for Maggie Marais, who handles Delaire Graff sales 
Everyone was having fun
Oh we were so sorry to have missed tasting the Mont Blois Chenin;
their two magnums had run out by the time we got to their stand
And Spice Route have come up with a rather good idea for the Bloemcool (cauliflower) Chenin
The label soaks off and is impregnated with cauliflower seeds for you to plant
Perhaps not a great idea if the cellar floods though. On second thought, no, we have a drought
Good to see Sommelier Tinashe Joseph Dafana enjoying his day off
Boys just want to have fun. Tom Mills, Prosper Gundura, Jean Vincent Ridon, Joseph Dafana
When the fairy lights were turned on, we realised it was time to head home
We didn’t, couldn’t, taste more than a third or less of the wines
but were so impressed with the scope and quality of the Chenins on show
And on the way back to the bus stop, Lynne heard a faint hoot and above us in the tree were two owls
Sadly, one had flown by the time John took this shot. What a lovely ending to a great event
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Posted by MENU at 12:33 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

A Walk in the Park. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

People from the rest of the country sometimes tell us who live in the Cape that we are a bit insular, aloof. We always respond that it’s not true, Capetonians are just always busy, there is too much to do here. Just ask if you can join us! But being busy means that we often do not get to some of our favourite places and Kirstenbosch is definitely one of them. While we were on holiday, we made a list of places we wanted to visit and this was at the top. So, on a warm Tuesday, we headed there to take advantage of the Pensioners' free entry, free for local pensioners every Tuesday

 We had been delayed that morning, so we arrived just in time for lunch and went straight to The Tearoom. It is where we have been going for much of our lives in Cape Town. Run by Pamela Shippel, you know you are always going to get good food, nothing fancy, but well made food. We queued for a table; it didn’t take long
Lynne chose a Smoked Trout on Cream Cheese sandwich and all the sandwiches come with chips or salad
She loves the slightly healthier sweet potato chips. It came on ciabatta bread and was huge and very good value
The local trout is always good, the quantity generous
John ordered the juicy hamburger which comes with crisply fried chips, crisp onion rings and is dressed with a barbecue sauce,
a slice of onion, lettuce, tomato and pickles. Excellent char-grilled flavour
Our bill with service. The day was becoming rather hot, so we ordered beers to quench our thirst
Time then for our walk. in bloom at this time of the year, including the indigenous flowering Cape Chestnut Tree
The shade was very welcome and we headed for the Otter pond. The gardens are well adapted for wheelchairs
It was a hot afternoon and we could hear the very summery sound of cicadas singing 
A view of the forest on the mountain behind us and a trace of the pathway that can take you walking up Skeleton Gorge
and onto the back of Table Mountain
An indigenous flower that is blooming everywhere in the Cape at this time of the year, the Agapanthus
Looking up to the Buttresses at the back of Table Mountain
We walked up the hill to the start of the Tree Canopy Walkway, known as the Boomslang
Next time, we will try to find the way to the bottom end; the hot climb up the hill is not something to contemplate on a hot day,
especially after lunch
And having reached the end, we turned around and headed back to the beginning as we wanted to seek the coolth of the Dell where you find Lady Anne Barnard’s Bath. You pass this amazing Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica) tree which is a more than a hundred years old. It was a gift to Professor Harold Pearson, the first director of Kirstenbosch, 1913-1916, from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The Kew tree originally came from La Mortola in Italy. The Kirstenbosch specimen arrived, as a seed, on 21 August 1916. The sapling that was raised in the nursery was planted next to Pearson’s grave in 1919. The grave is next to the tree and bears his epitaph: ‘If ye seek his monument, look around you’. Very moving
We met a family seeking the Dell and guided them down through the amazing Cycad gardens
In the shade and near the brook are many Streptocarpus plants which thrive there
Lynne is very fond of this plant and one went home from the nursery to grow in our house
Also known as the Cape Primrose, it comes in white and all shades of pink mauve and purple
It is a lovely place for picnics. Next time
And on the way back to the car, we came across a huge bed of Pineapple Lilies,
Eucomis, another species which is indigenous to South Africa. Not related to pineapples, but to the Asparagus family
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Posted by MENU at 3:17 pm 0 comments

Thursday, January 16, 2020

This Week’s MENU. Franskraal summer, Cape Agulhas, Marietjie’s, Strandveld Wines, Tuna pepper pasta, De Morgenzon Chenin

Cormorant squadron, Cape Agulhas

So here we are again in another new year, the last of the second decade of the 21st Century and so happy to be back with you all. We expect some argument about the decade but nothing starts with nought, unless it’s nothing. A child is one year old at the end of its first year and ten at the end of its tenth, its first decade. Moving on... 

 At a time like this one is very thankful that we are no longer a retail trader. The challenges for small high street businesses are immense – on-line trading, government imposed obstacles, and a declining economy. To all of you in your own businesses, we wish you well. You are the best vehicle for bringing our economy back into shape, while big business is retrenching staff everywhere. We need you.

 To everyone else, wherever you are, we wish you a happy, blessed and prosperous 2020. Thank you for your support; it is more valuable to us than you could ever know. For all the challenges we and other parts of the world are facing, we are blessed to live in a wonderful country. Let’s have a wonderful year


We long for the end of the year, so we can stop work and take a real break, one without deadlines and late nights, to breathe deep, sleep and rest. We live by the sea and we love to holiday by the sea. Over the last few years, we have headed up the beautiful West Coast, mainly because we found the prices better than on the South Coast. This year, Lynne went on line and searched the coast from Mossel Bay to Stanford to find us the perfect summer place. Read on…
Discussing where to get fresh fish locally with the owners of our AirBnB, they invited us to join them on the first Friday night at Marietjie’s in Baardskeerdersbos, which they said was one of the best, and they had booked a table. It was a lovely warm evening, so we sat outside. It is a very unpretentious place that locals and visitors alike love and support…

On another perfect summer’s day we headed due South to visit the southernmost tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas.  It was about an hour and half from Franskraal. There is a quicker route via a 35 km dirt road but we decided we had all the time in the world and didn't fancy a dusty ride. Read on…
A visit to Strandveld Vineyards, Elim

While we were on holiday in the area, we wanted to go to Strandveld wines and taste their new wines and we had an absolutely wonderful time. And, of course, bought lots of wine. We so recommend that you go to this winery if you are in the area. They have had a great year with much international acclaim, and British wine writer/judge Tim Atkin MW scoring the wines that he tasted very highly, in fact their 2018 First Sighting Sauvignon Blanc scored the highest that any Sauvignon Blanc world-wide has ever achieved in the Decanter annual awards. Read on…
On the MENU This Week, Red Pepper Tuna Pasta with Lemon

If you want a quick and easy supper that is delicious try this one, it is fresh and piquant. It is easy to prepare all the ingredients in advance and then , make the sauce as the pasta is cooking. You can use any pasta you like, we love using Fusillata Casareccia as we find it holds sauces really well, but spaghetti, shells, penne; all would work. Read on…

Richness and a hint of honey on the nose, with peach, pear drops and apple notes. Fresh lemon & lime flavours initially on the palate excite, then nectarine and pear develop in complexity & in layers. Lees and some light wood show on the end. Read on…

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Posted by MENU at 11:29 pm 0 comments

On the MENU This Week. Red Pepper Tuna Pasta with Lemon


If you want a quick and easy supper that is delicious try this one, it is fresh and piquant. It is easy to prepare all the ingredients in advance and then , make the sauce as the pasta is cooking. You can use any pasta you like, we love using Fusillata Casareccia as we find it holds sauces really well, but spaghetti, shells, penne; all would work
2 T olive oil – 1 small red pepper, sliced - 2 large cloves of garlic, grated – 1 tin of tuna –the grated zest of 1 lemon – 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice – salt and freshly ground black pepper – 1 T fresh Italian parsley chopped - 115 gm pasta
Optional: a teaspoon of chilli flakes OR several shakes of Tabasco Chipotle sauce for a little heat. Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Before you start the pasta, fry the pepper in the olive oil until it is softening and just beginning to caramelise; this adds sweetness to the dish. Set aside until you are ready to complete the dish. Boil a pot of really well salted water for your pasta and cook till al dente. Grate your garlic, zest your lemon and squeeze one teaspoon of the juice. When the pasta is nearly ready, reheat the pan with the red pepper, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the tuna, lemon juice and let it heat through. Add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water to make a sauce. At this point, add the chilli flakes or Tabasco if you like it a bit spicy. Drain the pasta and add the sauce. Stir in the fresh parsley and the cheese, if adding, and serve. Good with a French salad and some great Chenin Blanc like our wine of the week
Posted by MENU at 7:11 pm 0 comments

MENU's Wine of the Week. De Morgenzon Chenin blanc 2016

Richness and a hint of honey on the nose, with peach, pear drops and apple notes
Fresh lemon & lime flavours excite initially on the palate, then nectarine and pear develop in complexity in layers
Lees and some light wood show on the end.
The wine is from old bush vines and has been matured on the lees in both stainless steel tanks and old oak barrels for a short time. Two years maturity has made this wine so complex and versatile. The current vintage is 2018
It was the perfect match with this week’s recipe of Red Pepper Tuna Pasta with Lemon
Posted by MENU at 7:07 pm 0 comments
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