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A white-fronted plover running from the surf on The Wilderness beach
In
this week’s MENU:
Gremlins and last
week’s links The Big Freeze The Vineyard wine
bottling at Warwick Lake View of the
Wilderness Wild Oats Market Sunday lunch at
Flava Café Build your own log
cabin or luxury house Belvidere Manor Pick n Pay Tabasco
Flavours of Knysna Oyster competition Ocean Jewels Fresh
fish and lunchtime restaurant Entrepreneur in the making
To get the whole of our story, please
click on READ ON..... at the end of each paragraph, which will
lead you to our blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each blog,
click on RETURN
TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.
It is winter school holiday time and many of you will be taking a break and
disappearing off into the wide blue or green yonder. We wish you a wonderful
holiday with your families and, above all, a safe journey to and from your
holiday destination.
This week’s Product menu – If you like spicy
food, remember that we do stock a large range of unusual spices like Asafoetida,
Allspice, green and brown Cardamom, cumin, Grains of Paradise, pink
peppercorns, Shichimi togarashi, star anise and of course, northern and eastern
Mediterranean favourites like, sumac, ras el hanout and za’atar – all of which
we sell in 25g jars, but we can pack larger quantities if you need. We don’t
stock the spices you can get in every supermarket, or fresh herbs, but if you
can’t find a spice you need, please contact us to see if we have it or can get
it for you......... See them here.
Gremlins found their way into our system last week and we had
several complaints that links to our blogs ddn’t work. Here they are so that
you can see them this week: The Roti Indian Restaurant in Sea Point - Ocean Jewels Fresh fish and lunchtime restaurant in
Woodstock - Oranjezicht City Farm
The Big Freeze Many of us have been around for quite a
long time and many of us cannot remember a year quite as cold as this one. Yes,
we do get a dusting of snow on the high Cape Mountains in some years, but
pictures of a Bonnievale vineyard completely covered in frost and ice and other
chilly views have been exception. The cold has been unremitting and as South
Africa is usually in denial about our winters, not many houses are adequately
heated, if at all. We see the stores doing very good business in warm clothing
and watched amused as many people pulled into a Knysna garage not to get
petrol, but to fill their boots with wood. We hope you all are managing to keep
warm.
The Vineyard wine bottling at Warwick You may not know that the Vineyard Hotel
does actually have a vineyard in the gardens, on the side of the Liesbeek
river, where they grow mainly Sauvignon blanc and some Semillon. We have been
made custodians of one of these vines. They had a very good harvest this year. Our
grapevine produced 15 bunches, so much better than the single bunch of the
previous harvest. And they managed to get ?? kilos of grapes this year. They
were vinified by ? van Graan at Warwick and we were invited to come and taste
these on Thursday, and enjoy some lunch afterwards where we tasted some good
wines from Warwick, Waterford and Klein Constantia READ ON.....
Lake View of the Wilderness We were invited to come to Knysna for the
Oyster Festival and decided to take a short break in Wilderness beforehand. It
is an easy decision. This lakeland and coastal area is an area of outstanding
natural beauty, with very friendly people. Also, the petrol costs are such that
you feel obliged to get the most out of the expense and we did need a break. We
found a small apartment on Bookings.com at the very end of the Wilderness
called Lake View and we certainly had that. The weather has been mixed and we
have managed to explore the area, do some serious bird watching from our
window, and have a walk on the beach where we found a storm tossed piece of a
rare paper nautilus shell. It has been very, very cold and we have welcomed any
sunshine we have found. READ ON.....
Wild Oats Market On Saturday morning we drove through to
Sedgefield to this very authentic weekly market. It is so nice to see real farm
vegetables, free range poultry, plants, good bread and other tempting delights.
It was very well attended and we went home with lots of goodies, including a
new vegetable to us, rutabaga. We recognized it but did not know how to cook or
eat it. Luckily a German customer told us how to prepare it and she said “ you
can even peel it and eat it like an apple”. She was right, it tastes just like
a large crisp radish. We bought some really good camembert and baked it that
evening and used the rutabaga with carrot, courgettes and tomatoes as crutidé
to dip into the liquid cheese. Some will now go into soup. READ ON.....
Sunday lunch at Flava Café We had been directed to The Girls
restaurant in Wilderness but they were closed. However we discovered they also
run Flava and on offer was a rather tempting menu and a value Sunday lunch, so
we booked for that. . READ ON.....
Build your own log cabin or luxury house The owners of Lake View, Cathy and Roy
Trembath invited us to their home for a drink and some supper and we discovered
that Roy, a mechanical engineer and qualified toolmaker, is an extremely
talented builder of log cabins. He built their beautiful three story home using
local trees and has been so successful that he now runs courses to teach other
people, local and international, rich and poor, how to do the same. Have a look at
their website to see how beautiful, affordable (and
green) log houses can be.
Belvidere Manor We arrived in Knysna on Tuesday morning
and went straight to Belvidere Manor where owners Sue and Mike Mills had
invited us to stay. We had a lovely well decorated and comfortable house, with
a lounge with a log fire, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The kitchen is fully
equipped and we were delighted to discover that we had heated blankets on the
beds as the night temperatures here had fallen as low as 1 degree C. There was
also a heater. Not only a place for high summer, as exploring this wonderful
area year round can be a delight. Cycling and walking are very popular.
Fishing, canoeing, boating, all from their own jetty too. We had a lovely lunch
from their pub, The Bell, sitting on the terrace outside the historic Manor
house which dates back to 1834. We also had two marvellous breakfasts and the
staff are terrific, especially tall, amusing Jeffrey, who acted as a tour guide
around the estate as well. He has been on the estate longer than the Mills’. READ ON.....
Knysna Wine Festival We go to many wine festivals, but one in a
totally new area was a good draw when we learnt that some local wineries from
George to Plettenberg Bay and beyond would be showing their wines. So, some
very familiar faces and wines and lots that were completely new to us. READ ON.....
Pick n Pay Tabasco Flavours of Knysna
Oyster competition The following night we were
back at the Exhibition grounds for this competition. Each of twelve local chefs
had to prepare an oyster dish using their own recipe which also had to have
some Tabasco incorporated in it. They also had another competition for the best
dressed stand. Tickets were extremely good value at R165, as you could taste
all the oysters and some more dishes prepared by the sponsor Pick n’ Pay, who
also provided canapés of yellowtail skewers and a tiny seafood mélange.
Visitors were given a booklet of vouchers which could be exchanged for oysters,
wine and three courses (with no oysters) from Pick n Pay booths. John tasted
all the oysters, Lynne did the other foods and tasted the winning dish which
was an oyster paté wrapped in crocodile. READ ON.....
Entrepreneur in the making When we were at the Oyster festival we met
a charming young man Mawande Kondlo, a registered tour guide, who has decided
to organize tours to the township of Knysna “That broaden the mind” as well as
township homestays, and “A dining experience that's like nothing you've ever
tried...” Check out his
website. We so applaud his ingenuity and get up and go.
You even get to meet the Township Big 5 and as he says, “it’s not what you
think”.
This week’s
recipe We are eating quite a few eggs on the
Banting diet, but they are starting to get a little boring. Lynne has some very
old cook books in her collection and it includes a lovely book entitled How to Cook Eggs and Omelets (sic) in 300
Different Ways by C Herman Senn, O.B.E., G.C.A, F.R.H.S. It was published
in 1920, nearly a hundred years ago. It is full of lovely ideas, some quaint
and some mysterious, as some of the ingredients have disappeared, like loaf
sugar. Would you know what Lemco or Lucullus paste was? The
end section is full of wonderful sounding sweet omelettes and custards that
make one’s mouth water. Lunch is an area in the Banting diet that can get
boring. Lynne thought you might like to try this for lunch or for a dinner
party starter. We quote directly from the book:
Egg and Tomato
Custard Break 4 eggs into a basin, beat up and add
three tablespoonfuls of tomato pulp (that is, fresh ripe tomatoes rubbed
through a fine sieve), one tablespoonful of cream and one tablespoonful of
grated cheese. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Butter six or seven small
soufflé cases, fill them with the prepared custard, and bake them slowly in a
fairly hot oven for about ten minutes. Dish up and serve quickly.
Modern methods: Lynne might use a stick blender on
peeled and deseeded tomatoes or use passata. The oven temperature might
be 180°C or even 190°C . We are going to try this out soon. Please report back
if you liked it, or not.
There is a huge and rapidly growing
variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western
Cape. There
are so many interesting things to do in our world of food and wine that we have
made separate list for each month for which we have information. To see what’s happening in our world of
food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit
our Events Calendar.
All the events are listed in date order and we already have a large number of
exciting events to entertain you right through the year. Events outside the Western Cape are listed here.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more
about wine.
Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine
education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here
and here and the CWA courses here. Karen Glanfield has taken
over the UnWined
wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here
Chez
Gourmet in Claremont has a
programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
In addition to the
new Sense of
Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a six module course
for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details
here
Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking classes in Fish Hoek and
conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see
more details here.
Emma Freddi runs
the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her
home in Constantia.
Brett Nussey’s Stir Crazy courses are now being
run from Dish Food and Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite
Groote Schuur hospital).
Lynn Angel runs the Kitchen Angel
cooking school and does private dinners at her home. She holds hands-on cooking
classes for small groups on Monday and Thursday evenings and she has decided to
introduce LCHF (Banting classes). The Kitchen Confidence classes, which focus
on essential cooking skills and methods, have been expanded and are now taught
over 2 evenings. She continues to host private dining and culinary team
building events at her home. She trained with Raymond Blanc, and has been a
professional chef for 25 years. More info
here
20th June 2014
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best
to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we
can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.
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.
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! ®
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