Tuesday, January 10, 2017

A Day in Darling

You might think the West Coast is quite sleepy but it is not! There are so many things to do up there. While we were on holiday, we accepted two invitations, which included wine and food, from Darling people: Lukas Wentzel at Groote Post and Charles Withington of the Darling Wine shop, who was doing a wine tasting at Chicory Cheese restaurant. We decided to see them both on the same day so we could spend the other days relaxing by the sea!
Tasting wine from the tanks, lunch at Hilda's and a game drive at Groote Post with Lukas
It is a short and very pleasant drive from Yzerfontein to Groote Post, especially now that the roadworks are finished, and we arrived there mid morning on a hot and sunny day
Lynne toasting Lukas and wishing for a great Harvest. He was very generous and gave us a superb tasting in the cellar from tanks and barrels. Their range of wines is impressive, nearly all of them have been awarded 4 stars and above in Platter; well deserved. Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Shiraz, Riesling, all impress us
 Lukas makes a lovely Pinot Noir, some of which we bought. We all admire Newton Johnson very much and he generously added this bottle of the Family Pinot (adjudged by Decanter to be one of the two best Pinots from the world outside Burgundy) to be drunk with lunch
There are some magnificent ancient gum trees on the farm. These were planted for shade when people travelled by ox wagon and horse
Into Hilda's Kitchen, run by chef Debbie McLaughlin, for lunch. They have lovely friendly staff
The red wines we drank with lunch
We love the terrace, but the day was so hot that we elected to sit indoors
John began with the classic Tomato and Camembert tart
Lynne enjoyed the smoked salmon, cream cheese on a Blini
and Lukas a generous portion of Roast Butternut and Feta salad
A delicious main course of Coq au Vin with lots of vegetables
and of course the superb Steak sandwich with chips (this one was photographed in January when John took American tourists to Groote Post)
At the insistence of Lukas and the kitchen we shared three desserts:
Melktert
chocolate ganache tart
a wicked chocolate gateau
Hilda’s getting ready for Christmas
The 18th century Cape Dutch manor house, which houses the restaurant
The Winery, which contains the tasting room, basking in the afternoon sun
And then it was time for the game tour. Groote Post is a huge farm and besides grapes and cattle they have a large wild section. We went hunting the newly introduced Giraffes, without success. And found this bontebok
with his family
some of the herd of eland with the huge bull. You too can do this game drive after a wine tasting. Check out their web site: http://grootepost.com They also have a free monthly Country Market that is great fun. Dates for 2017: 26th February | 26th March | 30th April
And then it was time to drive to Darling to meet Charles and Janet Withington of the Darling Wine Shop at Chicory Cheese restaurant, where Charles was getting the room ready for the wine tasting, ably assisted as always, by Ida van Tonder
A busy Charles. The tasting was of wines grown and made in Darling; wines made elsewhere from Darling grown grapes like KWV Mentors Sauvignon Blanc, a Thelema Riesling, Niel Joubert Malbec and a couple of foreign wines introduced to excite, confuse and confound us: a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and a Mosel Riesling. It was very enjoyable and the invited audience were very appreciative. Charles holds these tastings quite regularly and you can book to attend. 
They are organised with Anesia DarnĂ©, who is the chef and owner of Chicory Cheese, seen here talking to Janet Withington
and in her kitchen preparing the dinner which followed the tasting
On the menu were Coronation Chicken, Broccoli, Beetroot and Bacon salad, a Strawberry, black pepper, spinach and candied almond salad, a superb blue cheese and tomato fig tart of which Lynne would love the recipe to share with you. A fun and very satisfying meal
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

A week on the West Coast at Yzerfontein

After the hectic activity of our year, we decided to take a week off and booked a small flat at the side of this house in Yzerfontein, about 1½ hours north of Cape Town
 It is at the edge of a dune. We do live by the sea, but a holiday right on the front with no buildings in front of us, no  traffic, fresh sea air and lazy days are what we crave
  almost on  the beach. The dunes are steep, only John managed to get down the dune and back up. It's about 20 metres and the sand is soft.  But access on other beaches is better and we had several long walks
 with beautiful views 
 and we enjoyed some dramatic sunsets
 Lovely, subtle evening colours
  A kelp gull fishing for mussels
You can see Dassen Island and its lighthouse  on clear days and at night

 A rock in the bay, home for cormorants
looking for interesting shells on the beach - none here. The West Coast has two kinds of mussels, the normal blue mussel and then what they call the white mussel, really a clam. You do need a permit to collect them
 Hartlaub's gull
 and the first time we've come this close to black oystercatchers
 A bulbul on the beach 
 and a flock of oystercatchers in ragged formation 
 People coming back from lunch at Strandkombuis. We had intended to go but it was fully booked at this time of the year
 Oystercatchers and a kelp gull
 Walks on the beach
 watching the waves
 and kids on holiday
 Waaksaam, a local beach dog, joined us for a while
 more purple evenings

 Our flat is through the left arch
 A gazania on the path
 Another oystercatcher - should they be musselcatchers?
 There are more mussels than oysters on this beach
 The one that nearly got away 
 A different beach for another walk, with very soft sand which made it a good workout
 Our friends Ronnie and Loraine came for lunch
 Braaied fish (Panga). This was good but sadly it was frozen fish.  There is a huge shortage of fish and the small local fish shop buys his fish from the same wholesaler in Cape Town as we do, and it is all frozen. There was only one day to buy crayfish, but it was very, very expensive so we didn't.  Now it is on the SASSI red list, we shall miss it a lot
 and salads
  A succulent flower on the beach
 Anemones in a rock pool
 From across the little bay; 
we were in the house with the arches
 Ambition: fishing in a sadly empty sea
 and a last supper before coming home
A simple supper, and then back home to do Christmas!  And try to lose some weight
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016