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Friday, April 06, 2018

Portuguese visa challenges

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza statue in the Cervantes Monument, Plaza de España in Madrid

Scanned from a Kodachrome slide, photographed by John in 1971 - with an iconic Nikon F, not the camera in the picture

Perhaps significant as we prepare to embark on an Iberian Odyssey

This is the ideal time to go to Europe; it is spring, but the expensive tourist season has not quite begun. We will of course be writing about the wine, food and accommodation on our travels and have already made some good contacts there. If you know of any, we would be very grateful for the contacts, recommendations and 'don’t do’s’! This is our route map, for our road trip from Porto up the Douro Valley, and to Lisbon, then south-east into Spain, through Andalusia and up to Madrid, then back to Porto and home after 4 weeks. We have hired a car and all accommodation has been booked on AirBnB or Booking.com

All we require now is to receive John's Visa, the process of acquiring which is being very frustrating. Travel in Europe for South Africans is becoming very complicated; the amount of information you have to produce for the visa is staggering, they insisted on all accommodation, flights etc. being booked and paid for beforehand and documented with both our names on all the accommodation bookings; this despite an invitation to visit from Amorim Cork. Lynne spent days on line researching and booking and paying for all the accommodation. The days of just getting there and exploring are GONE. They have no idea how much money they are losing in restricting tourists this way. And WHY? We don't want to live there, just visit as we have done to many countries over the years. Insurance, medical insurance, receipts, tickets, bank statements, Passports, ID's, municipal bills and even pension statements were demanded and some rejected because they were "not quite correct", so they had to be replaced. Bureaucracy gone mad. And you don't deal direct with the Embassy any more, you have to pay an Agency to do it all. We suspect they get paid for the number of visits the visa seeker makes, so they keep sending you away for more Bumph. It used to be that if your spouse was a citizen of the EU, as Lynne is, none of this was required. Not anymore. Lynne wonders whether the same will apply to people with British passports when Brexit is complete. And it appears that no one at the Portuguese Consulate has any concept of the urgency when one is waiting for a visa and, indeed, one’s passport with only a few days until we are due to fly.

However, we are really looking forward to the trip, flying on TAAG Angolan airline to Porto from Cape Town with a brief stop in Luanda to pick up more passengers. They have very good fares. We booked with TravelStart who have great specials on lots of flights. Our house sitters are ready to spoil the cats.

Portuguese Visa Postscript: Thank Heavens for a persistent wife! While John was fruitlessly struggling with VFS (Visa ?Facilitation? ?Services?), Lynne phoned the Portuguese Consulate. Sounds like an obvious thing to do, but all enquiries are directed to VFS. Phone calls, emails, web enquiries and, eventually, another visit to VFS in Strand Street all came up with the information that his passport was with the Portuguese Embassy in Johannesburg awaiting action. No information about progress or timescale. This was Thursday, we fly on Monday. Lynne’s call to the Portuguese Consulate brought the information that the passport had never been sent to Johannesburg. It was at the Consulate in Cape Town and the visa was ready for collection from a lady named Sandra. It was collected from her at 8am this morning, Friday, 6th April. Thank you Lynne, thank you Sandra. And, wow! The French gave me a visa for 3 years. The Dutch gave me a visa for 1 year. The Portuguese gave me a visa for 34 days. I can't wait to see the next one... the law of diminishing returns?

This poses the question: Why do they use VFS, an organisation which does everything it can to obstruct efforts by potential visitors to obtain a visitor’s visa? Friends who have acquired Schengen visas for other countries tell us of similar experiences. We had similar problems getting a Schengen visa last year from the Netherlands and a close friend who works for Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands Government – and wrote a supporting letter for our application – found the whole process quite strange. It seems that VFS is based in India and works all over the world. They make dealings so difficult that one wonders if the Guptas are involved.

And a final Postscript: we received this email, dated 8th May (the day we caught the plane to fly home)

From: DoNotReply VFS Global
Sent: Tuesday, 08 May 2018 5:51 PM
To: johnford@iafrica.com
Subject: VFS Response Mail

Dear JOHN DUNCAN, A decision on your Visa application reference no.CTAC/230318/0001/01 has been made by Portugal Consulate in CAPE TOWN.Your application has been received at the Portugal Visa Application Centre in CAPE TOWN and passport is ready for collection.Our Passport retrieval timings are as follows: 10:00 to 12:30 and 13:30 to 16:00 Monday-Friday.Please note this is an auto generated e-mail.Please do NOT reply to this email.

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VFS Global: 58 Client Governments. 129 Countries of Operation. 2469 Application Centres. Over 161 million applications processed. Figures as on 31st December 2017.
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Care4Green: Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
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This message contains information that may be privileged or confidential and is the property of the VFS Global Group. It is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed. Any unauthorised printing, copying, disclosure, distribution or use of this message or any part thereof is strictly forbidden. If you are not the intended recipient, you are not authorised to read, print, retain, copy, disseminate, distribute, or use this message or any part thereof. If you receive this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete all copies of this message. VFS Global Group has taken reasonable precaution to ensure that any attachment to this e-mail has been swept for viruses. However, we do not accept liability for any direct or indirect damage sustained as a result of software viruses and would advise that you conduct your own virus checks before opening any attachment. VFS Global Group does not guarantee the security of any information transmitted electronically and is not liable for the proper, timely and complete transmission thereof.
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Thursday, April 05, 2018

MENU's Wine of the Week. Buitenverwachting Sauvignon blanc 2017

This has been one of the finest expressions of Constantia Sauvignon since the varietal first appeared in South Africa. The 2017 has a pale straw colour, an elegant nose with all the expected aromas of Constantia Sauvignon Blanc: fig, quince, gooseberry, elderflower and a little green pepper.

It is crisp, long and delicious, a food and quaffing wine. Fig and gooseberry flavours dominate the long finish, with a hint of green pepper at the end. Tasted nearly a year after it was picked, the early acidity has tempered, but it retains enough crispness to be a great match with a creamy dish. In the USA, where they cannot pronounce Buitenverwachting, it is marketed as Bayten and it sells very well at $19 a bottle. R100 from the farm in Constantia

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What's on the MENU this week. Tuna, cream, tomato and black olive filled pancakes

This is an easy canapé recipe. Lynne made this for our wine club meeting. No cooking required, unless you are going to make your own pancakes. You need about 20 small pancakes - luckily Woolworths sells them in a box, interleaved if you are really pushed for time, as she was. But of course you could make them yourself. If you do, you already have the recipe. Please use real cream cheese, with a high butterfat content, the 'creamed' cottage cheese will not work

500 g cream cheese - 50g cream - 1 tin of tuna in water, drained (but keep the liquid aside) - the finely grated rind of one lemon- 1 teaspoon lemon juice - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper - 1 Tablespoon of finely chopped lemon verbena - 100g rosa baby tomatoes - 2 Tablespoons of chopped black olives - salt to taste - 20 small crêpe pancakes

Blend the cream cheese, cream and tuna together with the lemon rind, lemon juice and cayenne pepper. You may need to add a little more cream or some of the liquid from the tuna if the mix is too stiff. You need a spreading consistency, the cream must not be runny. Finely chop the tomatoes, salt them and put into a strainer to get rid of some of the juice. Pat them with kitchen roll to dry them out a little more. Add them and the chopped olives to the cream. Taste and season to your taste, adding more lemon, salt or cayenne. Take the pancakes and put a good heaped dessertspoonful in the centre of each, spread it out and roll up neatly. To serve, cut them down the middle so that they are easier to eat. Sprinkle with fresh basil

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Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Breakfast at Knead in The Point Centre, Sea Point

This is a restaurant we pass at least twice a week on our shopping trips to Checkers. There were some negative comments recently on the Restaurants Good, Bad and Ugly site on Facebook about it lacking in atmosphere. Lots of our friends go there so we decided it was time to try it. We have always loved their almond croissants, so rich that one is enough for two people; we thought that breakfast might be a good way to sample their wares

We got there at 9 am and it was busy; we managed to get a small table immediately, almost out into the Mall which has lots of people passing by. We can see why, sitting there, one might think there is little atmosphere out on the edge of the restaurant, as this puts you more in the passage than inside where its all 'happening'. We confess that we don’t enjoy eating at Willoughby’s In the Waterfront as that too is in a passageway, despite their reputation for good food and the attempts they have made to separate it from people walking past, who seem to be examining what you are eating!

Lots of locals, different age groups all eating breakfast

Sitting in the edge had its advantages as two separate friends who had been shopping in the Mall came past and joined us for coffee!

It's an open kitchen and the restaurant is quite lively and noisy but in a good way

and you can buy baked goods and bread to take home after your meal

The menu (4 pages) with its All Day Breakfast. The person who wrote the controversial review did say that he'd had the best sandwich he had eaten in years, so they must be worth trying

We began with 2 Americanos, the best way to start the day. Freshly brewed and not bad

Lynne went for the Sweet corn fritters that come with half an avocado, roasted tomato conserve and a bowl of creamy herb sauce. R50. You then can top it off with different things. She chose the smoked salmon and poached egg option which took the dish to R99; the salmon was excellent, of very good quality. It was topped with a poached egg, firm but runny in the centre as ordered. BUT there were two problems. Please restaurants, trim the poached egg of those "tails", they are like plastic and not nice to eat. The crime was the Sriracha Hollandaise "sauce' on top of the poached egg. It was really awful. Not a hollandaise by any stretch, but a horrible vinegary salad dressing with some warm spices stirred into it. They might have got away with it had they used Hellman's mayonnaise but this was quite dreadful and had to be scraped off the egg and expensive salmon. We did complain to the manager, who shrugged. The fritters were full of big kernels of corn and some unidentified herbs; there were three and so the dish was filling. We are not sure of the role of the avocado, enjoyable as it was, some toast might have been nice to have this with, nor of the creamy sauce accompanying it. And the one mini confit tomato, sliced in two, was just a gesture; a pity because it was sweet and complex. So a Curates Egg (sorry!) of a dish

John enjoyed his cheese and ham omelette, nice and gooey inside he said, served with three slices of baby tomato with pesto beneath, two generous portions of butter and toast that someone had managed to char at the edges. He asked for and was brought some marmalade

Lots of ham in the centre

The bill, with five coffees was fairly standard for the area. Service was good, and there was no kitchen drama. We do hope they sort out the pretend sauce on the poached eggs

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Sushi and Ramen at Three Wise Monkeys, Sea Point

Three Wise Monkeys
is another place we have been dying to try out in Sea Point. It's on Regent Road, diagonally opposite Checkers. A friend made a reservation a few months ago, but when we got there they knew nothing about it so we left and went somewhere else. This time we went for lunch on a quiet weekday. We love Asian food, and Three Wise Monkeys specialises in Ramen, Sushi and Poke bowls. A Poke Bowl has recently become quite trendy; they describe it as deconstructed sushi. It is a bowl with a sushi rice or spinach base topped with Tuna, Salmon, avocado, edamame beans, mixed vegetables, season fruit, sesame seeds, nori seaweed, firecracker/Japanese mayo/soya and sesame house dressing. Might have to try this another time

Window seats, and you always know a place has authentic food if you see Asian nationals eating there

Friendly and quick service. They have a cocktail bar as well

The menu is simple, with a leaning towards Japanese fusion food. We ordered two dishes and shared them

We ordered the duck Ramen. It is a large bowl of soup and schlurpy noodles, topped with half a soft boiled egg, superbly tender and flavoursome duck slices, seaweed, spinach, miso yaki, corn kernels and spring onions in a very good soup base. This usually comes with pickled mushrooms, but they were held back as John cannot eat them. You start with a very good stock, meat or chicken, soy, mirin then add the rest. This was very good and quite authentic - Lynne has had Ramen in Japan; she's not an expert, but we love it and make it at home. They put a hot chilli sauce on the table with the soup spoons and chopsticks - you do both need to eat Ramen. And you can add the chilli at your own discretion

This was the 12 piece Fusion plate of sushi, 5 pieces of California roll, 5 Rainbow rolls, and two salmon roses. The fish, salmon and tuna was of good quality. We did see frozen tuna coming in while we were there, with good colour

The bill, with a beer for John. We will be back for more Ramen, a great comfort dish for the winter, with freshness

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Thursday, March 29, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Franschhoek. Glenwood, Stony Brook, Chamonix. Haskell Long Table. Wine Concepts Craft Festival, Honey ice cream, Chamonix Cab franc

Beach Road, Sea Point. Sunset with some blessed rain

A spectacular thunderstorm over the Cape Peninsula yesterday evening was very exciting. We watched a beautiful sunset with flashes of lightning from a flat on the Sea Point beachfront. Our car was washed by the rain. We are feeling the onset of an early winter and have already lit our first fire. The rain we have had has been Festivally feeble and a long way from being enough to fill the dams and end the drought, but every drop is manna to the soul and we hope that this will be a very wet winter.

For many of us, this is a very significant religious weekend. We wish you and yours a happy Easter and a very good Passover celebration. Drive carefully and enjoy all that is special which may come your way

A GlenWood Experience

As you drive into Franschhoek, you might have noticed a sign pointed to Robertsvlei on the right hand side. Should you take the turn you will find yourself in a quiet, hidden valley behind the Franschhoek hill. The road turns to gravel for just 8 km and in the middle of this you will find a gem of a winery called GlenWood. If you continue, the road will take you to the top end of Franschhoek, near the Huguenot Monument, a circular route we bet few know about; it’s worth exploring.

GlenWood Winery was established by the owner, Alastair G Wood in 1984. They have 30 hectares under vines and DP Burger, the Cellarmaster (Dawid Petrus is fondly known only by his initials) has been there for 27 years, surely a record for any winemaker. They have Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot and Shiraz grapes planted and produce an multi award winning Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend. The farm has Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) certification, which is a voluntary environmental sustainability scheme which complies with international criteria; and Bio-Diversity and Wine Initiative accreditation (BWI)

A morning visit to Stony Brook in Franschhoek

What do you do the following day when you have stayed the night in Franschhoek? Well of course you visit some of the farms who have invited you to come and see them. Especially those that you have been meaning to visit for a long time.

So we began at Stony Brook which is at the top of the Valley, turn right at the Monument and wind your way along Green Valley Road until you see their sign on the left. Owned by the McNaught family this is truly a family run farm. Nigel McNaught's wife Joy runs the tasting room and son Craig is the winemaker. 14 hectares of this 23 hectare farm are under vines. The focus from the beginning at this boutique winery was on crafting premium-quality wines that reflected the area and the styles of wine that excited them.

An Appointment with the Winemaker at Chamonix

Continuing our day in Franschhoek, we had arranged to meet winemaker Thinus Neethling in the tasting room. The farm is above Franschhoek on the right hand side when you enter the village. It is also on the Franschhoek Tram route. The farm has been owned by German businessman Chris Hellinger, who bought the farm over a quarter of a century ago. We were so pleased to see that they have extended the seating area for the Tasting room outside in the sunshine. Inside can be a little dark.

Long Table Lunch at Haskell Vineyards in Stellenbosch

We were invited to sample the new menu as Haskell have reopened the Long Table restaurant. They call it a small plate menu, with dishes that you can share; they say four per couple would be ample and we agree

Wine Concepts Craft Festival

This new festival was held last Friday night between 5 and 8 pm and was well attended. There are so many new craft beers, gins, vodkas, even Rum, Whisky and Brandies being made in the Cape. Mike Bampfield Duggan decided it was time for us to sample some of them. We were delighted to be invited, but worried about tasting lots of alcohols. Uber was very popular indeed that evening. We decided just to sample beers and Lynne did one very interesting rum, she is not good with high tack after beer. We hope to taste them one at a time in the future. It was a lot of fun; these crafters are very committed to their products

On the MENU this Week. Honey Ice Cream

This is a fairly easy dessert if you are entertaining over the Easter holidays. Yes, you can use bought vanilla custard from Woollies or another supermarket. Just make the day before

4 Tablespoons runny honey - 120g sugar - 1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon - 300ml double cream - 300ml thick vanilla custard - 2 egg whites

Put the honey, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan with 100 ml water. Heat until the sugar dissolves, then boil for 5 minutes or until it becomes syrupy. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the hot syrup in a thin stream, whisking all the time to keep the mixture stiff. Whisk till cool. It is easier in a mixer. It will look like soft meringue.

Whip the cream until it just holds its shape, fold through the meringue mixture and then add the custard. Spoon into a freezer container and freeze overnight. Take out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving. Serve sprinkled with nuts and some good fresh berries. And if you can get some, broken up honeycomb.

Note: there is a lot of rather dubious honey in the shops, much of which is imported from China, and much of which has been adulterated with other substances. Honey is expensive and dubious practices are used to bring prices down. As always, you get what you pay for. Read the label carefully. Preferably, it should be approved by the South African Bee Industry Organisation (SABIO). There is a simple test if you are in doubt: Fill a glass with water. Add one tablespoon of honey into the glass. Adulterated or artificial honey will dissolve in water and you will see it around the glass. Pure honey on the other hand will settle right at the bottom of your glass.

MENU's Wine of the Week. Chamonix Cabernet Franc 2015 We tasted this wine in our wonderful tasting at Chamonix with winemaker Thinus Neethling. Winter is on its way, somewhat earlier than usual, and we will soon be looking for robust, warm, sustaining dishes; comfort food

It will be a great partner to rich casseroles, made with duck, slow-cooked beef or lamb or, especially, venison. It is savoury with a dark berry nose, and perfume. Hot savouriness on the palate; smoky blueberries and cassis, delicious. It is drinking very well now but, as is so often the case, you are sure to be rewarded if you keep it for a few years. About R240 per bottle from the farm at the new 15% VAT rate.

29th March 2018

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Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005

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. 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. 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

On the MENU this Week. Honey Ice Cream

This is a fairly easy dessert if you are entertaining over the Easter holidays. Yes, you can use bought vanilla custard from Woollies or another supermarket. Just make it the day before

Image courtesy of Serious Eats

4 Tablespoons runny honey - 120g sugar - 1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon 300ml double cream 300ml thick vanilla custard - 2 egg whites

Put honey, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan with 100 ml water. Heat until the sugar dissolves, then boil for 5 minutes or until it becomes syrupy. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the hot syrup in a thin stream, whisking all the time to keep the mixture stiff. Whisk till cool. It is easier in a mixer. It will look like soft meringue

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MENU's Wine of the Week. Chamonix Cabernet Franc 2015

We tasted this wine in our wonderful tasting at Chamonix with winemaker Thinus Neethling. Winter is on its way, somewhat earlier than usual, and we will soon be looking for robust, warm, sustaining dishes; comfort food

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