Picnicking in the winelands

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This past Sunday the BF and I headed out to Stellenbosch for a late afternoon picnic session at the Vredenheim Wine Estate.   Now this is not a wine farm that I’d ever heard of before, but I got a pretty sweet deal on Ubuntudeal which got me 50% of a picnic basket for two.

The deal promised that the picnic basket would contain the following:

  • A platter of cheeses, biscuits and preserves
  • A selection of cold meats and salads
  • Fresh bread
  • Fresh fruit
  • And home made muffins

My first thought was “You had me at the platter of cheeses dammit!”  I love cheese, like on a slightly disturbing level, like if I had to choose between a bag of money (which I wasn’t allowed to spend on any cheese) or a bag filled with a variety of delicious cheeses, it would be a tough one… Anyhoo, I digress.  The normal cost for such a basket of goodies for two is R260, so that means I made a cool saving of 130 buckaroos.  Love a good deal… but still not as much as I love cheese.

For those of you who, unlike me, are really into weddings… like you’ve been keeping a secret scrapbook since the age of 10 with reference images of what your dream day would look like… I’m not judging you… a lot… ;)   You might be interested to know that the Vredenheim estate makes for a pretty descent wedding venue.  Check out their kitted out reception hall:

Not sure if they had a wedding there the night before or if they just keep it in this state as a selling tactic... but hey, it was pretty.

We picked up our basket, bought some water & Vredenheim sparkling grape juice (cause drinks aren’t included & of course you can also buy wine with it being a wine farm and all) and headed off to explore the gardens and find the perfect chill spot.  Here’s what our basket looked like:

Ta da!

And here’s a couple of shots of the picnic area:

Beautiful right?  We found a shady spot overlooking the water, proceeded to stuff our faces and then slipped into a mini food coma.  It was absolute bliss.  By the time we left the sun was starting to set and I was lucky enough to snap this awesome shot before heading back into town:

Quality's a bit crappy - I was a total knob and left my camera at home. So had to make due with my BB, which has a really crappy camera...

To be 100% honest, I did think the usual R260 price tag was a bit steep for salads, meats and stuff – but like the BF says “you’re paying for the overall experience”.  So I can’t really argue with that…  we did have a great time.

To book your own picnic basket – contact the Vredenheim restaurant, Hudson’s on 021 881 3590.  Just remember to take your own picnic blanket along.  They’ll sort you out with cutlery, glasses, etc.

xxx

A lazy bday lunch in a garden setting

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Cafe Paradiso in Kloof St is really a favourite of mine, especially in summer.  Why?  Well firstly it has a kick ass garden in the front which is the perfect setting for soaking up some rays and getting some fresh air.  Then you also really need to see how pretty it is on a hot summer’s night when you can enjoy a romantic dinner under the stars.  Aaaahhh.   Secondly the food is always top notch – amazing quality, fresh ingredients, interesting mix of flavours, in a nutshell – just plain brilliant.  What more could one ask for really?  Cafe Paradiso also happens to be part of the Madame Zingara group and everyone knows that those people are known for serving up great food in a seriously fun atmosphere.

It has also become a preferred spot for birthday celebrations.  In fact I had a Mad Hatter’s tea party themed bday party there a few years back and this past weekend we headed over there to celebrate my gorgeous friend Carmen’s bday…

It was such perfect weather.  Hot but not unbearably so.  A slight breeze, but nothing that would ruin our hair. ;)   And the leafy trees created lots of shade for us to enjoy.  Food wise I really was stuck on choosing, everything just sounded so good.  In the end I went for something light – an open health sandwich with roast chicken and cranberry mayo (R45).  It was really tasty, but I have to admit that as other people’s food arrived, I had serious food envy.   Let me show you what I’m talking about:

My sandwich on the left (pretty impressive), then the linefish special in the middle and the chicken Milanese burger stack on the right. All like little pieces of art on a plate...

We also got to enjoy some deliciously evil cupcakes from the famous Charly’s Bakery.  These ladies are doing seriously well these days, I see they even have their own TV show on SABC.  Hectic stuff.

After lunch I was totally lusting over my friend Clouds’ Paul Smith wallet.  I absolutely looooove Minis and bright colours, so this baby is something I’ve been wanting for years now:

Seriously, how amazing is that?

Maybe one day when I’m a big girl I’ll have one of my own.  And then I’ll probably even cuddle up to it at night! :)

A huge thanks to Carmen for including me in her special birthday celebrations.  I can’t think of a better way to spend a summer afternoon.  And for being awesome time and time again, Cafe Paradiso gets the following Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating from me:

xxx

Some really cool handmade finds

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Looking for a unique gift?  Or some quirky decor items?  Or an interesting piece of jewellery?  Check out this new website:  From the Heart Emporium

The site only sells handmade goodies, so you’ll be supporting the “little guy” instead of the big chain stores.  Dunno about you guys, but the thought of that makes me feel all warm & fuzzy on the inside. ;)

I’ve spent some time browsing through the site’s offerings and have put together a list of my absolute favourite things.  From the jewellery section, I totally fell in love with these pieces:

Always & Forever hand stamped ring - R280

John Keats Love Letter Storybangle - R180

Pearly Heart Pendant - R195

Then I’m someone who loves pretty storage options, so this memory box and wooden storage box is right up my alley:

Natural Memory box with words - R215

Storage boxes - R155 for a small one

These handmade greeting cards are also damn cool.  I hate those stock standard cards you get at places like CNA.  They are just sooooooo boring and expensive.  Here you can select any 10 for only R210.  That’s a pretty sweet deal people.

There’s even a little something for the “Braai King” in your life:

Keep calm apron - R230

Then moving on to beautiful things for your home.  I’m on a bit of a redecorating mission at the moment and I was really drawn to the following things:

"Sing Dance Love" Wall Letters - R295

Dragonfly ceramic set - R300

Full crochet scatter cushion - R470 (most people might actually hate this - but crochet items are all the rage right now, just so you know)

Imilowa Brown Circle felt placemat set of 4 - R75

Distressed drawer unit - R3300. Love, love, love this piece! Trying to figure out how I would possibly make space for it... hmmm...

If you’re planning a wedding, you can also check out their wedding section for decor items and wedding accessories.  Then for all the mums & dads out there, there’s also a baby & child section with lots of toys & clothing.  Actually, I had a quick squiz through the things for little girls and I found this amazing little owl clutch bag that I JUST HAVE TO HAVE!  I mean come on, I could totally make it work… right?  anybody with me?

Owl handbag for little girls - R190

OK OK, maybe not.  I’ll just focus on saving up for the rest of the items then…. ;)

xxx

The Clarke’s burger

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My friend Benny (one half of the Asian “twins”) is totally OBSESSED with the Clarke’s burger.  And when I say obsessed I mean like he’s been going there sometimes twice a day, mostly every day since they opened to feed his “habit”.  So last week, Joe and I (Joe being the other half of the Asian “twins”) headed over there to finally see what all the fuss was about…

Clarke’s is a cute little spot in Bree St at nr 133, almost right across the road from &Union and next to the Birds Boutique Cafe (a spot that I’ve actually been dying to try out – but haven’t gotten around to it yet).

Clarke's - Bar & Dining room

The interior matched the expectation the exterior sets quite well – they’ve kept things clean & simple with lots of natural finishes and interesting lighting.

The menu is basic… I mean real basic.  You have a choice between a cheese burger or a vegetarian sloppy joe.  That’s it.  Then there’s a few side dish options as well and some ice cream and pie for dessert.

The burger which Ben’s been referring to as the “best burger in town” will set you back R50.  Add R10 if you want some bacon and another R10 if you want some fries.  I also got a Twitter recommendation to try their aioli which is a cheesy/mayo type dipping sauce they usually serve with their fries (R7 for a small serving).

You order & pay at the cashier, then you sit back and relax while doing some people watching and sipping on a glass of wine (or beer).  I was very happy to see Springfield Life from Stone Sauvignon Blanc on the menu as I’m a bit of a fan.  Springfield is a gorgeous little wine estate out in the Robertson Valley and I can pretty much recommend any of their wines for good value drinking pleasure.

Anyhoo, back to the burger.  Here it is:

Ta da!

My first thought was that the meat was really good…  but a few bites in I realised that this burger was just not for me.  The biggest problem was that is was really quite oily, especially the bun (which was weird).  The other problem was that it was lacking something with a bit of zest, like a slice of tomato or some gherkin or something.  Without those elements the burger just didn’t have any “pop”.  I enjoyed the fries and the aiol, but I left a lot of the burger behind – focusing just on eating most of the patty…

My Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating for specifically their burger would be:

So sadly in my books they did not manage to take the best burger spot – something that’s actually really disappointing as I had been looking forward to trying it out for quite a few weeks. :(

If however I had to put together a list of my top burger spots in Cape Town, it would be as follows:

  1. The Dog’s Bollocks – the new kid on the block, but definitely here to stay.  For burgers the size of your face with some seriously unique flavours, look no further.
  2. Royale Eatery – my favourite here is the Big Bird (ostrich patty with homemade beetroot relish), but you really can’t go wrong with any of the options on their extensive burger menu.
  3. Hudsons - here you just have to go for The Works – Beef patty topped with mustard mayo, tomato relish, cheddar cheese, lettuce, red onion and dill pickle.  Mmmm.
  4. &Union – they only have one burger option, but it’s a damn good one.

Where does everyone else go for their burger fix?  Am I missing any good spots?  Lemme know.

xxx

Wine, glorious wine…

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Last Tue I attended another one of those free wine tasting sessions at &Union.  Yes I know it was Valentines day and all, but I was only seeing the BF later, so could quickly squeeze this in before hand.  Sweet. :)

Now usually you get to taste about 5 or 6 wines.  But this time around there was a whopping 9 wines on the line-up, two of which were fancy pants French wines.  Ooooooooh.

The showcase for the evening was from a family run, boutique winery in Franschhoek called Haut Espoir (meaning “High Hope”).  Sweet-as-pie, Rob Armstrong, started off by giving us some background on the farm before moving on to letting us taste their glorious wine offerings.  He noted that everything on the farm is done carefully and with extra time, the term “rush” is totally a foreign concept over there.  As a result their vintage list is generally a few years older than the norm in SA.

Rob, Gemma (the lady who puts together these wine evenings) and some other dude who seemed to know a lot about wine

Then we got cracking on those 9 wines.  First up was a the Haut Espoir Cloud Fall 2009 – a white blend made up of 5 different grape varieties:  34% Semillon; 33% Viognier; 6% Chardonnay; 26% Nouvelle; 1% Sav Blanc.   I’m generally not a fan of white blends.  So this one wasn’t my favourite.

Then we moved on to a selection of rosé wines – cause it was the day of love after all and that lovely pink colour of the wines suited the theme of the day:

Rob noted that they use Shiraz as the cultivar for their rosé wines and they also let them age in wood barrels – which is very rare for making rosé, but it gives them a much better shelf life.

We also learnt all about “residual sugar” which is how much sugar is left in the wine after fermentation is complete and basically tells you how sweet the wine is going to be.  So with rosé wine the residual sugar (RS) is higher than with white wine for example. (might be common sense to you guys – but it was new to me as I usually just glug down wine without much thought ;) )

The first rosé we tried was their 2007 vintage.  It was absolutely beautiful and the fact that he only had 2 bottles left from that year is a clear indication that it was a hot seller.   Next up we tried their 2008 vintage.  Rob noted that they had far too much rain that year which had an impact on the taste of the wine.  The grapes didn’t have enough time to get “oumens gesiggies” as he calls it – which directly translated means “old people faces” – this is usually needed to give the wine better flavour.  You could definitely taste a huge difference between the 2007 and 2008 wines.

The 2009 vintage was my favourite.  It had a slight almond taste to it and it was very smooth.  This one sadly is also in short supply… bummer.  The 2010 vintage was very enjoyable as well, but Rob noted that it probably needs a bit more time before reaching it’s full potential.

Next we got to sample two international wines which Rob had purchased on an auction.  He let us try them to do a taste comparison between the local style of rosé and that which the French produces.   First up was a Tavel 2008 wine:

A bottle like this would probably set you back about R180.  I found it to be very dry in comparison to the Haut Espoir wines we tasted.  The next was a Domaines OTT 2010 wine.  Weirdly this one didn’t have that bright pink colour at all – it was quite pale and had more of a vanilla taste.

A bottle of this baby would set you back around R350 – which is quite steep, but I loved this one.  Rob said he thought it needed more time to age.  I thought to myself “What is this ageing they keep talking about… why would you have wine lying around without drinking it?!” ;)

To finish off the tasting we sampled two of the Haut Espoir red wines:  First up was the 2007 Gentle Giant – which is a blend consisting of:  32% Merlot; 29% Syrah; 25% Petit Verdot; 9% Cab Franc; 5% Cab Sav.   It had a slight honey scent to it, which was pretty cool, but it wasn’t my favourite.  The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 however blew my hair back:

I’m definitely considering adding that baby to my wine collection at home.  Now I’m not gonna lie, by that point I was battling to stay upright on my stool.  Actually I was starting to battle from wine number 5 already. hehe.  You see you get quite descent servings for the tasting and it’s not one of those “taste & spit out” vibes, you sit, sip, listen & enjoy…  So it got a bit hectic.  But hell it was a fun ride!   I’m giving this week a skip to focus on gym and other boring stuff, but after this killer session, I’m totally hooked!

Follow @andunionwine on Twitter to stay up to date with what wines you can sample at their upcoming tastings and remember to email Gemma on gemma@gabrielcollective.com to reserve your spot (they happen every Tue & Thu at 6pm).

xxx

Kitler?!

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So when my friend Joe told me about this website where people post images of their cats who happen to look like Hitler, my first thought was: WTF?!  But being extremely curious by nature, I knew I just had to check out www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com for myself.  It sounded way too good to be true. :)

Now let me just state up front that I really don’t like cats (I would normally say “hate” – but I’m bringing it down a notch in an attempt to avoid kitty hate mail).  This dislike is mainly due to two things:

  1. I am VERY allergic to cats.  My eyes itch like crazy and sometimes even swell shut, I battle to breathe, I cough my lungs out, I get an awesome rash…. and the list goes on.
  2. I believe they are pure evil.  They always have that look on their face like “Just wait until you fall asleep… I will smother you and then pee all over you… now give me milk biatch!!”

Not gonna deny it… item 2 might be strongly linked to item 1 – but that’s just how I feel.  End of story.   Due to this passionate dislike, cat lovers/owners tend to be people I really battle to understand.  But after checking out this website, I know for sure that I probably don’t get them at all.

The opening statement on the website sets the tone quite well:

Does your cat look like Adolf Hitler? Do you wake up in a cold sweat every night wondering if he’s going to up and invade Poland? Does he keep putting his right paw in the air while making a noise that sounds suspiciously like “Sieg Miaow”? If so, this is the website for you.

Right-e-o then… They also refer to these cats as “Kitler” – I don’t know if you were able to work it out, but that’s a mix of the words “Kitty” and “Hitler”.  (you’re welcome ;) )

Browsing through some of the images really just reinforced my “cats are evil” theory.  Lemme show you what I mean:

Here's Snowball - do not #@$% with Snowball...

This guy's name is actually Hitler... but to me he looks more like a mobster type. He will most certainly rob you of your valuables and then pee on your new, expensive carpets.

Ah, this is Pitsiriki - notice how he's trying to give you the "Puss in Boots look", but failing miserably. He should NOT be trusted.

Little Sven just looks guilty straight off the bat... you just know he's just ripped the shit out of his owner's furniture and now he's all like "who me?".

And lastly we have the nr 1 rated "Kitler" on the site: Groucho. This image just oozes secret plots of word domination and such. Be afraid, be very very afraid.

So ja, this site hasn’t exactly helped change my feelings towards the dark kitty world.  Therefore I will continue to observe with suspicion and approach with caution.  Over and out.

xxx

The Cake Wizard

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I first got introduced to Najia’s heavenly baked treats when I started working at my current “place of incarceration” back in 2008…  Here it is customary to bring in cake for the troops on your birthday (if you don’t – you’re secretly judged by everyone from that point on and I’m pretty sure it also impacts on your performance rating ;) )

So month in and month out we’d get to sample these amazing cupcakes, mini milk tarts, chocolate eclairs and the pièce de résistance, the worlds best (according to me) carrot cake.  I could tell they all came from the same source as they had a distinct level of awesomeness, so I decided to do some investigating.  Turns out people were ordering from Najia’s 3 sisters, who all happen to work here with me.  Hectic hey!

When my birthday came around, I of course followed suit and placed my order with her as well.  I mean I couldn’t exactly pitch up with some store bought stuff and risk my incentive bonus now could I. hehe.  Then for my 30th bday party which was Moulin Rouge themed, she made me these awesome cupcakes with little golden top hats and scrolls:

Devilish dark chocolate cupcakes with red & purple icing... was a HUGE hit.

I definitely think the real selling point is not just that they look pretty – but that the cake part is super fluffy and moist and you just can’t stop eating way more than you should.  I’ve been disappointed many times before by cupcakes for example that look pretty, but then end up being really dry on the inside. Bleh.

Anyhoo, so why am I blabbing on about this?  Well up to now, she’s pretty much been operating from home through word of mouth.  But she’s finally decided to share her talent with a wider audience by setting up a Facebook page where you can check out some of her amazing work.

I’ve selected some of my favourites (and am now very hungry):

Seriously... how cute is that?! It's a freakin' bunny!!!

Gorgeous wedding cake

A more classic style bday cake. But still packs a good punch.

What little boy wouldn't want a cake like this?

Love this one for a little girl... but the "21" on the side did throw me a little... haha.

Love to shop? Well why not express that on your cake...

And then this one is just bloody crazy... she actually made a full blown sewing machine!

And she even caters for "the nerds"

Another thing I can totally vouch for is that her prices are ridiculously good.  So do yourselves a favour and go check out her page.  You’ll be seriously impressed, if not already.   He contact details are on there as well, so if you have something specific in mind, give her a shout and she can give you a quote.  Prices will depend on how crazy you want to go.

xxx