Tag Archives: Bastille Festival

Bastille Festival – my highlights

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This year’s Franschhoek Bastille Festival took place on one of the coldest bloody days in Cape Town & the Western Cape’s history, like ever… OK OK, I don’t know that for a fact, but it was damn cold. :)

But we were not about to let that minor detail put us off from having a great time.  We figured we would just need to eat & drink twice as much to stay warm.  The perfect plan for some much needed craziness…

Our festival home for the day was the Food & Wine Marquee (tickets were R150 for entry).  It was actually relatively cosy inside, then again I was dressed kinda like the Michelin Man. hehe.  I loved all the red, white & blue trim, trees & chandeliers.  It made it feel like we were in a little magic forest.

Of course, this being a French festival, we had to support in style.  So we got ourselves some berets at only R50 a pop:

Not the sexiest hat out there, but I think we worked it.  And hey, it kept my head warm.

Some of the stands really went all out with their space, like this beautiful Morena stand:

And this one very pretty one by Graham Beck:

But my first port of call was obvious… the pancakes stand!  AND it was for a good cause as all the money went to the Franschhoek Hospice.  So that’s sugar indulgance with a conscience.  Doesn’t get better than that folks. ;)

Could’ve eaten my body weight in these babies…

On the topic of food.  There was some seriously impressive variety.  Everything from gourmet snacks, tempting sweet treats, oysters & hearty sandwiches with the finest cheeses & cold meats…. Mmmmm…

Oh and also this very patrioric (to France that is) fudge!

Entertainment wise they had some live music creating some cool background noise throughout the day.  Not that people who’ve had too much wine really appreciate music,   but it was really nice for early on in the day at least.

Now let’s talk wine.  I decided not to cover the obvious options and rather focus my energies on trying wines I did not know.

First up was a Cab Sav Merlot called “Miss Molly in my bed” by Moreson.  Now I know Moreson wines, but I hadn’t tried this specific one before.  Plus it has to get a special mention as the sale of this wine contributes to the South African Guide Dog Association:

And how could you possibly say no to that cute doggy on the label… very easy drinking wine btw.

Another winery which caught my eye thanks to their beautiful hand signed bottles was La Chataigne:

They are a small winery which only produces 15 000 bottles per year.  And get this, the wine maker personally signs every single bottle.  That is not a print.  Impressive stuff.  We bought some of the Marron (55% Merlot, 30% Pinotage and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon) as well as the Sauvignon Blanc and ended up going back for seconds… and maybe thirds… so turned out to be very popular wines amongst the gang.

Then I thought this one was quite cheeky – an Italian wine at a French festival!  Sacrebleu! ;)

I identified this as an Italian wine, not thanks to the name (although that would’ve been obvious as well), but rather cause my eyes zoned in on that grape variety.  Sangiovese is used by the Italians to make yummy Chianti wine, something I picked up last year while over there.  I absolutely LOVE Chianti, so this was an easy choice for me really.  This Terra Del Capo range is actually produced by Rupert wines.  Apparently the late Anthonij Rupert had a dream of one day producing an Italian wine because he loved the country & their wines so much.  I have to agree with the man, that is one hell of a place and some damn good wine.  Maybe that’s why they decided to sneak this Italian alien into Batille land, they knew people wouldn’t be able to resist.

Now what’s a wine festival without some champers right?  Our sparkly of choice was from Haute Cabriere:

I love how they packed it in ice. Firstly – it was freeeezing. Secondly – did they really think it would last long enough to get warm? Come now, we’re proffessionals.

After a little too much wine appreciation, we needed to go back in for another round of food.  There were 2 really nice meals from Reuben’s – the man who’s won restaurant of the year twice.  He was offering some beef bourguignon with horseradish cream & bordelaise salsa (R45):

As well as wok fried squid with chorizo, slow braised onion, cubed potato, gremolata & saffron rouille (R45):

Both were absolutely delicious.  Definitely the fanciest festival food I’ve ever had.  Then Bread & Wine decided to do a French bunny chow.  How do you make a bunny chow French?  You add a “le” to the front… Duh…

Genius!

It did have quite a lot of flair though.  So I would say that was the true Frenchness about it:

Ta da!

More drinking, laughing and general festival shenanigans followed.  All rounded off with some drunken happy snaps…  pure bliss…

But this is the only one I’m allowed to show… :)

 

A successful day out overall.  We ate.  We drank.  We survived the cold.  And we all left in one piece.  Bastille will see us again next year!

xxx

Are you ready for this year’s Bastille festival?

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Love all things French except maybe snooty French people? ;)   Me too!  So hopefully I’ll see you guys at this year’s Bastille Festival in Franschhoek on 14 & 15 July.

You’ll be finding me chillin’ in the Food & Wine Marquee – entry will cost you R150 which gives you a tasting glass and a booklet of tasting coupons AND you’ll have access to some seriously yummy food.

If you just want to drive through for the day (it’s only about a 45min drive from CT) – do the responsible thing and get a “designated Dave” or just organise some transport.  There are lots of tour companies that will take you through and if you can organise a group, it works out to be quite cheap.  This year we’ve decided to stay over for the evening.  So we’ve booked into a little Franschhoek B&B.  That way we can party a bit later and wake up in the beautiful winelands…

If you want to be super fancy, you can also opt for a VIP festival pass for R395.  This will allow you access to the VIP Marquee where you can get up close and personal with top French wine makers, taste their wines and also enjoy a platter of French goodies.

Some other fun activites include the massively popular boules competition, the Waiter’s race, the minstrel parade and the very competitive barrel-rolling contest.  You can also pop into the farmer’s market, check out some music and shop at the craft market stalls.

Hop on over to Webtickets now to secure your tickets.  You won’t be able to get them on the day and trust me, these tickets sell out faster than you can say “killer hangover”.  Oh and do come dressed with a bit of French flair by donning some red, white or allée bleue.  If you don’t have anything that will work, no stress, last year they were selling red, blue or black berets at the festival.  You’ll definitely want one about 2 or 3 glasses in. :)

Soooo excited about this one!

xxx

Damn you Bastille Festival!!!

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Aaarrrggghhh…  I’m feeling like total poo today!  Not even my usual Myprodol fix has made a dent.  So why am I feeling this way exactly?  Well because I  had a freakin’ awesome time at the Bastille Festival in Franschhoek yesterday!

Having recently (ok not so recently) turned 30, I now have to start acting like a responsible adult every now and again.  Well I try my best…  So we decided to get a shuttle service to drive us to Franschhoek and back.  Didn’t cost too much, only R125 pp between 8 of us.  This meant as much debauchery as we wanted! Woohoo!

Two of the gals in our group went all out and dressed to theme – which is something I will have to do next year for sure.  Here’s Clouds looking uber chic in her French inspired number:

What this? Oh I just threw it together in seconds...

And just look at the cute earrings Tess was rocking:

Viva la France bitches!

Here’s a pic of the whole gang – still looking all fresh and ready to go:

Watch out Franschhoek, the chickas have arrived...

OK onto the food & wine… entrance to the main marquee cost R100 and they were sold out!  Which meant there were a lot of very disappointed people standing outside – looking totally miserable. HAHA to you!  Luckily I was clever enough to pre-book my ticket on Webtickets before hand.  (A good tip for everyone planning to go next year)

The marquee was lined with awesome food & wine stands.  And then there was also a little stage area with some live music.

Ta da! Welcome to food & wine heaven...

You got 5 wine sample tickets and a free tasting glass upon entry… so we decided to get cracking and check out everything that was on offer.

Wine, strawberries and pretty girls in short outfits... marketing genius!

Leigh almost lost her brain when she spotted these:

Hmmm... I'm not sold on these babies...

Now I have never actually tried one.  But I just can’t get past the snotty looking goo part.  It’s totally gross man!  At only R8 a pop though, Leigh was in heaven.  I much rather prefer CHEEEESE…

Yeah baby! Now you're talking...

The brie was my favourite.  And I so wanted to buy some before we left, but then I got too drunk and totally forgot.  Bummer.  Anyhoo – Graham Beck, one of my favourites, was also there and had a very pretty stand:

I'd like all of it please!

And then I was very excited to see Chamonix wines!  I’ve actually been in Chamonix in France, so I was super excited to be tasting some “real deal” French wine again.  But turns out its actually made here in SA… hmmm, false advertising!  But it was pretty good nonetheless.

The "not so French" French wine

Haute Cabriere was there as well – I love their Pierre Jourdan sparkling wines soooo much, I tried to steal a bottle.

This is a fake smile lady... just hand over that bottle!!!

Now I knew I was in for a looooong day of drinking – so I decided to line my stomach well.  First I had a French style lamb burger from Le Caurtier Francais – it was so delicious, I had sauce all over my face as I murdered it!

Yum yum yum!

For dessert I had some “regte egte Afrikaans tannie pannekoeke”.  Now, I seriously love pancakes.  Like seriously… if I happened to be standing next to a innocent little kid who was about to dig into one, I would grab it right from underneath that little kid’s nose without even blinking. Due to this “passion” of mine, I also have really high standards.  They were only R5 and looked all fluffy and perfect:

Hmmm... looks top notch...

Sadly… they totally skimped on the cinnamon sugar and it was super bland.  I almost freakin’ cried… sob. :(   Luckily I had this to cheer me up:

Who's your true friend? Champers of course!

We organised ourselves a sweet spot at a table outside and settled in to enjoy the sunshine (was an awesome 25 degrees yesterday – is it still winter btw!?!).  Basically the rest of the day consisted out of lots of drinking, chilling, chatting, laughing & some drunken pictures… like this one…

Looking a bit "glassy eyed" there girls... :)

And this one…

Lara still looks good... but you can see at this point that I'm fading fast. haha

It was only a matter of time before “Kandi” arrived…  ready for world domination of course!

Stolen hat - check, Dr Evil pose - check, something "bad" to follow - oh hell yes!

Luckily though, they managed to get me back onto the shuttle just in time to avoid my evil plotting coming to fruition. haha! :)

Back at home, I passed out at around 8pm – after shoveling down a massive chocolate cup cake and a big chunk of cheese – nice combination huh.  The choices you make when you’re drunk…  I woke up this morning still clenching the little cup cake wrapper thingy in my hands…

Oh well, the little bit of pain & suffering today is totally worth it, cause we had such an amazing day yesterday.  I can’t wait for next year!

OK, gonna go nap now. xxx