Tag Archives: Franschhoek

Amazing experience at the Franschhoek Kitchen on the Holden Manz Wine Estate

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I’ve been wanting to tell you guys about this place for a few weeks now… just kept getting side tracked for some reason… but finally, here goes!

My friend Darryn, he who pretty much wins every single competition he enters (yes yes, I know, very annoying) won an amazing 3 course meal for two at the Franschhoek Kitchen which is on the beautiful Holden Manz wine estate, situated just a little bit outside the Franschhoek city centre.  I was very lucky to be his plus 1 for this truly special treat and came fully prepared, loose fit pants and all… ;)

The restaurant is an absolute stunner and you just know you’re going to have an amazing time when you sit down and you’re told “have whatever your heart desires”.  Yes please!

Beautifully elegant…

It was really pouring down outside, which was a slight bummer, but they had the fire going inside so it was nice & cosy and the cold weather also meant it was the perfect conditions to sip on their ”voluptuous” premium red wine, the Big G 2009.  The Big G is a 50% Cab Franc and 50% Cab Sav and has a really great dark ruby colour.  It’s both fruity & spicy with a touch of dark chocolate and it certainly went down like a treat.

The elephant on the logo (just fyi) links back to the fact that the area used to be inhabited by these gentle giants way back in the day.

Now executive chef, Cheyne Morrisby, according to his Twitter profile has actually made Kate Moss eat and is the giver of many food orgasms. :)   I have to say, that sounded pretty damn impressive to me, and I was very very excited to start digging in.

For starters both Darryn and I couldn’t resist the sound of the grilled tiger prawns with lemon & pea risotto and garlic croutons (R65 for starter portion / R140 for main):

This was absolute perfection. Period.

Then for mains, Darryn copied me again ;) and we both had the crisp duck breast with watermelon, sweet miso, sweet potato puree and a red wine & star anise syrup (R155):

Loved the presentation. It was very interesting and it also made it easier for you to get all the different elements in with each bite.

I will admit… I was a little nervous ordering the duck.  You see when I travelled through France a few years back I pretty much ate only two things over the 3 weeks I was there: Duck & chocolate fondant.  The French just seemed to have mastered these two dishes and I wanted to consume as much of it as possible before heading back home.  Since then I’ve at least had some fondants which matched up, but on the duck front, things have been quite disappointing.  BUT… I am happy to report… that this duck dish kicked those Frenchies’ butts… hard. :)

For dessert, Darryn opted for the special of the day - cheesecake with salted caramel sauce:

But of course I had a taste… That salted caramel sauce worked so incredibly well with the cheesecake. This was very tasty.

My chocoholic side instantly zoned in on the 70% Belgian chocolate mousse with salted caramel (R48):

It was so deliciously rich & I really enjoyed all the little sprinklings of things: salted caramel, coconut, pistachio crumbs & I think the other one was biscuit crumbs.

I just have to show you a close up of the texture of that mousse:

It’s so smooth & glossy, it kinda looked fake… mmmmmm, sooooooo good.

So by all the “beautiful, amazing, incredible” references above, it should come as no surprise that my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating for the Franschhoek Kitchen @ Holden Manz  is:  

The service made us feel like total VIPs, the setting was breathtaking and the food… well I had to have a 4 hr afternoon nap afterwards.  Nuff said.

Next time you feel like heading out to the winelands, do try to pop in.  Call them on 021 876 27 29 to make a reservation.

xxx

Pure bliss at The Lavender Farm

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For this year’s Bastille Festival adventure, my friends and I decided to stay overnight in Franschhoek.  I certainly never need an excuse to stay over in this beautiful town, it’s got a certain magic about it… AND there’s the cutest little chocolate factory! Check out Huguenot Fine Chocolates… mmmmm… mmmmm… mmmmm… wait, where was I? ;)

We totally lucked out by getting space at The Lavender Farm which is situated just on the outskirts of town.  Let me set the scene:  You are surrounded by fields of lavender, you have the Franschhoek mountain range as your backdrop, you have gorgeous Cape Dutch cottages and the most serene setting you can possibly imagine…

And it doesn’t stop there folks.  You have to see the room interiors.  We stayed in their Lavender Suites and it was pure 5 star luxury:

Now can you believe that we got all that for only R475 per person sharing?  Yup, that’s their really awesome low season rates which is still running until 31 Jul.  From 1 Aug it goes up to R625 per person sharing, but even then I still think it’s really well priced.  I mean our room was MASSIVE, kinda like a little apartment.  And it was kitted out with DSTV, free Wifi, air conditioning (well in our case, awesome heating), a very pretty private terrace and an ensuite bathroom with a huge shower.

Also, you get to enjoy a mean breakfast spread of fruits, cereals, breads, yoghurts and such and then also the good stuff – bacon, eggs, the whole toot.  And the owners are really lovely, which just adds to its charm.

It’s a pity we could only do one night.  I’m very keen to go back there with the BF for a full weekend of R & R and Franschhoek exploring.  If you’re ever in the area and need a place where you can put your hear down, I would highly recommend this one.

xxx

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

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

Synergy – the weekend that was

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This past weekend I once again braved the interesting world of camping for the Synergy Live music festival at the Boschendal wine estate.  Now most of the time I am a total girly girl, but there’s at least a teeny tiny part of me that’s willing to break out every now and again to be that “ready-for-anything” girl.  So no, I don’t love camping – it’s dirty & gross, but I’m willing to deal with it if there is promise of having an awesome time (and also of being able to get so drunk you don’t even realise where you’re sleeping. hehe)

One thing I have to say about this particular music festival is that it certainly has the best backdrop of all.  Nestled in the Franschhoek Valley, this festival site is just absolutely beautiful:

Pic by Darryn van der Walt

** Check out Darryn’s photo portfolio here – he’s pretty damn good with this kind of thing.

The past 2 years I’ve been half baking it by sharing with others or by only staying one night.  But this time around I decided to go all out and get my own tent! I got it at a total steal for only R299 from Makro the weekend before.  Check it out:

This picture was clearly taken the next morning. I wanted to ensure that you guys got to see it in it’s full glory. hehe

It’s one of those 3 second pop out tents – so it was pretty much idiot proof.  Yet, I still had some issues and Darryn had to jump in to help me with the sticky & ropey thingies to secure it down.  Also, I have to mention that I somehow managed to drop my roll-up mattress on the way down from the parking area to the camp site (it’s a bloody far walk) and when I went back to find it, it was nowhere to be found.  So I knew I was in for a very uncomfortable sleep. :(

One thing that’s always a given is that no matter where the hell you find a spot, you will ALWAYS be next to a group of loud mouthed American students who go on and on about stupid things like “jizzing on each other’s tents” (yes – that actually happened).  There is no getting away from it.  They are everywhere – you just have to let that one go.

Anyhoo, after setting up my tent, I mixed up my weekend cocktail of vodka & Sprite Zero (cause I’m kilojoule conscious. hehe) and we headed off to the festival area.

First stop along the way was the fancy Washbox toilets for my R50 weekend pass.  What is Washbox exactly?  They refer to them as  “luxury mobile toilets” – now using the term “luxury” with “mobile toilets” is quite a damn stretch.  But compared to the other facilities in the camp site, you to tend to feel like royalty in these toilets which flush, are kept clean 24/7 and you can wash your hands.

Our 2nd stop was the Spur stand.  I dare anybody to walk past that stand without getting sucked in by that amazing smell.  This is the best option to both line your stomach and help with your hangover the next morning.  So you pretty much end up having them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Can you smell that “People with a taste for life” aroma?

Then we settled in at the main stage to watch a band called Holiday Murray.  Darryn pointed out that I had seen this band a couple of times before and that I thought they were good.  I couldn’t believe this…  if I did in fact think they were good, surely I would have at least remembered the name!?  I must have just said that at the time to be polite.

Holiday Murray on the main stage

The lineup after that didn’t excite me too much, so we headed off to do some exploring.  Luckily we did, because otherwise we would have totally missed this amazing crepe stand!

Oh yeah…

Next we settled in at the comedy tent for some up-and-coming comedy acts.  The lineup consisted out of the following acts:  Peter Sserwanga, Kurt Langeveld, Lazola Gola, Kellyn Coetzee, Rustum August & Chris Steenkamp.

I enjoyed all of the acts, except the last dude.  They weren’t quite polished and there were some “sound of crickets in the background” moments with all.  But there were also some real moments of brilliance there.  I think given more experience, they’ll be great.  Well except for poor Chris, I think he should consider getting a real job. ;)

After the comedy we decided to do some rides at the Fairground.   My favourite one was the “Round-up”, I almost lost my guts…

Then we checked out George Daniel at the Red Bull electro stage:

Visuals… such a sucker for visuals…

And headed back to the main stage for Zebra & Giraffe:

Have seen them a couple of times. They’re always a sure bet.

After their set, we headed back to our tents to fill up our water bottles with our vodka mixes for the umpteenth time and I think we both had that “I just need to rest my eyes for 5min” moment and passed out.   But hey – it was only day 1, you have to pace yourself.

I woke up on Sat morning to the sound of some drunk girl squatting and peeing a few steps behind my tent.  As she did this, she also said rather loudly: “Gawd, my kidneys are killing me!!!” Ah, nothing says “good morning” quite like that… ;)   She clearly didn’t fork out for the Washbox.  Rookie move.

The weather was amazing, with a slight wind.  I did manage to catch a shower as the queue was actually not too bad.  I think I only waited for about 45 min, which in festival speak equates to like 30 seconds.   I think it must have been because most people just opted to rinse off in the river…

I was keen for a dip as well. But I think all the “make sure you sit upstream” jokes got to me in the end… didn’t want to risk it.

Morning events included chillin’ in the sun and getting an awesome kortbroek tan…

How sexy is that…

And checking out the Afrikaans comedy set at the comedy tent.  It was pretty painful…  but it was an easy option as we were hungover and needed some shade.  So we stuck it out.  Lucky we did though, otherwise we would have totally missed the absolute gem that is Melt Sieberhagen!!!   He was the very last comedian on stage and he was BRILLIANT. Had me crying with laughter. In fact, we were so impressed, when we heard he was going to be part of the 1pm imrpov set – we came back for that as well.

After yet another Spur burger, we settled in at the main stage to watch Tumi & the Volume.

Just a piccie so you can see the stage setup in day light

It seemed at this point all the excitement had just gotten too much for some. Case in point passed out drunk dude holding on to his little beer keg:

EVERYONE took pictures of this poor dude. He’s probably all over the internet by now… hehe

Then we stumbled upon the Boschendal stand and realised that we could get a bottle of white wine for only R40!  That was equivalent to like only 2 cheap drinks at the bar.  So we figured this was awesome.  Not wanting to lug a bottle around with us, we decided to decant the wine into our water bottles, like so:

Classy was obviously not key

Now there 2 major flaws to this plan:

  1. White wine speeds up the arrival of Kandi
  2. It also happens to makes me very sleepy, especially when downing it in the hot afternoon sun.

Hmmmmm…  Anyhoo, not phased by any of that we headed over to the electro stage to check out Mr Sakitumi:

That’s him in the front of the stage, the little Asian guy with the hat on :)

He actually also happens to be the drummer for one of my new favourite bands, LARK. The electro stage seemed to be the favoured area by most as we met up with lots of other mates here, including my friend Benny. Now Benny is a crazy eyed dubsteb fanatic, so much so that we’re constantly going out of our way to take the piss.  Last week Darryn burned him on Twitter with this:

Kandi (my sane self had left by this stage) decided it would be a brilliant idea to do our own version of this “How to” guide.   This is the result:Pure genius… Did you notice the little blue guy in the background there?  That’s Benny’s sidekick Nacho.  I love Nacho!

Oooh Nacho, you’re like so hot right now

I went around forcing random dudes in the crowd to make out with Nacho – thus joking with Benny that Nacho had turned gay. He was not impressed. Sadly, I found out later that Nacho went missing.  I had nothing to do with it – I promise!  Ben thinks he was kidnapped…  So if you happen to have any information about the whereabouts of Nacho, please send it to gmail account. ;)

At around 5:30pm… Kandi crashed & burned and a 2 hr nap followed.  The 2nd bottle of wine probably wasn’t the best idea.

When I woke up later, the wind was pumping.  Not ideal.  I tried to put on the warmest stuff I had packed and headed over to my trusty Spur stand for my burger fix.  While there I saw a guy with a monkey on his back.  Yes, that’s right folks… a monkey!  Here’s the proof:

Ta da!!! Soooooo cute.

The act I was most excited to see was Jax Panik – I somehow missed his set at last year’s festival and everyone raved about how he was the best act there etc etc.  So this time round, nothing was going to stop me.  Not the wind or the cold or the fact that I was starting to feel not so great… nothing.   Good thing I persevered too, because his set was freakin’ insane!

Finally!!!

After Jax Panik, I headed over to the electro stage to check out the last bit of the F.O.O.L set – they’re a DJ act from Sweden and they drew a seriously massive crowd:

Boom!

At around 11:30pm I started feeling really poo.  I think that crazy wind and overall cold & dustiness finally took it’s toll.  So I headed back to my tent.  I didn’t feel too bad about it though, I had at least given it a good go.  Black Rebel Motorcycle Club only went on at about 1am, so I missed them.  But Darryn said they rocked.

Overnight, the wind got crazier & crazier and there were times I thought my little tent would be ripped up into the sky!  I didn’t get much sleep and at about 7am I decided I had had enough.  I packed up my things and got outta there – back to my warm comfy bed and clean bathroom.  Aaaaaah, bliss. :)   That camp site looked like it had gone through a war. It was a really scary sight…

All ‘n all, I had a fantastic time.  It was a well organised event with lots to do at all times.  Great food & drink options and relatively good shower & toilet facilities.  Happiness all around.

Until next year!

xxx

Synergy Live 2011

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The Synergy Live 2011 music festival is upon us!  If you’ve been living under a rock, it’s the “other” big music festival in the Western Cape.

When:  25 – 27 Nov
Where: Boschendal Wine Estate, Franschhoek
What’s the damage?:  Full weekend R440, One night R395, Sun R100.

But if you were clever like me you would’ve already sorted an early bird ticket for only R385 for the full weekend. ha!

I’m quite excited about this year’s lineup.  On the Main Stage I’m looking forward to Zebra & Giraffe & Good Luck on the Fri eve.  Then on Sat eve, you can bet your ass Jax Panik is going to blow your brains out… yeah.  And then I see the international headliner is Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – a bunch of rockers all the way from San Francisco.  According to Wikipedia they’re known for their “garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia sound” – I don’t know what the hell any of that means, but I’m keen. :)

Being a huge electro fan, I’ll probably be spending a lot of time at the Red Bull Studio Live tent – totally entranced by the the visuals on the big screens. (I’m such a sucker for visuals… think I’ve mentioned this before… you’ll be catching me with drool on my face)
I don’t recognise most of the names on the lineup, but I see Killer Robot will be doing the “early set” on Sat/Sun.  Nice.  They’re known to hit it hard, so they’re the perfect act to keep the crowd going.

Other stuff happening:

  • LMG stage:  CT alternative music mag, YOUR LMG, has put together a lineup of hot up-and-coming live acts.  So if you’re looking for some new inspiration, this will be your haven.
  • Comedia Comedy Stage:  In need of a good chuckle?  Look no further – the comedy lineup here has you sorted.  One name that stood out on the lineup was Angel Blythe Campey (check out her blog – it’s cool).  Why?  Well I’ve actually met her, she lives in my building and she’s totally awesome – but I haven’t yet seen her do her thing.  But ALSO, she’s totally hot – boys take note – I see she’s a finalist in Miss Biker SA – go check it out here and give her your vote.  She deserves it. ;)
  • Fairground – Inner Child Gone Wild:  Carnival rides!!!! Nuff said. Just don’t overdo it on the drinks & burgers before hand guys.  Trust me on this one.
  • Short Circuit Cinema: Showcasing exciting short films from all around the world.  And not just that people, they’ll also be serving freshly made Pop-Corn, Candy Floss and Slush Puppies!  As if I ever need a reason for an awesome sugar rush…  But wait, there’s more… They’re also going to provide a cell phone & camera charging station.  You just have to bring your own chargers.  Sweet.

I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to go for the full weekend yet… but I’ll definitely make the Sat/Sun.  My goal for this year is to try and beat this picture taken at last year’s festival:

MASSIVE tattoo on chest – check… Crazy eyes – check… ready to cause some trouble – double check… mwhahahahahaha

So wish me luck…  and do spare a thought for those around me. hehe.

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