Category: <span>Food and Drink</span>

Lois and I have been back from our trip to Spain and France for about 2 weeks now, and I am finally getting my photos into a semblance of order (well at least ordered enough to start posting them here). We had a wonderful experience in Barcelona, but I am really not sure where to start to describe it (the food, architecture, people, festivals or the culture).

Well I guess that it is best to start with my first impressions. It was noisy, hot, full of people and I loved it all! This is a city where the rule “never leave home without your camera” applied. Almost every time I left the apartment I found something to shoot. Sometimes it was a planned trip, but more often that not it was something unexpected that was not on the itenary, and certainly not in the guide book.

Like Venice, Barcelona is a city where you want to wonder around and get a little lost (something that in the Gothic Quarter where we were staying was very easy). You will find wonderful squares, fountains and moments of quiet in the most unexpected places.

Escher Square

I cannot tell you exactly where this square was or how to get there, but I think it makes for an amazing photo. It reminds me of those confusing Escher pictures of the stairs going all over the place.

Casa de l'Ardiaca

And this fountain was found in a little building called Casa de l’Ardiaca (the door was open so I just walked in), right next to the Barcelona Cathedral. I am not quite sure if it is open to the public because next time the door was firmly locked.

Neither of these two places were on my “shoot list” for out trip, but I am really happy with both shots. In my next post I will speak a little about the food in Barcelona.

By the way, in case you are wondering why the watermarks in my images have come back (I have been resisting it for ages), it is because somebody else started watermarking my images (with my name) on my behalf, so I have caved in :-)

 

 

 

Food and Drink HDR Travel

Drying Snoek

It is snoek season. At this time of year, thousands of snoek swim past our shores, and many of them are caught and end up for sale all over the place. You can buy it dried and smoked in supermarkets, or buy a while fish on the side of the road to cook on the braai.They are also incredibly cheap; you can buy a while fish (easily enough for 6 people), for about R20 ($3) on the side of the road. They almost give them away.

Drying Snoek

The only problem with snoek is that it is full of tiny sharp bones, and no matter how careful you are, you always seem to end up with a bone sticking into your cheek as you eat. So eating snoek is slow process.

On Wednesday I saw something a little strange, About 2-300 snoek were literally being dried on the side of the road. Some enterprising person had strung up some fencing and was drying the fish on it, no doubt for resale later. I am sure that the local health inspector would not be too impressed with this open-air fish drying factory on the side of the road. But at least somebody is being an entrepreneur.

You can find out more about snoek on the I&J website.

(Update – comments closed because this page is not a marketplace for dried snoek).

Cape Town Food and Drink

Two of my favourite things to celebrate the end of birthday week.

Absinthe

Some Absinthe (which makes the heart grow fonder) to kindle the creative spirit (thanks Kirsten for the gift),

Spare Ribs

and even though it was freezing cold and raining today, pork ribs. They were cooked to perfection by my brother Andrew, who unexpectedly arrived last night from Johannesburg to join my birthday celebrations.

Cape Town Food and Drink

Chicken burger

Chicken burger for lunch. I saw a Woolworths truck with a photo of a burger on the side which inspired me to shoot my own version. What do you think?

Food and Drink

Raindrop chilli

This mornings rain was a welcome relief from the sweltering heat of the last couple of weeks. The garden loved the extra water, which was especially good for my  chilli plants. The plant in the photo is a peppadew, which is a uniquely South African hybrid between a chilli and a baby tomato. While it is spicy, it should be mild enough for most people. I love just chomping on them, or adding them to sandwiches or salad.

You are welcome to pop over and try some, otherwise most South African shops will have them (and certainly most shops in South Africa).

 

Cape Town Food and Drink

Last Sunday, we decided to drive to Wellington for lunch and some wine tasting. What we had completely forgotten is that small towns like Wellington close on a Sunday. Absolutely nothing was open. Well almost nothing…

Dunstone wines

Dunstone wines

But, it was still wonderful weather, so we were not going to let that stop us. So with the help of some friends who live in the area (thanks Doug from PT Productions and Dawn from Jorgensen Distillery), we managed to find what was probably the only open place in Wellington, but also one of the nicest restaurants I have ever been to. It is called The Stone Kitchen, and it is found on the Dunstone wine estate. At about 2 hectors of vines, it is a tiny little estate but with some fabulous wine. But the restaurant was great, the food was simple, fresh and tasty.

When we arrived they were full, but after a quick wine tasting at the bar counter (we finally got our wine tasting), they found us a table. The chef came out to introduce the menu, and we made our choices.

Warthog burger

Warthog Burger

I had a grated warthog burger, with onion marmalade and cheese, and Lois had the goat’s cheese salad. Now for Lois to eat goat anything is pretty amazing! But at the chef’s instance she tried some of the goat cheese, and she loved it. She actually asked where they got such good goat’s cheese (that does not taste like, well…goat). I could tell you the answer but I will save that for a future post.

The amazing chef

The chef

So two suggestions. Firstly if you want to go wine tasting on a Sunday, stick to the well-known areas like Stellenbosch or Paarl, and if you want a fantastic meal, goto the Stone Kitchen (but best to book – they were very full). And their sauvignon blanc and merlot are both brillant wines. We took a few bottle of each home with us.

Cape Town Food and Drink

Markets are always great places for photos, especially when there is great food. And when you goto a market in an Afrikaans area, you are assured of plenty of great  food shooting opportunities.

This particular market was in the park directly across the road from  our holiday house in Langebaan. Langebaan is a small seaside holiday village on the West coast about an hour from Cape Town. Like most small town markets, it had an eclectic collection of great food, lovely hand-crafts and rubbish. It amazes me how you can see wonderful food and beautiful carvings right next to miscellaneous junk from somebody’s recently cleaned up house. And I am not talking about  old antiques. No, this is just junk that nobody wants, but is still for sale on the off-chance that somebody might buy it. And have you noticed how all markets have at least one junk stall?

Anyway, lets straight past the junk to the good stuff.

Big yellow blocks of Boere-kaas (farm cheese)

Chocolate cupcakes

Handmade dark chocolate cupcakes

hand-made pepper grinders

Handmade pepper grinders

These pepper grinders are hand made from tree branches, resulting in grinders that have a natural variation in shape and size. If you examine the quality of these grinders, and the hard work that went into the turning and varnishing of them, it is difficult to really put a fair price on them. They are truly beautiful.

samosa

These samosas were a little unexpected at an Afrikaans market (especially vegetarian samosas), but nevertheless they were freshly made, crispy and  excellent.

Like most small markets you can walk through and see everything in about 1/2 an hour. Will you life be unfulfilled if you miss it? No. Will you have an enjoyable 1/2 hour delay if you are driving past? Yes, worth the visit, but don’t stay too long.

Go hungry!

Cape Town Food and Drink Travel

Mince pies

In some traditions, it is considered good luck to eat a mince pie every day for the 12 days before Christmas, and even luckier to eat each pie in a different home. In my family it is far more simple.

Every mince pie eaten before Christmas gives you a month’s good luck.

So the more you eat, the better your luck (assuming they don’t kill you from a heart attack). Of course eating 12 pies guarantees your luck for the next year. To continue this nonsensical and superstitious tradition, I ate my first mince pie of the season last night; like I need an excuse to eat a mince pie. It was supplied by my friend Sandra, and baked by her husband.

Ok to tell the truth, my luck is guaranteed for at least the next two months, and I am bound to have a little more luck coming my way soon.

Enjoy the pies :-)

Cape Town Food and Drink

Francois’ Espedata

The weather this weekend has been glorious (you may notice that Capetonians have an obsession with the weather), so a group of us decided to have an outdoor lunch at Forries in Claremont. Foresters Arms, which  is a traditional English pub, has been around for as long as I can remember. And they server about 15 beers on tap (which is very rare for Cape Town).

Francois could not resist the Espedata, which looked fantastic. But at 400 grams, it was simply big a meal for me, so I settled on a chicken burger covered with Bree and cranberry sauce.

Cape Town Food and Drink

We are supposed to be at Kirstenbosch Gardens having a birthday picnic with our friend Sarah, but alas I am having an acute and sudden dose of pollen allergy, so I don’t think that an afternoon in the botanical gardens in spring is such a good idea.

However, our contribution to the picnic was going to be a baby tomatoe tart with gruyere pastry, which Lois still made for lunch.

It is really simple to make and very yummy. Here is the recipe:

  • Fry 1 chopped onion and 4 cloves chopped garlic
  • Mix about 800 g baby tomatos with 1/4 cup salt, 1/2 cup chopped basil, 1.5t sugar, and a little salt and pepper
  • Mix in the onion/garlic mixture
  • Put the tomatos mixture into a ceramic pie dish
  • Cover dish with puff pastry from the supermarket
  • Brush some egg over the pasty
  • Finally sprinkle about 1/2 cup finely gruyere cheese over the top
  • Bake at 180 for about an hour, and leave to stand for a few mintues before cutting

Serve hot or cold. Yummy indeed!

 

Cape Town Food and Drink