Sophia Lindop - A Unique Food Experience

A special wine for special times...

"One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts."  Samuel Johnson

We recently had the absolute pleasure of being present when a bottle of Anwilka's red blend was opened.  This 63% Cabernet Sauvignon and 37% Shiraz blend was described by Robert Parker, America's famous wine critic, as "the finest red wine I have ever had from South Africa..."

Although this wine retails at around R174 per bottle, it will be an amount well spent.  It's like French champagne - you just have to have it!

Anwilka is a joint venture between a Frenchman, Bruno Prats, and Lowell Jooste of Klein Constantia.  The bulk of the wine is currently being exported. 

The farm lies between Stellenbosch and Somerset West, only 7 kilometres from False Bay, and definitely benefits from the cooling sea breezes and therefore moderate summer heat.

The Tale of Three Farms

Let's start at the very beginning...  I am sure that many of you who are reading this, drive past a sign on the M3 highway that reads "Ladies Mile" every day, at least once.  But, for those of you who do not live in Cape Town and are reading this, I thought I'd explain.  The M3 highway winds all the way around the Devil's Peak side of Table Mountain and through all the southern suburbs towards the most southerly tip of the African continent (OK, this too can be debated, but for the sake of simplifying my story, bear with me...)  As you drive through all these leafy and historic suburbs, there is many an off-ramp taking you into the suburban areas.  One such off-ramp reads "Ladies Mile", and as I take it on my way home every day, and absorb the beauty of the many trees that I see, I have in the past been fascinated by the origins of the name...

Rusks galore!

OK, so here's a tit-bit that will make you drool!  We are off to Timbavati Game Reserve this coming Thursday morning early.  We fly from Cape Town International to Kruger International, where we will be collected from the airport and taken to our camp.  There are six of us that are going together, and we return again on Tuesday May 9th.  We are hoping to see wild dog, white lion, and all the wildlife one can possibly fit into five days!  Both Paddy and I have never been to the Kruger National Park (believe it or not), so we are beside ourselves with excitement.

Paddy volunteered his wife to bake rusks for everyone, so something like 150 rusks were ordered.  I have a very good friend that I like to bake with, so Glenys arrived early and the games began... 

Sequel to "Jack and the Beanstalk"

About two years ago, we were meandering through the nursery on a lazy Sunday afternoon, when I gave a loud shriek!  And, no it wasn't a frog (I am hopelessly afraid of amphibians)!  I had spotted a globe artichoke plant!

Now for those of us who have had the pleasure of being introduced to fresh artichokes, the above makes complete sense!  There is nothing as wonderful as the nutty flavour of steamed fresh artichokes!  I steam them for about 45 minutes, and then we eat them with melted butter, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and freshly ground black pepper.  They go well with Tabasco sauce (I find that anything that works with fresh oysters, somehow also works with avocados and fresh artichokes...) and homemade mayonnaise is another great accompaniment! 

To eat them, you need a coach!  Paddy is in the veteran leagues, and I can be closely observed while chowing down!

A decade

Friendship

The comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them out, just as they are - chaff and grain together - certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness, blow away the rest!

What's on the menu?

"Health, cheerfulness and good humour
all depend, in truth, on a good kitchen."

This evening it's quite cold in Cape Town.  The seasons have changed, and we have no choice but to welcome Winter and invite him in.

What I do like about winter, though, are the following -

Fires!  I love the smell of wood burning in our fireplace!  Have you ever sat and just watched the flames dance around and create a pattern and rhythm of their own? 

Winter menus!  Boy, do I love soups, stews and pies!  There's something about these dishes that comforts our souls!

A hoot of a shoot!

It's amazing how life turns out!  We have an old friend in Johannesburg who called in December to say that his old friend from the US was in Cape Town, and would we like to meet up with him and his wife?  Being the sociable animals that we are, we agreed, and joined them for drinks at the Twelve Apostles Hotel one evening.  We really enjoyed John and Carol's company, and kept in touch after they left.

About three weeks ago, an e-mail from John arrives in my inbox.  In this he tells us of a friend of his who will be in Cape Town soon, and who is passionate about wingshooting, a field sport that Paddy too is passionate about, and did we know anyone that he could hook up with to go on a day's shooting...

Blogger's Block

OK, if writers can have Writer's Block, why can't we have Blogger's Block?!  I know it's valid, 'cause I just had it!  Easter might have been a long weekend for others out there, but it was hard work for us!  We had back-to-back visitors (for the last three weeks, to be honest) and, to crown it all, I was feeling ill.  So, needless to say, I had enough energy only to do things like cook, eat, smile, converse, wash up, cook again, eat again, keep smiling, etc.

Right now, I would be very happy to not see another hot cross bun for a while!  I am cooking for what seems to be the last of the visitors this evening, and then we will unwind for a week and try to catch up.

In love with Life!

I have been in bed for a few days.  On one of these I watched the Oprah show - she was showing clips from past episodes, telling tales of what happened after these shows.  One of these clips was of George Clooney - after the show she opened the floor and invited the guests to ask him questions.

One lady asked him about his newly acquired home in Italy...  He became thoughtful and 'confessed' that he had had a love affair with Italy for a long time and felt compelled to buy a home there.  He told everyone that, on the first day in his new home, he was standing at the window, looking down at the street below.  It was around 17h00, and a group of construction workers were walking home.  He said that they looked like any other construction workers anywhere in the world - no shirts on, hard-top yellow hats on the heads, covered in dust - but what he noticed was, that most of them had loaves of bread, and bunches of flowers in their arms, and a bottle or two of wine in their hands, and they were all laughing and chatting as they walked home.  And he ended with this profound statement: "Italians celebrate Life!"

Don't do it!

I had to be in the city centre this morning to renew my tourist guiding licence.  Finding parking was, to put it mildly, character-building!  I was reminded of the joys of working from home.  My main concern every morning is to find my mug and fill it with coffee as soon as humanly possible, and to try to figure out who I am before my day starts!  But, back to the city centre...

I found parking a few blocks away, and had to walk to where I wanted to be.  Now, I love to walk, and the city is one of my favourite places to walk in, but this morning I wasn't introducing clients to the city's beauty and story, I was on a mission!  So, I was looking at everything through different eyes, and this is what I found...