Sophia Lindop - A Unique Food Experience

Who's counting?

We actually did it!  Tom is visiting from London, and today I took him up the West Coast and then to an outdoor restaurant for lunch.  The restaurant is called the Strandloper ('beach stroler') and it's right on the beach.  The sophistication lacking in cutlery and crockery is more than made up for by the experience and great food!  Check out their website - www.strandloper.com...

The winds of change...

Paddy and I found ourselves sipping Warwick wines at the Table Bay Hotel last night.  Norma Ratcliffe had invited us to a vertical wine tasting, and it was especially great for me as it reminded me of my early days in the wine industry, tasting wines with the legendary Gunter Brozel while working at Neethlingshof Estate.

Anyway, Norma had an amazing approach - she let us taste their Trilogy, a Cabernet Sauvignon based blend, from the 1991 vintage up to date!  It was amazing!  To see how these wines have lived on, developed, changed, grown, deepened in colour, softened, matured - sometimes they developed in a direction that she hadn't anticipated while creating them...

Life in 'Radiator Springs'

OK, so some of you already know that I am an animation junkie!  I have all the old classics, and most of the new ones, until this recent surge where there is a new animated movie on circuit every week... 

I know the words to the songs.  Hell, I can even recite parts of the movie!  Like the part in 'Beauty and the Beast' where Belle is hungry and stumbles into the kitchen where the utensils speak and start to entertain her with a gastronomic extravaganza.  They sing, "Be our guest!  Be our guest.  Put our service to the test.  Tie your napkin round your neck, Cheri, and we'll provide the rest.  Soup d'jour?  Hot hors d'eouvre?  Boy, we only live to serve...  Try the grey stuff, it's delicious!  Don't believe me, ask the dishes.  They can sing - they can dance.  After all, Miss, this is France, and a dinner here is never second best..."  See what I mean!

Anyway, last night we went to see "Cars".  It was brilliant!  One of the best I've seen so far.  I promise not to spoil it for you, and encourage you to see it as soon as possible, but basically life in 'Radiator Springs' is slow and meaningful, and filled with old values!  This made me think...

Are we lucky or what?

We recently hosted three awesome foodie ladies - a Belgian, a Canadian and a Frenchwoman.  In South Africa, I think we more often than not assume that the spinach is greener on someone else's table overseas - the food's better, the ideas more innovative, the ingredients miles ahead, etc.  Well, think again!

The rat race...

I finally figured it out!  Ever wondered why there is a three-second following distance between vehicles?  For safety reasons?  Wrong!  It is so that three and not two mini-bus taxis (or BMW drivers) can squeeze in between you and the other vehicle!

Aah!  The rat race!  Well, in today's rushed world, we are forced to find shortcuts for everything, even cooking!  This is quite sad, because there is nothing more therapeutic than chopping and slicing.  Somehow the act of doing these seemingly mundane tasks has a relaxing effect on one.  In this home, I refuse to purchase anything that has been pre-prepared (other than the puff pastry from Woolworths!)  All chopping and slicing takes place right here.  And somehow everything tastes and smells more authentic.

Viva Italia!

Well, whether we want to admit it or not, Italy won the world cup, and they have 'world cup cuisine'.  Paddy always says, "Nobody understands food like the Italians do!"  I can second this - meals with our Italian friends leave you rolling home, but craving more.  There's something about good, wholesome Italian home cooking!  In fact, there's something about home cooking in general!

I can remember how my Mother baked fresh bread every second day.  We would get home from school, and be met at the door by the welcoming smell of fresh bread!  And I remember the homemade hamburgers she made us when we were kids - she used lamb mince, and a sweet, fresh onion, and fresh tomato from the garden on her freshly baked rolls...  Yum!!

Prison break

Until early evening yesterday, the only thing I knew about 'archiving' was that, every now and then a pop-up screen appears on my PC saying, "Would you like to auto archive old documents now?"  And then, yesterday afternoon, I found myself with a group from the Cape Table Club, and the doors of the old Roeland Street prison...

Life's little gems

You know those moments in life when you happen upon a little gem, and you wonder why nobody has ever told you about it?  Well, Paddy and I had one of those moments last Friday, when we were strolling through Simon's Town, and there it was...  The window was filled with the most scrumptious looking pastries and other bakes, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee was wafting through the open door and drawing us in from the street.

Isn't she lovely?

"Isn't she lovely?  Isn't she beautiful...?"  Remember these words from Stevie Wonder's song?  Well, that's what I found myself singing early morning as I was driving towards Kalk Bay to collect my order from Olympia Bakery.  Isn't this place so beautiful?! 

What a nuisance!

As a child I was told the story of "Just Nuisance" many a time by my late Mother.  And, every time I drive through Simon's Town, I think of this dog.  So, on Friday, after a lunch with friends in Simon's Town, Paddy and I ventured on a different route home, where we stumbled upon his grave.  This made me want to rediscover this lovely tale of one of man's trusted friends...

"Just Nuisance" was by all accounts born on Thursday, 1st April 1937 in Rondebosch, Cape Town.  As a pup he was sold to a Benjamin Chaney who moved to Simon's Town to run the United Services Institute.  This Great Dane soon grew to be a massive dog and it was in Simon's Town that he was to become a legend...