Sophia Lindop - A Unique Food Experience

Taste the Cape

It's official...  Our Taste the Cape website is live (still a few hick-ups to iron out...) and we are furiously working on letting everybody know about our planned food tours!  My dream to introduce more and more overseas people to South African cuisine, and to resuscitate this style of cuisine amongst South Africans, is about to come true!  Go check out the site...

So yesterday I was on the road all day, visiting those who will play a role in this venture, and making sure that plans are secured.  What a day!  Do you even realise what a rich food industry we have in the Western Cape?  Do you know the quality of produce?  I met with James Healey who makes mature cheddar cheese only - and he won the award for the best cheddar in the world in 2006!  I was so enamoured that I bought a whole truckle!  And then I spent time at Fairview, a much bigger cheese producer, and left there with another huge slice of goat's cheddar.

I met with winemakers, garagistes, keen foodies and more, and had an inspiring day.  But then something happened that was kind of on the same level as swimming with dolphins in the open sea (I did about 10 years ago) - it left me on a complete high!  I met up with my mentor and wine hero, Gunter Brözel, who was winemaker at Nederburg for many years.  Just thinking about the interlude puts a smile on my face!

We have also been to a few restaurants lately, so I thought to share with you my thoughts about Aubergine and Baia.  Keep reading...   

Funny how the wheels turn...

One thing we can be sure of is that wheels are round, and they do turn!  What goes around will inevitably come around!

I failed my last year at school, and for four days I lay on the bed, didn't want to eat, didn't want to see anyone, and I cried...  On the morning of the fourth day, the door opened softly, and in walked our family doctor, and dear friend, Uncle Nico.  I turned my back on him, but he sat down on the bed, and put his hand on my leg and said, "Did you know I failed my second last year at school?"  Then he kept quiet, rubbed my leg and just sat there...  My mind was going wild!  "But he's a doctor!  So, if he could do it, so can I!!"  After he left quietly, I got up, went to the bathroom, washed my face, and looked up at the puffed up vision staring back at me in the mirror...  That day I made a decision to redefine the word "FAIL" - and to see these inevitable occurrences as slight hick-ups that were placed in my way to help me reach my goal. 

Today I seldom use the word 'fail' and my life is one long series of opportunities and accomplishments!

This morning my phone rang, and on the other side was a voice I hadn't heard since she was a little girl...  It was Uncle Nico's youngest daughter!  And she said, "Sophia, I am teaching at the moment, and I am so unhappy.  I look at your website and blog, and you seem to lead such an exciting life.  You love what you do.  I would like to do that too.  Can you help me, please?"  Just typing this, I have tears in my eyes...  Uncle Nico has since passed on, and I miss him often.  But here I am today, an inspiration for his daughter!  How the wheels turn...

Apple of Love

I just spoke to my brother's four-year-old, who said, "Do you know how much I love you?  I love you as much as all the things in the world!  And, if you were here with me right now, I would pick you flowers so that you know how much I love you..."  And there were tears rolling down my cheeks!  The love from someone who has not yet learnt to be deceitful, must be the purest and most precious gift one can ask for!

What a week!  I cooked for a function on Monday evening, worked on Tuesday (research for a new project - I was asked to consult for a new restaurant and train their staff), cooked again last night, and this evening Paddy and I will get into bed early and spend a relaxing evening together.

Last night I cooked a special meal, with hearts and lots of red, for a group from the US.  It was also Paddy's birthday yesterday, so I wanted it to be extra special.  And it was. 

Give credit where credit is due...

It's that time again - BLOG AWARD TIME!  And once again I would like to ask you to open a bottle of good wine, sit down, enjoy the aromas of a good meal permeating the room, and make your nominations for the 2008 Blog Awards.  Obviously this blog lies close to my heart, and obviously I would like to continue the winning streak and take home the award again this year, but there are also others to consider...  Browse around the Internet and make your choices. 

Then, before you nominate, make sure you read the small print (yes, like every other document, we have small print on this one too!)  Here are a few points to ponder:

1.  Only blogs written within the Republic of South Africa and / or blogs written by South African citizens are eligible to be considered for the awards.
2.  Only one nomination form and one finalist voting form may be submitted per person.
3.  E-mail addresses are required to nominate and vote. You must use your own address and confirm the validation e-mail.
4.  If you attempt to submit a second ballot, your first one will be replaced.
5.  The voting process is split into two separate stages: The Nominations Phase and the Voting Phase.
6.  Nominations from the general public will be open from 11 February 2008 to 22 February 2008.
7.  URLs are required, i.e. mine is http://capetable.typepad.com.
8.  The maximum number of weblogs you may nominate for a category is three (3) for most categories and four (4) for Weblog of the Year.
9.  At least three (3) different weblogs in total must be nominated.
10. There is no limit to the number of categories a weblog may be nominated for.  Nominees have to fit the category they are placed in.  You will be asked to give an honest reason for your nomination.
11. After 22 February 2008, the top 10 blogs with the most nominations (taking into account relevance to the category they have been nominated for) in each category will go through to the finals.

Once you've decided which three blogs you like, head on over to the 2008 SA Blog Awards site and get nominating. 

Final voting will be open to the public from Monday 3 March 2008 until midnight Friday 14 March 2008.  During the final voting stage, you will be able to cast your vote on the 2008 Awards website and a panel of bloggers and "celebrity judges" will also judge the nominated blogs in each category.  Their and your votes will be tallied and the top blogs resulting from this in each category will be announced as winners on 3 April.

A night out on the Town

My cousin's daughter was involved in a bad hit-and-run accident last weekend, and I could only get to the hospital on Friday (couldn't see her before anyway)...  Now, I have a very strong stomach and spirit, but I found this so upsetting that I hardly slept that evening, and I could not get the picture out of my mind.  Saturday started quiet, and I had a lot of time to think, and my spirits were low, so I asked Paddy whether we could go to the movies - good old escapism!

I sat with the weekend newspaper, reading the reviews, and giving Paddy the opportunity to choose.  There were three movies that seemed an option - Atonement, Away from Her, and The Jane Austin Book Club - and Into the Wild was also on our shortlist.  Suddenly Paddy said, "Let's go and see 'Feast of Love' at the Labia."  Now this movie didn't even feature on the ratings page, and there was no info either, but with it being February, the month of love, and with me needing some form of escapism urgently, I agreed...

A round trip through South Africa

It becomes very easy to slide into a rut when doing functions so often - you kind of stick to what works and what you know.  But being so easily bored, I just had to come up with something new and exciting for last Thursday evening's dinner at Blackheath Lodge in Sea Point.  We have an overseas group about once a week, and I aim to infuse them with my passion for South African and Cape cuisine.  And so we often do bobotie, dishes with biltong, game fillet, samoosas and the likes.  On Wednesday evening, after having dinner with Lance and Diane from Apron Strings, where Lance had given us a tour of his veggie patch (and I struggled to keep my heart rate down) and picked a baby marrow (courgette) of about 30cm long (although there was nothing 'baby' about this one) from the plant and handed it to me, I woke up in the middle of the night, adrenalin pumping, with a new idea of what to prepare for my guests...

I told them that we were going on a tour of South Africa - starting in Cape Town with traditional smoorsnoek which I wrapped in phyllo pastry parcels.  It's a festive and tasty way to start a meal, and the mouth-feel is great!  Guests raved. 

Making music...

Take it from me...  Don't act 20 years old when you're clearly not!  Paddy and I visited with Andre and a couple of friends last night, ate pizzas, and watched music DVD's.  Bono and Robbie Williams had all the women enraptured, while old memories were resurrected with "You can start me up" by Mick Jagger and the boys, and "Welcome to the Hotel California" by the Eagles.  Now, I know all this seems pretty harmless, but we got to bed at 02h30, and not because we wanted to, but because we knew that we had a big luncheon on today, and I had to work in the latter part of the day.  Right now Paddy has passed out on the bed, and the only reason why I am blogging is to stay awake for my meeting at 19h00.  Let's face it - we can't do these last nights any more!

Anyway, back to the music extravaganza...  We were watching various artists perform with an orchestra or a band, and what was amazing to see was how there would be, for example, one guy on stage that, at certain times, would run his hand through a row of hanging chimes, or shake a rattle, and that was all he or she did.  Although it seemed completely insignificant, we soon realised how one dimensional and dead the song would be without that little sound at that time, or with a bass guitar solo at another, or the lead vocalist all of the time.  And during a short interval, when Andre passed the buck and asked me to unpack, assemble and figure out how to work his new espresso machine, and make a couple of espressos (nice friend we have!), Allan made this profound statement...  He asked us whether we had noticed the guy who ran his hand through the chimes, and whether we had realised that without that sound, the song would be lost...?  Then he compared this to life - and how some of us are the lead singer, or the main act - the obvious one who gets the recognition.  But then there are some of us who are there just to shake a rattle, or hit a tambourine, or run our fingers through the chimes - seemingly insignificant tasks.  And yet, without that little sound, the song would lose its soul!  So, whatever your little role in life's orchestra, you should play it with enthusiasm and passion, remembering its importance and appreciating its significance.  Wow!   

Milk Tarts

When I was about 6 years old ( I went to school when I was 5), we had our little spelling books.  And to help us grasp this spelling business, the teacher taught us to make associations...  For example, I'd draw a tree, and then write the word TREE next to it to help me remember.  And so, my all time classic that left the entire family in hysterics, and me wondering what the heck they had to drink, was the word BULL (OK, I grew up on a farm, and kids in my village still knew what a bull was...) - and my beautiful Friesland cow beside it, all black and white, with a bright pink udder!  I never mixed up the sexes again!

Anyway, on the same subject - last night I made the two best looking milk tarts I have seen in my life.  I prepared a feast for a US group, and decided to make milk tarts for dessert.  What has put me off them for years now, must be the bakery section at most supermarkets - gosh, can someone teach these people to make a good milk tart!?  They are like heavy lumps of sweet, tasteless gunge...

Newsflash:  I have been cured and am back on track and in love with milk tarts!