Cooking demo at Olivello Restaurant in Stellenbosch

If you are look­ing for some­thing dif­fer­ent to do next week­end or would like to spruce up your recipe books and cook­ing skills then a cook­ing demo at Olivello Restaurant in Stellenbosch in the Cape Winelands could be just the thing for you (takes place on Saturday 19^th February).  With cof­fee and bis­cotti served at 9.30am with the demo com­men­cing at 10am sharp — call up your friends and book a spot before they are all snapped up ... Continued

A picnic at Landskroon

Picnic at Landskroon

They're said to make the best port in the world at Landskroon. And who am I to argue. What I did know, on the very windy pub­lic hol­i­day on which we set out towards Paarl from Cape Town, is that they were one of very few wine estates that allow you to pitch with your own pic­nic and use their grounds to enjoy your lunch. Driving up the beau­ti­ful expans­ive and untarred drive­way that seems to be a pre-requisite for all wine estates in the Western Cape, if not South Africa, my first impres­sion is that Landskroon got stuck some­where back in the sev­en­ties ... Continued

Solms-Delta Summer Concerts

Solms-Delta Wine Estate is a mag­ni­fi­cent wine estate loc­ated 15km out­side of Franschhoek in the beau­ti­ful Cape Winelands.  The estate thrives on both wine and cul­ture and the Saturday Summer Supper Concerts are the per­fect way to show­case that culture.

The pop­u­lar Summer Concerts are part of the Delta Trust’s Music van de Caab pro­ject on the estate. Established in 2007 to recover and rebuild her­it­age in all its forms and with a desire to cre­ate a true sense of value and self-esteem within the Winelands, the Trust ini­ti­ated a Cape music pro­ject. The annual end-of-harvest Franschhoek Oesfees (26 March 2011) and these Summer Concerts show­case this music pro­ject, which now includes people from the wider sur­round­ing areas. Continued

Lunch at Lanzerac

Lunch at Lanzerac

We spent the recent Heritage Day long week­end in the Cape Winelands and had lunch at Lanzerac on Friday.  I’d spent a few hours at the Spa and feel­ing a bit peck­ish we opted for what was close at hand – The Taphuis!  There was a fresh breeze blow­ing so we were happy to sit inside and the interior with its massive fire­place and long, wooden bar counter set a per­fect ambience.

There are only a few tables in The Taphuis but they are fairly large and I appre­ci­ated not hav­ing to rearrange the cut­lery, crock­ery and glass­ware to make enough space for the bread bas­ket! The ser­vice was good (although as we were one of two tables you would expect it to be!) and before long we were tuck­ing into a very sat­is­fy­ing lunch indeed ... Continued

Jazz on Friday in Franschhoek starts 29 October

Jazz on Friday

Another reason to be happy its finally Spring ... The new sea­son of Jazz on Friday, fea­tur­ing the Cape Dutch Connection, kicks off on 29 October 2010 and con­tin­ues every Friday until 1 April 2011 from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.  This sea­son, the band will be play­ing at a new venue, Col'Cacchio Pizzeria in Huguenot Street, Franschhoek.

Band leader Derk Blaisse says the venue, which they tried out at a per­form­ance dur­ing the Bastille Festival in July, is per­fect.  “The garden at Col’Cacchio has a won­der­ful coun­try feel and is set against the back­drop of the Franschhoek moun­tains.  Being in the main road we have the advant­age of attract­ing passers-by and the vibe of being in the middle of a cos­mo­pol­itan vil­lage. I think we are going to have a fant­astic sum­mer sea­son.” Continued

Dik Delta, fat-tailed sheep and cows with long horns at Solms-Delta

The cows at Dik Delta

I first hear about fat-tailed sheep dur­ing a first-hand account of the efforts at Solms-Delta in Franschhoek to ensconce a couple of ostriches in the pen with said sheep. Why? They act as a form of watch dog — who in their right mind wants to tangle with an ostrich? Think how you would feel after one of those legs con­nec­ted with you? (bet you didn't know that their knees bend the wrong way, or is that more dip­lo­mat­ic­ally speak­ing, the oppos­ite way to ours?)

It is the fat-tailed sheep, there­fore, that attract me to Dik Delta, the farm's new fyn­bos culin­ary garden — filled with really inter­est­ing and edible plants and herbs. My other half, it must be said, is here exclus­ively for the garden. Armed with a note­book and cam­era, he intends not­ing every one of the indi­gen­ous trees and plants he has yet to add to our already bust­ing at the seams veget­able garden at home (there is only so much you can fit in your back yard in Plumstead) ... Continued

Solms Delta — picnics, heritage and film-making

Solms-Delta pic­nics

I am a fan of pic­nics. Particularly when they are set in amongst vine­yards, sun-dappled trees and blue skies, as indeed this one turned out to be. But I had to have my wits about me, as we became so embroiled in frolic that I was in danger of miss­ing out on the beauty of our sur­rounds – one of the per­ils of the job, but hey, what is a girl to do?

A friend of mine is doing a bit of work at Solms-Delta, the Franschhoek wine farm that is so much more than a wine farm (I won't go into all of that here, but suf­fice it to say, it is really worth a visit — not least for their wines' quirky names, or the re-introduction of desic­ca­tion — an ancient Greek prac­tice that strangles the grapes) ... Continued

Luxurious L’ermitage in Franschhoek

L'ermitage Franschhoek

I don’t often get the oppor­tun­ity to enjoy five star treat­ment, but a night at “The Hermitage” in Franschhoek was a stay to be remembered. L’ermitage is exactly that, a retreat in the heart of the Franschhoek val­ley. The Franschhoek  moun­tains form the back­drop to this beau­ti­fully loc­ated chat­eau and vil­las. Our unit over­looked a quaint little dam, over­shad­owed by the majestic moun­tain range, and a chorus of bird song and duck har­mony greeted our sun­set and sun­rise respectively.

Increasingly pop­u­lar in the hotel con­text seems to be the self cater­ing unit, with the option to indulge in the res­taur­ant and room ser­vice on offer. The villa’s kit­chen was well equipped, com­plete with a com­bin­a­tion washer/dryer for clothes. The unit con­tained its own com­bined lounge and din­ing area, which was over­looked by the open plan kit­chen ... Continued

Get Cooking at La Cabrière Country House in Franschhoek

La Cabrière Country House

I abso­lutely adore cook­ing and am always look­ing for new ways to learn and share exper­i­ences with friends. So I am very happy to have found out about a fab­ulous cook­ing course that is right on my door­step and this is too good not to share ...

La Cabrière Country House in Franschhoek now offers cook­ing courses in the on-site Culinary Theatre presen­ted by Camil and Ingrid where you will learn new and excit­ing dishes with which to treat and wow your friends at home. The course will begin at 14h00 in the open plan kit­chen of the main house. You will be given an intro­duc­tion as well as a menu present­a­tion and an explan­a­tion of the recipes you will be tack­ling dur­ing the course. Continued

The Helderberg Wine Route

Helderberg Wine Route

When a friend sug­ges­ted we take a trip down the Helderberg Wine Route I was thrilled. Not only do I like a good glass of wine, but appar­ently the trip through the region is breath­tak­ing. I was not dis­ap­poin­ted. Stretching from Somerset West to Stellenbosch, the Helderberg Wine Route is home to the lux­uri­ous Helderberg mountains.

Thanks to the sum­mer sea breeze these slopes enjoy a near per­fect tem­per­at­ure allow­ing the vine­yards to thrive. It is then no sur­prise that some of the finest South African wines come from this area. The Helderberg region is not only beau­ti­ful, but also immersed in his­tory being home to some of the old­est winer­ies in South Africa so whether inter­ested in wine, scenery or his­tory, the Helderberg Wine Route offers it all. Continued

The Grill Room in Franschhoek (a review)

The Grill Room in Franschhoek has been open for close on two months now and we gave it a try last Saturday night.  I’m so pleased we did — we enjoyed it so much that I think I should plan ahead now and book a table for lunch for the Saturday of Bastille Day weekend!

Located on the main street, the L shaped build­ing is invit­ing; I loved the seat­ing area out­side (with heat­ers of course for winter even­ings) and I espe­cially loved the black and white ‘pho­tos’ trans­ferred to wall­pa­per.  Very clever indeed.  The red brick walls, wood shuttered win­dows and red lan­terns all add to the aes­thet­ics.  The main res­taur­ant has about ten tables while the butchery sec­tion is smal­ler and a private din­ing area is avail­able for hire upstairs. Continued

24 hours in Franschhoek

Bo La Motte

A friend of mine has made a tra­di­tion of going away some­where for her birth­day.  This year the town of choice was Franschhoek and yahoo, lucky us, we cracked the nod for the (as Bridget Jones would say) mini break away!

Our accom­mod­a­tion in Franschhoek was Pear Cottage at Bo La Motte Farm.  The farm is situ­ated at the base of the Middagkrans Mountains and is one of the nine Huguenot farms settled in 1672.  We arrived just after 2pm on Saturday after­noon and settled into our home for the night — the cot­tages are beau­ti­ful with stone floors, fire­places and com­pletely equipped for a self cater­ing stay (not that one needs that in the gast­ro­nomic town of Franschhoek!) ... Continued

Bread and wine in the presence of lemons

Môreson Wine Estate

The Franschhoek val­ley is a ver­it­able patch­work quilt of wine estates. Well, obvi­ously you might say, but really, there is a smor­gas­bord from which to choose, and mak­ing a selec­tion for a lunch­eon is some­thing of an under­tak­ing. I am in no way com­plain­ing, you understand...

Franschhoek is without doubt one of the most gor­geous des­tin­a­tions in the coun­try. Poets, writers and crit­ics have all waxed lyr­ical about the valley's charms. It is the food and wine Mecca of the Western Cape and attracts people from all over the world for this reason, that and the beauty of the val­ley, which never fails to move me. The com­bin­a­tion of loom­ing moun­tains, fields of lav­ender, grapev­ines and quaint, freshly painted Cape Dutch homes com­bine to make it exquis­ite. And on an autumn day, as the vine leaves turn from green through brown to bur­gundy, make no mis­take, Franschhoek is close to heaven. Continued

Things to Do with Kids in the Cape Winelands

Bugz Play Park

... things to Do with Kids in the Cape Winelands
Head out to the Cape Winelands which offers an amaz­ing array of activ­it­ies for kids. In Paarl you can keep the kids enter­tained at Bugz Play Park (#84) for a few hours. Here you will find a col­our­ful extra­vag­anza of sand­pits, pedal cars, jump­ing castles, row­ing boats, jungle gyms and a choo choo train, and will tire out little ones in no time. Older and more adven­tur­ous little ones can giddy up and trot around on the res­id­ent horseys or tear up the sur­rounds on the selec­tion of quad bikes. Open 7 days a week from 09h30 to 17h00, find them at 56 Tarentaal street, Joostenbergvlakte, Kraaifontein (near Paarl). Continued

Lunch at The Goatshed at Fairview Winery

The Goatshed

By day three of the four day Easter week­end I was feel­ing some­what fra­gile.  Friends from Durban were in town for the Two Oceans Marathon and when friends are on ‘tour’ (espe­cially these friends) a lot of dec­ad­ent eat­ing, drink­ing and late nights nor­mally go with it!

So, when I woke up on Sunday morn­ing after a few too many vodka and ton­ics at La Med and then a few night­caps at Oblivion, the last thing I felt like was another long lunch.  However, our motto for 2010 is never say no to an invit­a­tion so off we went to The Goatshed at Fairview Winery. Continued