*Upcoming Event*

Would you like to meet some local cookbook authors?

Where:

Reader’s Warehouse (Tokai branch)
Block 1, No 1, South Palms Centre,
Corner Bark and Main Rd
Tokai

When:

Saturday, 30 November 2013

Contact details:

Tel (021) 701 0632

About the event:

All eight authors will be signing their books (personalised Christmas gift for someone, perhaps?)

The book signing event is officially from 12 noon to 1pm.

Coffee, tea and biscuits will be served, courtesy of Peacock Coffee and Mantelli’s bakery (wonder if there'll be any gluten-free yummies?)

There will also be some braai sets as giveaway prizes, courtesy of Penguin Books.

So if you happen to be in Cape Town next weekend, and feel like popping in, now you know where to be!

Moer Koffie

If you're ever travelling in South Africa, and someone says to you: 
"Ek gaan jou moer!"  
make sure you either duck, run or have mad-ninja-skills because, basically, you're about to be hit really hard.

And that is indeed the verb usage of the Afrikaans word "moer".

Now what on earth, you ask, has that got to do with anything?

Well, moer is also used to describe a delicious coffee beverage that warms you from top to toes. It stems not from anything violent, but rather from the Middle Dutch noun moer which meant "a layer of sediment". This described the fact that the drink is made with coffee grounds not in a fancy coffee plunger, but rather simmered in an enamel or aluminium coffee pot on the stove or over a fire. It's served strained through a strainer, all deliciously sweet, strong, milky and addictive.

There are most probably many MANY opinions on what constitutes this traditional drink, but simple is always good, and here's my take on it.

An enamel mug (coated tin)

Ingredients:

• your favourite plunger coffee beans, ground 
• filtered water
• sweetened condensed milk
• hot milk
• needed: a stove-top kettle (or small saucepan) and a small strainer

Method:

• Follow the instructions on the back of your pack of ground coffee beans for the correct water to coffee grounds ratio (as if you were making it in a plunger).
• Add the right ratio of cold water and ground coffee to your stove top kettle or small saucepan.
• Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Pour into a coffee cup (or traditionally, an enamel mug) through a small strainer to filter out the coffee grounds, and then sweeten using condensed milk to taste. Add hot milk to temper the coffee strength.
• Variation: simmer the coffee WITH the condensed milk in the pot on the stove. Add cinnamon sticks for spice.
• Enjoy with a buttermilk rusk (see recipe) for breakfast on the stoep (patio).

If you ever visit Cape Town, there's a market in Tokai called the Porter Estate Produce Market that serves moer koffie. I last blogged about it in 2009, but visited again this month, and wanted to share a couple of photos.

Cool wire art made from chicken mesh.

A tea and hot chocolate stall with a quirky design feature.

Boerenkaas (cheese) with cumin from the Constantia Cheesery.

Super cute Sally :)

The moer koffie stall...enamel pots, condensed milk and all!

The portly PEP pig logo.

Romanesco and sprouting broccoli for sale at the veggie stand.

Hillcrest Berry Orchards

Situated just outside Stellenbosch lies this berry orchard gem - especially so for the magnificent views, contemplative environment and delicious gluten-free deserts.

Their crustless cheesecake is a must, topped with your fresh berry coulis of choice (I love the cherry topping) and served with cream or ice-cream (the cream is decadently thick). I dream of this cheesecake - if I close my eyes I can imagine the melt-in-your-mouth smoothness and accompanying berry tartness to balance the sweetness.

If you're craving something chocolatey, their gluten-free torte is rich, heavy and comforting.

Their menu is well-stocked for a variety of options, service is good (and friendly) if you go when it isn't packed and the shop is full of tempting treats such as jams, honeys, frozen berries, etc.

I highly recommend this for an outing the next time you are in Cape Town. It's lovely.

Cape Town International Airport

The parking is a little confusing at the moment but the new departure hall is a phenomenal improvement.

There are a lifetime of very high windows to be cleaned and recleaned, and I'm SO glad that's not my job!


P.S. FREE wireless internet access COULD be so easily achieved on that scale and would be so much appreciated by travellers, but alas, it is not so...

P.P.S. Three points for me for using 'so' so much in the above sentence!

Tibetan Teahouse

Simon's Town holds a little orange gem in the form of the Tibetan Teahouse.

With awesome views of the ocean; calming, milky chai served in little wooden cups; delicious vegetarian food; a friendly cat and an invitation to linger; you just don't find much better than this for a soulful afternoon hangout.

Just drive through the town's on it's main road till juuust before the golf course, and you'll see it on a corner on your right. Say hello to the penguins for me, please :-)

Johnny Clegg, quite simply, rocks!

I have always wanted to see Johnny Clegg live in concert, and one couldn't ask for a better setting than the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. So I convinced hubby we absolutely had to arrange an entire holiday around the Johnny concert on 22 November.

We were eventually so blabbingly excited about seeing him live, that my parents got in on the action and flew down to Cape Town to see Johnny too - now that's dedication to music for you :-)

His show was, honestly, one of the most fantastic live shows I have ever been to. He had the crowds eating out the palm of his hand with just the right blend of old vs. new songs, background stories and jokes. It was awesome.

Johnny - RESPECT!

The Porter Estate Market

When: Saturdays from 9:00 to 13:00
Where: Tokai, on the Chrysalis Academy grounds (directions)
Entrance fee: R5
Website: http://www.pepmarket.co.za

Here are some photos from my trusty digi-cam (always tucked into my bag) from our many market visits, of which each was very special in its own way; if not for the food, then for the people/dogs/setting/company.

Breakfast is highly recommended in the form of grazing from stall to stall, all laid out on one of the rustic wooden benches or tree-trunk tables. Our faves include: moer koffie with condensed milk (served in tin cups), cherries/peaches/apricots/red peppers from the fruit and veg stall, chocolate macaroons (gluten-free) served in little pyramid packets, any pesto from Pesto Princess, raw honey from the honey guy, snoek pate from the fish guy, and goat's milk feta from the Imhoff table.

This outing is one of the things we miss most about living in Cape Town. So if you are in the environs, then please make the trip (often) to treasure this little unpretentious gem of a market...you wont be sorry!

Travel Diary: Hout Bay, Cape Town (at sunset)

Walking on the beach at Hout Bay during sunset is great for a couple of romanticised reasons:

1. holding your loved one's hand and chatting (thanks bu *kiss);
2. enjoying the view of the sun setting over the mountains (see pics);
3. the lighthouse beam from Kommetjie;
4. the fishing boats coming back into the harbour; and
5. the vast array of trotting, barking, playing dogs (as below) that see the beach as their personal playground which I, personally, find amusing to watch (obvious downside - owners that don't pick up their doggy's doo-doo leads to eewww).

Sometimes, one is lucky enough to catch some insight into other people's lives too. On just one random day we witnessed:

1. a wedding party taking pictures on the beach;
2. two sets of religious groups holding baptisms in the harbour waters; and
3. a wedding couple heading to the pier for pictures.

All in a good day's beach walk :-)

So feast your eyes on...

...the sunset (numero uno)...
...the sunset again(numero duo)...

...a little scruffy-do :-)

Travel Diary: Gordon's Bay, Western Cape

G-Bay is situated on the northeast corner of False Bay, about 30 mins drive from Cape Town. Not much goes on here from the view of a passer-througher, and even the "beach" is a little underwhelming BUT the views over False Bay when you get up high enough are pretty spectacular.

That being said, I highly recommend 20 Protea Place as a port-of-call should you be passing through this merry haven. What makes it special is that it is a 5-star self-catering "guest house", with each apartment lavishly decorated from the pages of some uber stylish, shee-shee-poo-poo decor mag. It is tres fab!

Feast your eyes on...

...the kitchen...
...the lounge...
...the dining room...
...le boudoir...
...the balcony with view included :-)

Travel Diary: Hermanus, Western Cape

Happy December everyone! I hope it is indeed a festive month which is sparkley and full-o'-fun :-)

Now, back to the travel-tales.

Herm-se-anus (as I like to call it) is about 90 minutes drive from Cape Town, and we were lucky to be there at the tale-end of the whale season (pun intended).

While the guest house wasn't that great, while still being on the pricey side (it was run by a European woman who talked like Edna from The Incredibles and oozed condescension out of every pore), there was a really cool little dachshund there called Max who made up for his owner's severe lack of gentility and charm.

Walking the cliff path into town is highly recommended, as is eating at the Ocean Basket during whale season. From our window table, we saw at least seven full leaps by a whale right out of the water, which was awesome!

Feast your eyes on...

...Max...

...the view along the cliff path...

...the whale-tale fountain :-)

Travel Diary: Noordhoek, Cape Town

Hubby and I recently spent an awesome week planned around the Johnny Clegg concert (pics to come) in our favourite South African city (and ex-home town), Cape Town.

One of the guest houses we stayed at was Bazara in Noordhoek - a funky, reasonably-priced place with a fabulous view and a lovely resident golden retriever. It's close to both Long Beach and Chapman's Peak Drive, both of which deserve a chunk of your time.

Feast your eyeballs on...

...the suite...
...the view from the deck...
...a delightfully friendly dog named Bungo...
...the sunset...
...the beach the next morning...
...and a view from Chapman's Peak Drive.