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.

Blog link love....

When I can understand its content (you'll see what I mean),
I love this blog.

Most importantly, I love the man who writes it :-)

The lastest post has a personal touch to it which saw
us on the balcony using lots of masking tape to fix
the damage, and to try and prevent some more of the same
to whatever was left of our internet connection!

http://localloop.co.za/2009/11/power-over-ethernet-makes-cat5-cable-less-tasty/

"The Shredder"

Coz sometimes...

...life's like that.
(Painting courtesy of the study
room at school, artist unknown)

Gluten-free bread recipe version 1

I made this recipe up as I went along (the benefits of a having been a chef...written recipes are optional).

If there were ever a bread that TASTED like french toast, this is it - it's very eggy, so be warned if that's not your thing in terms of flavours...

Red pepper and feta loaf

62.5g butter (melted)
2 eggs
1 cup rice flour (Entice Rice Flour works well)
1 tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp creme of tartar
pinch of salt
1 small red pepper
1 round of feta

- Mix together and put in a buttered loaf tin.
- Bake for 25 mins at 180 degrees celsius.

Born-up-a-gluten-free-tree! For those of you wondering why this is my oft-used key phrase, it's just a silly play on bon appetit :-)

Crumble Cravings

I had only two pieces of fruit left in the fridge the other day, one apple and one nectarine, which I was planning on virtuously eating raw as part of lunch when I realised with glee that I also had the makings of a crumble topping.

Below is the recipe for the two-serving gluten-free crumble which resulted, and I have to say, it was one of the best I've ever made.

Apple-Nectarine Crumble (as pictured above)
(Serves 2)

Crumble:
- 70g butter (just over 1/8 of a 500g block of unsalted butter)
- 6 Tbsp rice flour (I use Entice rice flour, available from most Super Spars)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 Tbsp cane sugar
- 2 Tbsp medium desiccated coconut

- Use a food processor to make the crumble

Base:
- 1 apple
- 1 nectarine
- 1/2 tsp cane sugar
- 50g flaked almonds
- juice of 1 lemon

- Butter the base of a baking dish.
- Add base.
- Put over crumble as topping.
- Bake for 10 mins at 200 degrees celsius, shuffle crumble lightly using a fork, and then bake for another 10 mins at 175 degrees celsius.

As Isadora Duncan said:
"Virtuous people are simply those who have not been tempted sufficiently..."

Well, I was tempted, and my resistance crumbled :-)

Lovely wezza we are 'aving!

It's a beautiful, clear Saturday morning on the South African highveld. Purrfect braai weather!

Irene radar 50km - 2009/11/14 - 08:22:31
(Updated images available at http://metsys.weathersa.co.za/IR50.html)

When stuff's not easy

If there were ever a little person wearing a fur suit that I wish I could meet in the flesh, it would be this handsome little fellow. Alas, he lives on a continent far, far away.

Buster and his mom, Lisa, are going through a very tough time at the moment, and they've got a special place in my thoughts and prayers.

L and B, I want you both to know that if feel-better-keep-strong-hugs could be sent via the post, you'd both be receiving stacks of mail from me!

Sometimes...

...you just need to let sleeping dogs lie.

Interesting dairy products

I am not generally a fan of dairy, or rather, dairy is not a fan of mine. However, as the years tick by on a strict gluten-free eating plan, my intestines have begun to welcome a select few dairy items without distress.

Enter my new favourite: Goat's milk kefir.

This unique and tasty gem is brought to us by Mooiland (South Africa), and is available from a few Super Spar outlets for R12.95.

For the benefits of kefir versus yoghurt, see http://www.kefir.net/kefiryogurt.htm

Now, onto my hubby's favourite bovine product: Bulgarian yoghurt.

Mention yoghurt and my DH's eyes light up with childhood tales of giant buckets of milk bought fresh from Irene Dairy by his Bulgarian father; cultured to make homemade yoghurt; and mixed with olive oil, garlic and cucumber (no less). Thus, I like to keep my eyes pealed for different incarnations of this breed of yoghurt.

And voila! This cutesy presented itself to me the other day in a charming little terracotta pot from Mr Yoghurt (South Africa), also available from select Super Spar stores for R16.95.


For a tasty gluten-free treat: slice in some bananas, stir in some honey and sprinkle over some almond nibs.

Born-up-a-gluten-free-tree!