Notes

Esona – The VERY One

23, May 2013

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wine-shot

Let us introduce you to the hand written story of Esona (Xhosa for “The very One”). .. Esona is a boutique winery, producing limited release wine from single vineyards nestled beside the Breede River in the Robertson Wine Valley. Husband Rowan, and wife Caryl, found this 17 hectare farm situated between Robertson and Bonnievale as a place of relaxation from the busy city life. As all great things take time they developed this once before vegetable farm into nine hectares of vines in 2004 and bottled and released the first Esona wine in 2010. The farm is maintained by a small team that...

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Summertime…in Vein

25, March 2013

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vein porgy

It's a sure sign of the changing seasons when the strains of Summertime sound a little more melancholy than usual and you wistfully think of days past. AND if the strains are from the new interpretation of Porgy and Bess by Swiss jazz trio, Vein, you are in for a truly languid afternoon. VEIN trio are twin brothers Michael Arbenz (piano), Florian Arbenz (drums) and Thomas Lahms (bass).  The cd of Gershwin's famous opera puts an original spin on some of the tunes. I got plenty o' nuttin' strides nicely on the fast piano bass-lines. I loves you Porgy is lush and delicate as it's supposed to. Summertime...

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Bains Cape Mountain Whisky is the best

24, March 2013

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Liquid GOLD

Take that whisky snobs. Bains Cape Mountain Whisky, distilled in Wellington, has won the award for Best Grain Whisky in the world for 2013 , as awarded by Whiskey Magazine. Of course we have been singing Bains' praises for a while now. It is the only whisky we serve in the restaurant, besides our Kentucky Bourbon, but that is another story... The World Whiskies Awards took place in London last week, where more than 300 whiskies battled it out during three intensive blind tasting rounds, for the coveted title of ‘2013 World's Best Whiskies’. After last year's Japanese domination of the single...

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Flammkuchen but not quite

24, March 2013

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Suzannne & Tobi with their bottle of La Belle Dame Sans Chapeau

It is always a treat when someone stays with us, bringing with them a view on a product or cultural items which hitherto had been unknown to us. When Suzanne Diehm and Tobi Mast checked in, little would betray the fact that Tobi is a masterbaker in the making at home in Stuttgart where he, with his family, owns and run the Deie Backhaus. They produce Swabian Deie which is a relative of the better known Flammkuchen, the Alasatian speciality. A recipe for 'Schwäbische Deie' basically impossible to find, but here is a recipe for flammkuchen with yeast dough, which we have made on occasion...

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Burchell’s legacy

22, March 2013

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William_John_Burchell01

Happy birthday to William Burchell, English Explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist, and author was born in 1792, the son of a wealthy nurseryman.  Burchell travelled nearly 7 000 km throughout South Africa between 1810 and 1815, collecting specimens of animals and plants. He described his journey in a book Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa.  His collection contains the most extensive examples of African fauna and flora.  Burchell's travels however exhausted his fortune, and he became quite isolated and disillusioned. On 23 March 1863, he ended his own life in London. Burchell is remembered...

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