Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Cheese Festival comes... prepare yourselves!
Vital Cheese Lovers Information:
April 26, 2008
2008 SA Cheese Festival
Let the best of SA cheese seduce you
Allow the earthy scents of cheese to lure you to the country?s major cheese event ? the SA Cheese Festival which will be held from 25 to 28 April 2008 on the historic Bien Donn? farm nestled in the countryside between Paarl and Franschhoek. Young and old will be sure to enjoy this farm-to-table cheese experience.
Enjoy a magnitude of legendary champion cheeses and discover daring new varieties paired with delicacies such as wine, olives and freshly baked bread in a country market atmosphere. Visitors will be afforded the exhilarating opportunity to compare our local cheeses to their French counterparts, imported especially for the festival. South Africa?s most celebrated food personalities and cheese-makers will be there to let you in on the most scrumptious cheese secrets, while demonstrating new trends of the cheese world. All of this included in the entrance fee of R75.
Tickets for this delectable event will be available from 1 February 2008 at Computicket outlets countrywide and online. Senior citizens will be able to enter for a mere R45 and children 12 years and under enter free. Numbers are limited so do not hesitate to put the 2008 Cheese Festival in first place on your to do list.
The gates will be open from 10:00 to 18:00 from Friday to Sunday and from 10:00 to 16:00 on Monday 28 April. For more details, contact the organiser, Agri-Expo, at tel 021 975 4440, e-mail cheese@agriexpo.co.za or visit www.cheesefestival.co.za.
Friday, February 8, 2008
The best in London : Home Baked
Not really available in Cape Town (Tragedy!) but well worth 
the plane ticket to London ~ or better yet, if you are in London, worth the phone call: My friend Lori makes quite simply the best cup cakes and confectionary in the world!
I have searched the world for the optimum cup cake, gone to Charley's in Roeland Street in Cape Town down from my office, been to Denise's Delights in Sea Point which my family used to supply, and made a complete nuisance of myself with Polish and Swiss confectioners in Toronto and I have still not come across a cake or other sweet baked thing that even remotely holds a candle to Home Baked's goods...
This is seriously the best kept secret in sweet things in the UK, and this from someone with no sweet tooth to speak of really.
Check out the tantalizing website at: http://www.home-baked.com/
Or join the Facebook group
Otherwise call Lori for orders big and/or small:
mobile: 07726782688
e mail: lori@home-baked.com
Labels: Cupcake, Home Baked, London
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Buena Vista Social Club at the Tyger Lake
BVSC is a great place to meet friends for a drink (or perhaps a cigar in the dedicated smoking room), and share some tapas or a straight forward meal.
I've gone for a couple of lounge sessions, sharing a few beers, over the last year or so, but only in the last month have I enjoyed the food that BVSC has on offer.
I can heartily recommend the Tapas platter for R74.50, which could easily feed 4, and is a great base to add to other tapas for the more adventurous. It includes tonnes (seriously TONNES : this place's portion sizes are actually too large in my opinion) of feta, olives, humus, tomato bruschetta(???), diablos (dates wrapped in bacon : yum!), chicken wings, ciabatta, teramasalata(??? - we swapped out for more humus) as well as some deep fried brinjal discs. I normally grab some of their chili poppers too.
The decor and vibe is great - sort of like a VERY upmarket version of cubana; similar to how Rafikis makes Cool Runnings' vibe a little more palpable to the slightly older crowd (i.e. not students). The drinks are well priced, and the cocktails are made with a 'heavy' (or honest) hand, so when you are paying R28 for a cocktail you aren't paying for the orange juice.
My biggest criticism would be that the waitering staff have an URGENCY to get your plates off the table. This is strange, because they don't bother you otherwise, and there is no pressure to leave [I wonder if they have a crockery shortage? Or their dishwashing crew is a bit lacklustre], but with two different waitrons (horrible term), our plates have been cleared before the last bite has been chewed. This is really off putting and can make it a bit uncomfortable. I don't understand it.
Overall this place (near Mamu) is a wonderful place to spend a fun evening with friends. Having been there a couple of times with mates during the week I can say it is always pumping without being too crowded. I recommend booking in advance.
Labels: cuban, experience, good value, specials, tyger lake
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