Cape Town Food

    On Monday this week I got a mail from Eat-In magazine, asking if I'd like to help in the nomination process for small producers of food! Would I ever! A goodie box to use and enjoy, coming up with a decision on what would be worthy to be nominated came through to the office today, and I intend to get cracking tonight on trying out the various products; some established boutique brands (like Nomu) as well as some other relative unknowns makes it look like its going to be an interesting week of experimenting and tasting what's on offer.

To find out more about the Eat In RMB Private Bank South African Produce Awards check out the Eat In website: www.eat-in.co.za

To whet everyone's appetite, here is the whole unboxing process from this morning in the Cape Town Food office (I loved the green bow! too precious):

Labels: Award, Eat-In, Nominations

As a food lover you sometimes have to face down the scary fact that there are only so many calories you can safely consume in a day, without gaining weight.

Perpetually on diet (or at least thinking of one), I know that I need to track what I'm eating to maximise the taste per calorie, and rather than wasting vital calories on stupid everyday things like milk, I'd rather turn to great flavours like grapeseed oil or my chili reduction.

To help with that I discovered a really helpful site, run by The New York Times company no less, called Calorie Count plus, with a database of foods, recipes, etc and their requisite calories. You can track your activity (i.e. exercise or lack thereof) as well as weight; an excellent dieting cookbook. I'd suggest taking the data of your calorie intake into excel and draw a trend line, because sometimes it can seem like your calorie intake is going up, but in fact your general trend is downward.

It also analyses what you eat, makes healthier suggestions if necessary, and also rates the healthy-ness of what you are eating.

All of this coupled with thousands of pre-calorized recipes makes it the perfect stop for a loving foodie on a bit of a detox or diet period. 

Check the site out at: http://caloriecount.about.com/

Labels: diet, websites

I've been breading up a storm a lot recently.

On Saturday I baked a bread, which we ended up having with fondue that evening, along with a great wine, Ingwe 2004.

Considering how much bread, and other food stuffs cost, due to the global food crisis, a really important issue in its own right, I've been trying to prepare as much as I can from scratch. Its a lot cheaper (and I hope a lot healthier) knowing where all your food comes from.

This loaf, which you can get a sense of the size from a standard Defy roasting dish, cost me around R5 to make, and weighed around 850g.

There is a lot of the word 'around' when it comes to bread making, because SO many factors come into play, such as the moisture content in the flour, the heat of the water added.

Essentially I made this bread with:

• * Approx. 500g of Nutty Wheat
• * Approx. 150g of White Flour for kneading and sorting
• * Half a packet of Instant yeast
• * Approx. 500ml warm water
• * 2 Tbsp sugar
• * 1 Tbsp salt

The trick I'd say to bread is playing around, watching food channels and seeing how they make bread. Also DONT have your water be too cool or too warm. Too warm, the yeast dies. Too cold, the yeast never activates.

Generally I use about 150mls from a boiled rested kettle, and the further 350 from a cold tap. The water should be LUKE warm. What this actually means is one of those horrible kitchen tricks; luke warm to my mind is BODY temperature; that is pretty hot actually.

You NEED sugar so that the instant yeast has something to feed on, otherwise you'll have a bit of an issue. The sugars in the flour will take a long time to rise.

I also added a couple of table spoons of linseed. This added a really healthy seed taste.

Considering how cheap it is to make your own bread, I encourage everyone to make there own, and save a couple of rands a month in the process.

Labels: Bread

Myself and Sian, Ez and Alan went to the Cape Times Wine Affair at the V&A last night.

This event has now officially become my favourite on the wine calendar of the Western Cape. Why? Simple... the quality of it all.

The Wine Affair moved from the Market Square to the new Parking Lot opposite the Victoria Wharf mall. Very clever and practical, and easy access to the rest of the waterfront, and a nice high view into the amazing African Renaissance stadium being thrown up a few hundred meters away.

The venue was a LITTLE warm; i.e. it was boiling hot at first; I've noticed this now at most festivals, with the exception of the Stellenbosch Wine Route Festival. I suppose warm is better than cold; but it is a bit poor. As the evening went on the temperature seemed to adjust (or at least I stopped caring) and it wasn't as noticeable.

What makes the Wine Affair so great is its exhibitors; so many great farms, the big labels and the boutiques, from all over the province made a showing. There are always a couple of farms you'd like to see, but the event offers a real treat for those looking to explore new wines from old favourite labels, as well as being surprised by wines from undiscovered wine makers.

For me the find of the show wasn't a wine, but rather a region; the wines from Rawsonville near Worcester are really getting quite excellent; every interesting and different from what you are used to; I've resolved to driving out there soon and getting more of a taste for the region - a lot of the wines coming out of their seem to be EXCELLENT everyday table wines; maybe not as "dignified" as some of the Paarl and Stellenbosch estates, but certainly up and coming.

I was particularly impressed by the balanced ranges coming from the region. I'm sure they've been making great wines for years; but for someone whose only really followed wine for 5 years it was great to find something new at a show you've been to before.

Balance is what makes the Wine Affair so great. The balance between food and wine, cheaper and more expensive, famous and new is perfectly struck. The entire event has a mildly curated feel which I think is at times lacking in events in SA, and it makes so much difference.
Had some amazing oysters at the Wild Peacock stand. I took their card :)

There was a lot of food at the show, a lot more than at most wine shows, with sushi, meat, fish, cheese, etc. Its fantastic to have both palate cleansers and great fresh food with wine; its the way wine is supposed to be enjoyed; and really gives you an opportunity to let wines open up in context.

Even Fisherman's Choice, the old Waterfront favourite, had a stand, and was serving some of the best calamari I've tasted from them in years.

Val de Vie's shiraz was perfectly paired by golden cardamom chocolates they had at their stand. They also have a wine called Polo which is a fantastic red blend for the table.

There were so many great wines at the show. De Klerk from Rawsonville. (Family name prejudice there I fear :) ), McGregor, De Grendel, Boekenhoutskloof, the list goes on...
Ooo, and I didn't have any, but Krone was there, from Twee Jong Gezellen; when I drank it at Winex it convinced me to buy a case of it at this last new years.

Raka and Asara's wines are also tasting a lot better on my palate than they have in the past; must have something to do with my new prelidiction for shiraz; thank you Sian!

How can I sum up this show? Unmissable!

I recommend it to anyone for next year; it really is the best way to spend a cold May evening, with great friends, great wine and food, and a wonderful festival of the good life.