I love the deep red colours of ripe and juicy strawberries, and what better way to eat them that for breakfast with muesli. Unfortunately this is the tail-end of the season so that are not as quote big as a couple of months ago, but still an excellent way to start the day.

For Christmas dinner, we had a “light” meal of coronation chicken, rice salad, rolls and this amazing prawn and avo starter. Who needs to goto a restaurant when your family will serve you fresh prawns?

My sister Sally made the entire meal, including this yummy starter. I think I will be eating at her house more often.

Here’s hoping for some more wonderful summer weather.

I took these pictures ages ago on my phone while going for a walk last August in Delaware. And then I forgot completely about them.

Anyway, this patch of monster mushrooms were growing on somebody’s front lawn, and all I can think of is how good they would taste lightly fried with olive oil and fresh garlic. That is of course assuming they don’t kill me in the process! I have no idea what mushrooms you can or cannot eat, so then only mushrooms that I eat come wrapped straight from the shelves of the supermarket.

I took these shots about 2 days before Hurricane Irene, so I hope the little folk living underneath them survived the storm!

Dunstone wines

But, it was still wonderful weather, so we were not going to let that stop us. So with the help of some friends who live in the area (thanks Doug from PT Productions and Dawn from Jorgensen Distillery), we managed to find what was probably the only open place in Wellington, but also one of the nicest restaurants I have ever been to. It is called The Stone Kitchen, and it is found on the Dunstone wine estate. At about 2 hectors of vines, it is a tiny little estate but with some fabulous wine. But the restaurant was great, the food was simple, fresh and tasty.

When we arrived they were full, but after a quick wine tasting at the bar counter (we finally got our wine tasting), they found us a table. The chef came out to introduce the menu, and we made our choices.

Warthog Burger

I had a grated warthog burger, with onion marmalade and cheese, and Lois had the goat’s cheese salad. Now for Lois to eat goat anything is pretty amazing! But at the chef’s instance she tried some of the goat cheese, and she loved it. She actually asked where they got such good goat’s cheese (that does not taste like, well…goat). I could tell you the answer but I will save that for a future post.

The chef

So two suggestions. Firstly if you want to go wine tasting on a Sunday, stick to the well-known areas like Stellenbosch or Paarl, and if you want a fantastic meal, goto the Stone Kitchen (but best to book – they were very full). And their sauvignon blanc and merlot are both brillant wines. We took a few bottle of each home with us.

Last night, Lois took me out to dinner at the Cattle Baron in Tokai. I was not that hungry, so I thought that the beef kebab would be a suitably small meal. Boy, was I wrong! It was massive, beef packed on kebab sticks, and any spaces filled with mushrooms, peppers and pineapple. I had to seriously pace myself to finish it. The waiter even told me that it was a light meal, but he clearly lied.

I suppose that I would rather complain about a meal is too large, rather than a miserably small meal. And if it was not so good there is no way that I would have finished it. Tender and yummy. I am going to have to do at least an additional 20 minutes training after that meal!

The cool thing about the Cattle Baron is that their prices are good, their portion sizes are great, and they have a no corkage policy. Really great value. There are quite a few Cattle Barons, but we usually go to Tokai.

But be warned, the beef kebabs are huge!

This particular market was in the park directly across the road from  our holiday house in Langebaan. Langebaan is a small seaside holiday village on the West coast about an hour from Cape Town. Like most small town markets, it had an eclectic collection of great food, lovely hand-crafts and rubbish. It amazes me how you can see wonderful food and beautiful carvings right next to miscellaneous junk from somebody’s recently cleaned up house. And I am not talking about  old antiques. No, this is just junk that nobody wants, but is still for sale on the off-chance that somebody might buy it. And have you noticed how all markets have at least one junk stall?

Anyway, lets straight past the junk to the good stuff.

Big yellow blocks of Boere-kaas (farm cheese)

Handmade dark chocolate cupcakes

Handmade pepper grinders

These pepper grinders are hand made from tree branches, resulting in grinders that have a natural variation in shape and size. If you examine the quality of these grinders, and the hard work that went into the turning and varnishing of them, it is difficult to really put a fair price on them. They are truly beautiful.

These samosas were a little unexpected at an Afrikaans market (especially vegetarian samosas), but nevertheless they were freshly made, crispy and  excellent.

Like most small markets you can walk through and see everything in about 1/2 an hour. Will you life be unfulfilled if you miss it? No. Will you have an enjoyable 1/2 hour delay if you are driving past? Yes, worth the visit, but don’t stay too long.

Go hungry!

In some traditions, it is considered good luck to eat a mince pie every day for the 12 days before Christmas, and even luckier to eat each pie in a different home. In my family it is far more simple.

Every mince pie eaten before Christmas gives you a month’s good luck.

So the more you eat, the better your luck (assuming they don’t kill you from a heart attack). Of course eating 12 pies guarantees your luck for the next year. To continue this nonsensical and superstitious tradition, I ate my first mince pie of the season last night; like I need an excuse to eat a mince pie. It was supplied by my friend Sandra, and baked by her husband.

Ok to tell the truth, my luck is guaranteed for at least the next two months, and I am bound to have a little more luck coming my way soon.

Enjoy the pies :-)

Of course Lois would not eat any of the beef, so some cheese for her.

I bought the baguette at Knead bakery in Muizenberg, which is a good thing because I realised on the way there that today is the big walk, so many of the roads were closed, Fortunately, I could still get to the bakery on the beach front.

It was an excellent meal!

On Saturday night Lois made me slow-cooked lamb shank with mushrooms and baby tomatoes. Of course lots of chilli and garlic went in as well. The strange thing in our house is that Lois is vegetarian (ok that in itself is not that strange), but Lois is usually the one that cooks the meat dishes, and I am the one that usually cook the vegetarian dishes.

So while I cooked Lois a pumpkin bake, she cooked me the lamb shank. Personally, I think that I got the better deal :-)