food and drink
Heuriger 10er Marie
A heuriger is a wine-bar/restaurant on a wine farm which has a special licence to sell the recent harvest for onsite consumption. In short, you get great food and wine cheaply.
We were recommended Heuriger 10er Marie, and it was so good that we went there twice. The outside is deceptively quiet, but it is busy inside, mostly with locals.
Some of the tables
Both times we went we had a fantastic time. The food is great, the crowds are boisterous, the wine flows freely, and you have a great time.
If you are in Vienna, a visit to a heuriger is a must!
Another round of wine, please
The best schnitzel I have ever eaten (chicken – I don’t eat veal)
Cape Town Burger Festival
If you weren’t at the burger festival this weekend you lost out. They should have more correctly called it the burger and beer festival, because there was plenty of amazing craft beer.
It’s great to see how many small scale breweries there are now in Cape Town, and tasting how good some of the beers are! There was plenty to taste, and the beer community has such amazing people in it – so passionate about their beer, and so willing to share.
Of course beer goes hand in hand with burgers, and it was difficult to choose which stand to buy a burger from. I eventually settled on a 3-cheese burger – mozzarella and cheddar mixed into the patty, topped with blue cheese from Fat Harry’s. I don’t normally eat chips, but after a 30k run this morning I was hungry, and I am glad I ate the chips. Without a doubt they are the best chips I have ever eaten.
It turns out that Fat Harry’s is a restaurant in Harfield Village; I will be taking a turn there to try their other burgers. Here is their website. http://www.fatharrys.co.za
Here’s a pic of my burger; you can decide for yourself how good it looks.
Viennese coffee and cake
Vienna is known for its coffee shops, and with good reason! The coffee and cakes are wonderful, enjoyed in the splendour of comfortable leather armchairs. I could get quite comfortable with Viennese life.
I had coffee with whipped cream, enjoyed with a Mozart cake, which is layers of light and dark chocolate.
Fat bombs
A friend of mine sent me an amazing recipe for low-carb chocolates – basically made from coconut oil and butter.
The original recipe is from Primal Perks, and here is my version. The main differences is that I dropped the sweetener, used peanut butter (yes I know peanuts contain carbs but given the amount used it will add very little to the total) and I made 1/2 the quantity for my first attempt.
By the way it only takes about 10 min to make.
Ingredients
- 90 g coconut oil
- 25 g nut butter (almond or macadamia) – if you are not too purist use crunchy peanut butter which is what I did
- 1.5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
Method
- Melt all ingredients together in a pot
- Cool mixture slightly and pour into ice-cube trays
- Put into freezer to set for a few hours
- Once set, pop them out of the mould and place in freezer bags
They are excellent and very filling. They naturally separated a little as they froze, giving that nice three-layer effect. I think they may make a great pre-race snack which I will try on my next race.
Thanks to my friend Trevor for sending the original recipe to me.
Beer festival
In March it was the annual Southyeasters home-brew festival, and as usual they had a fantastic selection of beer to try (my favourite was a beer made with smoked grain – something I will be trying soon).
I was there to take a few photos, and of course to try the beer.
It amazes me how big the home-brew and craft beer has become in Cape Town. When I started brewing a few years ago I knew of only 1 other homebrewer, and now there are so many people making their own beer. I think it’s fantastic and is only going to result in better beer all around.
So, what to make for my next brew…?