Shot on a 35mm film camera, with a 50mm lens, using C41 black and white film. Much as I love shooting digital, there is still a special place for shooting in film, and never knowing quite how it came out until a few days after shooting.
It really teaches you to take your time, frame your pictures, check your settings, and to get the shot right in-camera (and to make plenty of mistakes).
Markets are always great places for photos, especially when there is great food. And when you goto a market in an Afrikaans area, you are assured of plenty of great food shooting opportunities.
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!
Fresh bread, home-made gouda cheese, rocket and Spanish sausage, all from the Earth Fair Market in Tokai.
For a team end of year function, a few us went to the Cape Town Fish Market in Canal Walk for lunch. Because it was a fairly small group, we managed to arrange to have Teppanyaki, and to sit around the table while the chef cooked our food on the griddle in front of us.
Calamari tubes
If you can arrange a group of about 5-8 people, you can have a really great (and reasonably priced meal). The entire meal was about R110 per person (excluding drinks), and we had six courses:
Calamari tubes; ready to eat
The teppanyaki at the Fish Market is a little cheesy, in that the experience was more like somebody cooking a stir fry in front of me than a chef performing wizardry with his deft knife-work, however it is a very social experience. The food was great and very nicely-sized portions (except for the soup, but that was just a personal preference).
Steak, sliced into strips
This my second meal at the CTMF in a week, and it was really great! Get a group together and go out for Teppanyaki.
Last night I had a craving for fresh Sushi, so when Lois offered to take me out for dinner, my first choice was the Cape Town Fish Market in Tokai, which have wonderful and fresh Sushi.
Norwegian Salmon
Now, the downside is that Lois is vegetarian and does not eat fish, so there is not a huge amount for her to eat there. A couple of years ago they changed their menu, and there was almost nothing for her to eat. But they have recently brought back some of the vegetarian meals, including the yummyvegetarian spring rolls, cooked in a very thin and crispy pastry. There are three in a portion, one of which Lois gave me. It was very good.
Sushi at the Cape Town Fish Market (note this photo was not the free starter; it was one of the platters)
So I had the free mixed starter, and an extra portion of salmon, which went wonderfully with the Durbanville Hills Chardonnay that we were drinking. I followed with a piece of seared tuna (tuna is plentiful at the moment), braised on the outside, but completely raw on the insided. It was also very good.
Lois had the vege spring rolls, followed by a Greek Salad and baby potatoes with a lemon and garlic butter. She enjoyed them both.
The restaurant have a current promotion whereby if you buy any bottle of Durbanville Hills wine, you get a free mixed Sushi platter. I hope they keep the vegetarian options on the menu; it makes it a little easier for me to enjoy the fish :-)
You can find out more about the restaurant on their website.
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