NB: the usual disclaimer; see old posts
We started the day with a nice, simple breakfast that included locally-baked bread, as well as fried eggs and tomato. (OK, Ms. Penguin started her day with her usual bird stalking, and saw, among other things, a rather feisty black-headed oriole.) We had the breakfast in the reception/dinner/common area at Wild Spirit Lodge, with a stunning view of the mountains and the valley in between. The breakfast was good fuel for our next activity – a two hour hike (Kalanderkloof Trail) in the Tsitsikamma National Park.
The hike was very enjoyable. We walked along a dry river bed through a beautiful forest filled with very old trees. One of the guys at Wild Spirit told us that we could encounter animals – baboons, vervet monkeys, antelope, and so on, but the only things we saw were birds and a cute little green-headed lizard. Hmmf.
The trail was also physically demanding at some parts, and involved a lot of climbing, including stairs that seemed to go on and on and on... who needs the silly stairmaster machine to work up a good sweat? Anyway, when the stairs did finally end, we were greeted with one of the most amazing views ever. A whole field of fynbos and views of the mountains and the sea. It's difficult to describe how incredible this view is, but we hope that the photos we took and will eventually publish here can help give an idea, but you just have to go there to see it and really enjoy it! Just be sure to wear proper shoes and clothing while on the hike though...
Oh, and we can't complain about the weather either. Around 25 Celsius and clear skies, with a nice breeze :-)
We were quite hungry after our hike, so we stopped at a little restaurant at Nature's Valley, a beachfront village inside the national park. Ms. Penguin got an ostrich burger topped with fried calamari, while Mr. Penguin got an ostrich burger topped with cheese, eggs, and bacon. Both served with fries on the side. Not the most gourmet thing in the world, but still yummy, especially after hiking and climbing for two hours... (one must appease the anti-exercise RoF, right? ;)
After lunch, we put on our Vibram Five Fingers to walk along the beach and do another trail that is along the coast. However, the terrain proved to be too much for the Five Fingers – too many sharp rocks and rocky outcrops – and if we had used our regular shoes they would have been filled with sand (been there, done that in the Namib desert; it blisters up your feet very quickly), so we gave up that idea and decided to drive around a little bit...
While driving, we came across a little wine estate called Bramon; it is named after the owners' children – Bram and Manon. They bring in barrels from various vineyards, but they make their own sparkling Sauvignon blanc, which is absolutely lovely and what the Penguins are drinking as they type this blog entry...
Tasting notes:
Bramon Sauvignon Blanc Brut 2007 (Plettenberg Bay). Methode Cap Classique.
color: very pale gold with a hint of green
nose: green apples, pears, grass
palate: dry and refreshing, with pleasant bubbles; flavor of green apples, pears, hint of grass; easy to drink (and perhaps get drunk on hehe... )
grade: :-)+
We also bought a bottle of their Shiraz and their Cabernet Sauvignon.
After the visit to Bramon, we stopped by a farm stall close to Wild Spirit Lodge to taste and buy some tasty local cheese. We also bought some homemade oatmeal cookies and a few bottles of water. It *is* safe to drink the tap water here, but sometimes it doesn't taste so great. We haven't tried it here (yet), but it's a good idea to have bottled water around anyway, especially for the drive to Oudtshoorn tomorrow...
And, as you have probably guessed, we're back at Wild Spirit Lodge, enjoying our wine, updating itchywebbedfeet, looking forward to the lamb stew for dinner tonight, and enjoying life some more... :-)
23 September 2009
2009-09-22 – wine and dinner
We can't neglect the important things, can we? ;-)
Raka Barrel Select Merlot
color: deep red-violet
nose: spices, alcohol, cherries, black currants (kind of hard to tell as we're not really using the right glass for tasting :)
palate: powerful and full-bodied, flavor of red meat and sour cherries, very “concentrated” flavor. Will be great with meat dishes and griling.
Grade: :-D
Oh, and they served a very nice pasta dinner here at the Wild Spirit Lodge ;-)
Raka Barrel Select Merlot
color: deep red-violet
nose: spices, alcohol, cherries, black currants (kind of hard to tell as we're not really using the right glass for tasting :)
palate: powerful and full-bodied, flavor of red meat and sour cherries, very “concentrated” flavor. Will be great with meat dishes and griling.
Grade: :-D
Oh, and they served a very nice pasta dinner here at the Wild Spirit Lodge ;-)
22 September 2009
2009-09-22 – walking with elephants and birds in love
NB: this entry will eventually be edited with photos, links, etc.
Ya know, there are few things better than starting your day with an enormous fruit salad that also came with a waffle topped with yogurt and honey, followed by eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomato, and fried potatoes. Seriously, what's better than that? Hmm? No, didn't think you could come up with anything ;-) And yeah, there are photos...
If anything, if you're in Mossel Bay, stay at the Aqua Marina for the breakfast. Otherwise, stay for the good conversations with the host and hostess. We could have stayed there all day...
But we eventually did head out along the Garden Route. After a short pitstop to buy some beach towels, our next destination was the Elephant Sanctuary at The Crags. This is a place where they do a “walk with the elephants” tour. You literally get to walk alongside an elephant. You have to walk in front of them, and hold your palm flat out behind you. They take your hand with their trunks, and you can feel their warm, wet breath from their trunk. The elephant Ms. Penguin walked with even sneezed on her! Anyway, the tour started with the first walk, using three young females. Next, our guide talked to us about elephant behavior, and the elephant handlers gave their elephants commands so that the behavior could be demonstrated. After that, we were allowed to approach the elephants to touch them – their faces, tusks, knees, ankles, tail, etc. It was all very interesting. Elephants have very thick skin and bristly hairs, and their tusks are nice and smooth. Their eyelashes are very bushy, but it gives them a very cute look.
We then did some more walking, and one of the tourists there rode one of the elephants (it costs extra). This was followed by a short lecture on elephant anatomy.
After the elephants, we went to Birds of Eden, an enormous aviary that is literally made for the birds. It's actually the largest free flight bird aviary in the world. We were quite hungry after walking with the elephants, so we decided to eat lunch first. The little restaurant is right in the aviary. Where all the birds are. Now, the intention of the aviary is to give people a closer encounter with the birds. Well, at the restaurant, this was taken quite literally. You could see that there were lots of birds hanging around, which was kind of expected – possible free scraps and all. But then the birds started getting a little bit too close and personal. First, a Senegal parrot jumped on Ms. Penguin. And then an Indian Ringneck Parakeet did pretty much the same thing with Mr. Penguin. It was cute at first, and although we had a hard time shaking them off, they eventually left us. But not for long. Within a short amount of time, they hopped onto us again. And again. They were almost like flies; big flies with feathers that we had to swat away. And then a new big green parrot decided to hop onto Ms. Penguin's head. And then on Mr. Penguin's head. This was going on all during lunch. Eventually one of the staff gave us a squirt bottle, and that helped a little bit ;-)
Incidentally, a lot of the parrots at Birds of Eden used to be pets, and they therefore seek human contact and company.
After lunch, we walked around the aviary and saw lots of interesting species of birds. However, our little green parakeet friend kept following us everywhere. It was there all the time, and was particularly interested in hopping onto Mr. Penguin; Ms. Penguin is quite sure it was in love with him. It's spring, you know... breeding season. The birds were all broody ;-)
We are now sitting in the lounge at Wild Spirit Lodge, a backpackers here in The Crags, just a few minutes driving from the elephant sanctuary and Birds of Eden. They have wifi here, so we are finally able to get up some blog entries and otherwise check our e-mail and stuff like that. We're also waiting for dinner – pasta bolognaise – and enjoying a cold beer. Life is good... :-)
Ya know, there are few things better than starting your day with an enormous fruit salad that also came with a waffle topped with yogurt and honey, followed by eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomato, and fried potatoes. Seriously, what's better than that? Hmm? No, didn't think you could come up with anything ;-) And yeah, there are photos...
If anything, if you're in Mossel Bay, stay at the Aqua Marina for the breakfast. Otherwise, stay for the good conversations with the host and hostess. We could have stayed there all day...
But we eventually did head out along the Garden Route. After a short pitstop to buy some beach towels, our next destination was the Elephant Sanctuary at The Crags. This is a place where they do a “walk with the elephants” tour. You literally get to walk alongside an elephant. You have to walk in front of them, and hold your palm flat out behind you. They take your hand with their trunks, and you can feel their warm, wet breath from their trunk. The elephant Ms. Penguin walked with even sneezed on her! Anyway, the tour started with the first walk, using three young females. Next, our guide talked to us about elephant behavior, and the elephant handlers gave their elephants commands so that the behavior could be demonstrated. After that, we were allowed to approach the elephants to touch them – their faces, tusks, knees, ankles, tail, etc. It was all very interesting. Elephants have very thick skin and bristly hairs, and their tusks are nice and smooth. Their eyelashes are very bushy, but it gives them a very cute look.
We then did some more walking, and one of the tourists there rode one of the elephants (it costs extra). This was followed by a short lecture on elephant anatomy.
After the elephants, we went to Birds of Eden, an enormous aviary that is literally made for the birds. It's actually the largest free flight bird aviary in the world. We were quite hungry after walking with the elephants, so we decided to eat lunch first. The little restaurant is right in the aviary. Where all the birds are. Now, the intention of the aviary is to give people a closer encounter with the birds. Well, at the restaurant, this was taken quite literally. You could see that there were lots of birds hanging around, which was kind of expected – possible free scraps and all. But then the birds started getting a little bit too close and personal. First, a Senegal parrot jumped on Ms. Penguin. And then an Indian Ringneck Parakeet did pretty much the same thing with Mr. Penguin. It was cute at first, and although we had a hard time shaking them off, they eventually left us. But not for long. Within a short amount of time, they hopped onto us again. And again. They were almost like flies; big flies with feathers that we had to swat away. And then a new big green parrot decided to hop onto Ms. Penguin's head. And then on Mr. Penguin's head. This was going on all during lunch. Eventually one of the staff gave us a squirt bottle, and that helped a little bit ;-)
Incidentally, a lot of the parrots at Birds of Eden used to be pets, and they therefore seek human contact and company.
After lunch, we walked around the aviary and saw lots of interesting species of birds. However, our little green parakeet friend kept following us everywhere. It was there all the time, and was particularly interested in hopping onto Mr. Penguin; Ms. Penguin is quite sure it was in love with him. It's spring, you know... breeding season. The birds were all broody ;-)
We are now sitting in the lounge at Wild Spirit Lodge, a backpackers here in The Crags, just a few minutes driving from the elephant sanctuary and Birds of Eden. They have wifi here, so we are finally able to get up some blog entries and otherwise check our e-mail and stuff like that. We're also waiting for dinner – pasta bolognaise – and enjoying a cold beer. Life is good... :-)
2009-09-21 – a bay full of mussels
NB: this entry will eventually be edited to add photos, links, etc.
The next place on our itinerary was Mossel Bay, a very nice little city along the Indian Ocean, with lots of beaches for surfing. Or that's what it looked like to us; we never really did any research on the place. We somehow really screwed up the calculations for driving from Struisbaai to Mossel Bay, and thought we would arrive so late that we wouldn't have time to do anything there...
We ended up arriving in the early afternoon, and got settled into our guesthouse – Aqua Marina. We got a huge room with an even huger bathroom, including a nice big tub that we unfortunately never got to use... bah. The room also had quite a huge view of the huge ocean. (Is Ms Penguin using the word 'huge' too much as she writes this? :)
Anyway, our hosts weren't around so we decided to explore the city a little bit on our own. We went out to an area called The Point (where they have this apparently well-known hotel), and walked along the beach to watch the surfers. As we were walking, we came across a teeeeeeeeeeny tiny shark aquarium/research center. They were feeding the sharks as we arrived; they were also teeeny tiny, at least compared to the great whites that are the main focus of the research going on at the research center.
Afterward, we went back to our guesthouse. Over there, we got information about where we could go for dinner. There is a shuttle service in Mossel Bay that takes people to and from various restaurants, which is quite nice because then Mr. Penguin could have wine with his meal (remember people, drinking and driving kills!). Oh, and the driver is a really lovely older chap who enjoys talking to people. So we had dinner at The King Fisher, at The Point...
The King Fisher was quite busy that night; there was a lively atmosphere and lots of (local) people were coming in and out. We learned afterward that today's special was sushi, and that was the reason so many people were there. Darn... sushi would have been nice... It also explains why it took them so long to bring Ms. Penguin her aperitif – a cosmopolitan – as they were quite busy at the bar (Mr. Penguin had an easy-to-make gin and tonic). It was also the strangest cosmopolitan Ms. Penguin had ever received anywhere. It was served in a huge glass with cranberry sugar on the rim and with a huge pink umbrella. Yes, there are photos but you will have to wait for those...
Ms. Penguin had mussels with creamy garlic sauce as her starter, while Mr. Penguin had big, chewy snails in garlic butter, with bread on the side. The mussels were fresh and tasty, but the sauce was a bit boring. The snails were tasty.
We both had the calamari feast as our main course – three types of calamari served with fries and salad. It included a battered and fried calamari steak, calamari in the house sauce, and calamari naturel. It was very tasty and very filling... oof ;-)
To wash everything all down, we quaffed a Durbanville Heights Sauvignon Blanc 2009
color: too dark to see
nose: gooseberries, grass
palate: young, dry, refreshing; flavor of gooseberries, granny Smith apples, hint of starfruit and peaches. Very nice with seafood.
Grade: :-)+
Since RoF was demanding dessert, we fed it dessert – we each had a piece of delicious cheesecake, served with ice cream, with some coffee on the side...
We really enjoyed The King Fisher, and when you have a lively place as it was, you observe some interesting things. Like people's drinking and eating habits. Like the people sitting a few tables away from us, drinking red wine with their sushi. Or the people at the table right next to us dumping large quantities of ice cubes into their sweet white wine. To each their own, I guess...
When we finally got back to our guesthouse, we had a nice long conversation with one of the owners until we finally decided that we all needed some sleep. That's one of the really fun things with the guest houses and B&Bs in South Africa... you can really get into some very interesting conversations :-)
The next place on our itinerary was Mossel Bay, a very nice little city along the Indian Ocean, with lots of beaches for surfing. Or that's what it looked like to us; we never really did any research on the place. We somehow really screwed up the calculations for driving from Struisbaai to Mossel Bay, and thought we would arrive so late that we wouldn't have time to do anything there...
We ended up arriving in the early afternoon, and got settled into our guesthouse – Aqua Marina. We got a huge room with an even huger bathroom, including a nice big tub that we unfortunately never got to use... bah. The room also had quite a huge view of the huge ocean. (Is Ms Penguin using the word 'huge' too much as she writes this? :)
Anyway, our hosts weren't around so we decided to explore the city a little bit on our own. We went out to an area called The Point (where they have this apparently well-known hotel), and walked along the beach to watch the surfers. As we were walking, we came across a teeeeeeeeeeny tiny shark aquarium/research center. They were feeding the sharks as we arrived; they were also teeeny tiny, at least compared to the great whites that are the main focus of the research going on at the research center.
Afterward, we went back to our guesthouse. Over there, we got information about where we could go for dinner. There is a shuttle service in Mossel Bay that takes people to and from various restaurants, which is quite nice because then Mr. Penguin could have wine with his meal (remember people, drinking and driving kills!). Oh, and the driver is a really lovely older chap who enjoys talking to people. So we had dinner at The King Fisher, at The Point...
The King Fisher was quite busy that night; there was a lively atmosphere and lots of (local) people were coming in and out. We learned afterward that today's special was sushi, and that was the reason so many people were there. Darn... sushi would have been nice... It also explains why it took them so long to bring Ms. Penguin her aperitif – a cosmopolitan – as they were quite busy at the bar (Mr. Penguin had an easy-to-make gin and tonic). It was also the strangest cosmopolitan Ms. Penguin had ever received anywhere. It was served in a huge glass with cranberry sugar on the rim and with a huge pink umbrella. Yes, there are photos but you will have to wait for those...
Ms. Penguin had mussels with creamy garlic sauce as her starter, while Mr. Penguin had big, chewy snails in garlic butter, with bread on the side. The mussels were fresh and tasty, but the sauce was a bit boring. The snails were tasty.
We both had the calamari feast as our main course – three types of calamari served with fries and salad. It included a battered and fried calamari steak, calamari in the house sauce, and calamari naturel. It was very tasty and very filling... oof ;-)
To wash everything all down, we quaffed a Durbanville Heights Sauvignon Blanc 2009
color: too dark to see
nose: gooseberries, grass
palate: young, dry, refreshing; flavor of gooseberries, granny Smith apples, hint of starfruit and peaches. Very nice with seafood.
Grade: :-)+
Since RoF was demanding dessert, we fed it dessert – we each had a piece of delicious cheesecake, served with ice cream, with some coffee on the side...
We really enjoyed The King Fisher, and when you have a lively place as it was, you observe some interesting things. Like people's drinking and eating habits. Like the people sitting a few tables away from us, drinking red wine with their sushi. Or the people at the table right next to us dumping large quantities of ice cubes into their sweet white wine. To each their own, I guess...
When we finally got back to our guesthouse, we had a nice long conversation with one of the owners until we finally decided that we all needed some sleep. That's one of the really fun things with the guest houses and B&Bs in South Africa... you can really get into some very interesting conversations :-)
2009-09-20 – A whale of a time
NB: This entry will be eventually edited to add photos, links, etc.
Mmmm... it's amazing what 10 hours of sleep does for you! Sure, we felt like dorks when we went to bed at 10 pm on a Saturday night, but it really helped to get a good night's sleep after the complete lack of it on the plane. An excellent breakfast of eggs, bacon, and sausage also helped a lot :-D
Today's agenda included a boat trip to see whales. We were supposed to go out at 10 am, but the tide hadn't come in yet, so they couldn't get the boat out. So the trip was delayed until 1 pm. No problem; we drove out to Cape Agulhas National Park, where we took photos at the meeting point of the two oceans (Atlantic and Indian, duh) and looked for a geocache. The geocache box had been flooded with water, which was a shame, as we couldn't leave our gift (a mini plush puffin) in that box. Hmmf. We didn't really stay very long in the area as we had been there before, so we stopped at an art gallery/guest house for a cup of coffee, and then drove back to the harbor area to get some lunch. We went to a pub called Nostra, where we ate deep fried hake with chips. It was OK; not the greatest thing in the world, but not horrible either...
After lunch, we drove to another geocache site, but the cache was hidden in a sort of inconvenient location, so we had to give that up, considering we had to get back to catch the boat for the whale watching...
The whale watching was quite nice. We saw a lot of mothers with calves, and they were all rather lazy (it's Sunday, of course). You could see that they were very curious about the boat and us, but unfortunately there was too much wind, and the boat kept drifting away from the whales. Otherwise, as we were told, they would have been more active with regard to swimming around the boat and peeking up to take a look at us. Also, when there are calves, the mothers are a little bit more protective, and are not too thrilled about the darn kids wandering off to play with the silly tourists. You never know what the darn kids can catch from silly tourists :-) There was one mother-calf pair that did come very, very close to the boat though, in an om nom nom kind of way. The calf swam under the boat, and we were wondering if it had planned to surface directly under the boat, to toss it into the air... “wheeeee, this is fun!”
Our guide told us that the whales were particularly passive today, that they were jumping quite a bit yesterday. We did see one whale jumping, from a distance. But other than that... lazy, lazy whales.
After whale watching, we drove back to the backpackers to park the car, and then we walked back into “town” (hah, if you can call it that) in order to have a beer. We found a little local dive that served Windhoek (yay!) and had a bottle each. We decided to go back to our room to take a little nap before dinner, and so that Mr. Penguin could sleep off the beer so that we could drive to the place where we were going to have dinner. Yep, we had to go out to dinner because we forgot to bring our harpoons along with us on the whale watching trip (ha ha ha) ...
We went to a place called Angelo's Trattoria, which is located right before Cape Agulhas National Park; it was recommended to us by Steffi. Angelo's is very cozy and rustic, but also quite dark, even with all the candles. They have a huge wood-burning oven for cooking pizzas. But we didn't have pizza. We had steak with seafood – a big 350 gram sirloin prepared medium rare, served with prawns, mussels, and calamari, as well as fries, salad, and a garlic dressing. It was delicious, but also way too much, even for the Ring of Fat (RoF)...
For those of you who are new to the term, Ring of Fat, or simply RoF, is the very creature that controls each and every one of us. RoF is our guts. Our spare tires. Our love handles. Our extra baggage. You know. You know very well, don't you? RoF wants food. It always wants food. But sometimes, RoF meets its match. As it did tonight...
Now we're back at the bar at the backpackers, drinking our Raka Biography Shiraz. “Bring your own” isn't really allowed here as the backpackers has its own bar, although you can pay a corkage fee (10 rand) if you want to drink your own wine at the bar...
Anyway, the wine: Raka Biography Shiraz 2003
color: too dark to see here
nose: red meat, licorice, Norwegian blueberries
palate: powerful but smooth, flavor of spices (cloves and anise), Norwegian blueberries, and other dark berries, as well as sour cherries. Discreet tannins. This would be an excellent match to a good, well-marbled steak, but it's also fantastic on its own.
Grade: :-D
Oh, and in case you didn't know, Ms. Penguin is a bird fanatic. So she is giving the bird count so far: African penguins, Cape cormorants, white-chested cormorants, two different species of seagulls, hadeda ibises, at least two different types of sunbirds, Cape turtle doves, red-eyed doves, Cape robins, Cape sparrows, wagtails, blacksmith lapwings, Guinea fowl, francolins, paradise flycatchers, Cape starlings, European starlings, weaver birds, some kind of little yellow pip-pip (not sure what kind), at least two different kinds of birds of prey, a bird with white around its eye (some kind of bulbul?), some kind of thrush, some blue cranes, etc...
While we were drinking our wine, we were offered a taste of a fish called a white musselcracker; one of the locals caught it and (I think) they were serving it for dinner at the backpackers. It is not fished commercially. We found it quite nice; the meat was very firm and flavorful...
Mmmm... it's amazing what 10 hours of sleep does for you! Sure, we felt like dorks when we went to bed at 10 pm on a Saturday night, but it really helped to get a good night's sleep after the complete lack of it on the plane. An excellent breakfast of eggs, bacon, and sausage also helped a lot :-D
Today's agenda included a boat trip to see whales. We were supposed to go out at 10 am, but the tide hadn't come in yet, so they couldn't get the boat out. So the trip was delayed until 1 pm. No problem; we drove out to Cape Agulhas National Park, where we took photos at the meeting point of the two oceans (Atlantic and Indian, duh) and looked for a geocache. The geocache box had been flooded with water, which was a shame, as we couldn't leave our gift (a mini plush puffin) in that box. Hmmf. We didn't really stay very long in the area as we had been there before, so we stopped at an art gallery/guest house for a cup of coffee, and then drove back to the harbor area to get some lunch. We went to a pub called Nostra, where we ate deep fried hake with chips. It was OK; not the greatest thing in the world, but not horrible either...
After lunch, we drove to another geocache site, but the cache was hidden in a sort of inconvenient location, so we had to give that up, considering we had to get back to catch the boat for the whale watching...
The whale watching was quite nice. We saw a lot of mothers with calves, and they were all rather lazy (it's Sunday, of course). You could see that they were very curious about the boat and us, but unfortunately there was too much wind, and the boat kept drifting away from the whales. Otherwise, as we were told, they would have been more active with regard to swimming around the boat and peeking up to take a look at us. Also, when there are calves, the mothers are a little bit more protective, and are not too thrilled about the darn kids wandering off to play with the silly tourists. You never know what the darn kids can catch from silly tourists :-) There was one mother-calf pair that did come very, very close to the boat though, in an om nom nom kind of way. The calf swam under the boat, and we were wondering if it had planned to surface directly under the boat, to toss it into the air... “wheeeee, this is fun!”
Our guide told us that the whales were particularly passive today, that they were jumping quite a bit yesterday. We did see one whale jumping, from a distance. But other than that... lazy, lazy whales.
After whale watching, we drove back to the backpackers to park the car, and then we walked back into “town” (hah, if you can call it that) in order to have a beer. We found a little local dive that served Windhoek (yay!) and had a bottle each. We decided to go back to our room to take a little nap before dinner, and so that Mr. Penguin could sleep off the beer so that we could drive to the place where we were going to have dinner. Yep, we had to go out to dinner because we forgot to bring our harpoons along with us on the whale watching trip (ha ha ha) ...
We went to a place called Angelo's Trattoria, which is located right before Cape Agulhas National Park; it was recommended to us by Steffi. Angelo's is very cozy and rustic, but also quite dark, even with all the candles. They have a huge wood-burning oven for cooking pizzas. But we didn't have pizza. We had steak with seafood – a big 350 gram sirloin prepared medium rare, served with prawns, mussels, and calamari, as well as fries, salad, and a garlic dressing. It was delicious, but also way too much, even for the Ring of Fat (RoF)...
For those of you who are new to the term, Ring of Fat, or simply RoF, is the very creature that controls each and every one of us. RoF is our guts. Our spare tires. Our love handles. Our extra baggage. You know. You know very well, don't you? RoF wants food. It always wants food. But sometimes, RoF meets its match. As it did tonight...
Now we're back at the bar at the backpackers, drinking our Raka Biography Shiraz. “Bring your own” isn't really allowed here as the backpackers has its own bar, although you can pay a corkage fee (10 rand) if you want to drink your own wine at the bar...
Anyway, the wine: Raka Biography Shiraz 2003
color: too dark to see here
nose: red meat, licorice, Norwegian blueberries
palate: powerful but smooth, flavor of spices (cloves and anise), Norwegian blueberries, and other dark berries, as well as sour cherries. Discreet tannins. This would be an excellent match to a good, well-marbled steak, but it's also fantastic on its own.
Grade: :-D
Oh, and in case you didn't know, Ms. Penguin is a bird fanatic. So she is giving the bird count so far: African penguins, Cape cormorants, white-chested cormorants, two different species of seagulls, hadeda ibises, at least two different types of sunbirds, Cape turtle doves, red-eyed doves, Cape robins, Cape sparrows, wagtails, blacksmith lapwings, Guinea fowl, francolins, paradise flycatchers, Cape starlings, European starlings, weaver birds, some kind of little yellow pip-pip (not sure what kind), at least two different kinds of birds of prey, a bird with white around its eye (some kind of bulbul?), some kind of thrush, some blue cranes, etc...
While we were drinking our wine, we were offered a taste of a fish called a white musselcracker; one of the locals caught it and (I think) they were serving it for dinner at the backpackers. It is not fished commercially. We found it quite nice; the meat was very firm and flavorful...
2009-09-19 – Penguins and wine
NB: This entry will eventually be edited to add photos, links, and maybe fix some of the content a bit...
Finally at Cape Agulhas Backpackers – yay!
The flight itself was, well, a flight. The usual crammed like cattle into tin boxes. Mooooo. The main meal they served wasn't too bad though. It was a cottage pie, served with salad and bread and butter, with some kind of chocolate mousse cake thing for dessert.
The breakfast was kind of bleh though. Microwaved scrambled egg with some kind of bacon and sausage, with tomato and mushrooms. At least they had some yogurt with the whole thing, and that was OK. The coffee was very weak. Financial crisis, you know...
When we got to immigration and passport control, we were met by a really friendly, smiling man who was joking with us about going wine tasting. Why can't every country have immigration control officers like this one? *sigh* :-) The immigration control area itself has changed quite a bit since the last time we were there (in 2006) – it was a lot nicer now, and they seemed relatively efficient. And no more filling out of those stupid immigration forms!
After we were done with all that, we got the details about our car and then went to News Cafe for some breakfast. We both ordered these “health” pancakes; on the menu they said they were müsli pancakes with yogurt and fruit. What it ended up being was rolled up crepes filled with yogurt and müsli, with fruit and some more yogurt on the side, but hey... it was good. And filling. Ms. Penguin had a regular filter coffee with milk to go with her breakfast and Mr. Penguin ordered a cafe latte – it was served as a glass of hot milk with a shot of espresso on the side.
Getting the car was a bit of a feat. Because of all the construction going on at CPT, some of the signs were a bit confusing, to say the least. We went in the direction they pointed to for car rentals, but then the signs disappeared, and then reappeared in the domestic arrivals area. So of course we thought everything had been moved there, temporarily or not. No big deal. Until we got there, and were packed into a big BMW (that we, for a moment, thought was the car we were going to get!) and shuffled off back to the international area. Geez. But the guy was cool about it, and admitted there was a lot of confusion due to all the construction. So no BMW for the penguins, but a Nissan Tiida instead. It doesn't have cruise control, and the air conditioning system is a bit primitive, and a slow motor compared to the Mercedes we had last year, but Mr. Penguin feels it's an OK-ish car to drive.
Our first stop was the Stony Point Nature Reserve at Betty's Bay, to see the penguins. Penguins! Development in the area has really picked up since the last time we were there (in 2007). There's now a café – Southern Cross Café – next to the penguin reserve area. Which is nice, because we were missing that kind of thing the last time we were there.
The penguins were as cute (and lustful – hey, it's spring) as ever. They are such funny little birds who behave in such funny ways. There were a lot of “blue” penguins this time – young penguins who don't have that silly fuzz but who don't have adult plumage quite yet either. There weren't as many fuzzy babies as last time, but there was one that we saw that was particularly pathetic. It looked like a bunch of dirty lint, and it was trying to crawl around on its knobs of something that will become wings/flippers some day. We suppose it wanted food from its mother, but mum was more interested in preening than her pesky chick ;-)
Other birds in the bay included cape cormorants, white-chested cormorants, gulls, as well as hadeda ibises, wagtails, thrushes, and other small birds.
The original plan was to eat lunch in Hermanus, but because of the delays with the car, we were running late and decided to drop it. We picked up some biltong at a random Spar, and drove on to Raka Wines for a tasting. Now this is a winery we are very familiar with; we've been enjoying their wonderful wines since 2006. We had also visited in 2006 (after our trip to Cape Agulhas that year) and knew we wanted to go back. We tried five different wines, starting with a white blend and then a rosé (both were quite OK), and then onto the amazing reds – Spliced, Quinary, and Biography Shiraz. And we are now the proud owners of bottles of a Biography Shiraz and a Merlot.
It was getting late by then, so we drove right to Cape Agulhas Backpackers. We were met by the lovely Steffi, who showed us to our room (the Bella room) and let us know about how things worked with dinner and breakfast (if we wanted to order), tours, etc. Since we were quite exhausted, we decided to just relax with some drinks from the bar (beer and cider), and we decided to stay here for dinner as well. Which was a good choice for two exhausted penguins, who ended up having to waddle off to their room/nest to take a pre-dinner nap...
So here we are, back at the bar again, waiting for our chicken braai dinner. Life is good...
Finally at Cape Agulhas Backpackers – yay!
The flight itself was, well, a flight. The usual crammed like cattle into tin boxes. Mooooo. The main meal they served wasn't too bad though. It was a cottage pie, served with salad and bread and butter, with some kind of chocolate mousse cake thing for dessert.
The breakfast was kind of bleh though. Microwaved scrambled egg with some kind of bacon and sausage, with tomato and mushrooms. At least they had some yogurt with the whole thing, and that was OK. The coffee was very weak. Financial crisis, you know...
When we got to immigration and passport control, we were met by a really friendly, smiling man who was joking with us about going wine tasting. Why can't every country have immigration control officers like this one? *sigh* :-) The immigration control area itself has changed quite a bit since the last time we were there (in 2006) – it was a lot nicer now, and they seemed relatively efficient. And no more filling out of those stupid immigration forms!
After we were done with all that, we got the details about our car and then went to News Cafe for some breakfast. We both ordered these “health” pancakes; on the menu they said they were müsli pancakes with yogurt and fruit. What it ended up being was rolled up crepes filled with yogurt and müsli, with fruit and some more yogurt on the side, but hey... it was good. And filling. Ms. Penguin had a regular filter coffee with milk to go with her breakfast and Mr. Penguin ordered a cafe latte – it was served as a glass of hot milk with a shot of espresso on the side.
Getting the car was a bit of a feat. Because of all the construction going on at CPT, some of the signs were a bit confusing, to say the least. We went in the direction they pointed to for car rentals, but then the signs disappeared, and then reappeared in the domestic arrivals area. So of course we thought everything had been moved there, temporarily or not. No big deal. Until we got there, and were packed into a big BMW (that we, for a moment, thought was the car we were going to get!) and shuffled off back to the international area. Geez. But the guy was cool about it, and admitted there was a lot of confusion due to all the construction. So no BMW for the penguins, but a Nissan Tiida instead. It doesn't have cruise control, and the air conditioning system is a bit primitive, and a slow motor compared to the Mercedes we had last year, but Mr. Penguin feels it's an OK-ish car to drive.
Our first stop was the Stony Point Nature Reserve at Betty's Bay, to see the penguins. Penguins! Development in the area has really picked up since the last time we were there (in 2007). There's now a café – Southern Cross Café – next to the penguin reserve area. Which is nice, because we were missing that kind of thing the last time we were there.
The penguins were as cute (and lustful – hey, it's spring) as ever. They are such funny little birds who behave in such funny ways. There were a lot of “blue” penguins this time – young penguins who don't have that silly fuzz but who don't have adult plumage quite yet either. There weren't as many fuzzy babies as last time, but there was one that we saw that was particularly pathetic. It looked like a bunch of dirty lint, and it was trying to crawl around on its knobs of something that will become wings/flippers some day. We suppose it wanted food from its mother, but mum was more interested in preening than her pesky chick ;-)
Other birds in the bay included cape cormorants, white-chested cormorants, gulls, as well as hadeda ibises, wagtails, thrushes, and other small birds.
The original plan was to eat lunch in Hermanus, but because of the delays with the car, we were running late and decided to drop it. We picked up some biltong at a random Spar, and drove on to Raka Wines for a tasting. Now this is a winery we are very familiar with; we've been enjoying their wonderful wines since 2006. We had also visited in 2006 (after our trip to Cape Agulhas that year) and knew we wanted to go back. We tried five different wines, starting with a white blend and then a rosé (both were quite OK), and then onto the amazing reds – Spliced, Quinary, and Biography Shiraz. And we are now the proud owners of bottles of a Biography Shiraz and a Merlot.
It was getting late by then, so we drove right to Cape Agulhas Backpackers. We were met by the lovely Steffi, who showed us to our room (the Bella room) and let us know about how things worked with dinner and breakfast (if we wanted to order), tours, etc. Since we were quite exhausted, we decided to just relax with some drinks from the bar (beer and cider), and we decided to stay here for dinner as well. Which was a good choice for two exhausted penguins, who ended up having to waddle off to their room/nest to take a pre-dinner nap...
So here we are, back at the bar again, waiting for our chicken braai dinner. Life is good...
2009-09-18 – Hanging out at Heathrow
We are now drinking humungous café lattes at a café at Level 2 of Terminal 5 at London Heathrow. This follows a very lovely dinner at Plane Food, Gordon Ramsay's airport restaurant here. Say all you want about Ramsay; his food is, for the most part, pretty fucking good.
When we ordered, we had a slightly difficult time due to the waitress not being particularly proficient in English. She was otherwise very nice, but seriously, when you're working in an international airport with all kinds of people coming in and out, you should at the very least be able to figure out other people's accents and the such. And if you really have that much trouble understanding Ms. Penguin's standard midwestern American accent, then you're really in trouble. I guess she was just ending her shift, because at the end, we were served by a cute (Ms. Penguin's opinion) and very friendly Indian waiter...
Anyway, both penguins had the lentil soup as a starter. It was a lovely puréed lentil soup, with al dente chick peas and carrots, garnished with fresh coriander. The spices were wonderful – cumin, curry, onion, maybe some garlic... it was simply delicious. A perfect soup for autumn weather. Grade: :-)+
Ms. Penguin had roast cod with polenta chips, peas, and homemade ketchup as her main course; it was a sort of posh fish and chips variety. The polenta chips were interesting; they were infused with black onion seeds and otherwise nicely spiced. The ketchup was absolutely spicy delightful, with the right amount of fresh coriander to boost all the flavors. The fish was perfectly prepared. Yum! Grade: :-)+
Mr. Penguin had poached hake with spinach, cauliflowers, and a curry sauce. Very delicious, but the fish was unfortunately a bit overcooked. Grade: :-). If the fish had been perfectly cooked, he would definitely had given it a :-) +
The wine of the evening was a DeWetshof Chardonnay 2008 – of course we chose South African!
Color: pale gold with hints of green
Nose: grass, starfruit
Palate: very refreshing for being a chardonnay, but it was a young chardonnay. Flavor of grapefruit, with some bitterness of grapefruit zest. Aftertaste of grass. It was a brilliant match to the lentil soup, and it would be excellent with spicy food in general.
Grade: :-)+
Otherwise, getting into Heathrow was annoying; too many people and too poor control. Mr. Penguin got the pleasure of getting felt up by one of the security guards (probably due to his good youthful blond looks, according to himself :-) And Ms. Penguin is suffering miserably with perfume allergies, at it seems every other person here is marinated in it...
When we ordered, we had a slightly difficult time due to the waitress not being particularly proficient in English. She was otherwise very nice, but seriously, when you're working in an international airport with all kinds of people coming in and out, you should at the very least be able to figure out other people's accents and the such. And if you really have that much trouble understanding Ms. Penguin's standard midwestern American accent, then you're really in trouble. I guess she was just ending her shift, because at the end, we were served by a cute (Ms. Penguin's opinion) and very friendly Indian waiter...
Anyway, both penguins had the lentil soup as a starter. It was a lovely puréed lentil soup, with al dente chick peas and carrots, garnished with fresh coriander. The spices were wonderful – cumin, curry, onion, maybe some garlic... it was simply delicious. A perfect soup for autumn weather. Grade: :-)+
Ms. Penguin had roast cod with polenta chips, peas, and homemade ketchup as her main course; it was a sort of posh fish and chips variety. The polenta chips were interesting; they were infused with black onion seeds and otherwise nicely spiced. The ketchup was absolutely spicy delightful, with the right amount of fresh coriander to boost all the flavors. The fish was perfectly prepared. Yum! Grade: :-)+
Mr. Penguin had poached hake with spinach, cauliflowers, and a curry sauce. Very delicious, but the fish was unfortunately a bit overcooked. Grade: :-). If the fish had been perfectly cooked, he would definitely had given it a :-) +
The wine of the evening was a DeWetshof Chardonnay 2008 – of course we chose South African!
Color: pale gold with hints of green
Nose: grass, starfruit
Palate: very refreshing for being a chardonnay, but it was a young chardonnay. Flavor of grapefruit, with some bitterness of grapefruit zest. Aftertaste of grass. It was a brilliant match to the lentil soup, and it would be excellent with spicy food in general.
Grade: :-)+
Otherwise, getting into Heathrow was annoying; too many people and too poor control. Mr. Penguin got the pleasure of getting felt up by one of the security guards (probably due to his good youthful blond looks, according to himself :-) And Ms. Penguin is suffering miserably with perfume allergies, at it seems every other person here is marinated in it...
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