Tag Archives: Honest Chocolate

Corona Virus: Lockdown Journey Journal, Day 30 of Level 2, 16 September 2020.;

 

Wednesday 16 September 2020, Day 30 of Level 2, Day 174 of Lockdown 😷

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#Grateful for another rainy day, not too cold at 16C; for giving myself this morning off, a rare treat, meeting Isabella Niehaus for coffee/tea and a treat at Manna Epicure, personally looked after by owner Agnes Renault; for a special lunch at the brand new Oxalis Restaurant, which is owned by four former female staff of Janse & Co; for a productive afternoon writing replies to lost baggage and flight cancellation customer complaints, the first in German and the second in English, for a potential airline call centre job application; for a longer call to my Alex, doing better and better career-wise; for a walk through Camps Bay, a refreshing break after being indoors all day; for two Discovery Gameboard plays making 330 Miles; for Discovery Cashbacks for Healthy Food purchases and for one-third back on the Adidas shoes I bought at Sportsman’s Warehouse last month; for the interest rate remaining unchanged; and for being much happier and healthy today. 🙏💙 Continue reading →

Corona Virus: Lockdown Journey Journal, Day 65 of Level 5, 4 August 2020.

 

Tuesday 4 August 2020, Day 65 of Level 3, after 66 days of Levels 5 and 4. 😷

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#Grateful for the rain which fell on and off today, lapped up by the vegetable and flower garden, catching me unawares when I did a quick walk to Maison J to get croissants 🥐, getting sopping wet but it was worth every drop in gifting Camps Bay with a beautiful rainbow 🌈 over Bali Bay; for Stuart Bailey coming to try to help me on his laptop with my Amazon job application; for the walk through the city centre, rediscovering it as a Tourist Guide, barely recognizing it, it being so quiet and so many business doors closed; for a indulgent Hot Chocolate at Honest Chocolate, nice and warm inside on this very cold 14C day; for collecting my tourist Guide card from the Western Cape Dept of Economic Affairs & Tourism on St George’s Mall, hardly recognizable without any stalls, looking like a European city pedestrian lane without any pedestrians 😱; for celebrating the two month battle of becoming officially registered as a Tourist Guide with an excellent lunch at Villa 47; for doing the Discovery Health Check at Clicks Glengariff Road 😱; for the assistance by Johan Prins and Bradley Moore to try to get the Amazon application completed; for getting into my warm bed already; and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙 Continue reading →

‘My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide’ launched, after qualifying as a Tourist Guide during Lockdown!

 

In January I attended a Tourist Guiding course run by the Tourist Guiding Institute, with a theoretical as well as a practical content, and received my Certificate last week, the issuing thereof much delayed due to the Covid-19 Lockdown. I am qualified as a Cultural Tourist Guide, as well as a Wine Tourist Guide, for the Western Cape as well as Port Elizabeth and the Garden Route, and guide in English and in German. I have created a Facebook page, calling my Guiding Service ‘My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide’. Continue reading →

Honest Chocolate at next stage of its ethical and artisanal evolution!

imageLast night I attended an interesting group discussion about chocolate, and Honest Chocolate in particular, at their Honest Chocolate Café on Wale Street. It demonstrated that the brand of artisanal chocolate has evolved in the four years since its launch, and that it cares enough to conduct market research to establish what chocolate lovers like and dislike about the brand.

Having received the invitation to attend whilst on holiday, I had not picked up that the event would be more than a chocolate and wine pairing. We had to document our demographic details, our chocolate purchasing habits, and source of information about the brand. Our Continue reading →

Bree Street Open Streets Festival on Sunday 18 January: celebrating car-free city!

Bree Street Open Streets 18 JanuaryBree Street will be closed for five hours tomorrow, to host the 2015 Open Streets Festival, making the street vehicle-free, and inviting Capetonians and visitors to take over Cape Town’s popular food street, to enjoy a host of activities for free.

Open to the public from 9h00 until 14h00 on Sunday, the street will allow one to walk, cycle, skate, and connect with others, and enjoy activities such as a bike bus organised by Bicycle Cape Town, a skating obstacle course by Africa Skate and other skating activities by the National Skate Collective; a kiddie’s corner by Elemental Kids, and a number of activities organised by 100in1 Day Cape Town.  There will be yoga and meditation on the Continue reading →

Chocolate haven and heaven opens at Honest Chocolate Café on Wale Street!

Honest Chocolate Cafe Exterior 2 Whale CottageThe Honest Chocolate Café opened a week ago on Wale Street, in a building next door to where it operated Honest Chocolate, the first outlet from which the owners Anthony Gird and Michael de Klerk first made and sold their artisanal dark chocolate in 2011.  The Honest Chocolate Café sells all things chocolate, a blackboard as well as a menu detailing what treasures one can order.

Anthony says he ‘stumbled’ into chocolate-making, not having any culinary background. Using raw cocoa powder he had found in health shops, he experimented with it to make chocolates that his friends loved.  Michael was living in London at the time, specialising in website design, and he too was experimenting with chocolate-making, having been inspired by a friend in New York to do so.  The team call themselves ‘imperfectionists’, learning as they go along. They have started with making moulded and dipped truffles, and sold their first handcrafted chocolates at the Old Biscuit Mill.  Their chocolates do not contain dairy or Honest Chocolate Cafe interior Whale Cottageemulsifiers, and they only use natural fructose.  The raw organic cocoa beans are sourced from Super Foods, who in turn source them from a co-operative in Ecuador, which is also known to make one of the top chocolates in the world.  Their cocoa beans are not roasted, unlike other cocoa producers. The beans have a great aroma, have anti-ageing properties, and are good for the heart.  They use agave nectar instead of sugar, which is low GI, and is therefore diabetic-friendly.  In addition to truffles, they make small slabs, each new product wrapper designed by a different designer: a rabbit on the 72 % bar, and an illustration of the Kalahari desert on the Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 5 August

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Robert Redford has expressed his delight in drinking Chenin Blanc, he shared at a special private lunch hosted in his honour by his friend Analjit Singh in Franschhoek last weekend.  He said about the variety: ‘I’ve experienced white wine in the Napa Valley in California, but never something like this.  Chenin blanc (sic) came into my life via my experience in South Africa. When I came here, I was willing to explore all kinds of new things. When I heard about Chenin blanc (sic) I thought I’d never had that and when I had it, I knew I’d found something fresh and exciting – so much so that I’ve now become a fan of Chenin blanc (sic)‘.  Last year Mr Singh acquired shares in Mullineux Family Wines, one of our country’s top Chenin Blanc producers.

*   The 2014 Diageo Reserve World Class Global Finals Bartender of the Year competition, which was held at Gleneagles in Scotland and in London recently,  has been won by Charles Joly from The Aviary in Chicago, in the face of 47 contenders for the title.  South Africa was represented by Jeff Lopes from The Michelangelo Hotel.  Joly’s winning cocktail was called ‘Above the Clouds‘.  He will become a global ambassador for Diageo Reserve World Class.   Cape Town will host the Global Finals next year! (received via media release from Communication Services Africa)

  *   Lanzerac is celebrating Heritage Day with a food feast on 24 September, commencing with a glass of its Alma Mater Rosé.  A Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 17 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   FlySafair has been granted its license to operate domestic flights, having got its local ownership at a level below 75%, as required.

*   The City of Cape Town is threatening an intensive law and order program over the Easter weekend, with roadblocks in conjunction with the SA Police, aimed at reducing accidents.

*   Honest Chocolate has created a unique collection of chocolate busts of President Jacob Zuma, Helen Zille,Honest Choclate chocolate-political-figurines Mamphela Ramphele, and Julius Malema, to tie in with the forthcoming General Election, costing R70 each or R280 for the set.  They are available at their outlets at 66 Wale Street and 66 Albert Road in Woodstock. (received via e-mail from Honest Chocolate)

*   Tourists who overstay their visa while visiting South Africa may face a two year ban Continue reading →

World Design Capital 2014: Highlights design in Cape Town Townships, no Tourism benefit sought!

Cécile and Boyd FoundationOn Friday The Guardian published a very lengthy article about Cape Town’s role as host of World Design Capital 2014 (WDC), and highlighted the unusual locations of design gems in Cape Town, including the townships and previously run-down city areas, as opposed to art galleries.  Unfortunately this is the second international article about Cape Town in two days with errors!  The article highlights what a visitor to Cape Town should see during this design-centred year, and contains shocking news for the Tourism industry.

Journalist Lisa Grainger anticipated visiting upmarket galleries, style emporiums, and seeing craft art, but instead she spent most of her week in Cape Town in townships with guide Fernie, to experience real creativity born from poverty. ‘Because it is in these townships that some of the most inspiring people live: people who are incredible, positive, engaging, brave. And I want visitors to see the good there is here, the real heart of South Africa’, he explained to her.  

She was told by Priscilla Urquhart, PR and Media Manager of Cape Town Design NPC, the company responsible for implementing World Design Capital 2014 for Cape Town, that our city’s budget (supplied by the City of Cape Town) is R 40 million, compared to close to R60 million spent by Helsinki two years ago, when that city carried the honour. Budget constraints prevented the creation of City-led design projects in Cape Town, but allowed the city’s design industry to offer its design projects for consideration, and about 450 have become official World Design Capital 2014 projects, summarised in a fold-open brochure. There is no showcase for these projects, the Design Indaba and Guild design fair having been the only two exhibitions where some of the work linked to some of the projects could be seen, unfortunately having run concurrently at the very busy end of February.

A shock is reading Urquhart admit to the journalist that ‘the WDC programme wasn’t designed to attract tourists, but to try to Continue reading →

The House of Machines not just a bikers bar, serves good coffee and healthy food too!

The House of Machines Interior Whale Cottage PortfolioThe House of Machines opened on Monday in a pedestrian lane on Shortmarket Street, and promises to be a good coffee spot as a start, as its co-owner Brad Armitage was a co-owner of Vida e Caffè when it first opened.  We found a motorcycle shop discreetly positioned at the back of the outlet, and experienced a vibrant coffee shop, bar, and light snack restaurant with very friendly and attentive service.

The building dates back to the 1890s and has housed a bar, a restaurant, a workshop for furniture designer Gregor Jenkin, and most recently a yacht design company. All three the co-owners designed the interior.  It is dominated by a massive black bar/serving counter, with wooden table counters attached to the wall at which one sits on signal red (not Vida red, as I joked with Brad!) stools.   Each table can seat up to four comfortably, and has a glass jar with Bakers & Chef cutlery, and Natural salt and pepper grinders.  Beautiful ceiling beams and weathered cement floors have been left as is.  The seating wall is covered with a collection of photographs of the three co-owners with their bikes, on their visit to the USA, which they undertook to obtain ideas and inspiration for their new venture.  Paul van der Spuy is one of the owners, who loves coffee shops, is a men’s fashion designer who owns Blue Collar White Collar, is the unofficial ‘Mayor of Cape Continue reading →