Tag Archives: Lourensford

Corona Virus: Lockdown Journey Journal, Day 32 of Level 1, 27 August 2021

 

Friday 27 August 2021, Day 32 of Level 3 đŸ˜·

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#grateful for a wonderful day, coooooold at 12C max, with snow on the Winelands mountains, and rain this morning and again tonight; for getting my work done by lunchtime; for a walk to Camps Bay, Viv driving past and stopping for a catch up chat; for two clients paying me ahead of the end of the month 🙏🙏; for a quick stop at Zest; for a pop-in at Woolworths to return clothing bought, surprised at the poor service in their ‘Customer Service’ section, only having one person on duty; for another fun Cuisine Capers outing with Gary Peterson at Zeitz MOCAA and its Ocular Lounge on the 6th floor; for our Anatoli website finally going live today; and for being happy, healthy, and free. 🙏💙

The Sweet Service Award went to Le Lude; the Sour Service Award went to Pick n Pay ASAP! for the 4th week running.

Sweet Service Award goes to Le Lude; Sour Service Award goes to Pick n Pay ASAP!

I received an invitation from Aleit Academy’s Nicolas Theron to attend their FOOD IS ART pop-up installation, a practical for their second year students. Chef Michiel Geldenhuys was challenged to express the essence of an art exhibition entitled ‘Home is where the Art is’ on the 3rd floor of the Zeitz MOCAA, in three themes, sections, and courses :

1. Oceans and pollution: salmon, avocado and orange, a blue ocean created via food colouring.

2. Time and separation during Lockdown; excellent medium rare beef fillet with a mushroom pea mash on the side, representing corruption via an ashtray.

3. Mzansi : Rainbow Peppermint Crisp – it was multi-coloured but I didn’t get the Peppermint Crisp in taste or appearance.

Our wine choice was a Lourensford The River Garden Chardonnay or a Kanonkop Kadette blend. Gary even had a little of the latter. A Jameson ended off the evening perfectly. đŸ„ƒ

We were fascinated by a Mystery Lady sitting closest to us, on her own. Having traveled my life journey on my own and knowing what it feels like to eat alone, I invited her to join our table. She declined politely, saying that she was Romancing her Aloneness. When she left, she handed me a slip with a book name entitled ‘Romancing the Ordinary’, which she recommended that I read. She told us that she is an artist, and that she was in Heartbreak. 💛🧡

My FitBit strap broke today, luckily in my home. I was lucky to have a spare short strap and received assistance to get it clipped onto my FitBit, not easy to do. 🙏

SA Corona Status: 2 747 018 cases 81187 deaths 11 924 972 vaccinations

FitBit 8000 steps 6 km 👣

Lovemylife❀

The Corona Virus Lockdown (Level 5), announced by our President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier to commence on 27 March 2020 and to continue until 16 April, subsequently extended to 30 April, lowered to Level 4 from 1 May, lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, lowered to Level 2 from 18 August, lowered to Level 1 from 21 September, and moved back to Adjusted Level 3 from 29 December,  extended to 15 February on 11 January 2021, extended but relaxed on 1 February, and relaxed back to Level 1 on 1 March 2021, moved back to Adjusted Level 2 on 31 May, moved back to level 3 on 16 June, and moved back to Adjusted Level 4 on 28 June, extended by two weeks on 11 July, and returned to Level 3 on 26 July, is an unprecedented event in my lifetime. I am posting my daily Facebook post to journal this Corona Lockdown Journey, perhaps to serve as material for a future Book.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide

 

German ZDF TV ‘Das Traumschiff’ episode ‘Kapstadt’ is good and bad PR for Cape Town!

 

I looooove ‘Das Traumschiff’, a German TV series that has been broadcast regularly in the past 20 years or so, so I was doubly excited when our city  ‘Kapstadt’ was the focus of the Boxing Day 2020 edition of  this series.

The edition could not have come at a better time, when our city’s Tourism industry is sorely missing its German tourists, and the Germans are missing not being able to travel to our city. But a subplot of the Cape Town edition has some political sensitivities, not good for our country’s image and tourism future. Continue reading →

Vivaldi’s recomposed ‘Four Seasons’ performance at Zeitz MOCAA FOOD pairs seasonal Food, Wine, and Music at the majestic Zeitz MOCCA Museum!

In a first event of its kind, pairing food, wine, and music, the ‘Four Seasons’ by Vivaldi was recomposed by German-born UK composer Max Richter, and paired with wines and food to match the four different seasons covered in the composition, and took place in the majestic Zeitz MOCCA Museum art gallery last night. It was preceded by a ‘reimagined’ interpretation of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 3, by Hans Roosenschoon. Continue reading →

Panel selects wines for wine lists of the new Cowboys & Cooks Group restaurants via blind tasting!

For the past two days I have participated in a Blind Tasting of more than 130 white, RosĂ©, and red wines at the offices of sponsorship specialists Divine Intervention, to select wines which will be incorporated into the winelists for the four restaurant brands of the new Cowboys & Cooks restaurant group, which has been founded by highly respected  restaurateur Michael Townsend and his strong support team. Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 15 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   South African wines won more than 300 medals at the 2015 International Wine Challenge held in London, which included 28 Gold (double the number compared to last year), 111 Silver, and 175 Bronze medals.  The organisers said that South African white wines had ‘an outstanding year‘, while Shiraz was the top SA Red wine performer. Stellenbosch wines won the most SA Gold Awards.

*   The 2015 Bollinger Wine Exceptional Service Award is now open for entries, which must be in by 31 May. The first Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 8 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   German competition authorities have reacted strongly against Booking.com, which prohibits accommodation establishments from offering better rates to clients booking with them directly relative to the rate they charge via Booking.com.  Action is also being taken against a similar booking site Expedia.com

*   The contribution of Tourism to the economy nationally has remained at 2,9% in both 2012 and 2013, reaching a total of R104 billion.   Just more than half of the spend was Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 30 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   A Global March for Rhinos and Elephants will be held on Saturday 4 October, with South Africa, the USA, Germany, Botswana, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Italy, and Mozambique being some of the countries participating. World Travel Market (WTM) Africa staff will also participate in the march in Cape Town, as one of its social responsibility projects. The march calls for a total ban on the trade of ‘wildlife body parts’.  WTM Africa runs from 15 – 17 April.

*   The Bureau of Economic Research quarterly survey has found a sharp drop in the expectation of business growth for the Accommodation sector in the third quarter (July – September), at 9%, compared to the previous winter period of April – June, which showed a 22% growth expectation. For the last quarter of this year, growth of 16% is expected. All other business sectors surveyed are showing negative growth expectations. The overall Western Cape business growth expectation in the second quarter was 15%, is an estimated 20% for the third quarter, and 31 % for the 4th quarter, whereas all other provinces show negative growth experience and expectations. (received via e-mail from the Bureau of Economic Research)

*   Luvey ‘n Rose is offering an interesting Cigar Appreciation Evening on 7 October, with Roque, a professional cigar roller from Continue reading →

‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ – who is he, are SA viewers being misled, Woolworths pushing its Australian investments ?

Hayden Quinn Title page sunflowersThe question on the lips of many South African viewers of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ is: why Hayden Quinn?  Why choose a MasterChef Australia top 3 finalist (no, not winner) of 2011 (no, not even 2013) to promote the beauty of South Africa and its abundance of sustainable foods amongst South Africans? We did some research, and found that South African viewers are being misled about the TV show host, and that Woolworths appears to have a hidden agenda in pushing its Australian investments!

I started with the Cardova Group, the production company of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa‘, and of the ‘Expresso Morning Show’ and ‘Top Travel‘ too, all flighted on SABC3.  A random e-mail landed in my Inbox from LinkedIn, asking me to congratulate Mark Bland as newly appointed Producer of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’, just as the series kicked off and my interest in it was piqued.   I got Mark’s cellphone number via LinkedIn, and asked him for more information about the food series.  He was extremely hesitant in talking to me, even though we have known each other for  a good two to three years.  He is a regular reader of my blog, and has commented on it on occasion.  I was taken aback about his hesitancy to meet, to talk about the new show, stating that he had just been promoted, and did not want to jeopardise his new appointment in case I wrote something that could land him in trouble. As a regular reader he would have known that I can only write what I have been told.  As the producer of the show, one would have thought that he would have wanted information about the series to be shared, or expected that he would have referred me to a PR person within his company, or at Woolworths, SABC3, and/or Nedbank, the major sponsors of the series.  The best he could send me was this bland (pardon the pun) media release: Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 25 March

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The Cape Town International Jazz Festival blows its first notes from 17h00 tomorrow, with a free community concert on Greenmarket Square.  Shakatak is the biggest name group, while Tasha’s World and Good Hope FM DJ Luwayne Wonder will also be seen on the stage.  Burg and Longmarket Streets near Greenmarket Square will be closed all of tomorrow and part of Thursday. (received via media release from espAfrika)

*   Durban’s ‘crime and grime’ deters tourism to the city, and could be the reason why the number of tourists to KwaZulu-Natal has declined for three years running, according to the province’s tour operators.  The poor economic climate, the crime rate, the lack of unique tourist attractions, and the lack of cleanliness all put tourists off visiting.  Durban’s head of tourism, Philip Sithole, disagrees, saying that the city’s tourism numbers are increasing, compared to the provincial decline!  Passenger numbers at King Shaka International as well as road traffic arrivals have declined, but the tourist spend has increased.  Tourists are said to fear walking on the Durban beachfront at night.

*   The House of JC le Roux is pairing its three MCCs with home-made chocolate Easter eggs from 14 April onwards.  Their Pinot Noir Rosé  2009 will be paired with a milk chocolate egg with a rose infused truffle filling;  the La VallĂ©e NV is paired with Belgian Continue reading →