Tag Archives: bloggers

Lucky Star ‘You Can with Fish’ cookbook puts healthy eating in a can!

As bloggers we are invited to a diversity of functions to launch new products and menus.  The launch of Tamsin Snyman’s new cookbook for Lucky Star, ‘You Can with Fish’, was one of the most unusual, with great attention paid to the theme of the product, and some of the recipes in the cookbook forming the meal we were served for lunch.  The launch expressed the Lucky Star pay-off line ” Eat better. Live better”.

Banners with different recipes depicted in the cookbook welcomed the guests on arrival, on a beautiful Spring day at the recently renovated Granger Bay Hotel School Restaurant, almost at the ocean’s edge. I waited to be seated with MasterChef SA Finalist Lungi Nhlanhla, who now is the deputy Food editor of Drum magazine.  I was lucky to sit between Tamsin and Errieda du Toit, whose PR consultancy had organised the function, which meant that I could obtain additional information from both.  Tamsin impressed with her professionalism, being present and in charge of the event, despite her husband Chris having undergone serious surgery a few days prior. The marine theme was interpreted with origami boats in different sizes, which were part of a Lucky Star product display on each table, including Light meat shredded tuna, Pickled pilchard cutlets, Curried Pilchard cutlets, Pilchards in tomato sauce, South African sardines, Middlecut, and Pilchards in hot chilli sauce.

Tamsin has taken over her late mother’s Lannice Snyman Publishers, and the company has published the third cookbook for Oceana Brands, following ‘Cooking with Canned Pilchards‘ in 2003, and ‘Out of the Can’ in 2009, which marked the 50th anniversary of the brand. ‘You Can with Fish’ is divided into three sections, with 29 recipes that take 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes to prepare, and appeal to all members of the family. Time-saving tips for busy cooks are shared in the cookbook. The beautiful styling and photography for the book was done by husband and wife team Diane and Christoph Heierli, whose work impresses in every issue of WineStyle.

Shân Biesman-Simons, the Director of Nutrition and Education at The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa, emphasised the health benefits for the heart of eating tuna, pilchards, and sardines, being rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and therefore the Lucky Star range carries the Heart Mark.  The brand’s product range is included in The Heart and Stroke Foundation Eating Plan, and is approved by Diabetes South Africa.  The products do not contain preservatives or artificial colouring.  Additional health benefits of the Lucky Star products are that the protiens are more easily digested than those in meat; the calcium strengthens bones; they contain iron, iodine and vitamins A and B; they have selenium, an immune booster, which helps to prevent cancer and heart disease; and the tomato sauce in the products contains lycopene, an anti-oxidant protecting against heart disease, cancer, and arthritis.  September is Heart Month, and therefore the cookbook is well-timed to educate South Africans about healthier eating.

Each guest was given a menu, and we were invited to ‘unleash your inner foodie!‘ On arrival, Pilchard bunny chow and sardine samoosas were served.  For the main course, seven dishes were brought to the table, all from the cookbook, prepared by the Granger Bay Hotel School Restaurant chef Jerome Peters, and were Tuna fishcakes with tartare sauce; Pilchard, marrow and mushroom cottage pie; curried pilchards, samp and corn; Sardine pancake bake; Tuna and mushroom casserole; and pickled pilchards with pap and spinach. Errieda had cleverly sourced ‘Gone Fishing’ cider by James Mitchell’s from Elgin, to match the theme!  The cookbook also has recipes for wraps, breyani, curries, bobotie, goulash, omelette, casseroles, and bakes.

In addition to the cookbook, 400000 leaflets with a selection of ten recipes out of the cookbook were printed, for distribution with magazines, at food shows, and at expos.

Disclosure: We received a Lucky Star shopping bag with the media kit, the cookbook, and a selection of the company’s canned products.

‘You Can with Fish’, Lannice Snyman Publishers. Available at leading bookstores.  R85,50.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Fine wine is a good financial investment! SA’s Top Cabernet Sauvignon wines a good investment!

Whilst many wine farmers may not feel that they make money out of their wines, Sanlam Private Investments Director of Investments Alwyn van der Merwe said that one can make money by investing in fine wines, quoting a 6,5 % return on 2006 wines. The Livex Fine Wine 100 index, tracking a hundred of the world’s most desired wines, has increased by 40% since 2006. There is a good supply of quality wines, with heritage, a legacy, and with craftmanship.  Creating successful wines are the ‘passionate people of the industry’.  It was on this note that the Christian Eedes Top Ten Cabernet Sauvignon wines for 2012 were presented on Thursday, sponsored by Sanlam Private Investments.

Whilst being a judge in a number of wine competitions, including Veritas Awards, Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, and Platter’s Wine Guide, Christian Eedes remarked that he is ‘bemused at the state of wine competitions in South Africa’,  and he said that some of their results ‘are curious’.  He feels that wine competitions should be held for ‘talent spotting’, to identify the ‘best of a bunch’, especially the undiscovered wines, and to recognise those wines that deserve to be at the ‘top of the pile’.  ‘Cabernet Sauvignon is a much-loved variety, and a category in which South Africa traditionally does well’, and this led Eedes to choose this variety for evaluation, showcasing the ‘potential of this variety to produce wines that can compete with the world’s best’. It is the second most planted variety locally, at 12%, but is often overlooked against other varieties, he feels.

Eedes therefore invited 50 Cabernet Sauvignon wine producers to participate in his competition, and this grew to 60 after he received requests by others to be included too. He explained the methodology as being blind tasting of the wines, a responsibility which he shared with Roland Peens of Wine Cellar and James Pietersen, the Group Sommelier of Belthazar and Balducci restaurants. The winning wines were rated on points out of 20/stars out of 5, as per the Platter rating system. The majority of winning wines were 2009 vintages. The list of Top 10 Cabernet Sauvignons was announced as follows:

Delaire Reserve 2009 (5 stars)

De Trafford 2009 (5 stars)

Graham Beck The Coffeestone 2009 (5 stars)

Tokara 2009 (5 stars)

Cederberg Five Generations 2009 (4,5 stars)

Rickety Bridge Paulina’s Reserve 2009 (4,5 stars)

Stark-Conde 2009 (4,5 stars)

Stark-Conde Three Pines 2009 (4,5 stars)

Kleine Zalze Family Reserve 2007 (4 stars)

Louis 2008 (4 stars)

The function was held at French Toast wine and tapas bar, and they served a selection of tapas dishes including goat’s cheese tomato tarts, chicken empanadas, and a prawn and calamari dish.

Eedes highlighted the role of Social Media, praising the ‘mutually supportive ethos amongst Bloggers and Tweeters’, especially as he comes from a print media background (past editor of Wine) which still is cynical towards the ‘New World’ communication style.  Eedes has left the print media world, and has embraced Social Media, writing the Blog ‘What I drank last night’, Tweets (@ChristianEedes), and Facebooks.  He added that his Social Media colleagues have ‘exceeded his expectations‘.

DISCLOSURE: We received a bottle of Graham Beck The Coffeestone 2009 with our media pack.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage

I ♥ my Laundry Sweet and Sunday Times Sour Service Awards!

The Sweet Service Award goes to I ♥ my Laundry, for its invitation to lady lifestyle bloggers to attend its Taittinger Heart FM After Eden function yesterday evening.  I ♥ my Laundry has been open for less than three months, and has already established itself as one of the most creative function venues, coming up with unusual food and beverage pairings and themes. Taittinger brand ambassador in South Africa, Mike Cox, shared that there are 20 million bottles of the champagne under maturation in Reims at any point in time, and that they produce 6 million bottles per year, with a minimum of 4 years maturation. Their product range is a Brut Reserve Non-Vintage, a Cuvé Prestige Brut Rosé, and a 2005 Brut Reserve.  The function was an opportunity for Tweeters and bloggers to connect, most not having previously met.

The Sour Service Award goes to the Sunday Times, which carried a full page advertisement last week, inviting readers to an ‘Exclusive Sunday Times movie screening’ of ‘The Romantics’, at Cinema Nouveau branches in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, and at Cavendish Square in Cape Town. When they arrived at the cinema, a number of angry and very disappointed moviegoers were turned away, as the movie was fully booked.  The invitation was not subject to a ‘first come first served’ clause, nor was a number given for one to call to book a seat. All one was asked to do was to bring a coupon contained in the newspaper ad to the cinema. The manager of the Cinema Nouveau Cavendish Square absolved his cinema of any responsibility, saying that it was the fault of the Sunday Times!

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

Top 100 SA Wines to withdraw libel suit against wine blogger Dionysus

Robin von Holdt, the organiser of Top 100 SA Wines competition, who was planning to sue Dion Martin, the writer of the Dionysus wine blog for R100000 in defamation damages, has offered to withdraw his case if both parties agree to make a R2000 donation to a charity.

Von Holdt organised a Top 100 SA Wines competition last year, and attracted criticism for his guest house Rodwell House receiving an accolade for its winelist in his own competition.  Martin wrote about this on his blog, called Von Holdt some names, and received a summons from Von Holdt with a defamation claim.

This statement was posted on the Top 100 SA Wines blog by Von Holdt on Friday:

“The matter at hand has become distorted and emotive.  Libel is libel wherever it is published and those writing on the internet should adhere to the same standards as print publications.  I have a commitment and passion for the wine industry that is bigger than this matter ius.  I have listened to what has been said and consulted with wine colleagues.  The matter is not contributing positively to the wine industry that I respect, enjoy and promote.  I feel that an on-going adversarial relationship with bloggers is highly undesirable.  It also has the potential to damage our image abroad.  I therefor (sic) make Dion Martin the following ‘without prejudice’ offer to put this behind us and end this fully:

1.  We both agree to each pay Pebbles Project a sum of R2000.00, a needier cause than those of our respective attorneys

2.   I will then drop my libel case against you.

An apology for publicly insulting me would demonstrate character and I leave that to you to consider.  I do hope that you will see fit to rise to this opportunity.  I hope too that some of the more negative journalists won’t see this as another chance to launch yet more salvos of criticism and inflame matters further”.

The last sentence may refer to the Cape Argus calling Von Holdt for input to a story about the planned court case against Martin.  Martin told me that he will accept Von Holdt’s offer, on one condition: Von Holdt’s Rodwell House must not enter any future Top 100 SA Wines competitions, which was one of the aspects that Martin criticised about the competition, given the conflict of interest in Von Holdt being a ‘non-active ‘ shareholder (Von Holdt’s description of his role) in Rodwell House.

Von Holdt must have realised that he had no hope in winning this court case, and must have been surprised that wine writers (and bloggers in particular) attacked him for this attempt to muzzle a wine blogger.  The final straw for him must have been the call from the Cape Argus journalist, to whom we had sent the story.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage