The Sweet Service Award goes to M-Net and its investigative program Carte Blanche, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, with Derek Watts being in the hot seat from the outset in 1988. Sunday’s program paid tribute to some of the top stories which the program has researched, including the death of Brett Kebble, the danger of Social Media, Rael Levitt and Auction Alliance, the Thuli elephants, the alleged fraud by Mama Jackie, and many more. The programme will Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Joost van der Westhuizen
Tony Leon’s ‘The Accidental Ambassador’ launched at magic Myoga lunch!
Gorry Bowes-Taylor has built up a loyal following of book lovers as well as book launch lunch lovers on behalf of Wordsworth. The launch of Tony Leon’s latest book, ‘The Accidental Ambassador: from Parliament to Patagonia‘, which was released two weeks ago, was sold out at Myoga on Saturday, not only due to the witty smart speaker but also the excellent menu offered by Chef Mike Bassett for the event.
The book, Leon’s second (the first was ‘On the Contrary‘), tells the story of Leon’s retirement from DA (Democratic Alliance) opposition politics after twenty years, and taking up an appointment as ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, ‘jumping before I was pushed’ from his party, as good politicians should do, he said. The book launch made it clear that politicians have the gift of the gab, and Leon is no exception. He is an excellent salesman for his book, attracting one’s attention with a provocative question – e.g. how does the previous Leader of the DA promote an ANC government in South America – and then encourages one to buy the book without answering his question, so as to not do Wordsworth (and himself of course) out of revenue!
Leon names-drops a lot – he is a close friend of Joost van der Westhuizen, and Pieter-Dirk Uys’ Evita Bezuidenhout is
quoted too: ‘As a fellow accidental ambassador, reading Tony Leon’s adventures in the land of the original Evita and the gauchos, reminded me there are reasons to be grateful we live in South Africa after all‘. Even ex-President Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying about Tony Leon: ‘Your contribution to democracy is enormous. You have far more support for all you have done than you might ever read about‘, high praise indeed!
Myoga is located in the Vineyard Hotel grounds, and there was a severe traffic jam in getting to park on the property, given a huge exodus of a church group with had used the conference hall, made worse by a hotel security person who could not cope with this nor speed things up. All 100 guest had pre-booked, and were seated according to a plan. The seat at the table that I was allocated to had two adjoining table legs where one’s own legs were meant to be, making it impossible to sit there. The manager Shameemah was most unhelpful, saying that she could do nothing at all, and that is how it is! Eventually she made a plan by offering a seat at a table with the most friendly ‘Wordsworthians’, who were delighted I had taken the last seat at the table, as it prevented someone else whom they had experienced at the previous lunch from sharing the table with them. One of the table companions is a regular blog reader, and she quoted reviews she had read on our blog. Ingrid Crowther and her mother were lovely guests too, and we shared notes about restaurant experiences.
Most of the guests at this table attend each of Bowes-Taylor’s Wordsworth book launch lunches, not necessarily because they like the author, will buy the book, or are avid readers, but because they get to experience new restaurants, meet nice people, eat good food, taste unknown wines, and are entertained by the authors talking about their new books, all at the cost of R250. The ‘Wordsworthians’ were more than delighted with the Tony Leon book launch lunch, as it ticked all the right boxes, despite some problems experienced in making the bookings! The disasterous Penny Vincenzi book launch lunch at Sevruga three years ago got the restaurant removed from the Bowes-Taylor list, while De Grendel restaurant appears to be one of the popular venues.
Chef Mike and his team put on a lunch of note, which was paired with the wines of the Hemel en Aarde Valley’s Domaine des Dieux. Shane Mullis introduced the wine estate, each guest having received a glass of Rose of Sharon MCC 2008 as a welcome drink, made of 75% Pinot Noir and 25 % Chardonnay, and which spent 42 months on the lees. The boutique wine estate name means ‘place of the gods‘, and is owned by Sharon Parnell. At 320 meters above sea level, the wine estate is one of the highest in the country. It is particularly known for its sparkling wines, the Claudia MCC 2007 being made from 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. Other wines in the range are the Chardonnay 2010, and Josephine Pinot Noir 2010.
The ‘Tantalizer’ was a superb starter of pan fried prawns with the Myoga signature sweet chili, crowned with coriander infused cream, which was paired with the Domaine des Dieux Sauvignon Blanc 2009, with asparagus notes and ripe fruit aromas. The sauce was so delicious, that everyone at our table requested a spoon, to finish every last drop! ‘The Main Event‘ was a sous-vide beef fillet, 
which was served with crispy potatoes, pan fried mushrooms, smoked bordelaise jus, and finished off with a sun-dried tomato mousse. The main course was paired with an excellent Domaine des Dieux Syrah/Mourvédre 2010. A perfectly made dry cappuccino accompanied ‘The Crowning Glory’, a refreshing dessert of golden tart, which was filled
with lemon custard on peach jus, complemented with a most unusual goat’s cheese ice cream.
Leon concluded that if one was not interested in reading his book for the South African or Argentinian politics, one could buy it for the handy tips of where to shop and what to see in Buenos Airies, which his wife Michal had written for the book. His time in South America showed him that Argentina is even more corrupt than South Africa. He said it was sad to see how Argentina, once the seventh largest economy, now has a smaller economy than that of South Africa. He says the country is very focused on its past rather than on its future, and mocked it for representing a ‘vote for a better yesterday‘! The decline of the country appears to have been triggered off by the death of ex-First Lady Eva Duarte Perron in 1952. Leon also told the story of Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who would not set foot in the cathedral of Buenos Aires, as its Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio had criticised her government. Yet she traveled to Rome to attend his investure as the new Pope Francis earlier this year! He referred to other famous Argentinians: soccer star Lionel Messi and new Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. Leon took his post in 2009, and the forthcoming soccer World Cup in South Africa helped him to leverage off big events, including rugby. The book details what happens in an embassy, his budget of about R20 million employing 27 staff per year. Leon told a funny story about his lunch with ex-South African Nobel prize winner JM Coetzee, who had been painted as being a recluse. Coetzee was participating in a Literary Festival in Buenos Aires, and Leon mistakenly invited him to the city’s best steak restaurant, the writer being a strict vegetarian! Leon found him to be anything but reclusive. Leon said that one should live in another country to appreciate one’s own country!
As an ambassador, Leon spent a lot of time in restaurants, and at dinners and cocktail parties at other embassies, and at the homes of Argentian contacts he got to know in his three years. He raves about the typical Asado barbeque, and the steaks served in the ‘parillas’, their meat cuts differing to ours. His guests will have been served samoosas, bobotie, and malva pudding, he shares. Funny is his chapter in not being able to find any Big Macs in Buenos Aires, the world famous burger being the benchmark for the real value of country’s currencies as measured by The Economist, as it would have shown up Argentina’s high inflation rate (of about 25%). No mention is made by him of any South African wines or the role they may have played in enhancing trade and cultural relations between South Africa and Argentina! He did visit Mendoza, the Argentinian wine region, on a number of occasions, but does not reveal which Malbec wines appealed to him.
Leon is articulate as a speaker and as a writer too, and the book is easy to read and hard to put down. One senses that he must have bitten his tongue on numerous occasions about his host country and his home country in the three years of his ambassadorship, having ended his latest career a year early, 
not explaining clearly why he did not end the term of his post. He now is a consultant, writer, and speaker.
Tony Leon: ‘The Accidental Ambassador: from Parliament to Patagonia‘, Picador Africa, 2013. www.tonyleon.com Twitter: @TonyLeonSA
Myoga, Vineyard Hotel, 60 Collinton Road, Newlands, Cape Town. Tel (021) 657-4543. www.myoga.co.za Twitter: @MyogaRestaurant
Domaine des Dieux, Hemel en Aarde valley, Hermanus. Tel (028) 313-2126. www.domainedesdieux.co.za
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
Body Worlds exhibition at V&A Waterfront gets under one’s skin!
On Tuesday I was invited to attend an Educators’ Forum introduction to the Body Worlds exhibition in the V&A Waterfront, for which Dr Michael Mol was the Master of Ceremonies, planned to encourage educators to send their learners to see the exhibition. The Body Worlds series of seven simultaneous exhibitions has toured 70 countries to date, and has been seen by 35 million visitors. In Cape Town the educational anatomy, physiological and health exhibition has been extended to 10 March, to cope with local interest, and has been seen by 60000 visitors to date. The exhibition lifts the skin to reveal what bodies look like underneath our protective exterior.
One does not know what to expect when entering the Body Worlds exhibition, having read about cadavers and foetuses being on show. I was a little nervous about how I would react to a cadaver, but the bodies that were depicted did not seem to be made from dead persons, but looked more like rubber representations of certain aspects of human bodies. It made a difference walking around a part of the exhibition with its PR consultant Donoven Gloy, and he explained how the Body Worlds’ Dr Gunther von Hagens and his wife Dr Angelina Whalley launched “Körperwelt” in Germany in 1995. To create the displays for the exhibition, the couple was reliant on obtaining ‘body donors’, ‘individuals who, in their lifetime, bequeathed their bodies to Body Worlds for the scientific education of future generations‘. Dr von Hagens invented ‘Plastination‘, a preservation method of a body which reflects ‘aesthetic anatomy’. All the body’s blood vessels, bones, skin, organs, nerves, and other vital parts were displayed separately in display cases, and then can be seen in whole bodies too. Wikipedia explains the technical process of Plastination, which is not explained to one when one enters the exhibition:
“The first step of plastination is fixation. Fixation, frequently utilizing a formaldehyde based solution, serves two functions. Dissecting the specimen to show specific anatomical elements can be time consuming. Formaldehyde or other preserving solutions help prevent decomposition of the tissues. They may also infer a degree of rigidity. This can be beneficial in maintaining the shape or arrangement of a specimen. A stomach might be inflated or a leg bent at the knee for example. After any necessary dissections take place, the specimen is then placed in a bath of acetone. Under freezing conditions, the acetone draws out all the water and replaces it inside the cells. In the third step, the specimen is then placed in a bath of liquid polymer, such as silicone rubber, polyester or epoxy resin. By creating a vacuum, the acetone is made to boil at a low temperature. As the acetone vaporizes and leaves the cells, it draws the liquid polymer in behind it, leaving a cell filled with liquid plastic. The plastic must then be cured with gas, heat, or ultraviolet light, in order to harden it”.
One leaves the exhibition vowing to never smoke again (lungs blackened from smoking), to never eat sweets or chocolates again (seeing the fat deposits around the organs and under the skin), and to lead a better and healthier life, a ‘spiritual’ room advising one on how to live longer (less is more in reducing animal fat and meat; being optimistic; focusing on learning one’s whole life; engaging with the world; leading a purposeful life; meaning something to someone else; eating a rainbow, eating a multiple collection of vegetables, fish, seaweed, tofu, soy and drinking red wine; exercising; and enjoying the curative power of nature via meditation, walking, and praying). Dr Michael Mol, who presents and 
produces ‘The Dr Mol Show‘ on SABC3, embodies a perfectly healthy (and attractive) body, and he and his family have vowed to live even more healthily after seeing the exhibition. A healthy lifestyle allows one to live longer and better, he said. He shared that he had seen Joost van der Westhuizen for lunch earlier that day, and ‘time for living healthily’ is most valuable. He made us laugh, talking about the world’s oldest citizen, who had lived until 122. If she had to have her life over again, she would choose a good life over a long life, she had said. Our bodies can live up to 120 years, but 67 is the international average, and 54 years in South Africa, Dr Mol saying that many of us are living on ‘borrowed time’. Lifestyle diseases are the killers, and most don’t know they have them, and don’t test for them.
The exhibition is sub-titled ‘Cycle of Life’, and refers to change being the only constant. One sees embryos from as young as 3 weeks up to 22 weeks, at which time one can see the first hair. The skin was described as the ‘most visible indicator to others of our age‘! It also is the largest and heaviest organ, and plays an important role in protecting the body from drying out, protects against micro-organisms, and to regulate the body temperature. Impressionist painters Edgar Degas and Claude Monet suffered from eye diseases in their old age, and one can see what they saw with their poor eyesight, and what they painted. Throughout the exhibition venue, comments by well-known persons are featured in German, with English translations. Actress Ursula Andress said when one enjoys life, age is irrelevant. Sir Winston Churchill probably said it best: ‘Life is like a play. First you play the lead, then the supporting role, then you prompt others, and finally you get to see how the curtain falls’. Dementia is featured too, and Alzheimers is said to be the most common form of it. Sadly Dr von Hagens is suffering from the disease, and his wife Dr Whalley is now running the Body Worlds exhibitions around the world. One in every six persons 80 years and older will suffer from this terrible disease. The most talked-about exhibit is that of a couple making love, and it is designed to encourage awareness of safe sex, and the risk of HIV/AIDS if one is not careful.
One is advised to do one’s homework about Plastination, before seeing the Body Worlds exhibition, a once in a lifetime must-see. Audio guides are for rent, and may be a good idea, so that one has a better explanation than just the labels at each exhibition. A few animal exhibits are shown, forming a larger percentage of some of the other Body Worlds exhibitions.
Body Worlds, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. Until 10 March. R140 adults, R90 children. Tickets via www.webtickets.co.za or at the door. www.bodyworlds.co.za
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage
La Residence lays on a feast for a good cause!
On Sunday La Residence impressed with the fundraising lunch it hosted to raise monies for the Stuart McFarlane Foundation, to assist in finding a cure for Motor Neuron Disease, a disease which Stuart McFarlane, previous GM of La Residence, suffers from (as does Joost van der Westhuizen), and for which there is no cure currently.
La Residence GM Edward Morton and events manager Chantell Viljoen created the Stuart McFarlane Foundation, and sent out a mailer to encourage support for the Foundation, by attending a lunch in honour of Stuart, for which we paid R500 a head. The grand entrance room, which is a lounge and dining room all in one, looked magnificent, with one long table set for 45 persons. I was lucky to sit next to Jo Sinfield, the co-owner of Deluxe Coffeeworks in Franschhoek and who has hospitality interests too, and opposite Ali Macfarlane from Inspirational Places, and her fiancé Carl. Many guests present were from the hospitality industry, having worked with Stuart at La Residence, its sister property Birkenhead House in Hermanus, Singita, and at Ellerman House. Fireplaces were lit and made the room cosy, on a grey winter’s day. Guest of honour, Kfm’s Elana Afrika, was her bubbly self, and was amazing in networking around the table, and remembering the names of almost all the guests present. She reminded us that ‘giving is a must’, and mentioned her radio station’s ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ campaign it runs regularly, making one realise that there are others with bigger problems than those that we have.
A few speeches were made, donations were auctioned to raise further funds, and a good time was had by all, the saxophonist adding a high note to the event. Wines were from the Felicité range from Newton Johnson in Hermanus, at which wine estate Stuart works now, and we were offered a choice of Chardonnay 2011 and Pinot Noir 2011, the latter being an excellent example of one of the wine varieties that the Hemel en Aarde valley is famous for.
Chef Leonard Marais went to great lengths to serve a feast, canapés having been served with the
Rosé sparkling wine on arrival. On sitting down, we were served a free-range chicken, pistachio nut and asparagus terrine, served with a fine salad, spiced apple chutney, as well as melba toast, and a basket of home-baked breads and rolls. This was
followed by a Corn Chowder, a colourful warm soup for a cold day.
For the main course we were served a generous portion of oven-roasted leg of lamb, garlic and herb potato gratin, cumin glazed young carrots, fine beans, beetroot sprouts, and a rosemary jus. For dessert we had a baked pear pudding, 
which was served with a delicious home-made Fererro Rocher ice cream.
La Residence, and The Royal Portfolio owners Phil and Liz Biden, impressed with their g
enerosity in hosting the lunch and donating some of the prizes for the auction. The elite boutique hotel, at which Elton John stays when he performs in Cape Town, is the best of its kind in Franschhoek, and showed its friendliness and demonstrated its heart for others in organising the lunch and in creating the Foundation for their ex-colleague Stuart McFarlane. Everyone attending not only enjoyed Chef Leonard’s excellent lunch but also felt good about doing good for someone else.
La Residence, Elandskloof Road, Franschhoek. Tel ()21) 876-4100 www.laresidence.co.za Twitter: @LaResidence Lunch and dinner on request and subject to availability for outside guests.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage