Tag Archives: Pressure Tests

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 24 July

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   SA Tourism CEO Thulani Nzima seems to have making a rare visit to Cape Town, the jewel in the tourism crown, where he has come to attend the Mercedes-Benz  Cape Town Fashion Week at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.  He is upbeat about tourism to our country, saying it is ‘the new mining‘!  It is good to hear him compliment our city, which receives the bulk of international tourists to our country: ‘It is endowed with natural beauty. No matter how other provinces want to compete, they don’t have Table Mountain, Robben Island, the wine routes’.  Good media coverage for Cape Town, as well as its conference facilities benefit Cape Town.  When asked about the new Immigration Regulations he said that he would wait for the Ministers of Tourism and Home Affairs to discuss the impact of the Regulations on tourism.

*   Lovers of the MasterChef cooking series can now join a MasterChef Cruise around the Caribbean from 8 – 15 November, passengers being put through their paces in a  number of challenges including Pressure Tests and Mystery Boxes.   MasterChef judge Graham Elliot, and past winners of the series will be taking the passengers through the cooking programme, which includes blind taste tests, making macaroons, sushi, pasta, cocktails, all leading to a winner chosen as the MasterChef Cruise Champion.

*  The Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition 2015 has kicked off, seeking the best cocktail in the country.  The competition Continue reading →

Charly’s Bakery ‘Charly’s Cake Angels’ Season 2 baking from today!

Charly's Bakery Cup Cakes Whale Cottage PortfolioAfter all the MasterChef SA Season 2 controversy last week, it is cathartic to focus on the new Season 2 of ‘Charly’s Cake Angels’, which begins today with two daily time slots on Food Network DStv Channel 175, creatively communicated by Charly’s Bakery on these four yummy cupcakes.

In 2011 ‘Charly’s Cake Angels‘ attracted a loyal following, not only amongst Capetonians, but countrywide and even internationally, to such an extent that we have had Whale Cottage Camps Bay guests ask us to direct them to the ‘Charly’s Cake Angels’ shop!   The show was screened in 100 countries, including the UK, Ireland, in other African countries, in Europe, and in Asia.  The episodes focus on Cape Town, and while there are no Invention and Pressure Tests, and no eliminations, the episodes were equally stressful to watch in seeing how they meet the deadlines for baking and decorating cakes for weddings Continue reading →

MasterChef SA Season 2 controversial final week: what lies ahead in episodes 27 and 28?

masterchef-sa-2-billboard-pete-goffe-woodNo matter what happens in the MasterChef SA Season Finale tomorrow evening, the choice of the Season 2 Masterchef SA winner will be controversial, if the outcry on Social Media about Kamini Pather being allowed through to Top 4 and Top 3 is anything to go by, even forcing M-Net to issue a media release about it!

Food blogger Kamini Pather was the clear leader until episode 24, rarely putting a foot wrong,  and only landing up in two Pressure Tests.  It is clear that her strength is creatively meeting cooking challenges, and that she is less good in having to replicate dishes of visiting chefs, which was her downfall in two episodes last week.  She is seen to be aloof, some seeing this as arrogance.  She was a winner of the bell, and Food and Wine Pairing Master Class at Nederburg, for the best Signature Sandwich in episode 5.  She was the joint winner with Tiron Eloff of the Coffee Invention Test in Ethiopia MasterChef 2 26 Kamini Whale Cottage Porfolioand received a MasterClass in the Jemma Valley. Went into her first (Vegetarian) Pressure Test due to the injera challenge in Ethiopia in episode 21. Into the Pressure Test in episode 24 for her poor month-end dish.  Poor performance in Gâteau Pressure Test, yet was (controversially) saved by the judges in episode 25.   Poor performance in Richard Carstens’ Chocolate Handkerchief dish in episode 26, yet was saved again. In a video interview after episode 26 a very tearful Kamini admits that her early morning yoga is ‘working less and less’, and that ‘the volume of tasks’ required when replicating dishes ‘is freaking me out’.  She has the highest number of votes from readers of our blog.

Sisters Landri and Seline van der Wat have won increasing viewer support, for their wonderful supportive relationship, for being smart, for their cooking skills (Seline for baking in particular), for how well-spoken they are, in often making Continue reading →

MasterChef SA Season 2 episode 13: Dairy Challenge pans out for some, Kamini Pather creams it!

MasterChef 2 13 Finalists Whale Cottage PortfolioEpisode 13 of MasterChef SA last night marked the halfway mark for the reality TV cooking show, and focused on the use of Dairy.  Many panna cotta dishes were made for the Dairy Challenge, which panned out for some, and not so for others.

The episode began with the Finalists discovering that all their dairy products had been removed from the fridge in their house, and they reacted grumpily to not being able to have coffee to wake up with.  Herman Cloete said their mood was ‘scratchy‘.  When they arrived at the MasterChef kitchen, Chef Andrew Atkinson cheekily asked why they looked as if they did not have a good start to the day, knowing full well what had happened at the house.  It was meant to introduce the Invention Test, to test the Finalists’ creativity with the products most commonly found in households, being dairy.  The Pantry had been stocked with milk, cream, cheese, and yoghurts, and the Finalists were challenged to make any dish with dairy, be it a starter or dessert, as long as they got the basics right.  They were given 10 minutes to grab their products in the Pantry, and 60 minutes to prepare their dish. Continue reading →