Food and Wine in Franschhoek

After an incredible stay in Hermanus we made our way 1.5 hours west to Franschhoek, an area known for their food and wine. But first, on the way, we stopped at Creation Wines for incredible views and delicious cheese. 

We got so lucky and even had a spontaneous tour of the winery from one of the vintners! It was really neat hearing about how they create, store, and distribute their wines.

We stayed on a working vineyard called Auberge Clermont. Though the grapes were dormant for the season, I loved walking around the property and taking in the views. 

The town was founded by French religious refugees in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Huguenot legacy continues through the French culture in the town, including the vineyards and delicious French-inspired food. La Petite Colombe is one of the top restaurants in Africa for good reason. Our thirteen course meal was full of whimsy, artistry, and delicious flavors! Look at the presentation of the snacks served to us while we waited for our table! 

This course was delicious. It was a freshly cooked bread with a smoked fish spread meant to look like caviar. So playful and tasty!

Every plate was just as meticulous as the last. And to top it all off at the end of the night they brought around a sweets trolly reminiscent of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

 

The next day we devoted to wine tasting. We went to four different vineyards, all with very different looks and price points. You can take the wine trolly or hire a driver to go around the vineyards, but we found it relaxing just taking our time and moving on our own. 

Next up...Safari!

Read more about our trip:

Southern Africa: A Trip of a Lifetime

Touching Down in Cape Town

Lion's Head Mountain and Cape Town

Whale Watching in Hermanus

Morning Glory Muffins

Popping in quickly to tell you about my favorite healthy-ish snack: morning glory muffins. I've been making these for years and can't wait to share them with you. They're so easy and so delicious! 

Over the years I've made a lot of adjustments to the original recipe to get it to be a bit healthier, but still tasty. This is my favorite version. Asher loves them too! Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Morning Glory Muffins

Original recipe from here

Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cups brown sugar 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 2 cups shredded carrots 
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 apple - peeled, cored and shredded
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup apple sauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two muffin tins. This recipe makes 12 large muffins and around 12 mini-muffins.
• In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the carrot, raisins (if using), nuts, coconut, and apple.
• In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, apple sauce, and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into the carrot/flour mixture, just until moistened. 
• Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

France Week!

Ooh la la. This was a delicious week! Yes, I say that every week, and yes, that might have something to do with the fact we're picking our favorite food destinations. Nevertheless, France outdid itself. 

Crafts

We learned about French impressionism and how artists like Monet changed the style of art through displaying deliberate brushstrokes. We attempted this style on foil canvases with q-tip paint brushes. I got the idea on Pinterest (I don't have a specific link), and this was a huge hit. First of all, it's so easy to do and the kids LOVED it. Secondly, I was really surprised how much information Zahara learned about Monet and impressionism, and how well the art turned out. 

We ended up doing these paintings all week. To make your own, just wrap a piece of cardboard (we used old cereal boxes) in foil. Paint any scene you want using finger paints and q-tips.

For one of our snack times, we made the Eiffel Tower. I drew the tower on a plain piece of printer paper (it doesn't need to be perfect). We used dates, Pirates Booty, baby carrots, and Veggie Straws, but you can use anything. Ideally, one of the snacks should be straight to make up the sides of the tower.

Culture

Once again we turned to our favorite Nat Geo Kids videos to learn more about France. We watched this one about the Eiffel Tower. We also watched the movie Madeline, which was a fun treat since Zahara has read the Madeline books.

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We took a field trip this week too! We went to visit a French bakery near us, The Fresh Baguette, and actually had a nice lunch outside. Our county is starting to loosen restrictions around Covid, and now some restaurants are open. We are still not comfortable eating indoors yet, but are more open to the idea of eating outside at a table that is physically distanced from other tables. We wear masks unless we are eating, and make sure the waitstaff wear one too. It's not an every day event for us, but it is nice to have a little more freedom. Thankfully the numbers of new infections in our area are going down (largely due to enforced mask policies), so we are able to take on this risk. 

Food

We had a hard time narrowing down our food menu this week, as you might imagine. Here's what we ended up with, but I suspect we'll need to circle back to France sometime soon. Coq au vin, duck a l'orange, French onion soup, creme brulee, potato salad with herring, barigoule of spring vegetables, nutella-filled crepes, and macarons (Trader Joe's frozen ones are awesome!).

The coq au vin and duck a l'orange were fantastic. I don't know if I've had either of these dishes before, but I would absolutely make them again. I was surprised how much I liked the duck breast versus the legs. They were so juicy and tender.

French onion soup is one of my favorite dishes, but it's hard to find kosher because traditionally it uses beef stock and cheese. We substituted veggie stock and it still tastes rich and delicious--especially when served in Dan's homemade sourdough bread bowl!

The creme brulee turned out great, and the kids liked watching Dan brulee it with our kitchen torch. To make the crepe experience a little more French, we watched this video of a typical French creperie at work. We made sure to fold our crepe in the traditional style. 

The potato salad and the veggie dish were not great. It's nice to experiment, but these didn't really work for us. The almond croissant, quiche and chocolate eclair we had at the bakery made up for it though.

Au revoir, France! Thanks for the calories memories. Next up, USA!

See our other country week adventures here.

Bazaar by Jose Andres

Part of what Dan and I love about traveling is eating well. And South Beach offered plenty of fantastic meals for us to enjoy. One highlight was Jose Andres's The Bazaar, a Latin-inspired hip spot.

We have eaten at several of Jose Andres's other restaurants in Washington, DC, including Fish and MiniBar (one of our all-time favorites!). We also like Zaytinya and Jaleo (always get the brussels sprouts at both locations). I'm a big fan of Andres's style of lots of little, yummy things. It's not always tapas in the traditional sense, but he does a great job of playing with textures, scale and flavors, keeping you on your toes and making the meal fun. I'm happy to report, The Bazaar lived up to those expectations.

Though Bazaar had a prix fixe menu, we opted to order ala carte. We had plenty of variety and left feeling satisfied, but not overly full. I ordered my favorite gin and tonic of all time (it's the same as at Fish), and was a happy camper.

We started our meal with a dragon fruit cevice with tuna, pecans, lemon and hibiscus foam. None of this should have worked, but it was really good. I don't think the hibiscus was too strong, and the dragon fruit mixed in with the tuna was surprisingly refreshing. The crunch from the pecans added just the right texture. I loved this weird dish.

Next we had a caprese salad with liquid mozzarella balls. The pesto underneath was tasty, and the concept was interesting. I wasn't blown away though.

This next dish left me literally licking the plate. I am so glad we opted to each get a tortilla de patatas "new way." It is a sous vide egg with a potato foam, and diced crisp potatoes on top. I couldn't get enough of this, and in retrospect wish I had ordered another one.

This next dish didn't blow me away. In fact, we sent it back for being under-seasoned. It was a wild mushroom soup with cheese and an egg yolk, but it was very bland.

Honestly, I don't remember a ton about this dish, which I guess isn't a great sign. It is fresh baby peaches with burrata, hazelnuts, and arugula. I remember the burrata was delicious but I wanted the dish to be more peachy. The baby peaches (the green parts below), didn't taste like much.

I didn't like this next dish at all, but Dan loved it. It sounded incredible, but was way too funky for me. They are frozen blue cheese sandwiches with lemon marmalade on walnut bread. I wasn't sure what to expect, but these were like ice cream sandwiches with blue cheese instead of ice cream. It was unlike anything I've had before. While I enjoy trying new things, and I appreciate the concept, it was much too strong a flavor for me. 

We also had one of their daily specials, which was a white fish that was served en papillote. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't very memorable.

We opted not to have dessert because we were staying at a DoubleTree, and honestly, their free cookies are the best. So we finished our drinks and headed out, where we stumbled upon Michael Caine and his family! Dan recognized them, and then we spend several minutes trying to be cool and not disturb them.

Overall, we had a fantastic evening at at really fun restaurant. I wouldn't say that this is my favorite Jose Andres restaurant, and I probably wouldn't go back, but I'm happy we tried it. 

What We Ate in Cincinnati

Cincinnati was a surprisingly fun town with tons to do and see. And since eating is my number one pastime, you know we found good food in the Queen City. Here are some highlights:

Food
We had several great meals and one pretty terrible one. Our best meal was at BOCA where we had tremendous food and an awesome waiter (thanks Kyle!). It's pricey--especially for Cincinnati, but we split an entree and appetizers and walked away full. My favorite of the night was the Egg Raviolo "San Domenico," which was a raviolo stuffed with an egg yolk. It was heavenly! A close second was the Corn Elote (R.A.D.), which was fresh pasta that tasted like Mexican street corn. Sidenote, if you haven't had fresh midwest corn in the summer, you're missing out.

We had another great meal at Salazar. I got talked into the Fried Pimento Cheese Fritters and am so happy I did. Such a great guilty pleasure. And the homemade spaghetti with fresh corn and tomatoes was incredible.

For a quick bite, the tacos and roasted cauliflower side at Bakersfield were great! The cauliflower was like a yummy, spicy dip, and the Hongos taco was my favorite.

Since Cincinnati is known for its chili, we stopped by Skyline to check it out. Sadly, their vegetarian offerings were pretty lame (black beans and rice), so we skipped it. Luckily, there was a great vegetarian chili option at the airport called Gold Star Chili. We loaded up our to-go containers with spaghetti, chili, onions, and enough cheese to feed a village (veggie 4-way). Verdict: it was delicious! Nothing like the chili I'm used to as a Texan, but still really good.

Sadly, Satre totally missed the mark for us. We went there initially because my dad's colleague's cousin was the chef. Turns out, he no longer works there--a fact we only discovered as we were paying our bill. The food was ok, but the service was terrible. Definitely not worth a visit. At least the company was good!

Sweets

There were two main sweets were were told we had to have in order to properly experience Cincinnati: Graeter's ice cream and Holtman's donuts. So of course we obliged.

We got a a really delicious apple fritter at Holtman's. I wanted to go back and sample more, but each time I was nearby they were closed. Bummer. I'm not sure it was the best fried dough I've had, but it was really tasty.

We had Graeter's twice. I had their black cherry with chocolate chip and their cookie dough chocolate chip. Dan had the banana chocolate chip and the maple cinnamon crunch. The ice cream was good, but not nearly as good as Jeni's.

Drinks
To be honest, we didn't really go out for drinks other than having a cocktail at dinner. We grabbed a beer at Taste of Belgium and wish we had stayed for a waffle. And I had a great chai latte at Coffee Emporium (Dan had an espresso).

But one of the most fun places we went to was called Tokyo Kitty. It is a crazy little Japanese karaoke bar/night club that we just stumbled upon. We got there a little late for the group karaoke and only participated in a few songs before the DJ started up, but trust me when I say this is one of the most unique places I've been in a while. It was such an interesting mix of people that words won't do it justice.

Cincinnati was such a fun surprise. Now it makes me want to explore more U.S. cities. Hopefully we can make this a more regular thing!

See part 1 of our Cincinnati trip here:
Kid-Free Vacation to Cincinnati: Part 1

Rose's Luxury

As part of my birthday celebrations, Dan and I went to Rose's Luxury for a fancy meal. You know how much we love a fancy meal, right?

The thing with Rose's Luxury is that it is a Michelin one-star restaurant, and they take very few reservations. Doors open at 5pm, and people generally start lining up around 4 or 4:30 to snag a table for that evening. Normally, we aren't able to get there that early and wait (because of kids and jobs--silly life responsibilities). But, today, on my birthday, I had the day off. I figured, I'll grab a book and a drink and wait in line for what promises to be an awesome meal. And you know what, it was worth it!

The line ended up not being bad at all. Granted, it was a Wednesday so crowds were smaller than they would be on a Saturday. I got there early--around 4pm, and there were already two people ahead of me. But thankfully there were chairs, so I went next door, grabbed a sangria, and came back to wait. By around 4:45 there were nine people/parties in line. A few had reservations, and a few didn't. As far as I could tell, everyone who was there by 5pm got a seat for that night.

Let me start by saying the restaurant is gorgeous! It is very unassuming from the outside, but inside it is so well decorated. In particular, I loved the warm string lights, which created a cozy atmosphere; the soft, blue velvet couch in the bar area; and the neon sign which simply said, "awesome." The service was impeccable, and exactly what you'd expect from a Michelin-starred restaurant. But, of course, the food was the star of the night.

We sat at the Chef's table, which I'd highly recommend. Dan and I sat side-by-side just a couple of feet away from the kitchen watching as each dish was meticulously prepared and then inspected by the owner before being sent out. We tried to decipher the kitchen's system, affectionately dubbing one of the chefs "tweezer man," after watching him delicately place each item with his long tweezers. 

We decided to order ala carte, vs. the prix fixe menu, and it was definitely the right choice for that night. We basically ordered every pescatarian small plate, and it was more than enough food. Here's what we ate:

• Cacio e pepe monkey bread 
• YUM! This was so salty and peppery and buttery. Really great start
• Green tomato panzanella with anchovies
• At first I was confused as to why this was called panzanella, but then I found the cubed bread underneath. This was really light and refreshing. I liked the saltiness of the anchovies
• Popcorn soup
• I had no idea what this would be when we ordered it, but it is exactly what it sounds like. It's soup that tastes like popcorn! It's really salty and creamy with bits of popcorn blended in. I loved it, but the small amount I had (Dan and I shared one portion) was perfect. I'm not sure I'd want a whole bowl of it

• Lychee salad
• This is one of their best-sellers and has been on the menu since they opened six years ago. We were told by our server that we had to mix it up to eat it properly. Dan and I planned to, but first wanted to taste the different components, like the coconut cream and peanuts. Then the chef came by to reiterate the point about the need to mix it up. Message received. Either way, it was delicious
• Strawberry pasta
• Ok, this one was weird,  but I really liked it. It is a freshly-made pasta with a 60% strawberry and 40% tomato sauce, served with a big dollop of ricotta. It is definitely on the sweet side, but I found it refreshing for summer. Dan said he probably wouldn't order it again though
• Sweet Pea Primavera 
• I really liked this dish too, but was starting to get pretty full. It's a nice, light pasta flavored with fresh peas and mint. I liked the egg and horseradish that topped the dish. And it was just so pretty

• Cacio e pepe pasta
• Dan's favorite dish of the night--and a strong contender for mine as well. It was perfectly seasoned with just the right amount of bite. This was compliments of the chef, which was a nice touch. I know we're paying for it one way or another, but I love the service in fine dining where you feel like you're getting value for your money. It's nice to feel taken care of
• Dessert
• We ordered the aged rum banana pudding, which was delicious! Tasted just like an adult Nilla wafer pudding. So tasty we forgot to take pictures. Oops! But, the servers/chefs brought two extra desserts for my birthday! One was a coconut sorbet with lime zest and caramel. I loved the sorbet, but the lime was a little too sour for me. The other was a vanilla ice cream in the cutest little cone you've ever seen, with sprinkles and a sparkler. So fun! 

Another epic meal in the books for us! What a treat!