That Blog

That Blogger is actually on tour at the moment…well, if you call heading up country to Jozi “On tour”. Yip, I am lucky enough to be heading to Soccer City to watch the Opening Game live!!

Anyway, I would never forget my lovely readers and always have their best interests at heart…that is why I thought I might mention a great special you might want to check out.

The über cool, Planet Bar at the Mount Nelson Hotel is getting into the World Cup Spirit…yes, they too can feel it!

There very talented team of mixologists (you may know them as barmen) have come up with a series of awesome new cocktails. With exciting names like ‘Italian Glimpse’, ‘Golden Goal’, ‘Berlin Martini’, ‘Slovenian Tea’, ‘Benny’s Kick’ and ‘Hemingway Special’, the thirteen cocktails sound as exotic as their ingredients, and are bound to get you into the swing of things!!!

Also, it is a well know fact that SERIOUS A-LIST celebs luuuuuuuuuuuuurrrve the Mount Nelson and the Planet Bar…so why not print out your list of WAGs and set off for a snifter or two.

Nothing says “I love Soccer” quite like a R20-million life-size soccer ball encrusted with 900 carats of white and black diamonds set in 18 carat white gold.

If you don’t love Soccer to the tune of R20m, the good news is that there are eight crystal replicas that will be on sale throughout the country for R8000 a piece at Shimansky stores. Proceeds from the sale of these little trinkets will go to charity.

Not really sure what I would say if I was presented with one of those R8000 beauties…other than to quote one of my favourite movies “This is going STAIGHT to the Pool room”. Please note, I am not even bothering to say what I would say if someone presented me 2,2kgs of diamond encrusted soccer ball…but I think you could safely say that if I was presented with 900 carats, you could safely assume that the State of the Man-scape had changed considerably!!!

Picture Source: The Times

That Blogger plus the Touring Party headed off to Robertson this weekend to investigate the legend of the Wacky Wine Weekend.

Whilst there is no denying that there are some awesome wine estates to be visited in the Robertson area, I am not entirely sure that this is the weekend to do a significant amount of farm visiting. A lot of my enjoyment of a wine tasting comes from chatting to the wine maker or at least a knowledgeable staff member about the estate and the wine on offer…this is pretty tough to achieve on the WWW. There are a LOT of people at each farm and it is difficult to talk to the staff about what they are offering for tasting.

Whilst we definitely had a good weekend and much fun was enjoyed with the Touring Party…we may do things a little differently next year.

Firstly, we will do the out-of-town farms on the Saturday. Scrumming against a multitude of drunk students to get a sample of wine is not my idea of fun at a winetasting. Friday and Sunday were really pleasant experiences, but the chaos of Saturday should be avoided by heading to the estates that are a little out of town and less well known.

Secondly, we will stay closer to Robertson. We booked a little late and ended up staying nearer Worcester. A lovely B&B…but you really don’t want to travel 50km home after a wine tasting (even with a designated driver)

Thirdly, we will do more self-catering in the evenings. The (very limited number of) restaurants in Robertson cannot deal with the onslaught of the WWW and are best avoided. Rather cook a great meal at your self-catering spot and then head out for the evening after that…or better still, enjoy some of the fine wine you purchased during the day.

Forthly, Arabella on the Saturday night is HECTIQUE…brace yourself! If you are ready for it and if you are keen for a some chassis shaking, you will keep your wits about you (or at least one member of the group does!!) and a healthy sense of humour and only then a good time will be had by all.

Fifthly, do the responsible thing and assign a DD (designated driver) per day. It makes for a far more enjoyable experience knowing that you have at least one person getting you safely around each day.

Lastly, don’t go with any major expectations other than to have a great time and to enjoy some really fantastic wine!!! With that in mind…you will have a great weekend!

The World has definitely changed a LOT in the last year. It certainly has become a far more practical place…have a look at the latest offering from the fashionistas Prada. Which, according to the Gospel aka Wikipedia is “an Italian fashion label specializing in luxury goods for men and women…The label is a status symbol”.

Yip, Gals, I kid you not…what you see before you is the latest range from Prada for 2010. Destructured shopping bags. Practical, yes, by all means…status symbol, not so sure!!?? Maybe if someone catches a glimpse of that little Prada symbol…

The thing I really like about this trend/range is that my Mum bought be something very similar when she went to Japan on holiday last year. I love the little shopping bag and find it VERY handy when browsing the Neighbourgood’s Market on a Saturday morning…but never did I imagine that my Mum was just one step ahead of Prada! Now the big dilemma is do I a) peel the Prada label off that bag I bought at that shop in Dubai a while back and stick it on to the bag and tell every one that this one is a gift from a “special friend” in Milan or b) use an old name tag from school and suggest that my family set the trend and Prada followed. Not sure which will be more believable??

Picture the scene…

You have just arrived at what is being tipped as The Party of the Year, you are in your new, very beautiful (very expensive) dress, looking drop dead gorgeous. You cast your eye around the room to check out the competition and suss out the Manscape, when, a waiter carrying a tray of delightful looking canapes stumbles and before you can say “Dry Clean Only”, you are wearing 14 Smoked Salmon blinis as accessories. Worse still is that you know it is far too early in the evening for lights to have been dimmed enough that people might not see AND due to the fact that welcome drinks are still being served, it is highly unlikely that the average guest will have drunk enough champers not to notice…all you want to do is get in your car, head home, run a hot bath and go to bed and notch this one up to experience, but you decided to be responsible and not drive and the Designated Driver has just spotted the man of her dreams and is going nowhere…plus she seems fairly adamant that salmon is the new black.

Been there, done that?? Well, if it puts your mind at rest…it probably has happened to everyone. Even old Queenie! Look at the absolute STINKER she had the other night at King Constantine of Greece’s birthday shindig…and she had the paparazzi to deal with!!

Not ideal...

First, a fellow guest manages to drop most of their dinner down the  front of her lovely aquamarine frock and then as if that isn’t bad enough, the strap of her evening bag breaks.

"Must get Philip to mend this tomorrow"

I suspect that at some time in the evening, she may have thought to herself “We are not amused”

Anyway, by all accounts (and those accounts were in the tabloids…and who are we to question those) she remained the “epitome of elegance” throughout the evening. Well done Liz…you did better that I would have. I am not sure “epitome of elegance” would have been the words that would have been used to describe me if those things had happened on my night out!!

A friend of mine introduced me to this beautiful sterling silver jewellery range the other day. My first thoughts were that it really is so pretty and different.

There are so many beautiful designs to choose from that I really struggled to choose a few that really showed you what I meant, but these were some of my favourite designs.

A Few Examples of Blackbird Jewellery

Aren’t they just lovely? Just makes me want to go out and treat myself to something new and pretty…

They are created by designer Chloe Essery, right here in a studio in Cape Town.

If you would like to see some more of the designs, you can have a look at their website www.blackbirdsa.com or if you want to have a closer look, they are sold at various spots around Cape Town and for you Jozi readers, good news…you can find them in Jozi too.

Or contact:

Kath who looks after Blackbird sales on 082 7023257 or mail her at info

It seems to be Wine Festival time…and I think I may have mentioned before how much I enjoy a wine festival! Last week it was the Agulhas Wine Festival and now another one…WOOHOO!! Awesome! Another weekend away AND a wine festival to boot!

This weekend, That Blogger will be venturing to The Robertson Wacky Wine Weekend. This is my maiden voyage to the WWW and I am really looking forward to it. The festival runs from 03 June to 06 June and promises to be loads of fun. Wonderful wine farms to visit and loads of great activities organised throughout the weekend. Just have a look at this program to see what I mean (Wacky Wine Weekend Program). I have to say that I am PARTICULARLY excited about the appearance of the Wedding DJs at Arabella Wine Estate on Friday night…I do like to “flick a heel” to the awesome sounds of the ’80s and ’90s!

See you in Robertson!

That Blogger and a team of friends, eager to escape Cape Town for the weekend, set off for the Agulhas Wine Festival hosted at The De Hoop Nature Reserve late on Friday afternoon. That Blogger was attempting a whirlwind trip to JHB on Friday morning and due to a dodgy starter motor on the British Airways plane, managed to delay the departure for Agulhas by a healthy amount of time…however, we got onto the road at last and after an easy, uneventful 3 hour drive were greeted by the friendly staff of the De Hoop Collection in the Reception area.

We were shown to our accommodation and given a tour of the house. Wow, what a nice little spot! There were 3 spacious bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, new bathrooms and an outside braai area. The ever-patient, Boy in the group whipped up a roaring fire in the fireplace and before we could say “Chardonnay” we were all kicking back and enjoying a glass of wine and relaxing in front of the fire.

On Saturday morning, after a yummy breakfast, we set off to explore the reserve. There really seems to be a good amount of game around and within a few minutes of leaving our house, we had spotted Bontebok, Eland and LOTS of Ostrich! We headed for the beach and to check out Koppie Alleen, the beautiful little cottage that is set right on the beach and nestled in the Fynbos.

Bontebok

The view from the beach was just breath taking…the sea was a beautiful turquoise colour and the beach seemed to stretch on forever and the setting for Koppie Alleen is just magical. I will definitely be returning to De Hoop to stay there!

Koppie Alleen

After all that adventuring, the Team decided it was time to do some wine tasting. We headed back to the main reception and were guided to the hall where the wine tasting was taking place. Some quality time was then spent tasting some of the most wonderful wines from the Agulhas area – including Napier, Elim and Gansbaai. We tasted some incredible wines from the estates Strandveld, First Sighting, Quoin Rock, The Berrio, Jean Daneel, Lamond, Lands End, Black Oystercatcher, Zoetendal and Brunio. What a wonderful treat to have so many awesome estates gathered in one place!!!

Fast forward through a rather disappointing rugby game (for the Stormer’s fans obviously) and it was time to sit down to the specially prepared 6 course dinner in the lovely Fig Tree restaurant. The Chef, Bruce, had carefully prepared a meal that could be paired with wine from the estates showcased at the Festival. What a treat!!

The Team gingerly made it to breakfast back at the Fig Tree restaurant on Sunday morning and whilst the croissants with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs were wolfed down, I noticed that there weren’t too many takers for the bubbly-I suspect that might have something to do with the generous quantities of wine paired with the delicious meals the previous evening!!

The Beach and Sand Dunes

We headed back to the beach after breakfast for a stroll and were lucky enough to spot some Whales in the bay! We were told that in Whale Season, there have been nearly a 100 Whales sighted in the Bay! (We spotted 2…but it is still very early in the season!)

It really was an absolutely wonderfully relaxing weekend, made even more so by the almost non-existant cellphone reception throughout the reserve! Yes, the world did survive without us!

If you are looking for a great weekend away with family or friends, you really should have a look at De Hoop Nature Reserve. There is accommodation to suit all budgets and there really is SO much to do. The De Hoop Collection are also running a winter special of 25% off accommodation in June, July and August

For further information, call the De Hoop Collection on 0861 33 4667 or the Cape Town reservation office directly on 021 405 4587 or email res@dehoopcollection.co.za.

You can also visit the website for more info www.dehoopcollection.co.za

De Hoop Collection

There are so many deserving causes in South Africa that it really is difficult to decide which one you should support if you do actually want to support a charitable cause. I happened upon a great initiative, that donates money to a really wonderful cause and the more you shop, the more that goes to this great cause…can you ask for a better reason to shop?

Habits boutique in Claremont has been working with Noah for two years now. Noah‘s vision is to ensure that orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa have an opportunity to grow up into emotionally, psychologically and physically healthy adults. Their mission is to empower communities with knowledge, skills, strategies and self-confidence to care for their orphans and vulnerable children.

The team at Habits were inspired by this vision and mission and so started a campaign to raise money for Noah. The Noah campaign run through Habits has been so successful, that the Habits team have decided to extend the campaign to this year. This time, they will be donating 10% of the price of all the lace trim stretch cami’s sold up until the end of the year. The cami’s are extra long (which is something I love…I can’t stand it when they creep up over your tummy or above your jeans) and come in a whole heap of stunning colours (including black and white). Lovely cami’s really are a wardrobe essential, so why not buy them from Habits and do something great for the community at the same time? If you don’t live in Cape Town, you can order one of these lovely little essentials on-line from the Habits website.

If you would like to read more about Noah and the wonderful work they do, click on http://www.noahorphans.org.za/

Lace Trim Cami

If you are a fan of the Twilight series you either fall into the Vampire camp (Robert Pattinson fans) or Werewolf camp (Taylor Lautner fans). Anyway, if you fall into either camp, you are probably very excited about the third movie in the series that is starting on 30 June 2010. Personally, I am a Werewolf fan…not so sure about pasty white, sparkly vampires…they just don’t do it for me.

Anyway, here’s the storyline that we have to look forward to…

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. (Source: Wikipedia)

If you are not a fan of the Twilight series, you are almost certainly pretty indifferent on werewolves or vampires and will be skipping this post to read about something more interesting on That Blog!

You may recall that That Blog ran a competition a little while back to win a Breakfast for 2 at Miss K Food Cafe in Green Point.

Well, the time has come to announce the winner…

Kim Main

Congratulations Kim!!! Enjoy your breakfast!

If you were not lucky enough to win this great prize…why not just treat yourself to a Miss K meal anyway. The new menu is great and with this grim weather, how can you resist that yummy Lindt Hot Chocolate…

I was introduced to this wonderful website the other day and thought that I should share it with you.

Love Letters Stationery & Paper Goods make some of the most beautiful personalised stationery I have ever seen. Everything from monogrammed cards and envelopes to colourful placemats, printed gift tags and even personalised pencils.

I am a really big fan of the stick on chalkboards that are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes…what a great way to organise your life AND look good whilst you are doing it!! The animal shapes are great for kids rooms or playrooms.

The personalised placemats are great and what a brilliant idea for a birthday present with a difference! There are different designs for Boys and Girls and they certainly will brighten up meal times and lure the family to the dinner table rather than TV dinners. The mats are made of melamine, board and cork and are heat-resistant and scratch resistant.

Personalised Placemats

Have a look at the great little invitations available. Just gorgeous images and they come with a Microsoft Word template that will help you easily print your own invitations.

I just loved the really cute gift tags for Christmas…which are something quite special and different to the usual tacky little stickers and cards available at Christmas. It goes SERIOUSLY against the grain for me to even start thinking of Christmas this early in the year…but maybe this might inspire me to be a little more organised than normal!

Please do yourself a favour and have a look at the other beautiful things available on their website www.lovelettersstationery.co.za or contact Bridget at lovelettersstationery@gmail.com or +27 83 327 5363 for more info and tell her that That Blog sent you.

Personalised Gift Tags

That Blogger hit the Sunglass Hut sale today and can safely report that there are some SERIOUSLY good deals to be found and some beautiful sunnies to be purchased.

I was unable to limit myself to just one pair and in fact got completely carried away with the whole event…so needless to say, I have gone from being the owner of one rather scratched pair of sunglasses (that were brought out of retirement after fav pair were nicked) to probably being able to wear a different pair on each sunny day we will see until November and not have to use any pair more than once! (OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration…but not far off, if we have a bad Winter!). At one point in the purchasing process, I had so many pairs in my hand that if you had put a flag or a vuvuzela in my other hand I would have done a very good impersonation of someone standing at a major traffic intersection!

Anyway, so what I am saying is that you REALLY need to get yourself to the North Building, Black River Park, Fir Street, Observatory as soon as possible because the sale ends on Saturday 29th May (open all day Saturday). Ray-bans are selling from R370.00 and Pradas, Chanels, D&G, Miu Mius and DKNY (amongst many other names) are selling at a serious discount!

My favourite purchase...the DKNY pair

Happy shopping Gals!!

I have to be honest and say that That Blogger LOVES a wine festival! This is why I was very excited to hear about the upcoming Agulhas Wine Festival being held from 28th to 30th May 2010 at the De Hoop Collection in the De Hoop Nature Reserve. The wine festival will showcase some of the award-winning wines from the Agulhas area – including Napier, Elim and nearby Gaansbaai. De Hoop is described as the “Jewel of the Western Cape” and really is such a beautiful setting for this festival and this is a great opportunity to taste some of the most delicate and decadent wines on offer from the area.

Wine estates on offer at the festival include:-

• Black Oystercatcher, Jean Daneel, The Berrio, Zoetendal, Strandveld Wines, First Sighting, Quoin Rock, Lamond, Brunio, Ghost Corner and Lands End

How exciting is that? Those are really some of my favourite wine estates and now they will all be gathered together in spot for tasting!

The festival begins on Friday evening with sundowners and snacks overlooking the De Hoop Vlei, where you can relax and enjoy the tranquil beauty of the surrounding wildlife and fynbos. On Saturday, from 11am to 2pm, the wine tasting starts and just to make the whole event even more decadent, you will be able to sample the freshly prepared canapés on offer. Later, from 6pm-8pm, another wine tasting will be held, followed by a sumptuous dinner at The Fig Tree restaurant, complete with wine pairing. On Sunday morning, the festival will close in style – with a luxurious champagne breakfast at the Fig Tree Restaurant to celebrate the area’s local bubbly.

Whilst the Reserve is open for day visitors, this is a fabulous opportunity to make this a “Weekend away with friends” type of event (Aren’t we always looking for a reason to get out of town?) There are plenty of accommodation options to choose from that suit all budgets. You can choose from the affordable campsite rondavels, an assortment of self-catering cottages and larger houses or the Opstal Manor House (which incl meals catered for at The Fig Tree Restaurant). If you are looking for something really special and more private, there is the beautiful Koppie Alleen set on its own overlooking the bay.

De Hoop Koppie Alleen Cottages

The Reserve is a World Heritage Site and really has so much to do if you are looking to take a break from the wine tasting. You can do some mountain biking, hiking, birding, animal spotting, snorkelling and even some whale watching! You are welcome to leave your vehicle at any time and wander around the reserve.

Black Oyster Catcher

De Hoop Nature Reserve is about 3 hours drive from Cape Town. It is in the Overberg region near the Southern tip of Africa can can be approached from either Bredasdorp or Swellendam. Reserve gates open at 7am and close at 6pm (7pm on Fridays). Late and early arrival can be arranged with Management at a small extra cost.

For further information, call the De Hoop Collection on 0861 33 4667 or the Cape Town reservation office directly on 021 405 4587 or email res@dehoopcollection.co.za.

You can also visit the website for more info www.dehoopcollection.co.za

De Hoop Collection

The “That Blog” Winter Specials List is just massive now. Just click on the link to see what I mean.

It seems to grow every day and there are some AWESOME specials to be found for dining out in the City and in the Winelands and all over the Cape actually!

If you plan to go to a restaurant any time in the next few months, you really would be very silly to head out before checking out the specials list first.

As I said, the list is updated almost daily, so make sure you check it regularly to ensure you aren’t missing out anything that just SCREAMS value!

Happy dining!

By the way, there are even more specials to be found at Whale Cottage Blog

You really should try get there…

I headed out for a little mid-week winelands meander the other day and the luncheon destination of choice was The Restaurant at Jordan. I have always been an serious fan of the city version of George Jardine’s culinary delights and so was very eager to see what life in the country had done to this award winning chef. I was not disappointed.

After a spot of wine tasting, we ventured into the restaurant. The weather was playing along on the day and so we opted for a table out on the terrace. That is a pretty impressive view! This little snap was taken from where I sat on the terrace…not a bad view from the table?!

A nice way to while away a week day afternoon...

Anyway, so we opted for the Menu du Jour with wine pairing (R220 incl 2 glasses of Jordan Wine). Believe me when I say, it was not an easy decision to make! There was also the option of selecting from a choice of 3 starters, 4 mains and 3 desserts (at R200.00 for 2 courses or R225.00 for 3 courses excl wine). The options all sounded so enticing that the Menu du Jour eventually got my vote because there were less decisions to make! We selected our 2 wines to go with our meal and sat back, enjoyed the view and waited to see what would emerge for the big open kitchen.

We started with a complimentary amuse-bouche, Chicken liver and foie gras parfait with celeriac chantilly, toasted brioche and prune. From the first mouthful, I knew that country living had only done good things for our Chef! The wonderfully unique flavours and textures combined to make each mouthful special.

The starter was a barrel smoked yellowtail, which really was an very different way to prepare a fish that we have all tasted so many times.

Barrel Smoked Yellowtail

We followed that up with a honey glazed pork belly, served with braised wheat, pancetta and shallots. So succulent and cooked just the way I like it…Yummy!!!

I didn’t think I would have space for it, but when I spotted the carmalised lemon tart, I managed to find just a little gap. A really light dessert and just the right ending to an amazing meal.

The Restaurant at Jordan really is a beautiful setting but the truly special part is the meal prepared so carefully by George and his team.

The Menu Du Jour is part of the Jordan winter special and really is great value for food of this calibre. If you are heading out towards Stellenbosch any time soon and are looking for a great lunch venue, you should seriously consider paying Jordan a visit. There is a special 6 course tasting menu available for dinner on Thursday and Friday evenings with/without wine pairings.

Book a table on 021 881 3612 or e-mail Jordan restaurant

This does not relate to the trashy 90′s song that will probably be stuck in your head now that I have mentioned it…this relates to the REAL DEAL. Yip, Prince William and Prince Harry are heading to SA for that Soccer Spectacular that we are all getting excited about…the 2010 Soccer World Cup!!  So, Girls, I have told you who you can be watching for on the field, now you know who to be looking for in the stands!!!

Prince William is President of The Football Association and so he is  visiting South Africa on their behalf and then I am quite sure, purely co-incidentally, Prince Harry thought that some time in June 2010 was a good time to go and check out some of the charity work he did in Lesotho in 2008. They will also be stopping off for a visit to Botswana, where Prince William is involved with the wildlife charity Tusk Trust. The visit to South Africa will be the first time that The Princes have carried out joint engagements overseas.

The Princes will attend the match between England and Algeria…which, in case you didn’t know is being played in Cape Town!! They are also expected to be attending England’s first group C match against the United States on June 12 in Rustenburg. We know that certainly the younger of those two boys is not adverse to a nightclub…so Girls, you will need to keep a serious look out!!

The awesome “Tourist in your own country” special at Delheim has started. Have you booked your table yet?
Unfortunately, it is only available for lunch…but if you can sneak out of work, take a client to lunch or are lucky enough to be a “Lady who lunches” then get there!!

The special runs until 21 May.

Please make your reservation at Tel: +27 (21) 8884607 or online at restaurant

Conditions apply:

• One starter, one main and one dessert per person
• One booking per group for the week
• SA citizens only – please bring your SA passport or ID
• Offer does not include drinks

Jennifer Hudson at Cannes 2010

Jennifer Hudson is set to start filming a biopic of Winnie Mandela and Winnie is not impressed. The movie will be based on Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob’s biography, Winnie Mandela: A Life. Apparently, Winnie isn’t too pleased with how she is painted in the script and her lawyers have expressed fears that the project is a veiled “character assassination”. Despite this, filming is set to start on May 31 in SA and the director Darrell Roodt has said “We don’t shy away from the controversies”.

Honestly, what does Winnie expect? By all accounts, Ms Madikizela-Mandela, has not lead the life of a saint. Winnie should just be pleased they picked J-Hud to play her…look at that pic of Jennifer, she is looking great! Although, we all saw what they did to Charlize in Monster…so anything is in fact possible!!!

I think this is going to be an interesting one to watch. I suspect this movie isn’t going to inspire quite the national pride that the recent movie, Invictus, managed to achieve!

Winnie on her wedding day (1957)

A more recent photo of her

There is a great new buying club idea about to launch in SA and will give you access to some incredible specials and discounts. If you haven’t heard about it already, you can just thank That Blogger for keeping to up to date with what’s happening on the great world wide web!!! The site is called Twangoo and the guys behind the idea are working hard to secure some awesome exclusive deals at restaurants,  spas, hotels and some great exclusive retailers just for their members.

Keep a look out for more details on Twangoo launch date on That Blog and some of the awesome deals that will be on offer. But, in the mean time…why not sign up for their newsletter and check out their page on facebook. They are running a competition to win a R3000.00 Diesel voucher…now that is not something to sneeze at!!

Exciting times aren’t they??