issue 20 february 2015

February 2015 Issue 20

www.flatwhiteconcepts.com | Issue 20

ED’S NOTE

It’s the month of love. So this month I wanted to share with you the two new members of Flat White Concepts and our biggest cheerleaders. Introducing Arthur P. Bernard and his sidekick Bean.

Yep, I’m in love. It’s amazing how much happier animals can make you. Our front cover is part of our {Life of Bean} series, and it is, of course, the Coffee Bean.

We’re excited to bring you the first issue of 2015. It’s already been a great year! We were lucky enough to stay at the gorgeous Vindoux Tree House Farm and even luckier to be able to offer you a chance to stay their yourself. Great memories were made here.

We have also rebranded and relaunched our website. I see great things for us as we taste, create and discover! I’d love to hear about any exciting things that are happening in your love. Pop me an email!

Please feel free to contact me if you’d like to contribute articles or whether you’d like to advertise in an upcoming magazine. We’d love to get to know you and to shamelessly promote your company!

Yours in Coffee, [email protected]

“And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien

@FW_Concepts

www.facebook.com/FlatWhiteConcepts


CONTENTS

TASTERecipe: Giant Israeli couscous salad with peas, smoked bacon and parmesan

Restaurants/Cafes I loved this JanuaryRecipe: Bacon and Halloumi Salad

Make your Valentine’s Day declaration sparkle with J.C. Le Roux La FleuretteCupcake Richard Cake Shop

CREATEAdeleé Bezuidenhout

EkayaHello Prety

DISCOVERVindoux Tree House Guest Lodge

The EntertainerMy Quad Biking experience

A Tourist in my own cityA Munich Adventure

Book Review: The Woman Who Stole My Life

COMPETITIONS


TASTE


TASTE

Meet Di...Hello there, I’m Di, an ex-fashion designer, turned food enthusiast and avid cook. At 36 I hung up my fashionable hat, tied on my kitchen apron and started on a new culinary journey. Welcome to my kitchen, a creative gath-ering place where meals are shared with family and friends, celebrating life and nurturing our connectivity. Food, to me, is relational and pivotal to the way in which I express love, care and hospitality. Currently I spend most of my time developing recipes and teaching group cooking classes. My food philosophy is relatively uncomplicated with inspiration being drawn from di-verse global food trends and seasonal produce.

www.bibbyskitchenat36.com

Giant Israeli couscous salad with peas, smoked bacon and parmesan

Salad:1 cup Israeli couscous 2 cups petit pois peas 125g smoked back bacon, cut into lardons 30g parmesan shavings 4 soft boiled eggs, optional a handful of fresh mint and flat leaf parsley, chopped baby rocket and beetroot leaves (micro herbs).

Dressing: 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice a pinch of castor sugar 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard a generous pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Cook the couscous as per the packet instructions. Rinse and drain thoroughly before spreading out onto a wooden board or tray to dry off for about 10 minutes. Blanch the peas in boiling, salted wa-ter for 2 minutes. Drain and plunge into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and to retain the vibrant, green colour. Drain once more and set aside.

Heat a drop of olive oil in a pan and fry the bacon lardons until the edges start to colour and brown. Cook longer for crispy bacon. Drain on paper tow-elling. Boil the eggs to your liking, peel and cut into halves. For the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together to form an emulsion.

To assemble the salad, place the couscous, peas, bacon, parmesan and herbs in a bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss through lightly. Decant onto a serving platter and top with the soft boiled eggs. Finish with a few extra shavings of parmesan. This type of salad is best served at room temperature.


TASTE

Restaurants/Cafes I loved this January...Tribe Cafe 112112 Buitengracht Street072 736 6142www.tribecoffee.co.za/cafes/

Blowfish Restaurant1 Marine Drive, Tableview021 – 56 5464www.blowfishrestaurant.co.za

The Food Barn DeliNoordhoek Farm Village, Noordhoek Main Road, Noordhoek 021 - 789 1966www.thefoodbarn.co.za

The Fat Cactus5 Park Road, Gardens021 – 422 5022www.fatcactus.co.za

Latitude 33165 Bree Street, Cape Town021 – 424 9857www.lat33.co.za


TASTE

Restaurants/Cafes I loved this January...Cafe NoodThe Quadrant Square, Wildnerness Road, Claremont021 – 671 4475www.cafenood.co.za

OsumoUpper Level, Canal Walk Mall, Century Boulevard, Century City021 – 552 3299www.osumo.co.za

Peaches & Cream135 Main Road, Paarl021 – 863 0940www.peachesandcreampaarl.co.za

The GoatshedFairview Cheese and Wine Farm, Suid Agter Paarl Road021 – 863 3609www.goatshed.co.za

Seasons RestaurantDiemersfontein Wine & Country Estate, Wellington021 – 864 5050www.diemersfontein.co.za

TASTE


This salad is officially my New Favourite Thing. Yes, it’s January, so that means resolutions and commitments and fresh starts – no surprises here – as mine also includes ‘being healthier’. It seems it is such a constant for me, it should hardly count as a resolution – more like a ‘constant goal’.

(Although, let’s be honest here – is anyone really as healthy as they’d like to be?)

After trying vegan for a few weeks, the plan is now to commit to banting and the Real Meal Rev-olution. Yes, I’m confused, and yes – I don’t know what to eat. So, I’m trying it all to see what works for me. Banting looks a little too good to be true – the recipes look delicious – and this salad adheres

perfectly. Totally down with this idea of ‘diet food’ so far.

This is not a recipe – more a suggested collection of ingredients. I’ve recently discovered (and promptly became obsessed with) halloumi. Not going to lie – it’s a weird cheese. It squeaks on your teeth if you eat it ‘raw’ – but once sliced and fried in salted but-ter, it becomes magical. Added to a salad of mixed leaves, herbs and spinach, along with crispy bacon pieces, tomatoes – and hell, let’s add some feta too – it really is a winner of a salad. It’s particularly de-licious with a Caesar dressing, but will happily be good friends with whatever dressing you choose.

By Candice Breslerwww.agorgeouslife.co.za

BACON AND HALLOUMI SALAD


TASTE


TASTE

Our NEW Coffee Academy Officially Open! We offer the following exciting courses:

• Team building • Beginners Workshop• Start your own coffee shop • One on One training

Kindly contact us for more information: www.mischu.co.za | [email protected]

85a Regent Road, Sea Point

TASTE


Don’t be at a loss for words to declare your love this Valentine’s Day – make your lady love’s heart melt with one of four limited edition J.C. Le Roux La Fleu-rette gift packs, each bearing a heartfelt message of affection. This beautifully designed gift packaging, available in a charcoal or pearl finish, is perfect for spoiling her with uplifting bubbly and four different ways of expressing your feelings and proclaiming your love. The lively, salmon pink La Fleurette entices all the senses with its delightful melange of sweet, fruity fla-vours with hints of strawberry, plum and tropical fruit. This exuberant bubbly perfectly balances freshness and sweetness with its playful palate of strawberry and sensual plum flavours followed by the richness of

Muscat. Add an extra romantic twist and pair La Fleu-rette with decadent strawberries dipped in chocolate for the ultimate seduction, or simply serve on its own in beautiful flutes. Make your Valentine’s heart sparkle and toast your love with J.C. Le Roux La Fleurette. The special, lim-ited gift pack is available nationwide at about R57. Stay up to date with all the latest news from The House of J.C. Le Roux:

Website: www.jcleroux.co.za, Facebook: HouseofJCLeRoux Instagram: @HouseofJCLeroux Twitter: @JCLeRoux.

Make your Valentine’s Day declaration sparkle with J.C. Le Roux La Fleurette

WIN!See our

competitions page for

more details


TASTE


TASTE

I have heard so much about the Cupcake Richard Cake Shop, I even asked them to deliver some of their cakes to my bloggers event last year. They were such a huge hit that by the time I went to get one for myself they were all gone. So I called Wida Foster, the lady behind it all, and asked if we could meet for coffee....

Describe Cupcake Richard Cake Shop

Cupcake Richard Cake Shop is an online cake shop where we strive to bake gluten free and vegan cake that’s also delicious for all cake lovers. We current-ly bake by order and also stock certain stores and markets.

How did it all come about?

As someone who has had to go through the tedi-ous process of an elimination diet, to identify an allergy, I realised that there weren’t many options for cake lovers. I also believe that it might be eas-ier to stick to an allergen free or vegan diet if the food selection is still fun, exciting and delicious, even if certain ingredients are restricted. In my ideal world, nobody should be denied cake!

I see you’re environmentally friendly

This is our only home. We want to be kind to it and play an active part in preserving it and the creatures we share it with. It’s important to us to be responsible about the things we create. Our cake packaging is 100% recyclable. We also try to encourage our customers to keep the cake boxes and repurpose them, and we specifically use stur-dy packaging for this reason. All spoons that ac-company our cake are locally manufactured by a small family owned business. They are made from recyclable plastic and we also encourage this recy-cling by offering a dozen free little cakes for every one hundred spoons collected and returned to us. Once we receive the spoons back, we recycle them ourselves.

What is your best selling cake?

Oh no, tough question! At the moment, Lemon or Coconut are light and refreshing options for sum-mer, but Chocolate is always good.

Where can people buy your cakes?

We bake by order and require a minimum of twelve cupcakes or one layer cake per order. With an or-der of twelve cupcakes, we can bake a maximum of two flavours. Orders can be placed by email or telephonically. Our cakes are also available at The Book Lounge in Cape Town, on certain Saturdays and at different markets throughout the year. We frequently send updates of where the cakes will be available through social our media channels.

Tell me about your Tiger Postcards

One of the things I am proudest of, so far, is our Tiger Postcard Project. This project was inspired by the World Wildlife Fund's "Cards for Tigers" ini-tiative. We love being able to give back and have been blown away by the response. Five of South Africa's amazingly talented artists were willing to each supply us with work to create a set of post-cards. The only request was that the work should include our favourite large, stripy cats. The follow-ing artists were kind enough to participate: Kirsten Beets, Maria Lebedeva, Wonder Meyer, Elsabe Milandri and Andrew Sutherland. All proceeds go towards tiger conservation and we are very excit-ed about being able to help in some small way.

What does 2015 have in store for you?I am very excited to be developing more recipes and the prospect of doing baking kits soon. We are also looking for a suitable space for a physical shop in Cape Town which is very exciting.

Wida Foster [email protected]: www.cupcakerichard.com

Meet Wida, from the Cupcake Richard Cake Shop


CREATE


CREATE

Meet Adeleé BezuidenhoutWonder Women Media

We provide SMEs with an effective social media presence that is unique and tailor-made to their business. We aim to be the social media agen-cy that takes South African SMEs to the leading edge. After getting to know your business we de-sign a social media strategy that is tailor-made to your business. We create conversations with your online following, influences and prospects to build meaningful, long-term relationship. Final-ly, we continue to analyze and build your online presence as effectively as possible. As your online community grows, so does your business.

The Beginning

While I was studying Marketing and Psychology at the University of Stellenbosch I fell in love with social media. Social media to me is the sweet-spot between the two fields. It is about understanding the motivations and needs of your customers and engaging with them in the correct manner. I took my final year at University and started practicing my social media skills. I've always been a bit of a risk taker so after graduation I decided to jump into the business. 3 years later we've helped over 200 small businesses.

2014 Lessons

In 2014 visual content quickly overtook the news feeds. With tools like Canva making image crea-tion accessible and easy for small businesses, visuals are now the center of most SME's content

strategy. Yes, Facebook changed it's algorithm but we found that it still works. You just need to work harder to create content that's actually engaging. Having a real following of people who are inter-ested in your business is key - quality over quan-tity always. The same applies to your content.

2015 Expectations

2015 looks to be a year of rapid growth for most SMEs especially in the digital space. Businesses who don't adopt a strategy that works for them in 2015 will struggle. Social media will be, more so than ever, focused on creating engagement with your community. With all the channels like Facebook and Instagram honing in on "spammy" content, creating content that is engaging and building a "cult-like" community will be the only way to succeed. Above all else, consistency is key. Consistently create good content and consistently foster your community.

Favourite Coffee Shops

Too many actually. We are a virtual team because we believe in the power of working where you want to. Working out of different spaces allows your creative juices to flow easier. As such I have my fav spots all around Cape Town depending on where I find myself. These are Mischu (Seapoint), Chelsea Cafe & Bean (Somerset West), Knead Bak-ery (Kloof Street) and Basic Bistro (Stellenbosch).

Adelé BezuidenhoutFounder & Social Media Superherowww.wonderwomen.media

CREATE


Tell me more about Ekaya

I often joke that starting Ekaya was an easier al-ternative to trying to find a great place to rent but that's not that far from the truth. We've all rented at some time or another and it's a ghastly business on both sides of the coin (for tenants and property owners). We set out to bring a little innovation to this space and along the way we've discovered just how massive an opportunity we have on our hands.

How long has the company been running?

Ruark, Rudolf and I have been working together for 2 years but Ekaya as we know it today just celebrated it's first birthday!

What has the response been like so far?

The response has been phenomenal from all quarters. Tenants love our awesome new way

of finding places, property owners are enjoying more security for their investments and our in-vestors are incredibly supportive of our vision.

What can others do if they'd like to get involved?

We're enormously grateful to everyone who uses Ekaya and tells their friends about it. Whether your looking for a place or looking for a tenant, come and give us a go!

If there are fellow coffee lovers out there who're interested in a new adventure with a hot, young company - we're always looking for new talent to bring into the fold.

What are your hopes for 2015?

We want to entrench ourselves as a major player in South Africa this year. 2014 was a building year for us and we want to capitalize on all that hard work to take Ekaya to the next level.

We chat to the awesome team behind Ekaya, the new renting alternative in Cape Town.


CREATEOne word to describe each team mem-ber?

Ruark - Master-sherpaRudolf - Weapons-gradeJustin - Vision-wrangler

How much coffee do you all drink?

Some might say - too much (if there was such a thing). The day has simply not be-gun until the first cup. One day, when we have big fancy offices, I hope to name (& theme) various rooms after all the coffee places that have helped us conceive this company. Deluxe, Superette, Rosetta, Ori-gin, etc.

Your favourite coffee shop in Cape Town?

Rosetta in Woodstock Exchange has to take the cake. Not only is their coffee insanely good but the passion behind the brand comes through in every cup.

www.ekaya.com

ABOUTfrom www.ekaya.com

Founded in 2013 and based in Cape Town, South Africa, Ekaya is a young and ambitious technology startup out to make the world of renting better by building prod-ucts that create trust and delight in the property rental space. Founded by Justin R. Melville (CEO), Ruark Fer-reira (COO) and Rudolf Vavruch (CTO), the trio are highly experienced and accomplished designers, builders and growers of Internet things.

Ekaya graduated from the Summer 2014 88mph Accel-erator Program (powered by Google, Samsung and Mi-crosoft) and has attracted more than R2M in investment from leading tech entrepreneurs and angel investors.

Launched in July 2014, Ekaya's flagship product (Ekaya.com) makes it simple and secure for Property Owners to find great tenants and easy for tenants to find great properties with quality landlords on their phone, tablet or desktop.

We've been named one of the top technology startups in Africa and continue to blaze a trail in the nascent Sili-con Cape startup community.


CREATE

In a few sentences, describe Hello Pretty

Hello Pretty is South Africa's largest designer mar-ketplace. We're a platform for designers to be able to sell their creations online at very little cost. We work hard to market our designers, and they all benefit from one another's marketing too.

How did Hello Pretty start and why?

It was first started and built by Sam and Scott. There were a lot of reasons to do this, though one of the thoughts at the front of our needs analysis was that South Africans have a real problem or-dering anything from overseas. Between customs and the post office, you'll either never receive your parcel, or you'll have to pay more in customs than the thing cost you in the first place.

Most people weren't aware that the things that they were trying to order from overseas were

available in South Africa, and being made by South Africans. The creativity of our designers is world-class, and the quality of what's available to us from them is as good as, and better than, what people are buying from overseas.

Besides Hello Pretty being our own passion, we're very proud of how much revenue we've put straight into South African small businesses.

Team-wise there are four of us. Three founders, Scott, Sam and Adeline, and there's Lee who was our intern and we couldn't bare to part with and is now a vital part of the team.

Tell me about the name and logo? (which I love by the way)

Thank you! We are very sentimental about our logo. It was designed by a branding expert (in our humble opinion!) called Warrick Guest who at the

We meet the lovely team behind Hello Pretty


CREATEtime ran his own digital agency. Sam came up with the name. She put together a list of options, and that was the winner.

What would you say sells the most?

Jewellery, by quite a long stretch. In second place, leather goods. Buying online is still fairly new to most South Africans and with those items they don't have to be concerned about if something fits, for instance, and it's easier to get a good sense of the quality of what you're buying.

What must interested sellers do?

They should apply! We are friendly folks and love hearing from designers :) We manually go through each and every seller application personally to make sure that the things are a good fit for the site, and not straight-up imports.

Their photographs are also important. We have to keep the tone of the site up. If someone's product is good but their photos aren't quite right, we give guidance on how to take better photos.

Everything is explained on our Sell page - http://hellopretty.co.za/sell - and the application form is there too.

I see you have a man version, tell me more about Hello Man (and thank you for making my shop-ping for men easier)

Hee hee :-) Pleased to help! We had feedback that even though there were heaps of super things for men, they didn't identify with the brand and weren't that comfortable shopping on the site.

Hello Man is essentially a curated and skinned ver-sion of Hello Pretty. Everyone's shops are managed from the Hello Pretty side, and designers can tick a checkbox to flag a product as male-interest and it'll automatically show on Hello Man.

And of course, as you say, gift shopping for guys is more often than not a nightmarishly difficult task. So a lot of girlfriends and wives are using the site for that purpose and avoiding a good amount of stress by doing so!

CREATE


Coffee anyone?

Yes. Yes yes yes! Scott in particular is something of a coffee snob and makes a point of researching what coffee shops are best wherever he goes, be it Paris or Pofadder. He drinks espresso solely and is quite scientific about it. About a year and a half ago he began making his own cold brew which he hopes to sell when he's made enough time for produc-tion. He uses a Rok espresso maker (http://www.yuppiechef.com/rok.htm?id=10741&name=Rok-Hand-Powered-Espresso-Maker R1 999 on Yup-pieChef) and Baratza grinder. And a number of tools that are a bit of the mystery to everyone else!

As a result of all of this he's turned into the girls' personal coffee slave, and makes us lattes and es-pressos.

When we're out together and working from a cof-fee shop (which we do often), you'll find Adeline with a flat white, Lee with a cappuccino, Sam with a latte and Scott deep in thought with an espresso.

We've broken our favourites down by four of the major cities. They are:

• Cape Town: Loading Bay, Bootleggers, Shift Cof-fee, Field office, Truth HQ, Raw espresso bar, Ro-setta, Hard pressed cafe

• Joburg: Bean There, Father Coffee, Warm and Glad, The Whippet

• Durban: Savior Coffee Company, Corner Cafe

• Bloemfontein: Marmelade - cool gift shop too, with lots of things they sell also available on Hello Pretty

www.hellopretty.co.za

Photos by The Dollie Househttps://dolliehouse.wordpress.com/about/

CREATE


some cool things you can buy....yeah, these are coffee related (of course)...

visit www.hellopretty.co.za


DISCOVER

The day we discovered Heaven...Vindoux Tree House Guest Farm & Spa

I was very excited to finally visit the beautiful Vindoux Tree House Guest Farm & Spa in Tulbagh. Only 90 min-utes from Cape Town it makes for the perfect getaway because once you arrive you feel so far removed from the busy city life. I won’t lie, when I left I felt an over-whelming desire to cry. I kept wondering, I need to find a way to LIVE here. That’s how a holiday should be, you should walk away from it feeling sad - then you know it was good! And oh boy, was it good.

Vindoux (meaning sweet wine) is a family run guest farm and is home to the only luxury tree houses in the Western Cape. You can choose between the lux-ury romantic tree houses, the honeymoon suite, the luxury self-catering tree lodge or their fully equipped self-catering cottages.

We stayed in the gorgeous luxury self-catering tree lodge, which has three bedrooms (two of which are ensuite), an open plan kitchen and living room and an enclosed private garden with braai area and pool. The dining room has roll up floor to ceiling blinds which once open offer the most incredible views of the Sa-ronsberg Mountains. We would start each day with a cup of coffee while we stared at the mountain range and the open vineyards. It was by far the best way to start off each day, and one that I will never forget. The lodge was rustic, luxurious and welcoming. We spent lazy afternoons in the pool and long evenings by the braai area.

The area itself offers a lot in terms of activities.

Wine by Bike

Vindoux also offers a half day and full day bike hire where you can cycle to the nearby wine farms. I wasn’t too sure if this was the best idea ever or the worse one, but I knew for sure that we had to try it! Not only had I not been on a bike in over five years but now I was going to do it after drinking some wine! Needless to say we only managed two wine farms. What a fun experience. We first stopped off at Sa-ronsberg and enjoyed a delicious wine tasting expe-rience. We probably spent a bit too long tasting the wines here but it was just so much fun and the wine was excellent. After that we pedaled to the next wine farm and ended up at Twee Jonge Gezellen where we sampled some delicious champagne. The ride back was mostly downhill and with the wind pushing us I think we freewheeled the rest of the way home, giddy as can be. I highly recommend doing this!

DISCOVERWaterfall Hike

On the first day we decided to take a hike up to the waterfall. We popped into town to get our permits (only R10 each) and drove to the start of the hike. It was a quick drive and a quick hike, so it’s perfect for all abilities. You can stay at the bottom and wade in the rock pools or venture further up and see the waterfall up close. We arrived on a 39 degree day so I chose to lie in the rock pools with a cold drink and a happy heart. And if hiking is your thing there are other hiking trails around the area, so be sure to speak to recep-tion for all the options.

Horse Riding

While the boys got the fire ready (secret code for ‘drink beer’) the girls decided to go horseriding. I hadn’t been on a horse in over ten years so as you can im-agine, I was a bit nervous. When we arrived at Horse About Trails all my doubts disappeared. Our guide, John, and his son were incredible with the horses and it was obvious that they have huge love and respect for these amazing creatures. They showed us exactly what to do and instilled in us a feeling of safety. We took the novice ride and went for an hour and a half trail through vineyards, fynbos, forests and wheat fields. The view of the Witzenberg Mountains is in-credible and by the end of the ride I was eager to sign up for more. A big thank you to our amazing guides and to my gorgeous horse, Tata Ma Chance! I never knew it would be so easy to fall in love with a horse. Visit www.horseabout.co.za to find out more.

Spa

Vindoux has a beautiful Day Spa on site with a lot of treatments to choose from. Warren and I chose the Back, Neck and Scalp message, and our friends chose the Couples Massage. Hello there relaxation!

Overall, our stay at Vindoux was unforgettable. I’ve walked away with a bucket load of memories, more wine for my wine rack, beautiful photos and a sense of calmness. I am already booking to go back this year. Make sure you do to!

By Christine BernardPhotos by Warren Bernard (www.flatwhiteimages.com)

www.vindoux.com


DISCOVER


DINE MORE THRILL MORE PAMPER MORE STAY MORE SAVE MORE LIVE MORE

M RE CAPE TOWNOver 1,150 Buy One Get One Free offers for dining and leisure in Cape Town and hotel stays across Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

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DISCOVER

Cape Town, 5th January 2015: The Entertainer is proud to announce the launch of the Entertainer Cape Town 2015, with over 900 Buy One Get One Free offers for the best restaurants, nightspots, leisure, attractions and salons in Cape Town. Of-fering customers up to ZAR 800,000 in savings, the Entertainer Cape Town 2015 is the biggest and best yet.

Featuring hundreds of Buy One Get One Free of-fers for fine dining, casual dining, cafés, night-spots, leisure activities, spas and fitness, the En-tertainer Cape Town 2015 gives customers a host of options. Exciting new merchants include Moyo, Pinnacle Point Golf Course, La Boheme, Basilico, Mondiall, The Cape Wheel, Rhebokskloof Res-taurant, Cheyne’s, Dunes Restaurant and Big Easy Restaurant & Wine Bar. Hundreds of popular mer-chants are back for 2015 including De Grendel, Barristers, Sotano, City Grill, Salero, Jonkershuis, Ratanga Junction, Ginkgo Spa, Blues, Tasca, Aq-uila Private Game Reserve, The Lookout Deck and many more.

Every Entertainer Cape Town 2015 includes a com-plimentary copy of the Entertainer Travel 2015, which features over 250 ‘Buy One Room Night Get One Free’ offers at leading 4 and 5 star hotels and resorts across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Indian Ocean. Participating partners include well-established hotel brands such as Fair-mont, InterContinental, Marriott, Radisson, Out-rigger and many more.

Customers can choose between a printed book or the Entertainer App, which was launched last year. With over 350,000 downloads to date, the Entertainer App has proved extremely popular

with Entertainer customers – offering conveni-ent access to offers, a simple redemption process, location-based search and even a savings tracker.

The Entertainer Cape Town 2015 includes up to ZAR 800,000 worth of savings and customers who buy before December 31, 2014 will receive a spe-cial discount through the website, saving them even more! When purchased online, the Enter-tainer Cape Town 2015 book currently costs ZAR 395 and the Entertainer Cape Town 2015 mobile product costs just ZAR 345.

“We have had such a positive response to the App from our customers and we want more people to enjoy the convenience of searching for and re-deeming offers on their phones, so this year we’ve given the BEST price on our App,” said Donna Ben-ton, founder and CEO of the Entertainer. “With over 300 merchants the Entertainer Cape Town 2015 is our best yet, offering customers amazing savings and unbeatable value for money.”

The Entertainer’s full range of 51 printed and mo-bile products provide buy one get one free offers to the best restaurants, activities, attractions, spas and hotels across 40 destinations throughout Af-rica, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Indian Ocean. Three products are available in South Af-rica – the Entertainer Cape Town, Entertainer Jo-hannesburg & Pretoria and Entertainer Durban. You can buy the Entertainer 2015 products online at www.theentertainerafrica.com or through the Entertainer App, available for iOS, Android, Black-berry 10 and Windows phones.

For more information contact Mike Rich 021 - 680 5307 | [email protected]

The Entertainer Cape Town 2015 Launches with New Merchants and More Value

Over 900 Buy One Get One Free offers can save you ZAR 800,000 in 2015


DISCOVER


DISCOVER

I’m very excited to tell you all about my quad biking experience, because it was a bit of an emotional one for me. Let me take you back a few months first so you understand where I’m coming from.

So a few months ago I went away with a group of friends and we all decided to try our hand at quad biking. They had all done it before and assured me it was easy and that I’d love it. I was scared. I’m not exactly great at extreme escapade type things. Heck, I’m not even that good at driving a normal car, so I was obviously a little unsure about doing this. But I’m always up for a challenge and I do love adventure so I decided to give it a go. When we arrived the guy gave us a quick (and I emphasise the word quick!) demonstration on what to do and then made us all get on and try go for a ride around the corner. When it was my turn I got on and im-mediately drove straight into the bush. Ah, typi-cal. I waved nervously at my friends, took a deep breath and decided to try again. But before I could do so the guy said to me, ‘no, you cannot do this so you’ll have to ride with me’. Well that was great. I thought he was going to help me and show me where I went wrong. But no. So all my friends got their own bikes and I had to share with the instruc-tor, who was not exactly the friendliest guy. Nor was I too impressed with having to get so up close and personal with him. I held on for dear life and went for the drive.

I walked away from that experience so disappoint-ed, and also incredibly embarrassed. Why could everyone do it except me? What the heck (replace heck with relevant swear words) was wrong with me?

And so I decided to try again. I’m not an idiot, I could surely do it?

This time I decided not to go to the same place, of which I will be kind enough not to name. Instead I booked for myself and Warren to go on an hour long quad biking experience at the Rhebokskloof Wine Estate in Paarl which we booked through Wine Valley Horse Trails. I was pretty nervous, if I failed again I knew I would be disappointed in my-

self. I’m a bit hard on myself, I admit, but I wanted to prove that I could do it.

We arrived on a sweltering hot Friday morning and met with our guide Steve Wheeler. Immediately I felt at ease. Steve was incredibly sweet and af-ter telling him how nervous I was he assured me I would be in good hands. It was also only going to be him, myself and Warren so I didn’t have to worry about holding anyone back. He explained how the bikes worked and let me give it a try. So far so good. Then off we went. It was pretty scary in the beginning and yes of course I drove into a bush right as we started. But instead of yelling at me and telling me I couldn’t do it, he assured me that I just needed to stay calm, keep in control of the bike and keep trying. He said not everyone gets the feel of it at the start but that I would eventually get the hang of it. He told me to follow his trail exactly as he knew the path inside and out and knew how to handle it. So I followed him and soon I found myself going through the beautiful vineyards with ease. The view was incredible and once I under-stood how to handle the bike I felt as if I could relax and enjoy myself. The entire experience ended up being a great one. Firstly because the journey itself is worth it for the view and secondly because I had done something I had set my mind to. I felt exhila-rated.

I honestly could not have done it without the guid-ance of Steve and if I ever had to go quad biking again I would make sure it was with him! He told me that they also do a two hour ride which includes a picnic half way. Yeah, that sounds like something I could get used to. I wonder how good I’d ride after a glass of wine?

Also if you’re into horse riding then this is the place to go. They have lots of horse riding options, some of which include wine tasting and sundowners. I’d love to give this a go. I caught a glimpse of some of the horses at the estate and they are magnificent.

Visit www.horsetrails-sa.co.za WIN A QUAD BIKE EXPERIENCE FOR TWO. SEE THE COMPETITIONS PAGE FOR DETAILS


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I cannot believe it has taken me so long to do the City Sightseeing Hop on and Hop Off bus tour. I see the red buses all the time and always say to myself that one day I must give it a try. I guess you always see it as something the tourists do so you don’t put it as a priority. Well, you should. Being a tourist in your own city makes you realise just how much you take for granted on a daily basis and just how beautiful our city really is.

There are various tour options. Today we chose the Red City Tour. We started off at The Waterfront where the first bus leaves from the Two Oceans Aquarium. We climbed to the top and found a seat near the back, settling in for what became an incredible morning. The sun was shining, our cameras were out and we made our way through the city. The route is designed so that you can get off at any of the stops, spend some time in the area, and then hop back onto the next bus at your own leisure. Or you can just stay on and see all the sights without getting off. If you do this the tour is around an hour and a half. You’re given a timeta-ble so that you can easily plan your journey. They also provide you with headphones and there is commentary along the way. Think you know Cape

Town? You probably don’t know as much as you think you do. Trust me. I found the information so interesting.

From the Two Oceans Aquarium the stops along the way were the Clock Tower, the ICC, Long Street, Jewel Africa, Table Mountain Cableway, Camps Bay, President Hotel, Sea Point, Winches-ter Mansions Hotel, Green Point and then back to the Aquarium. They stopped at Table Mountain for awhile for those wanting to quickly use the bathroom or get some refreshments.

This was the best way to start my day and cer-tainly the best way to see Cape Town. I’m already eagerly planning my next tours.

By Christine BernardPhotos by Warren Bernard

THE TOURS:

Red City Tour to Table Mountain - 12 Bus Stops

Blue Mini Peninsula Tour - 14 Bus Stops

A tourist in my own city...


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Purple Wine Tour (free with the Blue Tour) - 3 Bus Stops. Here you can stop off at Groot Constantia, Eagle’s Nest and Beau Constantia to do some wine tasting or have some lunch.

Guided Imizamo Yethu Township Walking TourOperates daily, duration 40 minutes, after comple-tion you will be accompanied back to the next Blue Tour Bus.

Guided City Walking Tour11am - Historic City Tour3pm - Bo-Kaap Walk4.15pm - Sunset on Lion’s Head Walk

Township TourLanga and GugulethuStop at Mzoli’s Meat Restaurant for a drink or lunch.

Vintage Sidecar ExperienceEnjoy unique views of Cape Town from a vintage sidecar driven by a professional tour guide/driver.

Canal CruiseFrom/to V&A Waterfront.

Night TourExperience the famous Atlantic Ocean sunsets from Signal Hill. Order a Snack Pack or Picnic Ham-per to go with.

Bus and ChopperCatch a bus and then hop into a helicopter which will take you 2000ft above sea level for a bird’s eye view of the Mother City.

www.citysightseeing.co.za

A tourist in my own city...


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Brookside Admin BrackenfellExpert Bookkeepers and Tax Practitioners

021 - 828 2119www.brookside.co.za

[email protected]

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Before our great adventure I knew very little about Munich. I knew about the beer, the beer halls and that castle to do with the swan.

My dad has traveled and seen a very large chunk of the world. He is my travel super star. Whenever I’m going somewhere he will pull up a google map and point out his favourite museum, food stand, restaurant, gallery etc. from memory going back thirty years… or more! But don’t tell him I told you it could be more than thirty!

With our joint love of traveling we have started an informal kind of competition. We have this giant book with 101 places in the world to see before you die. When we bought this book about eight years ago my dad was the clear winner. I have slow-ly been catching up. One of those 101 places is the Neuschwanstein Castle just outside of Munich. I have been dreaming of visiting this castle for about eight years now. This was the reason I was visiting Munich. George was visiting for the beer.

Munich blew us away – it is so much more than great beer and a swan castle. The city is so cool! It is friendly and busy and one of the happiest Ger-man cities I have had the pleasure of visiting! Mu-nich is kind, strangers smile and the beer is really, really good and the food portions are huge and we were happy all the time!

If you’re looking for a European adventure I would recommend a direct flight to Munich via Lufthansa. If you’re Cape Townians like us you will be delighted to learn that you can reach Munich directly in just 11 hours – and bargain flights can be found! From Munich, Europe is your oyster – explore more of Germany or alternatively head over to Switzerland, France, Belgium or the Netherlands!

Some of my top moments of Munich:

Amazing German Food (of course I’m going to start with the food!)

Munich for us was the most “German” of our Ger-man destinations! The food was traditional and

amazing and I have a separate blog post just dedi-cated to the great food we ate in Munich! German food is seriously substantial and you always receive a giant portion. It’s a good idea to mix in snacks for lunch with a hearty German dinner, otherwise you will be permanently sleepy and full stomached!

When we weren’t eating German food we were eating amazing ice creams and pizza! We ate ice cream whenever we could despite the fact that we were bundled up in coats and wrapped in scarves.

German BeerYou can’t eat German food without German beer. I’m pretty sure there is a law somewhere that says that! If you’re a beer lightweight I would recom-

mend a Radler which is simply a mix of beer and sprite which is really delicious!

A Munich Adventure


DISCOVERThere are six dominant breweries in Munich, namely Hofbräuhaus, Hacker-Pschorr, Paulaner, Augustinerbräu, Löwenbräu and Spaten. We tried to drink as many of these as we could, but due to limited time (and not being as drinking fit as I was in my early days as a student) we couldn’t try them all. Some highlights included:

Paulaner Hefeweizen Dunkel - Delicious, with typi-cal characteristics of a weissbeer all there and a rich, dark colour. Nose is light but typically “Weiss”.

Hacker-Pschorr edelhell vom holzfass (prime lager from a wooden barrel) – Very clean, as I suspect all Munich beers are. There is a slight Parmesan or mature cheddar scent on the nose followed by crisp, subtle flavours with something like liquer cherries to it. The experience of beer pouring out of a proper wooden barrel is just amazing if you’ve never tried it before!

Augustiner Dunkel – This beer had a very creamy head. Taste-wise it was the lightest dunkel I tried, but still retains a more metallic tang than the hel-les beers of Munich. It’s colour was somewhere be-tween an amber ale and a black IPA. It was almost whiskey brown, for lack of a better word.

Augustiner weissbeer – A mild weiss, very well bal-anced. A very, very tasty beer with the characteris-tic fruit (bananas and pineapples) flavours on the nose following through on the palate and accom-panied by slightly burnt butterscotch taste.

As you can see, I’ve not listed any of the Helles (Pale lagers) or Pils beers, both styles that the Ger-mans are famous for. That’s because the quality of the light lagers that I had at any establishment and from any brewery was so good that it was honestly impossible for me to pick a favourite. I tried one from each of the six breweries with the exception of Spaten, and all of them were amazing.

Walk through Marienplatz at night

Munich is a very romantic city, especially in the winter when everyone is cuddled close or lingering in warm restaurants for an extra drink. Marienplatz

gets lit up at night turning it into a little fairy tale. After a fabulous German dinner I would recom-mend a slow walk around Marienplatz with some-one you love in one hand.

Day trip to the Neuschwanstein CastleThe Neuschwanstein Castle is mind blowing. If you’re in Munich and don’t squeeze in a day trip

you’re making a serious mistake. Here’s the catch about The Neuschwanstein Castle that nobody told you. The Castle is way more beautiful inside than outside! I know right! Difficult to believe, but trust me – It’s amazing!

Where we stayed

We stayed at Hotel Hauser which is a little, old fashioned three star hotel which was very central and really close to an underground stop. It was only a couple of minutes’ walk to the Brandhorst Museum and our favourite ice cream stop was just up the road!

To read the full article visit: www.toomuchloveliness.com

By Tahlia Hamilton and George Cooper


Carpe Librum: Seize the Book!

Dear Bibliophiles

As you know, I read a lot. What you may not know is that I read a lot for my job. What I read as part of making my living is unfailingly serious, heavy, even heart-breaking (don’t tell the other academ-ics) stuff about gender-based violence and pov-erty and HIV&AIDS. And so, sometimes when I’m selecting what I’m going to read for pleasure, I’m not looking for great literature. I’m also not look-ing for absolute nonsense with bad grammar and questionable messaging regarding what can and cannot be considered ‘healthy’ relationships – I’m thinking here of Mills & Boon, and don’t even get me started on 50 Shades of Grey. Those books are disturbing on so many levels. None of which, by the way, have anything to do with actual BDSM.

Just saying. What I am looking for is a thoroughly enjoyable, well-written story that makes me laugh and even think about things a little differently. No one, and I mean no one, does this better than Marian Keyes.

I love Marian Keyes. I really do. I think if we met we’d be great friends and hang out all the time eat-ing bananas1, laughing raucously, and saying ‘feck’ a lot. My loyal and mildly stalker-like admiration for Ms Keyes began when my sister (so many good book stories start with her) recommended Sushi for Beginners which I’ve read countless times. It’s the book that I recommend people begin their Marian Keyes journey with - like I do Persuasion for those new to Jane Austen. The Woman Who Stole My Life (TWWSML) was published in South Africa in November 2014. When I saw it, I said to myself, “Self”, I said, “That is exactly the kind of

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“What I am looking for is a thoroughly enjoyable, well-writ-ten story that makes me laugh and even think about things a little differently. No one, and I mean no one, does this better than Marian Keyes.”


DISCOVERdelicious treat you need for your December/Janu-ary break after a rather trying year”. I had high ex-pectations. I was not disappointed.

Stella Sweeney, an accidental self-help writer, is back in Dublin and not too happy about it. This was most certainly not the kind of triumphant return from New York that she’d been hoping for. In fact, the only part of her life that she seems to have been able to rebuild since she got back is a wall of Jaffa Cakes which she is steadily eating her way through. Stella’s writer’s block is the least of her worries. Her clothes no longer fit (on account of all the Jaffa Cakes), her ex-husband seems to be go-ing through the world’s most bizarre mid-life crisis (Why couldn’t he just buy an over-priced sports car like everyone else?), her daughter appears to be content to just be content (the horror!), and her son has developed a very unhealthy (in Stella’s opinion) obsession with yoga (Shouldn’t he be out drinking with his mates?).

TWWSML is interesting – I learned a lot about the publishing world, the self-help publishing world in particular, about neurological disorders, and about lady chinos. The book is funny is Keyes’ signature way – candid and wry and self-deprecating. In the book, Keyes gently pokes fun at various character-istics of modern society – how we’re all obsessed with over-achieving but can never achieve enough, and our ideas of what perfect should look like. With TWWSML, Keyes has once again shown how she transcended the now endangered genre of chick lit to bring us smart stories about real women to whom we can relate. Make a cup of tea, get some chocolate biscuits (our shocking lack of Jaffa Cakes in South Africa should really be addressed at the highest levels as a matter of urgency), and enjoy.

1 A reference to an essay in her collection of writings Un-der the Duvet – highly recommended. The one book of hers that I’m iffy about is The Brightest Star in The Sky. Didn’t love it.

By Lisa Wiebesiek


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Time to win some competitions!All competitions must be entered by 25 February 2015

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2WIN TWO HUG IN A MUG’S

To enter please email: [email protected] with your details. Subject: Mug

www.flatwhiteconcepts.com

WIN THE ENTERTAINER 2015 APP

The Entertainer’s full range of 51 printed and mobile products provide buy one get one free offers to the best restaurants, activities, attractions, spas and hotels across 40 destinations throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Indian Ocean. Three products are available in South Africa – the Entertainer Cape Town, Entertainer Johannesburg & Pretoria and Entertainer Durban. You can buy the Entertainer 2015 products online at www.theenter-tainerafrica.com or through the Entertainer App, available for iOS, Android, Blackberry 10 and Windows phones.

To enter please email: [email protected] with your details. Subject: Entertainer

www.theentertainerafrica.com


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Venture out on a Valentine’s Day Picnic with OBiKWA Pi-notage Rosé. Surprise your Valentine with a perfect picnic backpack and blushing OBiKWA Pinotage Rosé. An easy drinking varietal wine, this refreshingly dry Rosé will ensure your day of love runs as effortlessly as your love. Whether you’re under the stars, enjoying a moonlit picnic or lazing on a sun-drenched beach, OBiKWA Pinotage Rosé will set the tone for your day of romance.

Love and life are journeys worth celebrating, so go on stick your neck out and let OBiKWA make your Valentine’s Day with an adventurous giveaway. There is a picnic backpack complete with all the utensils you’ll need including a bottle of Pinotage Rosé up for grabs for 1 lucky OBiKWA fan. The OBiKWA range of quality, pocket friendly varietal wines wines with a different variety for every day of the week are available at leading outlets country-wide.

3 WIN THIS GORGEOUS OBiKWA PICNIC HAMPER

WIN A ONE HOUR QUAD BIKING EXPERIENCE FOR TWO

Based on the beautiful Rhebokskloof Wine Estate in Paarl, South Africa, the quad bikes complement the horse trails, by allowing guests to enjoy the same views and nature experience, as the horse riders do. Like the horse trails, the quad bikes are led by an experienced guide.

To enter please email: [email protected] with your details.Subject: Quad Biking

www.horsetrails-sa.co.za

To enter please email: [email protected] with your details. Subject: OBiKWA

For more information visit www.obikwa.com, join the OBiKWA tribe on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @ObikwaWines.

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TWO LUCKY READERS CAN WIN A J.C. LE ROUX LA FLEURETTE VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT PACK

To enter please email: [email protected] with your details.Subject: J.C. Le Roux

www.jcleroux.co.za

WIN TWO FREE GROUP CLASSES WITH STUDIO 2 PILATES

To enter please email: [email protected] with your details.Subject: Studio2Pilates

1 Milldene Avenue, Claremont, Cape Townwww.pilatescape.co.za


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WIN TWO NIGHTS AT VINDOUX TREE HOUSE GUEST FARM, FOR FOUR PEOPLE

Prize is for four people for two nights in the Tree House.Excludes public holidays and subject to availablity.Includes a R100 spa voucher per person and a half day cycle hire.

To enter please email: [email protected] with your details.Subject: Vindoux

www.vindoux.com

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WIN A 1 X VALUE RED & WHITE MIXED CASE FROM WINE WEB – THIS INCLUDES 6 BOTTLES, 3 RED AND 3 WHITE AND INCLUDES DELIVERY.

To enter please email: [email protected] with your details.Subject: Wine

www.wineweb.co.za

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THE END

Do you want to advertise with us?Email Christine on

[email protected]

Go on.. all the cool kids are doing it.

issue 20 february 2015

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