Terrior

The menu changes daily

Terrior is situated in the Klein Zalze estate outside Stellenbosch and is featured in the Eat Out book, voted Top Ten in South Africa for the 7 years (only been open since 2004).

The menu is highly seasonal and is written up daily on a number of chalkboards that the waiters lug around to each table.

Pork snack

The food was rather strange, we needed Google Search to decipher some of the menu items, but we eventually got there. The portions look quite small, but are rather rich, which means one cannot eat very much of it.

The starters were split among the table and the chicken liver pate won. The avo sorbet was interesting but not really worth eating, the beetroot bland and the labne average. 

Chicken liver and faie gras parfait with apple compote

Terrine of beet, avo sorbet, rye crumbs and Labne

Roasted Belly of pork with rhubarb and truffle mac

Angus Beef with black truffle sauce, leeks and cepes (and bacon foam)

Loin of lamb with chemula sauce fondue, Pommo Anna

Klein Zalze

Klein Zalze is a wine estate and golf course just outside of Stellenbosch. We took a drive to the wine estate to have lunch at Terrior and I took a few snaps of the scenery before we stuffed ourselves with French Cuisine.

Entrance to Terrior

The pond at the edge of the golf course

There is a garden at the back of the restaurant with herbs (I assume they are used in the kitchen) and some beautiful flowers, especially the wheelbarrows lining the egdes (notice the corks as fillers?)

Klein Joostenberg

Joostenberg is a wonderful venue for an outing on a sunny day. There is a bistro, pork butchery, nursery, honey shop and Ludwig's Roses.

About 35 minutes along the N1, a little before Stellenbosch, the little slice of vibrant colour has some of the most amazing pork you'll find in Cape Town. The prices are very reasonable and the portions large. There are even fires to keep warm in Winter in the bistro.

Ludwig's Roses is also well worth a wonder through. The have all sorts on sale and the names are hilarious. On the last visit there I spotted a "Steve Hofmeyr" rose, you never know what you'll find. My favourite though is still the "Durban July" climbing rose.

Chocolate Love

While I was rattling around Europe there were a few things I missed, Limnos being one of them. Its probably the people that I usually go with but the cakes and treats definitely have something to do with it. Yesterday I got to go and have a Vanilla and Chocolate Mouse cake heart.

Positively Dotty

Elisabeth, Jose and I tried Dots Experimental Sushi last night. It was an interesting combination of traditional sushi with a few twisters.

Jose and Elisabeth shared a Dots Sushi Special with Geisha Lips and Cape Town Bombs. The Cape Town Bombs looked awesome, sort of like Salmon Roses but with a hot sauce on top. I ventured in Mango Maki, which had prawn, avo and you guessed it...Mango. It was a very sweet creamy experience. My other choice was Calfornia rolls which had prawn, salmon, avo and something inside and multi-coloured fish roe on the outside...suitably different.

Moving on we met up with the more party crowd at a heuriger in the 19th district. We missed the food but managed to have a few wine spritzers before moving to the next destination of the evening (there was a fairly ambitious itinerary for the evening).

Everyone was in bright spirits last night but there were these times of great sadness as we say goodbye to to each other. The last photo was the group chatting up a storm on the tram to the next club. It seemed like a nice place though a little pricey, 8 euros for a cocktail!

YSSP Awards Dinner

The YSSP Awards Dinner last night was our last chance to party as a group and reminisce about our experiences over the Summer. Some YSSPers interpreted "formal" a little more liberally than over...shorts with sandals or takkies is not formal!

The Director, Alumni president and YSSP Dean all regaled us with tales of past years and memories from this Summer. Each YSSPer received a certificate for completing the program and the official photo taken on the grand staircase off the main entrance.




The YSSPers put together a presentation for the dinner which consisted of a few movies from our time here, a song, a dance and the Y-S-S-P (Think YMCA but with scientists trying to spell YSSP). Our favourite moments were captured on film and there were quite a number of photos of us "working" in our offices :P

The second photo is the African delegation :)

The last photo is the IME group, my fellow survivors of the Summer (the Canadian, the South African, the Chinese and the Ukrainian..sounds the like start of a bad joke)

Weinviertel and Lipizzaners

We continued our tour after a rather large lunch at yet another English Garden and some museums. The highlight for me was a tour of the Summer Riding School of the Lipizzaners from the Spanish Riding School. Its like Summer camp for horses, they certainly have an awesome life out there. Along the way I learnt how they name their horses, the training process and how they pair the horses with their riders.

Did you know that all Lipizzaners are born brown and that they changed to white from about 4 years, sometimes up to 12 years old. Some horses never change to white. These horses can still perform in the shows and they are said to bring luck to the school. There have been a few years that have not had a brown horse like 1938 but currently there are 3 brown horses performing which must mean they are very lucky :)

Lipizzaners start training from the age of 4 and it can take 6 years before they are ready to perform. Lipizzaners live well into their 30s and perform until they're about 28. We got to meet a few of the horses and man are they tall but absolutely beautiful.


After all the horses we finally had a chance to drink. We toured the Obenaus winery, a local winery in Glaubendorf. The owners son shepherded us through the various rooms. It was interesting to see an small operation with the cellars, bottling line and presses (the people here would probably be annoyed when I call it small, but I consider it small in comparison to Vergelegen, Welmoed, Spier etc where I've previously done tours).

Following the tour we got to taste the various wine the winery produces including Gruner Veltliner, Roter Veltliner and Muskat. The menu said a cold meat supper and that is exactly what we got, LOTS of cold meat and nothing else. We thought they were joking when they handed us each a plate of meats, eventually we begged for a vegetarian plate to split. The party table made a valiant effort to consume our months worth of meat in a hour but it proved impossible.

I asked a lot of questions about the growing conditions here, temperatures, grape types etc because they make such different wines to South Africa and Australia which is what I typically know. The grow their whites in clay soil and reds in gravel. The temperatures are below freezing (-18C) in Winter and they harvest white in the morning and red in the afternoon. The really interesting this is that they use acacia instead of oak as they don't like the favour it gives to the wine.

Schnapsmuseum

Long before I came to Vienna people kept telling me to go to the Schnapsmuseum in Vienna. Now I didn't now that Vienna is famous for its Schnaps but apparently they are. A group of 6 of us went on a tour through the 'museum' and got to taste the various types available.

Its a very short tour, only a few rooms but the information garnered is worth the visit. I learnt not only about the process of producing Schnaps but also about Absinthe, Brandy and Liqueurs. We also received a history lesson on Austria and its alcohol laws.

I also learnt that the original distillery was much larger but was bombed in 1945 and they lost 11 buildings in just minutes. There are a series of photographs on the walls from various eras that show the destruction and the history of the family. One of the family was a driver for the Emporer, another an advisor.

Our tour guide is actually the owners son who only does tours on the weekend as a favour to the family. Imagine having the keys to a Schnaps distillery as a student...the parties must have been fabulous.

The tour concluded with a tasting of all the different varieties and a demonstration on how to tell the difference between proper Schnaps and the artificially sweetened stuff. Needless to say that the real stuff smells just like rotten fruit...wonderful.







Following our tour our guide decided that some food would be a good idea to soak up all the alcohol we'd manage to consume. Our choice came from the Lonely Planet: Kokoma, a seafood restaurant that was actually fairly decent. Definitely one of the better meals I've had a Viennese restaurant.

Oh the 80s

As I child of the 80s I wasn't really around for the major musical developments of the time but it seems I caught enough the highlights to survive 80s night fairly well. Chelsea in Vienna has an 80s night on alternating Fridays. I decided to brave 'clubbing' in Vienna and check it out with what turned out to be half of the YSSP and some of the younger IIASA staff.

There is nothing like signing along to Billy Idol, Bonnie Tyler and Kenny Loggins at the top of your voice and I will be continuing in "Holding Out For A Hero" for the foreseeable future :P

Backtracking a bit, the Turkish restaurant Kent was the venue of choice for dinner and their food is definitely worth the 'trek'. We ordered so much food as everything on the menu looked so yummy. I'd definitely be keen to go back, their Hummus is to die for.

Bratislava

Yesterday I ventured to Bratislava, Slovakia. It is 55km from Vienna which meant an hours train ride. My fellow explorers included Blake, Markus, Aapo and Alma. We arrived at 9.30 AM, and decided to have a stroll around the town before meeting the bicycle group for lunch at noon. Cue failed communication take 1.

I took my role as "Minister of War" very seriously and led the group through the guided walk in my guidebook. We managed to see practically all the sights listed by lunch...

Some of the memorable sights are a few whimsical statues of a Napoleonic officer peering over a bench in the Main square (with the French embassy right behind him). The Schoner Naci greets visitors to Kaffee Mayer with a smile and a top hat.

Cumil or "the Peeper" grins at the tourists from an open manhole. There is even a Man at Work sign just in case you had failed to notice him.
The last statue caused much hilarity as a Paparazzi peers around the corner of a building. Pictures of the photographers taking pictures of the paparazzi.

The other strange sight was a cannonball lodged in the wall above the chocolate shop (wonderful chocolate truffles...they were yummy).

Eagerly stepping into the traditional Slovak pub for lunch we thought the bikers would be impatiently waiting for us but alas no. No sooner had we sat down that Jack planks down with a sigh. The first question that springs to mind is where are all the others? Well he left them early on into the ride and they would probably stumble in in about an hour. Oh well, we'll have lunch an wait. Tick tock, tick tock and 1pm arrives and no bikers. Cue first sms, they'll be there at 3.

We took off the Castle we'd reserved to see after lunch and had a look around. The view encompasses Old Town, the Danube and the part of Bratislava you'd rather not see, the Communist built prefab housing.

After our climb we rewarded ourselves with afternoon tea and some more sightseeing. We bumped into the Jakaranda Children's Choir from Pretoria, they told me I don't sound South African...

Since we'd seen all the sights we did them again and then tried some off the beaten track streets and ended up on a grassy patch next to the Danube. Why hello Mr killer mosquito, I would love to be eaten alive. Suddenly the shady patch didn't look so great.

Moving on to the UFO (I'm not kidding, its called the UFO) we suddenly meet the Team Bicycle, at 4.30 PM. We rose into the UFO to take in the famed 360 degree view offered by the observation deck. After a drink and some dessert we parted ways to the park or the pool and met up for drinks before dinner.

We rushed through Old Town to a restaurant (and hence the touristy sights for the third time) before catching the Twin City Liner (Catamaran) home at 10.30 PM.

Wine country

When I think of Austria wine farming doesn't really spring to mind, meat and beer and anything deep-fried yes but not wine. There is in fact a large winelands area near to Laxenburg dotted with Heurigers (wine taverns), most of which produce young wines as their house wine that isn't Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling. I can't place it.

Last night the IME group (we're rather colourful for a bunch of scientists) frequented a proper (read not touristy) heuriger, you can tell because it only opens at specific times of the year unlike the touristy ones.

Nestled into the side of the hill and almost completely obscured by plants, the heuriger Rotes Mauerl is an ideal place to relax and enjoy the view of the valley below.

The menu is meant to be fairly simple but I don't think anyone told the owners. There is a lot of meat and bread, like a large tower available to choose from.

We drank the house white and red, delivered in large carafes, while catching the last rays of sun. Oh what a charmed life we lead :)

The dessert here is interesting, they seem to leave out the sugar from many a thing, namely cheesecake. The cheesecake here, otherwise known as topfenstrudel, is almost savoury in my opinion. I think the next step is to try make a little slice of home for comparison.
Our evening ended after the last bus back from Laxenburg so we were dropped at the Modling train station and caught the train back to Vienna.

Overall a wonderful way to end a working day.

UCT Ballroom Formal

The UCT Ballroom Formal this year was held at Kelvin Grove. The Emperor's Palace was formal with a touch of Asian. Kelvin has redone their floor since I was last there and it is superb to dance on.

I was adventurous and made my first ever ballgown for the event. I never realised what a mission it is to adjust/fit a dress that is actually on you. You are looking down and from an angle and so the seams that you think are straight, turn out to be rather skew. In the end it turned out vaguely correct.

Sushi anyone?

Any sushi lover in Cape Town has to try Minato's off Long Street. This sushi restaurant tantalises the tastebuds and offers some of the most reasonably priced sushi around. The portion sizes are huge (I'm being serious when I say a dragon roll and a California roll will fill an adult male). The service however is quirky. You cannot arrive without a booking (Well you could try, you might be lucky), you may only order once at the beginning of the meal (One chef who closes the kitchen when he feels like it) and do not even suggest paying on separate cards. Once you have navigated the trials and tribulations of the ordering rules on the menu, page to the special rolls, they are out of this world (I have a friend who refers to them as sushigasms).

Constantia Uitsig

Constantia Uitsig is a winefarm nestled between the mountains of the Cape Peninsula. Well-known for its white wines, it also has a restaurant and a River Cafe. My family ventured to the River Cafe for lunch yesterday and were pleasantly surprised at the vast array of choices avaiable on the menu. The popular order of the day was the Karoo Lamb Burger followed by River Cafe Chocolate Brownies. I must say though that the Strawberry Pavlova was demolited at great speed.

The city that never sleeps

Getting to NYC took some doing but I am glad I did it. I successfully navigated the subway and arrived in Brooklyn Heights only slightly weary. My first outing was a walk along the promenade to view the Manhattan skyline. Its very pretty but I hate to think what the electricity bill per building is when they are lit like that all night. I'll post a picture once I'm back on my own computer.

My next day started at 8.30am. For those who know me well, this is very early but I survived. I walked across Brooklyn Bridge which has an amazing view of the river and Manhattan. The bridge is a steel wire suspension bridge, the first of its kind. Walking along and looking up feels like you are in a giant spiderweb. The bridge ends at the bottom of Manhattan right next to the courts. I think walked past the supreme court and criminal court. The architecture of the buildings in spectacular.

Walking along you start to realise the scale and height of the buildings. You cannot feel the sunlight at ground level, there are just too many buildings blocking the rays from ever reaching it. I started my exploration of the area in earnest in Chinatown and its confusing, I'm not going to lie. I think I circled the same block about 3 times to find what I was looking for. Everyone is very welcoming and the array of foods and goods is quite unreal.

Finally navigating my way out of Chinatown I managed to miss Little Italy on the way to Soho. Not quite sure how but I think I was expecting an Italian version of Chinatown and it turns out its not. Soho is weird and wonderful and has a number of nice shops. I was stopped and asked if I support Developing Nations, some charity for uplifting poverty in Africa. What a laugh, after their whole spiel about poverty etc I finally had to point out that I'm South African and hence live in the place.

Next on my list was Greenwich Village which seems less spectacular than I imagined. I made an effort and deviated from my target of Central Park for the Empire State building. The queue to get up to the observation deck was 1.5 hours. Not a chance! I decided I didn't really need to wait that long to pay $30+ to see the city from above.

I browsed Macy's but I didn't find anything that fitted within my price range :( The One Day Sale is on today and I think that will be true chaos. I ended up in Old Navy and I have to say I could quite happily spend a fortune in there.

My walking tour back on target I wandered around Broadway til Central Park. Central Park is gorgeous and still very green. Coming from a riot of Autumn colours in Ann Arbor it seems weird. The park as a beautiful tranquil feeling going for it, despite the activity in it. The Besthesda Fountain doesn't quite measure up to the hype but the lake itself is well worth the trek. There was a couple having their wedding pictures taken with the lake as their backdrop. I sat and absorbed the quietness after the noise of the city and then headed out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At $10 for students I appreciate the London ethos of free entry in museums. The museum is huge and you really do need the map they provide. The Chinese scrolls on display are worth the visit alone. I also enjoyed the Temple of Dendur in the Egyptian section which was rescued from the threat of submergence when the Egyptians built a new dam. I'm sad I didn't have time to do the Design and Photography section, I think that would also be worth a perusal.

Once back on the street, I ventured into the subway and down to Times Square. My god, its noisy and busy and an overload of screens. Started in ToysRUs which has a ferris wheel in the store and then went to TGIF for dinner. Next stop chocolate! The M&M store is huge and filled with every flavour M&M available. The Hersheys store added yet more chocolate to the list.

The last stop of the day was the Rockefeller Building which provides a view from above without the long queues to get in. The Empire State Building was lit up in purple and orange for the night as part of the Cat Fanciers Association Conference.

The end result of my whirlwind tour is bruised feet, lots of photos and a lot more information than I can possibly remember. My feet will hopefully recover enough to do Philadelphia :)