Stellenbosch -- the wine blurs my memory.

Just kidding!

Stellenbosch is a beautiful mountain wine area around Cape Town. S and L, our lovely hosts, had planned a beautiful day in the Stellenbosch area, starting with a trip to the Slow Food Outdoor Market.

Wow.

It was huge. It was lovely. The food was different, amazing, and distinct. There was cheese, meat, biltong, curry, pasta, more cheese, fish, chutney and jams, and just an amazing array of things to taste!



That's G talking to the ladies about the different curries for sale. We bought a beautiful curry that was double wrapped and STILL made my new kudu purse smell like curry! We also snuck away with a couple of samosas that we ate as we walked around. S and L bought some beautiful sausages and cheese I am not certain how this market is affiliated with the Slow Food Movement, but it apparently is. It's really nice and in the middle of a bunch of apartments. I imagine living in those apartments is a bit of a blessing and a curse.

I also bought a lovely plum and onion preserve from the Chaloner booth. It is amazing. (I bought quite a few chutney's and pickles while I was there. Ever since I developed the love for the Baxter's tomato chutney, I have been branching into the sauces. I think it's a Nigella Lawson influence, but whatever it is, it's delicious!)

From there we took off for some wine tasting...

First up, G wanted to go to JC Leroux for champers.


The tasting there is strange. It was 22RND each (or thereabouts), and you got to sit down and have a taste of about 5 champagnes made there. They started out very dry and lovely and then just got far too sweet for my liking. But it was actually a very nice way to taste because it was basically a table service. The wine chick would come over with the bottle, give you a little talk about it, pour VERY generous servings, and then walk away while we all got to chitchat.

From there we went to Beyerskloof. I would love to have spent even MORE time at this winery because it was just so amazing. The tasting room is lovely...


And they serve this amazing salami while you taste their absolutely fantastic pinotage wines. The wine here was fantastic, but alas, we were not allowed to bring it back to Canada because security at London Heathrow makes you get rid of all liquids when you go through security AGAIN for your connecting flight. Grrr.

Regardless, that was an amazing time. We all bought salami that I oddly put in my aforementioned kudo purse and forgot it was there until I arrived home in Canada a week later! It was so relaxing and enjoyable. Another home run outta the park plan by S and L. So appreciated!

From there, we went off to lunch at one of S and L's fave spots...


The Buena Vista Social Cafe. Here's where the tastes get tested. Mexican-y food. In SOUTH AFRICA for someone from OKLAHOMA who pretty much has a lock on good Mexican food. And how did it compare? DELISH!

First up, S had raved about the jalapeno poppers called FLAMING DIABLOS that are wrapped in bacon, stuffed with cheese and fried. So I had to order them because to do otherwise would have been too rude (and with a name like Flaming Diablos, you gotta order it!).


WOW! Two of these are more than enough to share because they are MASSIVE. They were perfectly fried, spicy hot without being about to kill you with heat, super cheesey and the bacon was really smokey and lush. But MAN ALIVE, two is a lot to eat for one girl who's had half a salami and about a bottle of wine.

Especially when coming up is a GINORMOUS plate of nachos...


These were stacked nachos. Chicken, peppers, sour cream, avocado pear, cheese, salsa, chili, and chips. Now the weird thing about this dish were the chips. They tasted like ketchup doritos. It wasn't bad, it was just such a surprise! I must confess that I did eat the majority of these nachos, and they were the perfect counter to my wine soaked afternoon.

The portions here were huge, though. G ordered the HALF order of quesadillas...(editor's note...G informs me that I had a half order of nachos and she had a whole order of quesadillas. I can't imagine my ordering a half order of ANYTHING, but who knows...)

I mean, that's a half order. That's completely insane.

We had a great time, though, and really enjoyed the day thoroughly. For dinner, we had Nando's, which G speaks of fondly (as does the Food Pornographer!), so it was a must have while we were visiting Cape Town...

We only took a pic of the bag...

because G said that, "nothing says happiness like a big sack of Nando's." So look at the bag and be happy. And when the bag makes you that happy, there's no reason to discuss the delicious chicken inside.