Babylonstoren

Having lived in this area for five years, I had the fabulous experience of visiting Babylonstoren for the first time the other day. I am still in awe when I think of the first time I walked those gardens and sat down to a beautiful brunch in The Green House. It has this "wow-factor" that is hard to put into words, one have to experience it for oneself. Really!

Babylonstoren is situated in the Drakenstein Valley between Franschhoek and Paarl, in the heart of the Cape Winelands.  There are many activities to keep you busy all day long, which includes The Garden, wine tasting, hiking up the koppie, bird watching, photographing every square inch of this beautiful property and of course, EATING....

I cannot insist enough the importance of experiencing this place for yourself; once you've been there, you'll know what I mean. Like my friend said; "it looks like they employed someone to go around all day, merchandising and decorating". It is just FABULOUS!

At Babel  

(pic source)

( pic source)

(pic source)

The Garden

(pic source)

(pic source)

You can view more pictures from others that visited this amazing place on gramfeed. Then head on over to my favourite local blogger Vasgevang, to see his posts about Babylonstoren, here, here and here.

And now for some pics of my own.....

Even the taps are beautiful... hehe..

Happy weekend!

Weylandts

A recent visit to Knysna with visitors from The Netherlands took us on a trip to Thesen Island and in particular checking out the Weylandts shop on the island. If you're into contemporary furniture and design for the home, this is the place to go. Weylandts stock a wide variety of furniture and décor items that will leave your pocket a bit emptier but your home looking fabulous.

As the sole distributor in South Africa of designers such as Kenneth Cobonpue and Ethnicraft it is not surprising that Weylandts is such a favourite shopping destination for home decorators.

I took some pictures in the Thesen Island store, but if you want to see their whole range of products, check out their website here.

Do you like? I love, love, LOVE!

Happy day!

Winter warmers

With winter upon us, it's not a bad idea to invest in a good pair of handmade wool-lined boots to keep your toes warm during the cold months.  I saw these at a local market the other day and I fell in love....(sigh!) Gurmuki boots are handmade in Cape Town, South Africa with locally sourced materials. There are more products in their line, like laptop/tablet carriers and beautiful summer sandals (for the lucky ones up north who are going into warmer weather now). Sonja Nell, founder, designer and owner of Gurmuki is very passionate about her products and when you slip on a pair of Gurmuki's you'll know why. They are comfortable, warm and funky enough to fit any style or taste.

Here's a peek at a few of their items....

 images courtesy of Gurmuki 

For more info visit the web page here or their Facebook page here. I can't think of a better investment for winter-warm boots than these!

Happy week!

South African food

When my sister came around for lunch the other day,  I made something truly South African with a bit of a twist;  bobotie springrolls. Bobotie is a Cape Malay dish made with minced meat, spices and dried fruit and is served with yellow rice with raisins. We always serve it with sambals on the side too, such as plain yoghurt, desiccated coconut, chopped tomato and onion, sliced banana and of course, chutney! There are several recipes for Bobotie on the internet, even Nigella Lawson has her own version (ours is a family secret, so I won't share it here....).

If you like a sweet and spicy meat dish, this would be something to try! I like to take the meat-mixture and roll it in phyllo-pastry sheets to make "springrolls". Rather than deep-fry, I bake it in the oven and it is absolutely delicious!

Happy day!

Quirky art by Ann Gadd

Ann Gadd is a South African artist, known for her quirky "Ewe" paintings. Her work is excellent, and not only the "Ewe" collection, but all of it. The "Ewe" collection deserves a special mention here though; because every time I see a new "Ewe", I am delighted, amused and absolutely in awe of this woman's insight and sense of "ewe-mour" . I have two (not enough) of her prints and it makes me smile every time I look at it.

I borrowed these images from her website to give "ewe" and idea of what we're talking about here, but it doesn't do justice to the images - so head on over there and check it out for yourself.

Above images from here

Images from here

Absolutely fabulous stuff!

Happy day!

Love & Lace Ceramics

When we were at Longridge Wine Estate for lunch the other day, we all admired the beautiful table ware and I was lucky enough to find out who the creator of these beautiful ceramics is. Michele Murray is the artistic mind behind the gorgeous creations of Love & Lace Ceramics. Have a look at these......

from here

from here

Gorgeous, don't you think? You can see more of her work, the retail outlets that stock her ceramics and photos of her studio and exhibitions on the Facebook page here.

Happy day!

Hermanus

Summer holidays are incomplete without some time spent in Hermanus.......

Whale watching (if they're still around), cray-fishing, swimming, shopping, eating, playing and being lazy is what we do....

Happy day!

Ed Suter

Ed Suter is the photographer behind the book Sharp Sharp, a look into South African streetstyle. In this book he captures the beauty of South Africa; the beauty that we see on the streets every day; the diversity of South African life. I had the pleasure of introduction to his work at a local market recently, and instantly fell in love with his photographic style.

See a vimeo clip of him at work, here and visit his website here.

Happy day!