Saturday 16 October 2010

Market Daze

(Bread)

(Koeksisters - both the Afrikaans ones and the Cape Malay ones)

(Pasta)

I hate to admit that I am a creature of habit, because that speaks of boredom and the refusal to try new things, I prefer to think of myself as someone who loves rituals. And one of my favourite Saturday rituals is to The Neighbourgoods Market at The Old Biscuit Mill; we get there early and leave before the crowds get too annoying. And I always eat the same things, the Thai breakfast with extra chilli, a Queen of Tarts cupcake, an icy mint crush, and we always leave with a Daley Bread, some ginger honey, some ginger and lemon cordial, some samoosas, some fresh burrata cheese. Those are the basics. We add to that list. Of course.
But this Saturday we ventured a bit further. And we'd secured a parking bay by 10am at the Stellenbosch Fresh Goods Market in the grounds of the Oude Libertas Amphitheatre in Stellenbosch. Which is where we had our wedding reception almost 10 years ago and where we picnic before their summer open air concerts. It is a favourite place, but our rituals here, because of our infrequent visits, are less rigid. Breakfast was one dozen Saldanha bay oysters and two glasses of bubbly, followed by a fantastic Durban Mutton Curry with tomato and onion salsa. Take home goodies included lemon curd, freshly baked bread, a ripe camambert cheese, snoek pate, creme caramel and Rooibos tea panna cotta and Cape Malay koeksisters. Delicious food in a lovely, slightly less crowded outdoor setting. But the best part? The enormous mulberry tree in the grounds, carrying big fat ripe black mulberries. Being short, I couldn't reach them, but Jacques could reach the the high branches. And so he did. And then he fed me the juicy berries. My Hunter-Gatherer. The man I promised to love forever and ever in this very place almost 10 years ago. We'll go back there. I like the new ritual we created. As much as I like the lemon curd we bought. And the oysters we ate.

2 comments:

  1. I, too, love rituals and I am sorry I did not bump into you at the Neighbourhoods market when I was there a couple of weeks ago - we had the rosti with smoked salmon, a poached egg and hollandaise; and a fab berry crush :)

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  2. Jeanne! if you saw the berry crush, you may would have missed the mint and lime crush next to it - which is beyond delicious, and perfect to have with the Thai breakfast (extra chilli) when the Thai food team is there. Wenet to Hermanuspietersfontein market (between Onrus and Hermanus) this weekend and bought wonderful wildspastei. Am feeling very wholesome and earthy.

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