The Good Mood and Food market

I'm always in support of authenticity, of small scale and of home-grown. This is why I love markets so much. The smaller, the better. The Good Mood and Food Market is the brain-child of Peter Savage, the bread maker whom I blogged about here. It is a tiny street market in Melville street that sells anything home-made: from fresh pasta to coffee to sweet treats to exquisite breads.

When you are in the 'hood next time, pop in, have a coffee and chat to Pete and his friends about good food.

Every Saturday 09:00 - 11:00

131 Melville street

If you're interested in having a table there, please email Peter: petersavage@mweb.co.za

Arcadian Shepherd

The title refers to a cider made by the guys from Voer, the logo inspired by mug-shots of victorian prostitutes. There are many prostitutes in Arcadia. Enough said about that topic. We attended a Shebeen day yesterday, hosted by A and J. It was fun. I consumed many many of A's homemade delicacies and some amazing ginger- and pineapple beer. Thys had a go at the homemade Indian pale ale and cider. What a fun afternoon. We once again met so many interesting folks, all with an intense love for the inner city and home-made goodness.

Translation: "The beer is in the bath"

This was the giant, communal bill. You just had to write everything down you consumed and settle at the end of the afternoon. A's little brother actually thought this was a review-board and he put smiley faces next to the things he likes and unhappy faces next to the one thing he didn't...the honesty of eleven-year-olds!

Thys' birthday celebration

For Thys' 30th birthday celebration the one thing we knew is that we wanted to keep it local. Really local. As in Sunnyside local. A few things crossed our minds like a street party in El Sol (wich would've not gone down well with the Body Corporate and trustees), a picnic in the dog park or a few drinks at the Bowling club. Then a colleague told me about this guy who does home-made pizzas in his wood-fired oven on Fridays. I called him and the rest is history...

Let me introduce you to the Sourdough Bread Man, Peter Savage. This might be one of Pretoria's best kept secrets. I am weary to provide too much information because the next thing we know there will be a bunch of hipsters crowding up their backyard. But it's too good to keep for myself and the locals who know about it. Pete has a little team (obviously including his wife) who helps him on Fridays and let me tell you: The food is delicious and the vibe is great. You almost become part of the making process - everything happend around the Wood-fired oven. We hired a keg from Drayman's, a local brewery and everyone joined in for a sip, even the other patrons whom we didn't even know. I'd like to think that the evening was a great success. And we will be back for more pizza and sourdough.

As for the Birthday Boy - I hope you had a great time, liefie. I love your other-wiseness, your patience, perseverance and special ways. Hope there will be many more of these.

If you want to experience some decent Sunnyside vibes and great food, please email Peter to find out when he will host another Pizza evening:

petersavage@mweb.co.za

Their address is 131 Melville Street, Sunnyside.

Ginger and Fig

This lovely new eatery recently opened in P-town. I am totally smitten with the interior design and their coffee and breakfast is great. This beautiful shop is the brain-child of Zane Figueiredo, who made a career change after 10 years in IT. You can certainly see and taste the passion that went into making this dream a reality. I hope they have many many customers for many successful years.

You can also see the progress report on Mia Widlake's blog, Studio number 19.

For more info, like their facebook page, visit their website or simply pay them a visit. Very friendly staff and great service.

Shop no. 5, Brooklyn Centre, Cnr Lynnwood and Jan Shoba. 

Best thing is that they have free Wi-Fi and they open at 6am from Tuesday to Friday.

Move aside, MasterChef

Last weekend, we did our annual cook-off. Not like the one on TV. We had fire and only fire (okay some of us had help with a blender and a small generator) to show off our cooking skills.
The location - Sterkrivier. The participants - three couples who love Apple, dogs and good food. Two teams did breakfast and one team did dinner. We ate until we felt like pinjadas, then ate some more. We slept outside and swam in the river with the dogs. We got sunburnt and caught up on much-needed sleep.
The verdict is still out on who actually won...

Kersfees in Arkadia

The amazing guys from Voer invited us for a little get-together at their apartment in Arcadia this past Sunday. It was a rainy afternoon filled with interesting conversations, smells of freshly baked cookies, home-brewed beer and crafty christmas decorations.
We were a bunch of very-different-but-so-the-same-kind-of-people and we had such a great time eating too many sweet things, chatting about the end of Facebook and consuming glasses and glasses of rhubarb beer...