November 16th

Yesterday we found a great grilled chicken place, Nando's. It is where our Peri-peri sauce comes from!! We really liked it! I had a side of their Peri-tato salad – has perinaise (peri-peri sauce and mayo mix) , Jeff had a side of Flame-grilled Mielie (roasted ear of corn with basting of peri-peri). The chicken was served with a spoonful of the peri-peri sauce as well. We left there with a good zing on our lips and in our mouth.

Today we awoke and went for a beach walk. When we arrived back at our apartment, Jeff checked his email. His passport has arrived at the nearest DHL, and is ready for pick up! Crazy, it has only been 15 days since he mailed in the old one. They said two to four weeks, but – wowza! So we readied and ate a light breakfast. Then drove to pick it up.

We arrived at the DHL store by 1030 and he had his passport in hand by 1040!! With this worry off our minds, we needed to celebrate! We are in Stellenbosch so wine tasting time!

We decided on the winery, Blaauwklippen. It's been a winery since 1682!! We arrived and found the tasting room. Jeff and I both are doing a tasting! YAY! So we decided to do two food and wine pairings from their menu. Mine was 1682 pairing: Bobotie spring roll with chutney/Malbec; Grilled fillet/Cabernet Sauvignon; Oxtail ravioli/De Blaauwe Klip; Mini malva/10YO Potstill Brandy. Jeff's was Meze pairing: Marinated feta and olives/Chenin Blanc; Lemon pita with tzatziki/ Sauvignon Blanc; Chicken souvlaki skewer/Rose. They were both exceptional!

The outcome: we were pleasantly surprised. We liked a couple of wines we are not too familiar with and another wine we usually find too sweet. First, was their Malbec. We've had this before but its usually in a blended wine (a meritage). It was an excellent, stand-alone wine. Second wine was a Chenin Blanc. It was very flavorful, spicy and crisp. The last was a Rose. These are usually too sweet for our liking, but this varietal was not, and had a 'pleasantness' we quite enjoyed. We decided we need to visit other wineries and have more tastings! We did, of course, buy bottles of the three wines we really liked.😁

We went back to our apartment, and siesta time. 

We had a stir fry with an Ostrich/Lamb sausage with nutmeg and clove spices for supper with one of our newly acquired Rose wines. Then a great sunset! Last night we did experience bioluminescence in the surf during a scheduled blackout. Spectacular!!