We recently got back from Cape Town, one of our favorite places on earth. This was our third time there, but this trip was markedly different because for 11 straight days we were kidless in wine country! Now before you gasp and say, “How could you leave your daughter for 11 days? I could NEVER do that.” Well, we’ve been taking a parents-only trip almost every year since she was born and it just so turns out that it doesn’t phase our daughter one bit. In fact, the Friday before our trip she threw a mini-tantrum because she thought we were leaving THAT day, not the following Friday. Because what 6 year old doesn’t want to have her “sisters” come over for 10 days of movie watching and sleepovers?? And with a responsible adult in charge (Schorasticah) and one awesome neighbor (thanks Alison!) checking in, we had nothing to worry about.
If you’ll remember back, our last “Parents Only” trip was in October 2016 for a 4 day safari in Southern Malawi. Given how long it had been and with such a significant amount of time to explore, I was determined to make this trip go perfectly (cue the warning bells). So what did I do? I planned the sh*t out of it. Because if there’s one thing I’m REALLY good at, it’s research and organization.
And so I planned and planned and when I couldn’t possibly plan anymore (because the schedule was completely booked up), I made up things to worry about like, “What if we run out of things to talk about and just stare at each other for meal after meal??” or “What if I pick terrible places and we waste this precious opportunity?” The pressure was mounting… would it be everything I dreamed or a big bust????
Before we get into the details, I should mention that the goal of this trip was to indulge in as many activities as possible that would be difficult with Nia in tow. This meant that our schedule was mostly filled with leisurely meals, wine tastings and museum visits. The exchange rate in Cape Town is very favorable to the dollar, so we can eat well for far less than we could in the States. We did, however, plan 2 big signature splurge meals to anchor the trip. Our first, at La Colombe, was just two days after our arrival. We booked the 10 course, 4 hour tasting menu which included this adorable “can of tuna (it had a lid too)” and a whole host of other dishes that looked too pretty to eat.
Midway through the meal this thing lands on our table leaching fog everywhere. The food in this dish was a palette cleanser of sorbet, delivered is those egg cups in the middle. Ridiculous but SO FUN. :) I loved it.
There was the option to have a wine pairing with all 10 courses but we had to drive so opted to split a bottle of wine. Here we are halfway through the night starting to feel the effects of the wine… it’s a good thing we didn’t do the pairing or we would have been a mess.
My research had also uncovered some crazy-fun wine pairings like this wine & pizza pairing….
and my hands-down favorite, the wine and ice cream pairing!
We also did a food and wine pairing class at a vineyard. During this two hour affair we started by learning how the five different tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami) change the taste of a wine and how we can utilize that knowledge in our pairing choices at home. We tasted everything with a chardonnay. The items from left to right were a pear (sweet), a lemon (sour), feta cheese (salty), rocket lettuce (bitter) and soy sauce (umami). I encourage you to try it for yourself at home. It was very cool to see how much they changed the flavor of the wine!
When that was done we were presented with this beautiful plate of “mini-bites” that had been specially chosen to pair with each of the wines. There were 6 of us in the group and with each dish we savored it slowly and then discussed our impressions with each other. There was a representative from the vineyard leading the class and she provided really great insights into both the food, wine and the artistic presentation (each of which was specifically designed by a different artist to showcase that dish). By the time we wrapped up at noon, I had finished the 5 pours you see in the picture below, plus a glass of chardonay from the first round of tasting and a “welcome” glass of bubbly before we began. Let’s just say I was very buzzed and that we got to lounge around the vineyard for awhile before moving on…
Our final signature meal was at Rust en Vrede. This was another 10 course meal served over 3-4 hours. The food was even more divine than La Colombe but the experience was tainted by a massive headache that I couldn’t shake the whole night. I’m not a headache person, so I’m quite clear that it was my body’s way of telling me that it was not happy with me (either with the excessive amount of food and wine or perhaps the sugary indulgences that I’d been letting myself have).
And then there were the hangovers. Turns out I’m not 25 anymore and I can’t just roll out of bed ready to go after a night of drinking. Both Nick and I were hurting. So much so, in fact, that we had to take a detox day following our dinner at Rust en Vrede. We committed to no drinking and normal sized meals for a whole day. We’re so responsible! Yay us!
We actually ended up cancelling 4 wine tastings and 3 additional multi-course dinners because we just couldn’t keep up that pace of eating and drinking. I found it amusing that we actually had the time and space to indulge and yet our bodies couldn’t handle it. That old saying rang very true for us – you CAN have too much of a good thing… it was a memorable trip though and I hope that’s not the last time we step foot in Cape Town.
PS – We didn’t run out of things to say – mostly because I brought a question book! :)
