MY FRANSCHHOEK ON FOOT

My recent holiday to Cape Town was full of little surprises,the first of which was doing a detour on the drive down, into the village of Clarens.To read click here
The second was to actually spend a day in the beautiful town of Franschhoek rather than just pass through en route to other Cape destinations!

As you are aware I love to walk around cities and towns, as you are just able to see soooo much more on foot and you get a real sense of the place and the people.
Sightseeing on foot allows you to see the good and sometimes the not so good areas,so caution is always recommended and I always ask for advice as to where are the "no go" areas are before I venture out!

I personally found that a long weekend or at least a couple of days in Franschhoek would have suited me better, as there were so many good wineries,restaurants,coffee shops and boutiques to visit, that a day was certainly not long enough to really enjoy all that this town and its environs has to boast about and offer!
Below is some background info and some of my photos that I took during "My Franschhoek on Foot" Enjoy!

Franschhoek ("French Corner", (Dutch spelling before 1947 Franschen Hoek) is a small town in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns of the Republic of South Africa. It is about 75 kilometres from Cape Town and has a population of 15,353.
The attributes of the village have turned Franschhoek into a popular tourist destination, with dozens of bed & breakfasts and small cottages available for accommodation at premium prices as well as a large used bookstore.Once a sleepy country retreat, the village began experiencing a boom since the 1990s, and property prices have sharply increased. The ideal summer weather, snowy peaks in winter and proximity to Cape Town have turned Franschhoek into one of South Africa's most sought after residential addresses.

Franschhoek is notable for having some of the top restaurants in the country within its quiet borders. This fact, together with the strong wine culture, and pristine natural and architectural beauty has made Franschhoek into what many describe as the "food and wine capital" of South Africa. The city hosts one of the TOP 50 restaurants in the world, according to the "S.Pellegrino world's 50 best restaurants"-ranking and a famous Belgian Pâtisserie for Belgian pralines.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franschhoek

5* STRAWBERRY DAIQUIRI'S

As I have an obsession with all things "Strawberry" it stands to reason that my favourite cocktail would be a Strawberry Daiquiri (SD) and is my first choice every time....
I love a good frozen SD cocktail.

To read more about my strawberry addiction Click here
To read more about an SD cocktail  Click here

Briefly a good SD should:

• Be made and packed with finely crushed ice and not chunks of broken ice.
• It should have a good balance of sweetness versus alcohol and ultimately taste "delish"...not that I have an alcohol problem or anything, but you would be surprised how many I have sent back to the bar after questioning, whether any alcohol even made it into the glass! (If I had wanted a Strawberry "Slush Puppy" type non alcoholic drink, then I would go to the nearest shopping  mall and not to an expensive cocktail bar!) Where Strawberry Daiquiri's are concerned I will not hold back if I have a problem, much to my hubby's embarrassment.
• The glass should be tall, as this is a "long drinking" cocktail.
• The venue and ambiance is also taken into account.
• Lastly the garnish and presentation is also important, as it must be visually very appealing and tempting!

During my recent trip to Cape Town it enabled me to try out some new SD'S in new places i.e.
5 star Hotels to be precise.....but don't think because you are in a 5* establishment that the SD will be 5*, unfortunately they can present 2* cocktails and charge 5* prices.....

I tried the following three of Cape Towns many 5* hotels:

The Mount Nelson Hotel Click here to read more about this hotel
The One&Only Hotel Click here to read more about this hotel
The Cape Grace Hotel Click here to read more about this hotel

Strawberry Daiquiri cocktails generally are priced between R30 - R70.
I should also mention that all of these hotels do supply you with platter of nibbles.


The Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks, north of Durban in KZN is my current
 "Top of the Strawberry Daiquiri Charts" and serves as my benchmark for all SD'S tasted....
Click here to read more about this hotel

This cocktail ticks all my personal boxes,is consistently good and never fails to deliver. The setting and ambiance of this hotel in my opinion is stunning and a hard one to beat!...This is however the most expensive of all the cocktails that I have ever tasted in South Africa and has recently jumped up to R70, so I may rate it as my no.1, but they should be careful not to over price my fave drink.....as R70 is steep no matter how good!

Oyster Box Hotel R70

Now! I have told you about my "best" SD, so let me now reveal one of my "worst" SD'S ever!
I had such high hopes that this hotel would deliver an excellent cocktail and even maybe a contender for the no.1 spot,but unfortunately the opposite was the case....

The One&Only Hotel presented me with a 2 star SD, the glass was not, in my experience correct, the drink had a slightly sour taste and the "cherry on the top" for me was the lemon garnish...in fact a cherry would have been better on the top. I was quite taken aback with the lemon garnish and thought it strange,so I decided to ask the Food & Beverage Manager if this was the norm or had they run out of strawberries? At this point my hubby made a quick exit to the little boys room! Thanks Love!!
His response was very vague and when I asked if he thought a strawberry would be more appropriate to garnish a cocktail of the same name? I was told that is how the One&Only garnish their Strawberry Daiquiri's.
The bar in the main reception area of the hotel is large and very open and I thought lacked atmosphere and to be honest could have been a bar in any hotel....not what I expected!
If however you are looking for a short,sour tasting and lemon garnished Strawberry Daiquiri in a mediocre setting, then the much acclaimed One&Only Hotel is the place to go!

The One&Only Hotel R50

The Cape Grace Hotel is where we spent a beautiful sunny afternoon lunching and drinking with wonderful views of Table Mountain and the expensive yachts on the V&A Waterfront. This was a good SD, but not really any competition for the top spot.

The Cape Grace Hotel R50

The Mount Nelson Hotel has been no. 2 on my chart for a year or more, as I always like to visit this majestic grand hotel when in Cape Town. The mix of sweetness and alcohol is definitely "delish' and the Planet Bar is a great setting to have a cocktail. The nibbles are great,especially the "home" or should I say "hotel" made roasted nut and seed mix...

The Mount Nelson Hotel R55

I will continue my search for the best SD, unless I decide to change to another cocktail...mmm let me think about that one for a moment....yes thought about it and Strawberry Daiquiri's are still the drink for me, so the quest continues to find an SD to knock the Oyster Box off its number 1 position continues,

but until then its still "My Best".

FACE MASKS {BACK2BASICS}

This is the fifth part of my Back2Basics series of posts...

FACE MASKS

I have covered the following so far and if you would like to recap then 
click on the pink below links:

Cleansing

Toning

Moisturising

Exfoliation

The use of a face mask in the cosmetic sense dates back to possibly the Egyptian times.Well I don't quite go back that far, but I do remember back in the 70's at Beauty College having only five ingredients to work with i.e. Kaolin, Fullers Earth, Chamomile,Witch Hazel and Rose Water.These would be enthusiastically mixed together in bowls, with our wide paint brushes and applied to our fellow "would be" Beauty Therapists!

Thank goodness we have moved on and moved on we have!....
Today we have the most wonderful array of face masks to choose from. 
The above ingredients still form the basis of many "Clay" type face masks,but then along came the "Cream" face mask,which made masking so much more appealing. Whereas the clay masks hardened on the skin, the cream mask stayed soft and allowed freedom of movement....the face mask had been
"liberated"

Face masks used to be confined to the salon environment but no more, as ideally it should form part of your own home weekly beauty routine in between your monthly salon visit....

How do you choose the correct mask?

Masking is primarily determined by your skin type or skin condition i.e dry, combination,oily,dehydrated, ageing as today we have masks for everyone, even for the most sensitive skins, meaning that no skin type is left out...

Any beauty therapist or cosmetic consultant will be able to advise if you are not sure which mask is suitable for your skin....

What will a face mask do?

Depending on the skin type/condition and the mask chosen, the following benefits can be gained :

Moisturisation

Nourishment

Smoothing

Brightening

Purifying

Firming

Rehydration

Soothing & Calming

The research and development that the companies put into products today is amazing. Face masks  are now more multi functional....in other words you can buy today, masks for example that are targeted to more mature women that have concerns with dryness,dehydration,ageing and radiance,so gone are the days of treating just the one concern!

How do I use?

Face masks are to be used preferably once or twice a week after an exfoliation or scrub, as this is when the skin is more receptive to the ingredients and therefore the benefits of the mask you have chosen.....generally they are removed with water or toner 10-15 minutes after application or in the case of the "newer" masks...you massage any excess into the skin and leave and do not remove. Most masks are not to be used around the eye area, but always follow the manufacturers recommendations. 
An exfoliator and a mask are a "husband and wife" team and go together.

Please try to set 20-30 minutes aside once of week for some "me" time and not only will your skin benefit, but mentally you will feel revived & refreshed.Another point to remember, is that you can have a couple of masks that you alternate with depending on the season and changes in your skin, so don't restrict yourself to just using the one!

I am not generally one to experiment or create products at home, as I like to leave it to the experts, however of all the beauty products, a mask is something that can be mixed successfully at home using nature's ingredients.

I hope to try out some easy recipes and give you feedback in a future post...so keep watching this  blog space!