Back at the end of July the local Barista Championship was held here in PE. Lou, Liz, and I were in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe at the time so we were unable to attend the event. Fortunately, though, this week's Crawl took place at Valley Harvest Bistro and Shoppe, 129 Fordyce Rd. (corner, 6th Ave and Fordyce), Walmer, the coffee shop proud to have PE's Barista Champion on staff. Sisa Mapetu not only took first place at the PE competition, but also went on to take second place in the Eastern Cape Competition, as well! Needless to say, I was especially excited about the Crawl this week.
The first thing that struck me as I entered Valley Harvest was the hardwood floors and tables.... my favorite, two weeks in a row! I'm on a roll! June and I spoke with Valley Harvest owner, Penny Sawyer, and then, while waiting for the rest of the Crawlers, took some time to check out the variety of goods for sale at the "Shoppe." If you're looking for health foods, spices, specialty flours, gluten and other allergen free foods (fresh and frozen), snacks, goose and duck eggs (!), preserves (the list goes on...) along with some really cool tote bags, Valley Harvest has it. The "Shoppe" area is very well organized, and the presentation of items is extremely "user friendly." So much so that this week's Crawlers, Beth Vieira, Fran and Keith de Beer, Les Baldwin, Nomusa Nkomo, June Nash, Gail Darne, Stella and Beryl Dawson, spent about half an hour shopping and remarking on all the different and hard-to-find things available at this shop before adjourning to the "Bistro" area for coffee.
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| Barista, Sisa Mapetu and owner, Penny Sawyer |
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| Meet our waitress Lamla |
Barista, Sisa and waitress, Lamla, pushed some tables together to accommodate the Crawlers. We chose to sit indoors but there are numerous tables in the pretty courtyard area outside. Well, chatter at the table started right away, and before we knew it we had ordered, been served, and were halfway done with our first round. What had everyone talking was Fran's announcement that she is training for the Knysna half marathon that is held every July (about 2 hrs. west of PE). That's plenty of time to prepare, Fran. I know you can do it. If Jeff is here visiting at that time I'm sure he'd love to join you. I know a whole bunch of coffee drinkers who will stand on the sidelines giving you moral support!!!
So, all of a sudden it was time for round two when most everyone changes their order. Cappuccinos this round went to Gail and Nomusa (our resident tea drinker who couldn't resist since a champ was preparing the coffee). Sisa came to the table and gave a demo by pouring Gail's Special African Blend cappuccino, showing off his awesome award winning skills. He then talked coffee with all of us for a bit... what a charming and engaging young man. Penny, you are fortunate to have him on your staff!!!
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| This Week's Crawlers Keith, Beth, Les, Fran, Nomusa, June, Gail, Stella, Beryl |
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| Sisa demonstrating his skills |
While we were all enjoying our second cup we got to talking about the Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand. The South Africa Springboks are defending World Cup Champs so as you can imagine the excitement has been building here for a while. The Springboks play their first 2011 World Cup match on Sunday against Wales. Go Bokke!!! Living here for over a year, I have become somewhat familiar with rugby but if you read last week's post you know that American football is where it's at for me. As a matter of fact, I would have published this post on Friday night but I was busy watching the NFL season opener (Green Bay vs. New Orleans) that we recorded in the wee hours Friday morning. Go Packers! While one end of the table was talking rugby, the other end was discussing the difference between sago and tapioca. No one had a definitive answer but we all agreed that both make for a superb pudding!
Springboks get a second mention in this post because Keith's useless fact of the week is that there are no springbok in Kruger National Park, SA. I guess that's useless unless you're planning a trip to Kruger soon.
On my way out of Valley Harvest on Thursday I picked up a few items: vanilla extract, a coffee/vanilla mix for grinding, jalapeno relish, and (by Keith's recommendation) slaphakskene (never got the translation for that one!). ~A note to PE readers - stay tuned to this blog for info regarding an upcoming coffee tasting at Valley
Harvest
~Thank you, Penny and staff - I love your bistro and shoppe. I was excited to visit this week... you did not
disappoint.
~Thank you, Johan, for the pics ~Congrats, Sisa - PE Barista Champ!
~Thank you, Keith for the email with way more info than I ever wanted to know about sago, but good
research!!!!!!!!
Until next week,
Ellen
