Happy 2012! I don’t know about you, but my holiday feels like a distant memory. As I’m sitting here at my desk, I’m exhausted and hungry. It’s January, and my New Year’s resolutions are in full swing: more exercise, a wheat-free diet and, finally, better financial control. Long may they last!

It’s not awfully interesting to write about New Year’s resolutions; perhaps it’s better to write about the holiday that preceded it.

I was lucky to travel and kuier quite a bit through the Western Cape over the past month. Robertson, Barrydale, Ladismith, Riviersonderend, Stanford, Hermanus, Onrus, Kleinmond and Betty’s Bay all featured as pit stops, sleep spots or shopping spots along the way. And boy, did I shop! I just can’t resist a farmer’s market, farm stall or a foreign butchery…

In Robertson, I bought a beautiful boerekaas at the Affie Plaas Farm stall. It was delicious with a scoop of Pronto Mama’s slow-roasted cherry tomatoes on fresh farm bread.

Driving through Barrydale, I couldn’t help but stop at Clarke of the Karoo. The farmstall-restaurant is a landmark – and it afforded me a gorgeous bottle of green bean atchar that proved very handy with braaied lamb chops the next day.

In Ladismith I was overwhelmed by the amazing plum and apricot jams of Penny Hillock of Mymering Farm. I was lucky enough to spend a night on their beautiful table grape- and wine-producing guest farm – but more about that another day.

The week I spent in Onrus and the subsequent week in Betty’s Bay had me shopping to my heart’s content along the whale coast. Jams, cheeses, bottled fruit, meats, relishes, dips… There are so many well-stocked farm stalls and so many amazing farmers’ markets that the short supply of good supermarkets is hardly a problem. My best buy? Boerewors from Werner’s Vleismark in Kleinmond. The unassuming butchery, run by an alarmingly young Werner, is a carnivore’s delight and makes the most delicious boerewors I have ever tasted. I’m considering driving there this weekend… My favourite market? The Hermanuspietersfontein market, held every Saturday at the wine cellar’s courtyard. It’s fairly small but offers an excellent variety of local produce, including another of my favourites, DV Chocolates, sold by creator Pieter de Villiers himself.

After all of my holiday shopping and eating, my resolutions seem more than fair. So perhaps I’ll walk to Jason during lunch for a loaf of their sourdough rye.

Happy shopping!
Anelde