Durban Good Food and Wine Show 2015

We decided last minute to attend the Durban Good Food and Wine Show this past weekend. Whenever we go for these type of events at the Durban Exhibition Centre we try to go on the last day as this is when most of the exhibitors try to get rid of their show stock at really bargain prices.

This year there were a few celebrity chefs such as Rick Stein, Reza Mahammad, Jenny Morris and more but we went to see Brent Owens because we're fans of the Masterchef TV series.

Brent won last year's Australian Masterchef and he had a show on Sunday. In his show he prepared a Crispy Pork Belly and he had Durban's own celebrity Logie Naidoo assist him with the plating. We were lucky to taste this Masterchef's dish after the show and with good reason we know why he won.

Leaving Brent's show we walked into one of the open free shows hosted by Claire Allen who was a finalist in last years Masterchef South Africa. She asked the same question about Agar Agar that Brent asked in his show and since I knew the answer I immediately raised my hand and gave the answer. To my delight I walked away with a preservatives set.

We also ran into Roxanne Wardman, last year's Masterchef SA's winner and her good friend Siphokazi Mdlankomo who was also a finalist on the show. Really cool people.

The Tea Merchant had an interesting stand at the show. Had no idea there were so many different teas available, like Black Forest Fruits, Moroccan Mint and other unusual flavours.

The rest of the show was pretty interesting. A lot of wines from different vineyards all over the country. They had a ticket booklet that allowed you to taste a little wine for one ticket. Eventually some of the wine exhibitors didn't even need the tickets. They were just giving out the wines for tasting. The organisers should do away with that system completely.

The food vendors at the show weren't that impressive. Some food trucks were inside the venue like Fudart and Iwantmycoffee. The food truck concept hasn't really taken off in Durban and it would be a good idea for any willing entrepreneur.

Nouvelle Cuisine had cronuts, almond roca churros. We took a couple of cronuts away and they didn't disappoint.

The show was a good experience overall and we're already looking forward to the next one!

50 Shades Of Grey [Movie Review]

Last night Ster-Kinekor decided to have a pre-screening of the much anticipated movie based on the book by EL James, Fifty Shades Of Grey.

I haven't read any of the books because they appealed more to housewives (not sure if they're desperate) and amorous girls.

As expected the movie section at Gateway was teeming with women of all shapes, sizes and ages. It looked like some of them were in a large group which later I found out were invited by Sibaya Casino that booked a block of seats. There was some drama as the Sibaya seats were all over the show and people wanted to be seated next to their friends. This resulted in some stubborn ladies sitting in the wrong seats and some irate ladies trying to move them. The movie eventually started half an hour later after management was brought in to sort out the seating.

Some promo people were there. I think I saw Herbalife and a company that was selling beauty products. Mangwanani ladies were present giving free massages outside the Prestige theatre.

Fifty Shades Of Grey stars Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele. Some people were hoping that Grey would be portrayed by the ever gloomy Ian Somerhalder but I think Jamie did a good job. And some said that Dakota was too pretty to play Anastasia because she was supposed to be a plain Jane girl next door.

The movie itself was actually very interesting but my girlfriend Lorna said that a lot was left out that was in the book. Later she read a few excerpts to me and I think that if these were included in the movie they would have made it ridiculous and it would lack class.

If you're a diehard fan of the book don't expect the raunchy dialogue or the racy sex scenes found in the books. Just enjoy the movie.