"Central Station.... ALSTUBLIEFT"

Written by Chef Dave | 12 November 2009

Completing our Africa Journey and for lack of better words a giant U-turn through Southern Africa we made it back to JoBurg to catch our flight to Amsterdam,

Holland will be the last destination on our trip. Amsterdam is a special place for most for their liberal views on sex, drugs, and rock & roll! ...and Heineken consumption!

It was even more of a special place for me- I have not been back there in 12 years since doing my apprenticeship in the highly acclaimed Restaurant Vermeer (Michelin Star rated restaurant). Of course first stop had to be the restaurant-

Knowing the “ins and outs of Amsterdam” sure did make the 2 day intensely packed trip much easier. Not many people know about the “other areas” that are off the main tourist streets, where the real Dutch culture thrives.

One thing I have always appreciated about the Dutch culture is that there is no problem if they want to indulge in a libation during their lunch break. It is completely accepted among their business society.

Amsterdam’s streets are full of history, mystery, myth, legend, and all the in between. Unfortunately, the city gets a bad wrap for being full of pot smoking, herbal drugs, legalized prostitution, gambling, and liberal attitude, but look beyond that and you will see a city enriched in culture, art, amazing food, and great history.

(I will touch on the above in another post!)

"Finger Lickin' Good"

Written by Chef Dave | 27 October 2009

The Sun City-

After an exciting night at the casino and staying in less than acceptable accommodations (in my book anyway) we needed to wrap up one very important thing before heading back to JoBurg…

The Flying Toaster needed a bath… or more like a major overhaul! I kept saying we can’t return the car in the state it’s in… big problems…bigggg problems! Well, lucky us we found a “car wash” or should I say 3 guys operating a car bathing service next to a local gas station not far from the hotel!

"The Toaster" parked outside of our luxury accomodations in Sun City...hmmm

When we pulled up and got out of the car I think their price changed from what they charge the regulars! Hmmm…shocker! Oh well, it cost us a wopping 7 dollars to have the entire car detailed. These guys were laughing when they put the high pressure hose under the wheel bases and about 5 lbs. of sand came flying out. They asked

WHERE HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN!!!

We just nodded and smiled- (of course looking like two big idiots, but better than trying to explain everything)

So, while they were waxing the car we started talking and they were telling us how much they loved KFC- of course an American classic! KFC to these guys was a real treat because of the price, so like nice guys that we were went over to the KFC and bought them all a combo meal.

Ben of course still dropped them some rand as an extra thank you, buy I figured spending more on the food then the car was more than generous…

So, we told them what we had been doing the past few weeks in Africa and they just loved it! We found that people love having their photos taken, and especially by people that were filming for something public! Needless to say, they were so proud of having the KFC and being on TV it only took about 45 minutes to shoot this clip…(really, for a shout out!...)

It was worth it, they were great people, and hope to only run into more like them the next time I’m in Africa or anywhere for that matter!

"Red Hot" 7's- Sun City (part 1)

Written by Chef Dave | 07 October 2009

Sun City-

We somehow made it through two border crossings in one day, across the Kalahari, and into South Africa safe and sound!  I am not exactly sure how this happened, since we had the “Flying Toaster” on a consistent speed of 155km/ph!).  As mentioned in previous post Sun City is home to South Africa’s premier casino and resort.  Growing up with many South African family friends, I have been hearing about Sun City since I was a kid… so how could we not go!  I will not say it was the ultimate BTK experience, but for some good recreational fun, it was a nice change of pace!

A touch misleading to me was that Sun City is also the name of the actual “town”- then to go to the resort (also called Sun City) you need to pay a 10$ entry fee (70 Rand).  This gives you access to the resort area, which includes condos, time shares, the whole nine yards… basically I felt like we were trapped in the ultimate planned community with a monorail running through it!  It was not what I expected, but hey, what a pleasurable change of pace from the past several weeks.

There was not a whole lot to report on the casino end (which is just about all that is open for the public at night…).  The casino area (2 of them) is very small, clean, well put together.  On the way out of the casino we found a biltong shop, and popped in and grabbed some very well flavored peri-peri biltong.  It was devoured before we arrived at the exit gate!  Yes, that good!

Peri-Peri is a native spice blend that is used in Southern Africa- outstanding in flavor, just need to use moderately as it packs a punch!