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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Affogato and other cool things

 "Doodskoot" at Mariana's.

One of my favourite New York desserts, eaten at Al di La and 'inoteca, appeared on two Cape menus recently: at Uitsig in Constantia, and at Mariana's in Stanford.

I remembered Mariana's version - named Doodskoot (lit. "death shot", as from a gun) because of its accompanying shot of Grappa or Amaretto (I chose the former) - from about six years ago, when I ate there with my mother. I was able to replicate that meal to the letter last weekend: ajo blanco, jambon persillade (quivery morsels of ham in aspic, with parsley), and the affogato, above. Not sure if that menu ever changes, but it was nice.

 Vince's dive watch being cooled off so that it could measure ambient temperature. We thought it was lying when it said 37'C.

A farmer was selling his first-of-the-season hanepoot grapes about 50 seconds away, and I was sorry not to have found those highly perfumed grapes hiding beneath the the cool white soup in my bowl, below, but Mariana's version, with lemon oil dribbled over and ice cubes that melted in front of our eyes on a 37'C/98'F day, was good, if very light on the garlic.


I was so hot that another gasket threatened to blow and I prevented an explosion by rubbing ice cubes up and down my arms. They melted fast. Inbetween top ups of wine we rinsed our glasses with ice and water to cool them again. Within ten minutes the wine in the glasses would be lukewarm again.


Uitsig's Affogato, above. Espresso in this country seems uniformly good. Ice cream seems uniformly too sweet.

And soon it will be time for Re-entry.
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6 comments:

  1. flwrjaneFebruary 10, 2011 at 7:28 AM

    Your gaskets will be pretty chilled upon re entry.

    You might be referring to this post often, just to remember warmth.

    I will be.

    xo jane

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  2. kbdFebruary 10, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    HA Jane's comment made laugh. Too true.

    I write to ask if you have any opinions on Piet Oudolf... and if you have any recommendations on his books. The article in nytimes today reminded me how much I love his work and need to learn more.

    Thanks... and I'll be thinking of you returning next week.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Janet DavisFebruary 10, 2011 at 2:08 PM

    Nice evocation of South African summer heat! Since it's -8C here in Toronto(whatever that is in F doesn't ever sound COLD enough) I love the thought of ice cubes languidly melting in your glass. But I too have a gasket-blowing problem in extreme heat (I thought it was an Irish thing.....)

    ReplyDelete
  4. donnaFebruary 11, 2011 at 10:04 AM

    what is the lovely cool white soup? ingredients? method? do tell, please.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MarieFebruary 12, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    hHaha Jane, yeah, I know. The problems of privilege...

    kbd - opinion, yes, basically, I Like. But I am no Oudolf scholar. There are good books there, and a flickr group devoted to his gardens. Might be helpful.

    Hi Janet - I can't blow gaskets in extreme cold, but I suppose that seizing up is a problem...

    Hi donna, that is the ajo blanco/white gazpacho. Click on link for recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  6. kbdFebruary 14, 2011 at 4:34 PM

    Thanks Marie.. decided to take the plunge and get "designing with plants"... we'll see. And will definitely look up the flickr group! Thanks! And safe travels back to our snowy winter.

    ReplyDelete

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