dobbino's blog

Aminus3 - 7 September 2011 - Large image

2011-09-07T07:41:00.000+02:00

Cass Abrahams, Robertsons Spices, and Kuier Magazine Cooking Demo

2010-08-22T16:43:00.012+02:00

This has got to be Cape Town's best kept secret! It’s a cooking demonstration with lots of extras, and without a doubt the best value one can find today for R50!

Jacqui saw a write-up in our local community newspaper about last month's event. I think there are six sessions in total (one per month). It looked really interesting, and we duly booked for Saturday 21 August. We arrived on a cold and blustery winter's morning, but despite the cold were warmly greeted by the lovely Nazmeera, the lady who handles the bookings and manages the morning.

Just to take you through what you will get for your R50:

Fresh scones with cheese, cream and jam, plus hot coffee and tea are waiting as soon as one completes the registration. There were two young ladies from Kuier Magazine who assisted with the registrations.

Thereafter (at approximately 09h30) Cass welcomes everyone, introduces her helpers for the day (we had two first year students assisting), and lets everyone know what she will be cooking. As far as I know, all demonstrations cover traditional Cape Malay dishes. Our selection for the day was tomato bredie, waterblommetjie bredie (a dish made from water flowers - a delicacy only grown in the Western Cape), smoor snoek (a well-known local fish, smoked and flaked, and “smothered” with cabbage, potato, onion, and of course, various spices), and malva pudding.

There is also information on the various spices used in the dishes, and some personal stories from Cass. A lady from Robertsons Spices, Marilyn, gave a short talk on their range.

The chance to win some spot prizes during the demonstration.

A very generous goodies bag. Contents consisted of an apron, three Robertsons spices, a copy of Kuier magazine, and a CD with sounds from the Cape. The bag by itself is also a useful item.

And then finally – a three-course lunch! Our meal started with the smoor snoek, which was served with a ginger and mussel broth, followed by tomato bredie and rice for the mains, and then the best malva pudding I have had, served with custard for the dessert. Fresh orange juice and iced water were also provided.

The event is held at the Hotel School in Granger Bay – a perfect choice for it. All in all a wonderful way to spend a few hours and very little money!

Only four demonstrations left. If you would like to attend any of the upcoming events, I would suggest you book quickly. Phone Nazmeera on 071 527 4893.

Cape Town Water Taxi

2010-07-26T11:38:00.006+02:00

The water taxi operates between the One and Only Hotel at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, to the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) at the Foreshore area of Cape Town. The patch of waterway along which one travels is known as the Roggebaai Canal. It’s a round trip of between 20 and 30 minutes, depending on how many stops are made to load and offload passengers. The cost of the round trip (one can hop off at any of the stops and hop on again later with the same ticket) is R50 for adults and R25 for children.

We boarded the taxi at the One and Only Hotel. We waited about 45 minutes for the taxi to arrive. This is the view from the landing deck. In the foreground you can see some of the hotel rooms that are separate from the main building, and in the background some of the Waterfront apartments, and, of course, Table Mountain.

This is what the taxi looks like. The Zulu word Shosholoza means go forward or make way for the next man. It's also the name of a song very popular at South African sports events.

The water in the canal is kept at a fairly consistent level. Here you can see the spot where the sea water is pumped into the canal, and there are overflow areas for times when the water level gets too high.

This is a look at what some of the apartments look like. We were informed that some of the celebrities that own apartments here include Madonna, John Travolta, and Lance Armstrong.

Taken as we were coming to the end of the trip. It was over far too quickly. The complex on the left is the health and spa section of the hotel, with the main buildings in the background.

The trip is really recommended - it's a great way to spend 20-30 minutes, though unfortunately the time is just not enough to absorb all the information available. We had a building pointed out to us that was apparently the tallest building in South Africa way back in the 1920s, shown a site for a new shopping centre, had a look at proud Egyptian geese parents with their seven three-day old chicks, were told about the possibility that the Wheel of Excellence would move permanently to the Waterfront itself proper, etc., etc., all the time while trying to take photos (of which I missed quite a few)!

Oh, by the way, it was a calm day, but freezing. There's not a lot of sun on the canal so take some warm clothing!

The taxi is operated by Classic Cape Charters. Our guide for the day was Jacques Truter, and he was humorous and informative. Telephone contact is 021 418 0782, or you can have a look at the website at www.capecharters.co.za.

CCimage

2009-12-02T19:23:00.000+02:00

Whales - a different perspective, with thanks to Stephen

2009-11-26T20:31:00.003+02:00

Canon S90 Review (with some comparisons to the Canon 40D)

2009-11-22T08:50:00.013+02:00

I have had my new Canon S90 for about two weeks now, and purchased it to use when carrying my 40D around was just not practical. As you can see from the above photos, the two cameras are completely different animals. The 40D, with the 17-85mm USM IS lens, hood and strap, weighs 1413 grams, while the S90, with strap, weighs 199 grams!

I think it would be fairly obvious, but I will say it anyway. The 40D, with the options of all the specialised lenses available, should and will always produce superior images. But having said that, images from the S90 have proved to be more than acceptable. Some comparative images can be seen here and here.

Ok - regarding the S90:

Pros:

Compact size – fits easily into shirt pocket

Versatility with control button options – loads of ingenious designs for so small a camera

Screen – brilliantly clear

RAW image capability (though at this stage no Adobe DNG Converter – version 5.6 still produces images that are too saturated and noisy). The Digital Photo Professional software supplied with the camera works well enough, but I would obviously prefer to use Adobe Camera Raw as this is what I am used to

Fully manual control if required, with Av and Tv options as standard

Cons:

Images still contain fair amounts of noise, even at low ISO settings – but more so with landscape shots than with close-ups

The control ring at the rear of camera is a bit too easy to move inadvertently, and whichever setting it controls at the time needs constant checking to ensure it hasn't changed

The pop up flash is located where fingers of left hand would normally be placed, but one can get used to that

Very little depth of field comes through on images, even though f-stops range from f/2 to f/8

Images generally are too bright. I have the camera constantly set at an exposure of minus two-thirds of one stop, and this works well

The lack of a viewfinder (I do really miss this, but am learning to cope)

Summary:

I've waited a long time for this camera. I wanted a compact that could take RAW images, one that could slip into my top shirt pocket, and one that allowed me lots of control over camera settings. This camera does all that, and very nicely, too.

DNG Converter - Canon S90 RAW files

2009-11-20T12:02:00.020+02:00

These are two images taken with a Canon S90 camera. Both have been processed from the RAW image. The images on the right hand side of the page were converted with the new Adobe DNG Trial Converter, version 5.6. The images on the left were converted using the software supplied with the camera, namely Digital Photo Professional, version 3.7.0.1. You will see in both cases that the converted images are quite different, the ones using the Adobe DNG converter being more saturated but also containing more noise.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Subsequent to posting these, I have had fantastic assistance from the Adobe Forums, and rather than delete this post, would rather like to say that the images above are the result of not quite understanding how to use the Adobe RAW software correctly. After much assistance, I am now able to view identical images in all formats - CR2, DNG and JPEG. It's just a matter of knowing what you are doing! But it did take me some time - and there's still a long journey ahead!

Self portrait ? - a closer look

2009-08-19T09:45:00.001+02:00

For Tony

2009-07-10T18:13:00.001+02:00

Durbanville Hills Winery / Blowfish Restaurant Food & Wine Pairing Evening

2009-04-26T10:38:00.006+02:00

This was the menu for a wonderful evening experience.

For me, the chefs simply excelled. Each dish was really beautifully prepared and presented. The Durbanville Hills Cellar Master, Martin Moore, was a superb host for the evening, and introduced all the wines in a humorous and interesting way. It's difficult to choose a favourite dish, though if I had to, it would be the fish (Kingklip).

My sincerest thanks to Clive and Jacqui for inviting us.

DPS Critique Photo 1

2009-01-11T16:15:00.000+02:00

Café Orca, Melkbosstrand, Cape Town

2008-12-21T17:14:00.003+02:00

After seeing a report in one of our local newspapers about this restaurant, all I can say is don't believe everything you read - there are some people that one just can't please - and sometimes one wonders why we even try!
Bottom line - this is a fabulous, friendly restaurant with good food. If you are interested in reading a review of the restaurant, follow the links on http://dobbino.com/restaurants.htm.

For Grouser

2008-11-20T21:51:00.000+02:00

For Debbie 2

2008-10-22T12:33:00.002+02:00

For Sharon

2008-10-20T15:06:00.002+02:00

For Debbie

2008-10-20T08:35:00.002+02:00

For Nicholas

2008-10-09T07:51:00.002+02:00

For Laurie

2008-09-29T18:16:00.001+02:00

For Graham

2008-09-18T21:51:00.001+02:00

Pomegranate Restaurant Stellenbosch

2008-08-30T09:01:00.006+02:00

For a review of this great restaurant, please go here

Rob Minter

2008-07-05T15:01:00.000+02:00

Please have a look at my website: http://dobbino.com. Thank you.

dobbino.com

2008-05-06T08:27:00.005+02:00

Finally - I have decided to have an official presence on the internet, and have registered as http://dobbino.com/.

On this site you will find RESTAURANT REVIEWS, PHOTOGRAPHY LINKS, MUSIC LINKS, and some TRIVIA. Please visit when you have a moment.

Dobbino.com - South African Photo Gallery

2008-03-23T12:53:00.008+02:00

This site hosts all of my favourite photos that have been posted so far. Go here

Dobbino.com - South African Restaurant Reviews

2008-03-23T12:49:00.011+02:00

Here you will find reviews by two South African citizens on recently visited South African restaurants.
Go here

Photos for Ron

2008-03-11T14:33:00.003+02:00

A Photo a Week - update

2008-02-28T15:16:00.002+02:00

After a lot of searching, I eventually came across a website that was ideal for my purpose of sharing photographs. Which is why the photos have not been posted on this blog. If you would like to see the photos, please go to http://dobbino.aminus3.com. My apologies for any inconvenience.

Photo 1

2008-02-17T14:43:00.006+02:00

Ok - here we go. This is number one. Taken with my Canon EOS 400D. 1/60 sec at f/4.0 with a focal length of 60mm. It's a shot taken of an arum lily in one of the gardens at my previous office. It's a very simple photo, but reveals the beautiful textures and compexity of the flower.

A photo a week

2008-02-11T17:01:00.000+02:00

Insipired by an article in a photography magazine, where a professional photographer publishes a photo a day, I have decided to do the same, though in my case, one per week. Any comments would be extremely welcome.

The photo of the week will be featured on the main page, with the old ones filed under the label "A photo a week".

First photo will be published by Sunday 17 February, and then by every following Sunday.

Melkbos Flat Update

2008-01-29T14:25:00.000+02:00

Here are the updated photos promised below. The new additions are two shots of the study, which is still incomplete, but workable.

New Year Natural Fireworks

2008-01-06T15:41:00.000+02:00

After the formal fireworks display on New Year's Day to herald in 2008, we were treated to a natural fireworks sky on the 2nd. All photos taken from Melkbosstrand, Cape Town.

New Year - January 2008

2008-01-04T14:30:00.000+02:00

Spent the last 2 days of 2007 and a first few days of the New Year at the flat in Melkbosstrand. Photos were taken with my brand new Canon EOS 40d at approximately 20h00 on the 31st, 1st, and 2nd. The sunset sky on the 2nd was brightly lit and some photos will follow later.

31 December 2007

1 January 2008

2 January 2008

A perfect day in Cape Town

2007-06-11T18:31:00.001+02:00

Here are 3 photographs of Table Mountain, taken from just outside the On the Rocks restaurant in Bloubergstrand, on one of those rare perfect days in Cape Town. Especially posted for Scott and Melissa from the US - visit again soon!

Flat photos for Neil and Derrick (to be updated soon)

2006-03-12T17:27:00.000+02:00

Just a small selection to show progress do far. Almost there - just a coffee table, a small bookcase and two bedside cabinets and it will be all done!

Cats

2006-02-15T12:12:00.000+02:00

This is my first attempt at capturing animal moods. All taken of pets of a very special friend. Only four subjects at home on the day (out of six).

Studies in (mainly) white and yellow

2006-01-31T09:37:00.000+02:00

These photos have been cropped but are otherwise untouched

Cape Town fires

2006-01-31T09:18:00.000+02:00

Devastating fires swept through our beautiful City of Cape Town and the surrounding areas during late December 2005 and in January 2006. Here are some photos depicting the destruction caused, but also showing some of the beautiful effects of the fires.