The Good Hope FM Best of Cape Town Awards – all the winners!

Capetonians have come together to honour the winners of the first-ever Good Hope FM Best of Cape Town Awards at a glittering red-carpet event held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Saturday 13 September 2008.

After welcoming guests and dignitaries, popular Good Hope FM DJ Nigel Pierce explained that the winners were determined by public vote. In addition to the prestigious accolade of winning their category, each winner also received R10 000.

The winners are:



SHOPPING


BEST SHOPPING CENTRE - Canal Walk
BEST RETAIL STORE - Woolworths Canal Walk

ACHIEVERS


BEST PERFORMING ARTIST - Chad Saaiman
BEST PERFORMING GROUP - Out of Africa Dance Academy
BEST SPORTSPERSON - Natalie du Toit
BEST SPORTS TEAM - The Stormers

HOSPITALITY


BEST ATTRACTION OR EVENT - Table Mountain National Park
BEST ACCOMMODATION - The Vineyard Hotel & Spa
BEST RESTAURANT - Grande Provence
BEST NIGHTSPOT - Lambego Lounge

CREATIVITY


BEST ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - Cape Town International Convention Centre
BEST “MADE IN CAPE TOWN” PRODUCT - WOZA Cape Town

HEROES


BEST EMERGENCY SERVICES HERO - Robert de Wet, medical emergency volunteer
BEST EDUCATION HERO - Grant Solomon, language practitioner in township schools
BEST COMMUNITY HERO - Peter Harley, founder of “No 2 drugs & Yes 2 Life”

In a pre-recorded message, executive mayor Helen Zille congratulated all nominees and, in particular, the finalists. “You are here because you represent excellence,” said Zille. “Capetonians voted for you because they believe you are the best at what you do. You are all great, and you inspire us to also do our best.”

Commenting on the fact that all proceeds go to the establishment of the Amy Biehl Foundation Tik Prevention Programme, Zille added: “It is wonderful that you are all benefiting the fight against tik because if there is one thing that drug abuse does, is that it prevents you from becoming the best that you can be. In fact, it often destroys you entirely and prevents you from living your life fully – giving, building and contributing to society. Stand tall and continue to inspire us.” 

Awards director Alison Mulhall was staggered and amazed by the response of Capetonians to being given the opportunity to recognise and support the “best in Cape Town. “The overwhelming response by the public and the quality of winners being applauded last night supports our belief that the Good Hope FM Best of Cape town Awards will achieve our objective by annually recognising excellence in Cape Town, she said.

Meegan Kieffer, marketing manager for Good Hope FM, believes that the awards will go from strength to strength. “We are overwhelmed by how much interest there has been in the awards inaugural year and we know that they will soon be the most coveted awards in the Western Cape.”

Seen at the awards were a host of well-known Capetonians, including Proteas great Herschelle Gibbs, couturiers Malcolm Klûk and Christian Gabriel du Toit, opera diva Aviva Pelham, provincial Minister for Culture & Sport Cameron Dugmore and City Councillor Simon Grindrod.

Local pop-funk sensation Craig Kallis kept guests in the party mood. He was followed by the inimitable comedienne Irit Noble and Good Hope FM DJ Natalie Becker, who introduced the finalists in the Shopping category. After some elegant moves by the Out of Africa Dance Academy – introduced by Good Hope FM DJ Ayanda Tini – Idols judge Randall Abrahams and former Springbok Chester Williams handed over the cheques for the Achievers section.

Afro-fusion band CODA then thrilled the crowd. The hotly-contested Hospitality awards were heralded by a breathtaking performance from the Zip Zap Circus School. Fittingly Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, honoured the winners in the Hospitality section.

Artist Ulrich Binnedell changed how graffiti can be viewed with his innovative take on the Creative Cape Town category. Presented by Cape Town Partnership’s deputy CEO Bulelwa Makalima Ngewana, these awards honoured the best building and product/brand/service to hail from the Mother City.

SAMA award winner Claire Philips impressed with her vocal talents before it was the turn of arguably the most-anticipated awards of the evening – those honouring the emergency services, education and community heroes. Introduced by Good Hope FM DJ Suga and presented by executive deputy mayor councillor Grant Haskin, these awards recognised those who work tirelessly for others. Rounding off the awards presentations were the exciting Freshlyground, who got everyone off their chairs and onto the dance floor for the after party hosted by Good Hope FM.

Get creative with Pesto – and win!


Welcome to the fabulous Cape Chat and Pesto Princess “Get creative with Pesto – and win!” competition! Here you can get details on the competition, enter your winning recipe made with one of Pesto Princess’s delectable pestos, read up on the Pesto Princess story and see how the Pesto Princess Pamper Hamper is shaping up. It’s a sumptuous romantic meal experience for two in a basket and one lucky Cape Chatter’s winning recipe will be well rewarded!

All you have to do is get creative in the kitchen and send us your very own recipe for a starter or main course, which needs the magic of a Pesto Princess pesto in the mix. The really exciting part of this competition is that three finalist recipes will be selected for a Cook-Off round to decide the ultimate Pesto Prince or Princess. The winner will be announced in January 2009. The winning recipe will be published in our January 2009 issue of Cape Chat.



Pestomundi’s put these dates in your diaries:

1st Oct to 30th Nov: Time to create and submit your recipe online. Click here to enter using the link on our homepage.
1st Dec to 5th Dec: Selection of three finalist recipes.
Tuesday, 9th Dec: The Cook-off round event will hopefully be hosted by the 11 Cooks Cooking School in Woodstock. (More details to follow here so keep checking in!)
1st January 2009: Winner announced and winning recipe appears in Cape Chat!

The Pesto Princess Diaries:

Kathleen Quillinan (aka Mrs Reid) describes her transformation into Pesto Princess as something that happened quite “innocently” while she was trying to find a quiet income-earning pastime after 8 years as a music lecturer. Lecturing was rewarding and sensational, but she felt it was time to invest in herself and went back to studying opera at UCT. In her free time she spent hours in the kitchen conjuring up delicious concoctions and producing jars of pickles, jams, spreads, pesto sauce and tarts to sell at her children’s school market. The pesto innovations came from sampling a jar of pesto a friend had brought back from Florence as a gift.

Blown away by the flavour of this intense and intriguing sauce, which the Italians view as the main ingredient in a pasta meal, Kathleen was eager to try her hand at making some. And so she stumbled on a little hole in the market. Her jars of pesto were eagerly snapped up. She was enthusiastically encouraged to try a wider market and Kathleen is grateful that the retailers she approached were so open-minded: “What’s pesto?” Ok, give us a few jars and let’s see…” Jars of basil and roasted red pepper pesto started flying off the shelves and soon she was supplying restaurants, the hospitality industry and manufacturers, and Kathleen was working from a little factory in Diep River.

Ten years later, with 22 employees and her own factory in Capricorn Park, Kathleen is firmly established as the Cape’s very own princess of pesto. Her success, she reckons, isn’t due to having a business brain, or entrepreneurial genes, but came from the simple act of dipping into her personal resources to find what potential was there. Her passion for ethnic cooking – good homely food from a wide range of cultures – feeds her imagination and ideas, and, although Kathleen says she “thinks like a housewife”, she’s put together an exceptional recipe for a great business: Great products, excellent standards, the finest ingredients and a women-friendly working environment. All we can say is: “Encore! Encore!”


The Pesto Princess Pamper Hamper:

The winner of the Cook-Off wins a fabulous hamper of exciting products, which together makes a romantic meal for two. So far, the hamper contains:

• A selection of Pesto Princess pesto and sauces
• Fresh pasta
• A hunk of imported Parmesan
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• A Mustardseed & Moonshine original bowl to serve your pasta in.
• A tablecloth
• Cape Herb & Spice Salt and Pepper Grinders
• A bottle of Saltare Champagne by Master Cap Classique maker Carla Pauw.
• 2 Champagne Flutes
• A Biscotti Leone Chocolate Salami – Jackie Leonie still makes the best!
• A packet of Coffee



With more mystery products to be included.
 

Competition Details:

While you get busy on putting your winning recipe together, Pesto Princess is organizing the details of the finalists Cook-Off event, which takes place on the 9th December. The proposed venue is the 11 Cooks Cooking School in Woodstock, headed by Rayne Stroebel. Three Silwood Kitchen chefs-in-training are going to be cooking the finalist’s recipes so that finalists can relax and watch the professionals work their magic. Ingredients will be sponsored by Pesto Princess and plating by Mustardseed & Moonshine.