As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I really enjoy wine tasting in South Africa. I’ve done a few media visits to various South African wine regions over the years, and recently I’ve made an effort to actually learn something about wine so I can figure out which wines I like best and not sound like a neophyte when talking/writing about them.

Eighth in my “Roadhouses of Gauteng” series. Browse all of my roadhouse posts or view a map of the roadhouses I’ve visited.

I am not easily convinced to drive to Fourways, an outer suburb about 30 minutes north of central Joburg. And when I first started my roadhouse series, it was my intention to focus solely on “old” roadhouses that opened in the 20th century and stood the test of time.

On Saturday morning, I hosted a jacaranda walk through Rosebank with Johannesburg In your Pocket and the Radisson RED Johannesburg.

The jacaranda blossoms aren’t peaking yet in most of Joburg’s inner suburbs. There’s some speculation this could be an off-year or, more worryingly, that Joburg’s jacarandas might finally be reaching the end of their life spans. But my unfounded panic last year – which turned out to be a great jacaranda year despite a late-ish start – taught me not to count the jacarandas out too soon.

As an American blogger in Joburg, it is my moral obligation to inform the public about the appearance of authentic bagels in this city. Although there are many imposters floating around, real, boiled bagels – crusty on the outside, chewy on the inside, served with real cream cheese – are few and far between. So I’m popping in here quickly to let you know about Bird’s Bagels, a semi-secret weekend bagel pop-up in Blairgowrie.

Last weekend I did something I used to do all the time but haven’t done for ages: An art and graffiti walk through downtown Joburg. The walk was hosted by Goethe-Institut Südafrika and a group of Joburg graffiti artists, led by Dr. Foodz.

Last week I moved from Melville, the central Joburg suburb where I’ve lived for the past 11 years, to Brixton, another central Joburg suburb about five minutes away.

Moving five minutes up the road should be no big deal, theoretically. People move all the time. But this move is, in fact, a big deal for me. It’s a huge fucking deal, so much so that I haven’t been able to figure out how to blog about it.

Last week I stayed at two lovely getaway spots within an hour (give or take) of Joburg: Farmhouse@58 in the the Cradle of Humankind and the Donkey Dairy in Magaliesburg. It felt incredible to get out of the city after two months of no traveling. The pandemic makes me forget how essential it is to recharge my batteries in nature every once in a while, and I couldn’t have chosen two better (or more different) places to do this. I’m blogging about the Farmhouse today and the Donkey Dairy is coming next week.