Every year, the SA Blog Awards highlight blogs out there in a variety of categories – everything from fashion, to food, to politics and sport.  It’s great seeing new blogs getting a spot the limelight, and this year the competition is fierce in all categories as more and more quality bloggers out there are having their say.

So, cutting to the chase – here comes the bit where I ask you lovely readers for your support.  It’s awesome to see so many green blogs nominated for the ‘Old Mutual Best Green Blog’ – but only the top ten nominations go through to the second round.  If you feel Mother City Living deserves to be in that top ten, please vote for me here. The process requires confirmation via email, so please don’t forget to complete the nomination process by clicking on the link they’ll send you.

Thanks, y’all!

Each double ticket gives you and your partner entrance to the Cape Town FNB Whisky Live Festival on the Thursday, 5 November 2009 (only). The prize includes entry into the Tasting Hall, a copy of the 2009 edition of the Whisky Handbook, a tasting glass as well as 12 whisky tasting coupons for the evening, a bottle of Valpre water, and discounted food and Picardi Rebels vouchers.

The competition ends at midday on the 30th of October, so be sure to get your entry in before then!

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World Sight Day Competition

R5,000 worth of eye-care goodies from Transitions Optical – won by lucky Susan Charles.

From The Earth Ticket & Hamper Giveaway

Two double tickets to From The Earth, and a goodie hamper each – won by Tracy Stokes and Paula McAravey.

Congrats to all the winners.  And, fear not, there are plenty of competitions still to come, so keep your eyes peeled!

A little recap, in case you missed it: the popular Pinotage party is held annually at Diemersfontein Wine Farm (Wellington) to launch the new vintage of SA’s ‘original Coffee Pinotage’.  A festival ticket gives you access to a fantastic day’s entertainment, with a great line-up of local music talent such as aKING, Swing Band, Lonesome Dave Ferguson and Amaambush Marimbas.

It’s hard to have to pick only one winner, but that lucky person is… Sam Ralston!

Sam will be getting two tickets worth R230 each, gaining access to the festival and all of these fabulous festivities:

• Pinotage friendly canapés
• XX-large chocolate fountain and strawberries
• snack-pack goodie bags
• frolicsome Pinotage games
• headlining the day (drum roll) the one and only original Diemersfontein Pinotage on tap in every increasing numbers of barrels.

This year’s event will take place on Saturday the 24th of October, from 2pm to 7pm.  Tickets are still available and can be purchased on the Diemersfontein website. Enjoy it, Sam!

The new template makes the content more accessible, and whilst there is still work to be done on fine-tuning it, I really like how it’s turned out!

Obviously, with any big change, there are likely to be glitches, but I’m hoping to get them all ironed out as soon as time allows.

As you’ll see, I have (finally) signed up for Twitter… as a way of broadcasting some of the amazing things I find on my green and culinary explorations of the Mother City.  It’s also useful for sharing interesting, applicable links fellow greenies might find useful and/or entertaining.

So, there you go.  Feel free to comment below if you have any strong opinions about the new look!

(PS: if you’re not seeing any changes, you might need to refresh a few times as there are likely to be cache issues)

Congratulations to Robyn Lamm and Anthony Charles, who have each won a hamper containing selected designer items from the Decorex Limited range, plus two tickets to Decorex Cape Town 2009 – to the value of R1,000!

They’ll be receiving their fabulous prizes shortly.

A big thank you to all who entered.  Fear not, there are more competitions coming soon – so watch this space!

Winners will be announced on Monday (20 April ’09).

A food artisan is someone who is dedicated to the art of hand-making food products, such as bread, coffee (and other beverages) and cheese.

You’ll find them at gourmet food markets like the Neighbour Goods Market, the Stellenbosch Fresh Goods Market and the Porter Estate Produce Market.  There are also restaurants serving artisan foods… and I know about far fewer of those than I would like.

And, increasingly, they’re setting up shop in places like Muizenberg (Knead Bakery, La Petite Boulangerie), Kalk Bay (C’est La Vie), to name but a few.

People are realising just how much better artisan food tastes than the mass-produced commercial additive-packed kind you generally find on supermarket shelves (never mind how much better it is for you!)

But, try a web search, and it’s really hard to find them. So, I have decided to begin collecting info on any food artisans within the Western Cape, with the aim of creating a mini-directory as well as featuring a new artisan every week.

With any luck, I’ll also be able to go and try out these artisan treats for myself, and add reviews as I go (mmmm…)

So, if you are a food artisan, or know someone who is, please make contact – and let’s get this directory up and running!

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I won’t bore you with the details  - all the results are posted here (or watch the video).

Unsurprisingly, though, the uber greenies at Urban Sprout scooped the ‘Best Green Blog’ award once again – well done, guys!

A big thank you to everyone who voted for Mother City Living – your enthusiasm and support is greatly appreciated
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And, partly because I think it would be really cool to own one of the ‘gold plated personalised dog tag medals’ that all winners will be receiving (!), now I’m hoping you’ll cast your votes for Mother City Living as well.

I’m up against some stiff competition in the Green category, so every vote will definitely count!

So, if you’ve enjoyed reading Mother City Living, and want to show your support for my dog-tag-medal-acquisition endeavours, please click on the shiny gold banner and cast your vote before the 1st of April 2009.

(Oh, and don’t forget to confirm your vote by clicking on the email they ‘re going to send ya.)

Fingers crossed…