We’ve made friends with the team behind Toffie, and last week they kindly gave us two tickets to give away for their Food Festival this weekend (3-4 September). For a chance to win, we asked people to tell us about the three course meal they’d make for Julie Powell, the fabulous food blogger behind Julie and Julia, who will be speaking at the Toffie conference.

As Julie is in town, we decided to throw the winner-choosing ball into her court and got her to choose her two favourites from all the entries. Julie chose the delectable ideas of Elmari Swart and Lara Morris. Bravo.

Elmari Swart Starters: Butter lettuce salad with citrus wedges, pine nuts and parmesan. Mains: coq au vin (made with our Cheviot wine!), with mushrooms, baby potatoes and fluffy rice. To finish: tiramisu, coffee and a selection of local chocolates. The setting: our garagiste winery, located in our garage on Ocean View Drive, Sea Point, overlooking Table Bay. Sitting between the bottles and barrels. Magical!

Lara Morris: To come all the way to our country, Julie should experience our natural virtues! Dinner at dusk in Goegap Nature Reserve, Namaqualand. When the crickets come alive, the earth is calming and the smell of wildflowers hangs in the air. We’ll light a fire and dine on freshly-baked ashbread served with snoek, homemade apricot jam and a mielie and pawpaw salsa and a crisp Chenin Blanc. For mains, a venison potjie with pumpkin fritters, roasted baby veg and a Pinotage red. And finally, we’ll cool down under the night sky with bananas, split open to accommodate a Flake, sprinkled with Kahlua and braaied in the skin, served with coffee.

Hip hip hoola and high five to the lucky two, who’ve each won a ticket to the full conference worth R1,500 (please give us a call on 0217024969 to organise your prize).

For all those who weren’t winners this time, feel free to pop past Yuppiechef HQ to pick up some complimentary day passes anytime tomorrow as something of a consolation.

Enjoy the weekend, foodie friends.