Though the second week of January is surely not popular with anyone who has to return to an open-plan office and unread emails, this time is an especially rude jolt back to reality for Capetonians. Those who live here know that the holiday mode kicks in around the time when the temperature first rises to 25˚C and Christmas tins appear in Woolworths in mid-November and ideally shouldn't end until Autumn...

It's not that Capetonians are lazy (as one Johannesburg-based national radio presenter implied during a morning show this week). It is rather a matter of a hedonistic disposition. If Johannesburg is the breadwinner of this country, then Cape Town is surely its seductress. With a fantastic spread of attractions - natural and man-made - there is no other place that so openly tempts the local to call in "sick". Oh for another week of holiday...

Those of us who are especially prone to indulge in the culinary pleasures offered by Cape Town and its surrounding towns can find solace in the fact that not all temptation is diabolical. In Food for Thought, writer and philosopher Marthinus Versfeld said an "eaten world is an intelligible world, a world in which body and spirit are united." Quoting from the Upanishads Hindu scriptures and other religious works, Versfeld draws a direct correlation between the godly and the eaten world, providing the guilty diner with a way to soothe the conscience as another course is ordered in spite of other duties.

I experienced this guilt-free wavering of all responsibilities at the House of J.C Le Roux recently. With upcountry holidaymakers having returned home the Devon Valley winery wasn't very busy (five tables in total counting ours) and Le Date and I could secure the best spot - outside in the corner with views of the vineyards. We ordered oysters and a bottle of the house's Pinot Noir Rosé 2007. The restaurant is currently running a special on these sea delicacies (R60 for six) but this does not mean they skimp on delivery. Our plates carried fat, fleshy West Coast oysters that surpassed all offerings of these creatures I've had at any establishment. Thanks to the supplier - and the great chef that's Mother Nature.

As I embark on another year of culinary and vinous discoveries I am looking forward to having more Versfeld moments - with "the conversation which makes for a shared life, and with a glass of vin ordinaire" - all while distrusting the family whose pots are small.

Here's to a generous 2010!