Enchanted pizza in Parklands, birdy sightseeing in Langebaan and Mykonos

We both had some time off work this past week so fun times weren’t limited to the weekend in this post…

Saturday, 25 March 2017: Village Place breakfast, Enchanted dinner

You simply can’t start the weekend without a cappuccino if your name rhymes with ‘Shmee Shmandrews’. Ahem. As you know, the toffee-flavoured version at our local Village Place Cafe got my ‘best of 2016‘ cappuccino title last year, and it still hits the spot as we near April 2017.

Husband’s parents joined us so it was a table for four, please. That’s Mother-in-law’s ‘bird in a nest’ top left, Father-in-law’s Village breakfast bottom left, Husband’s sweetcorn fritters topped with poached egg and bacon top right and my S’mores waffle bottom right. SO YUM.

My next shot of java was imbibed at the house of my parents-in-law, where we further assisted in unpacking their boxes (you saw the start of this last week here). But there’s still quite a way to go…

Later that evening we dined at Enchanted Pizza in Parklands. I had the Enchanted shake (peanut butter, chocolate syrup and toasted peanuts, so good). Husband had the seafood-y Enchanted pasta, and I went with their recommendation of the butter chicken pizza. So good but really filling, we finished it off during the week.

Sunday, 26 March 2017: Melkbos breakfast, peppermint fridge tart

It’s not just a Saturday that deserves a good cappuccino start to the day, but everyday. This is the delightful version I swigged at Ritzi’s in Melkbos on Sunday morning.

Coffee downed, we were ready for food. Husband had the baked eggs ‘cocotte’ topped with bacon, while I had a ‘build your own’ breakfast – sourdough bread, cream cheese and lots of bacon bits. Just what I wanted!

Mum had created this SA favourite for dessert after lupper that evening – peppermint fridge tart! For the first time in about 20 years! I’ll admit I had more than one bowlful.

Monday, 27 March 2017: Early morning bus views

I’ve been leaving home earlier and earlier lately to get to work – so much so that I’m snapping more sun rises than the sunsets I used to. Sob. This was the view of Flamingo Vlei from the bus at around 6am on Monday morning.

Tuesday, 28 March 2017: Day off in Langebaan

I knew Husband would be off work this week so took the day off on Tuesday so we could join my parents on a day trip to the Langebaan side of the Cape. You should know one doesn’t just set off on a roadtrip without a coffee stop along the way. That would be very dangerous indeed. Here we are at the Vyge Vallei padstal last visited with brother Spec in December with a coffee each (Husband’s Cola is just in shot too as that’s his caffeine of choice).

We were only 55km from Langebaan by then so it’s a good place to stop for a refill. All the animals gret Husband, too. Some grinned, some licked, some grunted. Teehee.

The birdies were also very interested in Husband.

Sticking with the ‘birdie’ theme, on the Mykonos side of Langebaan I met this here gull statue outside the Boerekombuis Restaurant. He’s rather large.

Dad was rather amused at this sign!

The menfolk dipped their toes in the icy Mykonos sea. Us lady folk didn’t.

We lunched at Marc’s Beach Bar – the drinks were all delicious, from Bloody Mary to draught beer and Sol and pina colada and coffee shake. The food was all good, too – chicken schnitzel for mum, unphotographed toasted for Dad and mussel-haddock chowder for Husband, with my cheese burger, chips and fries on the bottom right.

The beautiful, unspoilt views of Shark Bay on the Langebaan side.

Nothing sharky about Shark Bay!

Wednesday, 29 March 2017: Husband and doggies help unpack

I was back at work on Wednesday but Husband was still off so he and the doggies went to help with more unpacking at his parents’ house. You can just see how proud Bertie is to be ‘helping’.

That’s all for now, folks! Keep cozy until next week’s update…

Autumn 2017 and Husband’s parents arrive in Cape Town

It’s been another longgg week with Husband playing the role of Marvin (click here if you’re not sure what that means).

We’ve finally had a fair sprinkling of rain though, and the weather’s definitely nippier than usual so I think it’s fair to say that Autumn 2017 has arrived in Cape Town. If you click through to my blog post from this week last year I said the exact same thing, so at least I’m consistent)…

Friday, 17 March 2017: Work farewell at Fat Cactus

We tend to hold any work farewells or special functions at the Fat Cactus as it’s walking distance from our office, so that’s just where we went last Friday for our editorial assistant’s farewell. I had the espresso milkshake you see here.

Saturday, 18 March 2017: Autumnal Chocolat breakfast, doggy beach walk and local rugby supporting

This is what the weather was like when we set off for breakfast on Saturday morning. Cloudy, cold and in need of coffee.

Luckily that’s just what we had at Chocolat in Durbanville – we were headed somewhere else when we saw it’s facade and decided to pop in. I’m so glad we did.

Look at the pretty gold-framed bunny art inside, the proteas in silver teapots, Husband’s Tabasco sauce-drenched eggs benedict and my strawberry-topped Nutella-peanut butter French toast. Delicious!

Later that morning it was time for walkies at the beach, which was surprisingly empty. Note Husband, happy doggies and sea birds.

Lots of happy moments during the walkies, including Bassie being off leash and Bertie swimming in the sea. Both were tired and happy to get back home.

Much later than evening, after a few weekend adminny chores, we went to Theo Marais Park to support Union Milnerton Rugby Club (Millies) against Brackenfell (Brakkies). It was cold enough for coffee and Husband had to go retrieve the ball when it veered towards the cricket side of the field.

Sunday, 19 March 2017: Pineapple-y Sunday

We wanted to break our fast at the Woollies Cafe in Canal Walk first thing on Sunday but got there before they open at 9am, so had a quick pre-coffee at Limnos while ogling their droolworthy cakes. Also seen here: The fritaffle Husband ate, my frosted caramel latte and the healthy orange, carrot and pineapple-y juice Husband braved. That wasn’t the last pineapple of the day…

We decided on a shared pina colada for our Sunday afternoon treat, at Moyo as you can tell from my face-paintings here.

You can see my face-painting better in this shot out of the light (and the icy water our feet were dangling in as we bravely sat at the surfboard tables outside.)

What a coincidence, Mum had made a pineapple pudding for after lupper that evening.

Monday, 20 and Tuesday, 21 March 2017: Husband’s parents arrive

Husband’s parents arrived at our house on Monday evening, and the truck with all their worldly goods arrived at their new house first thing on Tuesday morning – luckily it was a public holiday so we could go along to help out, though Husband was being Marvin this week so only had two hours of sleep from Monday night’s shift.

Unfortunately Husband’s dad had a bad kidney stone attack during the night so was booked into hospital. The rest of us did a bit of unpacking then decamped to Eden Cafe for a much needed foot-dip in the ocean and tummy top-up. I had a passion-fruit shake, Husband a draught, mother-in-law a glass of wine. She ate the chicken mayo on pumpkin-seed roll while we shared a chicken prego roll that really hit the spot!

Thursday, 23 March 2017: Sea Point event, annual staff meet and Fat Cactus lunch

First thing on Thursday I hopped on the bus to Sea Point to cover the Mediamark In the Know Now media event at the La Vendome Radisson Blue hotel. It was sunny when I arrived but the weather quickly changed and became cloudy cool.

After catching up on emails in the office it was time to walk a block down to the Woodstock Exchange as we’d booked to hold our end of year staff meeting there. I opted for a hot cross bun latte – or a ‘cross burn’, as you can see here.

Then it was time to eat – at the Fat Cactus again, lol. The nachos grande with side of chilli con carne on the right was all mine, a truly huge portion that we’re still polishing off this evening!

That’s all, folks. We’ll be helping the parents unpack and also having a few days off work before my next update, so expect happier, more relaxed faces then. 🙂

Pink flamingoes at the Nasdak & jealous owlie mug strikes again

It’s been a somewhat quiet, lonely week as Husband had to work last weekend and I was head-down preparing our coverage for the recent IAB Digital Summit and Bookmark Awards for the rest of it.

But we always have our happy moments sprinkled in-between…

Saturday, 11 March 2017: Hartlief’s breakfast, homegrown mielies for dins

As I was flying solo while Husband worked last weekend, Mum and Dad were kind enough to include me in their breakfast plans. Here we are smiling at/because of our food at Hartlief’s Deli in Gardens. (Yes, Mum’s having soup for breakfast.)

Cappuccinos always get the morning off to the right start.

For dins that evening we got to sample Husband’s first batch of homegrown mielies and they were absolutely delicious – glossy and fresh and so tasty that even Bertie was interested…

Sunday, 12 March 2017: Couch reading and suburban sunsets

Sunday was all about reading on the couch for me and Bassie.

We spent much of the afternoon like this.

Mmm, it was bolognese pasta with parmesan for Sunday lupper at Mum’s.

For dessert, this fruity custard flan, yum!

The sky went all pastel pretty at sunset that eve.

Wednesday, 15 March 2017: Muffins and meetings

Wednesday was a meeting packed, two chocolate-y muffins kind of day. The owlie mug was jealous.

My Wednesday highlight was a visit to the Liquorice office space in town. They’re quite the bustling agency and did very well at the Bookmark Awards (read my interview with them for proof)!

Thursday, 16 March 2017: Experian Mosaic tool launch at the Nasdak

In addition to the Bookmark Awards in JHB, it was also the launch of Experian’s next-gen customer segmentation tool at the Nasdak in the Media24 building in Cape Town’s CBD.

I’d been to the media24 Building before but never to the ‘Nasdak’ (Naspers’ dak) on its 26th floor. Look at those views, all across the harbour!

But just look at the view of Table Mountain from the other end of the building! I’d never get any work done if this was my office.

Some of the sights of the afternoon. All very interesting for consumer trends research marketers.

Morning muffins to kick our brains into gear.

The theme was ‘Through the looking glass’ from Alice in Wonderland, hence these ‘Drink me’ pink drinks.

T’was a packed venue and a most impressive event.

I got back to the office just in time to be ululated at and presented with Burger King’s new boerie burger.

That’s all, folks! We’re both off this weekend so yay for some much needed relaxing and napping and taking it easy…

Competitive beach jumping, Design Indaba 2017 & Catharina’s new lunch menu

In this latest update we finally get to my pics from Design Indaba, which began on the same day as Bertie’s birthday and took us to the end of last week.

There’s lots to look at below, so get your scrolling (and enlarging) fingers ready!

Wednesday, 1 to Friday, 3 March 2017: Design Indaba at the Artscape

There was just as much to see inside, with a Woolies coffee station that made delicious honey-nut lattes, food trucks, art installations, book passageways and more. Always a delight and more than a little overwhelming!

Lots of creative oddities were on display before we even went into the main Artscape venue. Note the walk of fame, trees growing lips and eyes and more.

If you’re wondering about our team, that’s a full shot below with me and Ilse from the first day on the top left, and me with Pasqua on the last day top right.

Design Indaba done for me and Husband having rested all day from his week of working night shift, we decided on dins at Doodles on the beachfront. I tried their Bar-One shake and Husband had a draught with the chicken burger.

Saturday, 4 March 2017: Xai xai chicken at Petiscos

When Husband got home from work we set off for Petisco’s for their xai xai chicken fillet, which we barely finished. I also tried their iced mocha shake.

Sunday, 5 March 2017: Rocomamas ‘surprise me’ freak shake, Sunset Beach jumps and Bertie’s new collar

Rocomama’s is always a treat, especially if you’re brave enough to try the ‘Surprise me’ freak shake option. I ended up with a caramel-chocolate concoction bursting with bits of honeycomb! Click here for a reminder of our review on our last visit.

What do you do on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Cape Town? You see who can jump higher on the beach, of course. We headed off to Sunset Beach as it has a lovely view of the mountain and soft, soft sand for jumping. Here is Husband’s attempt…

I think mine was much, much higher (Husband says to notice his eyes are over the top of the mountain in his version, but also note how much taller he is than me!)

On Sunday afternoon we explored the new ‘Leadville’ doggy park in Sunningdale and Bertie was gifted with his new birthday collar – look at that happy grin!

Wednesday 8 March 2017: Woodstock sunrise

I snapped the sun rising over the mountain and train tracks on my way into work on Wednesday, and needed a ‘coffee and mini choc’ treat come afternoon. What a long week!

Thursday, 9 March 2017: FoodLover’s breakfast and Catharina’s new lunch menu review

We both had the day off work on Thursday (yay), so after a much-needed lie-in we shared the halloumi stack breakfast at our nearest FoodLover’s Market. That’s also my cappuccino top left.

After some general relaxing it was time to set off Catharina’s at Steenberg Estate, as we’d been invited to review their new lunch menu. We’ve taken a variation of this photo on both previous visits, see here and here.

Beautiful purple blooms at Steenberg Estate.

Presenting Catharina’s and the rest of the Steenberg Estate. Tis a wonderful place to walk around, with ducks and squirrels hopping about – you may see some in these pics!

If you look closely you’ll see a squirrel atop one of those wooden chair backs.

Husband sampling the Semillon.

The official menu, with the story of Steenberg’s Catharina Ras. Also the bread board with golf balls of butter, the mushroom-parmesan risotto and the seafood linguini. Yum!

The chicken confit Caesar salad, with croutons, parmesan and bacon.

The 200g blackened sirloin with hand-cut chips.

Behold the new lunch menu, the chocolate shake and cappuccino, the chicken confit Caesar salad, the rooibos creme brulee and the summer sorbet trio with wafer ‘spoon’.

This squirrel sat on his tree perch and watched us eat our meal.

That’s all, folks! You can read up on this year’s Design Indaba highlights in our special section on Biz, and click here for my official review of the new lunch menu at Catharina’s!

*Disclaimer: Obviously our meals at Catharina’s were part of our review package. All else came from our own pockets. All enjoyed equally.

Cape Point ostriches, Imhoff camels, Darling Hills tractor rides and Bertie’s 7th birthday

Our dear, sweet boy Bertie is now seven, but that’s not all we celebrated over the last week, as you’ll see from the pics below…

Friday, 24 February 2017: Husband and parents breakfast at All in the Kitchen

Having just come off his seven-day stretch and about to start a week of night shift, Husband was off last Friday. I was not. He met my parents for breakfast at All in the Kitchen, where we had my recent birthday lunch. Just look at the delicious food they ate.

Saturday, 25 February 2017: Noordhoek breakfast, Cape Point afternoon

On Saturday morning we had an adventurous day planned. Once up, we collected my parents then headed out to Noordhoek side. First stop was a tasty breakfast at Coco Bean.

Next stop was Imhoff Farm, where we browsed the various stores and took in the lovely scenery.

I also sat atop the ‘parental supervision’ wagon without any parental supervision as they’d wandered off into the stores already. Teehee.

When Husband went up to greet the camels, one tried to nip at him. Teehee.

Venus Pools in Cape Point was our afternoon pit stop. The weather was just gorgeous! Click here for a reminder our our last visit to Venus Pools.

We were very happy to be beside the seaside with crashing waves and not a single other party to share the view with us.

We took in all the pretty scenery and had a whale of a time.

Success! Dad and Husband conquered this rather tricksy rock climb. Not bad for a 66 and 37 year old, respectively…

We stopped in at the Cape Point Ostrich Farm on our way home. Lovely place (though they were out of stock on biltong, despite advertising it outside)…

Dixies was our last stop on the trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our various draughts, shakes and pizzas.

We tried to drum up some interest in the fish tank that evening with Bassie but alas, no luck. She ignored it and looks the other way when we bring her near.

Sunday, 26 February 2017: Groote Post Country Festival

We were off to Darling Hills for the first time ever on Sunday, to review the Groote Post country market. It’s held on the last Sunday of every month and filled with delicious goodies to eat, like these…

We also sat on hay bales, listened to music and went on a tractor ride (see Husband top right)…

Proof we were both on the tractor (you can just see the hay bale seating). As it was an open-bed tractor we had to hold on tight!

Did you know Sunday was International Milktart Day? We did when we got to Mum’s for lupper and were met with this deliciousness. So yum, even the doggies had some.

Monday, 27 February 2017: Interview at the Mount Nelson Hotel

I had a very important interview scheduled at the Mount Nelson for 3pm on Monday afternoon. Of course I went for their strawberry shake as we conducted the interview on the verandah outside. Click here if you missed the resulting article on Biz!

Tuesday, 28 February 2017: Woodstock sunrise

Early morning sunrise on my way to work in Woodstock on Tuesday. If Husband’s working night shift I get up at 05:30am and head on in to the office so that I can leave earlier and catch a few minutes of him before he leaves the house.

Wednesday, 1 March 2017: Bertie celebrates his seventh birthday

Look at this gorgeous birthday boy! Bertie Lingalana Andrews is now seven, and such a little treasure. His birthday is also one of the few times Bassie will purposely sit beside him as she hopes some of the attention will rub off on her. Bless.

That’s all, folks! I also attended Design Indaba this week but will hold over my favourite snaps for next week’s update. We finally got some much-needed rain overnight, let’s hope it’s the start of the season…

Click here for my official review of the Groote Post Country Market on Bizcommunity.

*Disclaimer: Obviously our eats at the Groote Post Country Market were part of our review package. All else came from our own pockets. All enjoyed equally.