All the Christmas 2017 feasting on turkey, gammon, pudding and more…

We’re finally on leave, woohoo! 🙂 It’s been a week of feasting, family and fun…

Friday, 22 December 2017: Annual Love Actually viewing

We kicked off the holidays once we were both officially on leave last Friday evening with this year’s viewing of the ultimate Christmas movie, Love Actually. complete with poinsettia, hot chocolate and popcorn.

Saturday, 23 December 2017: Rocomamas burgers and shakes

We sat outdoors at the Pink Olive for Saturday morning breakfast. It’s open before the Stark Ayres nursery officially opens its doors (if you know which door to enter through). See Husband’s bacon basket and my fresh scones with jam and cream.

Clouds were scattered prettily across the sky that afternoon.

We stopped in at the Rocomama’s at Willowbridge for treats after a day of Christmas shopping. See Husband’s chilli cheesebomb burger and creme brulee shake, as well as my Candyliscious freak shake, complete with bits of fizzer, white chocolate sauce and berry swirls.

Sunday, 24 December 2017: Christmas Eve dins at ours

We had our Christmas Eve breakfast at Bread and Butter.

My breakfast smoothie bowl was amazing. Filled with nuts, peanut butter, chocolate, ice cream and bananas, it was healthy AND delicious!

The beach was calling my name so we stopped in at Dolphin Beach for a few minutes, to dip our toes in the sand and sea, respectively.

Proof that we enjoyed our time at the beach.

We usually have Christmas lunch at our house (see here for a reminder of last year) but as Husband’s family is finally firmly located in the Cape too, we had a few extra festivities to factor in. So, everyone came to us on Christmas Eve…

A few happy moments from the night.

Bassie and Bertie got all dressed up for the occasion and had fun ripping open the wrapping on their presents, with help from their dad.

Aww. The doggies loved all the gifts and Christmas affection.

See the lovely tablecloth mum made for me, complete with my fluffy reindeer centrepiece. Also Christmas lights and various clever presents – adult colouring books, gingerbread and Christmas pudding-flavoured coffee, and slabs of caramel chocolate and biltong fudge.

Husband Webered the turkey (much like he did in 2013), father-in-law brought cold gammon and mum made a selection of desserts, savoury and sweet. Was tricky not going back for more and more!

Monday, 25 December 2017: Christmas Day lunch at Mum’s

We had Christmas Day breakfast at W Cafe in the Woolworths at Table Bay Mall. See my vanilla-cinnamon latte and slice of banana bread topped with espresso cream-cheese and nuts on the left, with Husband’s poached egg on mushroom on the right.

Happy faces at Mum’s house for lunch on Christmas Day.

Chilled pink bubbly from Steenberg was lovely to kick things off.

Our Christmas Day feasting included warm gammon, roast potatoes, colourful salad and roast veggies, with homemade Snickers-ginger biscuit ice cream.

Tuesday, 26 December 2017: Boxing Day leftovers at Mum-in-law’s

It had been a while since we last ate at Wimpy, so I had a regular Wimpy coffee and a sweet-treat waffle while Husband had the streaky bacon breakfast with an extra cheese griller.

All at Mum-in-law’s house with Janet and Phil for leftovers on Boxing Day.

Despite it being a ‘leftovers’ lunch there were many fresh new items, too.

Wednesday, 27 December 2017: Being touristy at the V&A Waterfront

We had intended to walk around the new Zeits Mocaa (Museum of Contemporary African Art) as it’s free entry on a Wednesday morning, but clearly the whole of Cape Town heard this, too. See the queues! We’ll come back another day…

Being tourists. Sun, sea and happy faces.

Various delicious eats and treats from the Waterfront – my Amarula Colada from Gibson’s far left and right, along with Husband’s very minty mojito, also his two extra-large oysters and my Woody’s burger from the food court. Yum!

Teehee, we couldn’t resist posing in the fat suit outside Ripley’s Believe it or not – that’s how we feel after all the Christmas feasting!

We couldn’t resist lunch with a view upstairs at MareSol – see various shots of the harbour, my pink shake with Husband’s carafe of white wine, and his fresh fishy platter.

Thursday, 28 December 2017: Star Wars movie at GrandWest Casino

On Thursday, we breakfasted at the Village Cafe in West Coast Village. See my latte and Husband’s large cappuccino, also my banting flapjacks topped with yoghurt and berries, Husband’s toastless brekkie and the sweet Christmassy reindeer at the door.

T’was time for our second viewing of The Last Jedi, and the parents’ first (they’d caught up on all the previous movies in the past few weeks). Enjoyed it even more second time around!

We took the customary ‘strike a pose’ snap at The District section of the casino.

Thankfully we still have a full week of rest ahead of us before we start the 2018 work year. Hope your Christmas was all you hoped for! 🙂

Ostriches on the beach at Cape Point

So much to celebrate! Today was our last working day for 2017, it’s Christmas weekend and last weekend we celebrated living in Cape Town for 5 years…

Thursday, 14 December 2017: End-Dec work things, Star Wars: The Last Jedi at iMax

Sugary treats are a must in December, when motivation levels are low. All the more so when said sugary treat is a marshmallow-topped cupcake complete with shortbread antlers, to match one’s disinterested deer mug.

As we had tickets to the new Star Wars movie last Thursday evening, I attended that week’s Red & Yellow #digitalmarketingLIVE session from home, complete with Bassie on lap and mug of hot chocolate to get into the Christmas spirit.

We met up with Spec for a quick Indian bite to eat before the Star Wars Imax experience. See the bright bowls of sauce served with the boys’ curries.

Friday, 15 December 2017: Last team pic of the year

Much of my office was on leave or working from home this week, so we snapped a quick pic together before leaving last Friday. Sindy in the red pants watched The Last Jedi with me at Cape Gate iMax the night before, so we had a late night behind us!

Saturday, 16 December 2017: Exploring Cape Point

We were up early on Saturday as we had a full day ahead of us. Our destination for the morning? The Cape Point National Park, as our Sanparks green card (for Cape residents) was expiring the next day, so we entered for free while we still could!

You might recall I missed out when Husband’s family breakfasted at Cape Point’s Two Oceans restaurant to celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary, so obviously that was our first stop.

We sat right outside with a view of the peaceful ocean below. It was chilly and overcast to start with.

Look at that view. Calm, endless water and clouds that lifted a bit as the day went on.

The breakfast was worth the months I’d waited. See my crumpets with nut crumbs, as well as Husband’s salmon eggs benedict.

It’s like someone had dipped a paintbrush in white and flecked it across the blue sky. This was some of the softest sand.

Husband explored the various beaches – some were rockier than others, as you can see.

Lo and behold, an ostrich! We saw quite a few with their chicks trotting along the road, with a few more on the beach sand. There are various ostrich farms right outside the nature reserve but you don’t expect to see them strolling past the car like this.

A tourist was kind enough to snap a pic of us at the Cape of Good Hope – officially the most South-Western point of the African continent. Quite the location to celebrate having lived in Cape Town for five years.

You can just make out the ridiculous colour of the water we were winding our way towards here.

Here’s Husband in that sea. He swam around for ages as it was calm and slightly warmer than the water on the other side had been.

There are crosses for Dias and Da Gama in the park.

We drove through Simon’s Town on our way out, and could have driven right into the water if we had so desired.

We made a quick stop at The Stag Coffee Company on our way through Fish Hoek, towards the braai at Spec’s house. Had a caffeine-boost of cappuccino, obviously.

Caps backwards for the braai as the sun was behind us.

Most of the braai food – sausage-types went on separately.

Sunday, 17 December 2017: Melissa’s breakfast

Melissa’s is one of the few breakfast spots at Table Bay Mall that’s open before 9am, so that’s where we ate our first meal of Sunday. See my berry-marscapone-bacon flapjacks and Husband’s baby marrow-potato hash brown based salmon egg ben. Both very similar to our breakfast choices the previous day!

The doglets in sleepy mode. Such cutie patooties!

Mum rustled up all the goodies to make our own gatsbies for dins, with her famous potato salad, of course, as well as gold dust-topped mini eclairs from Woolies. So yum!

Thursday, 21 December 2017: Last day in the office for 2017

I worked from home today, so yesterday was my last working from the office. Treats included cappuccino muffins for crossing things off seemingly endless to-do lists.

That’s all, folks! We’re officially on leave as of now (yay – and just in time as my immune system seems to be flagging) so my next few updates will be less work and more play. Have a very merry Christmas! 🙂

Second Christmas lunch of 2017 at Grande Kloof Boutique Hotel, Husband goes bungy trampolining

Last Friday was our end-of-year function at Biz, as you’ll see from the snaps below…

Thursday, 7 December 2017: Digital marketing presentation victory at Red & Yellow

Last week’s #digitalmarketingLIVE session at Red & Yellow was an interactive one, so we split into teams for quick ‘student activation’ planning then a presentation in front of the others, and my clever team won!

Friday, 8 December 2017: End-of-year function at Grande Kloof Boutique Hotel

The day started with a media drop from Cadbury’s at our office – a box of Heroes, which are miniatures of the brand’s favourites. Looks at the precious little Top Deck and Flake I nibbled on!

We left the office once the morning’s work was done and travelled to our venue for the afternoon – the Grande Kloof Boutique Hotel in Sea Point. There was a clear sparkly pool just asking to dip your feet in and even a heated jacuzzi (with glass of chilled Amarula on the side) bubbling away…

We started off by soaking up a bit of sun.

This positive sign gret us once we ventured indoors to eat.

Desk mates! We were very excited to get started with the food and this year’s Bad Santa game.

The food was served buffet style with starters of quiche, cheese and crackers and beef strips; meaty mains and brownies with ice cream for dessert. Very Christmassy!

I tried to get the doggies in the Christmas spirit that evening by dangling Christmas baubles while singing Christmas songs. Bertie looks mildly amused. Bassie, not so much.

Saturday, 9 December 2017: Blouberg Cafe breakfast, Catch22 dins

We noticed Petit Fours near Kleinbaai was sporting a new name and nautical navy theme so popped in first thing on Saturday. Now called the Blouberg Cafe, the food is much the same as what we’d come to expect from Petit Fours. Husband had the salmon eggs benedict, I had the mini apple caramel upside-down cake with the cutest baby apple.

A patriotic display of fruit and veg while we were doing our groceries.

Husband bought me a cappuccino to boost my spirits while browsing the store. I offered some to Wonder Woman but she didn’t want any.

We had dins at Catch22 overlooking the beachfront that night. See Husband’s vanilla shake and healthy grilled linefish with calamari and veggies, as well as my passionfruit-lemonade and the chicken burger topped with halloumi, avo and pepperdews, with huge onion rings and side basket of chips. Yummy.

Bertie was a sleepy sweetheart on the couch that evening.

Sunday, 10 December 2017: Baconville breakfast, BMW abseiling and Sunday braai

We had a bacon craving so breakfasted at Baconville in Willowbridge Centre, Tygervalley side on Sunday morning. See Husband’s flat white and Breakfast Club with large mushroom, as well as my chocolate latte and French toast-BLT.

We noticed BMW had set up a special section to showcase X3. Some of the fun with the cars – see the rollercoaster-like obstacle course we started off with, and Husband steering the car along normal roads as part of the usual test drive bottom right.

There were also various activities for the adventurous to participate in. See the wall Husband abseiled down, as well as his backwards flip on the bungee trampoline. Brave, he is!

My parents came to our house for lupper for a change, so we opted for a braai. See some of the delicious foodies.

We also baked a rainbow cake – each layer needed to bake in a separate cake pan, with a different colour of icing between. Was delicious!

Bassie looked younger than her ten years.

Bertie had snuggles with his Granny later that afternoon.

Wednesday, 13 December 2017: Much-needed rainy day in Cape Town

Wednesday was cold, windy and drizzly. See the overcast sky when I left the office for the day.

That’s all, folks! We’re working right until the Christmas weekend arrives, so there’s just a week to go… Ho ho ho! 🙂

First Christmas lunch of 2017 at the Table Bay Hotel

December may have only just kicked off but I’ve already had my first full Christmas lunch of the year!

Friday, 1 December 2017: Adele Searll 100 Club Christmas lunch at the Table Bay Hotel

A nut-crackingly good welcome to the Table Bay Hotel.

The decorations in and around the Table Bay Hotel got me into Christmas mode, fast. See the bright purply baubles everywhere.

Pink bubbly in the sunshine? Don’t mind if I do!

Beautiful tables in the Table Bay Hotel ballroom.

I was invited as Pam Westaway’s guest and enjoyed the Cathy Specific entertainment – that’s ‘her’ top left. Yes, I’m standing in the picture. On my tippy toes.

Proper Christmas lunch – we shared platters of endive salad with walnuts, then each had a plate of turkey with pumpkin and cranberries and carrots, and ended with slices of pumpkin pie with maple-pecan ice cream and mince pies with coffee. Simply scrumptious!

Saturday, 2 December 2017: Ons Huisie breakfast, Wimpy shakes and home braai

We decided on breakfast at Ons Huisie on Saturday morning. See Husband’s curried mince on toast topped with eggs and my berries-and-cream French toast.

Breakfast at our table at Ons Huisie.

We decided on a Wimpy shake as our Saturday afternoon treat. See my peanut butter-toffee chocolate version up close with Husband’s plain banana shake in the background.

Next stop, Saturday afternoon braai at our house, with Spec sleeping over as we had plans for the following morning.

Coals cooking away before we added the meat to the braai.

Bassie is always photogenic. See a few snaps of her on backs of couches and begging for crisps during the braai. Such a sweetie.

Some of the tasty treats we ate at the braai. Yes, that is a chocolate pizza dessert bottom right.

Sunday, 3 December 2017: Mugg & Bean brekkie and Justice League at Bayside, beach visit

We were up early on Sunday for breakfast and to watch Justice League at Bayside. Our Mugg & Bean brekkie included banoffee-chocolate French toast for me and the standard eggs-toast-bacon option for the brothers, with cappuccino all round.

Close up of my meal once I’d separated out the layers. Banana slices with caramel sauce on the left, banana slices with chocolate sauce and thick cream blobs on the right.

Spec and I are such true geeks who wear our superhero outfits and pose like the characters outside movie posters. Yes, even if other people are around.

We did some Christmas shopping at the Table Bay Mall on Sunday afternoon. The decorations are lovely and bright!

We stopped at Dolphin Beach later that afternoon for a stroll and jump along the icing-sugar sand and Husband had a quick dunk in the sea.

Tuesday, 5 December 2017: Carrot cake and milk tart in the office

We had cake in the office on Tuesday to celebrate Cari’s birthday over the weekend. Slices were thin so we could sample both, carrot cake and milk tart. They were amazing.

That’s all, folks! I hinted at my latest DIY home project in my last blog post, big reveal below…

Here it is in all its glory. I’d been gifted with wooden numbers to mosaic and add to the front of our house once we moved in three years ago. We waited until the wall was up and freshly painted, then waited for me to decide on a colour scheme I liked, then estimated how much grouting and mosaic and trim I’d need and finally completed the job over my recent staycation. Sparkly!

November 2017 Staycation: Irish nachos and The Kitchen’s Love Sandwiches

I had a mini-staycation at the start of this week. Perhaps all the sunshine we’ve seen this week was the reason for the relaxed mood that lasted even after I returned to my desk, as you’ll see from the pics below…

Saturday, 25 November 2017: Irish nachos at Saints

We started our weekend with breakfast at our nearest Foodlover’s Market. See my crumpet-looking French toast and Husband’s halloumi toast stack.

Ha. Not sure why I find this snap so funny, but I do. Makes me laugh.

We had decided on an afternoon treat at Saint’s on Eden on the Bay, and soon decided to add the Irish Nachos (potato skins) topped with pork belly to our drinks as the platter is made for sharing. Note my Insomniac shake (chocolate, coffee, Amarula, Kahlua) and Husband’s Fat Mary (bloody mary topped with candied bacon, hence his skeptical look). All delicious and a wonderful way to spend a late-afternoon over the weekend.

Sunday, 26 November 2017: Tall cappuccinos and airport collections

We met Husband’s parents at the W Cafe in Woolworth’s at the Table Bay Mall on Sunday morning. Note Husband’s very tall cappuccino and my vanilla cinnamon latte top right.

To eat, I went for the Nutella French toast, a favourite as the banana is rolled in peanut-butter brittle with hazelnuts adding crunch. The other three all went for the eggs benedict served on mushroom, with Husband adding a side of bacon to his.

On Sunday afternoon we collected my parents from the airport – they had been in Umhlanga for a post-anniversary break. Various shots of the runway here – you can just see their green Kulula plane coming to a stop in some.

As mum had been in the air most of the day we decided on a Steers drive-thru deal en route to their house – this box of four burgers with chips along the side went down a treat! Yes, my purple nails did match the box.

Monday, 27 November 2017: Breakfast at All In The Kitchen

I’d decided ahead of time that my days off were for relaxing and spending time doing what makes me happy. First up was breakfast with parents on Monday morning at All In The Kitchen as it’s not open on weekends so I rarely get to visit. See our happy faces and tasty coffees.

The blue plates offset the bright, fresh food perfectly.

Coffees top left, Dad’s granola with fresh fruit top right, Mum’s avo on toast bottom right, my nutty apple-cinnamon muffin topped with raspberries bottom left.

I spent the rest of the day with two more of my favourite beings on the planet. The doggies were at their cutest, with Bassie napping under blankets and coming running for treats while Bertie did a few laps around the garden.

Tuesday, 28 November 2017: Love Sandwiches at The Kitchen

This striking graffiti adorns the wall just around the corner from The Kitchen in Woodstock, our destination for that morning’s adventure.

The Kitchen is a charming fresh deli-style food stop that rose to fame when Michelle Obama’s taxi driver accidentally dropped her off there instead of at the more well-known The Test Kitchen. She decided to stay, loved it, and the rest is history. Little wonder when you see the ‘Love Sandwiches’ they’re famous for…

See Mum and Dad’s entirely different Love Sandwiches, a cappuccino and my fruit-topped French toast – it had slivers of apple, pear, toasted pineapple and pomegranate seeds. One of the best!

Various shots of the sky that day. Top right and bottom left were near Woodbridge Island and passing the MyCiti bus on the way to The Kitchen, top left and bottom right were at sunset.

Thursday, 30 November 2017: #DigitalMarketingLIVE at Red & Yellow

We’re already halfway through these sessions at Red & Yellow. This week was especially interesting, all about using the language of design to solve problems, brands talking to their ‘tribes’ not customers, and a jaw-dropping water-saving idea that might just be the answer the drought-stricken Cape is waiting for. Also, tasty biscuits and red-and-yellow themed things.

That’s all, folks! The DIY project I worked on during this staycation will be revealed in my next blog post…