Angus Grill’s ‘don of chocolate’ and Jive’s Cape food-pairing taxi tour

We made sure this past week was once again filled with sunshine and delicious moments, as you’ll see below…

Friday, 23 November 2018: Cape Royale meetings, Doodles dins

Last Friday I had a midday meeting at the Cape Royale hotel in Green Point.

The lobby is lovely! We sat at the outdoor cafe, which was just too sunny for photos.

After work was done and dusted we treated ourselves to Friday dins at Doodles on the beachfront, from their ‘Spring specials chef’s test menu’. See my caramel shake – not pictured, my tikka chicken pizza. Also see Husband’s seafood platter special – linefish of the day was angelfish, his favourite.

Saturday, 24 November 2018: The Hart breakfast, Black Angus lupper

Saturday morning saw us breakfasting at The Hart in Melkbos. See Husband’s mackerel on rosti, my cappuccino and my single bacon egg(s) benedict.

We stopped in at the Black Angus on Marine Drive for a late lunch/early supper once we’d popped in at Husband’s work for a few hours. The view is just what you’d expect.

See my pepper-sauce burger and ‘don of chocolate’ – a dom pedro made with Frangelico and espresso liqueur, chocolate ice cream and flaked almonds. Also see the Kriek cherry beer Husband sampled, and his ‘Madagascan Green Pepper’ steak and veg.

Sunday, 25 November 2018: Cafeteria breakfast and Christmas comes to Table Bay Mall

We had our first breakfast at newly opened Cafeteria restaurant (where Melissa’s used to be) in the Table Bay Mall on Sunday morning.

Husband tried the ‘low-carb benedict’, featuring gammon and spinach on brown mushroom, with mustard Hollandaise sauce. Also see our coffees and my banana-bread French toast with dollops of peanut butter- and raspberry-cream.

You know Christmas is just a few weeks away when Christmas decorations pop up everywhere in Table Bay Mall.

The beach is always beautiful, but Table Mountain seemed to have an extra sparkle last weekend…

Sunday lupper at Mum’s – delicious roast pork with rice, gravy, veg and salad. Yum!

You can’t go wrong with these post-lupper treats.

Monday, 26 November 2018: Day-off waffles and Duke coffee

I started my day off with some quiet time on the couch with the doglets and a few new books, then went to Panarotti’s in Table Bay Mall for mid-morning waffles with Mum and Dad.

See Dad’s banana-caramel-ice cream waffle top-left, my savoury bacon-banana waffle bottom-right, Mum’s traditional breakfast and our coffees.

We also stopped in at the new Duke’s coffee roastery on the way home. See the rhino demonstrating what visiting doggies should do, as well as interesting ceiling , coffees and homemade rusks.

Mum whipped up a saucy meatloaf, roast potatoes and veg for Tuesday evening dins at ours. We left not a crumb!

Wednesday, 28 November 2018: The Jive food-pairing taxi tour

My Wednesday afternoon was spent on a food pairing with a difference – Jive cooldrink transported a handful of Cape Town’s media and influencers in Jive-branded minibus taxis to Langa, Athlone, Observatory and back to the CBD for an experience we won’t forget. See the team here at the first activation for the day, in Langa.

First stop – the New Hope Spaza in Langa, for vetkoek and mince paired with Jive Orange Krush. See some of the sights, and a sweet doggy we befriended.

Our second stop of the day was Super Fisheries in Athlone. Home of the gatsby, we got to sample an authentic vienna-polony gatsby, paired with Mango Tango Jive.

Next stop was Pie Creations in Observatory, for the burger pie-cream soda pairing. By now we were reaching popping point so many of us only ate half a pie and took the rest home for dins.

Now see the pap en wors paired with Iron Brew at Cafe Delicious in Barack Street top-left, view of the leading taxi from our Jive-branded taxi top-right, a sneaky snap of me taking pics bottom-left and curious kiddies in Langa.

A selection of the doggies’ sweetest moments over the past week. See them snuggled together on the couch, Bertie napping with both his dad and granny, and Bassie caught half-asleep (or half-awake, maybe).

That’s all, folks! Here’s to an adventure-filled weekend ahead 🙂

Waffles sweet and savoury, shakes and frozen frappes

Last week was full of sunshine, good food and sweet doggie moments, as you’ll see from the pics below…

Saturday, 17 November 2018: Afternoon naps and braais

We had mall admin to sort out at Table Bay Mall first thing, so it was a Mugg & Bean breakfast for us. See our samples of blood-orange gingerade (very nice), the bottomless coffee station, table decor and our food, which Husband called ‘un-characteristically underwhelming’.

We shared a savoury waffle for Saturday lunch at the Big Bay Waffle Company in Eden on the Bay. Also see my frozen white chocolate latte (frappe) and Husband’s white chocolate shake.

Sweet doglets trying to wake their dad from his Saturday afternoon nap.

The beautiful, bubbling sea – it looks lovely from a distance but was actually quite murky and foamy up close. So much so that Husband skipped his weekly sea dip!

We attended a later-than-usual braai at Husband’s parents that eve, to coincide with the SA vs Scotland rugby match aired on TV after 7pm. See some of the food we ate, and the dessert Bassie wanted to eat.

More scenes from the braai – Bassie smelling the flowers and eyeing the braai meat, Bertie licking his dad’s nose and sunset setting in.

Bertie loved sitting wedged between his mom and grampa while watching the rugby after the braai.

Sunday, 18 November 2018: Melkbos morning

Our ‘I Love Melkies’ breakfast on Sunday morning was a win. See our coffees and the setting, as well as my bacon-marscapone-strawberry waffle.

Husband’s second flat white and ‘hash and pork’ bowl, so good he declared it delicious.

A beautiful lilac double-Adirondack I spotted while we were walking in Melkbos. I must have!

We stopped in at Catch 22 on Marine Drive for Sunday afternoon treats. See Husband’s jumbo oysters and Bloody Mary, as well as my Ferrero Rocher shake. Yum!

Table Mountain, as seen from the powdery sands of Dolphin Beach. The sea was still too choppy for a dip, alas.

Mum made a chocolate peanut-butter cake that had us all asking for more.

Tuesday, 20 November 2018: R59 Tuesday pizza special at Panarotti’s

Husband had to work late on Tuesday evening, when my parents usually come over with dins, so instead we met them at Panarotti’s in Table Bay Mall for the R59 pizza special. All thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, from the pizza to the cherry cola and salted caramel shakes as sampled by me and dad. See Husband pretending to pour his glass of red into mum’s Sprite Zero.

Wednesday, 21 November 2018: Corinium’s Women in Digital and Data conference at The Forum, Embassy Hill

More scenes from in and around the venue.

I’d never been to The Forum at Embassy Hill in Constantia, what a beautiful conference setting! The insights were also fantastic and will be featured on Bizcommunity over the coming weeks.

Thursday, 22 November 2018: HeavyChef’s ‘entrepreneurial grit’ masterclass at Workshop 17

One of the best cups of filter coffee I’ve ever had. Delicious and fresh, especially after dipping an arm elbow-deep into an ice bucket for almost 2 minutes for important lessons on mindset. Watch for my coverage of the masterclass on Bizcommunity, if you’re not sure what I mean by that!

Some of the sights from inside Workshop 17. What a wonderful co-working space! Easy to see why so many work events are held at Workshop 17.

That’s all, folks! Have a happy, sunny weekend. 🙂

What you missed at AfricaCom 2018 and Friday evenings at Moyo

This past week has been busy as always work-wise, so we did what we could to relax after hours…

Friday, 9 November 2018: Moyo sea-dip evening

Certain cocktails are R39 at Moyo on a Friday before 6pm, like the creamy pina colada.

Given the above picture, you can see that we started that weekend feeling earlier than usual by popping out for a quick beach visit once we were done with work. See Husband’s draught (R25 before 6pm on a Friday!), as well as my Pina Colada and our shared pulled-pork linguine at Moyo in Eden on the Bay. Also see Husband’s splash in the sea.

The sky was beautiful when we got home that evening.

Saturday, 10 November 2018: CTFM paella and shakes

We had some mall admin to tick off our weekend to-do list so we started the morning with cappuccinos and breakfast at Bayside’s Mugg & Bean. See Husband’s bean and bacon hash benedict, and my rainbow slaw-sweetcorn-avo toast.

Lots of birds on the rocks next to Husband’s usual sea-swimming spot.

It was so hot that I passed on hot drinks and instead tried the iced coffee slushy at Expresso in Table Bay Mall (delicious). Seen with a chocolate-cinnamon twist and Husband’s tiny con panna.

We wanted ‘dinner with a view’ so headed out to CTFM in Seaside Village. See Husband’s seafood paella and my burger with chips and onion rings.

See me with my Cookies and Cream shake jar, Husband’s delight at his pan of paella, and how he loved it so much that he licked the pan clean.

I spent some quality time with my precious boy dog on the couch that evening.

Sunday, 11 November 2018:  Baconville breakfast, Pakalolo cocktails and Dolphin Beach visit

You feel like you’re right in the countryside, travelling from Table View to the Durbanville and Tyger Valley side.

We forgot to snap a shot of the attendees, but Baconville was the venue for our Sunday morning breakfast with Husband’s parents. See the heart in my chocolate latte and our various bacon-topped breakfast plates.

Nothing says ‘sunny Sunday’ like a beach walk! See our brief visit to Dolphin Beach.

View of Table Mountain across the snowy sands of Dolphin Beach.

By then, the weather was shouting that it was time for a cocktail. Here is Husband with his Bloody Mary at Pakalolo’s.

I went for the colourful Smoky something (seems Pakalolo’s online menus are out of date or else I would tell you the exact name). T’was delicious.

Mum set out all the fixings for chicken fajitas for Sunday lupper, and later whipped up a batch of peanut-butter cookies, fresh and delicious with coffee.

Bassie thought my cream-topped coffee smelled just as good as the cookies.

Wednesday, 13 to Thursday, 15 November 2018: AfricaCom at the CTICC

I covered sessions of AfricaCom from Tuesday to Thursday, with so much going on at the same time – 9 different conference tracks – that it was held across both the CTICC and new CTICC 2 venue, so you get to cross the ‘skybridge’ multiple times.

View from the top floor of the CTICC 2. So much business conferencing going on!

More scenes from AfricaCom. The Speculaas ice-cream in the Expo centre was yum, and it was fun to watch the live graffiti installation.

Pretty colours in our dining room when Mum created a quick pasta bake for our Tuesday visit.

On Wednesday, I quickly dashed out between AfricaCom sessions to catch a ‘bring your own lunch’ lunchtime lecture at Red & Yellow School, before dashing back to the CTICC.

I’d brought the popcorn snack with me from the AfricaCom expo – also popped in a few chocolatey treats to munch on while taking notes!

It was a beautiful evening and we both got home later than usual on Wednesday so decided on Jerry’s for dinner, as a mid-week treat. See Husband with his glass of red, me with my Pina Colada shake, our burgers and the sunset.

That’s all for now, folks! See you next week 🙂

Doggy marshmallow moments and ‘R10 everything’ at Xpresso

Not only does the title of this week’s blog post refer to the sheer squishiness of my cute critters, but also the fact that we had enormous braai marshmallows last weekend, which the doglets loved. See for yourself below…

Friday, 2 November 2018: Pink office birthday cake

We celebrated a colleague’s birthday with tea and the prettiest pink cake. Happy birthday, Clarina!

Endless sky views on my way home from the office that afternoon.

Saturday, 3 November 2018: Halloween braai at Husband’s parents

We started our weekend with breakfast at Green’s in Plattekloof Village. See my apple-berry crumble and cappuccino, as well as Husband’s flat white, Coke Zero and open haddock omelette.

Not your average ‘Husband in sea’ weekend pics.

We saw people queuing to get into Xpresso, newly opened in Table Bay Mall, so stopped in to find out what all the fuss was about. Everything costs R10! Whether you’re having a fancy flavoured coffee, a sandwich roll, pastry or cold drink, you’ll only be parting with a single green note. Husband loved the con panna so much he had two of them, and my top-deck hot chocolate was delicious. We’ll be back!

Husband’s parents hosted a Halloween-themed braai on Saturday evening. See our hasselback potatoes, pumpkin-filled gemsquashes and various braai meats.

Bertie and his dad, watching some rugby (TV not pictured).

Such well-behaved doglets waiting for braai treats from their dad.

Main meals eaten, it was time for dessert. We had a jumbo bag of jumbo marshmallows to braai (see Bassie attempting a raw one). Bertie was more interested in my slice of milktart, teehee.

Lol. Look at size of marshmallow. Look at size of mouth. Somehow it worked out!

Sunday, 4 November 2018: Bread & Butter’s single benedicts, jumbo oysters at Catch 22

We breakfasted at Bread and Butter on Sunday. See the enormous bacon, avo and egg-filled croissant as devoured by Spec, as well as the cakes on display, our flat whites and the single benedicts on sweet-potato bread, as eaten by Husband and me.

We stopped in at Catch 22 later that afternoon, so Spec could try the jumbo oysters. I had a gingerbread latte, Husband had a Bloody Mary and Spec an Amstel.

Make-your-own gatsby lupper at Mum’s! We had a choice of spicy chicken or chilli con carne to fill them with. Mmm.

Lovey post-lupper treats at Mum’s that evening – madeira cake and coffee, both topped with cream.

Precious doglets in various poses on the couch, as snapped over the weekend.

Wednesday, 7 November 2018: Team lunch at La Bottega

It had been a while since our last team lunch – we’ve all been so busy that we kept postponing. Luckily, Wednesday we finally made it happen. See some of the lovely poke bowls and pizzas we ate at La Bottega – the bacon and sliced-potato version is especially good – just up the road from our offices in Woodstock. Also see my Nutella-banana gourmet shake. Yum!

(Almost) the whole gang was there!

That’s all, folks! It feels like we’ve switched back to Summer for now, stay cool.

A Portuguese Halloween and how we’re surviving the summer heat wave

This last week saw an intense heat wave hit, so we spent much of our free time gazing at, walking beside, and swimming in the ocean. And let’s not mention all the milkshakes I glugged down…

Friday, 26 October 2018: After-work espresso shake at Fat Cactus

A colleague and I went for an after-work chat with milkshakes at the Fat Cactus across the road from work.

How cute are the cactus-shaped milkshake glasses? That’s my espresso shake. Yum!

We started our weekend early, with Friday evening dinner at Earth Cafe. I chose the crispy honey chicken, while Husband had two salmon hand rolls and the black bean curry.

Saturday, 27 October 2018: Bagels at Reload, oysters at Catch22

Proof that I follow instructions well: My peppermint-choc latte at Reload in Parklands on Saturday morning told me to smile, so I did. Also see my bagel with smashed avo, and Husband’s trim portion of open Mexican omelette. It was lovely.

Husband gazing at Table Mountain from the rocky outcrop in the bay in Table View.

All the blues and greens we saw at the beach.

It was so very hot that he spent more time than his usual quick dunk in the sea.

It was the perfect weather for a meal with a view of the beach. See Table Mountain and the sea as seen from the balcony of Catch22. Also, Husband’s glass of red and my Peppermint Aero milkshake.

Husband was delighted with the jumbo-sized oysters – R25 each, followed by the Calypso’s Catch seafood salad. The Buccaneer beef burger, topped with cheese and bacon and onion rings, was also delicious, as always.

Hot dogs cooling down under the fans that evening.

Sunday, 28 October 2018: Doggy beach walks before breakfast at On the Rocks

We took the doglets for an early Sunday morning beach walk at their favourite, Kreeftebaai. See various stages of said walkies.

It didn’t take much time to coax little Bassie into the sea too, to cool down her feeties.

Our lack of sleeves in these pics shows you how hot it was on Sunday morning. We opted for breakfast at On the Rocks, with a strawberry shake and the berry French toast for me, and a cappuccino, Coke Zero and the breakfast pan for Husband.

We stopped off for a walk around Eden on the Bay that afternoon.

It was so very hot that Husband set up the air-conditioner machine in the kitchen, then sat in front of it for a while, cooling down with Bertie. Bassie also enjoyed the air that was reaching her from the couch.

Ice-cream with blueberries and a cup of coffee at Mum’s after lupper that evening.

Wednesday, 31 October 2018: Halloween dins at Petisco’s

We found ourselves at Petisco’s in Parklands for dins on Wednesday evening. It was Halloween, so there was bunting and decorations galore. We ended up with a plate of the chicken xai xai each, as well as a Fanta orange and the mocha shake.

Loved the Halloween decorations!

Thursday, 1 November 2018: BrandZ launch at Kantar MillwardBrown

The first BrandZ results, for the top 30 most valuable SA brands, launched on Thursday morning at the Kantar MillwardBrown offices on the Foreshore. It was such a nice event.

That’s all, folks! We’re in for a slightly cooler weekend, with some rain even set for Sunday, so expect a few more sleeves in my next update. Teehee 😉