Last weekend we were treated to a winter stay at Abalone House, Paternoster. Reuben’s is no longer the on-site restaurant, but our meals were just as good – if not better – than on our last visit…
Friday, 31 May 2019: Creative Mornings Cape Town at AAA School
I started my Friday at the May 2019 edition of Creative Mornings Cape Town, featuring Ashley Dowds. See the delicious coffee and doughnut treat, and watch for my overview of his talk on Bizcommunity next week!
Saturday, 1 June 2019: Roadtrip to Abalone House, Paternoster
We started our weekend with breakfast at Woolworth’s in Table Bay Mall. See my croissant French toast and vanilla-cinnamon cappuccino, as well as Husband’s enormous chilli egg omelette.Our misty, 100-minute roadtrip was enjoyable, bar three ‘stop-go’ sections, but we were happy to see our destination at the curve of the road – the always-lovely Abalone House, Paternoster.Nothing warms the cockles of the heart more than sitting in a little bit of wintery sunshine, with welcome drinks on the deck. Lovely flutes of bubbly!Spot the husband amongst the Tretchikoffs! He’s printed a few of these over his career as it’s a popular choice in the local design industry, so had to snap a few pics.Abalone House just shouts ‘Winter comfort’ to me – probably because of all the fireplaces, well-stocked bookshelves and cute in-room rubber duckies! Also see the gorgeous but laughably cold pool – we’ll have to return in Summer to try it out.We noticed signs for the Crayfish Wharf for the first time on this visit to Paternoster, so drove down to explore. It’s a lovely spot when the mist lifts!To the beach! The weather seemed to be getting worse, so we took a chance in walking down to the beach. It was too misty for more than a few quick snaps, so we hurried back to Abalone House to jump into the Jacuzzi.Teehee! I call this ‘the cat of Paternoster’. This kitty in the window watched us on our way to and from the beach.Also meet the kitties of Abalone House! Chelsea rushed over to greet us and even Toffee gave a meow of remembrance once we entered our room – the exact same one as last time. The kitties loved the under-carpet heating!You’ll find me in the Jacuzzi… The rooftop Jacuzzi seemed to heat up much faster than on our previous visit, so we spent much of our afternoon there, gazing across the bay when the mist allowed. Also see Husband having a final steamy dip after dinner in the bottom-left pic.Dinner is served! See the excitement on my face at the delicious, fresh rolls that appeared while we were deciding on our orders from the menu. We each went with a starter and main from the menu for the night: The ‘three-cheese soup with bacon and red pepper’ for me, and crispy pork belly with spicy croquet and pineapple chutney, ginger-infused honey jus as my main, while Husband enjoyed the chili-salt squid starter with crisp paper vegetable salad, lime mayo and nuac cham starter followed by the char-grilled fillet mignon with cauliflower puree, baby carrots, potato fondant and green peppercorn emulsion. A truly delicious meal, my only disappointment was the firm shake of the head response when I asked about milkshakes, as I had a delicious strawberry one last time – oh well, the #MilkshakeQueen will return!The best of our ‘gown shots’ from this stay.
Sunday, 2 June 2019: Morning massages and breakfast buffets
Breakfast’s the best meal of the day, especially if you have yours at Abalone House! See the buffet table spread, Bloody Mary station, where guests are encouraged to fix their own, Terbodore cappuccinos and our Eggs Benedicts – parma ham for me, salmon for Husband. Yum!Husband heading off to the Spa building for his 30-minute Majestic Awakening head-neck-and-shoulders massage.Another gorgeous Tretchikoff inside the Spa building. I paged through magazines and enjoyed the citrussy scents while waiting for Husband as he enjoyed our complimentary massage. I’d been struggling with a pinched nerve in my shoulder that week so didn’t want to risk further pain – luckily, Husband said it was soothing and just what he needed to face the week ahead.Quality time with the sweet doglets that afternoon, once we were back home safe and sound. Both seen getting TLC from their Grandpa here.
That’s all, folks! We hope your weekend is warm and filled with good food. 🙂
*Disclaimer: Our accommodation and meals at Abalone House were part of our review package. All else came from our own pockets. All enjoyed equally.
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 😉
Last weekend, the weather was sunny and mild so we spent lots of time out and about, as you’ll see from the pics below…
Friday, 13 July 2018: Warding off the winter chill at work
The winter chill returned last Friday, so much so that I wore my fingerless gloves to type at work. I also gladly accepted the orange my sweet deskmate offered.
Saturday, 14 July 2018: News Cafe earlybirds and beachview burgers at Jerry’s
We started our weekend with earlybird breakfast specials at News Cafe on Marine Drive – the full English for me, the eggs benedict for Husband.Later that day we were doing weekend chores at N1 City, where I snapped these brightly coloured cream doughnuts. Was almost tempted to have one, but…I knew we were heading to Jerry’s for an early dins so kept my appetite for it. See Husband’s ‘drunken chicken’ burger with skinny fries and my cheesy ‘heart attack’ with sweet potato fries. Also see Husband’s glass of red and my wild berry shake.View from our table at Jerry’s, Table View. Chilly, but gorgeous.Aww. Bertie looked so proud of himself for getting a hug from his dad that evening.Little Miss Bassie was equal parts suspicious and jealous, but also received lots of TLC.
Sunday, 15 July 2018: Melkbos Kitchen breakfast and doggy beach walks
The weather was bright and beautiful again on Sunday so we took a little drive for breakfast. See the calm sea of Melkbosstrand.Melkbos Kitchen looked most appealing, so that’s where we ate. See our flat whites, Husband’s eggs benedict and my apple-ginger flapjack stack. Close-up to follow…Close-up of my apple-ginger flapjack stack.This was the beautiful empty road later that day – it just shouts of ‘Sunday afternoon drive in the country!’Later that afternoon the wind had died down, so it was perfect weather to take the doggie for beach walkies.Sweet Bertie at Kreeftebaai. If you look closely you’ll see he is Very Wet as he loves to swim doggy-paddle along the shore and then sprint up and down the coast, barking at sea birds.Sea birds in flight, soon after Bertie started barking at them.Sweet little Bassie also enjoys a brisk trot but prefers to stay dry, for the most part.See the quiche and mini sausages we snacked on at Husband’s parents’ house that afternoon. The doggies were delighted when my parents popped in for a few minutes, too. See Bassie nestled between me and Mum, Bertie asleep on the couch against his grampa’s leg, and the chocolate cake Mum rustled up in the microwave when we visited later that evening.
If you’ve been active on social media this week, you’ll know this also happened…
Last week Tuesday was a public holiday – May Day is Worker’s Day in SA so we had a day off work to do as our hearts desired, as you’ll see below…
Tuesday, 1 May 2018: Worker’s Day dins at Italian Club
When we finally got up, we went for a Cup & Cake breakfast in Seaside Village. See Husband’s eggs benedict and my ‘Eggs-purtly done’ – health bread smeared with cream cheese, Marmite and avo paste, topped with eggs any way you like – I went for hard boiled. Also see Husband’s ‘Quortado’ (variation on cortado, espresso with milk.)We bumped into my parents when we stopped for a few chores at The Daily Cafe in Eden on the Bay, so the menfolk each had an espresso con panna.We stopped for a snap at the ‘Lekker by die see’ mosaic on our way out of Eden on the Bay.The palm trees and blue skies outside GrandWest Casino – we stopped in to watch the Avengers: Infinity War movie. Brother-in-law Spec joined us.We were starving by the time the movie ended so decided on the Italian Club for dins, as t’was a chilly Winter’s eve. We both went for the gnocchi bolognese, mmm!Ahh. Gorgeous sunset over Table Mountain on our way home.My precious model children. They didn’t mind being huddled up close for once, as it was a chilly night.
Friday, 4 May 2018: Sunrise from the office window
Early morning sunrise over Lion’s Head, as seen from our offices in Woodstock.
Saturday, 5 May 2018: Bread & Butter breakfast, Woodbridge Island walk, Panama Jacks lunch
We had a Bread & Butter breakfast – the setting is just so quaint and cosy, with lots of cakes to drool over while telling yourself to order something healthier.Husband succeeded in going for something healthier, with the salmon scrambled eggs, while I didn’t go so far as to have cake but had a chocolate-peanut butter smoothie bowl instead. Basically ice cream with nuts and bananas but hey, it was on the breakfast menu. Also see my cappuccino and Husband’s double flat-white.We hadn’t done our ‘Woodbridge Island to Lagoon Beach and back’ walk in a while, so when we realised we had enough time, we were wearing caps and the weather was on our side, so do the walk we did. Once complete, we stopped at Ilha at Woodbridge Island for a liquid treat – draught beer for Husband and coffee shake for me.We were meeting Husband’s parents for lunch at Panama Jack’s new location, inside the cruise passenger terminal at the harbour. It’s lovely.We recommend sitting at the outside tables as you get a clear view over the harbour if there aren’t any ships waiting to dock. The inside roof is still pinned with flags, as in Panama Jack’s former location.The food was fantastic. See the large house salad we shared top left, Husband’s angelfish Thai curry top right, Mother-in-Law’s fettuccini marinara bottom left and the duck with hoisin sauce bottom right – Father-in-Law and I both ordered this. We left not a speck of rice between us.
Sunday, 6 May 2018: Ice cream on the beach
For Sunday breakfast, we stopped in at Cafe Lacomia at our Builder’s Warehouse. See my tall cafe mocha, Husband’s cafe latte, his mince on toast and my toasted chicken mayo with chips. Hit the spot.Book + coffee + dog = happy despite the winter chill.The waves and clouds came together as the perfect ‘photo corner curliques’.Sunday afternoon. should be all about strawberry swirled flake-tipped ice cream on the beach, Table Mountain in the background and clouds perfectly fluffed to cotton wool. proportions.
That’s all, folks! Winter is definitely in the air so keep warm 🙂
Last weekend we did a great many things as usual, key among them was seeing Lifehouse and Collective Soul live at GrandWest Arena…
Friday, 2 February 2018: Work meetings
Last Friday was a super-busy one, with two high-profile telephonic interviews and a face-to-face with Johanna McDowell in the coffee shop beneath my office. Was so good to finally meet her, you can click here and here for the resulting articles I wrote about her recent accomplishments.
Saturday, 3 February 2018: Mexican benedict at La Rocca
We started our weekend at Canal Walk. Husband had a strong cappuccino with the Mexican eggs benedict at La Rocca, I had the pumpkin-spice latte and Jump jar filled with berries, yoghurt, granola and banana.The sea was calm and so refreshing, I stood ankle-deep in it myself when Husband had his weekly dip – that’s saying something.Table Mountain in the distance. We love Cape Town!T’was just us at the braai at Husband’s parents that week. See the doggies being sweet on the couches, all sorts of braai foodies and a ganache-y caramelly chocolate cake for dessert.Bassie says she didn’t really mind sitting with her brother’s dog on her head as a blanket, as it was quite chilly on Saturday evening.
Sunday, 4 February 2018: Village Place breakfast, Lifehouse and Collective Soul at Grand West Arena
See the pretty menu and pistachio-coloured seating area, as well as my banting flapjacks with yoghurt and berries, and Husband’s pesto breakfast.The little heart-shaped shortbread biscuits are such a sweet touch.Coffee and magazine with the doggies later that morning.Little Miss Bassie couldn’t decide which was her best side to show us at her other Grannie-Grampa’s house on Sunday – a proper lunchtime visit for once as we’d be at GrandWest for Collective Soul later that evening. Also see the chicken with mini taters and homemade scones with jam and cream (and coffee) for afters.Tada! Presenting Lifehouse and Collective Soul, live in concert at GrandWest Casino! They were both truly excellent. Click here if you missed my full review on Biz earlier this week!
Tuesday, 6 February 2018: Healthy office birthday cake
T’was my colleague Ruth’s birthday on Monday, but as she’d cleverly taken a day’s leave then, she brought in ‘healthy’ baked goods on Tuesday. The carrot cake and lemon-poppyseed muffins were yummy!
Thursday, 8 February 2018: After-work croissant and coffee catchup at Cafe Puka
I met my friend Hasmita for a coffee catchup after work on Thursday. We’d last seen each other 7 years ago, when we did the advanced sub-editing course through Wits. Cafe Puka in Tamboerskloof was an excellent choice. Look at the enormous almond croissant we shared (cue shocked and delighted faces), each with a hazelnut cappuccino. And see the sweet doggie who decided to nap under my chair. He was so friendly.The hazelnut cappuccinos were not small, so you can only imagine how gigantic these croissants were. Flaky and pull-apart perfect!Husband fetched me from the bus and we treated ourselves to Oreo McFlurries that evening.
That’s all, folks. We’re finally due a spot of rain later this evening – holding thumbs!
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! 🙂
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! 🙂
Last weekend we took Bassie for an explore around Leadville doggy park in Sunningdale. It has a Reload on site so you can swig some coffee while your doggies trot around the grass, making friends.
See snaps of that and other top moments of the week below….
Saturday, 18 November 2017: Ilha breakfast, windy braai
We’d not been to Woodbridge Island in a while so headed that way for Saturday breakfast. Without planning it, we were both in matchy-matchy grey in front of their grey-blue wall.See Husband’s full English breakfast with mushroom and pork sausage, and my well-sauced scrambled eggs on toast.Bertie spends about 30% of his time perched atop the couch back like this.Cold, rainy days are all about relaxing with the doggies indoors.Scenes from the braai at Husband’s parents house, later that afternoon.Last week you saw Bassie with the pudding cups. This week, Bertie allowed a few pics before he ran off to chew his in peace.Bassie and I braved the chilly wind to sit in the sun by the braai fire for a while.
Sunday, 19 November 2017: Leadville doggie park, Saints treats
We’d heard that our local News Cafe offers a few more breakfast specials for the early birds, so tried them out on Sunday morning. I went for the standard English early bird top left, Husband sampled the ‘spinach and feta’ eggs benedict for R45. Very good value.An ‘action shot’ of Husband peppering up his plate.This is Leadville. Bassie had a fun time trotting around in the fenced off area for ‘small dogs shy dogs’.Later that day, beach walkies! Bertie splashed about in the sea and had a lovely time.We went to Saints at Eden on the Bay for our Sunday afternoon treat, and ended up with two drinks each. See my Snickers shake (with chunks of actual chocolate bar swirled throughout) and Cafe Capri (coconut chocolate latte, very yummy); then there’s Husband’s Smooth Criminal shooter – caramel vodka with creme de banana top, and his Kiss and Say Goodbye shake, with Scotch whisky, Kahlua and Oreo cookie bits. Yum.Mum outdid herself with a summery feast for Sunday lupper. I think we ate everything between the four of us (six, with the dogs).Mum made these gorgeous individual trifles for dessert.
Monday, 20 November 2017: Evening doggy snuggles
I worked from home on Monday as had lots of transcribing to tick off my to-do list. T’was still chilly that evening so Bertie curled up beside me on the couch.
Wednesday, 22 November 2017: Meltwater interview in Green Point, burgers and shakes at Bossa
I interviewed the global CEO of Meltwater at their Cape Town offices in Green Point on Wednesday afternoon. This was the view from the ‘interview room’. Click here for the interview.That evening we headed out to Bossa in Burgundy Estate – where we used to go for paella at Espana. We sat outside and I was delighted that their boozy shakes are included in the R40 happy hour. See my ‘mud pie’ shake with vodka, Nachtmusik and Amarula. Husband looks zen.Here is Husband’s cheese bomb burger – mozzarella, aged cheddar, bacon and jalapenos – with large onion rings and chips.All the foooood. Husband had a burger, I went for the nachos with mince. That’s a half portion you can see, which I only finished the next day.
Thursday, 23 November 2017: Red cup, yellow chair at Red & Yellow
My brownie bite and colour-coordinated red cup of strong coffee in front of a yellow chair at Red & Yellow for the third week of ‘digital marketing live’.
That’s all, folks! I’m having a mini-staycation at the start of next week so looking forward to relaxing and having happy moments with the doggies.
Last weekend we braved the Lion’s Head hike with brother Spec, as he’d not tackled it before. But first…
Friday, 20 October 2017: Galliova Awards at Landtscap, Stellenbosch
Last Friday, I covered the 2017 Galliova Awards. I started my day in the office, then caught a shuttle from the CTICC to Landtscap wine farm in Stellenbosch, and rubbed shoulders with celeb chef Zola Nene and this year’s ‘broiler champion’ for chicken-writing, Abigail Donelly.Obviously the food for an event celebrating ‘food writers’ has to be exceptional. Landtscap outdid our expectations – click here for a full list of all the ‘chicken and egg’ themed food we ate.T’was a truly lovely afternoon. Click here for all my words about it on Biz.It was also #ChampagneDay, so I was happy to do my bit…
Saturday, 21 October 2017: Musselling and braai at our house
The three faces of Bassie when I had my first coffee of the weekend – “Mmm, that smells nice Mom, what is it? Oh it’s coffee. OK then, as you were.” What a cutie!The entire Andrews family was going musselling on Saturday morning, an event that had been planned for months, with the resulting ‘catch’ to be eaten as starters at the braai at our house later that afternoon. Spec had driven over from Fish Hoek the night before to spend the weekend with us, so we all met up at Doodles on the beachfront for their weekend buffet breakfast.A-musselling we will go! Tummies lined, we headed up the beach to Husband’s favourite spot for musselling, permits in hand.Here’s the overall mussel haul. Soaking, about to be debearded and scrubbed for cooking.As we were in need of the extra man power to complete the task, we took advantage of having Spec in the house to help replace the old helicopter fish tank centrepiece with this shipwreck. Also topped up the gravel and gave it a good grit vaccuum.The doggies were on their sweetest behaviour during the braai later that afternoon.
Sunday, 22 October 2017: News Cafe brekkie, Lion’s Head hike
We knew we needed a big breakfast to sustain us on the hike ahead, so we joined my parents for breakfast at News Cafe in Marine Circle as you can’t beat the value of their R35 early bird English breakfast special.We knew the task ahead of us so took it slow, with lots of breaks to admire the view along the way.The best thing about the Lion’s Head hike is that it’s not a straight, endless line up to the top (ahem, looking at you Platteklip and Skeleton gorges!) Instead you wind around the peak a few times so there’s a new view every few metres.Proof that we made it to the very tippy top of Lion’s Head.Peak summitted, we began our slow climb down with a detour along the way. Success! Wally’s Cave isn’t easy to find if you’re coming at it from the top, as we were. We took a few wrong turns but eventually reached our destination. That’s Lion’s Head done and dusted in full.We were in desperate need of a treat after that, so headed off to Beerhouse on Long Street. The Andrews brothers never say no to a beer, and as for me, well…This is what I came for – the ‘beer float’ – listed on their dessert menu as it’s a mug of milk stout topped with salted caramel and bourbon ice cream, with honeycomb crumbs on a cloud of whipped cream above that, ribbons of dulce de leche and chocolate ganache dripping down the sides and cherry on top. Also served with a side of grilled marshmallow skewers.Two more angles of my beer float, and Husband framed with his draught.Coffee with cream and coconut-jam tartlets at Mum’s that evening.
Monday, 23 October 2017: Gourmet Guide launch at The Stack
I was invited to the launch of the second edition of the JHP Gourmet Guide on Monday morning, at The Stack in Gardens. It was a foodie event packed with delicious treats, tiger ceramics and sunny views.The Stack is all animal-print carpets, wooden artwork and bright colours. I like.Coffee and a scone? Don’t mind if I do!
Tuesday, 24 October 2017: Working lunch at Montebello
I had the opportunity to interview a team of very bright ‘design thinkers’ on Tuesday afternoon. Their office is in the Montebello Design Centre in Newlands so that’s where we met, with a wonderful lunch at The Gardener’s Cottage on the same grounds. See my cappuccino and chicken burger topped with cheese and pineapple-mayo. So yum, and such speedy service!
Wednesday, 25 October 2017: Adams & Adams IP crammer at 15 on Orange
I spent my Wednesday covering the Adams & Adams crammer day on intellectual property issues at the 15 on Orange. Very interesting topics I’ll write about soon, and so many snacks to keep us alert!
In case you missed it, this also happened this week… I’m the only South African to be shortlisted for the Women in Marketing #WIMawards2017! Click here to read all about it.
That’s all, folks! I’m on leave Monday and Tuesday next week so looking forward to a few days of rest and switching off.
As promised, this is a bumper update as I have two weeks’ worth of pics from our recent 10th anniversary break in Zanzibar to share with you…
Monday, 11 September 2017: Fly SAA from Cape Town to JHB
First stop, the airport. Having packed our bags and checked we had everything we needed – I left Husband’s passport in the scanner for our last overseas trip, and will never do that again! Check-in was easy so we had breakfast at Primi overlooking the flight deck. And then we were off!By the time we reached our first hotel of the trip – the City Lodge at Johannesburg’s main airport it was a sunny, summery afternoon. We dropped off our bags in our room and decamped to the pool area for a while. Just blissful!The moment we found out we’d need to spend the night in Joburg we decided we would have a special dinner at Lucio’s in Blackheath – they make gnocchi piccante, which is a bolognaise sauce with cream, brandy, chillies and lime. Too delicious for words. We also invited Gords as it was close to his birthday and we’d not seen him in ages. It was a lovely evening.
Tuesday, 12 to Tuesday, 19 September: Week at Azanzi Beach Hotel, Zanzibar
We needed to be at the airport at 5am for the Zanzibar flight so checked out of our hotel around 4:30am then trundled across the walkway into the main airport building. Check-in was another breeze, so we were pleased to find the Mugg & Bean open and ready to serve coffee, cookies and proper breakfast things for Husband. Then we were off again – up, up and away!Having made sense of the chaos of the Zanzibar airport – meaning we found the correct forms, filled them in, made our way through passport control, located our bags, found our travel guide, paid 1$ USD to use the bathroom – we were ready to survive the roads to our resort in Matemwe on the island’s north-east coast, about 45 minutes from the airport. We saw many sights on the way, but mostly lush greenery as we passed the various spice farms and bright bunches of fruit and clothing for sale in the small towns we passed. Transport is very expensive in Zanzibar, so we didn’t leave the resort much.Zanzibar is palm tree central. There are leafy trees everywhere you look.Our resort was sunny, with thatched rooves nestled between palm trees – and you could walk right through, on to the beach.The jambo juice cocktail, presented with a cold facecloth once you’ve checked into Azanzi, was about the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s a mix of coconut milk, pineapple juice and strawberry juice. Husband enjoyed the local Safari beers, I downed bottles of Stoney tangawizi (ginger beer) and Husband enjoyed the local wines with dinner.The rooms are bright and airy, cleaned each morning and sprayed and ‘netted’ each evening to ensure a bug-free stay. Our suite was upstairs so we had a balcony with view of the bright bouganvilleas and palm trees to gaze at.The mosquito-netted beds are very pretty and make you feel relaxed and peaceful and protected (though you still need to take your full course of malaria pills just in case. We are almost done with ours).Some of the pretty bouganvillea blooms. There were pinks, oranges and reds, which were quite spectacular from the balcony.The pool is gorgeous, partially shaded as it flows beneath the upstairs dining area. We spent lots of time wading in these waters.
The rest of this travel diary is grouped by events and things to do rather than running chronologically, as you’ll see…
Wake early to catch the sunrise
Matemwe beach is an excellent spot from which to catch the sunrise. We climbed up into the massage hut on the beach for these, so very different to the sunset shots below.
Sip chilled, fruity drinks at (and in) the pool
It’s always a good time for a drink in Zanzibar. Local soft drinks, beers, wines and more are part of the all-inclusive package and the Fanta Orange tasted just delicious there.Cocktails are not included in the package, but we couldn’t resist a pina colada IN the pool! 🙂I was thrilled to find that the jambo juice I’d loved so much on our arrival is also one of the cocktails on the bar menu.
Be active – play or watch sports – or rest in a hammock
When it was just too hot and windy to sit outside, we stepped indoors to play a few games of pool. Oh how we laughed and laughed at my ‘excellent’ skills 😉We happened to have our SA shirts with us, so tuned into the rugby match against NZ. Some say this was not a wise move. This is us sipping Colas in the resort lounge.Azanzi Beach Hotel is the ultimate spot for relaxation, with hammocks and comfy seats everywhere you look. Take a few novels and magazines with you, or just let your eyes switch into screensaver mode for a while and feel your worries slip away.
Take a sunset cruise at Nungwi
This was one of the highlights of our holiday. We were transported in an air-conditioned vehicle to Nungwi on the island’s north coast, the best spot to catch the sunset. After Husband had a quick dip in the sea we set off towards the horizon, with more drinks and fresh fruit midway. We were at sea from 4pm to just after 6pm.It’s clear to see why Nungwi is so popular with tourists – calm, clear blue water, lots of resorts to choose from and the best view of the sunset.Aww. Love this boy, and the sunset, and the sea so much! ❤Husband spent some time in the water, of course, saying ‘hi’ to starfish and the like, and the sunset was truly spectacular.Boats. Sunset. Sea.
Snorkelling, beach walks and sunning ourselves
Or you could take a stroll along the beach in Matemwe – everyone will greet you, ask for your name and where you’re from. There’s lots to see as most of the fishing takes place right before of your eyes.We spent the bulk of our time in, on or gazing at the sea. It was an unbelievable shade and temperature, I can’t describe how warm and calm it is!Make sure you’re both facing the right direction when you take your beach photos or you may end up with a sequence like this. Lol.Me in my shortie wetsuit with flippers (snorkel and mask not pictured), Husband at the map of Mnemba Island on the Scubafish boat, us before hopping in to swim with the dolphins and the clear, calm turquoise sea.Morning of snorkelling under the sun over with, it was time for a BBQ lunch at nearby Muyuni beach. We ate fresh chicken and tuna steaks with tiramisu for dessert, swam in the warm sea and napped in hammocks. That’s what being on holiday’s all about. That’s also the only meal we had away from our resort.
Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at Azanzi Beach Hotel
Breakfast! The best meal of the day, or the most important, say some. At Azanzi it was usually a buffet offering with eggs as you like them, crispy bacon and other assorted delights – chocolatey pastries, honeyed croissants, chicken or pork sausages, curry, noodles, French toast, pancakes, cheeses and cold meats, cereals with yoghurt and fresh fruit, juices and coffees… sure to get your day off to the right start!We had many a good cup of coffee at Azanzi. See the breakfast pot, which usually provided three full cups, as well as coffee from our balcony and below, over the pool.Lunch! The food at Azanzi Beach is really delicious and if you’ve taken the all-inclusive/full board offering, it’s all covered before you get there. We looked forward to our three meals a day and often had more than one course at each. This is lunch on the beach – a chicken curry for Husband and a bacon-banana toasted panini for me.Just a handful of the food pics I took when we were at Azanzi Beach Hotel. We ate everything from pork loins to prawn skewers, butternut-orange soup and octopus pili pili to green bananas in coconut sauce. All lip-smackingly good.There’s a weekly special beach BBQ/braai dinner buffet – such a treat! Tables are set up on the beach, with many salad type starters, a chef ready to toss potatoes, chicken, tuna, calamari, prawns and crayfish on the grill and sides of delicious oxtail soup and sweet-and-sour brinjals. For dessert, a choice of white chocolate tart, creme caramel and fruit salad left everybody smiling and singing along to the live music.There was lots of wildlife to befriend, too. See the birdies that joined us at breakfast, Zanzikat or Chewie, who often visited our room, and another kitty that was sitting with a monkey on the beach at Nungwi. We also saw little goats and skinny cows.Wash, rinse, repeat the above, and following a bumpy ride back to the airport, we were finally on our way home a full week after the journey began. Until next time!
That’s all, folks! We’re looking forward to spending quality time with the doglets this weekend. 🙂
Ramblings, rumblings and random ruminations, version ii. Also reviews, recommendations and alliteration. Based on living the good life in the fairest Cape. Eating is my favourite pastime. Updated weekly
Rambling Litchii 