Blissful long weekend in Citrusdal

In a word? Our weekend in Citrusdal was just magical. We were surrounded by nature, had the huge hot pool to ourselves the day we arrived, and a private jacuzzi right on our verandah’s doorstep. For a pair of Aquarian water babies, that’s the ultimate in relaxation. Here’s our (long) weekend away, in pics…

Friday, 19 November 2015:  Goats, tortoises and hot pools

Lol! Work made a cardboard cut-out of me to take along on their end-of-year boat trip. I look happy but cold here. In real life, we were just packing and getting ready for our road trip at the time.

Roadtrip faces!

We stopped off when we saw a padstal, but more interesting were the little goats.

Isn’t he just the sweetest little thing? Odd horizontal pupils.

Almost at our destination, Husband noticed a tortoise trying to cross the road. We stopped the car and picked him up to help him across and prevent an incident. He hid in his shell and peed on Husband’s hand.

Our destination! The Baths is about 170km from our housie so didn’t take long at all to get there.

We were a little early for check-in so stopped for a quick snack in the restaurant on site, McGregor’s (R20 toasted cheese with a mound of chips? Yes please!) before exploring the grounds.

Husband was almost too tall to walk through the entry way.

We spent most of the afternoon in the enormous outdoor hot pool, filled with the same water. There’s also a cold pool on site but only Husband was brave enough to briefly test it out.

Much later we enjoyed our verandah and the spectacular view. So much greenery. We were in the Wild Olive chalet. I was munching on crunchies Mum made us as padkos.

All the pretty colours, taken from our verandah.

One of the private ‘Victorian baths’ on the premises. You simply lock the doors and run the natural 43’C water, then press the button for bubbles and it’s time to relax! We only tried this one out the next morning during a sudden rain shower though.

Saturday, 21 November 2015: Rainy morning, Scrabble evening

The next morning dawned cold and dreary.

That’s me on our chalet verandah.

After a quick soak in the Victorian covered tub we dashed through the rain to the restaurant, where Husband finished off this breakfast.

I opted for a pot of tea and bowl of muesli, yoghurt and berries.

We then headed into town to buy some meat for a braai later that evening. The rain stopped on our way back and we noticed these well-groomed horsies on the way.

After a nap in the chalet we went to explore the natural rock pools on site. They’re tiny! Here is Husband looking into one. We then had another swim in the hot pool.

We’d thought to bring along our Scrabble board so got set up and played a long game all evening, with breaks to sit in the Jacuzzi and glance at the view.

Heating our toes at the braai fire.

Sunday, 22 November 2015: Breakfast, hike and home

Sunday dawned bright and sunny. Husband quickly cooked up some bacon, eggs and toast and I had a Woolies’ instant honey nut latte sachet – great idea if you’re a coffee addict going away for the weekend, as all you add is hot water 🙂

We had a final soak in our private Jacuzzi before checkout.

We stopped off to explore a different hiking trail on our way out of the grounds. Husband was interested in this aquaduct.

So lovely to be so deep in nature, surrounded by bird tweets and dappled sunlight.

Thanks for the wonderful break, Citrusdal – we’ll be back!

The best milkshake in Cape Town and doggies discover the lawnmower

“We’re all going on a Summer holiday…” OK, maybe not all of us, but me and husband sure are. And it’s only going to be three days. And the weather will likely not be Summery… but you get my drift! Expect a full update in my next post – for now, here are the past week’s highlights:

Friday, 13 November 2015: Love Scottage Pie

I’d had a long, hard Friday so once I’d finished blogging, Husband surprised my with this pretty Scottage Pie filled with love. Aww! It was absolutely delicious and we ate every last bit. ‘Scottage’ Pie is cottage pie made by a Scottish person, in case you’re wondering.

Saturday, 14 November 2015: Foodlover’s, doggies meet lawnmower, bunny chow at Mum’s

This was Husband’s breakfast burger stack concoction at Foodlover’s Market on Saturday morning.

For me, a supersized croissant and a cappuccino.

Later that day we introduced the doggies to the new lawnmower, which Husband has named “Meneer Snyman”. They crouched low and shadowed it up and down the garden, growling all the way. Such funny doggies.

Relaxing under the parents’ garden umbrella.

Later that afternoon we had chicken bunny chows from Yeh Dosti at the parents. Looks how excited most of us are!

Little Miss Bassie sat on my lap throughout. Stubborn little thing.

For dessert, strawberries with icecream.

Ha! Selfies don’t often work out for me – just loved how Bassie is rolling her eyes in this one. Plus my hair seems to be three different colours in the light.

Sunday, 15 November 2015: Currywurst, My Sugar shakes, dog walks and more

We felt like a bit of a roadtrip on Sunday, so headed off to Gardens Centre. This was Husband’s currywurst and roll he opted for as breakfast from Raith’s German deli

I had a ham and cheese roll, and this cappuccino with a gorgeous foam face. No one’s ever made a cappuccino foam face for me before, can you believe?

Seeing as we were ‘that side’ of town we decided to see if My Sugar was open and ready for us to try their milkshakes – it was a yes all round. Look at these tiny chocolate skulls, filled with caramel sauce. A bit pricy at R20 each as I’m sure I could fit 10 in my hand with ease. OK, maybe 8 in my hand and 2 in my mouth 😉

We made our tough selection and went to sit and play games while waiting for our milkshakes to arrive. Yes, we really played games. Husband figured out these wooden block puzzles in record time.

And then, the milkshakes came. You guys. Oh my word. This here is the Super Chocolate, with a round of brownie atop it. You can just make out Husband’s Butterscotch Popcorn in the bottom left. And I’m going to have to go back to try the Coffee flavour (can you believe I passed it up?), as well as Caramelised Coconut, and Miso Caramel, which is dressed with a little chocolate buddha floating on the cloud of vanilla cream. Just heavenly.

Of course we had to walk off all that sweetness, and we didn’t go alone. Bertie was so pleased to be going for walkies later that afternoon he gave his dad kisses while stepping into his walking harness. Bassie was not impressed, as you can see.

A latte in the late-afternoon sun at Doodles. Unfortunately they’re rather pricy now that their Winter specials are over, so we didn’t stay long.

Tuesday, 17 November 2015: Day 1 of AfricaCom at CTICC

This is one of the biggest expo/conference hybrids I’ve been to, by far. I attended last year so had an idea of what to expect, but my goodness was it extensive! It’s actually 16 conferences in one. Here are some of my highlights…

I finally had my first coffee for the day just after 11am while walking through the AfricaCom expo, in a five-minute lull between the interviews I’d set up beforehand – on other ends of the centre. Huff, puff…

Finally got to lunch at around 2pm – my first food of the day, eaten standing up. I followed a delicious portion of sweet-and-sour chicken noodles with these three mini desserts – fruity custard flan, custard slice and chocolate mousse/marshmallow ‘tot’.

That’s all for now, folks! Check in again next Friday for my next set of visual highlights 🙂

Conference treats, final assignment submission milkshakes and pink skies

What a week it’s been! Over and above the usual doggy-parenting, working and remembering to eat, this past week was the final one of the UCT GetSmarter part-time online SEO course I’ve been busy with for the past 10 weeks. As a result the assignments we had to complete were the most comprehensive yet and I only really finished on Sunday, so we have fewer pics than usual for you to peruse, but rest assured everything will be back to normal from this week! Yay! Relief! 🙂

Friday, 6 November 2015: Reputation Matters conference treats

I should have mentioned I’d been out conferencing last Friday but my brain was frazzled so I forgot to tell you anything about it! It’s hard work live-tweeting (especially if the Wi-Fi’s spotty and your phone’s 3G doesn’t play along), while also taking down notes, networking and taking in what’s being said, but someone has to do it! These teatime treats make up for it…

Saturday, 7 November 2015: Wimpy breakfast, Jerry’s burgers dins

We had lots of errands to run last Saturday morning so wanted a fast breakfast – Wimpy did the trick. That’s my toasted cheese (on a stick) with chips and a Mega coffee. You can just make out Husband’s streaky bacon breakfast at the other end of the table, by the Tabasco sauce bottle.

We’d heard that a branch of Jerry’s ‘burgers, craft and shine’ (that’s craft beer and moonshine) had opened in our area so went to have a looksie once I’d done as much assignment-ing as possible that eve. Here is Husband, hiding behind the menu

That’s my apple-pie milkshake treat. Delicious and oh-so-sweet.

We enjoyed munching on hot, salty crisps while awaiting our burgers (they didn’t take that long to arrive)

Tadaah! Husband had the drunken chicken, which was ‘nice’, and had to help me finish my Jerry’s Original with Swiss cheese.

Sunday, 8 November 2015: Breakfast at Stodels, celebratory milkshake at Mike’s Kitchen

We wanted to do some garden nursery things on Sunday so started off with breakfast at Lisa’s in Stodels. Here is Husband with his double-lemon slice Cola.

For me, a tall cappuccino. I was either at table 5 or table 27. Not sure how the waiters knew.

One of the glossy chickens we’d seen huddled up on the doorstep the previous week came over to ask for some scraps. Alas, we were all done by the time he reached us.

This is what we’d been to the nursery for – jasmine to grow along a trellis! Husband created this (it involved sawing the roof off of the unused doggy house) while I was sweating over my final assignment. I was pleased with the outcome, as was Bertie, as you can see.

And much later that afternoon, I clicked ‘submit’ on my final assignment. Yay! We headed off to Mikes Kitchen where I tried the Oreo-caramel treat milkshake. It was goooood and I needed a long spoon to dig out all the bits of biscuit and caramel globs. Yummo.

Later at mum’s, we had strawberries with ice-cream.

Tuesday, 10 November 2015: Lentil bobotie and pink skies

Mum created this wonderful lentil bobotie for our dins on Tuesday eve.

The sky that evening was spectacular, with lots of our neighbours posting amazing photos of sunset over the sea. I snapped this quickly while looking out the bedroom window.

That’s all, folks! 🙂

Orphaned duckies, icecream sandwiches and fireworks on the beach

My parents were out of power for most of last Sunday due to the electricity pylon that toppled over after a storm in the area (you’ve probably heard about it, it made all the top news – if you missed it, click here!) As a result, we headed to the nearest Mike’s Kitchen to try their carvery Sunday lunch. That’s just one of this week’s highlights though, see below…

Friday, 30 November 2015: Sunset gazing from our back verandah

After last week’s blogging, I simply had to capture the pretty sunset sky.

Saturday, 31 October 2015: Eden Cafe breakfast, Earth Cafe dins

We headed out bright and early last Saturday to get some weekend admin sorted before I settled myself at the laptop to work on my latest assignments. Eden Cafe was the only place in Eden on the Bay open for breakfast. Not that we minded! Here is my cappuccino with a shortbread square on the side

To eat, I always go for their flapjacks with marscapone, fresh banana slices and walnuts. Delightful.

Husband opted for their surfer panini filled with scrambled eggs and bacon. Not his usual eggs ben.

Much, much later we ventured out again for dins from the reopened Earth Cafe in Parklands. I had their sweet-and-sour chicken.

Here is Husband with his favourite seafood noodles

Sunday, 1 November 2015: Joe’s Diner brekkie, Mike’s Kitchen carvery

We started our chilly Sunday at Canal Walk. I opted for a cappuccino and breakfast waffle, as you can see…

Husband had an English brekkie. Note he is bookended by Tabasco sauce and a large Cola, so he’s happy.

We walked through the gaming display. Husband had a few moments of fun.

We all enjoyed the carvery at Mike’s Kitchen that afternoon. I regret not trying one of their fancy milkshakes like the chocolate-cherry or Oreo-caramel treat option. Next time!

It was so cold that afternoon that the resident chickens at the local nursery were all huddled on the welcome mat.

Note how Bertie’s bear is missing its facial features? He says it’s favourite song is “I can’t feel my face when I’m with you“. Teehee

Homemade ice-cream sandwiches at Mum’s house for tea, much later…

Monday, 2 November 2015: Curry suppers

We do like curry on a Monday. We’d noticed Yeh Dosti Durban curries in the same centre as Mike’s Kitchen on Sunday, so popped in after work on Monday to try them out. This is Husband’s chicken curry. So good we were back again tonight!

I just went for the toasted bean curry. Nice thick white bread. The fire hydrant to my left is a good sign 🙂

Tuesday, 4 November: Duckies at Husband’s work

Look at these sweet little duckies splashing about at Husband’s work! A colleague of his stopped to pick them up after they were left orphaned on her way to work on Tuesday. They spent the day cheeping for their mom.

Thursday, 5 November: Guy Fawkes fireworks on the beach

I know, I know. They left a huge mess – but it’s all since been cleared up. And as they were on the beachfront, organised by City of Cape Town, hardly any fireworks were let off in the suburbs. We weren’t intending to attend but were struck by a whim after dins, so packed the beach chairs in the boot and set off to see what we could see. We also experienced the kindness of strangers when we lost our car keys in the sand. Husband hugged the guy who eventually found them, after much digging through the dunes.

And that is that, folks! Here’s to another great weekend ahead…