It seems fitting to blog about Christmas the day before the next year begins. And so, I present to you Christmas 2014. There were just four of us for lunch at the new housie this year – six if you include the doggy children, so it was easier than last year’s heaving table, when we had lots of Joburg rellies to feed – click here for a reminder…
Christmas Day 2014: Lunch with all the trimmings
Christmas Day dawned with the realisation that we were missing a few essential items for Christmas lunch – such as honey for the honey-orange duck basting. So to the shops we went. Here is Husband waiting not-so-patiently for the shops to open. See other not-so-patient man with arms folded in top leftChristmas breakfast! Of course I had my coffee in a reindeer mug. The packaged pastries are a pain au chocolat and almond croissant. But forget about me, look how Bertie’s sitting in this photo, with his back legs so skew. Funny little dog,Christmas table, before food was addedDoggy Christmas treats! Plus they had bits and pieces from Christmas lunch. So much, in fact, that they didn’t finish their dins that night.Then all of a sardine it was almost lunch time! Bassie got kisses when Granny arrived…Bertie had a nap from the affection overload aimed in his directionThen Bertie smelled the food and got into the Christmas spirit. Unfortunately the hat was too big for his head and slipped around his shoulders. Hence his sad faceMum, me and dad, all eagerly awaiting Christmas lunchLunch is served, folks! This is our tuna-avo starter Mum concocted. Delicious!“Curving the tarkey”, as his dad would say – or duck, as this year would have it. Worked out well, and not as fatty as I’d been led to believeLunch is served! Excuse blurriness of photo, I was so excited to get started. What you see here is a plate positively heaving with slices of duck, gammon, roast potatoes, hot veg and mini corn spearsDessert! Mum’s homemade individual triflesSide view of the trifle, so you can see all the finger biscuits, jelly, custard and nutsFamily photo – Bassie ran off when she saw we were taking a photo though, so you’ll have to take my word that she’s sitting just out of the shotAfter lunch, Bertie sat sweetly on the bed…And grinned when his dad took an extreme close-up of his noseChristmas lights all aglow on the tree – looks like only the red lights are going but they’re all asparkle
Boxing Day 2014: Hiking to the elusive Woodstock Cave
Boxing Day breakfast – there is Husband making his way through the haloumi avo toast stack at our nearest Food Lover’s Market. Trusty Coke and Tabasco sauce at the ready
Bellies purring from breakfast, we decided to be brave and cross another Cape hike off our list – we’ve done quite a few already. A colleague had recently hiked to the ‘Woodstock Cave’ – it’s actually about 2/3 of the way up Devil’s Peak, so the name’s misleading. But we endeavoured to find it and a-hiking we went…
Screenshot from Google Earth of the path we followed on our hike – we started at Rhodes Memorial and took a few detours. About 7km in total, and rather steep uphills in places… similar to hiking up Table Mountain along the Platteklip GorgeTaking a much-needed photo break about halfway up the pathHusband looking up at the caveHusband looking down at the way we’d comeIn the cave! Gorgeous view of the coastlineProof we were in the cave together. Nice cool mossy walls behind usTaking in the view while I caught my breathLong shot from inside the cave – yes that’s still me catching my breathHusband doing the obligatory ‘holding up the walls, don’t know how much longer I can do so’ pose…Having a Cola to cool down after the hike. Of course I took a selfie when the bottle told me to – though that’s not much of a smile
That’s all from me for 2014, folks! See you online in the new year 🙂
The end of January is usually time to slow down from the excitement of the new year. But not in our family. For the past two years this has been the time of year my parents-in-law have come to visit us from Joburg (here’s a reminder of last year’s visit) – it’s the perfect time for them to do so as it’s slap bang between my husband’s birthday and mine, and this year they also had a 90th birthday to celebrate – I’ll blog about that another time though.
Why not blog about it all in one go, you ask? Well, with over 200 photos taken across our various cameras and phones it was hard to pick just a few, but these are my favourites from their first few days with us…
Saturday, 1 February 2014 – collected parents from the airport, explored Hout Bay, had supper at Simply Asia
We had ‘Boy’ and ‘Girl’ cans of pop at Mariner’s Wharf in Hout Bay along with a fish-and-chipp-y lunch once we’d collected the parents from the airport
We ate at Simply Asia that night as a delayed birthday meal for the lovely birthday boy. The waiter was kind enough to take a photo
Sunday, 2 February 2014 – we visited the Sunday Market in Milnerton and the Italian Club’s lunch buffet
We celebrated the parents’ visit with my parents the next day, by having the buffet offered by the Italian Club once a monthThe queue to eat! Such delicious, authentic foodSee? Mmmm it was goodMy favourite coffee milkshake from the Italian ClubEating with his momNot enjoying the dessert quite as much as he did the mains
Tuesday, 4 February 2014 – boys climbed Lion’s Head
Success! They conquered Lion’s HeadTaking in the breath-taking view on top
Wednesday, 5 February – dogs were walked on the beach, lunch at Driftwood Café, home-braaied roast lamb
Pretty birdies at the beachDuring his walk, Bertie made his way on to some rocks and couldn’t find his way back. See the panic on his face? His dad had to hop across to rescue himLunch at the Driftwood Cafe is always filled with the sound of ruffled feathers as various birdies come to see what you’re eatingLunch at the Driftwood Cafe to celebrate hubby’s new jobVery suspicious of this photo-taking business, the cooks wereThe only way to cut up left over lamb bone…Much to the doggies’ delight
That’s all for now, folks – watch out for my next blog post, which will cover the last bit of the parent’s visit this past weekend, including snaps from three parties (two for the same person) 🙂
Ah, Christmas time. I am fully in Christmas mode once I’ve had my annual viewing of ‘Love, Actually’ for the year. And while December’s not exactly a ‘mistletoe and wine, snowy winter wonderland’ in South Africa, it’s still a favourite holiday for many.
Last year was a different one as it’s the first Christmas in almost a decade that we didn’t spend with hubby’s family (click here for a reminder).
This year was especially special for us as some of the Joburg rellies we’d not seen in months came down to spend time with us. In addition to brother-in-law Spec (click here for more of his early Cape Town adventures), we have Gords and Natalie in the house… and their visit is all the more special as they got engaged at Sunset Beach on Christmas Eve! So, lots of excitement all in all.
Added to this, it was our first ever year hosting the main Christmas meal, but with minimal stress (mainly on my part, as I’m the worrywart in this family), we produced an excellent spread! Clifton braaied the turkey based on a combination of advice from his dad and recipes he picked up online, mom made her famous potato salad with sausage and gherkin bits, there was gammon with candied clementines, and for dessert mom outdid herself with the best trifle ever (cherry jelly, custard, a base of Christmas cake, cream and fresh cherries and blackberries, mmm).
Here are some pics of the celebrations…
Christmas Eve – 24 December 2013
The pretty tree – finally put the lights up on Christmas Eve!While Gords and Nats went to Sunset Beach on Christmas Eve, the three of us stayed home and ate pizza while waiting to hear if she’d said yesStill trying to distract ourselves from the suspense of waiting to hear if she said YES with some Dance Central! (She did) 🙂The lovely engaged couple on Sunset Beach
Christmas Day – 25 December 2013
Bassie getting into the Christmas spiritJust some of the doggies’ presentsBertie took his present outside but didn’t manage the complicated opening process“Daddy help us open it!”Bassie REALLY enjoyed all her Christmas treats!Christmas conversation in full swingMy lovely family – hubby, dad and mom ❤Waiting not-so-patiently for the turkey to finish it’s cooking process – those are hungry grins!Mmm, turkey in the WeberBraaied turkey on a base of potatoes with bacon topping – success!Proving her status as dessert queen! Best homemade tiramisu and trifle everPuppies having a nap with granny, all tuckered out after Christmas lunchCooling off in the pool
Boxing Day – 26 December 2013
Boxing Day breakfast pizza and Coke at Primi – Spec had the same, I had a more sophisticated croissant and cappuccinoAbove Noordhoek – the water was so beautiful todayAbove Muizenberg on our Boxing Day drive
That’s all for now folks, keep an eye out for more pics of the Joburg visit to Cape Town – coming soon…
Can’t believe we’ve only been in our new housie for a week and in Cape Town for just over a month now. The days are endless with eternal sunshine, which means we’ve been able to fit in so much sightseeing and we have a pretty good idea of what’s where now.
As promised, I’ve taken a few photos of our lovely house, I’ll post them below – still no camera I’m afraid, so excuse the quality …
Lovely mosaic number outsideWalking around the garden with mum and dad. The dogs love running all the way around, especially Bertie 🙂Nothing better than a cup of coffee on the swingbench after a long daySwingbench was later moved for wind protection!View of bougainvillea and patio from my ‘office’Giving the kitchen a good workout!Doggies relaxing in the loungeSuch a big house, we have to shout to be heard in another room!
In other news, working from home is proving most enjoyable and we’re looking forward to our first visit from my in-laws next weekend, yay 🙂
Hope your year’s off to a great start.
PS: If we stand on our very tippy toes and look in just the right spot, we can see a corner of Table Mountain.
Helloooooo, loyal reader! Happy new year to you, I hope this will be a great one for us all and that all our dreams come true. 🙂 It’s the end of ‘holiday time’ for us here as the work year kicks in, but different to most years, I’m excited to get started. We’re moving into our new housie at the end of the week and I’ve set up my ‘office’ at my folks to keep me going until then, this will be a fun new challenge!
In the mean time we’ve done quite a bit more exploring of our new home town, here are some pics …
Nuwe hare vir ‘n nuwe jaarBending with the very bendy trees at Rhodes MemorialVery punny. Clifton viewing Clifton ViewOh look, he’s found himself!Sundowners in Melkbosstrand, take 1Sundowners in Melkbosstrand, take 2Leaning out the train to cheer as we passed Newlands during a day of cricketThe outdoor gym in Sea Point. Confusing to some.View from Table MountainView of Camps Bay from Maiden’s Cove
Apologies for low res pics. Good luck if you’re starting work this week … we’re in the same boat 🙂
Ramblings, rumblings and random ruminations. Also reviews, recommendations and alliteration. Based on living the good life in the fairest Cape. This is not a food blog.
Rambling Litchi 