Husband faces Man vs Food non-challenge, Bertie meets fireplace and new tree

Helloooooo, blog reader! Why yes, we are indeed at the outer edge of another weekend. The past week’s highlights are below, plus I have a new treat in store for you – Husband has started a Zomato account, so you can read up on his thoughts of our meals out – don’t just rely on my photos. Click here to see his first few reviews, all from the past week, and scroll down below to see some of my favourite sights…

Friday, 10 April 2015: Sunrise and burger specials

We left the house early enough to catch the sunrise last Friday. Tis a very long road indeed to work. Roughly 17km one way.

My chocolate shake at Plur Cafe, just down the road from home last Friday, when I finally reached home ground again.

Husband even looks well rested against this beachy decor – he’d been in bed with a migraine all day, poor thing. His burger with mushroom sauce soon perked him up, though.

Saturday, 11 April 2015: Breakfast at Signal Gun, tree planting and lupper at Sticky Fingers

A foam heart with halo things at the Ke Monate restaurant at Signal Gun along the Durbanville wine route. Couldn’t start the day without it.

Here is Husband with his Coke, at last. The large tree behind him was dressed in all sorts of fabric.

Poor Husband, sitting and waiting for his breakfast to arrive. Took almost an hour. Luckily the setting really was something to look at and distract us.

See? One tiny section of the Signal Gun…

Dappled sunlight and all. Boom.

Finally there was food! This was my healthy option – plain yoghurt, honey, lots of fresh fruit and granola under it all

Husband had the’ladies poached’ – basically eggs ben on hash browns with the hollandaise in a side dish, to smear on as you wish.

Look who we found, while wandering around our local Stark Ayres nursery! The eagle owl who’d take up residence at West Coast Village the week before!

Husband explaining something (probably about the new tree) to Bertie.

Bertie was Very Interested in the whole tree planting process. We now have a young Natal Fig smack bang in our back garden, yay!

My coffee shake at Sticky Fingers, Obz. The waiter wanted me to try a fancier option, like the Ferrero Rocher concoction, clearly not understanding my love of all things java ( Ahem, apart from java script. Am not a coder, as I learned in previous day job).

Husband enjoyed his craft beer at Sticky Fingers

My bacon cheese fries. An enormous portion, and the bacon had a sweet marinade of sorts. Actually couldn’t finish, even with Husband’s help. Gave my doggy box to the car guard.

Husband tucking into the Man vs Food ‘from hell’ supposedly hot burger. He raised an eyebrow and wolfed it down.

Sunday, 12 April 2015: More gardening, more breakfast, and a funny Bassie

Yay, a little side biscuit with my Sunday morning breakfast! This was at Lisa’s, at Stodel’s Garden Centre near Royal Ascot

Husband had this Dutch Uitsmuijter breakfast.

I had this very large croissant, filled with apricot jam and grated cheese.

The table has a tail! Oh wait, that’s Bassie hiding from the camera. Funny child.

Tuesday, 14 April 2015: Rainy sunrise and office cupcakes

Another sunrise on the way to work, this time in the rain.

Who ever said pink and red don’t mix well clearly did not try these little delights from Woolies.

Thursday, 16 April 2015: Fireplace tester

Bertie and his dad discussing the fire. We used the fireplace for the first time in this house during a nasty bout of loadshedding while a chilly wind blew. T’was marvelous. Warm and bright and toasty.

As seen with the flash on the camera.

That’s all, folks! Feels like winter gave us an early lick last week, here’s hoping for a final touch of summer over the next few days!

Steampunk weddings and luxury high teas

If you’ve read this blog often enough you’ll know my weekends are all about relaxing. So it’s rare for a weekend to have any big featured event other than a beach visit or lazy breakfast. That’s what makes this past weekend SUPER special as I did not one but two very fun, photo-filled things – the first, to start the weekend on a happy note, was a steampunk-themed wedding celebration on Friday eve for one of the nicest couples Cape Town has to offer, the other, to end the weekend on a happy note, was a delicious high tea with my former minions. Both events were wonderful in their own way, and of course, as you know, that’s not all we did, though I didn’t include photos of it all… see my highlights below.

Wednesday, 29 October: October Bright Talk at Bright Day Studio, Woodstock

Handmade (obviously) mosaic mirror on sale at Bright Day Studio in Woodstock. I want. So does our new house, I just know it

Friday, 31 October 2014: Steampunk wedding celebrations at Truth Coffee, Cape Town CBD

Truth Coffee – the ultimate setting for a steampunk-themed wedding with all its big brass coffee machines

One of the coffee machines I mentioned in the previous pic’s caption

Husband and coffee. Two of my big loves. That’s the Truth (harhar, we get it, so corny, etc)

Wedding couple front and centre with my own sweet Husband in his steampunk outfit to the left (yes, that is a silver can opener in his jacket pocket, and a brown Batman teeshirt peeking out from under his suit jacket. With a cowboy/Indiana Jones hat on his head. So steampunk.)

The groom’s wedding hat was such a work of art I had to try it on. And promptly took it right off again. All the bits and bobs should give you a hint that it was heavy! Plus I didn’t want to crush my fascinating fascinator…

My beautiful fan wedding favour, and note the blue fascinator clip in my hair, thoughtfully made for me by my former minion when I mentioned I had nothing steampunky to wear. She also helped me decide on the rest of my outfit on the day through a Skype chat, without even seeing a single item in my closet as she’s a steampunk expert! The purple ‘record’ bag was my own addition.

Standing with the beautiful bride in front of the comfy booths at Truth

Red sparkling wine to toast the newlyweds, my favourite! Think Husband’s stern expression is one of concentration. He was very happy, promise, just focused on getting us centred in the selfie

See, here he is looking playful – he’d added two of the feathers from our booth’s snack platter to his can opener in his pocket

Just look at the wedding cake! One of the chocolatiest ever.

“How do you cut a wedding cake like that?” Like this!

The groom’s well-decorated wedding glass

Saturday, 1 November 2014: Newspaper reading at home, sunset-gazing

Teehee, look at his fake shock! In case you can’t see what he’s pointing to, that’s me on the far right in an ‘out and about’ social pic in the Weekend Argus. I’ve made it, you guys. Please form an orderly line for my autograph when next you see me.

Pretty pink clouds.

Sunday, 2 November 2014: Breakfast at Bread & Butter, Sunningdale, beach clean-up at Dolphin Beach, high tea at the Table Bay Hotel

Such a pretty pink cup of ccino at Bread & Butter Sunningdale, where we had breakfast on Sunday

Beach selfie! This was at Dolphin Beach on Sunday, my favourite as it’s got that icing sugar-quality sand and hardly ever has any litter (though we each picked up a handful)

Posing in front of the seal statue out front (back?) of the Table Bay Hotel

“Your first course is served, Marm” – delectable savouries and a two-and-a-half-cups-filling tea pot. We tucked in to our tea while waiting for Duncan to arrive. Mine was Vanilla Bourbon, Jana had Jasmine Pearl

Caught in the act! Taking a photo of our savouries.

Second course scones. Mini gluten-free and choc-chip. One each. With softest butter, fig compote and star-of-the-high-tea lemon curd…

My third course. This is the best as you’re allowed to choose as many sweet goods as you like from the buffet table. You can have just the buffet course with a single pot of tea for R100, it’s a steal! Our three-course, three-pot option was R185. Yes, 11 things on my plate. What looks like cream on top of the rainbow cheesecake slice is actually a mini meringue on its side, and the cake slice is resting on another thingy. I forget what. It was squashed, but good.

Jana’s more civilised looking third course – note she has lots of different things to what you saw on my plate, and we still didn’t taste everything between us!

PS: Thanks to Jana for all her help getting us ready for the steampunk event, and for arranging the high tea! She’s awesome, see her blog here.

Vampirically good Sunday sundaes and Husband has a haircut

How do you celebrate working your final Sunday shift? With a sundae, of course. A ‘Sunday sundae’, if you will. And I knew just the one I wanted when the time came to celebrate this exact event. See, when my not-quite-was-and-now-never-will-be boss told me I absolutely HAD to try the Mondiall chocolate sundae for dessert as part of our team dinner I blogged about a few weeks ago, that sundae was so good it left chocolate squiggles on my heart that have been flowing since then. Almost like a vampire’s blood lust. And sticking with the monster theme (I have purple hair, I’m allowed), the fact that my last attempt at photographing it was a no-go meant I repeated ‘Mondialllll chocolate sundaeeee’ almost zombie-like each time Husband asked what I wanted as a treat. So, I present to you…

The Mondiall chocolate sundae. Best Sunday sundae ever.

Now it may LOOK like it’s just strawberries and ice cream but you can’t see just how chocolatey it is. I assure you there’s also caramel syrup, a nut table, chocolate biscuit bits and more swirled in there. Also, this is probably the best shot of my purple hair

And was it good? Was it ever. Absolutely worth the R45 price tag, and the fact that Husband could sip a draught beer in the sunshine while live jazz music smoothed us from stressy Sunday morning into soothed Sunday evening made it all the better.

But of course, that’s not all we did this weekend. In fact, my weekend was Friday and Saturday, seeing as I was working Sunday. See my other weekend highlights below, such as reliving my best French toast breakfast experience…

Friday, 19 September 2014: Best French toast at Cassia, Nitida with parents

The first time my parents went to Nitida they were actually headed to the OTHER restaurant on the wine estate, much further back on the property. But Cassia is right at the entrance so they walked in and got their waitress to cancel their booking at ‘the other place’. It’s that good! (PS: No offence to ‘the other place’, we just love Cassia so much we never venture past it!)

I love the lighting at Cassia

Delightful array of breakfast drinks – cappuccino (mine), orange juice (mom’s), glass of bubbly (dad’s)

Yes, it was cold enough for us to sit by the fire. Right in front of it, in fact. We ended up warm as wombats. (What? Wombats live in Australia. They’re warm, trust me.)

Dad had a waffle with a side of bacon, as you do

My French toast with tart berry puree and a crispy bacon rasher on each. Absolutely scrumptious (and yes, sadly still wearing a scarf in September – come onnnn, Summer!)

Saturday, 20 September 2014: Breakfast at Damhuis in Melkbos, traintripping, Table Mountain gazing

One of my many criteria for a good breakfast cappuccino is a tasty little biscuit on the side. At Damhuis in Melkbos, said ‘side biscuit’ is a tiny rusk. Just perfect!

Husband with his Benedicty breakfast at Damhuis. (But pic is more to show you his ‘before’ hair, so take note)…

I had the ‘Small breakfast’ – still enough to line my tummy though!

For we had an adventure-filled day that included a train trip…

Proof of Husband on the train (and another sneaky shot of his ‘before hair’)

Yes I know I’m positively biased towards anything purple, but aren’t these flowers just darling? These are at McPherson’s in Table View, I’m going to have to try recreate the look in our new garden, once we’ve finally moved in (Eep)

My mountain. Anywhere I can eat good food for a good price AND see the mountain gets points from me – so McPherson’s is way up on my ‘favourite places’ list

Bassie meets Joshi. Bassie not so sure of little people

Sunday, 21 September: Doggie naps and Husband’s haircut

Doggies having nap. Sort of.

Doggies politely leaning on Granny’s leg to let her know they’d like some of the homemade pie too (please)

Husband caught in the act with his mouth full of (healthy) dessert and will you look at his sweet haircut! I did tell them both to smile, promise.

No sunset pics this week alas, will atone for the lack in next post, hopefully. Over and out kids, I know I’m not the only one who is exhausted by public holidays in the middle of the week. Enjoy the coming weekend!

Hot dogs with a side of Elvis and Hermanus bliss

In our old life – meaning the days in Joburg, before we lived at the seaside – exercising the dogs meant a run around the park every once in a while, as shown here. Post-2012, it’s been a case of getting them to the beach as often as we can for a sandy wet drag/pull/bark like this, in one of my very first blog posts after the Big Move.

That’s exactly what we did on Saturday, albeit a little later than usual in the day as I worked my final Saturday shift for most of the day. But the ‘hot dogs’ I referred to in today’s blog post title are the ‘sausage in a roll’ type, not happy warm canines, as we went to the Elvis-themed ‘On a Roll’ hot dog café in Mowbray, opposite the Fat Cactus, as a ‘weekend has finally started’ treat.

Then Sunday was magical in that ‘let’s go on a roadtrip so the weekend feels longer than it really is’ sense, as our friend Alex was taking his son Joshi to stay with his granny in Hermanus for a few days, and we thought, “Why not tag along?’ Why not, indeed. And so, I present to you, the past weekend in photos…

Saturday, 13 September 2014: Working at mom’s house, saucy hot dogs at On a Roll, doggy sunset

Had to change my work location to Mom’s house when our internet went on a go-slow soon after I started my Saturday shift. Bonus – lovely coffee as pictured, along with multiple breakfast treats

He’s “all shook up” to meet me! And says he “ain’t nothing but a hound dog!” (K those are as cheesy as my grin, I’ll stop)

We sat in a booth right behind Elvis the doorman. See the mustard and tomato sauce-coloured walls (oddly similar to our current kitchen walls, lol)

Husband and Bertie on beach, birdy flying past top left

More birdies taking a slow trip overhead

Husband leading boy dog back to car after successful beach walk

Standard shot of sandy-nosed Bassie post-beach walk

Hahaha! Just look at the sandy-ness!

Gorgeous golden sun eating up the horizon

Bassie was awestruck for a little while, so sweet

Bertie watched the sun set for a few seconds too before he got distracted by other things

Sunday, 14 September 2014: Cloudy, grey Hermanus roadtrip and first braai of 2014 at the parents’ house

Road trip breakfast – McD’s does the trick!

Roadtrip!

Hermanus. It’s like a postcard

Here are Alex and Joshi, to prove it’s not a postcard

Admiring the sea view before the weather took a turn for the worst. We’d built up an appetite by then…

Best club sandwich EVER at Dutchies on the Hermanus beach front. Look at that smile!

BEST cheesecake. The bottom wasn’t the biscuit base you’d expect – instead a caramel brittle that enhanced the cake’s citrus zing.

Am definitely having this next time. AND the cheesecake.

A hot Amarula coffee. With tasty biccie on the side (tick). Yummo

Husband admiring the inside of the mossy cave

We found a mossy cave while trying to burn off our large lunch

Husband admiring the sea view after a quick walk through the Hermanus fynbos

Hermanus mountains, so different to the standard Cape skyline

Seagull proudly guarding the Hermanus sea

Interesting sign by one of the walkways in Hermanus

Beautiful gloomy conditions

Then we drove back home for lupper at the parents. Mum sitting at their pretty new summer blue (it’s teal, really) garden table by the purple tree

Having a laugh

Only the best burger toppings at Mum’s, including her famous potato salad

Delicious sights and tastes… let’s hope the coming weekend holds more of the same!

Bussing around Cape Town

If you’re wondering know why we chose the Table View area when we moved to Cape Town, you don’t have to ‘wander’ too far (cheesy, I know) – the area’s name gives it away. This photo my mom took a few weeks ago, when spring was first making its presence felt, shows just how beautiful that ‘Table View’ really is…

Gorgeous view of the mountain and wild flowers

Or how about this one, taken while having dins outdoors at our local St Elmo’s on the beach, which is just 5 minutes down the road…

St Elmo’s on the beach

Something we didn’t factor in when we decided to live this side of the city? The traffic. It’s gridlocked in morning and evening peak hours, which means you need to leave super early or really late if you’re travelling by car to avoid it. This is a pic hubby took in the middle of winter one evening on his way home from work)…

Misty mornings and moonshine evenings in Woodbridge Island

Beautiful, but eerie, no? And even at 6am/ 6pm, there’s a fair deal of traffic on the roads.

But all is not lost, thank to the MyCiti bus. This isn’t your average bus or anything like the Gautrain in Gauteng. No Sirree. It has its own special pink bus lanes that it zooms along on, passing the bumper-to-bumper traffic. It’s affordable, sticks to its schedule, gives me the chance to not only catch up on some sleep (most people nod off during the 40-minute or so journey from Table View to Civic Centre), but also – probably more importantly – to keep up the weekend hiking high by slotting a bit of exercise into my daily routine, as walking to and from the closest station to work and home is about 2km per day in total.

But we don’t just use the bus for the ‘daily commute’ – today we took our motorbike in for a service and used the opportunity to get around town without setting foot in a car. We caught the train to Kalk Bay, walked around in the sunshine exploring the many book stores and gazing at the gorgeous baked treats on offer everywhere, got our caffeine fix through one of the best milkshake-style iced coffees I’ve ever had, imbibed a beer at the Brass Bell while watching the crashing waves, caught the train back to town, then used the MyCiti bus to get to the nearest station home 🙂 What fun we had!

BEST iced coffee at Kalk Bay Espresso, you can sit in the actual coach dining car too, which turns 100 years old next year – definitely trying the pancakes next time!

Watching the crashing waves while waiting for our drinks to arrive at ‘Beach at the Bell’:

If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that we really enjoy this type of day trip, as we had a ‘public transport day’ when we first moved down to Cape Town almost a year ago (click here for a reminder of the two of us on the train to Simon’s Town).

This is me in a typical MyCiti station on the weekend – not crowded at ALL:

Empty bus stationing

So yes. Explore your city – treat it as a tourist would. If you live in CT, you don’t even need a car to do so! 🙂

Thank you for finally visiting our lovely city again, summer – we’ll be taking many more of these trips as a result. Watch this space!