This week has had more than it’s usual share of highs and lows. Wednesday when I was going to see my Osteo, my car finally decide to just give up and refused to climb Table Mountain. In fact it started to slip backwards. On a blind curve. Lovely. Luckily there was no one behind me and I just let my car drift back from the spot it broke down to a bus loading zone and hoped no buses came along. I rang Norm who came to meet me, this time he couldn’t manage to manipulate the gears to get it moving like he had the previous week when it broke down. This time it was not going anywhere. We phoned for a tow truck and settled in to wait. Well I did at least, Norm whipped out his Neighborhood watch high viz vest and set about directing traffic. I can lie for hours staring at nothing but he has to be busy. He also loves playing cops. He’s so cute.

The car was left for diagnosis and repair. I got it back tonight, R11k bucks later. FML. Oh well hope it is now safe to drive, I do still want to trade it.

On Thursday I had a job interview with a consulting firm so Norm drove me there. They have a few different roles which would suit me, another telco migration, setting up a MDM practice and just generic BA roles would all be a perfect fit for me. I have a few friends there so it won’t be like a completely new start with a building full of strangers. Fingers crossed they make an offer. I’m ready for a change. I need a change. Of all of the roles I have applied or interviewed for this one feels the most right. So fingers crossed please!

After work early on Friday we had leaving drinks for our technical lead Colin who is going to work for another company. As we work mostly with blokes and have them organising our outings we ended up at the Beerhouse for our drinks event.

The Beerhouse pride themselves on having loads of different varieties and many different brewing countries of beers available, their logo says 99 beers. Which of course triggered me to go into drunk parrot mode and repeat ‘I got 99 problems but a beer ain’t one’ over and over in what I am sure was a very annoying manner. We had a charming waiter who was from an African French speaking country, he made some quip about something sounding better in French to which I responded with the usual idiot phrase of “Comment allez vous” to which he rattled off a string of actual proper French, leaving me sitting with my mouth open. Guess he is not a local fella. He was full of flattery, possibly not realising I was not the one holding the company credit card!

We had a variety of snacks there, they do a beer and snack pairing which I found very cute. What goes with chilli corn nuts? Well a Belgian blonde of course! Why not hope she is holding a beer while you are ordering? Really you should have a devils peak something or other, but don’t mess up my nonsense with beerfacts.

We had the flammkuchen which is a sort of pizza crust /toasted pita sort of thing with a variety of toppings. It was really nice, but we were given a variety of combos chosen at the whim of our wee French waiter. I’m not a huge blue cheese fan and they all seemed to have it. Or maybe it was goat cheese but it was strong and overwhelming but overall they were very tasty. We also had a few plates of the giant onion rings and some of the snacks. Our MD had this thing:

I can only drink so much beer so a colleague and I went against the flow and had a few bottles of Sauvignon Blanc. A small bottle cost R140 so it was not cheap! Glad the boss was paying.

They have tasting options as well they even have charts to guide the novices. The vibe is picnic tables and easily wiped down surfaces, always a good idea in a beer house. I loved the idea that they have a happy hour and if you go onto their twitter page and pick up the password, you can go to the bar and get a free pint until the designated 5 barrels for the day is finished.
It was really vibey and busy and full of energy as is most of Long St, so we stayed much longer than intended. Rhona gave me a lift home so at least Norm got a break from going back and forth to the city. Bless him.

Saturday I had an appointment to continue with laser torture. Luckily there was only an hour of torture booked. Afterwards Lily and I went to the village to run errands. I bought a cute little bracelet for my friend Barbara’s birthday party that evening. I loved it so much I may go back and buy one for myself. If you are ever looking for a present in Hout Bay for a budget then pop in to Colours, 021 7900677. It is located just next to the coffee shop ‘Caffeine’ and is chock full of lovely things. I can always count on this shop for when I have a budget of under R200.

We then popped into the sale at Pic n Pay and I got a new top and sweater to wear out that night to the party, and I managed to get a gift for everyone in the family in the sale and a nice cushy knit cardi for me. We walked out with a giant bag of bargains. Don’t you love sales?? And as a rubenesque woman it’s infrequent the sales have my size left! This made it extra special.

We then went for lunch at Deli Delish in Hout Bay down near the beach. I have not been there since they changed ownership, not out of protest or anything dramatic, I just haven’t been on that side of town during lunch for a while. I would never have known they had changed other than having seen it on FB and the previous owner was always very visible. If the new owners were on site I didn’t notice them and they didn’t ask if we enjoyed our meal which the previous owner always did. That personal touch is always good.

But the place seems the same, they appear to have painted the interior a nice soft colour, and they took down some of the darker art which I never liked that was on the walls previously, so it seems nice and bright.

The menu is pretty similar but there are some new dishes on offer. We decided to get 2 different sandwiches and share them. We ordered the chicken breast and the beef. Both of them came on ciabatta which was just lightly toasted.
SEARED BEEF SANDWICH 68
Seared soy basted beef with fresh rocket, feta & pepperdews on a toasted ciabatta.
TOSCANA SANDWICH 48
Lightly crumbed chicken breast served with lettuce, tomato & sweet chillinaise on toasted ciabatta.
The chicken sandwich was a large breast, lightly fried and not at all oily. For those unfamiliar to the term chillinaise it is a mix of mayonnaise and sweet chilli dip. It’s a magical concoction indeed.

The beef was thin slices of incredibly tender and juicy roasted beef. Really divine.

I’ve always been a fan of this wee spot and it was nice to see it has not really changed from a taste POV. It was nice to spend some time with my lovely daughter as well so it was a fabulous afternoon, even with the hour of hair zapping torture!

I had bought the girls a new hair curler thingy and Lily offered to let me be the guinea pig, she dragged me outside to get the light so she could get a decent photo. What do you think?

We were heading out to Somerset West for my friend Barbara’s birthday party. It is a long haul for us from Hout Bay, about an hour or more drive each way, so we considered staying over so that Norm could have a drink, but we didn’t like to leave the girls on their own all night so decided rather head through early and then head home early. Just as well because Lily was home on her own as Caitlin was out with her beau to a sailor party, she looked very cute in her sailor gear.

The party was held in a Baseball club, it was a great venue for a party as it had a kitchen, bar, room for dancing and plenty of space. There were several DJs and the music was very good. Norm and I had a bit of a dance outside all alone on the balcony which was probably a lot more fun than it sounds.

We headed home about 11 so we had a good night but still got home at a reasonable time even with the drive. Lily was sleeping on the couch in front of the telly but of course my singing put an end to that! She said she thought I was going to be annoying but I instantly fell asleep.

I woke on Sunday to my alarm telling me I had 1 hour to get to my lunch date. I jumped out of bed in a panic and messaged my friend Annette who was driving us out to Simon’s Town. She confirmed our departure time and I was still on schedule, luckily my curls from the night before were somewhat intact so I put on some comfy clothes and headed out with Norm to my friend’s house. If I had known Norm and his volunteer were off to Cape Point I would have had them drop us and collect us so Annette could have a few glasses of wine but I did not know and wasn’t thinking clearly once I did know but maybe it was just as well as our lunch turned into sundowners and we left after dark. That is the problem with old friends, so much to chatter about and it can derail rather quickly. Or slowly in this case!

The view there is stunning but it was a bit too windy to dine outside.

We had such a lovely spread of food prepared for our lunch. Nicky has always been someone who could take an old bit of newspaper, a bag of glitter and a cardboard box and somehow turn it into a stunning place setting, she just has that flair. Actually she is too classy for glitter, it would probably be ground up bits of seashells from the Seychelle’s or imported bits of china. But not from China, darling. You get the point.

We had some gorgeous individual wee pies, shredded lamb and mushrooms in a thick, rich dark gravy, roasted butternut squash with a bit of chilli or curry spices sprinkled over and oven roasted brussel sprouts done with bacon. As we had a no show we split that pie between us and gobbled it up too! As always the table was beautifully set.

In fact my hasty pic doesn’t do it justice. Hungover and starving I didn’t want to waste time messing about. I just got stuck in as I was starving.

For dessert we had a cake which was banting approved in that it had no flour. I can’t remember what it was called but it was yummy – it was covered in pomegranates and drizzled in cream.

We then moved off to sit in the corner of the kitchen on the comfy banquette seating and had coffees and chocolate and then somehow ended up going back onto the wine again!

We all were in George at slightly different but overlapping time periods, so some of us know each other better than others but we are all never at a loss for words. We laughed, we gossiped and we set the world to rights. We noted that the constants are myself and Nic and wine, the only fluidity is which of the other women shows up. We always have a great time talking for hours, regardless of who is there!

Then Annette and I cruised round Chapman’s peak, it was stunning even in the moonlight, the lights from the bay reflecting off the sea.
I went home to my lovely family and my naughty pets and was thankful for my friends, my family, my career and all of the fun I have. Not a bad life for an old broad 🙂
;