What an odd week I’ve had. Norm has been away since last Sunday. It’s so hard to do everything on my own. Usually we ask Lily to be here but this is her last week to be in George as she starts her new job soon. She is going to be working for a concierge company. Caitlin promised to help and we made a plan.

We feed our dogs raw organic meat, mince, fish, sardines, lungs, tripe, hearts, chicken feet and all manner of things. It’s revolting but has to be done twice a day, at 7am and pm. As I get up early and try to be out of the house by 7am we agreed Cait would do the morning feed and I would do the evening. 

We asked Cordelia to be here by 8.15 so Cait could be in to work by 9, and we made sure I was home by 5 to meet the dog walker. We booked a guy who works  nearby and he took Nav for a good walk as he is too strong and undisciplined for Caitlin to handle. Cait took Panda for a little trot round when she got home. It’s getting dark so early now she can’t go far, I then threw ball for Pixie so she got tired out. 

So we made plans and it worked, we coped. I am very busy at my client as our project is nearing go live. 

We even cooked, I made a lovely little pork roast. I made organic home made slaw, a baked potato and I roasted porcini mushrooms with the pork which I coated in fresh local honey before baking. 

  

We ate watching Telly and after I had eaten about half I stretched my legs and my plate slid down my legs, the dogs lunged in and grabbed bits of pork and dashed off. Even if I wasn’t too germophobic to not consider applying the 5 second rule it didn’t last that long! 

Tuesday night I had bookclub to attend. It was hosted by Mel who lives in Constantia so I got a lift with some of the other Hout Bay ladies. We had a delicious dinner and a little birthday celebration for our friend Catherine. As usual we had a laugh. 

Wednesday was the monthly Hout Bay Women’s Gin Club meeting at Massimo’s hosted by Tracy Orione, co-owner with her husband Massimo.

We were greeted with a delicious lemony cocktail sponsored by Inverocche Distillery and at the tables we had what seemed like copious amounts of wine sponsored by  Hout Bay Vineyards. I had the Sauvingnon Blanc and Caitlin had the Merlot.

But I loved these! 

  

Photo credit to Tracy Oriane.

There were quite a few women attending again. This month we were listening to a woman who works as a volunteer at Hout Bay high. The entire school is in desperate need of funds but there is also a young girl Phosiza who has qualified for a martial arts competition in Johannesburg but needs to fund her flight, meals and hotel and also a bit of pocketmoney. 

 

We raised a bit for her and a few of us also paid into the school account. I hope she can go. If any of my readers would like to donate the details are:

Account name: Hout Bay High School Banking Details

Bank name: Standard Bank Constantia

 Account no: 071735720

 Branch Code: 051001

 Account type: Cheque Account

Even 10 U.S. dollars is 100 rands when converted. If you do deposit please would you make your deposits with Phozisa Nqenqa’s name and your name as references – thank you all again for your generosity!! 

I was so hungry I didn’t take any pics of the food but we had some gorgeous starters, and I hope I can remember them, I’ll copy what I can from the menu. We started with gorgeous fat black olives and ‘Between The Sheets’ Focaccia – stuffed with cream cheese & gorgonzola. This was crispy outside and creamy inside. Wonderful. Some rounds of grilled Aubergine sandwiching thick slabs of Massimo’s home made fiordilatte mozzarella which were divine. Bresaola – air dried sliced beef, parmesan shavings, rocket & extra virgin olive oil. Tuna carpaccio – with rocket, extra virgin olive oil, black pepper & lemon juice. Calamari – deep fried, served with homemade aioli. We were given what I think was a Misto Platter with Parma ham, felino salame, Salpicao Portuguese salame, mortadella, fiordilatte mozzarella with basil pesto, goats’ cheese with roasted garlic, gorgonzola, tomatoes, vegetable giardiniera. There was fresh baked bread and a lush salad. My fave was the little parcels of mouth watering Parma ham filled with creamy mozzarella all baked to crispy, creamy perfection. 

The waitresses were very attentive even noticing that Caitlin hadn’t eaten anything from a few courses which were meat based and serving her extra vegetarian courses. 

The pizzas then started coming, 1st a Mafiosa – garlic butter, mozzarella, pancetta, Carbonara sauce, mushrooms, basil. I loved that so much. The pancetta was crisp and the sauce creamy.

We then had Alba – garlic butter, Taleggio cheese, cooked Parma ham, mushrooms, truffle cream followed swiftly by a Tricolore – roast garlic, cacio cheese, zucchini ribbons, fresh tomato, chili (no tomato). 

By then we were both tired so we headed home. 

Thursday was double Mexican day as it was pseudo Friday as Actual Friday was  a public holiday. The boys and I walked to Tortilla Mexican in the drizzly rain for lunch. I had such frizzy hair but the city felt fresh in the rain. As we ate my colleague said how he threw a cat off a roof to test the 9 lives theory. Wow. 

Then that evening we had Burritos for dinner. I used my leftover pork and Cait used porcini mushrooms and we both added the organic peppers, shallots and chili we get weekly. 

Luckily I love Mexican food. 

Friday I took Caitlin and her friends to the airport to fly to Port Elizabeth and then drive a bit further to visit Kichaka a stunning 5 star game reserve. They saw all manner of amazing animals 

   

 

She said she felt like a princess. I’m glad she had fun. 

When I took her to the airport it luckily worked out that Norm was arriving home from Namibia. We came home and Norm had to go right out to work. I hung around as my son Trevor and his girlfriend Amber came down to go to Park Life Festival. 

I enjoyed Massimo’s so much that we decided to get pizzas and just stay in and relax on Friday as everyone was tired from traveling. We had 4 different ones to try- the Regina – tomato, mozzarella, ham & mushrooms, Alba – garlic butter, Taleggio cheese, cooked Parma ham, mushrooms, truffle cream, and a half and half of Mafiosa – garlic butter, mozzarella, pancetta, Carbonara sauce, mushrooms, basil and half John Wayne’ – pulled BBQ beef, smoked mozzarella, jalapeño chillies, and red onion. They were delicious. I intend to swap my allegiance from Cassarechio. 

Early the next morning I saw a whatsapp message on our neighborhood group which said a cat had been injured. I suggested they post a pic and when they did it looked so much like Lola. I woke Norm who got up and took me round, but thankfully once we saw the stripes on its face we knew it was not Lola. Norm took the body to the vet but the cat wasn’t chipped. Poor kitty.  

Yesterday after I dropped Trevor and Amber in Greenpoint I went on to get my hair done at Mop Hair on Bree Street.

Then I came home and Norm and I went to one of our faves Papino’s for a steak.

 

We had the usual fave Hollandse Biefstuk which is Pan-fried beef fillet with mushrooms flambéed with brandy. It’s R160 and comes with gorgeous al dente fresh veg. We had chips with ours. As always it was divine. 

  

Norm collected Caitlin from the airport and dropped her friends in town then he had to go to join the project he’s doing at the moment. Trevor and Amber drove back to Wilderness. I’ve just been relaxing. 

Tonight we are enjoying the last of the long weekend. I hope you did too!