I can’t believe 2 weeks have gone by since my birthday celebrations. Work is still intense even with my hours reduced. I’ve been slack about keeping to my determination to keep cooking at home. We missed shopping 2 weekends and Caitlin was away. We were rather disorganized but we thought as our resident pescatarian was away we would indulge our carnivorous sides so Norm popped into Hout Bay and did a mini shop. I made a Chinese beef dish in the crockpot. It was just stewing beef from woollies but a night in the slow cooker and we had a tasty, rich, tender dinner ready. I made rice and steamed broccoli and it was sorted. 

I made a pork fillet and mushroom dish with cream and mustard sauce. We made mash to go with and a sticky red cabbage. But the rest of the week was just meals grabbed on the go and what seems like hours of my day sitting in traffic due to all of these road works.

On the 9th we heard a loud bang which we thought was the Noon Gun which is in actuality a cannon, except it was only 11! 

  

Our project manager came in from outside and said it was gunshots being fired into the air. There was a protest at the City of Cape Town offices which we could just see from our offices.
  
Apparently the construction workers were protesting not having permanent jobs. I thought that was the nature of that type of work? Never mind, I’m sure the gunshots helped win their argument.

That weekend I was surprised with a generous gift from our employers, a gift voucher for the Waterfront. 

 
There are loads of restaurants and shops there so it will be fab. I desperately need some decent black work trousers as mine are all very faded from the African sun. Electricity is far too expensive to use the tumble dryer here. 

We went out to our fave spot Ragafellows for dinner last Saturday. We love it there.

  
Unless our plates are empty and then we are sad. 

  
Once these arrived he perked right up. 

We had these divine, plump prawns.

  
As well as the crispy calamari.

  
And of course I had the Baylock burger with pickles, jalapeños and bacon. I stole this off their page.

  
We all know my pics are crap. I don’t know why and it doesn’t bother me enough to make me take a class. So. 

Whatever.

Here’s my pic.

  
See?

Whatever.

At least the weather has been warming up, after all September 1st is Spring Day in SA. My clivias are all in bloom. 

  
We were invited to a braai at our friends’ the Efftings, they are such a lovely couple and have a stunning home. My bestie Retha was there too. 

  

Alison and Andy managed to make feeding an army of people look effortless but I know there must have been hours of prep done before we all even arrived. 

  

We had a lovely day acting silly and chilling out with the crazy scarecrows designed to keep the herons from eating the koi in the pond.

   
 
It was a lovely day with friends. A great way to spend a Sunday. But as we had such a big late lunch we didn’t eat dinner. Between this fact and the margaritas  consumed I needed a proper breakfast that Monday morning so I popped into Cocoa for the Eggs Benedict special at R39. A bargain! 

  

On the 15th Retha collected me after work and we headed to Atlantic Imbizo at   V&A Waterfront to attend the Girl Geek Dinner. We haven’t been in ages, it used to be that we never missed one. But we were attending up to 3 events some weeks and got a bit burned out. It was a good one to return for. The speaker was Andre Hugo the co-founder of Money For Jam which is a site where various ‘jobs’ are posted, from doing a check in at a specific spot, to taking a survey. You fill the job requirements and money is added to your wallet. Build up enough in your wallet and you can cash out.

It’s a great way for marketers to do virtual crowd surfing and to get info and data quickly. 

It was a stunning evening by the sea.

  
We had a nice dinner, nothing spectacular, typical event food. I went with the beef. For the low price they charge per head they do a bang up job.

  
   
   

The GGDCPT event always has great gift bags

.   

And I won a voucher from Dermalogica for R150 off of a facial and I desperately need a facial. 

  

Caitlin popped in this morning to collect the pottery we painted recently. I didn’t have time to do 2 coats so it could be better but it’s ok.

  
I’m building up a collection of entertaining pottery.

Umm… Not ‘entertaining pottery’ as in the pottery will sing and dance to amuse you, but rather you fill it with tapenade and chips when you are entertaining and have friends round for drinks.

All I painted has a theme of colours and effects.

  
Norman finished renovating the old cupboard we bought a few weeks ago. He did a brilliant job. The knobs we bought in Kalk Bay are perfect. Now I have my dressing table back and Norm has a bit of storage. 

  
Lily has gone to George for the weekend and today Caitlin went to view some flats. She decided at 27 years old she should be more independent and is hoping to buy a flat. I hate to see her go as I love having my girls with me, but I see her point. 

It’s the natural progression of things after all.