I have had such a lovely long weekend with the perfect balance of fun, fabulous food, family, friends and chilled out down time. Considering I had nothing much planned, it all fell perfectly into place with zero effort. I did miss being able to get away for the weekend to see Trevor and Lily however.

Caitlin has been looking at property for a while now and she has decided to make an offer on a flat. She had planned to meet the realtor at Tasha’s in Constantia on Friday so Norm and I went along for moral support and then the three of us planned to have lunch after.

Once the paperwork was done the realtor headed off and we ordered. Caitlin and I both had quesadillas.

Cait had the Brazilian at R98 which is strips of grilled chicken in a lemon, chilli & coriander marinade with cheddar, and is served with a side dish of yoghurt.

I had the American quesadilla with pulled pork. It costs R92 and consists of pulled pork, jalapeno peppers, coriander & slaw, served with guacamole. It was nice but more like what we would call ‘barbecue’ in the south. Either way it tasted of ‘home’ and I gobbled it up.

Norm had the chicken Caesar salad.

The Tasha’s Caesar comes either plain or with Chicken or Anchovy. If you order it plain then the half portion is R74 and the full portion is R98. The ‘plain’ version consists of baby spinach, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, croutons, boiled egg or cold poached egg, crispy parma ham & parmesan shavings with a Caesar dressing.

Or if you add chicken it is the following prices: half for R96 or a full at R128. Or if with the anchovy it is priced for a half portion at R86 or the full for R114.

After our lunch we headed home for a bit, Norm had to walk the dogs and Caitlin offered to feed them for us later that night as we were going out. I had a wee catnap while Norm was busy.

That night we had plans to meet up with a friend from back in the days when I lived in George 25 years ago. Jenny was over visiting from the U.K. where she now lives and I was lucky to get a bit of her time. I know what it’s like to be on holiday and want to see everyone but to have such limited time to fit everyone into. Norm and I said that next time she should try our trick of doing an open invitation night at a pub. Then whomever makes the effort can spend a bit of time with you. I always find it surprising the number of ‘friends’ who don’t make the effort and those ‘acquaintances’ who do!

We went to the Backyard Grill to dine with Jenny and her daughter Vicky and her daughter’s fella Roderick.

I was so surprised when Jenny brought out some gifts she had made for me. How gorgeous are these necklaces? Jenny is very talented. She makes the most adorable painted stones for the garden and all manner of cute bits and pieces.

I wasn’t sticking to Banting for dinner that night as I heard their potato salad was to die for. I had that and corn on the cob with 500g of ribs.

We had a lovely night, it was great to catch up with Jen. She reminded me of the days in George when we used to play strip Pass The Pigs when we were married to our ex husbands.

If you have never played, basically you toss the wee piggys, then depending on how they land you add or gain points.

Or clothes apparently.

The crazy thing is that I don’t remember this unclothed version at all!! I was very unhappy at that point in my life so I guess my memories could be fuzzy from that. But I was also tanned, thin and long legged back then so wouldn’t mind being naked in public.

Bitches, I was Baywatching before Baywatch.

*Sigh* I miss those lithe limbs.

And those earrings.

After a great night laughing, talking and chowing on BBQ Norm and I headed home and then we had a cosy late lie-in the next morning. It was the day of the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon which means we cannot get out of our village as they close the roads for the race to use, so we could not have gone anywhere even if we wanted to.

Norm went downstairs to feed the dogs, then made us a coffee and came back up to bed. The OMTOM filming is done all along the beautiful roads in and around our village.

With our bedroom balcony doors open it’s quite surreal to lie in bed and listen to the bands and cheers going on outside and to also see and hear it on the telly. I love the bands who arrive every year to encourage the runners.

Image source.

People in the village also go out to line up along the route to cheer on the runners. However I think the best way to watch #OMTOM on such a chilly day is in bed with my love, my Pomeranians and the cats. Covet, coffee and my pets equals a Happy Kitten.

We stayed in our bed until the need for food drove us out. We had a low key lazy day and once the roads opened in the afternoon Norm went to do a shop.

That evening I cooked Parmesan chicken, fondant sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli and a sauce of mushrooms, spinach and cream.

It was so delicious. The Parmesan was really strong and the creamy sauce was a nice balance to the intensity of it.

To make the chicken I simply flattened some boneless chicken breasts with my rolling pin, dipped them in beaten eggs, then rolled them in finely grated fresh Parmesan. I put them on a tray in the fridge to set for about an hour and then pan fried them in butter and coconut oil.

We were very excited to see that SNL was back on DSTV. It is so exasperating that it keeps coming back on and off their play lists. I have sent in multiple queries to ‘DSTV Care’ – but ironically they don’t seem to Care! I’ve been waiting for about a month to the reasons why it keeps going on and off their schedule.

We woke to news that Imizamo Yethu here in Hout Bay had been hit by another fire during the small hours of Saturday night. Estimates are that 150 homes were destroyed and up to 400 more people are now homeless. I read that there was one fatality. It seems it will never end.

We were invited for lunch at my work colleague Darren and his partner Julie’s house on Sunday. They also live in Hout Bay.

Darren made the most amazing Burgers. Oh. My. They were so good. Impossible to eat without wearing a good bit of it, but they were so delicious.

For dessert we had Key lime pie brought by Darren’s friend Dave.

We had such a laugh over this wine label, typical of SA’s sense of humour.

Darren & Julie have just added this lovely entertainment area. It was such a hot day but the cool awning kept us comfortable.

When one of the couples arrived after us and came in to be introduced to me she and I realised we have actually met before as we attended the Girl Geeks Dinner together previously. Hout Bay is such a small village.

We had a lot of laughs and great food, it was not a traditional Easter lunch but we really enjoyed the afternoon, it is always nice to meet new people. As we are not Christian all of our traditions are around food rather than church or fellowship.

The only problem with having such a lovely wine filled afternoon is that the rest of the day and evening is a write off. So on Sunday night we were happy to settle into the settee and watch the evening film ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’. 

It required no thought or effort which was about the full extent of our abilities that night. It was a rather lame film, the presence of Liam Hemsworth alone is the only thing which brings it up to a single one Kitten Star rating. I am pretty sure I snoozed through a lot of it. The last thing I remember was saying ‘I cannot believe I am still awake’, then BAM I wasn’t.

On Monday afternoon Norm and I were booked for lunch at one of my favourite Cape Town venues, Foxcroft in Constantia. It was a very hot day.

We were given a seat on the patio when we arrived which was exactly what I requested on their website when I made the booking. Comparing this level of customer service to my recent drama at a local wine farm who had confirmed the specific table I requested weeks in advance and then pretended the discussion had never happened when I actually arrived and my table was occupied? No contest. Foxcroft is the dogs danglies when it comes to class. 🙂

Booking is a pleasure with Foxcroft, you can book online, you then get an SMS confirming your online booking and then a second SMS the day prior to your booking asking you to confirm.

And it is not my fave just due to the ease of access, the food is always so divine. I have been before and always blog about the fabulousness, here is a link to my previous reviews.

We decided to go for the full lunch special at R395 per person. That is just under 30 USD for those who want to compare.

We chose a bottle of Klein Constantia Sauvignon Blanc to share with our lunch.

My 2 choices of tapas were the Mussels and the Squid. The mussels were served with bacon crumbles, confit lemon & soubise. Soubise is a creamy, buttery stock based oniony sauce. The calamari squid is served with Chorizo, ajo blanco and wild garlic. There were little bits of pickled red onion and grapes.

For my main course I had the Chalmar Beef served with duck fat chips, carrot, brussel sprouts & a gorgeous rich café au lait sauce. I found it interesting to read about Chalmar Beef, the hyperlink will allow you to read about it too. I had assumed it was a cut of beef, but Chalmar is the farm that produces the beef.

For dessert I chose the Pineapple dessert. This was described as roast pineapple parfait, rum-braised pineapple, mango and coconut. This was so light and refreshing and a perfect end to my amazing lunch.

The only differences in Norm’s choices were that he had the Korean Fried Chicken instead of the mussels. The description of the chicken dish said simply ‘Buttermilk espuma’ which I assume was the sauce that came with it? Norm is averse to eating with his hands and would not have ordered this if he knew it was the wing of the chicken, but he said it was very tasty and full of flavour if fiddly to consume.

For his afters course Norm decided to pay the R45 supplement and ordered the cheese platter. This was a cheese platter to exceed all cheese platters. The thin, thin slices of toast were an unimaginable feat of their own. How could they slice it that thin and not crumble it to smithereens when plating? It was served with apple and fennel chutney and slices of apple. Norm raved about this platter.

I had decided to push the non-Banting boat right out and order some Macarons to take home without even realising it was #MacaronMonday! Foxcroft have a special on Mondays where if you buy 3 macarons you get one free.

I chose 2 of the Cherry and Tonka Bean and 2 of the Ferrero Rocher flavours. These are so light and delicious, crispy and sweet. I shared with Caitlin as I felt a bit nauseous later when I pigged out on 2 of them.

The food was so divine and beautiful as it always is. We also had an excellent server. It was faultless from start to end. A full 5 Kitten Stars.

We really had such a brilliant weekend. Today I was back at work bright and early and it felt like I had been off for a week at least. 

Poor Caitlin woke up with a dreadful tummy bug or food poisoning. She had planned to go to court to attend the sentencing of the 2 men who have been convicted of murdering her friend Carl Schoombie. I’ve just read that the sentencing has been delayed again due to a report from the social worker not being available. 

Please keep Carl’s family in your thoughts and continue to count your own blessings.