Every year I sign up to donate to Operation Shoebox. This year I signed up for 2 newborns and I did my shopping on Friday. As the babies may not be born yet I do not know whether they will boys or girls so I did boxes which are suitable for either. I used yellow and green as my theme.

They provide a list of the items you must include as well as a list of things which are optional. I put in a yellow babygro (aka a onesie in some countries), a pair of booties, a baby blanket, baby soap, baby cream, a facecloth, baby powder, a rattle/teething ring, some nappies, baby wipes, earbuds (or QTips for you Yanks :)) a stuffed animal and some chocolate treats for the new mom. I used a hard plastic see through box instead of a shoebox as the mommy will be able to use it for storage afterwards. I chose Nessie as my stuffed animal in tribute to Norm’s Scottish heritage.

Making these boxes and thinking of how happy I may make someone really makes me feel great. I know that baby goods are so expensive and many moms will have been out of work with no pay due to pregnancy and these treats may make a big difference to them. I usually choose toddlers to do a box for but this year I decided to look after a couple of mommies by providing for their babies.

On Friday night Norm and I were both a bit tired so we decided to stay in and get a take away curry from Indian Oven and binge on Sons of Anarchy.

Sometimes we just need to chill out and be a couch potato, but we are at such an exciting part of the series that we sat on tenterhooks rather than relaxing. In the episodes we are currently watching they are in Belfast so we take the piss out of the American actors trying to do the Belfast twang and shout out when we see a familiar setting.

We really should get out more I guess.

Saturday morning I was up and out of bed in a rush to get myself and Pixie off to the chiropractor in Noordhoek for 9.30a.m, which meant leaving by 8.30a.m. to allow for traffic. I just washed my face and threw on clothes as I planned to shower later before I went to drum circle.

It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the view of the mountains and sea on my way there.

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When we arrived at the chiropractor’s house I thought it a bit odd that there were no other cars outside as parking can sometimes be a challenge as I do not know how to parallel park. (Stop laughing).

We were a few minutes early and we just sat outside and watched the world go by.

I put Pixie’s leash on and we went off to the gate. David has 5 dogs, 2 of which are large loud Newfoundlands and they were all barking at poor wee Pixie and she hid behind my legs. The dogs are not normally out when patients are coming in so this added to my confusion. I rang the bell and there was no reply, I rang the landline and there was no answer. I decided to check my last email from David and I saw that he had not replied to my mail requesting a confirmation of our usual appointment but as I go every 5 weeks at the same time I keep my diary blocked out to avoid double booking. I was so annoyed but there was not much I could do so I just popped Pixie back in the car and headed back home. That is 2 hours of my life wasted and a chance for a long lie in bed gone.

On my way back home I was going around the traffic circle at the top of Constantia Nek and there was a cyclist entering the circle to my right from Kirstenbosch, however he was far away and so I entered the circle and carried on down the hill into Hout Bay. He started shouting at me to ‘wake up’ and so I gave him the finger. This seemed to enrage him and so he caught up to me and drove next to me while shouting angry abuse at me. I then rolled my eyes and made the universal hand gesture for ‘you are a wanker’.

This made him go full on psycho. He punched my side mirror and continued to scream at me even louder. His face went so red I thought he might have a heart attack.

Due to the violence of my first marriage, aggressive men really trigger me. As soon as a man shows any sign of aggression or anger it puts me into self-defense mode and makes me puff up and goad him on. I know that this situation is my trigger and it is almost as if I have no control over my reactions.

Norm later pointed out to me that all of my road rage incidents are after I have made this hand gesture at an already aggressive man. I know it is a trigger for men, so why do I do it?

I pondered this a lot and I ended up saying ho-oponopono prayer and apologies to the cyclist. I hope it calmed him down and he did not go home and beat his wife or kick his cat.

I am working on maintaining serenity and sending out positivity but it is not my natural go to position as a cynical reality based Virgo, but I think awareness of our shortcomings and trying to change is half way to success, right?

When I got home Norm was busy making us breakfast. I am so lucky.

I relaxed a bit and had another coffee and then got ready to go to Eagle Owl Lodge for a drum circle.

There were lots of us there and it was fun. I took my own drum and this allowed those without their own drum to use the large communal group drum.

There was a sweat lodge being held after drumming but I did not stay for that. The lodge looked fabulous though.

While I was out Norm started tarting up our garden shed.

The blue paint is peeling and he’s busy trying to make things more appealing for the upcoming show day.

I got home late in the afternoon and Norm and I decided to see if we could snag a table for dinner at Cheyne’s as he has moved locations to the building which previously held Ragafellow’s before they closed. It is a prime spot with much more room than his previous location. We have now out lived the old Luigi’s, Ragafellow’s and now restaurant number 3 in this same venue.

I booked online as Cheyne had posted on social media that their phone line was not yet in operation and I was pleased to get a booking for 7pm.

We arrived promptly at 7pm only to be told they had no record of my booking despite being sent a confirmation of my reservation. Not again! Last time we tried to go to Lucky Bao they did not have a seat for us despite our booking. I told the host that I had proof of my booking and he asked us to go through to the lounge until he could sort out a table for us. I told them I did not want to eat in the lounge as the tables were awkward for eating and he said he would try his best.

Luckily he managed to get a table for us in a matter of minutes and off we went to settle in. I was busy absorbing all of the changes Cheyne has made and enjoying the vibe in seconds.

Norm was only interested in the menu.

We ordered drinks and chose 4 dishes each as there is a ‘4 dishes for R260’ deal.

I chose the baby shrimp tempura from the Sea section of the menu which comes with red pepper caramel and garlic truffle aioli.

The flavours were divine, it was like the fanciest scampi you can imagine in a sort of salt and pepper batter. Really yummy.

Norm and I decided to add an extra dish to share from the Earth portion of the menu as we were so in love with the duck fat fries when we last ate at Lucky Bao (one of Cheyne’s other restaurants.)

However they were different than the ones we had at Lucky Bao, these were more like wedges than fries. As a result they were not aligned to the delicacy of his other dishes and they were a bit discordant.

Tasty but a bit too chunky.

Also from the Earth portion of the menu I chose the Potato and Coconut Dumplings with tom yum lemongrass cream and peanuts. I love these dumplings so much, they are light and fluffy and so full of flavour. I could eat about a dozen of these babies.

From the Land portion of the menu I chose the Crispy Pork and Quails egg san choy bau with chinese mustard and roasted nuts. I have had this dish before and it never fails to disappoint.

I saved my fourth option for dessert – a choice from the Happy Endings portion of the menu. I really deliberated drifting from my usual choice but at the last minute reverted to form and had the double thick peanut butter shake with toasted peanuts and 70% choc soil.

It is nice to see that Cheyne has expanded his menu somewhat but he has kept his old faves. We really enjoyed our evening and think the new venue is stunning. The large lounge may become a new summer hang out for cocktails.

On Sunday we had a lot of things we should have been doing, but we opted instead for a long lie in bed, watching CNN and drinking frothy coffees while surrounded by the animals.

Eventually hunger drove us out and we decided to head out for lunch. We stopped at the High Constantia shops and went to Bootlegger’s Coffee Shop.

We were pleased to nab a table outside in the shade. We have never eaten here since they took over what used to be Green’s. We had missed breakfast so we ordered a salad. I ordered the Caesar salad with Bacon. I love a good Caesar salad but very few places do an actual proper Caesar, they usually omit the anchovies or use some other type of lettuce. However I was ever so impressed with their version. It was pukka!

Freshly grated parmesan, proper cos lettuce, anchovies and a boiled egg. It was so tasty and the service was great. We will be making this a regular visiting spot.

After lunch we headed off to Meadowridge and Tokai to hit a few showhouses. We saw six houses, one which Norman loved but the traffic noise from the nearby motorway was much too loud for me. None of the others were suitable for us however so it was not a very successful venture.

We decided to stop for dinner at Woodcutters Arms and when we got out of the car we were struck by the intense smell of smoke in the air. Norm told me he had seen on social media that there was a huge fire in Glencairn which is across the bay from us.

 

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I read today that the fire is now out, I hope there was not too much damage. We desperately need more rain to put a damper on these recurring fires.

At Woodcutters we grabbed a cosy corner booth and ordered drinks. We had our usual starters, Norm had his scotch egg.

And I had my jalapeno cigars.

For our main we both had the buttermilk chicken breast burger which was juicy, tasty and dripping with cheese.

There are only a few more days until our big Halloween party which we have every year. I am so unprepared in regards to my outfit but I am sure it will all come right on the night!

Have a great week.

Kisses from the Kitten xoxox