This week has been a week of lovely adventures and disappointing events. Or I guess under the circumstances some of them were non-events!

In my last blog I mentioned how excited I was about seeing Sam Smith in concert but Sam lost his voice and had to walk off stage in the middle of the first of the three nights he was booked to perform in Cape Town. We read about the cancellation of the Tuesday show on Wednesday morning but the promoters held back on making a commitment about whether the next two shows were going to be cancelled or not and in fact the news sites were still reassuring us that the Wednesday and Thursday shows were still going ahead.

Big Concerts finally made an announcement on social media at 2pm on the day of the show to say the remaining two shows were cancelled. They stated that Computicket would issue refunds to the same credit card we used to make the booking. As mentioned in my last blog, this is an issue for me because the card I used has expired and just getting the tickets printed was a major issue. As far as I was aware you cannot refund an inactive card? I emailed Computicket and their reply was to inform me they would refund the card used to book the tickets, which was the same info I had queried them about! I have tweeted Big Concerts and Computicket, raised a query via Facebook and raised a customer service query on the Computicket site. They finally told me to go to a Computicket branch and get my refund there so today Norm and I went to the offices at the Waterfront only to be told that the refund has already been issued and the bank will be able to route it to my account despite the card being expired. The bank holiday weekend appears to have slowed down the process but I will keep monitoring it as the tickets were almost 2k.

From the last minute confirmation of the cancellation to the responses to my queries, the customer service from Big Concerts has been abysmal.

On the night we were supposed to go to the show, as a consolation prize Norm suggested we go out for dinner so we decided to try a new spot and we picked the Cattle Baron in Constantia. We had not booked and they were very full but we were offered a table outside on the ‘patio’. The restaurant is in a little mall so the patio is actually inside the mall but outside the actual restaurant if that makes sense? We were seated under a gas heater so it was nice and cosy.

I chose the sautéed mushroom 200g fillet: Grilled beef fillet served on deep-fried rosti and topped with garlic sauteèd mushrooms for R195. It came with a choice of a side as well as creamed spinach and roast butternut and I also ordered onion rings (you all know about my onion ring addiction).

I am always torn about how to order my steak. I like it pink but not bloody. They had a little chart in the menu telling you what each ‘doneness’ meant in their terms and I went with ‘Medium’. It was utter perfection. The steak would melt in your mouth it was so tender. It was very garlicky and the mushrooms were very tasty. I enjoyed it so much!

Maybe not as much as I would have enjoyed Sam, but you gotta take your pleasures where you can get them.

Norm was brave this week and tried out a new low carb recipe I found online. He made cauliflower cheese topped with bacon and it tasted every bit as good as Mac and Cheese!

It was delicious and it was so cheesy that you could convince yourself that it was macaroni and cheese. I was so impressed.

He baked pork chops and roasted sweet potatoes, fried baby mushrooms and steamed broccoli to go with it another night.

I had a few lunches from OrderIn as I’m getting a bit bored with the NowNow offerings from next door to our office and OrderIn is so easy!

One day I had chicken strips and chips from Smak Deli.

The chicken was moist and tender and I enjoyed the panko crust. The chips were thin and crispy, more like crisps but they were very nice.

Another day I ordered a mexibowl from Tortilla Modern Mexican.

A mexibowl is your choice of protein, refried and black beans, corn, onion, sour cream, cheese, coriander and salsa. I had the shredded beef option as my protein and it was delicious.

One day I walked down to Nuri sushi for lunch. I had prawn pops.

I also had salmon roses.

It was as delicious as always. I love their food.

This week Woolworths released the products from their collaboration with Sir John. Sir John is Beyoncé’s make up artist. They all look lovely!

Speaking of Queen B, over the weekend I watched ‘Homecoming’, the Netflix documentary she has done about preparing for and starring in the Coachella festival.

She looks so amazing! The difference in her body from the start of rehearsals when she had not long given birth to her twins to the time of the actual show is unbelievable. She worked so hard to train and get her body back into shape. In my opinion she looks even better than she did before she had her children, she is so lean and toned.

I love that she brought on Destiny’s Child for a few songs.

There has been some chaos and negative events both locally and internationally.

Close to home this week we had a mugging near the graveyard where you turn up towards our house. This resulted in a chase by police and one of the perpetrators getting shot. Let us hope that deters the group who have been terrorizing Hughenden homeowners.

A church in Kwazulu Natal had thirteen people, mostly teenagers, killed on Thursday night. A wall at a Pentecostal church fell on top of congregants who gathered at the church for Easter celebrations. There had been heavy rain and there are rumors that lack of adherence to building regulations was the cause, however investigations are still underway.

After a bit of relief from train drama, it started up again this weekend when two Cape Town trains were set alight in the Cape Town city station.

The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Services received a call about a train alight at Cape Town Railway station at approximately 3.51pm yesterday and 8 coaches were badly damaged before it could be contained.

This weekend was the legendary Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon which normally routes through our village. It is an event of note with residents lining the streets and cheering on the runners. However this year there was a threat of protest action and the risk of violence was too great and the race was rerouted to avoid Hout Bay.

Many businesses in Hout Bay will suffer greatly as most of us park off and drink and eat and enjoy the vibe of the event. The restaurants will have lost this income. My friend Bronwyn called it a “Pyrrhic Victory” for the protestors and once I looked it up I totally agreed! (She’s a clever cookie) I do not know what benefit the cancellation will be for the protestors. Do they feel heard? Will it bring change? Will the City politicians listen? I just see another blow to our already struggling local venues and the potential for more layoffs of the very people the protesters are allegedly providing a voice for. I do understand the frustration of the protesters as their living conditions are abysmal, however I cannot see how moving the marathon benefits their cause.

There have also been multiple catastrophes globally.

The Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral caught fire this week and has burned. Luckily many of the artifacts were spared. Caitlin and I visited the Cathedral when I took her to Paris for her 18th birthday. I am so glad I was privileged to see it before the fire. Such a sad event and loss of history.

Jerusalem’s revered Al-Asqa Mosque was struck by a fire that broke out at the same time that Notre Dame was ablaze. Luckily the fire was contained quickly with no reported injuries or interior damage to the 2000-year-old building.

There have been multiple bombs detonated in Sri Lanka churches and hotels. At the time of writing the death toll is almost 300 innocent victims. Police found 87 detonators in a private terminal of the main bus station in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, and a controlled explosion was carried out on a van near St. Anthony’s church, one of three churches targeted in the attack. On Sunday evening, an improvised explosive device (IED) was defused near the capital’s Bandaranaike International Airport. There had been intelligence warnings received days before the explosions but they were not acted upon.

And for a bit of light relief from the drama, we have been told that the SA police force have a new instrument for testing drunk drivers.

That is our Minister of Transport Blade Nzimande. While amusing it is also pretty scary stuff. Was he tongue tied or is he really that ignorant? Hard to know really! It is even scarier that he was formerly the Minister of Education. You can see why SA’s education system is ranked as one of the worst in the world! I worry about the future of this country in so many ways.

I had another one of my sleep paralysis incidents this week. Norm was woken by my keening, a horrid noise even to my own ears. I have read so many different points of view on what is happening when this occurs. Some say it is astral travel. I believe this is correct as I am always interacting with people from my past but in a different relationship than in this life. There is always a sense of loss when I wake and I often wake in tears.

Both of the shows I am watching at the moment are both about life in multiple dimensions (Outlander and The OA). Many of us believe in reincarnation but is it a ‘new life’ or is it a parallel life? Whatever it is, it fascinates me.

There are so many things that our one dimensional minds cannot conceive.

Norm and I have had lots of relaxation over the bank holiday. We had no plans and just played it by ear. We had long lies in bed most days and had outings when we got cabin fever.

Thursday was the new Friday so that night I had my usual sushi fest from K1. Prawn tempura, crab salad, prawn nigiri and salmon roses.

On Friday we went on an excursion to Game to get some steam cleaner stuff (she says vaguely) and enroute we stopped in Constantia at the newish Botanicum Cafe and Grill for lunch. We had not been to this venue since it changed over from the Bootleggers brand. The renovation looks lovely.

Norm ordered a chicken and avocado wrap.

I ordered the open faced chicken and mayo on ciabatta bread.

We both ordered chips which came in a cute little flower pot.

They were proper hand cut chips. I give our lunch 4 Kitten Stars.

We just had a takeaway from Massimo’s that night for dinner and watched some Netflix.

On Saturday we had a lazy day. I played games on my iPad and was amused by the silly pooches.

That night we decided to have a date night and we took a chance on getting a table at Cheyne’s and we were in luck! We nabbed the last available table.

I ordered a Passionate Buddha cocktail.

We chose the Yum Cha dining experience at R280 for 4 dishes. I chose the Baby Shrimp Tempura with garlic truffle mayo and red pepper flakes as my first dish.

Norm chose the Crispy Hake Tempura with pickled shallots, miso mayo and unagi sauce. He raved about this dish!

We both ordered the potato and coconut dumplings with penang sauce and toasted nuts.

For my third choice I had the Mumbai chili beef with cardamon and ginger syrup and toasted coconut.

Norm had the chicken yakitori with togarashi chips and pickled pineapple.

For dessert I had the vanilla creme brûlée with toasted banana bread and miso ice cream.

Norm had the Fuji apple crumble with apple caramel and peach ice cream.

The service was great and the food divine. I give our evening a full 5 Kitten Stars.

On Sunday we decided to venture out of the bay and we decided to drive across Chapman’s Peak drive.

It is a beautiful scenic drive.

We decided to stop at Jakes. We arrived at about 3 so the lunch crowd were finishing off and we managed to get a table.

There was live music on and the singer was brilliant, I really enjoyed his setlist.

We both ordered burgers, Norm chose the Whatta Burger with sweet potato fries. His burger had cheese, bacon, gherkins, port & mushroom sauce, crumbed feta & crispy onions.

I ordered the Classic American burger. It came with mature cheddar, chipotle mayo, gherkin & onion rings.

The service was a bit dodgy, the drinks took a lifetime to arrive, then they brought Norm’s burger a good ten minutes before they brought mine. I give the service 3 stars at most but the burgers were a solid 5 Kitten Stars they were divine. They were awkward to eat and we were not given side plates to juggle the toppings but we managed. We really enjoyed the food.

I had a Kahlua Dom Pedro and it is only now that I check the menu I see that they charged me for a separate shot of Kahlua yet the menu includes the shot in the price of the Dom Pedro! How dodgy!

Oh well, it was nice even if I was overcharged for it.

We came home via the longer route through Noordhoek and around the mountain, it is also a stunning view out over the entire city.

When we got home we sat out on our balcony for a bit enjoying our own amazing view. This is my happy place.

Today our adventure was based around trying to get my refund from Computicket. We did that as soon as we arrived at the Waterfront as we were not sure how long Computicket would stay open on a holiday. Afterwards we were walking down the steps from the upper level to the lower level and there was a lone woman standing on the stairs faffing about with her tightly tied hoody. As she was stopped on the stairs I went around her and as soon as I got in front of her she started to move up close to me and reach toward my handbag. She obviously had not seen my bodyguard Norm who smoothly slid in between us, triggering a string of profanity and abuse from her, she started yelling “I am not a pick pocket” and ran off in the opposite direction. The waterfront is so busy and is full of tourists so is the perfect setting for opportunistic crime.

We were still a bit shocked but we carried on our way and went to Sevruga for lunch. We were given a table in the glass surrounded veranda so we could see the sea and people watch, but yet we were protected from the howling wind.

We love people watching.

Norm ordered the kingklip that was on special. It came with an orange beurre blanc sauce and was served on a bed of wilted baby spinach and was surrounded by cubes of fondant potato, wedges of grapefruit and orange and grilled artichokes.

Norm gave this dish 5 Kitten Stars and I must say it was a feast for the eyes as well.

I had sushi. I ordered the Prawn salad, chopped prawn, cucumber and spicy mayo. It had some slivers of avocado on top.

I also had 2 pieces of prawn nigiri.

I also had an order of Creamy Salmon Roses which is salmon roses with a lovely creamy sauce and topped with a large tempura prawn.

My food was also amazing. That was the best prawn salad I have ever had. The added bit of chili made all the difference and elevated it from bland to fabulous. The creamy salmon roses were hands down the best sushi I have ever eaten. I was literally moaning with pleasure.

We had such a lovely meal and then we went for a walk around the waterfront. There is a gorgeous view of Table Mountain from the waterfront.

We watched the Cape Wheel for a bit.

And we listened to a band playing who were really talented.

We had a wander around the shops and then headed home. I am back at work tomorrow so we are just relaxing this evening. I have really enjoyed my long weekend and all of our adventures. I hope you have had a lovely break as well.

Until next time, Kisses from The Kitten xoxoxo