This has been such a busy week! First of all, we still have our overseas visitors with us until next Monday. Last Monday I had to go back to work and Norm took his guests up Table Mountain. Apparently everyone in the entire province also decided to go at that time and Norm had to park 2 miles away and then walk back to the cable car area, then back the 2 miles to collect the car afterwards. They said it was very crowded and it was an incredibly hot day, but they spent all day there due to navigating the crowds. Norm wanted to go to some of the museums in town but Table Mountain took longer than expected, but I feel it is such a vital part of visiting South Africa to understand the history and pay homage to it.
Norm’s cousin Judith from Scotland and her friend Wendy bought the cutest little duck family for my garden at one of the markets.
After they got back into the bay we went to the local pub for dinner. Woodcutters Arms is a cut above most pubs as it serves such lovely food and this seemed to be the biggest hit with the group overall.
Norm and Wendy had the burger, Greg the pork belly, Kim the sausage and mash and I had a few tapas dishes. I started with the jalapeno cheddar cigars. I adore these little slivers of cheesy spicy delight.
I then had their chicken strips with chips.
Both of the lads had a Scotch Egg starter.
We had a lovely evening and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Tuesday was a public holiday in South Africa and I had the day off, however I had a lot of work to catch up on so I stayed home. I did spend part of the day watching the birds in the garden.
The group went off to tour the Cape Peninsula and visit the penguins in Simon’s Town. Kim and Greg bought a lovely lamp for me. I adore giraffes and lamps so it is a good choice!
That evening we went to The Beach Bar for dinner.
I did not want anything too heavy so I had a Caesar salad with bacon and a tapas portion of mussels and that was just right for me. My poached egg was cooked perfectly, soft in the centre and firm on the outside. I give my meal 5 Kitten Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.
The mussels were in a really gorgeous rich, buttery, garlic sauce. It was served with 2 slices of crispy ciabatta toast perfect for dipping and I mopped up every drop of that gorgeous sauce.
Norm had his usual burger and Judith followed his example. The ladies had fish and chips, Greg also had 2 tapas items, the Jalapeno poppers and Calamari and chips. My food was gorgeous. There was a good vibe in the restaurant as every table was completely full, but it was a challenge for us old goats to hear over the music. Everyone had a piece of cake afterwards, 3 of us had the chocolate cake and it was so rich and gorgeous and the others had the carrot cake and also said it was lovely.
On Wednesday the group went to Kirstenbosch gardens. Norm bought a lovely pillow cushion cover for me.
That night we went to the local Japanese restaurant Izakaya Kukai for dinner. It is owned and ran by the renowned sushi master Arata Koga who was recognized as 7th Sushi Master in the world. Norm and I did our usual and shared 3 different starters. First we were served the tempura prawns and they were piping hot and fresh and just as gorgeous as they always are.
We also had the Gyoza pan fried prawn and pork dumplings and the Bang Bang prawns. The dumplings were as perfect as always and the bang bang prawns had a wee bit more bang than usual but were still very tasty.
Norm had a chicken ramen for his main and I had the swordfish sashimi and a portion of rice as I was pretty full from the starters.
The irony is that I was worried our Scottish visitors might not find anything they liked as they had never had Japanese food and are not fans of the exotic, however they asked questions and they shared a portion of crispy chicken kara as a starter followed by a big plate of chicken fillet stir fry noodles and they loved it! The cousin from the US thought it was too salty. She wanted dessert but the only dessert on offer at the restaurant was ginger and honey ice cream so we went to the shops and got our individual choice of ice creams to take home. Any day that ends with Häagen-Dazs is a good day in my opinion, but my dinner scored a full 5 Kitten Stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
On Thursday the gang trouped off to Stellenbosch and I had a day of meetings. We had 2 deliveries that day, at 7:30am my replacement coffee maker arrived. My old one had been slowly dying and for each cup of coffee output there was an equal amount of water leaking from the bottom of the coffee maker. I just bought the same basic one as it does the job and the previous one lasted ages.
Then the cushion I ordered to go onto my new bench from Norman arrived. It looks so nice and is really comfy.
That night they only got back at 9pm. I was having a lot of anxiety about work and my daughter and would have loved my husband’s support so my anxiety mixed with my annoyance the later it got and he was still not home. When he got home I was really unhappy and could not stop crying. He understood that I had been in need of support and agreed to try harder.
Yesterday was a day I had been anticipating for 9 months, Caitlin had a caesarean delivery of her and Wes’ daughter. Baby was born at 11.27 on the 27th of September. She is just absolutely perfect and is the spitting image of Caitlin when she was born. She was only 2.8kg / 6lbs which is the same size as Caitlin when she was born. She has large hands and really long fingers and nail beds but the rest of her is minute. She has a tiny little head, a tiny little body and skinny limbs. She has lots of black hair, not very long but very generously distributed.
I got to hold her in the afternoon but they have asked us to not share any photos of the baby online and I will of course adhere to their wishes.
Last night was Greg’s birthday so we all went out for Mexican food in the city.
I had given Norm the name I thought was correct but he booked Hacienda which turned out to be quite posh, especially for a Mexican themed restaurant. We trooped off about 5pm into the city.
We ordered the guacamole which they make in front of you, but as someone who makes a lot of guacamole at home, it was good guacamole but no better than my own. I did not like that they gave you a tiny dish of ‘totopos’ which are just bits of fried tortilla chips that are a bit more crumbly than normal ones. They did not give nearly enough chips for the amount of guacamole we ordered. They also said ‘we will keep the chips coming’ but they did not keep the chips coming.
I ordered a few dishes but the staggered approach to service meant I did not experience the beans with the other dishes so it was a bit weird. I had the beef brisket which the menu describes as ‘TENDER BRISKET, MOLE HACIENDA, CORN PUREÉ, ANCHO HONEY AND CRISP PAPA ASADA’. It was really dark in there and I could not see what I was eating. The meat was quite fatty. I give this dish a 3 out of 5 Kitten Stars ⭐⭐⭐
Then they served the Chorizo Prawns, described as GUAJILLO PRAWNS WITH CHORIZO FOAM, FRESH TOMATO, JALAPENO SHAVINGS AND MELON. I enjoyed this dish, the foam was nicely flavoured without having to deal with the texture of the chorizo. It was good but I suspect the prawns were frozen and not fresh based on their consistency. I also give this dish 4 Kitten Stars based on the flavours.
The third dish I had ordered was the beans which I did not snap a photo of because by then I was over it. They were described as FRIJOL NEGRO WITH BLACK BEAN, GUAJILLO CAULIFLOWER, MUSHROOM SOFRITO AND PARMESAN. I would have been happy with half a portion if I had known I was going to be served them just on their own. I had expected them to come as a side with my main like in a normal Mexican restaurant. I was not fond of their tortillas. They were a bit like a tortilla and a roti had a baby and the consistency did not hold when you tried to use them as an actual receptacle of food.
The beans get a 3 Kitten Stars and the tortillas 1 star.
For dessert Norm and I both had the churros. Described as COFFEE NAMELAKE, SPICED DULCE DE LECHE, PASSIONFRUIT, CHILLI CHOCOLATE ICE-CREAM. These little baby churros were gorgeous, they were warm, not oily and nicely flavoured with cinnamon and sugar. The ice cream had only a pinch of chili to add punch, it was not overwhelming. This is the only perfect score I will give any of their dishes, 5 Kitten Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Today I am going to see my friend T. Norm and his posse have headed off to Hermanus. I suspect it will be incredibly crowded. I will pop over to visit Caitlin and the baby this afternoon. They have asked to not be overwhelmed or bombarded so I am trying not to intrude and let them find their rhythm as a family.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxox
Kitten in the City 
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