Monday, March 16, 2015

Life lately - 16 March 2015

Time sure does fly when you're having fun...or when you are just crazy busy!!

Since we last caught up I had my first full pay cheque, and that only means one thing...shopping!! 30 kg's worth of clothing/personal belongings really isn't that much when you unpack it.

We ventured down Oxford Street 2 weeks ago and wandered in and out of the hundreds of shops that line the street, Primark was the most fruitful destination on that day! We went back to Oxford Street on Saturday afternoon, this time for Riaan (ok, mostly for Riaan - I couldn't resist a new handbag from Aldo, mine saw its ass this week!!)

We located the ONLY Steers in London and embarked on an adventure along the South Bank with our eye on the prize - a juicy King Steer Burger!! We ended up walking all the way to Steers (12 miles), which really isn't that bad when you're just strolling along taking in the beauty of the River Thames. It's on adventures like these that we find awesome places...like this craft beer boat!!
We have both got our NI numbers and I'm waiting for my residence card from Home Office, hopefully we get it before the end of April...we need our passports back because we want to go to the Netherlands for our second wedding anniversary, continuing the tradition (or starting the tradition? It can't be a tradition after only doing it once right?? Hmmmm food for thought!!) of going to a new place for every anniversary. *Awwww*

I started my weekend lectures for ACCA the weekend before last, which is why I've been so busy. I spent the week in Oxford, and I'm spending this week there aswell, it's such a pretty little town. Emphasis on the little!

On Saturday we went to Camden Market! It is awesome and I highly recommend this, if you have a open Saturday with nothing to do, head down to Camden Market! Take a few hours and just browse the stalls, there is literally something for everyone there! Art, antiques, food, clothing, home decor and random gadgets. I found a 60's style pin up dress that I love...I see another shopping mission in the near future!
My favourite face!!
Yummy!!!
After Camden we went to Oxford Street and after all the shopping we were ravenous! We roamed the streets of Soho and in true Riaan and Simone style it took us over an hour to decide where to eat! We eventually settled on a lovely little Italian Restaurant we found called Stefs. We had champs to celebrate Riaan's new job... he starts tomorrow!! Oh and some delicious italian food , creamy mussels, calamari, and linguine with salmon and spinach, accompanied by a smooth red of course!

Somewhere in Soho
Our plans for the next few weekends include the Portobello Road Market, lectures, Brighton for our birthdays and some random wandering adventures!

If you have any suggestions about where we should go or places you'd like to go to that we can test out for you, let me know in the comments below!!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

I'm sorry for my unplanned hiatus

I am sorry! No, really, I am!!
I know I've been a bad little blogger for the past few days, 9 days without posting...it's getting on my nerves, but I just haven't had a break! It's been crazy! What with work and family commitments. Since it was so busy I have quite a bit to say so this post might end up being a bit of a long one...I'll try my best to keep it short and sweet!

Last week was hectically busy!

On Sunday we spent the whole day on set shooting a car advertisment, we were supposed to be background people but Riaan ended up being put front and centre which is pretty cool! It's all pretty top secret because the car hasn't been released yet, so we couldn't take pictures, but it was so interesting! I was fascinated and in awe, by the time we left I was convinced that I could totes have an on-screen day job!!

On Tuesday we had team building, we went for breakfast in Hyde Park and then we went to Acrobranch in Melrose! Acrobranch is an outdoor sort of obstacle course up in the trees, it starts off about a meter above the ground, and gradually gets higher and higher. About half way through you find yourself at least four meters off the ground standing on a ledge, hooking your zip line mechanism to a cable spanning about 10 metres across the grass to another tree, silently convincing yourself to jump of the ledge and zip over the grass to the other side, there is after all no other way down!! With walk ways, chain bridges, cargo rope nets and zip lines to name a few, linking you from tree to tree, it takes about an hour and a half to complete the entire course. At one point I found myself feeling like Jane of the Jungle, I had to take hold of a really think rope and swing from one ledge to a rope net spanned between two trees *insert Tarzan-like yowling sound here*, after grabbing hold of the net I had to climb it to get to the next ledge about 1.5m above. They also have a 200m zip line across a field of grass, it's super fun and quite fast!! This course was a great upper body workout, and we had great fun but if you're afraid of heights and not able to do physical activity for at least two hours then I don't recommend this. If you're an adrenaline junkie and up for a challenge, DO IT!!



Wednesday was National Heritage Day over here in Sunny SA, and the traditional thing to do on NHD is BRAAI of course!! Haha, this year we did not follow tradition, the original plan was to head down to Hartebeesport Dam, ride the cable cars up the mountain and enjoy a late brunch, unfortunately the cable cars were down for maintenance. Oh well, next time right! So we ended up going shopping and after that we met with Riaan's Mom and her sisters, for a catch-up session complete with tea and scones. It was unplanned but a great way to spend a day off!

During the week I also managed to whip up some delicious diet friendly "Ice Cream" which I will post the recipe for tomorrow, I found it on The Londoner's blog, its really delicious but I have altered the recipe a teensy little bit, just to make it easier.

On Friday morning I was up bright and early to catch a flight to the Mother City, although I was going for work, I was excited because I love Cape Town! It's easily my most favourite place in SA!! On arrival we were met with grey skies and a drizzle, but by the afternoon it cleared up and we went for dinner at Shimmy Beach. It's an awesome hot-spot with the locals and the food is divine, not to mention the vast selection of local wines, which is right up my alley!!

On Saturday morning we woke up the most pathetic drizzle, it was fine but the wind was blowing and everything was wet, resulting in our plans to hike Table Mountain being foiled! Luckily in Cape Town we are spoiled for choice when it comes to activities, so off we went to The Old Biscuit Mill, for a morning of Gourmet food, Craft beers, lots of people watching and browsing the dozens of stalls of unique hand made goodies.

Craft Beers
Fresh Oysters
Shrooooms!!
Colourful and very busy dining area
Fresh fruit juices
Delicious Fritata with Smoked Salmon, Poached Egg and Hollandaise Sauce!!
American Style Crepes with Banana and lots of Nutella - These were so so good!!
More Craft Beers
Seafood Paella
Vintage style swimwear

Wooden Jewelry
Pretty Necklaces
Wooden Sunnies and Watches - Pretty Funky!!
Afterwards we went to watch the rugby, SA vs Aus, Rugby isn't really my thing but there is nothing quite as special for me, as a nation that can come together to support their sportsmen the way South Africa does. It literally gave me chills!

On Sunday morning I was off again, back to Jo'burg, Riaan and I had a delicious breakfast at Nice, it's a rustic cafe in Parkhurst 4th Avenue. Their food is fresh, bursting with flavour and well presented.
As you can see we had a hard time making up our minds on what to order!!
We couldn't decide, so we shared!
Open croissant with scrambled egg, avocado and smoked salmon
Left: Toast basket with a poached egg, crispy bacon and tomato relish
Right: Crumpets with crispy bacon, mascarpone cheese and strawberries drizzled with syrup
I promise not to be so quite this week, I am thinking of starting a weekly blog topic, I have a few ideas but if you have any ideas or anything you'd like me to write about, please let me know in the comments!!



Monday, August 04, 2014

A weekend of good food and good company

Well the name says it all! It was a weekend filled with good food and good company!

We started off the weekend with Kota Joe's on Friday followed by a Doctor Who mini-marathon.
Doctor Who...the latest tv show addiction of ours while we wait for our other faves to start again!
On Saturday I was up early to bake my famous chocolate cake for a friend's baby shower (Bragging Rights...It really is famous, it's won an award and been in the Sunday Times!! Awesome right!?! I know! LOL) Then we hurried off to the Futura Craft Market where craft beer, gourmet burgers,  pancakes, vetkoek and mince and day-drinking awaited us. (Day drinking is so much fun, seriously!!)



We met up with Cindy and Marcelle who were early and eager (as usual), they got us the perfect spot - right in the middle of the food and drinks! The boys went off to get some craft beers and Cin and I got wine, we lounged in the sun sipping on our drinks, catching up and waiting for the rest of our friends to arrive. Cindy and I spent a while wandering around the craft market, wine in hand and eventually found our way back to where the guys were sitting. 

Riaan & Melanie - Selfie with a twist!

Melanie and I - Another selfie with a twist!

Riaan & I - Love this man!!

Cindy and I

Melanie and I
Selfie time!!

Some of the friends, the others must have been getting more beer!
Cindy's gifts for her mom-in-law - supporting the cause!

After a couple of hours, burgers, pancakes and a few drinks, the London style telephone booth inevitably became a prop for our photos - some admittedly lame ones too!







 
As the sun started to set the groups of people started to disappear, and we all said our good byes....until next weekend! All in all I think it's safe to say that everyone had a good time, all while raising money for a good cause!

Sunday saw me up bright and early to decorate the chocolate cake, after we dropped it off at the baby shower we were on our way to the good food and wine show, all in the hope of meeting Cake Boss - Buddy Valastro! Unfortunately he wasn't at the show on Sunday = very sad Simone. But we did see what was left of his giant Rhino cake as well as a few awesome cakes at the cake boss stand.
Cake Boss Cake

Frozen Theme Cake - Amazing!!

Frozen theme cake from the back.

Buddy's life size rhino cake

A life size Peugeot cake

Beautiful wedding dress cake

Cake Boss Circus Cake

The show was packed, people shuffling around through the food stalls stuffing their faces with different foods and drinks from around the globe.

Riaan and I had a taste of the five roses buttercream tea, its a blend of rooibos and vanilla in a silk tea bag, it was delicious! We didn't buy much when it came to food because the stalls were so busy, a friend of mine stood in a queue for 45 minutes to get a chicken kebab!! Cray cray!!!

We wandered through the maze of stalls admiring the beautiful cakes on display and marvelling at all the interesting dishes on offer. We had some frozen yogurt from the smooch van, one of the toppings they had for the fro-yo was popping bobas, they are very interesting little translucent balls that are made of seaweed and are filled with a fruit juice goo that pop in your mouth when you eventually manage to bite them. I had apple bobas, they were very sweet and had a weird texture but tasty either way! 
Strawberry frozen yogurt with speckled eggs and popping bobas


So that concludes this weekend's adventures, until next weekend...We will be going on the Vaal Wine Route...Again! I can't wait, we have some pretty high expectations for this year's wine route!!