SEA
AND MOUNTAIN FULL IN VIEW
March
2007
WARNING: THIS REVIEW MIGHT
CAUSE A TWINGE OF JEALOUSY
Thursday 1 March 2007
We flew down to Cape Town on Thursday morning, 1
March. My newsletter was sent out the previous night, our cat-babies were
safely in a 5-star cattery, Katmandu – so all that’s left for me was to
“chill”.
The babies were booked into the Catmatrix rooms.
As you can see lots of amazing toys, clean blankets over the boxes and chair
and their own little garden at the back, planted with lots of catnip and
ivy. website.www.katmandu.co.za
I booked us a flat, Nautica, in Bloubergstrand
with a sea view and so was quite anxious about how much view we could possible
have for only R450/night – that’s for both of us. http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/vanri/homepage.html
https://www.bloubergapartments.com/index.html
https://www.bloubergapartments.com/index.html
Collecting the luggage, Hein sprinted away to
Imperial for the car; the flat owner, Lynette, said we could book in straight
away. In high spirits we drove off – the weather was not too hot, nice little
breeze blowing.
Arriving at the flat, we realised to our utter
disbelief that the lift wasn’t working – and the flat’s on the 6th
floor. After the 3rd floor, I started imitating the “wolf and
the piggies” - huffing and puffing. Left with 2 more floors, I literally
dragged myself up the stairs by pulling on the balustrade. Lynette opened
the door and we walked in …
Now, this is where the “jealousy part” might kick
in – the view was just absolutely mind-blowing. And the salty smell …
The flat’s decorated mostly in blue, white and
green. Very calm and refreshing. 2 Bedrooms, main with a double bed
and small en-suite bathroom with toilet, basin and shower.
2nd Bedroom with twin beds and a
separate biggish bathroom with bath, basin and toilet. All decorated with
terracotta tiles. Kitchen open-plan to lounge with smallish dining table
and 4 chairs in-between. Everything in the kitchen is white, but modern
and more than adequate. The coffee machine caught my eye, so I was
happy.
The lounge has 2 sofas and TV with sliding doors
onto the balcony. Main bedroom also has sliding doors onto the same
balcony. Everything looking out onto this amazing sea .. and
mountain …
Back to the flat for a quick shower and change of
clothes and off we went to meet colleagues at Paulaner Brauhaus, a German
restaurant at the Waterfront. At half past 7pm, we went to Pick ‘n Pay to
stock up on the basics for the flat and ordered fish and chips from Ocean
Basket for a take-away. Driving back, we were wondering if the lift was
working yet … luckily it was.
Sat on the balcony eating it, watching the lights
of the boats, Cape Town and thinking how lucky we were with this flat.
I’ve gotten into the habit of packing liquid hand wash and toilet spray.
When I unpacked, I saw that the guest bathroom had one, so I put one in the
en-suite. Using the spray in the guest bathroom for the first time, I
pressed and to my utter amazement white foam dropped down onto the floor.
Very puzzled, I turned the bottle to look at the label and read:
Friday 2 March 2007
Hein went to work. I had a quick stroll on
the beach, picked up some pebbles and then of course the lift wasn’t working
... Certainly one way to force exercise on you. The flat has some
old You magazines and a few books. Sitting on our bed, I read a book,
glanced up at the mountain and sea and felt so very content…
After work, we drove to The Mexican Kitchen for
take-aways.
Now Bloubergstrand has a lot of restaurants all
clumped together – there’s a St Elmo’s, Primi Blue, Ocean Basket, 2 Chinese
places, 1 Indian place, a Thai place, an Italian one, KFC …
Walking into The Mexican Kitchen, you find it
quite small, “darkish” but with a very good vibe. We decided against
take-aways and sat down. They have a buffet every night for R59/person, except
on Thursday nights for the ladies – R49.
The buffet consists of chicken in a cream sauce,
chilli con carne (mince), beef in a dark gravy, rice, refried beans, guacamole,
sour cream, cheese, chilli, nachos, tortillas, lettuce, cubed tomato and onion,
fried veggies. Everything was delicious, except the nachos and
tortillas. They were horribly hard (for me anyway). On the menu
they have some other items, eg: Enchiladas and calamari. I just thought
that this kind of food will be perfect for a party. The main dishes are
not costly to make and everything else is put out in small bowls.
Saturday morning 3 March 2007
We met up with a colleague, Kobus, at Primi Blue
for brunch. The guys had the usual English breakfast and I opted for
flapjacks with joghurt and berries. Of course I “spruced” it up with some
of Hein’s mushrooms and bacon.
We drove off to Tyger Valley to upgrade my phone
but the closer we got to there, the harder it rained. It was also
month-end, so on spotting all the cars, we duly made a u-turn and went back to
the flat for an afternoon nap.
That afternoon we went to Kobus and Linda for
supper in Melkbosstrand. Kobus loves to cook and we started off with shelled
prawns, mixed with little bit mayo, peri-peri spice and placed with avo slices
into avo shells. He braaied spicy pork and then some steak. We had
fresh salad (Linda’s the salad maker), gorgeous garlic and butter bread from
Woolworths and ended with malva pudding and custard. But then Hein wanted
something salty … so Kobus braaied some skinless, boneless chicken.
Sadly, we didn’t have any more tummy-space for the periwinkles.
Every morning I made us coffee and we sat on the
balcony. Gazing, smelling and just being .. alive. With the wind,
surf-kiters gallop the waves like acrobats.
Sunday morning 4 March 2007
We went to Canal Walk for breakfast and upgraded
my phone. With the transaction, we received a DVD player which will come
in quite handy, since we lost the remote of our current one.
Dinner was at the Wangthai restaurant
(www.wangthai.co.za), right next to the Lagoon Beach hotel with an old friend
and his girlfriend. We first sat outside, gazing over the lagoon and the
sea, watching the golden sunset.
Roll bit of everything in a spinach leave, dip
into palm sugar sauce and enjoy. For dessert Hein and I
shared grenadilla cheesecake. We left after 11pm.
Monday morning 5 March 2007
I did some washing – in the bath
with me walking all over it. Dropped Hein off and went back to Canal Walk
for some shopping. Bought a gorgeous leather handbag at Woolworths (got
tired of my “camouflage” bag. Hein and Sanet, my sister, will be fighting
over it to use as a fishing bag. Maybe I should let them bid for it….) and had
nachos at the Spur. After that my feet were so tired, I went back to the
flat for a rest. We were to meet Paul and Ruth again for dinner in Sea
Point at a tiny place in Main Road, called Saul’s Sushi.
Monday nights you pay R99/person and eat as much
as you like. Except no sashimi (raw fish), eel or salmon roses.
Very interesting menu – Bellville rolls: biltong, avo, mayo, cheese.
Mixed grill rolls: kudu, ostrich, beef, cheese, peppadew; Designer
roll: brie, fig, sesame seeds.
The place is so-so tiny that we would have been
uncomfortably squeezed in next to another table – until we thought of the
leather sofa and chairs. Why not!
The coup de resistance for me was the dessert – wasabi and chocolate chip ice cream. Wasabi is green and looks like
dough. Together with freshly pickled ginger (that comes out pink) you add
it to your sushi roll. But not too much or your nose will burn like
something else.
The ice cream was vanilla with the chocolate
chips and only afterwards, do you feel a very slight (definitely not
uncomfortable) tingle at the back of your throat. Yummy!
For coffee, they took us to the Winchester Hotel
– also in Sea Point but right next to the sea. (Well, there’s a road
in-between). Wow! Old-world charm, richly decorated with oranges
and reds and the courtyard – they have Sunday brunches there with a live jazz
band. Service with a smile and you hear all the foreign accents around
you.
Tuesday 6 March 2007
It was quiet – for me, outside the wind
started to blow. Of course the surf-kiters were in “heaven” – they were
out frolicking since 10 that morning. Don’t they have jobs?
Made heavenly steak curry with basmati rice for
dinner and started to pack our bags.
Wednesday 7 March 2007
We booked out and went for breakfast at Café
Blouberg.
Heavenly flapjacks with bacon, maple syrup and
“Bushman Chilli Sauce”. Hein had an informal meeting and then we went to
the Waterfront for lunch at Paulaner Brauhaus. It was quite a hot day.
Hein’s burger had the most gorgeous bun – made
out of pumpkin, I think. I had a cold meat platter with real “kaiingvet”,
(crackling fat), a piece of crackling, cheeses and cold meat. We dropped
of our car at the airport and sat in the business lounge. Much nicer
chairs, free sandwiches, chips, pretzels, coffee, wine and juices.
When we landed Wednesday night, it drizzled all
the way home.
Thursday morning 8 March 2007
I quickly did some washing, ironed the shirts and
fetched the kids. Back to normal again. Sure do miss the sea though
…
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