My happy place

St James beach huts

Kalk Bay has always and always will be my happy place. No matter if it's pouring with rain or the most beautiful December sunshiny day Kalk Bay has the ability to transport you to a little carefree places full of happiness...well that's what I think at least

We hadn't been to Kalk Bay in ages and sometime, like a mermaid calls lost sailors you get this little tugging feeling that it's time for a visit and some Ice Station Ice Cream (Possible the best ice cream you'll ever taste).

Olympia Cafe

Pieter and I don't often get days off together so we always need to make the most of what time we have...and what we had happened to be a really chilly day. One thing to remember about Kalk Bay is what ever the weather is where you are it will be the complete opposite there so as luck would have it we arrived and as we got out of the car it started to pour with rain. 

The nice thing about running in the rain in Kalk Bay is that most of the pavement is covered so we darted across the road and straight into Olympia Cafe, a place I haven't been in years. Olympia is the place to go in Kalk Bay for delicious baked goodies. We had some wonderful cappuccinos, an almond croissant and one of their pasta de natas which is a little piece of heaven with every bite. If you don't feel like sitting down or you just driving through pop around the corner and you will find their bakery which holds just as much freshly baked magic.

The sky started to clear and we took a walk down the main road enjoying all the antique shops and locally made clothes and jewellery. Something about Kalk Bay just makes it so unique that it brings you back time and time again. On the sea side of the road you find a whole line of restaurants with the most incredible view of the harbor. Brass Bell and Cape to Cuba are both ones we've visited more times then we can remember and they never disappoint. 

After exploring some of the shops we decided to drive along to Simon's Town and see what we could find. Simon's Town is where you will find one of the naval bases so there's a lot of history and interesting tourist places - one to stop at is definitely the statue of Just Nusance, the only dog to ever be enlisted into the Royal Navy.

While we were there we stopped for lunch at a place that Pieter recommended, The Salty Sea Dog. Now this little place doesn't look like much from the outside and almost seems a bit like a take-away joint but we sat down inside and had the best calamari I've had in my entire life and the service was great. I would definitely recommend popping in here.

So if you're ever feeling blue or the sun is shining and you need something to do, a little exploring is always the answer.

*A little tip for the busier seasons is to park outside Muizenberg Station and hop on the train - a return ticket is really reasonable and it's a fairly safe line to use. It also gives you the best view of the famous St James beach huts. Plus parking is always hard to find on a busy day in Kalk Bay.

Hanging out at De Warenmarkt

One of the best parts about living in Stellenbosch is trying all the new places that spring up. I think De Warenmarkt on the corner of Ryneveld and Plein Street is definitely going to be one of our new favorite spots.

We met one of our friends there for a glass of wine last week and surprisingly it was only the 3rd day they were open. De Warenmarkt is made up of a number of gorgeous gourmet food stands that range from coffee to cheese to the most incredible wood fire breads - banters beware.
The wine list is a bit on the limited side at the moment considering it is a wine bar but has some really lovely wines - We enjoyed a Steenberg Savignon blanc 2014 (R180 per bottle).

The setting is funky and modern and there is a huge fire place in the center of the room which was nice and cosy for a chilly winters evening. Our waiter told us that most of the food vendors close around about 7 but there were a few that served a little later which was fantastic because it gave us just enough time to get some breads and make up a small cheese platter to enjoy with our glass of wine. Call me old fashioned but I just can't drink wine out of a stemless glass like the ones they use, it doesn't taste right and you drink it far to quickly...especially in Stellenbosch where wine is such a big part of the culture.

We really loved hanging out at De Warenmarkt and can't wait to enjoy beautiful Summer evening there.

Wonderful food and wine

The perfect wine needs the perfect glass right?

De Warenmarkt is open Mondays - Saturday

For more information have a look at their website (link above) or their Facebook page


Reading on Facebook Chef George Jardine (Jordans Restaurant) has big plans at De Warenmarkt - I will definitely update this post when we get around to trying some of the amazing things on his menu

Is there any body out there?

Last night my mom was telling me about an article she read about bloggers and how people are actually making this their profession. People are actually leaving their 9-5 jobs to become full time blogger - sounds like a dream.
I'm addicted to blogs and have a whole bookmark tab full of my favourites. People I have never ever met but I know what colour their bedrooms are and I've watched some of their children take their first steps. I know their favourite foods and where in the world they call home. I know the things that make them smile and their deepest saddest secrets and I cry with them most of the time...most of the time while I'm at work which means I have to try extra hard not to look like I've zoned out of this World completely to one that is just me and a computer screen.

I will never have a whole lot of groupie readers waiting for my next post and caring what I put on my toast and I'll never have TV interviews and more tweets then I  have time to read. It's funny how we can make our own little Worlds so personally impersonal.

I may never make peace with the fact that even after rereading a piece a million times there are lines that will never make sense to anyone but me or words that the Oxford dictionary will never be able to figure out. It's just not my strong point.(Did I mention I have a journalism diploma?scrap that one)
So while we may not all be food critics or wine critics or the best parents in the world it's all ok because at the end of the day all we really want is a little place in the World to say what we really care about and have someone on the other side agree.

Chapman's Peak Sunday Drive

 

One of the things we really love to do together is go to new places so a few weekends ago we decided to take advantage of the wonderful Autumn weather and finally take a drive along Chapman's Peak.

 

This is one of the most beautifully scenic coastal drives you'll ever experience. It starts in Hout Bay and reaches all the way to Noordhoek (or visa versa but because we drive on the left hand side I'd recommend starting in Hout Bay - far less scary) and consists of 114 curves!!!! It's an absolutely stunning drive with the rock face on one side and the sea on the other.

 

Chapman's Peak is also known for it's horrific rockfalls but when the sun is out it makes for the perfect day out - there are even a few spots that are safe to stop at have a picnic.

We were both really blown away by how beautiful it was even though there were recently terrible veld fires which left a lot of the plants burnt, but the magical thing about nature is that the regrowth had already started leaving wonderful patches or vibrant bright green amongst the burnt bushes.



 

 

 

 

There is a tariff to use the pass but is definitely worth going. The Pass is occasionally closed for safety reasons when there is bad weather.

The littler loves of our life

Shortly after we got married we decided that our house could only truly be a home if we had something furry to love (this may have been a plan to prolong the need to start having babies but I somehow think this back fired).

Living in a tiny apartment complex not knowing where we will be in a few years a kitten was almost out of the question and our goldfish Messi- of course, just wasn't fulfilling our cuddling needs.

So the search began. We decided after a lot of research a guinea pig would be perfect for us and searched high and low from one end of Cape Town to the other looking for one. After a long hot day in the car with very little success we were about to give up hope when I found a lady online who was looking for a home for her 6 week old litter.
We couldn't wait to go pick one out and we knew the minute we saw her that Bijou needed to come home with us. She was so soft and tiny she almost looked like a little hamster.
It's absolutely amazing how much love this little guinea pig has bought into our lives, she has so much personality and a little noise or squeak for everything. Our fridge has it's own personal burglar alarm now because every time you open it she thinks she is getting a snack and goes bananas.

Little did we know that Bijou had a huge surprise waiting for us. We noticed that this little piggy wasn't so little anymore and almost over night she had doubled in size. Not knowing what was wrong with her we rushed her off to the vet who told us she was just a little bloated - a very expensive trip to be told she had gas. So we took her home and watched what she ate and just assumed she was a healthy growing piggy, only for a few weeks later to feel little kicks from inside.

HOW EXCITING!!!!



Joey is one on the babies we decided
to keep because obviously Bijou needed
a friend if she'd gone as far as making
her own.

Bijou grew and grew until you literally needed two hands to pick her up out of her cage, and like any pregnant mommy she really didn't seem to comfortable. We had no idea when these babies would arrive or what to do with them or even if she would know what to do. Every morning we would sneak through the bedroom door and hope to find these tiny gifts but day after day nothing happened until the 25 of March when 3 teeny tiny pups had joined their mommy.

It has been so awesome to watch something you love grow and all 4 of these guinea pigs are absolutely precious. It really is the best feeling after a long day at work to come home and see their little faces peeping through their cage to greet you (Pieter has a lovely face to).....even if it is just to say 'Bring me food Salad Slave'.

 

Bijou and her 3 little babies

 

The Story of Us

So we got married a little while ago....although it feels like a long while ago - which I guess is a good thing because hopefully after a very long while we will still be as happy as we are now.
Anyway, we made a DIY wedding website to tell all of our guest the details of the wedding and personally I think we did a pretty great job at it.
My favourite part was sharing with our guests the way Pieter and I met, we each wrote down what we remembered from the very first day we met and it was so special.
Even though we only had a small wedding with the people who are most special to us there are many of them that didn't know we met online so it was a really cool way of telling them our story.

If you'd like to read it you welcome to check out the website

*One of the best websites I found for everything and anything when we were planning our wedding was offbeatbride.com they had lots of unique ideas and helpful links.

Re-Loved

I've been thinking a lot lately that it's time to look at our blog again and write a little more about the things that we love to love.

A lot has happened, a lot has changed, new towns, new jobs, new homes and we have gotten married so life has really opened up a whole lot of other adventures for us over the past year. Our poor little blog has been forgotten about and it's time for it to be re-loved.

On the plus side with so much change there are a lot of things we have to share so here's hoping for many more posts to coming and hopefully a few people will enjoy reading them.