Monday, November 16, 2009Wow, so, the report back on my busy weekend is going to be far less busy (I hope). I tend not to write as much when I see people versus when I do things. Does that make sense.
So on Friday night I grabbed some Ghazal's take out and headed over to DJMike's place. We hung out for a whilt till Varen joined us after his Action Soccer game and we all ended up watching a Derren Brown dvd called Something Wicked This Way Comes, while the storm raged.
Let me just tell you that magic about drives me nuts ... and this is worse! It was pure torture. I have no idea how he did any of those things and it drives me to frustration. I will send out a big round of appreciation tho because he does sort of explain how he did the show-long trick at the very end. But I'm still not convinced it'd work on me (doesn't everyone say that?)
On Saturday I'd decided that I wanted to visit Tangaroa Strawberry Farm so Varen and I headed there for lunch. I wish I could say I was wildly impressed, but I guess my expectations were tainted by a visit to Polkadraai (in Cape Town) many many years ago with their neat rows of Strawberries and the box-ful I came home with that we could hardly eat before they went off.
The setting is quite nice but you don't have a feeling of wide open spaces, there is a border of nice grass to picnic on (their picnic baskets look quite yummy!) around a dirty-but-restful lake with some ducks and the odd duckling. We ate our lunch at their "coffee-shop" which was quite nice and I really wished I'd had more space for dessert (really should tried that Strawberry Salad they have, sounded delish, but I was still planning to keep space for dessert when I ordered!).
And then we wandered down to the Strawberry Fields. It was pretty hard to tell what was strawberry and what was over-growth. I appreciate that it's an organic farm, but that means you shouldn't go with high expectations (or maybe it's just this year - they do have a note on their website noting that their current production is slow). We spotted some awesome specimens but as soon as you turn them over, you'll see the underside is mush or has been feasted on by some insect-beastie. We couldn't take any Strawberries out with us but could go and wander and eat what we picked (which wasn't much seeing that we were full from lunch and it was hard to find any pristine specimens).
I'm glad we went and tried something new, but I won't be rushing back there this season.
On Saturday evening we headed off to Norwood for some Hokkaido Sushi with @saulkza, @nadgia, @tfrayne and friends. Was a great evening with a group I'm very much enjoying :) Sadly tho, I think I must definitely give Hokkaido the thumbs down over Yamada (although @saulkza may have my head just for thinking that!). There is reason to my madness tho ... I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is no rhyme or reason to serve 8 items per sushi plate. Firstly, it means you can't try something new because if you don't like that first one, what a waste of the next 7! And secondly, I like variety and if I eat 8 of this sushi-type, there's no way there'll be space for all the other delicious ones too. I ordered far too much and ate more than I should've.
On Sunday Varen and I were up early to get the week's grocery shopping out of the way and the house cleaned up before our guests arrived :) We had Louisa, RubyLetters, Doodles&TSC and Arkwife&ArkFamily over for a Sunday afternoon braai.
It turned out great, although most of them were quite fashionably late (thanks to the 94.7 road closures). Louisa impressed us with her first (of many, I hope) Potato Salads, Ruby indulged us with some decadent Peppermint Fridge Tart (which we still have half of lurking and tempting me from the fridge!), Arkwife did a show-and-tell braai bread making session for us and Doodles ensured we ate our greens with a yummy salad (and flowers from her garden for me!).
Another group I'm thoroughly enjoying the company of :)
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3 comments:
Oh no! Bigger portions that taste better at the same price. What are they thinking!
Thanks for having us over! It was great to see you guys, as always and also to finally meet the famous bunnies.
Thanks again for Sunday. I had a blast. You guys are brilliant hosts. And yes, as Louisa said, meeting the boons was a highlight.
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