September 2015 (Royal Cape Yacht Club - Cape Town)

Great GodFather dinner
Were introduced to "Sticky
Fingers" OOOOOhhh good

What a great, if short, trip we had to Pretoria, well I did anyway – poor Kevin still had to work.  Once again we were made really comfortable by Graeme and Michelle – celebrations – amazing how many birthdays there are in Aug, Sept and Oct, and entertainment second to none, thanks guys.  

Grandma came to visit

Gaynor and Johnny and all the animals are safely ensconced in a really lovely two bedroom cottage in Bryanston, very close to work for both of them, very happy for them. 

Hanging curtains

New cottage from gate

We helped them unpack and clean up a bit but they seem to have all under control, so hard to have to admit that your child is now an adult and doesn’t really need as much help any more!!!  Had a lovely lunch with Carel and Lizinda and managed a meeting with Addi our accountant, always entertaining.  

Kevin delivered late birthday pressies
even from Overseas

Also a catch up with as many friends and family as time allows, always seems so little but was great to see you all.

Then my surprise, been battling with my camera, it has been in for major surgery for 5 weeks now and hopefully it will be home soon.  Kevin took pity on my plight however (and advantage of my birthday and Christmas for the next 4 years) and I am now the ecstatic new owner of a Sony A7R J, yahoo, see lots of fun in my future!!

At their cooking station

The other reason we were in Pretoria was Kylie and Mache competing in the Pick n Pay Master Chef competition.  They were one team of 5 selected from Nationwide entries, a new spin off from the annual Pick n Pay Schools Chef Competition.  Each year there are a couple of entries that only just don’t make it and they introduced the Master Chef challenge to give these teams a chance at a competition and it is based on the popular Junior Master Chef challenge.  

How to bake swiss roll

Leanne and I arrived at Prue Leath College to take photos as only teachers were permitted access to watch the demonstration by one of South Africa’s best pastry Chef’s.  Think they took pity on our sorry faces as they invited us in to see the demo as well – didn’t have to ask twice, we were in that kitchen faster than a race horse out of the starting gates. 

This is what they had to make

 The idea was that the sponsors of the competition’ products be used and the item to be recreated turned out to be a swiss roll with peanut butter (Black Cat Sponsor) and cream cheese (Lancewood Sponsor) cream and peanut brittle filling, topped with caramel sauce, meringues and nutty biscuits.

Two chefs gave a most informative 
demonstration of the dish, even I understood but not sure I would want to attempt it, looked daunting.  Then, after sampling the finished product we were turfed out and the competitors had 1.5 hours to do their thing.  

Delicious Food

Prize giving the next day was a really well put on affair, awesome food goodies and even champagne and orange juice.  

A looooong table of impressive prizes showed how well sponsored this event is, loads of Kenwood goodies, Prestige goodies, Pick n Pay and many others and all the competitors received a goodie bag to the value of R1500.00 as well as awesome embroidered chefs jackets and hats.  

Proud Mommies

Amazing Prizes

TheMasterchef competition results were announced first and how awesome when Kylie and Mache were announced winners, unfortunately they were not able to be there as they had a 
hospitality exam – high tea

High Tea in Restaurant at School

High Tea Spread

 (which I also attended, ate like a queen that day!!) at the 

school – but both moms were proud to accept their prizes on their behalf.  High tea was a relaxed and fun affair and the food was so yummy, love these school events :-)

We arrived back in Cape Town and barely had time to throw our suitcases back on the boat before joining Gerry and Judy, Eileen and Bernhard and Ulrike who are finally back from their warm summer in Germany, for Jazz on the Deck at RCYC.  More really good food and wine (does anyone else hear diet here yet?) and lots of catching up, interesting tales and lovely photos. 

Whiskey from Ulrike & Bernhard
Nagmusic and cake from Eileen

BLOW!!!!

Hopefully without jinxing it, there appears to be a glimmer of summer.  The weather has warmed slightly and the days are longer.  Kevins birthday is synonymous with bad weather, however, and this year was no exception.  Saturday 12^th Sept saw us at Eileen for a birthday party, not braaing outside but huddled around a fire inside while the wind gusted and swirled around the bay outside.  We had a great celebration anyway, thanks guys.  

A "Plank" of Penguins

Weather improved and we went sailing on Sunday, took Cherie and John with us.  We had a great sail and were astounded by the huge groups of penguins swimming around, they looked like large pieces of drift wood til we got closer, can only assume there must be an abundance of fish right now.  Two whales, numerous seals and once again a visit from the Porpoises made it a special day.  We ended with a quick trip through V&A, always nice for a sundowner cruise.

Birthday pudding

They were yummy!

New Wind Breaker from me
for Birthday, good t-shirt for the day

Kevins birthday was celebrated in style, sundowners at RCYC followed by dinner at Panama Jacks, we have been told by soooo many people to go there and weren’t disappointed.  Not a pretty restaurant by any stretch of the imagination.  Deep in the commercial harbor they don’t exactly have much competition to keep up with.  A couple of wooden shack like buildings joined together to form quite a formidable restaurant and bar.  

Panama Jacks

Not very pretty inside either, but they are reputed to serve some of the best seafood in Cape Town and I have to say we concur.  The food and service were great, old charts as table cloths made interesting dinner conversations and there is no shortage of patrons, amazing to watch how quickly it filled….

We are both officially members here at RCYC, official welcome and hand shaking and introduction to new Club Manager taking place at a little ceremony with a lovely welcome by the Commodore and Vice Commodore, apparently the ONLY time the Club will give us free drinks, so we made the best of it ha ha.

The shoe-less foot :-)

The Glass

What to do when the swing bridge at the V&A is open longer than usual – head for “Den Anker” of course.  A restaurant famous for its Belgian Craft Beers and scrumptious food.  Kevin picks up the menu and without paying too much attention to the description, selects a “Kwak” beer.  The barman, with the straightest face, says “then I will need your left shoe please”.  After a double take, Kevin asks if he has to drink out of it, still thinking this is a joke, but nope, a condition of drinking this beer, due to the value of the very specific glass from which it is consumed, is that the patron hands over his left shoe to the barman.  Apparently this tradition is carried over from Belgium and seems the beer was so good a second was consumed – no the right shoe did not need to be handed over for this.

Whale Crier in Hermanus

Not pretty when loosing
ones baby fluff

Penguins Bettys Bay

My mom came to visit, arriving on 20 September and it was a whirlwind time, as usual.  As it has been many years since her only brief Cape Town encounter it was quite good fun to do the full tourist thing with her, a trip to Hermans to find the whales and the famous Whale Crier (this time of year the whales come really close to shore at Hermanus as the Bay is pretty deep and we were treated to a brief but spectacular display by one playful whale, cheered on by the Whale Crier who blows his horn whenever he spots whales), 
Betty’s Bay to find penguins, 

UK Navy well represented
Gold Rover

V&A from a different angle

Live entertainment V&A

V&A Waterfront, 

Frigate Lancaster

Being brave on Ferris Wheel

Lunch in Simons Town

Hop on Hop off Bus

Simons Town and lunch with Eileen and Bernhard followed by a visit to Ethereal, the interior of whom had my mother enthralled, 

Wine Tasting

Hop on Hop off bus and harbour tours, 



Wine tasting – OF COURSE – 

Wine Tasting results

Wine Tasting

Markets and Imhoff’s. The long weekend saw many more holiday makers and visitors than normal so things got pretty crowded but at least the weather played the game for most of her visit. 

Goodie bag & tag

Braai in Murray Bay
Robben Island 

On Anchor Murray Bay

On “Braai Day” a public holiday officially known as Heritage Day, RCYC held The Equinox Moonlight Rally, a sail from RCYC to Robben Island (around it for those who were so inclined – on Kevins bucket list so we went round) then anchoring in the bay next to the harbor for a braai, followed by a Pursuit Race back to the Club.  What a fabulous day, the weather was super although the wind still a bit chilly, nice wind for getting to the Island and around, great sheltered anchorage for the braai and a following wind for the return.  We put the spinnaker up and flew along happily for about 1.5 hours before the wind gave a final puff and left us floundering.  Nothing for it but to start the motors, retire from the race and head for home, there were cold beers and snacks waiting!!  

Prize Giving

A really great event, there were 8 yachts that took part, numbers were a bit low as many of the RCYC yachts had headed for Simons Town for the Spring Regatta.  

There were points allocated for the different options taken in the Rally, the most being for going around the Island and also for the Pursuit Race.  We found out today that our 90 points earns a donation to NSRI by Pinto Russell of R450.00 – very proud.

Hidea Motor

Whilst getting all our ducks in a row on engine replacement we came across a little 5hp 4stroke motor at Volvo, end of range sale and picked it up at a steal – we now have a new Hidea ha ha.  Also trying to get as many of the “we can do this ourselves” jobs done – have installed a new wine glass holder in the glasses cupboard, FINALLY, yay!!  TV is also screwed down so no more having to find somewhere to stash it when we go sailing.

Now back to the grind stone and planning/strategizing for the work we are about to do, scary but exciting all at once…..

Cheers.....