Me in USA Today

See under Atlantic Express Cake & Coffee Train

For the full piece:  http://traveltips.usatoday.com/early-breakfast-restaurants-sea-point-near-cape-town-101244.html

Cafeen

I recently had lunch (and then breakfast) at a café I'd highly recommend. Caféen, on the corner of Hampstead and 3rd Avenue in Harlfield village is a quaint spot with some quirky decor and a cosy yet airy feel. Lunch was a basic toasted cheese sandwich and some coffee. The sandwich was huge.

 For both visits I didn't wait more than five minutes for my food - and for breakfast we were more than ten guests at one table - and the rest of the place was quite busy. For breakfast I had a salmon, cream cheese, spring onion and scrambled egg croissant. Yum!  There's a spacious outside section and a smaller smoking section (outside) and the inside's got all sorts of rustic items and fun decor. We had a girls' breakfast there and were well looked after and had no issues with any orders. Most of us had the salmon croissant because there wasn't too much that catered for non-bacon-eating guests, but there were enough options to keep us happy. I think this dish just sounded the most mmm. 

 

 

Our Cafeen-themed reminder-invitations:

 www.cafeen.co.za

RIP Busta

Today I dedicate my blog to my Busta, who died suddenly yesterday :-(  I  hope it doesn't rain in heaven because the other dogs are going to get REALLY annoyed with him fighting with the raindrops :-)

You had a good 12 years. Rest in peace my baba.

2007

2008

Girly stuff

I'm having a bad day so I might as well cheer myself up with some fun stuff that made me smile.

marysiaswimstore.com

 

 

garnethill.com

Cupcakes by Lameez Karriem

bidorbuy.co.za

polyvore.com

Layzee Bites, Rondebosch East

blogs.babble.com

 

img.photobucket.com

My favourite pic today

Thanks for the laugh, Candice

Victoria Street Market

Some reviews claim it's like stepping into another world, other sites tell you it's a must-see. I beg to differ. I visited the Victoria Street Market (in all fairness, I didn't bother to check out the fresh fish/ food side - so that could be awesome) and was a tad disappointed.

It's not like stepping into another world...at all. It almost like stepping into China Town in Ottery or Sable Square. A series of shops selling brassware, cheap Chinese and Taiwanese hair accessories, make-up, bags and of course, spices. I love China Town - this doesn't even come close when it comes to clothing and other fun stuff. If you search for the market on the Internet, you're bound to find close-ups of spices and all sorts of fun stuff. Naturally, after doing my searching, I was excited to see what it's all about. Now, I could be completely wrong and may have only seen a fraction on the place, so if you've been, please let me know that I went to the wrong entrance or building altogether.

This was the most exciting stall I saw

I expected to see saris and scarves and other more interesting things. Anyway, I managed to leave with KFC and Nando's spices - so it wasn't a complete waste. I too am guilty of only taking close-up shots of the spices, simply because there was nothing else appealing to take pics of...and after the spice man cautioned me and suggested I don't walk around with my camera so freely, my picture-taking came to an end.

If you're in Durban, visit the market and let me know what you think. As a an avid 'marketeer', I expected a bit more.

It's on the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets and operates Monday to Saturday from 08h00 to 18h00 and Sundays from 10h00 to 16h00

I dare you to try this spice

My favourite joke today

A weekend in Knysna

Seeing that I wrote about my cheetah encounters, I figured I might as well mention my elephant encounter as well.  But then I realised I might as well say something about my entire Knysna trip, where it all happened. My friend and I went to Knysna for a weekend to see what the town has to offer besides oysters.

First stop was a restaurant called The Firefly Eating House. I won't go into too much detail but if you're ever in Knysna, give it a visit (you can read my review if you click on the link). Then off to check into our accommodation.

The hot chocolate - sugar, cream, chocolate lolly and hot milk. Mix it up!

We stayed at Under Milkwood, a self-catering lodge near the Knysna Heads. We had a four-sleeper wooden cabin, fully equipped and very cosy.

We chose to share the twin room instead of each having a bedroom

The next morning we had to be up early for breakfast at Ile de Pain on Thesen Island - about 10 minutes from where we were staying.

Breakfast was mmmmm!  We ordered a cream cheese, salmon, capers and egg croissant and coffee. Heavenly.

Nisha and I at Ile de Pain

Check out all the breads and pastries..mmm

After breakfast it was off to Tenikwa Wildcat and Wildlife Sanctuary in Plett where we had some time the wild ones, and you can read about that and see pics here and here.

When we were done it was too early for lunch so we stopped on the way back to Knysna at a roadside rendezvous called The Heath. It's a farmstall, cafe, eagle sanctuary, play area, furniture store and nursery all on one site. Our 15-minute stop turned into an hour of browsing all the handmade soaps, jewellery, decorated pebbles, bags and endless amounts of other fun stuff.

I bought some message pebbles.

This fudge is goooood

I wonder who lives there. He probably never 'leaves'. GET IT? Hahaha

For lunch we went to a place called 34 Degrees South (but the name just says 34 South) at the Waterfront. This place has everything you can possibly think of ordering. Ok, not everything, but pretty close. As all their banners say, they're 'Not exactly a restaurant, not exactly a deli, not exactly a bar....' I'm not sure what exactly they are but either way, they filled the gap in my tummy. My friend had fish and chips and I ordered sushi with a side order of fries and extra mayo.

The rest of the day we relaxed and waited for our lagoon cruise for dinner. It was supposed to be a drinks and oysters cruise but we don't drink or eat oysters so we just chilled and waited for the dinner part. It's weird that we didn't do that much but both of us were super tired. We tried to take a nap before the cruise but it wasn't long before we had to rise and shine and head to the waterfront again.

I think it's called a paddle cruiser

That's Knysna Heads in the background...and me in the middle

 

 Next day.. yes...breakfast again. This time at East Head Cafe. I love this place. It's right at the tip of the Eastern Head (duh) which is opposite the other Knysna Head. I took lots of pics of this cafe because I think it's an awesome spot for breakfast and lunch and the decor is simple but fantastic!

Outside seating

Simple, elegant interior - ok, ignore the bottles in corner

My omelette

After breakfast we headed for the Knysna Elephant Park. You can read about my experience here or just have a look at these pics. They pretty much tell you what we did.

He's so cute!

Feeding the ellies before our ride

That was the last of our activities before we had to make our way back home. But first we stopped at the Garden of Eden for a stroll in the forest and then further on we took a bit of a detour to Noetzie. We were told there are all sorts of castles there. We got there, after walking down millions of stairs (which we had to climb again on the way back). It wasn't quite what I expected. They weren't really castles, they were just houses and some B&Bs that are made to look like castles. The beach was beautiful though.

It was a good trip. I've been to Knysna before but really didn't do much while I was there (the weather wasn't great). But next time I'm there I'll definitely visit the restaurants again and maybe go back to Tenikwa for a 'walk with cheetahs while they go for their morning/evening stroll'. It's 400 bucks - a bit steep, but when will I ever get to take a cheetah for a walk?