African Sunshine

After a fabulous Club World experience on BA's 747 upper deck, with champagne and fully reclinable seats, we touched down in sunny Cape Town on the morning before xmas. From there we took a hire car along the quieter inland route to George, through the Du Toitskloof mountain Huguenot Tunnel to Worcester, Robertson and south to Swellendam, arriving at my folks early afternoon.
Xmas, my birthday and New Year flew by in a blur, visiting cousins, aunts and uncles on both sides of the family.

Almost everyday turned into a gorgeous sunny beach day with red wine sunsets on the front balcony.
We braaied many evenings and indulged in too much chocolate and cake, having to walk, run and cycle off the excess calories almost every day.

This picture was taken xmas eve while Dad braaied sirloin steak, the day we arrived. On other days William and I made fresh pasta, warm tagliatelle salad with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella and butternut and sage stuffed raviolli.
On New Years Eve the De Beers joined us for snacks and at midnight we got silly with Dom Pedros and a wicked chocolate cake from Christine!

On our last Monday, Dad drove us all to Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary and Birds of Eden - the largest free flight bird aviary in the world - near Plett. We saw many Lemurs, Tamarins and both a Howler and Spectacle monkey.
In the aviary we saw some local birds including Louries as well as exotic birds and waterfowl.
The above picture was taken at the Wilderness on the way back, enjoying a Foresters! While travelling back to CT to see Nix, Chris and D, William and I detoured almost 450km to Sutherland to visit SALT (the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere - and equal in size to the largest in the world).

We stayed over night at Kambru-Kind Guest House and had a fabulous dinner at Cluster d'Hote. Although the afternoon was cloudy, the evening cleared by about 9pm and we were lucky to use one of the telescopes at Sutherland to see the brilliant Sirius star cluster (Canis Major) and the spider like nebulae of Pleiadies and Orion.

The next day we drove a further 400km to CT through the dry Great Karoo and lush Hex River Valley.

This is Will at Wafu where we had sunset cocktails in the wind :) It was really great to see my mates again and we had 2 wonderful home cooked dinners with bubbles and red wine.But the time went too quickly and now I am back in cold London, missing them already, and the African sunshine !

The Nightmare before Xmas

So with just 10 days before we are due to fly south, BA cabin crew vote to strike for 12 days over xmas - dashing our hope of any sunshine over the festive season. Despite being the highest paid of all cabin crew on all the British airlines, and despite the fact that they WILL be getting a salary increase in 2010 (I haven't had one for 2 years), they decide to ruin xmas for over 1 million people and their families.
BA had to force court ruling to get the bastards back to work. So, the good news is we ARE flying... but only if it stops snowing. Last Friday and again yesterday the whole of south east England came to a grinding halt after snow storms.

Last night it took me 3 hours at 10 miles an hour to commute home through a blizzard on icy roads.. I passed 5 car accidents along the way, one car turned on it's roof on the motorway.

This was the scene outside our apartment this morning.
At least we can look at the stars at night. On Sunday evening, braving the freezing temperatures, William and I stood on our balcony and were able to see Jupiter and 5 of it's moons through this baby.

Winter Wonderland

Where: Hyde Park
What: German Xmas Market
When: On the Eve of St. Niklaus







Every year London brings a bit of the continent to the UK with the German Xmas Market at Hyde Park. You can get everything German at the market from bratwurst to glühwein and continental gifts like wooden handcarved toys from a village of wooden chalets.

This year it also boasted London's largest ice rink and a giant big wheel.


We chose to go there Saturday afternoon and had a german garlic potatoe salad from the Bavarian Village and a beer and some glühwein at Café Grell.





http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/

oh xmas tree, oh xmas tree....

December has arrived and our xmas tree is up and dressed and the presents are wrapped!

On Saturday I dragged William to Westfield Shopping Centre at Shepherd's Bush in West London. This mall is massive! with 256 shops. We managed to get all we needed from House of Fraser, M&S, Next, Debenhams, Zara Home and of course La Senza ;)
5 hours later at 6pm, with sore feet, we drove back home through a grid locked London in the pouring rain.

Next weekend, xmas cards.....

http://uk.westfield.com/london/

Chez Gérard and the ROH

Last week William and I had tickets to the ballet. It was William's first time seeing Sleeping Beauty and I haven't seen it since I left SA.

After a very busy day onsite at a customer in the city's square mile, I made my way to Covent Garden around 5pm on Thursday evening. I got there before William - who was coming from the apartment, so I wandered into Chez Gérard who were just opening for dinner, to have a Bellini at the bar. I have always wanted to eat at Gérard's and when William arrived we asked for a table. The ballet started at 7.30 so we had enough time on our hands.
I ordered Millefeuille aux champignons - sautéed wild mushrooms in puff pastry with a poached egg and some pommes frites and haricots verts AND a large glass of Merlot. William had Boeuf Bourguignon - braised beef in red wine. I finished with a glass of Amaretto coffee liqueur and William had an espresso.

We had really good seats at the Ballet - front row balcony left - though I had to lean forward a bit. They should make special seats for short people!

Sleeping Beauty was beautiful - the costumes, the choreography, everything was just perfect. But I must say I prefer the tragic stories of Swan Lake and especially Gizelle...

http://www.chezgerard.com/
http://www.roh.org.uk/

Xmas lights and Seasonal Veg

Swede, Parsnip, Brussel sprouts, Turnip, Onion, Garlic, Pumpkin, Beetroot and Sweet Potato.. Tonight we will enjoy these wonderful winter root vegetables :) bought fresh from Borough Market yesterday afternoon. For the first time since moving to the UK I am looking forward to the dark and cold winter season. And it may be due in part to this blog - which allows me to reflect on the things we do and how they are shaped by the seasons.

On Friday evening, we made our way to Oxford and Regent Street - in the rain - to see the Xmas lights. The rain meant there were less people on the street, but the lights were a bit of a dissappointment.
Afterwards, with soaked feet, we had a fabulous dinner at Marsala Zone near Covent Garden. We came across this place while walking home a few weeks earlier and really enjoyed the food. It took us 30 mins to find it this time since neither of us actually took note of exactly where it was :) As before, we both had thalis for mains washed down with a bottle of red. This time we also shared a gol guppa (tamarind biscuits with corriander dressing) for starters and pistachio ice-cream for dessert.. all for 40 quid - not bad...

http://www.masalazone.com/

Remember remember ...

...Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605...

Last night Southwark Council gave us a pretty good free 15 minute fireworks display in Southwark Park accompanied by music. We got there 30 mins early and I was starving so we shared an expensive crepe, followed by roasted chestnuts - also overpriced! And then my camera batteries died! At least the display was good.

These pictures are from the very first bonfire night I experienced in the UK - in Norwich in 2005. The large bonfire was lit in the middle of a sports field - it looked amazing.
When roasted properly these are delicious little warm, slightly sweet in the centre, treats.