Our new favourite Uitenhage eatery

May 2, 2016July 2, 2016Leave a comment

This past Saturday Rob and I were looking for a place to eat before tackling errands. I vaguely remembered seeing a board to The Caledon Farm Kitchen so suggested it…

Now firstly you should know I was a little reluctant to do a post about this eatery because I didn’t want to share my new find only to come there in the future and find “no room, no room” alla Mad Hatter (because my opinion carries so much weight, hahahaha, not).

I just had to share about this place though, my love of Uitenhage and my love of food compelled me 🙂
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Unplugging at Mentors Country Estate

February 29, 2016Leave a comment

So this weekend a group of friends descended on a wedding venue with their kids in tow to show engaged couples what their lives would REALLY be like.
We fed the kids sugar and let them run wild and think we broke up at least three engagements as we were sure to fight about who left the towel on the floor in full view of the loved up couples…

In all seriousness though this past weekend Rob, Aidy and I accompanied our good friends on a weekend away to Mentors Country Estate in Jeffreys Bay Although it is known as a premier Eastern Cape wedding destination the venue ended up being just what eight exhausted adults and their brood of seven little ones needed.

Each couple had a bedroom with en-suite bathroom, there is a pool on site, two play areas, and for some reason, loads of animals.

Here is some pics from an awesome, well deserved, really needed weekend with great friends:

Def not the last time we do this!

Hightlights from Taste of PE

November 10, 20154 Comments

So I took my “foodie” (Rob) and my “no foodies please” (Aidan) to Taste of PE this weekend. I really loved the relaxed vibe and although more stalls, bigger portions/smaller prices would not have hurt I think it was a pretty big success… Food and drink lovers just chilling on the Boardwalk festival lawn hanging out and trying new things 🙂
We didn’t plan on taking Aidan with us but because the cousin he was going to stay with came down with German measles we took advantage of the “kids enter free” policy and ended up having a blast.

Rob loves craft beer, apparently this one has something to do with bubblegum and bananas

Aidan’s uncle yian was there too (Ryan)

I’m told this pasta with venison meatballs was amazing

Preserves!!!

The chickpea chip and dip was so amazingly delicious
– But really only 5 chips?!?!

Look I had a cocktail while out with my son – Judge away Judy!!! 🙂
Ended up having like a sip because my tastebuds are not sophisticated enough to appreciate so much cucumber

So when you take your kid to a food festival but all he wants is crackers with processed cheese

The way he loves his aunt Nene (Jenine)

Pomegranate and Rose infused wine!!!!
Jenine had wheatgrass infused, mine was better

Aidan was disappointed that he didn’t make age grade for Craft station

Like a Bos, hehehe

A color run weekend

May 18, 2015Leave a comment

Aidan is really dedicated to his role as a male sleeping beauty I always teased that he could sleep anywhere but now watching him do it, with people running around, with color and glitter flying everywhere and music blasting …. I have no words.

He had fun though, I just think the wait for our wave was a little long for him, so next time we will be closer to the front. Once he woke up he really did get into it and I’m glad I took precautions regarding doing a color run with a toddler.

He was in his stroller most of the time, he wore sunglasses to protect his eyes and I got him to cover his mouth with a snood when we went through the color zones (spelling colour like this hurts my head) – This was an awesome idea it turns out as I saw a couple of mom’s having to clean faces and eyes and dealing with “it’s in my mouth mommy”

Will definitely do it again next year, I think he might have been a little overwhelmed (shame he is but 25 months old) he kept saying, look mommy funny hats, look funny clothes and so on and for the rest of the time he just watched the goings on, a little stunned, he told me later , lots of colours mommy, red and blue colours colours, so I know it was great for him.

It was even better for my niece Kirsten (4) who LOVES purple, as in LOVES! At the purple station she nearly lost her mind, rolling around and covering herself in colour, she reminded me of the scene in Despicable Me where the little one says

Anyway for those who don’t follow me on INSTAGRAM , FACEBOOK or TWITTER these crazy dirty pictures would be new, for those who do, I did include some new ones 🙂

The wait at the start was a little long for him

At the start, look at us all clean and stuff

Years in the purple dessert did not get our travelers down

The glamorous after shot, hahahaha, sexy sexy

Barney rejects

The starting line

He drinks his juice like people are not throwing coloured cornstarch all over us

But hey if you can sleep through it you can drink through it

Not sleeping just camera shy

Cleaner days…How retro is my little man

Like a BOSS hehehe (they throw colours at me I just adjust my glasses,like it ain’t no thing

My cousin’s Kay-lynn and Caz-lynn auditioning as smurfs

Kirsten LOVES purple, “look at all the purple,so much purple”, she says

My aunt Mercia just came as a spectator, but her daughters, the lynn’s, decided she needed to be colourfull

they look like extras in Annie….It’s a hard knock life…

These curly haired children are in need of some spit and polish, hehehe

My aunt is the only one who looks like a person here! attack of the technicolour zombies!!!!

Bella’s Coffee Shop in Uitenhage

December 30, 20143 Comments

I live in Uitenhage a town in NMB just outside Port Elizabeth where I work. I quite like it (I’m a small town girl like that). I like going for trips and knowing I get to come home to the jacaranda trees, neighbours I know by name and a community safe enough to take walks in (most of the time-I mean a woman did lose her arm to a dog not to long ago and I was mugged in town years ago).
As much as I like living in Uitenhage I will admit that us “town’s folk” have one annoying pastime; complaining that there is nothing to do!
So I for one am very glad to be seeing all the progress in the last few years or so. Shops, markets, spas and so forth are popping up all over the place and we even have a McDonald’s now (only people from Uitenhage will get what a big deal that is…driving for an hour for a R10 pack of fries is now a thing of the past, hehe).
But in all seriousness it’s really nice to see the town I love grow like this…yes we have a long way to go, but I chose to be a glass half full kind of girl…

With this in mind I thought I’d feature some of my favourite places in Uitenhage, starting with a newish coffee shop, Bella’s.

What I liked:
– It’s an awesome place to take your kids (Uitenhage doesn’t have much of that to be honest)
– The food it good (steak salad FTW) and they are not pricey (you all know I’m not about pricey)
– The service was friendly and prompt (even though they were quite full when we went and we had to wait – I don’t mind as long as servers tell me what’s going on and are nice about it…hate when restaurants act like they are doing you a favour)
– Aidan had a blast and we felt at home
– Diverse clientele (This part of the Eastern Cape can be kind of racist so any place where everyone feels comfortable gets a thumbs up in my book.)
– They are half gift shop… You can buy anything from photo frames and sweets to clothes and accessories (great when you are running late to the shops; “Do we stop for lunch or buy aunt so and so a gift?” why not do both, hehehe)
– You can host kids parties, baby showers and the like there
– They seem to be working on covering the play area which is great because the sun in Uitenhage does not play

What I didn’t like so much:
– A plug near play area (very easy to fix though-a plug cover and we are good to go)
– You can’t get into the sand pit area without getting on all fours so retrieving a kid is not so easy

So all in all they get a thumbs up from me and Aidan, we are taking Rob soon so will know his opinion soon enough (he mostly cares about the food to be honest)