Home Groan - Baxter Theatre

Home Groan - Starring Kurt Schoonraad
Directed by Rob van Vuuren

I was fortunate enough to be offered tickets to see Home Groan yesterday, and being the party person I am, hubby and I were off to the Baxter Theatre in a flash. I was pleasantly surprised at the position and the condition of the theatre, despite the restaurant being closed for renovations. We were there early and parked inside for the grounds "only R10". We sat outside and enjoyed a glass of red wine, while waiting for our hosts to arrive with our tickets.

Just after 8pm we made out way into to the theatre and took our seats right at the back. It turned out that the show was being filmed for the making of the DVD, so there was a period of "filling" up the front rows so all looked good on film. I had never heard of Kurt Schoonraad before and sat eagerly awaiting his arrival on stage.

The start of the show was cleverly done, with two screens showing various video clips of people having a moan about whats wrong in Cape Town.  I couldn't make it all out as the sound didn't really carry to our seats but there was a young guy who was more "bleeps" then words who was pretty funny. The video ended with Kurt walking into the Baxter and "appearing" on stage.

The show started off a little slow, but Kurt soon found his stride, "literally with some of the gags" One of my favorites of the evening was the Virgin Active Gym sketch. The humor was very "Cape Colored" but not cliche. Kurt had his own style of delivering the gags, and kept the pace rolling. I notice he is described as the "rubber faced comic" to be honest this was a little lost on the back row, but I may well buy the DVD and get a close up at what he was up to.

The end came a little to soon for me. All in all a great mid week night out. I'll be on the look out for more from Kurt in the future... Awe my broer

A taste of Africa - Moyo's - Eden on Big Bay

After a week of howling wind, we awoke Sunday morning to blue skies and no wind. Perfect Sunday tourist weather... After an hour or so of searching, "please optimise your websites people"  we found a very useful site www.wininganddining.co.za . Easy to navigate, with a great search functionality we soon had plenty of choices for our Sunday adventure. I also signed up to receive their area based specials, and noticed this morning the first one was in my in-box - I'm sure we will be using the alert to find more venues. Well done Wining and Dining great site!

We were drawn to Eden on Big Bay, where there seemed to be a feast of choices. We couldn't decide on one in particular so we just headed to the Bay. We arrived at the Eden on Big Bay Shopping Center just after 12. The car park was jam packed and no spaces where opening up.  After several laps we saw an entrance to underground parking, we were pleasantly surprised to see the boom was up and that parking was free. We found a parking with ease, and headed out into the sunshine, knowing the car was safe and would be cool on our return - "Bonus"

All the restaurant and bars face the sea view, there is a lovely lawn area and a definite Mediterranean feel. Each of the venues had their own look and feel and were all pretty full. We walked down the small boulevard, taking in the music, and vibe from the open fronted restaurants.  We were really spoilt for choice and for a moment we thought we may have to start tossing a coin. Just as I was diving into my handbag for a coin,  fate lent a hand and one of the scrumptiously comfortable "bed/coaches" at Moyo opened up. "A rare treat I have heard since" We didn't hesitate and jumped on the coach even before the couple who were leaving had finished standing up.We took up our spot in the sun and started taking in our surroundings. The lawn area was filled with families, two well cared for ponies were being used for pony rides, the kids were queuing for their turn. I did notice that there was water but no shade for the ponies, and by then the sun was beating down. Mr pony owner if your reading this, invest in a gazebo for your hard working staff please...

The vibe at Moyo was fantastic, there was a broad mix of posing youngsters, young families, kissing couples and older couples. The different ages and cultures blended with ease and it was very easy to sink back in the coach and let the atmosphere sink in.

We were soon approached by a beautifully dressed lady who offered to take our order. Hubby was over the moon to hear the had quarts of Black Label, and I settled for a very civilized Gin and Tonic. Our drinks arrived pretty quickly, the quart was sensibly served in an ice bucket we asked our friendly waitress for a cocktail and food menu and sat back to enjoy the view and vibe.

The bench to the right of our couch was unoccupied and it wasn't long before an older English couple and a lady asked if they could sit down. As it turned out, the couple were ex pats from the UK who now lived in Stellenbosh, their lady friend was from Leeds and was enjoying a two week holiday in the Cape. Both hubby and I recently came back from 7 years in the UK and were keen to hear how news from our temporary home.More drinks were ordered and we found ourselves chatting and laughing with the trio like they were old friends.

A lovely lady came round to the table and offered to paint our faces with the traditional dot type pattern all the staff had on their cheeks and foreheads, we both had our faces done, for a donation of R10.  I discovered the pool bar, which was just behind us, and made regular trips to dunk me feet in the refreshing water. We also loved the tables that have a pool underneath them, sadly we didn't get to try those out as they were constantly occupied. But who cares life on our coach was just splendid... Another lady came and took a pic of hubby and I which we were told would be emailed to us. It hasn't arrived in my in-box as yet but I'm on the look out for it. The unisex bathroom was a laugh a minute with much giggling and blushing. Unfortunately the "fun" experience was ruined for me by the lack of hygiene with less then sparkling toilets and empty soap dispensers...

The menu offered some unique dishes like fillet khuzwayo marrow bones topped with beef fillet, mushrooms and served with a gratinated bearnaise sauce R155. There were also smaller meals for the not so hungry. The viskoekies en tamatie smoor sounded very tasty, as did the crumbed mussel gatsby However "sounded" was as close as we got, the great company, funky music and all round great vibe coupled with  more gin and Black Label ensured the afternoon flew by. As the time went on we noticed the music getting loader and a slightly loader crowd taking up residence at the pool bar. The laid back vibe was definitely getting a little more charged, some of the pool crowd,  a little worse for wear took to dunking each others heads and generally acting like morons tying to impress some bikini clad blondes.  It was time to go...  we bid farewell to our English friends, finished up our drinks and called for the bill.

I would recommend Moyo to couples and singles, personally if I had my youngest son with me, I would join the families on the lawn and watch from a distance,  it's not that child friendly - "not a negative just a fact" The pool bar proved just too tempting for several kids, despite a no under 18 sign on the gate. There is a kiddies menu, so you could grab a bite to eat and beat a retreat before the vibe lures you in...  We will definitely visit Moyo again, this time we're make sure and try out the menu and hopefully the tables at the pool, oh yes we will also pile on the sunscreen, "we both have, burnt knees and sun-glass tans today"

See you soon ...

Blue Peter Hotel Bloubergstrand

The silly season is all but over in the Cape and its time for us locals to explore. After being here over a year, we have come to the conclusion that we live the most boring life possible in what after all is one of the top tourist spots in the world. Working from a home office in our internet marketing business. certainly has its benefits, however one of the big draw backs of running Scream Media is the time we spend online. Day in day out, weekends, evenings, the laptop beckons... But not today, today the hubby and I vowed to start exploring our new home.

We live in the Northern suburbs, so were looking for something "not too far" that would be a good spot for a chilled out lunch. We remember being told about an amazing sushi restaurant, and after much argument, remembered the name. Blowfish Restaurant, and bonus, it's just down the road in Blouberg.
However it was not to be, we easily found their website (what a great site and it's optimised) and loved the look of it, but when we called we were told there were no tables till 7.30pm. Back to the drawing board. We did however note that Blowfish has a sushi special every Sunday evening, and half price Sushi on a Wednesday. Definitely one to remembered for future reference, early booking next time round.

Not to be put off we start our online search, it never fails to amaze me just how badly (if at all) some South African websites are optimised. We really had to search, with some of our search terms turning up restaurants in the USA. However we were on a mission, and weren't going to be beaten. We eventually found On The Rocks, but were put off by the Fine Dinning menu. Nothing wrong with Fine dinning, but both of us didn't feel like getting "all dolled up" So it was back to the search.

Via one of the many online directories, we stumbled on The Blue Peter Hotel Popham Street Blouberg Strand. It looked casual and fun, so it was out with the Nav and off we went. It was actually very easy to find, and there was secure parking behind the Hotel. We got there just after 12, and it was packed. There were plenty of locals with their well behaved dogs. We didn't take our two which was probably a good idea. There were no tables available on at the lower deck restaurant, but we were advised by a friendly waitress to grab a spot on the lawn and move quick when we saw an opening. They only take cards with purchases over R50 and don't have an ATM, fortunately we were going to eat so this wasn't a problem, but if you don't carry cash and pop in for a quick drink, it could be a bit embarrassing. Some 10 minutes later a table opened up and we charged for the empty spot. Next to us was a young girl with two adorable well behaved  chows.

The mood was casual, alot of people were just ordering take away pizza and laying out on the lawns eating them. There was a good mix of family and young couples, and the beach was a stones throw away. We had pigged out on pizza the day before, so I opted for a pesto coated chicken salad and hubby went for the meat lovers basket. The salad was simple but tasty, the basket was proper pub food with a generous dose of peri peri sauce. I gave up on the wine and ordered a strawberry daiquiri, which came in a beer glass (different). It certainly wasn't the best daiquiri I've had, but it was cold and tasty. Hubby was thrilled that they served Black Label draft.

Lunch over the bill was a pleasant surprise at well under R200. A quick walk on the rather crowded beach finished off our first Sunday tourist outing. All in all I would give the Blue Peter Hotel  a big thumbs up for its laid back atmosphere and honest food. Definitely somewhere to kick back on a Sunday. Would we go again, yes, would we have the same food, probably we would go for the pizza which looked great, would we recommend it, yes. 


Inspired by our success it was time to head home.


Lets see what next Sunday brings ....