Shopping, Constantia Glen and tuna braai at home

Cape Town, South Africa

Although some of us had sore heads this morning we were all up bright and early and we sent the men to buy fresh fish at Fish 4 Africa down on Hout Bay harbour. We hadn’t realised that the high winds would have a massive impact on the types and quantities of fresh fish available as it was too rough for the smaller fishing boats to go out to sea. Despite this the boys bought a fantastic piece of tuna, plenty for 10 (with left overs) for R400 – just over £20 in UK money. We invited Lawrence and Amanda for tea and set off for the Constantia Village shopping centre to have a browse round the shops and do a big Pick and Pay shop. Although we now have Pick and Pay in Hout Bay the selection of food is quite limited, especially the fresh produce, hence the trip to a larger store. Whilst we ladies were quite happy to browse, once the men had exhausted Cape Union Mart it was apparent that they would be happier going for a coffee, so Grant led them to Tasha’s while we shopped for food. We also bought a cheesecake from Melissa’s (Amanda’s favourite) so that was pudding sorted. One of the really strange thing about being in a hot climate at this time of year is seeing Christmas Trees in the shopping centres, it seems so wrong, but it gave our photographer Phil a chance to be creative again! With the shopping stored away in the cool bag and shopping bags in Karen and Geoff’s car we set off for lunch at Constantia Glen, one of the most beautiful wine farms in this area. Luckily we had booked and we had a lovely table outside with spectacular views of the mountains and grape vines. We had a selection of platters of cheeses, meats, smoked trout and salad, a couple of bottles of pink wine – a delicious lazy lunch. A quick detour then to show Martha and Jenny the beautiful Klein Constantia wine farm and back to Hout Bay to make a salad and roast some potatoes to go with the tuna. We had a great evening all squashed round the dining table (yes, still windy outside) with Lawrence doing his best to embarrass us with his reminiscences of our younger days, luckily we’re past being embarrassed now! Thank goodness we have such good friends!