Breakfast with my Bestie at FortySix beans

I am one of those lucky people who happens to live in the same house as my bestie Kelly. This means that we can hang out whenever we are home and instead of a Whatsapp, I just knock on her door.

You know those times when you wake up super early on a weekend and you are craving a great breakfast? Kels and I woke up with the same idea and went on the prowl for just the right place. At this time I should just point out that Kelly and I are Public Relations people and we love food, a lot, so choosing a restaurant is not as simple as just picking a place. This mission has strict guidelines which we wanted to adhere to:
1) It needed to be close to home (Kenilworth).
2) It had to be a place we had never been to before.
3) It must be cheap.
4) There must be an outside section to sit at.

So I went onto my favourite app, ZOMATO, which is the perfect app for anyone who likes to eat out or is super indecisive about where to go when it comes to choosing places to eat. This app is like Yelp, for those who have been to the USA, but its just for restaurants. You type in a restaurant name, the kind of food you're looking for and it comes up with options in Cape Town, or whichever city you are in. You can then apply filters to narrow your search options such as location, price, ratings, etc. Once you get to a list of restaurants you can check out menus, read reviews or even write your own! More info about it here.

So this is how we, eventually found ourselves driving through Wynberg in search of a quaint little coffee shop which we had never heard of before. The place was called FortySix Beans and for those breakfast lovers of the Southern Suburbs, its in right next to the famous Penny Lane in Wynberg.

I have personally had very bad experiences at Penny Lane, the cafe next door which has super cheap breakfast (like really!) and long queues to match it! We found this place, FortySix Beans and gave it a try and boy were we impressed. The service was quick and so friendly. Its the kind of place where you feel like you're having breakfast at your mom's house and the prices are astounding!

Despite the fact that the outside section is in a lane off a busy street in Wynberg, they have made their best efforts to make the place comfortable and clean and the inside is simple but lovely.

We both had hash brown breakfast which comes with 2 eggs, 2 rashers of bacon, hash brown, grilled tomato and a slice of toast for R34. For those who are even more thrifty, however, their menu ranges from R16 onward.

So yes, that was our little breakfast adventure which turned out to be quite a success! I recommend this place to anyone who feels keen for a spot of tea and a yummy brekkie.

Cheers, darling
x

My weekend: Rocking the Daisies

I am not a fan of trance parties for my own, personal reasons so Rocking the Daisies is one of the few festivals which I attend. This year's festival had very high expectations with great headliner acts, much more space for camping, almost double the tickets sold and a very high price tag on tickets. 

The weekend turned out to be, what we dubbed, "Rocking the Queues" with everything at the festival requiring a person to stand in a queue. The problem was simple. Too many people and not enough of anything to go around including toilets, water (which ran out during a heat wave) and security. On Friday night someone slashed through my tent with a knife and stole all my clothes and toiletries which just left a very bad taste in my mouth. What really killed it for me, though, was the reaction of the organisers. When people Tweeted and Facebooked their complaints to the RTD team, the responses were aggressive and sometimes just plain rude. As a PR person, this really upset me, knowing what further reputational damage the company was doing. It felt to me that if the organisers had just looked up from counting their money and focused on after sale service, some of the problems could have been amended. 

The weekend was a great excuse for me to finally try out the new Hyperlapse app by Instagram which allows you to film your own time-lapse movies on your phone. It was great fun filming bits of the drive up and speeding it up and it made for a really great memory video which I made after the weekend using my iMovie app, another winner which I have used on quite a few occasions while working. The video can be found on top of this post and I have to give music credit for the song titled Innocence Lost by Erik Hassle ft Tinashe.

Due to the heat and total lack of running water, I spent a lot of time under the gazebo at the tent with my friends. This, weirdly enough, was a major highlight for me. I found that it was a great time to catch up properly which you may not be able to do when you are out at a club. When we eventually made our way to the main stage though, Crystal fighters, Rudimental, Shortstraw and Beatenberg were awesome! I am a big fan of Crystal Fighters so for me, their performance was the highlight of the festival. They had incredible stage presence and their music had a wide range of sounds spanning  across genres which made them interesting to listen to. Someone actually said to me "wow! This is better than their recorded stuff." This is, as far as I'm concerned, the sign of a truly gifted group of musicians.

One thing that RTD always seems to get right is the food area and this year was no different. From raw vegan to food trucks to Butlers Pizza, the food stalls this year were a real winner. Having tried an assortment of foods, I would have to say that the bunny chow from Durban's Finest Curry was absolutely the best. I ordered the Butter Chicken Chow and my friend Caitlin got the lamb option (not sure what kind of curry it was.) When she found the lamb too spicy we did a swap and boy, was that lamb one delicious! All food vendors were on top of their games with queues always running swiftly and food being served fast and hot. 

So despite the bad stuff, I still had an absolutely killer time hanging out under the gazebo with my friends and chatting, about the heat mostly, and whatever else came to mind. Perhaps next time we consider spending so much money on a festival, we can go find a nice guest house somewhere instead.

Side Note:

Some good Samaritan showed up at my mom's house and returned the bag on the Sunday after Daisies! It had a travel tag on it from years ago and her address was still there. At least I can say that there are still good people out there. Whoever you are, kind sir, I salute you and I am so grateful to you for returning my bag! 

Cheers, darling x

Well hello there darling

And so our adventure begins...

I am a firm believer in the idea that travel truly broadens the mind and heals the soul. Sometimes it's about the food you eat, the people you meet or what you see from the street that changes your life for good. You don't always have to travel far for these experiences and sometimes just being a tourist in your own home town can give you a new perspective.

I hope to showcase some of the beauty and wonder of my beautiful city, Cape Town and also some of the other incredible places that I have been so blessed to have visited.

Sometimes I'll cover restaurants, markets, hikes and places to visit in Cape Town and sometimes I may just post about something which has made me smile!

I have a deep love for music, especially of

the Indie and Folk persuasion, although it differs everyday based on my mood. The goal is to choose a song for every post for you to enjoy while reading. Music forms part of the experience and I hope it stirs up beautiful emotions in every one of my readers. :) 

Follow the fun on Twitter and Instagram at @alleycat90 for instant updates and tidbits. 

So come and enjoy the little and large things in life with me, if you wish.

Cheers darling x