Riding and cooking.....great stuff!

It has been another busy week, we have had some really lovely weather right in the middle of winter and we took advantage of it on Sunday to ride down to Capetown to visit Dave in hospital. I have mentioned Dave a couple of times, he's our bro who broke his knee in a bike accident on the first Polar Bear run two years ago. He has now had seven operations on that knee and it is still not right.

We met Frank at the Engen one-stop just before 09h00, when we left home the temperature was reading 6 degrees celsius (42,8f), a little chilly with a few early morning cold fog patches but it was a lovely ride and it seemed like ages since we had had a decent ride.

By the time we arrived in Capetown the temperature had risen to 12 degrees (53,6f). Here's Frank on his Yamaha FJR pulling into the parking area in front of the Viper lounge, when we got there the place was quite empty. We ordered our breakfast and sucked on a couple of cold ales while we waited.

That place doesn't stay quiet for long, especially on the weekend and it wasn't long before more bikers arrived. This group was from the M.O.T.H. riders, the Memorable Order of Tin Hats which is for serving military or veterans.

We had a really good breakfast, good value for money and then saddled up for the short ride through to the hospital where we spent about an hour or so chatting to Dave. He will be missing the Polar Bear run next weekend and we will certainly miss him.

After that it was back to the Viper lounge where we watched the MotoGP at Sachsenring and the incredible dice for third place between Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner. After only six weeks recuperation from a broken leg Rossi rode an incredible race and I was really disappointed that he didn't get a podium, he's an absolute genius on the track!
By then the bar was pretty full of motorcycle enthusiasts and it was a good vibe, we enjoyed the atmosphere and a couple of beers and then had a cup of coffee before hitting the West Coast road for the trip home.

We pulled into the Phoenix bar in Vredenburg for an ABF (Absolute Bloody Final) before going home and as we were heading towards Saldanha, Janet's hand came over my shoulder and she made the "Go for it!" sign. I didn't need any further encouragement and clicked down a gear and grabbed a handful, we sped down the dual carriageway towards town at over 200kmh! Very naughty at more than twice the speed limit, but oh so nice. A great day out on the bike.

Wednesday had us preparing a meal for twenty people, the annual visit of the post graduate students from Rhodes University to the acquaculture facilities in the Cape and Janet and I have done the seafood meal every year for about the past 16 or 17 years!Here are all my ingredients laid out for the seafood pot; chopped onions, celery, green peppers and mushroom, prawns, calamari, fish and mussels and my collection of herbs and spices.
First on the menu was the oysters, I opened 50 and laid them out with fresh lemon, black pepper and tabasco sauce.Then it was a big pot of fresh mussels steamed in white wine and fresh lemon and that lot went down extremely well. Here you can see part of the mob crowding around the table for the starters! If you area seafood lover there's not a lot that can beat fresh oysters and mussels.
Janet roasted some chicken wings and then we gave everyone a bit of a gap while my pot was on the go.
This rather delicious seafood pot (even if I do say so myself!) was served up with rice and Janet's home made beer bread and we ended up with a Malva pudding and cream. According to all of the guests it was a very good meal, a lot of work but a fun evening.

Tomorrow (Friday) starts the preparation for the Polar Bear run on Saturday morning so I will tell you all about that in my next post - cheers for now!