The Slipway Restaurant and a local ride

After a wet night and a rather overcast morning the sky cleared and we decided to go and have lunch at one of our favourite restaurants in Saldanha; The Slipway.

It is right on the water's edge next to the slip that brings the fishing trawlers out of the water for maintenance. This restaurant has one of the best views of any restaurant that I know, it overlooks the yacht basin and the maintenance harbour so just about every time we go there is a different vessel moored nearby.

The Slipway is also one of my best local customers for fresh mussels, they have an extensive mussel menu and whenever I go there I have the delicious "Mussel and bacon bites" as a starter. They wrap the mussels in bacon, roll them in crumbs and then deep fry them and although this may not be hugely healthy, they are delicious indeed.

We normally order one starter to share, Janet has one and I have four - hey, it works for me!

My main course was a really good fillet of Kob (Argyrosomus hololepidotus) which was pleasantly fresh and perfectly cooked, I have very rarely been disappointed in the food at the Slipway restaurant - give them a call on o22 7144235 and have a good meal next to the sea.

On a completely different note I mentioned that we were going to the Beaver Rally next month, part of the pre-entry is that we will get a braai pack when we get there which usually consists of a lamb chop, a piece of chicken or steak and a piece of boerewors and one of the main problems at a rally is finding a place to cook it. They usually provide firewood and braai drums, but no utensils or braai grids so we usually don't bother with the braais.

In order to be prepared this time I have purchased a really testicle braai grid. This is small enough to fit in the top case but can also be used to cook meat! Cool huh?Here you see it in its carry case, which is all very well when it is new and has not been used, but this little bag is going to look pretty grotty after a couple of braais!
Here you see the whole unit assembled, and I must say that (sober) I was able to get it all together in really quick time. It will be interesting to see how it all works out later on in the evening!

After our lunch I got the big red machine out of the garage for a bit of a local cruise and was lucky enough to meet up with a bunch of local bikers, I tagged along with them even though my BMW couldn't keep up very well with the bikes that had names like "Fireblade" and letters like "GSXR", I managed pretty well and really enjoyed the ride but my top end is around 220kmh where theirs is way higher. I mentioned to the guys that Frank and I were going to the Beaver Rally next month and a couple of them had been before; "Oh yes, that's a good one if you want to introduce your Grandmother to a motorbike rally." they said. We rode at high speed from the "Victorian Times" pub, taking the long way around to "Vlakvarkgat" and I was struggling to keep up with the young hotshots on their fast machines but I felt pretty good when we got there, the big red machine is fast enough for me.
"So - guys, any of you coming to the Beaver Rally with us?...........Guys? No, huh? Any of your Grannies want to go?