Of restaurants, good and bad, my sister and my friends

It has been a lovely weekend, great summer weather and a nice ride down to Capetown to meet my sister for lunch at "Cafe Orca" in Melkbosstrand, unfortunately the lunch was very mediocre; I had deep fried soft shell crabs for a starter but it could have been deep fried cotton wool or deep fried anything at all as there was no flavour whatsoever. The whole grilled fish I had is not worth mentioning as there was no texture to the flesh at all, however the fact that we met with my darling sister who was down for a visit from Johannesburg and whom we haven't seen for about five years made the whole trip worthwhile.

We spent a lovely two hours chatting, laughing and reminiscing before heading for home again, it had been lovely spending the time with her and I'm just sorry that we live so far apart. In fact all four of my sisters live far away from me, three in South Africa and one in the USA and my brother, whom I haven't seen since 1996, lives in New Zealand - anyway, enough about my family.

The ride down in the morning and back again in the afternoon was great, good summer weather but with a rather strong wind and I'm afraid that the R27 is very familiar and rather boring so I tend to do it fast with both of us keeping a keen eye out for speed traps.

Today, Sunday the Meeulanders had a charity run after a memorial service at the biker church but as it was starting at 08h00, which was almost the very time that my cat woke me up, I decided to give it a miss - I kicked the cat off the bed, turned over and went back to sleep, I am habitually an early riser so when I do get the chance to sleep late I really enjoy it.

We got on the bike at about 11h00 and went cruising around the local pubs and restaurants in search of the bikers who were supposed to be out and about, but Frank's phone was on voicemail all day,

 There can't be many of you who don't know who Frank is by now, he is my riding buddy here in typical pose with the ubiquitous cigarette paper stuck to his lip, he rolls his own. With him is another reprobate and local riding buddy; Fungis with whom we have been to many rallies and day jols.

here heard telling Janet; "You know, your husband is a f*#%ing asshole!" Ah but what the hell, I love these guys, they're my brothers!

We were not able to find any of them and after a very pleasant local cruise we ended up at one of our favourite local restaurants; The Slipway in Saldanha harbour. We go there often and I have written about it before, as soon as we walk in our bottle of wine is opened and brought to the table and my favourite starter, mussel and bacon bites, which we share, is prepared without me having to say anything;

These are fresh mussels from my farm, wrapped in bacon and fried in fine crumbs, delicious. We were the first ones there and it really is a lovely setting;

right on the water's edge and overlooking the yacht club moorings, it didn't take long for more diners to arrive.

We relaxed over our bottle of wine, my main course was succulent Dorado fillet while Janet had a dish of Snoek pate'

 Janet's meal was actually another starter portion but she declared it perfect for her appetite.

A thoroughly enjoyable meal, the bill for two starters, one main course, a bottle of Darling Cellars Sauvignon Blanc, a whisky Dom Pedro (hers) and a coffee (mine) came to R320 with the gratuity - value for money in my book. Give them a call on 0227144235 and tell them I sent you, or better still let me know when you're going and we'll go with you!