A braai at home and another visit to Sunset Blues bar

So now it's the Easter weekend, four days of nothing in particular to do. We opted to stay at home for the weekend instead of getting all hectic, we'll no doubt go for a ride or two, we'll braai and we'll drink beers a plenty. We just thought that sometimes it's better to relax than to go travelling for the weekend and already I'm happy about that decision and enjoying myself.

Last weekend we had a particularly hot Sunday and I decided to do a braai, as John (a friend) said, ~ "What better way to beat the heat than next to a roaring fire?" I hadn't thought of it like that and it was bloody hot.

When doing a braai everyone knows that the right meat is one of the main requirements, but of no less importance is the right hat, choose a hat that suits the occasion, I have plenty and this was the right one for that particular braai.

Obviously the next main element is the fire,  ( element - geddit?!) and I got a good one going with rooikrans firewood and a bit of charcoal.

The first item on the menu; Pork belly rashers, one of our absolute favourite braai starters and I rub the rinds with cooking oil and salt before I start,

I braai the rashers a bit on each side to brown them and to "stiffen" up the meat for the next phase, if you don't they are too soft to balance them for crisping up the rinds,

an admiring and hungry audience is always a good thing when doing a braai, balance the rashers against a handy sized piece of wood to get the rinds good and crispy, keep an eye on them - don't let them burn,

 finish browning them and then cut into chunks, salt to taste and wash down with a cold glass of Robertson's Sauvignon Blanc, as I said one of our favourite braai starters.

Our main course was some lovely thick cut Karoo loin chops, a particular favourite of mine which I marinated with a little Olive oil, Aromat, garlic flakes, crushed black pepper and mixed herbs.

 These were so good that I forgot to photograph the plate! Janet made some creamy Aromat potatoes and a coleslaw for a really enjoyable Sunday lunch, we'll do it again real soon.

We were recently back at the "Sunset Blues Bar" in Laaiplek for an evening meal and I had been thinking about their prawns for a while but they are also well known for their Portuguese food so I decided to go for the sardines as a starter;

 served with fried peppers and some fried miellie-meal cubes they are succulent and delicious. My main was prawns (again) and Janet had a Hake fillet,

 the food is great, the ambience is fantastic with the waves crashing onto the beach just outside the door and the decor is very pleasant especially in the outside casual restaurant part of the building with traditional west coast beach scenes painted on the walls,

 We'll certainly be back, sooner than later and I have no hesitation in recommending the place to you, have a chat with my mate Don, he's a great guy and he will look after you - see you there!

We had a lovely ride home afterwards, it's not particularly far, only about 60kms but it had cooled down quite a bit by then, on the home stretch Janet leaned in against me and I could feel her encouraging me to open it up and on the dual carriageway heading towards Saldanha I wound the big red machine up to 210km/h before I started running out of road, from 210 down to 60km/h as we rode into our home town I felt like I could have gotten off to walk it felt so slow! Janet's a bad influence.