Arts on Main and The Attic

by Tara-Zee

So, this one time, my Sunday morning started with a 10 km race (remember, Tilly and I are still training for that little half marathon in April). My running partner for the day (let’s call him Mr Snookychooks) was great – he stuck with me when I was struggling, encouraged me when I managed to breathe instead of wheeze, and didn’t even mock my playlist, well not too much. And he was happy to share some yoghurt, muesli and mango juice with me and Mr T-Z after the race. (Unfortunately there was no coffee or greasy fry-up, as our electricity was down.)

Then Mr T-Z and I decided to head out and the day turned into a perfect date. We started at the Market on Main at Arts on Main (check it out: http://marketonmain.co.za/). My passion for The Drum Decade was reignited as we looked at old Drum covers; memories of the World Cup came floating back as went through some commemorative posters; and the pottery made me wish I had a bigger home and a bookshelf to fill with beautiful bowls. Aaah – and then the food. Such elegant cupcakes, chocolate brownies made by Miss Poppysocks (you can buy your own mixes to take home and impress your friends with your great baking … or, better yet, give them as presents so your friends can bake for you!), fresh veggies, a variety of cheeses and great breads (including my favourite – the summer rye … samurai). We tasted, took in our surrounds and then popped through to Parkhurst for lunch.

Now, you see, Mr T-Z and I love eating out (obviously). But, one of our resolutions for the year was to eat more home-cooked meals. And our success rate has been really good (and when I say “our”, I mean Mr T-Z’s – he has become a pro at planning and preparing dinner and lunches – but that’s for another story). So it was fun for us to go through to one of our favourite restaurants, The Attic. We were seated at a table out of the way enough to give you some privacy, but also good for people spotting. We shared a bottle of the Kleine Zalze Chenin Blanc (perfect for a sunny summer’s afternoon) and started with the chilli-salt squid and the duck dim sum – yum! Mr T-Z went for the Sunday roast (lamb, crispy potatoes and summer veggies), which was rich and tasty. I went for the mussels, which filled my craving for a taste of the sea. And although I have a weak spot for pudding, I was perfectly full, and we chose instead to do more window shopping.

A lazy afternoon on the couch was followed by a platter of delicious things from the morning’s market and the chance to relive a lovely day in the city. 

Meet & Whine

by Tara-Zee

So this one time, Tilly and I had to go to a workshop in Pretoria. Yes, P-town. Tilly came through to my place at the crack of dawn (well 07h15 felt like it that day, as we hadn’t got up at the real crack of dawn for gym), we packed the car (you need to ensure that you have water and snacks for the long drive) and headed off to the executive capital city.

Workshop done, it was time for a pedi. We made our way to Brooklyn Design Square (not to be confused with the Design Quarter in Fourways) and had our toes transformed into a perfect 10. And then we were thirsty and craving something sweet. We stopped in at Lila’s bistro.

Our waiter: “I’m new here.”

Me: “So are we.”

Silence

Our waiter: “Can I get you something to drink?”

Me: “A mojito for Tilly” (she’s not big on sickly sweet cocktails), “and a cosmo for me.” (Mr T-Z and I have just finished watching the entire Sex and the City box set and I was reminded about how much I fancy cosmos.)

We decided we felt like more than they had on offer to eat, so drank up and did a little shopping before settling on MooMoo Wine Bar & Grill. Good choice, us. 

Hmm, what to drink? – Yay, they serve Fat Bastard by the glass (and in wine glasses – an improvement on the beer glasses at JD’s). 

What to eat? – Definitely a platter (remember, when you’re sharing, you’re halving the calories).

Me: “We’ll get the Meet & Snack platter to share.”

Our waitress: “For two, I assume.”

Perceptive, their staff is.

Man, that platter was good! Cubes of aged beef and sweet chilli chicken thighs on skewers, haloumi sticks, boerewors (and I’m not even a boerie fan) and shoestring fries. Served with cheese, peri-peri and sweet chilli sauces on the side.

Tilly: “So, how do they make cheese sauce?”

Me: “You start by melting butter, then add some flour and then-”

Tilly: “What?! Flour? Yuck. Cheese sauce should be made from cheese.”

Me: “Well yes, then you add milk and then the cheese.”

Tilly: “Flour? Really?”

Me: “So the sweet chilli sauce is good.” (I know I’m not going to get the flour out of her head.)

We finished off with another glass of FB and MooMoo’s chocolate volcano – melt in your mouth chocolate pudding served with ice cream – and their mini cinnamon rolls – nyom, nyom, nyom.

Satisfied, we raced off to The State Theatre to see The Nutcracker (which was followed by more dining, but that’s for another time). Overall, a lovely experience and great to know that such good eating establishments with great service exist in the capital; eating establishments that agree that fine food and wine should not be reserved for special occasions.

Chinese food here, Chinese food there

by Tilly

Asia City. Not so much a city as a big, messy, confusing shopping centre. Nevertheless, there we were on a Monday morning (we had the morning off, so no need to tell our boss on us). There’s a shop that sells stickers for a ridiculously low, low price, which makes Tara-Zee very happy (I don’t know, she sticks them in her diary or something), and that makes me happy. Until lunchtime anyway.

“What should we eat, TZ?” I asked her innocently. “Um, I don’t know. Maybe we can find a Chinese restaurant.” She can be so sarcastic sometimes.

Sitting on chairs covered with plastic, we ordered Coke Light and a Sweet and Sour each (pork for TZ, prawn for me). ‘You didn’t share!?’ you might ask with surprise, but we did share spring rolls. They were hot. Temperature hot. Not spicy hot, or hot like Paris Hilton says it. They were very nice.

But, the Sweet and Sour… Why is something so bad for you so good? TZ and I will have to ponder it over a bottle (I mean, a glass) of wine sometime. It was fried, it was sweet, it was sour. It was heavenly. I asked TZ if Asian food in South Africa tasted the same in Asia (her and Mr. TZ have recently been) and she said, yes. This made me feel happy. It’s comforting. Sort of like if you go to a strange country and you don’t know the food, so you order MacDonald’s knowing what to expect. It makes me feel that the world is not so big to know that I can order Sweet and Sour something anywhere and I can sort of know what it should taste like. (I might not order the prawn just anywhere though…)

Anyway, keeping with the ‘fried food is good’ theme, we bought a huge (and ridiculously cheap) bag of prawn chips. Nothing like a bag of fried crisps in a variety of colours. This prompted us to wonder how they make those. As you can tell, it was a day of many questions. Turns out, it’s not as bad as you would imagine. It’s actually just bits of prawn, tumeric, salt and oil. And we decided that since the bag came with no nutritional information on it, that they were in fact calorie-free. Bonus.

Lunch ended with a fortune cookie. My fortune told me that “Anything is possible with a willing heart.” But nothing about heart burn, which was a great pity.

PS. My lottery numbers are: 5-9-12-22-39-24. Use it/don’t use it.
PPS. If you use it and you win, you owe me dinner.