Meat your Monday good guy, HQ

The following are definitions of the word ‘Monday’. I wasn’t disappointed.

1.  Someone or something you hate with an extreme prejudice.
2.  The reason Sunday’s suck.
3. An adjective describing the feeling of Monday. Usually gloomy, slow, or a cranky feeling. The emotions you feel about starting the week and having to survive until the weekend.

I am not a pessimist, in fact I tend to look at the lighter side of things,but sometimes we all have those days. The typical cliche quotes are sometimes what you may turn to to improve your day: Keep your chin up. Live every day like it’s your last. Life is a gift, treasure it., etc. But if everyday is a gift, then why can’t we return Mondays?!

According to the various definitions, people look forward to Mondays like they look forward to root canals. People can’t wait to wake up on a Monday morning like they cannot wait to phone their cellular service provider. Mondays are the most unwelcoming of all days, with a reputation that is used to describe situations and emotions:

“Seems like someone has had a case of the Mondays.”

“I HATE Paul. He is such a Monday!”

Okay so maybe that is a bit dramatic. I mean, poor Monday. It never did anything wrong. The first day of the week; eager to please and eager to help get you to start your week on the right foot. But none of us see it that way. Mondays’ black wave of dread has emanated into Sunday evenings and afternoons, which cuts your weekend by almost a third and makes the Carte Blanche theme music the most dreaded end-to-your-weekend song of all time.

We cannot escape Monday, Monday is ALWAYS coming. However, there just might be a delicious cure for the case of the Monday Blues. If there was one thing that could get you through a Monday it would be a fresh, crunchy salad followed by a juicy, tender steak and thin-cut crispy fries.

HeadQuarters (HQ) has got Mondays down to a T. Twice the sirloin, twice the salad and twice the chips for only R175.

If Mondays are too crazy and you can’t make it; never fear for Tuesday date night is here. Every Tuesday night you can treat yourself and your partner to the same tender steak special, this time you each receive a glass of wine for only R200.

Photo courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/HQCAPETOWN

This post may be a bit cheesy, but your steak won’t be. HQ’s delectable steaks come covered with a tangy mustard dressing, a perfect tantalizing touch to your sirloin. HQ has become quite popular, rightfully so. Book ahead to make reservations, and you won’t be disappointed. The first seating is at 6pm; second seating is at 8.30.

Summary:

Mondays: 2 for 1 sirloin special R175

Tuesdays: 2 for 1 sirloin special and two glasses of wine R200.

Good guy HQ

 

 

Cable Car and Creepy Shirtless Guys

Let’s climb Table Mountain?

Are we getting the cable car down?

Do you have R105 to pay for me?

Nice joke. I don’t even have R105 left for this month.

Girl, then best you say sorry to your legs now.

On Saturday a friend and I hiked Table Mountain. As you can tell from our conversation above; we endured this grueling activity to take advantage of the beautiful weather (we told ourselves). Deep down I think it was because we were too broke to do anything else. But it was an experience I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Not because of the views. Oh no. But this may be the longest DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) I have ever experienced in my entire life. It is has been five days since we hiked and I can STILL feel the hiking experience, reminiscent through my tiny and achy calf muscles.

For some strange reason, my friend and I hiked up in record time. It took us 1hr30 to get up and about 45 minutes to get down. I am no Usain Bolt, a couple of gym sessions (yuss boet) and a run or two but I am by no means a threatening contender for Iron Woman at all. So how on earth did we make it up on our first time so fast?

A  creepy shirtless guy roughly our age with a poodle in tow was, for a lot of the way, almost breathing down our necks with the close proximity with which he hiked behind us. My friend eventually turned around and asked, “Sorry, would you like to pass?” A very odd/creepy/stalker look crossed his face and he then,“Oh no no. You guys keep going ahead. Slooooow and Steady.” From a close distance away and for a long time, this guy had been watching us hike up in front of him for what could have been about half of the distance up. After that I think our subconscious kicked an invisible red bull into our legs.

After the long journey, making ‘friends’ and stopping to ‘catch our breath’ (which we merely used as an excuse to sit down for a while) we felt ecstatic with what we accomplished. If we were rolling in cash we would definitely have skipped the hike down and gotten a lift with the cable car, but I am glad we didn’t. We made it down in record time, shaky legs, sweaty heads AND we had a late Saturday afternoon cappuccino, feeling really like proud mother hens over what we just accomplished.

For those who want to hike up Table Mountain and catch the cable car down, or for those that want to catch the cable car both ways, here are the mad cool specials that are offered:

It’s your birthday?

FREE

 

  A student?

Discounted rates every Friday

 

Senior Citizen over 60?

Discounted rates every Friday

 

All year round trips?

Cable card gives you access to the Cableway for a year, as many times as you want per year (once per day).

So give it a thought for a fun excursion this weekend. Hiking or not, the views from Table Mountain  are incredible.

 

 

 

Breakfast remedies for the ‘Wake-up blues’

It’s winter.
That means it is dark at 7am and its either misty, rainy or windy.
Your typical morning routine might look like this:

6.00 Alarm. Snooze.

6.10 Alarm. Urgh. Snooze

6.20 Alarm, try to hit snooze but your phone falls off the shelf and lands on the floor. Now you have to get up.

As you drag yourself out of your bed you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and thank the heavens above for not having anyone in your room to see that face before you can fix it.
You make you way to the shower and, (digs problems) there is someone who already beat you to it. You go back to your room and check your phone, just in case any important messages might have been sent through while you were out. Nope. No one would be up at this ungodly hour anyway, (so you tell yourself).

As you turn around you get a glimpse of the sultry, steamy former lover from the night before, covers wide open trying to seduce you back inside. Resisting the urge to climb back into bed, you go back to the bathroom and prepare to wait (im)patiently outside. Your housemate, along with a wave of steam,  almost screams at the fright she gets when she sees you lurking behind the door (you know the reason she screamed because she saw what your morning face looks like). Shaking off the insult you jump into the shower and…the water is cold. You hurry, wash what you need, step out and start brushing your teeth, and simultaneously putting your clothes on to save time. You end up losing your balance tying your boots and topple over the tub, cursing the damn thing for appearing out of absolute nowhere and causing an inappropriate amount of pain.

You walk past the kitchen, put on the kettle, walk to your room and see that it is 7.15am. You have to leave by 7.30am. Panicking, you half dry your hair (girl problems) and hope people will be able to see the wet-but-sexy-bedhead look you are going for (when in actually fact you represent the human equivalent of a wet dog).

You hurriedly throw some product on your face to avoid the, “But I TOLD you to use it EVERYDAY” lecture from your mum , add a quick brush of mascara, grab your bag and toss your duvet on your bed to show a little bit of effort in “making your bed”. You realise you forgot to make coffee and, silently screaming, you brush it off and rush out the house to your car.  As you reach in your bag to unlock, you become psychotic. Shaking the contents of your bag on the tarmac like a maniac in search of your car keys, your phone beeps another alarm warning you that it is now 7.50 am. Sprinting up the stairs to retrieve the keys, grabbing some deo and a hairbrush, you hurtle back down towards your car like a greade. Swinging open the car door you jump in and finally, fire up the engine.

That might not be how you exactly start the day, but it’s probably very similar. You haven’t had your morning coffee, you’re in a pretty dark mood and you now have to tell to your superior that “I am SO sorry, but for some reason traffic was absolutely ridiculous this morning!”.

So you’ve maybe tried this whole process, but this time you try waking up 10 minutes earlier. For some reason you end up leaving at the exact same time, rushing late as usual. From personal experience, what DOES make this whole process quicker is knowing that there is a reward at the end;

A large, extra strong cappuccino or a satisfying egg and bacon breakfast.

Monday – Friday
At Field Office you can get a large cappuccino between 7-8 am, for only R12.

At Knead between 7-8am you can get a choice of a variety of cheap, delicious breakfasts. Scrambled eggs on toast for just R15, bargain!

Image courtesy of eatout.co.za

Breakfast fans Saturday- Sunday:

Andiamo, Cape Quarter R69 Breakfast buffet

Even if you are not a morning person, knowing you can get a freshly filtered, hot coffee and a warm, creamy egg breakfast just makes the whole process totally worth it. Surprise your boss because now you totally have a reason to get up in the mornings 😉

Something Fushy I mean Fishy

Fresh fried fush. Fresh fush fried. Fush fried fresh. Fush fresh fried. Fried fresh fush. Fried fush fresh.

Why am I typing fish like fush? Because you are reading a Natalian girl’s blog and I am forever being ripped off for my “Durban” accent,with Fush and Chops, Hull (hill) and Ahce (Ice) to name a few SO…

fush fush fush fush fush fush fush fush fush fush fush fush fush.

On our school holidays my Dad, brother and I used to take our boat, ‘JayLaSco’ off the coast of Scottburgh and try our hand at catching fresh fush. I can honestly say that my love for fush and the ocean was developed during those deep-sea fushing trips; trying not to breathe as I cut up the off-putting  bait, my dad retching his lungs out over the side of the boat from seasickness and my brother munching on egg sandwhiches  simultaneously reeling in a YellowTail.  Along with being lucky enough to see whales and dolphins on our early morning trips, the 4am early risers spent with two of my favourite men were some of my fondest childhood memories.

So I love fush. Fush and Chups bru, like, it’s my favourite meal of all. (Sorry I’ll stop the Durban) Plus sushi (duh) calamari, game fish, tinned fish and all shellfish excluding oysters, (I just can’t deal with the apparent similarity to mucus).   Apart from enjoying the fresh fish caught twice a year on school holidays, living inland made fresh fish become a rare occasion. On one or two Easter holidays my family and I travelled to the Western Cape and this is where I can say that second to my boat trip, it was some of the best fish I have ever experienced. Fresh fish and chips at the good old Kalkies in Kalk Bay; deep fried, drowned in salt and vinegar and wrapped in newspaper, gourmet-like fancy fish at Mariner’s wharf and crispy, salty fresh fish in Sodwana Bay.

Fish is fabulous tasting, fresh and it has all them Omega 3s &6s. So what’s the problem? You might as well sell a kidney at some restaurants to enjoy a decent seafood meal, and like, who pays for Sushi full price anyway? So I have a few fish specials for those Cape Tonians that want something fishy this week. If you are ever visiting the Cape and you love fish, you will not be disappointed.

Mondays:

• Cape Town Fish Market: 50% off all hake and burgers
• Blowfish Restaurant, Tableview: R99 for a Seafood Platter For 2, 12pm -10pm
• Umi Restaurant, Camps Bay: R85 for Fish & Fries all day
• Roseberry, Mowbray: R109 Thai and Sushi Buffet 5.30pm- 10pm
• Brass Bell: R85 for 1kg mussels and chips/bread

Tuesdays:

• La Grotto, Plumstead: R45 for 200g Fresh Hake & Chips
• John Dorys: R29 Hake and Chips
• Seaforth : R155 all you can eat prawns
• Cape Town Fish Market: 50% off all sushi, 25% off all platters all day
• Surfside, Strand: 50% off all sushi 11am-10pm

Wednesday:

• CinCin, Century City: R119 seafood platter for two
• Blowfish: 50% off all sushi
• John Dorys: 50% off all sushi and Graca wine
• Beluga & Sevruga: 50% off sushi, dim sum and cocktails 2pm-7pm

Thursday:

• Umi Restaurant:R85 for Fish & Fries all day
• John Dorys’: R79 seafood platter
• Surfside:50% off all sushi
• The Lookout Deck: R120 for 24 Prawns all day
• Beluga & Sevruga: 50% off sushi, dim sum, cocktails 2-7pm

Friday:

• Golden Fish, Blouberg: R129 all you can eat sushi
• Brass Bell: R89 for a main meal and a 500ml Black Label, or House Wine or a Redd cider
• Seaforth Restaurant: R60 calamari eat as much as you like
• Active Sushi: R119 All you can eat sushi 11.30-10.30pm
• Beluga & Sevruga: 50% off sushi, dim sum, cocktails 2-7pm

Saturday:

• Umi Restaurant:R85 for Fish & Fries all day
• The Lookout Deck: R120 for a 24 Piece Sushi Platter all day
• The Lookout Deck: R46.50 fish and chips 12-3pm
• Fugu, Wembley square: 50% off all sushi 5- 9pm
• Beluga & Sevruga: 50% off sushi, dim sum, cocktails 2-7pm

Sunday:

• Beluga: 50% off sushi and cocktails all day
• Sevruga: 25% off sushi and cocktails from 12am-2pm, 50%  off 2pm-6pm
• Blowfish: 50% off sushi 5pm- 8pm
• Xian Yuang: R99 all you can eat sushi 10am-3am

These restaurants are just the few that I know of, so if you do know of others; I would be all to stoked to see them.