Day Seven - Fake Friday at Unity

There is only one word to describe my blogging this week - appalling. Yes that about covers it.  It seems wine evenings, hen's parties and the work have just taken over my time and brain, but this is me jumping right back onto the blogging bandwagon!  So here we go…

The S and I went to Unity last night, this time we booked a table which was a good call as it was busier than I have ever seen it.  Most tables were full with the bar completely occupied.  It's not hard to see why with the great drinks and even better food selection.  Tucked away off Silverton road next to the infamous Cafe 99 it is a place that could easily go forgotten but due to the relaxed atmosphere amidst concrete walls, hard wood floors and subdued lighting interspersed with paintings of cows and pigs on red brick walls which is completely outshone by the cocktail and tapas menu on offer.  

We started off our evening with a jug of Pimms to share.  This came served in a carafe filled with Pimms, sprite, ice and an assortment of fresh strawberries, oranges and cucumber.  There is even a suped up option where you can substitute the sprite for a Smirnoff storm.

After we found out our waitress was in fact an old student of the S, and me getting annoyed at him for not introducing me when he clearly knew this other woman, and then me feeling bad because S, well being S of course, had finally recognised her as an old student (3/4's through the conversation) but could not place her name and so had not actually been able to do the usual round of introductions.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach, as usual, and we set about ordering ourselves a feast.  After trying both the tapas eating option and ordering full on main meals at Unity, we have both decided that tapas is the way to go.  After a debate of which options to pick we went with, wait for it while I take a deep breath; salt & paper squid, potato & chorizo, spicy beef strips, a cold meat platter, deep fried jalepeno poppers and prawns!  

The dishes are served on wooden boards covered with baking paper.  This really lends to the concept of bar food and tapas with everyone at the table being able to dig in.  Or in the case of myself, eyeing out the number of prawns, seeing five and then bartering away some of my portion of the cold meat platter to him in return for the extra tiger prawn.  I did put all the prawns onto my plate, just in case he miscounted and ate my extra one!

The food is tasty and so easy to eat, all hands in! The squid was probably my least favourite, however I think simply because the other options sent the standard high.  The spicy beef was deliciously spicy still heating up in its bowl of sauce, the potato and chorizo complimented each other so well with the smokiness of the chorizo coming in through the potato.  Tiger prawns, cooked.  Need I say more?  Jalepeno poppers, the pips removed, always a good thing to do, had loads of cheese so anymore an I would've felt sick, but I enjoyed the sweet burn that comes with them.  Finally the cold meat platter was large and combined with gerkins, ripe cherry tomatoes and covered in rocket with fresh bread which you could break off and squish a bit of salami, tomato and rocket into and then quickly shovel into your mouth to start on the next one with a piece of prosciutto.

Due to complete over eating we weren't able to face a dessert, however a delicious sounding vanilla cheesecake with Guinness ice-cream almost convinced me.

Unity is a great place to meet up with friends, have some drinks, be in their own brew of beer called Cowbell or one of their cocktails chosen from an extensive list, and then of course to tuck into some pub grub of the deliciously delicate kind.  Ladies even the lipstick won't smudge, unless it's from licking your lips too much from the moreish food.  The food is locally sourced and the beer locally brewed, what a recipe for success.  Click here to find out more on their website

Day Six - Pasta

Step one: Serve pasta with light Parmesan shavings

Step two: Tuck in

Step three:  Give a satisfied sigh while patting your tummy and proclaiming; "Oh yum!"

Day five - roast chicken

Tonight was a lemon and herb marinated flattie with roasted butternut, carrots and potato.  The S was a wonderful 'wifey' and prepared the dish and left it in the fridge for me to pop into the oven when I got home.  Of course I worked later than planned and his parents evening ended earlier than planned which resulted in me heating up the oven for a grand total of 5 minutes and then, well, nothing.  All in all that was the total of my work contribution to dinner this evening.  However making up for my ineptitude the 'wifey' rose to the challenge and got the chicken and veg into the oven, timeously checked, roasted, carved on a plate for dinner by 8pm.

On my plate I found perfectly cooked chicken with soft roasted butternut and potato browned from swimming in the lemon and herb marinade.  The carrots were still crunchy in the middle which added an additional element to the predominantly soft meal.

I am definitely taking advantage of the great home cooking by the 'wifey' as much as possible while I can. There was even left overs, which of course means lunch for tomorrow!

Day four - Half price sushi

Tuesday only means one thing amongst my group of friends from school - half price sushi night.  Although half price anything probably means we will be there!

Although the rain started bucketing down Dom had cleverly booked an inside table at Speak Sushi in Durban North and we were all set for an evening with the girls.  The restaurant was packed and the sushi good as always.  Some of my pieces did crumble apart on my plate making me feel like even more of a klutz than I usually am with chopsticks, but I think that is purely due to the busyness of the chefs and not a reflection on the actual quality of the sushi.

We were also treated to most of us dressed up in our corporate gear, I won't lie I didn't think I would ever see Lulu who at school was always either playing hockey or running in a skirt and jacket!  After chatting wedding prep with Dom I think it hit home with everyone that although we are all still the same, Mich and her latest hockey injury or Kim having no idea how to work excel it also illustrated just how much we are growing up.  

My fortune cookie read: The important thing is to express yourself.  Lucky I'm now doing this blog then hey?

Below I have inserted pictures of our delicious meal, as usual no one topped Robs, our stickiest friend with the most plates eaten. Be jealous and enjoy!

Day three - Billy's Burger & Beer

I had earmarked today's blog as a short one, Mondays being the first day back after a weekend and all that. Of course it was not meant to be and it seems today was earmarked as one helluva long slog instead.


After one helluva long slog at the place of work today I came back to my temporary home exhausted and ready for sleep.  A quick pop down to Billy the Bums for their burger and beer special was decided on.  After, well, one helluva long slog which included me sending food back for the first time in my life, it was ice cold, even the plate gave me the shivers, and really just a whole lot of waiting.  I ended up with the biggest, greenest food envy! I thought I had made a good choice by going with a beef burger topped with avo salsa (sheesh I seem to be mentioning avo a lot lately!) and a creole mayo and I really ended up with a quite good burger topped with some salsa and perinaise.  The S scored a winner by going with the William Tong, a beef burger topped with a 3 cheese sauce, deep fried jalenpenos and biltong strips! Sounds like quite an undertaking but wow, was that a burger!  After my brief sulk due to the complete body takeover by the big green food envy I managed to wangle myself two whole bites and yes the second one was reserved for my last mouthful of the evening - I always have to end the meal with the best tasting thing on the plate. My last bite of the evening consisted of crunchy bun, a soft slightly rare beef pattie, a strong cheese flavour toned down by a slight burn from the heat of the jalepeno and finally brought together by the smokiness of the biltong.

The manager did handle the returned cold food extremely well and although it involved more waiting we were served remade burgers with the patties just rare in the middle and the rolls crisped up after a good sesh in the oven.  For R 60.00 including a free drink and another to make up for the cold food it is a very convenient and well worth the buck kind of meal.  I may not be rushing back for another one of the Boogalaise or whatever it was that I had, but the William Tong now that would warrant a visit next Monday and maybe even the next.

Day two - Sunday lunch

Today I was invited to Sunday lunch at the S parents house.  You can almost bet your life on the offerings that will be available; chicken roasted on the webber along with potatoes, salad dressed with his brother Jem's tangy and moreish homemade dressing and more than likely a third option which today was ripened avo and rosy cherry tomatoes.  So of course I went hungry.

My appetite was slightly abated on the arrival of the S ex girlfriend's parents. No of course that isn't awkward, there I was, mid sip of a particularly well made G & T while lounging back on the couch particularly unladylike and putting my feet up onto the coffee table. Only to be caught by surprise with their arrival which produced a most fantastic chocking fit on my behalf, caused of course by the particularly well made G & T.

Not. Awkward. At. All.

While I was most definitely listening to a story recounted by the clearly doting exes mother about how the 'oh so brave' S managed to save some cat from some vastly distressing fate some 6 years ago, I was quickly distracted by the delicious wafts that came wandering over from the webber to meet my nose. I secretly hi - fived myself - roast chicken it was!

We were spoiled with two perfectly roasted chooks, you could hear the knife crack through the crispy skin and then slide through the tender flesh inside.  Accompanying the star was a salad, of course dressed with Jem's perfectly sweet, sour and tangy salad dressing (note to self: I must get the recipe of that one), roasted potatoes left on the fire to be picked off the grill on your way back to the table after serving yourself up a feast and then finally to round off the perfectly ripened avo accompanied by little rosy red cherry tomatoes.

After lunch, the exes mother redeemed herself by serving up a slightly wobbling, golden disc of cheesecake encircled with sweet strawberries and freshly sour raspberries.  The cheesecake quickly stole the limelight from the main meal and was perfectly balanced by the strawberries which added sweetness and the raspberries which brought a final freshness to the whole ensemble.

Although starting out as predictable, Sunday lunch turned out to be not only surprising but still traditionally tasty with an all round perfect roast complimented by a fresh and sweetly delicious cheesecake.

Day One. Avo it is

Here I am again, trying this for, I think, the third time. Although this time it is a little bit different, I thought about what I enjoyed doing the most in life and apart from the usual spending time with friends and family I came up with the next best thing - eating! What better way to ensure that I finish a project than to have it revolve around my favourite thing.


So it is day one of me reporting back on the best tasting dancing frenzy that my mouth (and stomach) experiences each day.  Here it goes...

Saturday morning in Durbs for me generally means one thing - avo bread for breakfast.  I am a fairly recent convert to the whole 'avo' thing, having previously, and very vocally proclaimed its likeness to thick gooey mud (insert shiver).  However, after actually eating the stuff mushed up onto a piece of bread I realised just what I was missing out on and am now a fairly vocal (well now very vocal after blogging about it!) advocate for the avo.


The S and I went over to Essenwood Market this morning for our dosage of delicious avo bread.  The stall is there every week without fail and has three different offerings; avo bread topped with spicy roasted peppers and danish feta, roasted sweet peppers and feta or roast veg. I went in for the spicy one, with the S sticking with his usual sweet option and we then moved onto the various toppings available.  This morning did have slightly different offerings with pickled cucumber as opposed to the usual pickled onions and a bean pickle mixture instead of the usual hummus and a new sprout option available.  With these I slathered on my homemade mayo, sesame seeds, pinch of salt, grind of pepper and squeeze of lemon.  Armed with our mounds of tasty avo we secured an empty table in front of the playground.  To be honest not my first choice with all the kiddies screaming over a see-saw, especially after the three too many beers the night before, but the food offering was so good I just ploughed right through it without even so much as a wince when a blood curling scream erupted from the middle of the swings. Yes it was that good. 


Essenwood Market is a great place to meet a group of friends for breakfast as then the picky ones really don't have much room to complain with all the available choices of delicious looking food options.  Go early to snag a good parking, I always try for Berea Park road a one way above the park.  Tables are large and shared with  others but unless you have a major problem with other people, just sit at one end and concentrate on your breakfast.  The shopping has improved, so have a walk around the stores before to work up an appetite or after in a futile attempt to work off the massive breakkie you've just scoffed.