Victoria Eatery

October flew by!

2010-11-04T15:19:00.000+02:00

October has gone and November has come!

We've been through so many changes during October I just didn't have time to blog!
Firstly I went on leave and moved house - Maritzi took care of the shop while I was gone. And while I went on leave and moved house, The owners of Victoria Eatery came and gave the shop a big internal operation (electicity wiring, plumbing etc) and a little bit of a face lift while they were at it.

We closed shop for 4 days and gutted the kitchen to redo it again - and I must say it works like a dream, I never could imagine that this little kitchen could have so much space!

October has been a month of ups and downs for everyone here.
Maritzi worked her last day here on the 29'th of October - she left for greener pastures in another town. Though I miss her already, I wish her only the best for the future - may she find happiness and peace.

There was one week in the middle of the month in which it felt like we were surrounded by the end of the life cycle!
At first two new customers came in for lunch and as we started talking, they told me that they just came from the hospital, the one woman's husband had a stroke two day's before and the whole family came to town to support her (and they discovered Victoria Eatery to cure the hunger pangs). Then the next day; one of my regular customers came in looking a bit off colour and after enquiring about her wellbeing, she told me that her life partner was in hospital and that she just left him with his children to say goodbye - he was dying of cancer (they're apparently not very fond of her and she said goodbye to him just before they arrived). I sat with her for a while trying to comfort her in her sadness - even just to offer a shoulder and another body and breath close by in her time of intense mourning. The next day she came back to inform me that he passed away while she was having her coffee in Victoria Eatery.
The following day a couple (man and wife) came in with a little girl, they were also new faces and after enquiring whether they were on holiday, they informed me that they were in town because the gentleman's father passed away the previous day - I doubt that they and my regular customer were related to the same person passing.
I've written before about being part of people's lives in this shop and I just realised yet again this past month that life is a cycle that include births as well as death, joy as well as pain. The privilege to share in these moments with relative strangers is so much more than I first thought - this privilege is coupled with a responsibility towards the people sharing their lives with me and will only continue if I treat everyone walking into this shop with the same respect, and love that I would treat a friend. I feel honored that these people would share their happiest and saddest moments with me, may they always find a safe haven in Victoria Eatery - a place to celebrate and a place to find comfort when life/living deals the hard blows.

Purple rain fairy and homebaking

2010-09-27T16:33:00.001+02:00

My my my what an interesting month we had!

First off there was Casual Day where some of our customers showed up in fancy dress. Our early morning coffee customers are already a nice chatty bunch - we always have such a nice buzz here in the mornings, everyone has become friends with everyone and it's one big group chatter, jokes and laughs.

So when Michelle from the Purple Shop showed up here as the Purple Rain Fairy she lifted the atmosphere to an almost festive feel.

I've been very busy in the kitchen experimenting with recipe's and teaching staff new skills.

We've added to our list of homemade products marshmallows. These are the softest melt in your mouth marshmallows you've ever had!

I'm making 2 different flavours, Almond & Cinnamon marshmallows and Rose Marshmallows.

Then we're finally baking all our bread ourselves - White bread, brown bread, burger buns, the ciabattas that I talked about in the previous post, seed loaf and the one I'm most proud of is my 100% wheat free Rye and seed bread.

Personally I've never been a fan of Rye bread. All the Rye bread I've tasted so far has been a heavy bread littered with Caraway seeds with a slightly sour taste. So I've never even considered trying to make something so yucky (to me). But I've had so many requests from customers for Rye bread that I started thinking about making a 100% Wheat-free Rye that weren't as heavy and had lots of flavour (without Caraway seeds!). I scoured the Internet looking for recipes and tips but you won't believe how hard it is to find a Rye bread recipe that doesn't have any wheat flour in the ingredients! So I studied all the recipes (wheat included) that I could find and made my own changes according to my requirements. For lightness I added cornstarch and oat bran to the rye flour and for flavour I added a mixture of seeds - sesame, poppy, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. So in order to be prepared for the great influx of customers expected for the famous Whale festival, I baked the first experiments last week on Wednesday and even if I must say so myself, it came out beautifully!

Now I love Rye bread - MY Rye bread :)

It was Whale festival this past weekend and it feels like every single person in the surrounding Western Cape came to Hermanus. We had such a good weekend - Saturday I had the most sales since we opened in October last year! How wonderfull it felt to be so busy again - I wish it could have lasted for more than just a weekend! Now we're back to relying on our locals in town to keep the restaurant afloat untill the next influx of tourists in December for high season. So thankyou to all my regulars for being here and helping to keep our heads above water :)

Springday!

2010-09-01T16:53:00.000+02:00

The first of September always tends to be a bit of an anticlimax for me; I remember when I was still at school the big hype throughout August, the planning of the outfit (we were allowed to wear casual non-school-uniform clothes), the excitement to look pretty and springy etc etc etc just to have mother nature throwing us a curve ball and send the next cold front in full vengeance on the exact day we planned to celebrate the coming of spring. Well ... 20 years later and today was no exception (at least I didn't have to plan an outfit to compete with the other prettier girls to at least feel like I could be in the running for "Miss Spring") but today the wind blew through our alleyway in a serious attempt to cleanse every corner from any morsel of dust or dry winter leaf that might be hidden in a crevasse somewhere, and deposit it right inside our little shop.

I've been away for a week on leave, I went up the West Coast on a little tour to see what that side of the country looks like and I have to say that even though there are many pretty little towns with quaint little shops, I still prefer Hermanus and Victoria Eatery.
Coming back yesterday it didn't feel like I was away at all with all the admin waiting to be done - I only left the shop last night a t 19h15 (after an 12h 30' working day). I have come back with lots of excitement about new ventures to be undertaken. We are planning to start baking all our bread ourselves and today I baked our first batch of Ciabatta to use with our salads.
I have been experimenting with a Ciabatta recipe for about 2 weeks before I left. At first I tried kneading the dough with the famous electric (hand)beater with the dough attachments, but it just didn't knead the dough properly for the gluten to develop fully and the rolls came out to have the texture of normal, soft bread rolls. I then adapted the recipe to my taste requirements and tried to knead it by hand - slamming it into the counter like when you make brioche by hand but after a while the pain in my shoulder joints from the up and down action just got too much for me and with trembling hands I formed the rolls, let it rise and baked them - this time the flavour was just right but the rolls still lacked the yeasty, oily, "though" texture that I associated with proper Ciabatta . So after nagging my boss for a proper Kenwood mixer with a dough hook in order to knead it properly, he finally bought one and delivered it to me 2 days before I left - YAY!!!!!!

So today I baked them and they came out just perfectly!

Well after bragging with my goodlookin buns ;-) I'm gonna say goodnight and goodbye!
Come over sometime and try them out.

Spring, hayfever and other bodily functions

2010-08-04T10:36:00.001+02:00

It's the first week of August and spring is in the air. It's already starting to get light earlier in the mornings - the sun starts to rise as I carry out the tables, chairs and umbrellas for the day whereas a couple of weeks ago it was still midnight dark while walking in and out the shop with furniture. Isn't it strange how the extra light makes the early morning furniture moving feel less menacing than when it's dark?
Together with the returned light comes the flowers the Western Cape is famous for this time of year, and together with the flowers, comes the pollen floating through the air and of course then the hay fever follows....

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful flowers I'm surrounded with in the arcade. Just a pity my sinuses and

the following post nasal drip don't like them so much :)

Speaking of bodily fluids, you won't believe what happened in the shop the other day!

I went to deliver flowers for OKASIE as my van is bigger than their bakkie and the particular bunch of flowers that had to be delivered was to big for the bakkie. When I came back, I noticed a bit of a commotion going on and when I queried Maritzi about it, the bathroom key turned out to be lost (this wasn't a problem as I keep an extra key in my till). So I took the extra key and went to check the bathroom to see if the lady who used the toilet prior to the key disappearing didn't perhaps lock the door with the key still inside the bathroom (This can easily happen as the door locks with a removable lock). As I opened the door, lo and behold there the key was - in the hand basin. I noticed the bathroom was left in a bit of a mess (I thought a lady would aim better - you'd think a blind man used the loo!) and sent our cleaner to go sort out the mess before another customer had to use the bathroom. (This is nothing out of the ordinary - we've discovered stranger things in our bathrooms - like dirty men's underwear in the washing basket ).

So the morning passed and our lunch rush arrived. I sat chatting to a table of customers at a stage and noticed Maritzi removing a chair from a table (I thought the customer might have complained that the chair was a bit wonky as all our furniture is secondhand, so I didn't make much of it and continued my conversation). As the customer left, I greeted her and enquired about her lunch - did she give me a surprise! Apparently the chair that Maritzi removed was soaking wet and had been urinated on!!!!!! I couldn't believe my ears! And who had been sitting on it last? The lady who locked the key inside the bathroom!

Luckily we have soap and water handy so I promptly took the offending chair outside and had our cleaner wash it properly and leave it in the sun to dry. The poor girl must have had it up to her ears with bodily functions for the day.

I have encountered strange things in my years of restaurant work but this was a first! Luckily the customer who discovered the chair is a regular and didn't take offence against the restaurant (Phew!). In fact, she claims it's the THIRD time something like this has happened to her! (How can something like that happen 3 times to one person???)

Well after a couple of days of disbelief, what was the lesson learnt from this experience? Check the chairs as you clean the table after a customer has left!

Time flies

2010-07-26T15:19:00.000+02:00

My oh my it's been long since I've been here!

Not much has happened since my last blog, I locked myself out of the shop the other day - with my keys (the only set in town) inside, but I managed quite well to break into the shop without calling the professionals.
I took a couple more photos of customers the past weeks, so I guess I'll just put them on here for all to see while I try to figure out what to write.

This is Melany and Ana Voigt - Melany used to help out here every second weekend

Maurice - the water guy

Anel Henn and her newborn son (I can't remember his name though - I think it might be Thomas?)

My beloved parents, Alysia and Albert... our biggest supporters :)

Annalisa Prak - the cup, no mug, no cuppa coffee girl

And finally, now all can see what Maritzi, my waitress/righthand-girl looks like.

Hope you all enjoyed the photo show - I think that'll be all from me for the time being.

Cheerio!

Winter is here!

2010-07-07T11:01:00.000+02:00

This has been a week of freezing, teeth clattering weather.
I guess I shouldn't really complain because even though this week has been cold we had the most perfect weather last week - a summer in the middle of winter.
The owners of our little restaurant came for an official visit yesterday.

This is Danè, the other owner Chis is more camera-shy.

When you live through the day to day happenings, recipes, baking and cooking you tend to forget that this is also a business with books and numbers and things that must go to the auditors. So the place has been a-buzz with paper work, numbers and computer hours since last week Friday - I'm nursing a head/neck/shoulder-ache/spasm from sitting in front of our computer here in the shop. Note: the chair I'm using is actually a little wooden bedside table with a small cushion on top to brighten up the look - not intended for comfort or hours of sitting on. So last night; after spending most of the weekend to the wee hours in the shop in front of the computer; after the staff had all left and I was finishing up the last things, cleaning the last surfaces, packing away the last cups and saucers, I realised that this might be my favourite time of day in the shop: When all is dark outside, the multitude of little lamps are burning, Jamie Cullum or Frank Sinatra filling the sound waves and I've got the place to myself; finishing up and tidying the shop for the next day - this place has quite the atmosphere - it almost feels like home :) (maybe I'm spending waaaaaaayyyyyyy too much time here?)

I attempted my very first preserve last week, I didn't want to make marmalade and I didn't want to make a jam, my idea was to preserve sliced oranges in a spicy, sweet syrup to use for desserts, for garnish with other desserts and to plonk on toast when we feel like it. I scoured over recipes for a couple of days, looking for just the right one, but all the recipes I could find was either for Marmalade or whole orange preserve - neither of what I wanted, but I got a good idea of what I DON'T want :)
So I bought 2 pockets of oranges and started the whole process of cutting and soaking for 24 hours, boiling and soaking again for another 12 hours, all the while hoping that it's going to come out the way I intended. Then I added sugar, whole cinnamon, whole star anise and a couple of cloves and boiled and skimmed and boiled and skimmed until the consistency was just right. And I think it came out just wonderfully! I already sold 7 bottles to customers, I poured the syrup over Vanilla ice-cream with a chocolate sauce and I made a Vanilla butter cake and orange preserve trifle to great success (I served it to my bosses yesterday and they enjoyed it thoroughly - yay!) Aaaaaand it takes such nice pictures! Have a look for yourself :)

And that's it form me for now

Goodbye and good-day!

Felix's amazing technicolored cupcakes

2010-06-28T18:09:00.001+02:00

We had a birthday party today, Felix turned 1 !!!!!

I spent all Friday making, baking, throwing away, baking again and icing amazing technicolored cupcakes. Aveline asked me to bake them about 2 months ago already but I wanted them to be absolutely fresh so I waited until the last minute to bake them - all 72 of them :)
She dropped off the 3 primary colours food coloring and I had such fun mixing colors! Blue, Purple, Yellow, Orange, Green and Red.

As you can see, I had lots of fun with my piping bag, I spelt out FELIX 1 a letter on each cupcake in every color group, trying to group them in groups of six.

I guess they're not the most professional looking avant garde cupcakes, but for a 1 year old's Birthday party I think they were perrrrrrfect :)

So this afternoon Salomè and I went to his b-day party in Warrington Arcade. Oh such fun! and if I must say so myself - those cupcakes were scrumptious!

Finally

Happy birthday Felix! Hope I'll be there to see number two!

Moussaka like a true greek

2010-06-17T15:55:00.000+02:00

Our meal special of the week was Moussaka with rice and a side salad. You'd be surprised how many people here in Hermanus don't know what Moussaka is. I reverted to the description of "the Greek version of Lasagna with tomato infused minced beef, baked aubergine and lots 'n lots of cheesy cheese sauce".

First there are the customers who know the dish and came especially to eat it when they heard that it was to be our special; then there are the less informed but adventurous customer whose faces would light up and the meal would sell itself; but then there are the customers who as soon as I mentioned aubergine would visibly shut down and I would have to use all the descriptive words and sounds like "yummyyyyyy", "delicious", "Parmesan and cheddar cheeese" etc in order to sell it. After the "hard sell"some people would fall for it and at the same time absolutely fall in love with my Moussaka, while others would stay shut down but would switch on again when Cheese burger, Toasted sandwich and chips or one of our delicious salads are mentioned. (thank goodness for a standard menu to save the day when the specials board doesn't send some people's tummies a-rumbling).
Vanessa's coming back tomorrow. I can't believe 3 weeks passed already! But I must admit, we all missed her dearly and I for one am looking forward to seeing her in the kitchen again :) I guess I'm still going to be involved in the kitchen because when she returns, Nwabisa our assistant cook will go on her 3 week leave and Vanessa will probably need help. I kind of enjoyed my stints in the kitchen, cooking all the specials and baking all the cakes again - it's quite a nice feeling to tell the customers that yes I made it myself when they rave about a dish or slice of cake and ask who made it. But hey I can't do everything all the time - we all have our designated roles to fulfill and I will go back to just planning the menus and stepping in when needed.

I think I have said my piece for the day. Just one request - as a sign that you have read this and that I'm not writing in vain, please tick one of the boxes below, add a comment or something - just to let me know that you were here? Many thanks and have a good day!

Efervescent tablets in the blood and Vuvuzelas

2010-06-11T15:58:00.000+02:00

Today is the day, the BIG Soccer World cup opening day, the day that has been on countdown from since about 5 years ago.
I've never been a big soccer fan, I don't know the rules and in general I'm not very interested in sports.
This morning started with a light buzz in the air. As we packed out the shop for business, the first customers showed up in their yellow and greens and big smiles.
A little later in the morning the yellow and greens were accompanied by the South African flag painted on the cheek. Then the light buzz came closer and at first it sounded like people on strike toy-toying down the streets but as it came closer the buzz became a mixture of the sound of Vuvuzelas being blown mixed with bass, tenor, alto and soprano voices and the stamp of dancing feet - the parking attendants of the streets of Hermanus were dancing down their streets in anticipation of the big event.
Since the beginning of June, we heard the sound of Vuvuzelas in the air on and off, here and there, day and night but today it has escalated to a Day of the Vuvuzelas. The atmosphere is constantly droning with the sound, pulsating and punctuating the excitement felt all around. As I was walking down the street I felt a strange bubbly feeling, like effervescent tablets in the blood - the Soccer Spirit has caught me unawares in the street! I felt a strange excitement humming through the air penetrating every person around as people walk in the streets shouting "Feel it, it is here!" in their soccer paraphernalia, glasses hats and t-shirts. Looking down I realised that I was wearing the wrong colour and should be wearing yellow instead of red, but shushed my conscience by telling myself that red is one of the colours in the South African flag.
So at 16h00 - in 5 minutes from now, it's kick off for Bafana-Bafana against Mexico (something I wouldn't have known under normal circumstances). We closed the restaurant early so our staff can go celebrate and take part in the festivities. The only problem is, I'm still sitting here waiting for the tilers who showed up as we closed the door to finish grouting. So although I won't see the game; all of us at Victoria Eatery wish Bafana-Bafana good luck, may it be a surprisingly good game - GO BOYS MAKE US PROUD!

Freshly beaten hands and other kitchen disasters

2010-06-10T16:54:00.002+02:00

Today was to be a day spent baking, I started the morning making Caramel dumplings and custard to pair (as a dessert) with the Oxtail I served for lunch. It is a really easy recipe and I was happily beating the dough with the electric egg beater just after 9h00 this morning. When all was mixed, I switched off the beater and tried to remove the dough sticking to the ends with my fingers when the beater started beating again and got my hand stuck between the 2 metal beaters.

At first I couldn't understand what was going on (I did switch it off after all), then I nearly broke the beater in an attempt to get the thing off my hand.
Unbelieving I stared at my freshly beaten left hand as red and then blue wilts appeared on the base of my thumb and little finger. In all the years I've been baking this was a first for me - who's ever heard of freshly beaten hands - I mean a hand isn't even supposed to fit between the two beaters!
Well after the shock wore off (I thought), I asked Lulu if she wanted to help mix the carrot cake ingredients (she used a big spoon)and to my surprise she cleverly pre-measured all the ingredients for me. After everything was mixed and ready for the oven I realised that I accidentally doubled the oil in the cake mix, I baked it anyway hoping that it wouldn't be too noticeable ..... no luck! I'm not sure if the higher oil content caused the cake to bake too hot or something because after the required baking time, the beeper went off and we took it out and lo-and-behold check out the dark brown almost black carrot cake that tastes like it's been deep fried! All in all, this morning turned out to be a baking disaster.
I left the kitchen during lunchtime to rather check on the customers - who thoroughly enjoyed the Oxtail and Dumplings (none the wiser of all the disasters of the morning) - and to give my bruised ego a break, normally my attempts and feats in the kitchen progresses with much less drama, bruising or disaster.
Now I'm sitting in front of the computer with the smell of baking Rye rusks permeating the air - I decided to try one more time to successfully bake something today :) and judging by the smell, it's going much better than this morning.
Tomorrow I'll start fresh and attempt a new carrot cake and a cheesecake, which I'm sure will come out beautifully and without a hitch.

Popeye and scaling fences.

2010-06-02T18:07:00.010+02:00

My boss's bird, Popeye escaped yesterday afternoon from his cage in front of our sister shop OKASIE. As soon as I heard the news, I rushed in the direction passers-by saw him flying and as Popeye is quite a vocal bird, I was able to follow his voice (screeches) to the Anglican church's (enclosed) garden.
I talked to him, I whistled Jan Pierewiet - the one song he knows the first line of (on one note may I add), I tutted, I pleaded, I shouted, I coaxed, but the bird just sat high in the monkey puzzle tree tutting, whistling and talking back.

At around 17h00 I called in the reinforcements - a friend and a regular at our shop, Salomè, works at the Vetshop down the alley and has a connection with Popeye. I hoped that if he saw her, he'd come flying down.

But to no avail, Popeye just whistled, tutted and talked cockatoo while we performed to the gathering crowd in an attempt to get him down from the tree. We finally scaled the garden's fence hoping that if we could get closer, we might look him in the eye and get him to come flying to us or something. Later (as the sun set) Popeye flew to another tree, gave one last screech and went quiet while Salomè and I whistled, shouted and coaxed. I think he put his head under his wing and slept.... We got a torch from a waitress at another restaurant nearby (although a man brought us the torch, we knew it was a woman's - it had a red button that turned the torch into a shock stick if you pressed it) - Holding the flashlight by the very end, terrified of the red button, we scanned the trees for an ever silent Popeye .... with aching necks we gave up at around 19h30.

This morning as I got to work it was still dark. I opened the shop, did the morning duties etc. By around 07h15 I opened the back door and stepping out, I heard Popeye screeching. I rushed to the church's garden hoping that a night out alone in the cold might have taught him his lesson - ha-ha-ha how wrong I was. As I stood doing the same routine as last night (scaling the fence again, whistling, talking, tutting, coaxing...), Salomè showed up and she joined me (I left her a couple of minutes later to go to the shop and get us some coffee and an apple for Popeye), later another customer from the shop showed up to give us moral support, my boss's father showed up hoping to help, the church's gardener showed up, the gent who gave us the flashlight also pitched, and yet again Popeye had his captive audience or is it his own personal entertainment troupe? We whistled, talked, tutted, I threw some apple at him but my aim is not too good so Popeye just watched apple chunks flying by; passers-by gave advice, we hoisted a ladder up the tree with his cage at the top end - which promptly fell down spraying water and bird seeds over us all and finally Popeye stretched his wings and flew ..... away!
Later in the morning, we spotted him in a tree next to the post office and the same scene repeated itself except this time we tried to spray him with water from a borrowed hosepipe - which just caused Popeye to climb higher in to that tree, and fly away - again...

Well the day passed with Salomè and I working and going for Popeye walks every now and again - but no luck, the bird finally disappeared and we can't find him again. We left his cage in the church's garden hoping that he might see his home and hop in.

I'm going to miss Popeye's screeches and whistling floating through Victoria Eatery's windows everyday. I do hope he is happy flying around the greater Hermanus and that he learns about being a non-captive little bird fast, so he can stay safe from cat claws and owl, falcon or eagle beaks. Bon Voyage Popeye!

Of weekends, Mondays and Chowder

2010-05-31T16:17:00.005+02:00

My my my does a weekend and a Monday go by on the fly!
After a lovely off weekend filled with rugby, chicken curry and a braai on the beach; I'm back in Victoria Eatery and Monday is on it's back already!
Off course I couldn't stay away from the "baby" entirely this weekend, so I popped in on Saturday for a quick cup of coffee, which only ended an hour later after a coffee, a rusk and two beers with some regular customers (since it was my off day, and the birthday of one of those regulars, I allowed myself to indulge a little).

Tomorrow is pensioners day again and I'm making the special - I started wondering about it last night and began going through recipes etc, but then I remembered that I made a wonderful fish stock a couple of weeks ago using a Cape Salmon that I had on special and that that stock is still waiting for me in the freezer and out came the bouillabaisse, chowder and bisque recipes. I don't know about you but to me a soup has to have some body, I'm not very fond of these watery, consomme like soups - it's just coloured water if you ask me (unless the flavour is so unique and distinct that the consistency has to be watery so as not to compete with the flavour). Anyway, I can't serve consomme to my customers as a light lunch. Which means - fresh Hake and mussel chowder with our home baked seed loaf for lunch tomorrow.

This morning started early, with the first coffee seekers walking in here at 07h15 again (I'm starting to wonder if these people know that our official hours are only from 07h30)- but at least the first pot of coffee only takes a couple of minutes to make and as long as they don't mind waiting for it and sitting down while we're still setting up the shoppe, I don't mind serving them.
My planning for the day was to bake the carrot cake around 08h30, go Chowder ingredients shopping at around 10h00, be back in time to help serve if needed for lunch and start with the chowder after lunch ....
Things didn't work out that way.
Along with the first coffee customers this morning a good friend that I haven't seen for a while, showed up looking for coffee and a chat, so I sat down and had a cup of coffee and a visit (Maritzi handled the other customers and the carrot cake could wait) - it turned out to 2 mugs of coffee each and at 9h00 the conversation ground to a halt. I jumped into the kitchen and started baking the carrot cake. Lulu (our cleaner) was sitting there in the kitchen and I began teaching her the basics about carrot cake baking - which turned into a running commentary while I grate, mix, sieve and whisk, explaining the reason behind every step, why we sieve dry ingredients, why we use eggs at room temperature, why we can't let the cake mixture stand and wait for the oven to get to temperature before baking etc etc etc, it looked like she was really interested ... I hope she has learnt something - maybe she can become the next official Victoria Eatery carrot cake baker????
Then just as I planned to run off to the shops to go buy the fish and seafood for the chowder, another friend from church showed up wanting to see me, so I sat down and had a cup of tea with her - after 2 double espressos in mugs earlier I couldn't face another coffee (bless Maritzi for being able to cope on her own), as this friend got ready to leave, my parents showed up for coffee. During all these visits, I pinched off a couple of minutes every now and again to teach Lulu how to make the icing for the carrot cake - luckily it's easy, just throw the ingredients together and whisk until creamy.
By 13h30 after another friend showed up just as I wanted to walk out the door and we had a cuppa (I drank water by this time) I finally got into my car and off to the shops!
To make a long story short, I only started with the soup at 15h30 and now I'm waiting for it to boil (it's 17h00). During the chopping and frying I also taught Lulu how to ice the carrot cakes, she did it all by herself and it looks good - she also looks so proud of them!
And As Edith Piaf sings her heart out in Victoria Eatery, the night's chill starts to creep under the door and I have to stop writing because that soup is calling me to go finish what I started.
Goodbye and goodnight!

Hey hey, it's Friday!

2010-05-28T16:05:00.006+02:00

Today is Vanessa's last day before she goes on holiday - she showed up this morning with a sore throat, I hope she doesn't spend her holiday sick in bed.

While the cold winter wind indiscriminately blows wet slices through every pedestrian, our little shop radiates warmth and cosiness - sweeping the windblown wet pedestrian right into our door. The first coffee seekers showed up here this morning at 07h15 and they kept coming until mid morning when the coffees started being accompanied by hearty breakfasts. Luckily Maritzi works on a Friday which gave me some time to chat with the customers - an attempt to create the feeling of a visit rather than just going for coffee.
Our local coffee shoppe baby, Felix, comes for a visit every week morning with his parents, Aveline and Tom.

Felix used to get a buttermilk rusk every morning but for some reason he thought rusks had a dual purpose - one for eating every now and again and the other to throw around and see how many crumbs you can create in the shortest time. Aveline decided (wisely and to Lulu our cleaner's relief) to switch to a slice of buttered wholewheat toast - now the floor is littered with small, soggy pieces of toast. At least it's easier to clean :)
Another of our regular children is Ana, she and her mom Melany comes here every now and again - Melany used to work in my place every second Saturday for my day off. Ana was born profoundly deaf and has had cochlear implants at a very young age (she turns 2 in June). She now has a bee in her bonnet to walk everywhere though she's still learning to walk and as yet cannot walk by herself. So in order to give mom a chance to drink her cappuccino, Ana took me for a walk - right to the kitchen where I introduced her to the friendly kitchen staff: "say hello to auntie Vanessa .... and auntie Bisa.... and auntie Lulu?" she paused for a while looking at these three faces watching her expectantly and promptly uttered one word "Lu-lu" Which immediately brought a sun ray of a smile to Lulu's face.
We love having our regular children here, we follow each one's development and growth with loving eyes. It is such a privilege to become involved for a short 30minutes to an hour in people's lives - to see things come and go and share in the joys and tears of life. This interaction is the fairy dust magic of this shop, something which I wouldn't miss for the world!
I have the weekend off and won't write again until Monday, so hey-hey it's Friday, I can sleep late tomorrow and all that jazzz!!! Have a great weekend to all my wonderful and sometimes less than wonderful customers and friends.

feelslikegrannyshouse-pudding

2010-05-27T15:22:00.009+02:00

Today was Thursday.... Pensioners day.
Yesterday I planned to make fresh lambs liver and onions with mash and salad for today's special, but the promised liver never showed. So I strolled along the meat counter in Pick 'n Pay staring at the different types and cuts of meat, rummaging my brains (and my imaginary taste buds) for inspiration: "Chicken? No I made a chicken curry the other day. Lamb? I'm not inspired for another lamb stew. Beef? Oxtail? Oops no oxtail either...... Mmmmm what about a good wholesome beef stew? and a nice hot desert?"
So I settled for a Beef and red wine stew with yummy - feelslikegrannyshouse-sago pudding and custard. We introduced the beef to red wine, onions and garlic and let them get to know each other intimately while marinating for the night. Then we added some veggies, cream and yogurt to the mix and slow cooked them till they're just right for a feast of the palate. Coupled with the sago pudding,custard and topped with a dollop of melting apricot jam it made comfort food deluxe - what better to have for lunch on a windy four-seasons-in-one-day here in lovely Hermanus?

I fetched my mom for a visit just before lunch as she was left home alone with no transport for the day and we both had the special. When we finished the sago we both decided to make the same dessert when I go there for dinner tomorrow night (don't tell anyone, but she says that it's even better than she remember my grans sago pudding used to be).
Vanessa (our main cook) has been cooking and baking up a storm in our kitchen for the past week.

As from Saturday she's going on her first long vacation (3 weeks) in years and she's making sure that we don't run out of any of our baked goodies for sale. I'm almost as exited about her holiday as she is, for her sake; but on the other hand I'm also a bit apprehensive about it since I'm going to have to take her place in the kitchen. I've gotten so used to working out the recipes, handing them to Vanessa and directing and delegating from the sidelines - only taking over when it seems that she needs help, but now I'm going to be the one preparing and cooking all the specials and baking all the cakes, biscuits and rusks while Maritzi(our assistant manager/waitress)tries to fill my shoes in the front of house. Maybe it will be a good thing, I'll get to know the kitchen much more intimately - and know exactly where things can improve. What do they say about standing in someone else's shoes for a day?...
Let's hold thumbs for a good, successful and educational next 3 weeks. I'm sure I'll gather a lot of things to write about during my seclusion.

First post and first attempt

2010-05-26T10:24:00.004+02:00

After being open for 7 months and surfing the waters through our first holiday season in December, January and February, I now have time to take a peek into the world of blogging. The off-season (winter time) is starting now and even though I have time to blog, I hope I still won't have so much time on my hands that I spend all my time writing.
Victoria Eatery, the restaurant I manage feels like home. I've been here since before opening, planning, designing menus, decorating - almost like preparing for the birth of a new baby. The birth day - October 5th 2009 went by with all the expected and unexpected dramas - my mother came by for moral support, but after the coffee machine didn't show, the ordered coffee didn't arrive and the milk order only showed up at 15h00 that afternoon, she saw her youngest daughter running around with her hands in her hair and decided to pitch in and start waitering (for the first time in her life - bless her).
Now I guess we are in the late teething season (our coffee machine showed up the next morning, in perfect working condition) and we're starting to learn how to expect the unexpected.
I'm hoping to be able to write regularly - there are so many stories in a restaurant, everyone walking in here has his or her story; every dish we prepare has a story; every person working here has her own story and I hope to tell them all.