Cape Town Day 2

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!
When we last left you, we were heading out for dinner to a wonderful South African hotdog joint called Gourmet Boerie. Boereworst are sausage/hot dogs that are quite common here, but this restaurant offers an upscaled version where you can pick your meat (beef, ostrich, lamb, etc) as well as your sauces. Maja chose the "Pure Sophistication" selection which included caramelized onions, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and rocket (arugula), while Mike picked the more South African offering, Chakalaka sauce, which is a spicy African vegetable relish, very much like salsa.

We finished off our evening on a art tour though Cape Town. We bounced too and fro between various art gallery where patrons sipped on wine while closely studying the brush techniques on portraits of penises and buttocks... Ok, not all the paintings were of penises and butts, but we know our audience, and those are the paintings you guys REALLY want to hear about right? ;)

Our second day in Cape Town started a lot later then we had planned. We were either exhausted from the sunburns we received the day before or the soothing sound of rain encouraged us to stay in bed longer. We were a tad disappointed with the rain seeing as it's not the rainy season and Maja's brother Sanjin said this was first the rain of 2013. The moment of light drizzle provoked us search for umbrellas. After unsuccessfully looking for some 30 minutes for an umbrella at a nearby mall, we decided to grab lunch at Knead, a neighborhood boulangerie that specializes in sandwiches. Mike had a roasted chicken red pepper mayo sandwich with delicious wildberry juice. Maja treated herself to a tuna melt with pinotage, South Africa's signature wine. A full glass of pinotage only cost roughly $3! Isn't that insane?

After a quick espresso at Vida E Cafe, Maja's favourite coffee shop, we ventured to Sanjin's office at City Varsity where he is the Head of Department for Acting. We met his very intense and young (spirited) co-worker, Mark, who spoke to us about his time acting in a play in Montreal some two decades ago. He was in our good books until he said Canadians were passive non-innovators. But he saved himself by saying that he's also "shit stirrer."

Despite all the rain, the planned cricket match for the evening was still on. After Sanjin explained the rules over the course of 5 innings which are known as "overs," we finally got the hang of the game and could start cheering on the Cape Town Cobras. It was a fairy mellow and low-key game ("due to the slow nature of the pitch as a result of the incessant rain throughout the day" as Sanjin put it). The highlight of the game were the $2 beers and a potato snack called "the Chip Stick." Unfortunately the Cape Town team lost, but it was a great opportunity for us to finally (FINALLY!) understand the rules of cricket.

After the match, we grabbed some dessert at Sanjin's favourite gelato place, Gelato Mania, where one of his students served us. Maja tried pino pinguino, a hazelnut ice cream with a top layer of nutella while Mike had snickers and cookies and cream. Just plain DELICIOUS! We ended the evening by walking up and down Long Street, exploring Cape Town's party district. After passing by some 30 clubs/bars, we decided on Cafe Mojito which was a bit more tranquil. We tried the springbok shooter (ilala cream and peppermint liqueur) which tasted just like ice cream and a great way to end our second night in Cape Town.

Namaste,
M&M