When the sun is setting, between dusk and darkness, there is a moment when the light turns blue. And the world stops for a heartbeat.
When I was a teenager, I played a lot of cards. We played a lot with my family, but also with friends – someone always had a deck of cards in their backpack. Somehere along the way, I learned to shuffle cards in a ‘fancy’ way. After that, it really did not matter if I won or lost – I was always considered a great card player.
We had a baby shower for a colleague this morning – a lovely breakfast with all the office ladies. An event made somewhat shorter by the fact that the mother-to-be – to whom this was a surprise – went to the wrong restaurant, got stuck in traffic, and appeared 40 min late. In the meantime, there was plenty of time to take photos of the restaurant fountains.
We had lunch today with some friends who have been blessed by 1-year old twins. Although incredibly cute, their energy is a little overwhelming. However, they are such a pleasure to be around with – there is something magical about that stage of toddler’s life when just walking around is a major adventure.
As has been painfully obvious from my earlier posts – Stuart and I like two things: books and good food. Therefore it is no surprise that one of our favourite places nowadays is Social Kitchen – a fine dining restaurant in a bookstore. The store really encourages people to pick up a book from the shelf, order a drink and sit down to read – and many do.
Although we rarely sit here and read, the atmosphere and food get us coming back. Most often with friends.
Johannesburg nightlife has apparently improved a lot in the last few years. There is a whole host of neighbourhoods and little pockets of buzz, that have never been part of the city scene before. Not that I would know. We are in a bit of a hibernation phase – happy to snuggle up at home or meet friends at their houses. And when we do go out, we tend to frequent the places we know.
Again today, I decided to make a more of an effort in the future. Old friends can take you to new places. Thank you Sid!
Friends’ birthdays make good excuses to go out and try new restaurants. Joburg is going thru quite a restaurant-boom. New (an often even good) places pop up faster than one can visit. Especially is one also enjoys cooking at home.
God mojitos, huge cake, and buzz of conversation – Happy birthday, Ridhima!
Saturday evenings are made for curry. And wine. And good friends.
After certain amount of wine, one should not try to get the photos done anymore…
Today has been a day from culinary heaven – asparagus, pancetta & qruyere quiche, tomato & basil sorbet – and cold-smoked salmon (!). It is a taste of Finland. And I still have about 1.5kg of it in the freezer.
The most interesting culinary experience was, though, the cold-smoked chocolate ice cream I made from cream I smoked with the fish. It was eye-rollingly good. I dare you to taste.
Ally and Chris – thank you for being (again) the guinea pigs!
I focused much more on cooking than on photography, but just for the fun of it, below are a few pics of the food.
Group photo credits to Alexandre Halbardier
One weekend with 250 friends is not enough – but then again 1 year with 500 was not enough either. New memories were made.
Let’s do many more mini-reunions before the next full-blown party 5 years from now.
PS. You can see the bigger pictures by clicking. If anyone wants the pictures in full size, send me a message.
The year in INSEAD was one of the best experiences of my life – so I definitely did not want to miss the reunion. About 250 classmates showed up – and some others were greatly missed! Another 5 years to the next one.
Blue Moment 