Saturday 27 March 2021, 1st anniversary of Lockdown, 27 th Day of Level 1 😷

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#Grateful for a long day focused on Foooood, and mainly spent in Stellenbosch; for rain that fell overnight and light rain on the way to Stellenbosch; for a Brie and egg purchase at Dalewood Fromage outside Franschhoek, my favorite farm shop with excellent service always; for a quick walk in Church Street, not being able to resist the fabulous ice cream at Crème de Levain; for discovering Eike restaurant and its Snoepie (Tuck Shop) off Dorp Street, buying a Tex bar for R2 less than the price at Pick n Pay 😊; for a lovely spoiling lunch at De Vleispaleis on Dorp Street, belonging to my friend Stuart Bailey, trying the new Set Menu which starts next week from 1 April, and meeting his new dog baby Max; for a visit to Stellenbosch Square, shopping at Woolworths, finding a nice fitting pair of shoes but with poor service, with long queues at the tills; for getting back to Peppertree Café on Kloof Street just in time to collect figs I’d ordered; for a walk through Bakoven; for a visit to Anatoli, trying and photographing new dishes made by Chef Jacques du Toit, and photographing Beth the belly dancer ; for my cat babies forgiving me for leaving them at home alone all day; for it being so quiet in our building, half the renters spending the weekend elsewhere 👏; and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙

De Vleispaleis is moving into the Deli market, with two fridges in the restaurant, with cuts of meat which one can buy to take home. The Set Menu, which the restaurant is introducing from Thursday, offers an Amuse Bouche of mini boerewors, a hearty bowl of Boontjiesop as a starter, a choice of flatiron steak or kingklip served with delicious chips and butternut and spinach, accompanied by a glass of wine, and ending off with a melktertjie shot, all for only R195. I had to take half the steak home, it was so much food, beautifully presented and very tasty. Stuart is a master at creating Grill Room Steakhouses.

The only disappointment was Jade, previously my favorite Pearl shop. They moved a few doors down Church Street, and it has a completely new style of Pearl jewelry, only had one shop assistant in store, and wanted to charge almost as much to restring a bracelet as buying a new one.

I gave KAMERS a miss, held at Blaauwklippen, expecting it to be crowded, and already closing at 17h00. It finishes tomorrow.

Minsky and Earl Grey were so happy to be let outside when I finally got home tonight that they chased each other inside and outside the house, getting some good exercise. 😻😻

Lovely pre-Full Moon tonight, the real thing happening tomorrow.

Chag Sameach to all my Jewish friends.

SA Corona Status. 544 466 cases 52648 deaths 😷🥲 231605 vaccinations

FitBit 9000 steps 7 km 👣

Lovemylife❤️

 

The Corona Virus Lockdown (Level 5), announced by our President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier to commence on 27 March and to continue until 16 April, subsequently extended to 30 April, lowered to Level 4 from 1 May, lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, lowered to Level 2 from 18 August, lowered to Level 1 from 21 September, and moved back to Adjusted Level 3 from 29 December,  extended to 15 February on 11 January, extended but relaxed on 1 February, and relaxed back to Level 1 on 1 March 2021, is an unprecedented event in my lifetime. I am posting my daily Facebook post to journal this Corona Lockdown Journey, perhaps to serve as material for a future Book.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide