Category: A Beer

A drinking game – Klipdrift

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Klipdrift is a brandy when, mixed with cola, is known as a “Klippie”.

And the taste?
Right. Same face. I give up!
Give me something to work with, Anne!
I think she likes it!!
And I gotta say…
I loved it! (that’s a happy face, just in case you can’t tell!! (What a shocker!))
In fact…
We wanted to go and buy more!!! 
We did leave some for Hubs
And lucky we did too! Thumbs up from Hubs!
Klippie was a favourite across the board, and to be honest, I’d never tasted anything like it so it was extra exciting! Not sure if I could drink more than one – it is quite a strong flavour and quite high in alcohol if I remember correctly (which is unlikely!) Only 1 more drink to go!!!

A drinking game – Savanna

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Mmmmm Savanna. Just thinking about it now takes me back to the long, warm summer days, lazing around the braai, shooting the breeze. This was a big part of our trip and a great one at that.

Clayton, what did you think?
What does that face mean?????
Let’s see if I can get more of a reaction out of Anne…
Ooooooh yeeeeaaaahhhhhh
Well we already know how Wifey feels about Savanna
And just to show you that I don’t take myself too seriously, here is possibly the WORST photo of myself I’ll EVER post on the internet!*
And Hubs? Well he was the one who introduced me to this delicious drink!
He loves it!
So I would say that Savanna is the clear winner at the moment! And I think it’s still my favourite! I need to find somewhere in Melbourne that sells it…
*I realise other people will put embarassing photos of me on the internet, but what I can’t see, can’t hurt me!!

A drinking game – Windhoek

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(Prounounced Vintook). The last of the beers in our experiment, Winhoek Lager is actually imported in from Namibia and is the beer of choice amongst Hubs’ South African relatives. And it may have been the beer of choice amongst these 4 Aussies too! Let’s see…

Drink 3 – Windhoek
Clayton was looking forward to this one
Not that his reaction was any different to the first 2 beers!!
Anne liked the 2nd beer better than the first, but what about this one?
Hmmmm… take or leave it?
Let’s hope Wifey has a better facial reaction to this one at least!
Not great, but certainly better! And the beer? I seem to recall I liked it!
And what about Hubs?
Oh so classy…
It kind of looks like he didn’t really like it, but maybe he still had traces of burp in his mouth! Gross!
I believe this was Hubs’ favourite beer, even if his face doesn’t show it! I seem to recall it was generally liked by all involved, and certainly the favourite of the 3 beers.

A drinking game – Black Label

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So the next drink off the ranks in our experiment was Carling Black Label. This beer isn’t strictly brewed in South Africa, but there is a brewery there, so it counts! (I’m sorry for the lacklustre research on this topic, but you get that.) I believe in South Africa, this is typically seen as a more fancy beer. Castle Lager, (as mentioned in the previous drinking game post), is more your everyday drinking beer. Like XXXX!

Clayton’s up first again:

With pretty much the same reaction as the last beer!
Anne?
Not as bad as the last one, though, still not convinced!
What does Wifey think of this one?
Not so excited either? (what a face!!??? Hubs really has a way of catching the feeling.)
Speaking of Hubs
“Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh”
It seems the Black Label was more of a hit than the Castle, but I don’t think that would have taken much 🙂

A drinking game – Castle

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Okay. Drinking is not a game. It’s serious business. And we conducted this experiment purely for educational and research purposes. We lined up all the South African booze alcoholic liquids we could get our hands on acquire within the constraints of our budget. The plan was for the 4 of us to try each one (and yes, share our germs) and then have a photo taken of our initial reaction. Now, granted, some of these drinks we had already tried, but there were a few surprises! I’ll (try to) blog about 1 drink each day. Are you ready?

Drink 1: Castle Lager.
And the results:
First up, Clayton

“Nice”

Next, Anne had a go
Not a fan
Now for Wifey’s turn
Yeah, I’ve had better
And Hubs?
ontemplative? Or satisfied…
So for Castle, we seemed to have 2 yes, 1 no and a maybe. It really was quite a bitter beer, and after drinking a few Savannas beforehand, my palate wasn’t quite ready for the shock! More fun to come tomorrow!

The Wedding of 2009

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This is really quite overdue, but I figure, it’s better late than never! Hubs and I attended my cousin’s wedding last October and it was just delightful. We headed over to Kturtle and Khicken’s place to get ready in the afternoon, after a few home brewskies, and headed to West End for the service.

It was just divine. I had a little cry as I watched my “baby cousin” who, along with her twin, are the sisters I always wanted. The service was really lovely and personal, and I had a little cry when they were making their promises to each other.

Here’s A&A, the happy couple, after the service
Kturtle, Khicken, Dad, Mum, Wifey, Hubs (red was the order of the day!)
A&E – Another happy (and stunning) couple!
And another…
And another!!
Pro Photo. Aren’t they just gorgeous!

And then it was off to the reception! Via the Spring Hill Hotel with the cousins, that is. I thought to myself, “I’ll just have a champagne or 2 and that will do me” but what I’d forgotten was that we were with my brother and his Kturtle so the drinks were flowing freely. Oh boy. We finally made it to the reception, in a jovial mood and were ready to par-tay!

The speeches were really special, and when Crolly recited a poem he had written, to his bride, there was not a dry eye in the house. And don’t get me STARTED on his rendition of “The Horses” by Daryl Braithwaite. “That’s the way it’s gonna beeeeeee little darlin'”. Oh my goodness. SO MUCH FUN!!!

And of course, you can’t have all the cousins together, without getting a cousin shot!

I’m so happy for you guys, and I know you have embarked on an amazing journey together that you will share whole-heartedly. So much love to you both.

Sunset on a yacht

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(I’m going to blog about South Africa again very very soon! I PROMISE!!)

But first, let me tell you what Hubs and I got up to a few Tuesdays ago! Our friend’s Dad has a yacht and we were invited to a day/evening out! 4 of the boys met at Brighton where the yacht is moored and sailed in the bay, had a swim (i.e. were dragged along) in the bay and then met us at Docklands, where 5 of us joined them for the return voyage. I always get excited about sailing, and it’s not til we get out a ways that I remember I get sea-sick. I wasn’t too bad on this journey though – I stayed above deck and managed to not chuck.

The whole evening was just lovely. The weather was gorgeous (though, not enough wind on the return trip) and the company, as always, fabulous.

“Damn, I think we lost Hubs. Can you seen him?”
“Yeah, I can see his dreads, right there!”

“I hope he tied the rope nice and tight!!”
Nathan and Cal looking hot, and enjoying the view
Hubs and Wifey trying to do the same…
…and looking like clowns…
Enjoying the great company (and nibblies!)
Stunning sunset
(I couldn’t decide between the 2 photos)
The sunset reflected on the Eureka Tower, and nothing else – it was incredible!
Thanks so much for a wonderful day out guys! I can tick “sailing in Port Phillip Bay” off my “things to do before leaving Melbourne” list.

A weekend walk

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Hubs and I have decided to do some long walks over the weekends (by long I mean anything between 5 and 10km BTW) and last Saturday we had a great day exploring the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. The weather was sensational, and after walking into town from home, we wandered around for a few hours, enjoying the sunshine (we both got sun burnt) and each other’s company.

Matching Crumplers! (I’ve been wanting this photo taken for AGES!)

Turkish Delight! Yum!

We checked out the local flora and fauna…
And played around a bit too!
We also checked out the Shrine of Remembrance.
 

We then headed to our favourite place in Chinatown, Shanghai Dumplings, and stuffed ourselves silly for $20!

Mmmmm… dumplingicious! 
(I know I look a bit spaced out, but I was sunburnt and tired from all our walking!)
And washed them down with a couple of Tsingtaos!
We then headed off to Pellegrini’s (a “Melbourne Institution”) for a coffee
And we finished off a big day out by seeing Sherlock Holmes at the movies, which, by the way was a great movie! It’s lots of fun with a bit of mystery and mayhem. Really really enjoyed it.
All in all and amazing day with Hubs, exploring this great city we live in, and enjoying it while we can!

The Big 3-0!

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At 4:04am today I turned 30. What does that feel like? Well, I had a lot of time to ponder over this question at 2 o’clock this morning, thanks to jet-lag, and I started thinking about my life so far. What I have achieved, where I’m at, and what lies before me. And here’s what I came up with:

Highs:
Getting through puberty, relatively unscathed
My developing relationships with my family and friends
Going overseas for a year and realising how capable and resilient I really am
Finding the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, and it being such an obvious decision
Moving to Melbourne and starting a new life down there
Having a relatively healthy life with only minor injuries to speak of!

Lows:
I really haven’t had that much bad stuff happen to me. Apart from the usual teenage angst, broken hearts and battle with self-esteem, most of the stress in my life is brought about by my overactive imagination and ability to worry about… well… everything!


What I’ve done so far:
I’m very proud of my achievements, and my willingness to try new things. I have enjoyed all the different hobbies I have tried, and the travelling I have done. I’m also happy that I have completed study in a couple of different areas, and that it has benefitted me in ways I didn’t expect. I love that I was introduced to church as a teenager, and that I was fortunate enough to meet Hubs at Day Camp one year, where he vowed to his friend, there and then, that one day he would marry me. That was totally awesome.

What lies ahead:
Gosh. Where do I start? There are still so many things I want to do with my life. Travel some more, add to our family of 2, live in the country, ride in a helicopter over Brisbane (happening on Thursday!! :-), learn more sign language, grow in my faith, and continue this blog!

I think that’s enough self-reflection for now. We are off to dinner tonight for my birthday, and I can’t wait to share yet another amazing milestone with my incredible family. A great start to the year that is to come!

We’re on our way!

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Hubs and I left Brisbane 8 (???) hours ago and we are currently on stopover in Singapore, using their FREE internet!! Did I mention it was FREE????? Singapore Air have my 2 thumbs up so far! We had a few glasses of wine (and G&T and Baileys) which I’ve never really done before (drank much on flights) so I’m feeling ready for a little nap now but there are too many good movies and TV shows to watch on the next leg!! Which leaves in 6 hours 🙁

Singapore airport is also really easy to get around (FREE shuttles between terminals that are run by robots!! Okay. So it’s all automatic, but that’s PRACTICALLY a robot, right??)

Not much more to say other than I had such a great Christmas and it was awesome seeing all the family again. I miss you all already!! And we made a few new special friends who really touched our hearts – you know who you are! Can’t wait to see you again!

Until we get FREE internet again, adios!