The Lost Divas

Gosh, reading through these posts brings back some good memories.... Dammit we should keep this up-to-date...

Finally, an update!

We had our monthly dinner club last night and I actually remembered my camera and have time today to post the pictures :o).  It started off as a slightly weird dinner club, with just three of us enjoying gluhwein and sherry.  The rest of the girls arrived a little later and we only had one absentee, which was pretty good.  And she was forgiven as it was her son's 1st birthday.  As a group though, we seem to be going through a slight slump as far as dinner club is concerned and we don't often get it together that we're all there.  We're working on it though, we all enjoy our time together, so can't let it fall apart.  For me, the time I spend with girlfriends, who come from similar walks in life is great, we all have issues and problems and it's wonderful to have a safe space to chat about life.  I love the girls in our dinner club and I always look forward to catching up over some good food and wine.  Perhaps it's just winter...

Caroline hosted our dinner club at her parents home, which they have sadly sold.  It's a gorgeous place, with amazing views over Cape Town and we have had many good parties there over the years.  Not to mention, the amazing yoga classes Caroline used to run - oh how I miss those.  Anyway, it was lovely to have one last get-together in the Green's magnificent home.

Caroline made us the most delicious vegetarian pasta filled with cherry tomatoes, pepper dews, spinach and garlic. Plus some secret ingredients - it was divine.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the food, but we have plenty of us.  As usual, we had far too much dessert, but we wouldn't be women if we didn't enjoy our pudding.  Sometimes we can have our cake and eat it!

Suzaan and Caroline...

 Suzaan and I...

 The three early birds, having some fun after the gluhwein...

 The new Suzaan - she's looking so gorgeous!

 Suzaan and I catching up in the lounge...

A happy snap of three great ladies...

 Some of the table decor - Caroline always makes the table look so special.  We each had a special place laid out for us, with cute name tags, there were petals and sweeties on the table and lots of little folded notes, with things I won't share here...

 Anchie, Ronnie and I...

 Caroline and Pia - Caroline's famous one-handed photos... 

 Anchen and Caroline...

 Caroline and I...

 Michelle and Caroline...

 And the family dog, Winston, waiting for another chocolate brownie...

To the dinner club girls: You are all beautiful, wonderful women and I don't know what I'd do without having you in my life.  Thanks for all the love you share.

Lots of love,
Susie XXX

A HOT house...

We had dinner club last night at my 'new' house. Our group has diminshed in size quite a bit and we are now down to just 6. I can't remember when last I had so much fun and it was amazing to share my home with my beautiful friends over some good food (well, I made it, so I might be being a little baised here) and some delicious wine. I hope now that my friends know where to find me, I'll have a lot more company!!

Our evening was relaxed, we lit candles, drank a little (some of us more than others - hey, I didn't have to drive anywhere!) and caught up. We haven't had a dinner club since our Christmas one, it was long over due! We chatted a lot about the importance of having girl friends and about sharing our lives with women who really care. We have all walked such different paths and come from varying backgrounds, but life has drawn us together. We all have issues and there aren't words to describe how good it feels knowing that we have a safe 'place' to turn when life throws us lemons (as it seems to be doing to so many at the moment. I love you girls!

Back to the purpose of the evening, dinner... Let me just say that I love Ina Paarman. I think she's an amazing chef; her recipes are super-easy to follow (and fairly impressive) and her ingredients are always readily available. So, last night I made onion, feta and olive pizza for starters. I didn't top with cheese, just drizzled a little olive oil over the top and popped them into the oven. I used Ina's Basic Pizza Dough recipe and I can honestly say that it's an incredibly easy dough to make. I can't knead, so I just mix it up as best I can and it always works well. The trick is to roll the dough really thin and it comes out super crispy and totally delicious. The best pare is that you can freeze it for up to 6 months and I swear I'll always have some in the freezer (just in case you all decide to visit more often). Jake's made a request for pizza for dinner tonight, so I'll be making more tonight. Oh and I didn't mention that I had some cooked pizza left over from last night, which I wrapped in foil and popped into the fridge - it was still crispy and delicious this morning!!

For mains, I made Spinach and Ricotta lasagne, aslo an Ina Paarman's recipe (blush). We have 2 vegetarians in our dinner club and I must be honest in saying that I always find the thought of cooking vegetarian food a little uninspiring (SORRY, just being honest). It's because I have no clue what to do without meat. Anyway, this lasagne dish was so simple to make and it was so delicious (even if I say so myself). I'm so pleased there are left overs in my fridge for tonight! I'm having a friend over and she and I can have lasagne; the kids can have pizza - easy peasy!

We had 2 birthdays in our dinner club this month - Michelle (who turned 40, can you believe?!!) & Zanita. Zanita brought along a rich, delicious caramel custard cake, from Limnos Bakery, which was absolutely heavenly. Thank you for leaving me some in my fridge! Jake had some for breakfast (I'm not a bad parent, we normally have cereal or fruit and yoghurt!) and I had a little after the left over pizza... YUM!

Anyway, I look forward to our next dinner club. I loved having you all at my house, please come again!!

Susie XXX

Mount up ladies...

Oh my!! I thought I'd already posted these pictures... I'm so, so sorry for the delay!!!

The Delicious Divas went to The Mount for our Christmas Dinner in December. The chef and owner was previously a chef at the Mount Nelson, a prestigious hotel in Cape Town. Needless to say, the food was exceptional (well, I thought so at least) and we all ate and drank far too much. Again... We also had a visitor, Wendy, who joined us for the night out. Actually, Wendy's an honourary Delicious Diva member and joins us whenever she's in town...

Since it was Christmas, we did a Secret Santa and each bought/recieved a small gift. I was totally spoilt with a gorgeous book and divine chocolates...Zaneta, Michelle & Pia...

Anchen...

My more than DIVINE steak...Jo & Caz...Ron, Caz, Suzaan, Anchen and me...Karen & I...Jo...Jo & Caz again...Anchie & me...Pia, Wendy and Karen...

Caz & me. This photo shocked me a little - I didn't know I had so many wrinkles. It's weird, but I kinda like them...

Jo & I...Ronnie, Suzaan, Anchen, me & our waiter, who seemed in a bit of a tizz over our table...Mich, Anchen, Zaneta & Pia...Pia, Caroline, Mich, Wendy, Me & Karen...Having a laugh on Karen's behalf - she's as bad as Ron at keeping her eyes open for photos with flash...Jo & Caz yet again. I like this photo...Wendy & Caroline...Sultry? I think not...Dessert. Chocolate filled spring rolls. They were to die for...Anchen & Caroline...And that was the end of dinner club for the year. It was a good end! Looking forward to catching up with everyone again soon.

XXX

Mano's...

Mano's is situated on Green Point Main Road and well worth a stop if you ever find yourself in the area. It's a large restaurant, with outside seating for hot summer evenings. We were a rather small group for this dinner club - down to just 5 of us, which was actually lots of fun and quite nice to be able to chat as a group. Below are the pictures...


Till next time XXX

Boo...

So, I figured that if I put up the pictures from our most recent night out, you'd forgive me for my slowness with last month's snaps (if there's anybody out there). We had a lovely evening on Tuesday night at a gorgeous spot in town called Boo Radley's. There weren't too many of us and the mood was quite festive. Boo Radley's is situated in one of the little side alleys between Long and Loop Street and I was really taken by it. It's got a lovely bar, which wasn't overcrowded with a bunch of boozing kids. The clientele all seemed to be around our age group, which was nice for a change. Our waitress, Kate, was well-spoken and quirky, although the service was a little slow and by the time our food arrived, I think we'd all pretty much filled up on cocktails, which were superb...

Private joke? Must've been a good one...Veronica's vampire impersonation - Edward Cullen? In your dreams Ronnie...

Till next time, Chicks, thanks for an awesome evening out!!

XXX