It’s been ages since Chantelle and I have visited at Claire’s flat in Newlands, so it was an easy choice to make when we learned that she had thrown a spanner into the works of our own plans for Sunday late afternoon’s visit with the folks by inviting them over for lunch first. Needless to say, we immediately chirped up that we would love to pop in for lunch as well and so come Sunday afternoon, we found ourselves sitting in the heavy traffic on the N1 thanks to all the construction work currently taking place, on our way to Claire and Riley’s little flat right next to Newlands Rugby Stadium.
Now Riley is currently away for five or so weeks in Europe (lucky bugger), meaning Claire had in fact a dastardly, sneaky motive for inviting Pops and Ryan around to her flat in the first place – she needed some DIY done! So by the time we eventually arrived (late as always, but at least this time not because we got lost), the boys were hard at work putting up shelves and a mirror, making use of the nifty laser level tool that pops had just purchased especially for this job.
Claire’s currently in the renovating mood and so there is plenty of work to be done, meaning mom, Chantelle and I had plenty of time to catch with little Tiga and Cal, both of whom are growing up very nicely – but at the same time are a complete handful according to Claire! (They were however not responsible for the disappearance of Riley’s fish apparently – the cracked glass on the big tank and the water all over the floor appears to be the vital clue in releasing them from any and all suspicion. The hammer next to the glass case with kitty prints all over them can however not be explained).
Now while we had joked the evening before about having to bring some KFC with us for lunch in case Claire can’t make anything nice for lunch, I was pleasantly taken aback when Claire whipped out the freshly prepared gammon, chutney chicken, rice, roast potatoes and salad and after sampling her wares, I do indeed have to concede that Claire is in fact a damn fine cook. I’m not sure who taught her, but whoever did certainly deserves a great shiny big medal – the food was awesome! :)
Claire then continued to impress by bringing out the Grecian tart (complete with creamy vanilla ice cream and Ultramel custard) which again was absolutely fabulous, further debunking my KFC jokes and leaving me feeling a right idiot. Thankfully Claire’s lounge couch allows for a lot of slouching.
We had a pleasant visit with the whole Lotter clan (even if Ryan did keep erasing my sneakily added messages to Claire’s whiteboard in the kitchen) but unfortunately Sunday also happened to be the day that my newly acquired cold decided to kick in properly – all of which was not helped by the fact that I seem particularly allergic to little Tiga and Cal as well! So with tears and snot streaming down my face, eventually enough was enough and we bid our farewells as we opened the door and exited stage left – still without any KFC in hand! :(
But despite the lack of KFC, thank you Claire for a wonderful lunch – it was good to see your place again and I must say it looks like it really is coming along nicely. Looking forward to you popping around to our place again sometime! :)