Heehaa it’s Friday, can you say excited….yes the weekend is
upon us and I couldn’t contain myself. Regardless of the work day today, tomorrow is
Saturday and I can just hang back and relax Whoo-hoo!
Today a good friend took me along to go pick up apparently, the best koeksusters in Cape Town!
For those English speaking people out there wondering what the hell a
koeksuster is… It’s an Afrikaans traditional dessert/tea time classic, every
boer worth her salt, has someone in her family with a fantastic Koeksuster
recipe, 9 times out of 10 it’s from Grandma.A golden
delicious doughy twister directly sent from heaven, sweet, gooey and soft.
Why did I opt to join him on this obviously temptation
filled outing , well because we would be meeting them at Haas Coffee - a really
eclectic chic, coffee shop in Cape Town, it can be found on Buitenkant Street
in the City Bowl. If you are in the area pop in for a quick cuppa, you will not
regret it.
Why is this special you ask, well Haas Coffee is a place
that charms and enchants all of your senses. For me as a Coffee Addict of Note the fresh aroma of roasted
and ground coffee beans in the air immediately puts me in a happy mood. I would
probably even like it more if I were not on a diet. Why??? Oh my giddy aunt!
Their assortment of decadent baked
goods, just looking at them through the display counter window made me
salivate like a bloody hungry dog.
I did peruse the menu, which also offered some sumptuous
looking breakfasts and lunches, the ambience is also something to note, the
background music sets the tone for a chilled out time regardless of whether
meeting a client, or an old friend.
Me likey, very mucho. As I was perusing the menu a flyer on the table grabbed my
attention.
A brew claiming to be the world’s strongest cup of coffee, I
was intrigued. Aptly named Black Insomnia coffee, it’s predecessor called Death
Wish contained 660mg caffeine, Black Insomnia contains a whopping 702mg. I had
to try a cup.
Yum Tikka! Whopow that coffee is one for the books, I
couldn’t even risk ruining the deliciousness of the coffee by tarnishing it
with sugar. Hmmmm for a moment all
was right in the world again.
I guess I have a really high tolerance for caffeine because
I felt completely fine, not even
the slightest hint of the jitters, I think that coffee and I might just start a
really serious long term relationship.
After the coffee it was back to work and a fairly normal
afternoon followed. I had already exceeded my minimum of 3 trips to the gym per
week, so I opted to spend some time at my dune instead. I love my dune, it’s
big, it’s high and what a view. Living in Hout Bay you are slap bang behind
Table Mountain, we also have a small harbour and a long outstretched beach. My dune
is closer to the harbour than the swimming beach…I think, I haven’t lived here
long and to be honest I don’t know yet.
I happened to find it
my first time out there and just completely fell in love with it. It’s
the highest point on that part of the beach and you can always appreciate the
view, glorious mountains and a vast turquoise ocean, the beaches here are sandy
white. I come here after work
before gym, to have my chill time, my thinking time. I love people watching, and my spot is the ideal place for
that.
Before I knew it, 40min had passed and the sun was starting
to go down, I made a unilateral decision that I would rather go for a walk in
the vineyard with Harry(My landlord’s Alsatian) than trek off to the gym this late(Rush Hour time for everyone who just came home from work).
I didn’t feel like cooking at all and had some curry
leftover from lunch, so I decided to have that instead of cooking. So far this
battle has continued to be won, but
today I faltered, twice. I gave into my friend’s plea to try the best Koeksuster
in Cape Town – although only one bite I didn’t feel to happy about it later. In
the late evening I did also succumb to a craving and had 10 Fruit Pastilles, I
discovered the packet in the back of my drawer. I felt so guilty and gross
after having them, yet felt to weak not to reach for them once they’d been
seen. For me I guess it’s really much better to keep things out of sight and
out of mind.
These types of changes and life challenges really aren’t easy and I honestly can’t
wait for it to be over, I just know that without my snacks I would be totally screwed. It definitely affects you
emotionally, obviously my wonderful cycle has also had a hand in my feelings
this week and have driven me mental with cravings but still, I hate failing
even if just a little.
I suppose it’s how you define success, in my opinion the
difference between success and failure is not whether you fail or how many
times you fail. The difference is the amount of times you get back on the horse
and try again. - this is a marathon after all and by no means a sprint, I see a
lot of high high’s and bloody down low’s coming over the course of the next 90
days, I’m just glad that I haven’t completely gone off the rails and binged
like a banshee.
Below I have outlined my food day
Water: 2l
Coffee: 2 Cups, with Milk, 1 Brown Sugar
Teas – none
Special Coffee: 1 Vanilla Latte + 1 Black Insomnia
Cappuccino (No added sugar for either)
Breakfast – 1 Medium Apple + 100ml Yogurt
Mid morning snack – Boiled Egg
Lunch – half of my left over curry
Afternoon Snack – None
Dinner: Remainder of my leftover Curry
Dessert: 20ml Cream, 70g strawberries
Cheats: 10 x Maynard’s Fruit Pastilles (470kj)
Jawbone UP3 Data:
Step Goal: 6500 Actual Steps: 7608
Sleep Goal : 7hr Actual Sleep: 5hr42m (this always represents previous night)
Resting Heart Rate: 63Bpm
Day 11 – Saturday
I was home alone today, my landlord has taken a trip to
Paternoster, a small town up the coast. This meant that I would need to feed
Harry and lock him inside at night. It was for a change, a very pleasant change
a glorious sunny day in the Mother City. This to me has been a very rare
occurrence and has been the first Saturday in 4 weeks we’ve had sunshine. I
fully capitalized on it, went for a 40min hike in the vineyard, played a little
with Harry and had some me time next to the dam with Buddha. Yes there is a
tiny built dam with a Buddha in my garden. Now that I had taken care of my step
goal for the day, I could focus on other things. 
I did a little “Spring” clean in my place, did the general
washing and decided to give Betty a wash too – for those who don’t know, Betty
is my car.
If you aren't aware, South Africa is currently facing one of it's worst droughts ever! So please everyone when washing your cars, do it with a bucket, minimize the hose usage and please do it in the afternoon. If you are like me and wish to take it even further, get yourself a nice scratch relief foam car was, which goes on straight to the dirty car - It feels like you are prepping your car for OPPIKOPPI (The best Music Festival in South Africa - only this time it's not for decoration, and it's not shoe shine.
Not only is this a better way to wash your car (by saving water) It also yields amazing results.
Behold - Tyre Before
< Tyre After - That's with no scrubbing, FYI.
Get this stuff man.
Friday was one of my
closest friend’s in the world’s birthday, my Steph. We’ve been friends for over
a decade now, we met in the UK, we worked, lived, partied and traveled Europe
together. I’m the kind of freak that will approach you in a public bathroom and
ask you a question out right, that’s how we met actually. I had gone to an
interview with my cousin in the UK and Steph was assisting the interviewers. I
cornered her in the bathroom and asked her straight up not to give me the
“practiced/pitched” answer but to lay the shit out there about the Company and
how it would be to work there. Whether they were just sugaring us up – this was
a very unorthodox interview.
She was so shocked, I remember her face like it was
yesterday. Well sufficed to say we are both back in SA now and despite living
at opposite ends of the country we always stay in touch. It was her birthday on Friday and we’d
been missing each other for a catch up chat for weeks already, it’s actually
pretty bad, but life does have a habit of occasionally getting in the way. Well
we had our catch up chat, about an hour and a half in all. It’s always so
cathartic to speak to a close friend, to vent, to express, to share. I dunno,
but it’s like “chicken soup for the soul” If anyone’s ever read the book, you’ll
know what I mean. I needed it folks, I needed that pick me up.
The food day was also a bit of a fail, but this was mainly
as I didn’t feel lus to cook (lus means in the mood/eager/looking forward to)
here goes anyway –
Day 11 Food Diary
Water: 2l
Tea: 1 Cup Rooibos, milk, 1 brown sugar
Coffee 2 Cups, Milk, 1 brown sugar
Special Coffee 1 x Vanilla Latte
Breakfast: 40g All Bran Flakes
20g Peanuts
20g Raisins
100ml Full Cream Milk
Mid Morning Snack – None
Lunch: 100ml Yoghurt
Afternoon Snack – 50g Beef Drywors
Dinner: Tempura Prawns & Salad
No video for today, I made this last week, the only
difference for today, is that I actually had olives. Unfortunately I also had
the remaining 10 Maynard’s Fruit Pastilles. The packet is now finished and has
been thrown out so no more distracting Temptation, don’t get me wrong, this little fopa still
brings me in under the max calorie intake for the day – every day I aim for
between 900-1200Cal, according to most dieticians the best calorie intake for
women to lose weight is between 1200-1500Cal a day. Regardless, it still makes
me feel like a weakling that I had to have those sweets, damn it man. I was doing so well,
but I won’t let this throw me completely, we’ll regroup and start again,
tomorrow is another day I guess..
Jawbone UP3 Data
Step Goal: 6500 Actual: 9848
Sleep Goal: 7h
Actual: 8h13m
Resting Heart Rate: 61 Bpm
I will leave you with some cute and quirky quotes.
Laughed my ass off, especially at the one on Sweat by Ray Kroc.
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