Les Girls are Frenching It - First Reunion

My beloved spends a weekend with his four ex-wives and a girlfriend, that's how he described himself when asked what he was doing! Our friendship is a gift which we re-live as we savour it.

In a wink a year has passed.    Les Girls got their act together and we enjoyed a fabulous weekend in Hermanus.   The weather was perfect.   We all arrived at our destination on the Friday evening, and as soon as we got ourselves settled we got ourselves into comfortable clothes and  kicked off our shoes, then the Champagne corks started popping.   For supper we laid a long table and sat down to a delicious Oxtail in Red Wine Casserol, then a true French cheese platter and rounded it off with  Chocolates.   Have you ever heard a bunch of women together,  all the giggling, laughing and talking at the same time, must sound like a hive of bees or a flock of early morning sparrows?

We gathered in the kitchen on Saturday morning for freshly brewed coffee and the chatter continued.   A quick walk through the Fernkloof Farmers' Market with it's fabulous food, fresh produce stalls and art was a treat but we didn't linger as it was time for lunch.   We drove up into the Hemel and Aarde valley to the newly refurbished and upgraded restaurant formerly known as "Heaven", now simply called The Restaurant at Newton Johnson.   The chef Eric Bulpitt is a Maestro with food and who forages for much of his ingredients.  The Maitre D' quickly organised a table for us, he could see we weren't going to take no for an answer as reservations to this Eatery is a must and we could see why.

Think God's window and you can imagine the views, from the mountains to the bluest ocean.   Whilst we waited for our table we browsed in the tasting room and no sooner had we stepped inside and the very friendly Somerlier offered us a glass of crisp blush.  

Our meal was excellent, we were delighted by the well simple, well planned menu, and all enjoyed the Cauliflower vegetarian meal.   My Precious opted for the Sirloin.   Well prepared, interesting and inventive tastes and beautifully plated.   Dessert was a Tinky for me and a mellange  of Meringue for the rest of the table.   By the time we left the room was buzzing and I'm sure everyone left there feeling on top of the world.

On Sunday we trickled into the kitchen for coffee, spread ourselves out on the couches in the sitting room in our pyjamas and continued with the fun, eventually we had breakfast, then Champagne, a little later the cheeses, biscuits, pates and dips were brought out and we had our customary G&T's still in our pyjamas, it was only at about midday that we started floating off to get dressed, by then we were joined by husbands and friends who were on their way to a luncheon and thought they'd stop for a chat.   A late lunch was served and in the late afternoon everyone drifted home on a cloud.   We're off to Mozambique next year, but not just for the weekend, we're going to make it last for at least 10 days.   The fabulous thing about our friendship is that we know each other so well and still we love each other, wonder whether I could call them at four in the morning though?

“Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . ."” 
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

 Contact: www.newtonjohnson.com @Ebulpitt on Twitter

 Email: [email protected]

Newton Johnson Vineyards, R320, Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Hermanus tel: (021)2002148

Fernkloof Farmers Market happens every Saturday and a is a real treat.