Blue Orange Cafe

My brother, Chuck, is the artist in the family.  As for my other five siblings, any one of them would be a decent Pictionary partner.  I, on the other hand, must have been at recess when they were passing out artistic ability.  I struggle with stick figures, and the whole depth perception thing...well, forget about it.  The only thing I remember from the Saturday morning art lessons my sisters and I took as kids is the color wheel.  Primary, secondary, and complementary colors struck me as something I just might use someday.  So, here I am in Africa years later, and when I heard about the Blue Orange Cafe, the first thing that came to my mind was the color wheel.  Blue-primary, orange-secondary, blue and orange-complementary....the extent of my artistic knowledge would finally be put to the test!  Well, it turns out that the Blue Orange Cafe has nothing to do with the color wheel or art in general (unless you count the really cool "distressed" picture frames for sale at the shop...I especially liked the framed mirrors).  Actually, no one I spoke with on Thursday knows where the shop got its name...and so it remains a mystery.  (Keith de Beer said he would investigate it... when you email me your findings, Keith, please put it in Afrikaans so I can practice!)

The Blue Orange Cafe is located at 92 Heugh Rd. in Walmer and is open daily from 8-3 serving breakfast and lunch.  It is also known as PE's Secret Garden Cafe, or so it says on the business card.  Unfortunately, we didn't spend any time in what appeared to be a beautiful garden because, yes, you guessed it, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!!!  (June's husband, Howard, says that the mayor of PE should bestow on me, and my blog, the Rain Maker Award, and for bringing an end to the drought.)  I imagine that on a nice, sunny day having tea or coffee out in the shop's garden would be a little bit of paradise.

June Nash and I arrived a bit early, ordered cappuccinos, and wisely chose a table near the wood burning stove and away from the leaking ceiling tiles.  We were soon joined by Beth Vieira, Fran and Keith de Beer, Leanne Waller and her two sons, Daniel and Luke (who brought the average age way down this week!), Les Baldwin (no, not one of the famed Baldwin bros.) and Nomusa Nkomo.  Everyone settled in and was quickly served coffees/teas prepared by barista, Phumza.  The Blue Orange serves both Illy and Masterton's blends depending on the beverage ordered.  My cappuccino with whipped cream (which was more whipped cream than coffee) was Illy brand while my second cup, black coffee - no cream, no sugar, was a Masterton's blend.  All agreed that the coffees were good and hot.  I was tempted to have one of Blue Orange's famous carrot-nut muffins to go along with my caffeine but held off.  I'm sure to stop by and try one another time.  The cafe's owner, Jennifer Buchler, was not on site Thursday, but manager Jan`e Bosman, and our barista and a trainee made sure we were comfortable, happy, (and dry!).

The rain was the main topic of discussion since a torrential downpour had been ongoing at that point for three straight days.  I believe the drought must be over by now!  The crawlers then played a quick game of "Name That Celebrity" by trying to identify the headshots of famous personalities displayed in the aforementioned frames adorning the walls.  The faces of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Frank Sinatra, Mia Farrow, Judy Garland (and a few others we were unsuccessful in recognizing) stared down at us as the conversation turned to the upcoming winter (July, August) festivals in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces.  We will definitely try to get to some of them when Liz comes to visit next month.  We then went on to discuss the rash of "Elephants Gone Wild" stories that have hit the news recently....those crazy elephants!!!  My favorite topic this week, though, was Nomusa's description of Mopani worms, a Zimbabwean delicacy.  The harvesting, boiling, drying, and final prepping of the worms for consumption is quite a process.  Lou tried some when we visited Zim in November.  He got a certificate declaring that he ate the worms.  I don't know about you but I always hesitate to eat something that you receive recognition for afterwards.  I'm certain I'll try Mopani worms sometime before I leave Africa....and I'll be sure to get the certificate to prove it!!!

As this week's crawl came to an end no one was in any rush to leave... perhaps it was the comfortable atmosphere, the pleasant staff and the good coffee, or maybe it was just that no one wanted to go back outside and get soaked.  In either case, we stayed for a few hours enjoying PE's Secrret Garden Coffee Shop.

Thank you to manager Jan`e and staff for keeping us warm and dry.
Thank you to the crawlers who braved the flooded PE streets to join me!
Thank you to all the art teachers out there...keep the faith, and you are appreciated!

"They" say everything you learn you use sometime in your life...well, that color wheel came in handy when I needed fodder for the penning of this week's blog post.  Now, I can check that off the list!

Until next week,

Ellen




Meet the Barista
Phumza






Meet the Manager
Jane Bosman

  





This Week's Crawlers
Beth, June, Fran, Keith, Leanne, Daniel, Les, Nomusa



Proof!!!