Holiday Crawls 2014

As promised here are a few pics from our November 27 Thanksgiving Crawl and our December 4 Christmas Crawl.  Also, the Crawlers made a quick unofficial visit to Foong's on Thursday December 11.  Foong's is closing its doors at the end of day on December 12 and the Crawlers wanted to make one last trip to one of our favorite coffee shops in PE.  Grant and Nina, good luck in all your future endeavors.


Thanksgiving at Ellen's

Apple, pumpkin, pecan and mince pies
along with a big plate of Oh Boy Rolls!

Beth, Fran, Gail

Leanne and Marie

Clary, Deirdre, Margaret, Arthur, Elize

Sylvia, June, Margaret, Dale, Colleen, Leanne, Marie

Nomusa, Vicki, Nicolette, Stella, Beryl

Our Christmas celebration at the Old Grey Sports Club

Our Waiter Babs

Even Marilyn showed up to help Leanne
call numbers for the gift exchange

Don't these ladies all look smashing in their
Christmas cracker crowns?

I sneaked in on this pic

Good bye to Foong's

Sylvia, Stella, Colleen, Grant, Beryl, Gail, Margaret, June

Grant is always ready with some goodies and a smile!

I'll see you around, my friend!

Thus end our Coffee Crawls for 2014.  We will start crawling again on January 8, 2015.  

To all the PECC readers, my family and friends, enjoy the holiday season!

Until next year,

Ellen

Flavours - Crawl #52 Revisited

The Coffee Crawlers wound down 2014 with two holiday Crawls in a row......Thanksgiving on November 27 at my house and our Christmas Crawl at the Old Grey Sports Club on December 4.  A couple of unexpected overnights at the hospital recently has me yet again a bit behind on my posts.   Pictures of our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations are soon to follow, but first I must get my post up from our last coffee shop visit of 2014.

Meet the Owners and Staff
Monique, Richard, Elmarie, Pumza

On Thursday, November 20 the Crawlers made their way to Flavours at their new location, 169 Main Rd. in Walmer  We first visited Flavours back in February of 2012 as our Crawl #52.  At that time Flavours was located in the 17th Quarter Shopping Centre on 17th Ave. in Walmer.  Since our first visit to Flavours, owners Richard and Elamrie Moore moved their business to a Centenary Rd. Lorraine location, and in May of 2014 moved again to their present Main Rd. site.  Richard and Elmarie feel that this is the perfect spot for them!

Aside from the couple of moves, the shop has remained the same......Sumatran coffee is still prepped by barista Monique, a delicious menu of light breakfasts, lunches and cakes is served six days a week, the bakery business supplies home made goodies for sale to over 100 stores in the PE area, and catering services are still available.  Also, within the shop itself, cards, gift items, preserves, jams, and Flavours baked goods are for sale.

Add caption

The coffee shop seats fifteen inside in the country red/white decorated dining room and another fifteen or so at the picnic tables in the outside shaded courtyard.  There is a kids' play area available for patrons in the spacious backyard.  Flavours' hours are Mon-Fri, 8:30-5; Sat, 8:30-2; closed on Sunday.  Call Richard or Elmarie at 041 368 3460 for catering information or to place a bakery order.

On our first visit to Flavours the Crawlers were just starting to rebel against the year old "No-Food-On-The-Crawl" Rule.  Now over 2 and a half years and 100 Crawls later it seems that pretty much everyone orders food at every Crawl.  On Thursday breakfasts, cakes, scones, and Flavours' famous Hertzog cookies (see Flavours Feb, 2012 post) were served to Crawlers Nomusa Nkomo, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Sylvia Mynhardt, Gail Darne, June Nash, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Colleen Le Roux by our lovely waitress Pumza.

Hertzog Cookies......YUM!!!

While gobbling down our goodies, conversation at the table centered around the early winter storm that dumped over 4 ft. of snow on some parts of the northeastern US.  Having lived in Pennsylvania and upstate New York for most of my life I am quite familiar with the Great Lakes "lake effect" that was the cause of all the snow.  The amateur meteorologist in me gave a thorough explanation of this "lake effect" to the Crawlers, most of whom have never seen a flake of snow in their lives.  At this posting I believe most of the snow has melted.  However, since Lou and I will be heading to the States for the holidays I have put in an order for a white Christmas in NY.  Let's hope Santa delivers!

This Week's Crawlers
Margaret M., June, Colleen, Gail, Arthur,
Sylvia, Stella, Beryl, Nomusa

~Thank you to Flavours' owners Richard and Elmarie for hosting the Crawlers yet again.  Love your
   new digs!
~A very Special Happy 90th Birthday to Masterton's Tea and Coffee Specialists - December 4
~Happy Birthday wishes go out to:
       Crawler Sylvia Mynhardt - December 14
       My big sister Carol in Millersville, PA - December 16
       My little sister Mary in Edinboro, PA - December 17
       My beautiful granddaughter Mia in Hoover, Alabama - December 19
       My brother Bob in Erie, PA - January 4
       My brother-in-law Joe in Binghamton, NY - January 8

~MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!
~A VERY HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Until next time,

Ellen

 

Connection Cafe

Port Elizabeth has certainly earned its reputation as The Windy City with constant 30-35 mph winds raging through town for the past month.  I believe most PE residents have had just about enough of it and are ready for the sultry breezes of summer that are just around the corner.  I know I am.
PE's other reputation as The Friendly City, however, I can handle year round!

On November 6 the Crawlers experienced both the windiness and friendliness of this fair city as we made our first ever visit to Connection Cafe located at the corner of William Moffett Expressway and Lily St. in Mangold Park.  Thursday November 6 was a beautiful sunny day but the high winds kept us from sitting at the shop's outside tables.  No matter....a warm and friendly atmosphere awaited us indoors.

Meet the Owners
Sandhir and Ranita Orie

Love this

Connection Cafe's owners, Ranita and Sandhir Orie, greeted us as we entered the spacious but cozy shop.  The Ories opened the Connection Cafe and TruFoods Catering in April, 2013.  The shop serves breakfast, lunch, main meals, snacks, pizza, cakes and take-aways along with LavAzza and Ciro brand coffees.  Free WiFi is available for all customers.  The catering side of Ranita and Sandhir's business is available for all types of private events off-site, and at two different venues on-site with seating for 80 and 150 people.

Meet the Staff
Lauren, Jonathan, Malisa

The Connection Cafe is staffed by The Word of Faith College Theology students.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the service on Crawl day was the speediest and friendliest we've experienced to date....and this was Crawl #153!  The quality of the food and coffee definitely did not suffer....our breakfasts, cakes and coffees were excellent.   Kudos to the Connection Cafe staff which included Lauren, Malisa and barista Jonathan.  Crawlers Nomusa Nkomo, Vicki Minnaar, Margaret Zoetmulder, June Nash, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Nicolette Hijmans, Gail Darne, Colleen Le Roux, Beth Vieira and I appreciate all the efforts of these wonderful young people in making our visit AWESOME!  We are your new best fans!

Connection Cafe's hours are Tues-Fri, 8-4; Saturdays are set aside for functions and events; Sundays, 8-2-ish and again from 4:30-11 pm.  Booking for a Sunday table is highly recommended.  Call 041 399 4411 or 074 497 0177 for bookings or to enquire about TruFoods Catering.  Email enquiries are also welcome:  trufoods.catering@gmail.com

Lemon Meringue

LavAzza Latte

This Week's Crawlers
Nicolette, Beryl, Arthur, Margaret M., Gail, Stella,
 June, Colleen, Beth, Margaret Z., Vicki, Nomusa

*A quick note to PE residents......the Pop-Up Cafe at the Christmas Shop in the Moffett on Main Lifestyle Centre is now open every day now through Christmas Eve.  The Crawlers stopped in for a visit on November 13 for Sumatran filter coffee and cakes compliments of Fat Cats Catering.  Pensioners, take advantage of the R20 coffee/cake special every Tuesday until 11:00!  Pop-Up Cafe's hours are Mon-Fri, 9-5; Sat, 9-3; Sun, 9-1.

~Thank you to Ranita and Sandhir Orie
~Thank you to the Connection Cafe staff....we love you guys!
~Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends Stateside!

Until next week,

Ellen

Faith   Hope   Love

Green Leaf Cafe and 2nd Annual Halloween @ Barnacles

Lou's jack-o-lantern skills!

The craziness of life has yet again gotten in the way of me posting on some of our recent Crawls. Hopefully, by the end of the year I will be caught up and ready to start fresh in 2015.  So, here goes, a double post on the last two Crawls of October.

On October 23 the Crawlers headed to the Green Leaf Cafe at The Donkin Reserve located on Belmont Terrace in Central.  This was our second visit to this shop previously known simply as The Donkin Coffee Shop (see Jan, 2012 post).   Back in January, 2012 this Wilderness Foundation coffee shop business had only been open for four months.  At that time the Crawlers were totally impressed with the Umzi Wethu trained staff.  Now, the shop has been running for almost three years and has changed its name to the Green Leaf Cafe.  Umzi Wethu graduates still continue to staff the coffee shop as chefs, baristas and waitrons serving up luscious baked goods, fresh-to-order breakfasts and lunches, and LavAzza coffee beverages.

This Week's Crawlers
Vicki, Arthur, Margaret M., Nicolette, Beryl, Pierrette, Stella,
Gail, Margaret Z., Beth, June, Nomusa. Leanne

Thirteen Crawlers, June Nash, Leanne Waller, Nomusa Nkomo, Beth Vieira, Vicki Minnaar, Gail Darne, Nicolette Hijmans, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Margaret Zoetmulder, and Pierrette, De Winne, joined me at this historical PE site to enjoy delicious coffee, excellent service, and a beautiful ocean view.  Staff members Wendy and Mawanda couldn't have been more accommodating and welcoming of the Crawlers.

Meet Thursday's Staff
Barista Wendy and Chef  Mawanda

The last time we visited, a number of Crawlers ventured up to the top of the lighthouse.  No one was feeling adventurous at Thursday's Crawl, so we just took some time after coffee to stroll the Donkin Reserve grounds.  After a wonderful morning at the Green Leaf Cafe and The Donkin I can only repeat what I said in my Jan, 2012 post.......PE residents, take some time to check out this little gem right in your own backyard!

The Green Leaf Cafe is open Monday through Friday, 8-4 and Saturday from 8:30-2:30.  The venue is available for private functions and off-site catering.  Call 041 582 1303 for bookings or to get info on their catering services.

Our October 30 Crawl was a combination Halloween/Birthday celebration.  Last year Halloween fell on Crawl Day, and Barnacles proved to be the perfect venue for the occasion (see Nov, 2013 post).  The Crawlers decided that a 2nd Annual Halloween Crawl was in order and that last year's site would be just right.  So, off we headed to Barnacles on Thursday, October 30, which just so happened to be my birthday.

In the true spirit (no pun intended) of the holiday everyone dressed up (and brought me a birthday cake!), and Lou and I provided the jack-o-lanterns and buckets of candy.  Our lovely hostess, co-owner Sunette du Plessis, had the patience of a saint as 18 Crawlers, Margaret Zoetmulder, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Gail Darne, Nomusa Nkomo, June Nash, Fran de Beer, Vicki Minnaar, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Elize Pretorius, Nicolette Hijmans, Elaine Watson, Sandy Venter, Dale Mitchell, Beth Vieira, my husband Lou, and I ordered cakes, breakfasts, House of Coffee beverages, and later on, wine and mixed drinks to go with my birthday cake.  Barnacles offers a full menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner selections........and, they're fully licensed....something for everyone!

Nomusa

Beryl

Dale

The Halloween Crawlers
Elize, Gail, Nicolette, Nomusa, Stella, Margaret Z., Vicki,
Sandy, June, Fran, Beth, Dale, Margaret M., Beryl, Arthur
Not pictured. - Elaine, Lou, Ellen

For the second Crawl in a row we enjoyed a stunning ocean view.  On our first visit to Barnacles we searched the sea for quite a while looking for a show of marine life and were treated to a playful pod of dolphins right near the shoreline.  This year we were fortunate to sight a few whales in the distance!  The Crawlers have agreed that Barnacles is definitely the place for all future Halloween Crawls!

Love my candy corn!

Barnacles is located at 1 Elizabeth Rd. in Seaview.  The restaurant's hours are Mon-Sat, 9-9 and Sun, 9-3.  Call 041 378 2058 to book a table or to enquire about hosting your next special event or function at this glorious seaside venue.

~Thank you to Wendy and Mawanda from Green Leaf Cafe
~Thank you to Sunette from Barnacles
~Thank you to the Crawlers for making my birthday a memorable one!
~Congrats to Byron Keets, Donovan McLagan, and Ishaan Natalie for winning their respective
  events at the SCASA (Speciality Coffee Association of Southern Africa) Championships in Gauteng   last week!  Good luck on your upcoming international events!

Until next week,

Ellen