Rhubarb and Lime - Crawl #15 Revisited

Every Thursday I bring to the Crawl with me my camera and a notebook and pen.  By the end of each Crawl I have usually taken about 20 pics and a ton of chicken scratch notes.  When I get home from the Crawl I sometimes can't even decipher my own writing but somehow the pics and notes turn into my weekly blog post.  I always take more notes and pics than I use..... doodles, funny phrases, "not-suitable-for-blog-post" discussion topics.....many of these never find their way onto the blog.  I have kept all of my notes and pics since the first Crawl, and now when I look back to see which "Revisit" comes next I read through the post and my notes from our initial visit to that particular coffee shop.  Many things I'd forgotten...... special events, stories told by the Crawlers, new Crawlers joining our ranks, Crawlers moving and leaving our ranks, one-time visitors, celebrations, some (though few) serious moments, ridiculous pics that were never put on the blog.  I've realized that by saving three years of Crawl notes and pics I've unintentionally created a diary of my time here in PE.

Rhubarb and Lime's selection of cakes

Breakfast Specials

For our Crawl #15 on May 19, 2011, six of us visited Park Lane Cafe located at 7 Park Lane near St. George's Park.  Crawl regulars by that time Beth Vieira, Fran and Keith de Beer and I were joined by first time Crawlers Nomusa Nkomo and my son Jeff.  I had briefly met Nomusa at a church function and invited her to the Crawl not knowing if she'd take me up on the invite.  She showed up and now, three years later, Nomusa is a veteran Crawler, my tennis buddy and a dear friend.  As for my son Jeff, his first Crawl at Park Lane Cafe came the morning after a 30 hour trip from the States for a very unexpected visit (check out the pic on the May, 2011 Park Lane post...Jeff is looking way jet-lagged!).

The Park Lane Cafe Crawlers in May, 2011.
Keith, Fran, Beth, Jeff, Nomusa

Since our visit to Park Lane Cafe in May, 2011 the coffee shop has changed ownership, name, decor, menu and coffee brand.  Rhubarb and Lime opened as the new coffee shop at the 7 Park Lane address in September, 2012.  As a matter of fact, the Crawlers visited Rhubarb and Lime just two weeks after it opened for our Crawl #71 (see Rhubarb and Lime post, Sept 2012).  Owner Bergen Gill was just getting her business off the ground at that point and obviously now has had tremendous success.  When we visited in Sept, 2012 Bergen had redecorated and refurnished the shop and had a plan to put on the walls, in chalk, famous and philosophical quotes that she said she would change regularly.  True to her word the quotes are different every time I visit.  It was nice also to see that Bergen has stayed with her original choices in coffee brand and barista....Leeroy prepares a mean Truth Brand cappuccino!

Meet The Owner
Bergen Gill

Meet the Barista and our Waitress
Leeroy and Luisa

Wall philosophy

Lounge area

Rhubarb and Lime serves delicious food made from scratch.....breakfast  and cakes served all day and lunch served from noon.  Also, patrons can call 041 373 3186 for take-aways, platters, and daytime corporate catering.  The venue can be booked for after-hour functions for parties from 15-50 people.  Free WiFi is available to all customers.  Rhubarb and Lime hours Mon-Fri, 7:30-4; Sat, 8:30-2; closed on Sunday.

Leeroy's Truth Brand cappuccino

We were a noisy bunch on Thursday as we settled in for coffee, tea and cakes.  Joining me on Crawl Day were Stella (Ace) and Beryl Dawson, Gail Darne, Sylvia Mynhardt, Jenny Fowler, June Nash, Leanne Waller, Margaret Zoetmulder, Colleen LeRoux, Myrl Venter, Nomusa Nkomo, Beth Vieira, Lee Gajjar, Nicolette Hijmans, Elize Pretorius, Pierrette DeWinne, Janny Meierink, Monique Rooijackers, and first time Crawler Cathy Stewart.

This Week's Crawlers
Beryl, June, Stella, Jenny, Gail,
Myrl, Leanne, Sylvia, Beth, Cathy

More of Thursday's Crawlers
Pierrette, Janny, Margaret, Colleen, Nomusa,
Lee, Nicolette, Monique, Elize

During the course of our Rhubarb and Lime Revisit I picked up snippets of conversations ranging from the Olympics to grandparenthood to Broadway musicals to our most recent favorite book making the rounds at the Crawl, that being The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester.....great non-fiction read!  The bulk of my discussion, though, involved picking the brains of some of the more computer savvy Crawlers on how to add a few gadgets to my blog.  They made some good suggestions, ....so readers be on the lookout for some exciting extras in upcoming posts!......if I can figure out how to do it?!?


~Thank you to Bergen, Leeroy and Luisa
~Congratulations to my son and daughter-in-law, Christopher and Maryanne, on the birth of their son
  Matthew - February 22

Until next week,

Ellen

Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil

Really ladies?!?

PECC 3rd Anniversary at Friends and Blends - Crawl #14 Revisited

The Port Elizabeth Coffee Crawl turned 3 last week!!!

As I went through my notes to see where our next Revisit would take us I couldn't have planned Thursday's Crawl any better than to have us meet at Friends and Blends for Masterton's coffee. Friends....blends....Masterton's....it's what the Crawl is all about!

We first visited Friends and Blends which is located at the Walker Drive Shopping Centre in Sherwood, in May, 2011.  We were 7 Crawlers at Friends and Blends back then; this past Thursday there were 23 of us .....I'm definitely making reservations everywhere we go now!  Our host, owner Charles Muller, and our barista/waitress Chantelle were the same people who were featured in my original Friends and Blends post (see May, 2011 post).   The menu and Masterton's coffees and flavored coffees of the day remain the same as well....you don't fix what ain't broke!

Meet the Owner
Charles Muller

Meet the barista
Chantelle

The one thing I noticed that Charles had changed since our last visit was that the Smoking Room has become an air-conditioned Non-Smoking Room (YAY!).....the perfect place for 23 noisy Coffee Crawlers to spend a hot, humid morning celebrating not only the Crawl's 3rd Anniversary but also an early Valentine's Day (note all the ladies in RED!).  Besides the special small conference room there is seating available inside and outside with room for approximately 100 people.  Friends and Blends hours are 8 am - 10 pm daily.

This Week's Crawlers
Sylvia, Beth, Myrl, Nomusa, Gail,
Margaret, Colleen, Dale, Beryl

More of Thursday's Crawlers
Jenny, Leanne, Stella, Vicki, June, Nicolette, Pierrette, Elize

One last group of Crawlers
Janny, Celeste, Nicoletta, Lee, Pierrette
not pictured - Monique

I want to take this time to say Thank You to all the Crawlers, blog followers and readers, coffee shop owners, managers, staff members, and baristas, to my family and to my ever patient husband, Lou...... without all of you the Crawl wouldn't be.  A special recognition needs to go out to Crawler Beth Vieira who was one of the original Crawlers and has made it to just about every one since!  Thanks Beth!
Along with Beth, sharing this special occasion with me on Thursday were Crawlers Colleen LeRoux, Myrl Venter, Sylvia Mynhardt, Dale Mitchell, Stella (Ace) and Beryl Dawson, Gail Darne, Nomusa Nkomo, Jenny Fowler, Margaret Zoetmulder, Lee Rodwell, Celeste Hudson, June Nash, Leanne Waller, Vicki Minnaar, Nicolette Hijmans, Pierrette De Winne, Janny Meierink, and newcomers Elize Pretorius, Nicoletta Emmens, Monique Rooijackers.

Let's see if we can keep Crawling for another year!!!

~Thank you to Charles and Chantelle for providing the perfect venue and atmosphere for our 3rd
   Anniversary Crawl
~Happy Birthday to Crawler Beryl Dawson February 22

Until next week,

Ellen

Daily coffee choices

The Rose Garden Tea House - Crawl #12 Revisited

The Crawlers so enjoyed the January 30 road trip to Jeffreys Bay that we plan to do more out of town Crawls.  Any suggestions from readers of coffee shops up to about an hour's drive from PE are welcomed and appreciated.  In the meantime we've resumed the Crawl  "Revisits" with last Thursday's Crawl to The Rose Garden Tea House at Floradale Nursery on William Moffett in Overbaakens.

When we last visited The Rose Garden in April, 2011 it was requested that I not name or share pictures of the staff and management on the blog.  The same goes for this past week, but suffice it to say that the baristas and waitresses did a fabulous job.  Since our 2011 Crawl to The Rose Garden everything at the shop has remained pretty much the same with, most importantly, Masterton's coffee being the star of the show!  Breakfast (until noon), lunch and baked goods are served every day.  Booking for Sunday lunch is essential.

Apple Tart
So much for No Food on the Crawl!

The Rose Garden's hours are 9-4:30 every day.  Seating is available inside and on the outside patio overlooking a beautiful garden.

Last Thursday for the second week in a row there were twenty Crawlers.  Joining me at The Rose Garden were Stella (Ace) and Beryl Dawson, Sylvia Mynhardt, Gail Darne, Margaret Zoetmulder, Beth Vieira, Nomusa Nkomo, June Nash, Leanne Waller, Vicki Minnaar, Lee Rodwell, Celeste Hudson, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Jenny Fowler, Colleen Le Roux and her daughter and first time Crawler Myrl Venter, Pierrette De Winne and her husband and first time Crawler Robert.  Nine of the Thursday's twenty were there for our first visit to the shop and one of these nine brought up the "No Food on the Crawl" Rule that used to be so rigidly enforced.  What were we thinking?!?  Yeah, we all laughed about the "Rule" as cakes, pastries and breakfasts were served to everyone at the table.  I knew there was another reason why we were doing these "Revisits".....to try out all the great eats we missed out on the first time around!  What a difference three years makes!

Some of This Week's Crawlers
Lee, Gail, Sylvia, Beth, Nomusa, Colleen, Myrl,
Margaret Z., Leanne, June, Vicki

More of This Week's Crawlers
Stella, Jenny, Beryl,  Margaret M., Arthur,
Robert, Pierrette, Celeste, Vicki, Lee

~Thank you to The Rose Garden Staff and Management
~Happy Valentine's Day to everyone - February 14
~Happy Birthday to my son, Jeff, in Indianapolis, Indiana - February 17

Until next week,

Ellen

In Food Coffee Society

After eleven coffee shop "Revisits" the Crawlers thought it was about time for another ROAD TRIP!!!!!  Back in July, 2013 when we Crawled to the Regional Barista Championship in PE we met Jayne Davies, owner of In Food in Jeffreys Bay, who was intrigued by the idea of the Coffee Crawl and invited us to come out and spend some time at her shop.  Well, Jayne, it took us 6 months but finally last Thursday twenty Crawlers hit the highway and headed to Jeffreys Bay.

Meet the Manager
Max Warren

There are 3 In Food sites in J-Bay, the bakery/deli at the corner of Jeffreys and Schelde Sts., the cafe/bistro at Marina Martinique, and the coffee roastery (aka In Food Coffee Society) at 10 DaGama Rd, the last being the obvious choice for Thursday's Crawl.

The J-Bay ROAD TRIP Crawlers
Sylvia, June, Gail, Leanne, Janny, Beryl, Celeste, Margaret M.,
Beryl, Arthur, Dale, Vicki, Pierrette, Colleen, Sheila, Lee G.,
Nicolette, Lee R., Margaret Z.

Despite my getting the exit number wrong on the directions I gave to the road trip drivers everyone arrived unfazed at In Food on Thursday.  We were greeted by Manager Max Warren and the friendly In Food staff, baristas Nigel, Massy and Percy, and waitrons Fundi and Surprise.  Max led us through the spacious dining room and out to the garden where a beautifully set reserved table awaited us.  Fundi and Surprise got right to it and proceeded to serve up tea and coffee beverages, cakes, pastries, and breakfasts.  Crawlers, Colleen LeRoux, Margaret Zoetmulder, Dale Mitchell, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Celeste Hudson, Janny Meierink, Pierrette DeWinne, Sylvia Mynhardt, Gail Darne, Leanne Waller, June Nash, Beth Vieira, Lee Gajjar, Lee Rodwell, Nicolette Hijmans, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Vicki Minnaar, and newcomer Sheila Schweindt, couldn't stop raving about the tremendous service and delicious food.

Meet the Baristas
Nigel, Massy and Percy

Meet the Waitrons
Surprise and Fundi

Coffee beans are roasted on-site at the DaGama Rd. In Food location.  The roastery supplies the coffee for all three In Food sites.  Blends and single origin coffees are available in bean or ground forms to to the public at the roastery.  Nigel recommended the Honduran beans for me to purchase as I left on Thursday.... excellent recommendation, Nigel!  I'm sipping some as I type this!

Beans waiting to be roasted

Beans roasted and packaged for purchase

The In Food Coffee Society offers breakfast until 11:00, lunch served after 11:00, and freshly baked cakes and pastries all day.  The enormous beverage menu features freshly roasted/brewed coffees, along with teas, shakes and cold drinks.  In Food is also fully licensed.

The In Food Coffee Society is much larger than it appears from the entrance, with seating for up to 150 people inside and in the garden area combined!  So stop in, meet the staff, and enjoy a coffee or two at the roastery....there's plenty of room for everyone!  The shop's hours are Mon-Sat, 7-3; closed on Sunday.  Call 042 293 3651 to speak to Max, make a reservation, or to find out what kinds of coffee are on the daily menu.  For the Schelde St. In Food hours or to book at the deli call 042 293 1880.  For hours or to book at the Marina Martinique In Food Bistro call 042 940 0053.

My "usual" - pecan tart and a cappuccino

Eggs Benedict

All three In Food sites are available for catering and private functions/special events.  Call Jayne at 042 293 1880 or email: info@infood.co.za  for information on availability, pricing and which of the three venues best suits your needs.

Herb Garden

Garden seating

Comfortable inside lounge area

Only a few times in the past three years has the Crawler conversation revolved around bugs and spiders.  Our Crawl #130 - "Road Trip to J-Bay" can join that select group.  It all started on Thursday when first time Crawler Sheila showed us pics of a golden orb spider that has taken up residence in her garden.  Great pics Sheila took but as the conversation progressed my skin began to Crawl.  The discussion topic eventually took a more pleasant turn to snakes and vermin.  Even now though almost a week later I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking (and writing) about spiders.  Let's hope that topic doesn't come up again for a while!

~Thank you to Max and the In Food staff....you all made the ROAD TRIP well worth the effort!
~Congrats to the Seattle Seahawks for their decisive win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII

Until next week,

Ellen