Work, wine and cycling

Its been over a week since the last post I made - purely because things have been so busy in our lives over the past few days. Here are some of the things that we've been busy with:

K's been pretty hectic at work, since her boss resigned 2 months ago. She's running all the contract meetings, seeing as there is nobody else representing her division anymore, as well as taking on all the other day to issues that he used to deal with. She's also had to make one or two decisions about her position recently, but I'll leave that for her to share with you.

On my side, things at work have also been insane. In amongst putting a plan in place for the upcoming year, I'm also busy with reviewing all my staff, and their performance with regard to the last quarter of 2005. Its tiring work to say the least.

We hooked up with Ronald and Hazel and a couple of other varsity mates on Sunday at the zoo lake Moyo, for a Sunday brunch. Was good catching up with the Tweedie's again - they're expecting their first child in May. I was really impressed with the venue - very chilled out place on a Sunday.

We went out to the 'Brown's - Best of 2005' evening on Tuesday. Each and every week, Brown's of Rivonia hosts a wine evening (usually on a Monday evening) where they get the winemaker up from the Cape, and the guests get to sample the wines from that estate over a meal that the chef puts together to compliment the wines. And each year, they have a "best of" evening - selecting the best of the best from the previous year, all rolled up into one enormous wine tasting evening. We were lucky to get a spot at this years event. And what a treat it was. They limit the evening to about 30 guests, and it is hosted by the cellarmaster, chef and owner of Brown's - in the cellar. Here are some of the wines that we sampled:
Welcoming Drink - Paul Cluver Sauvignon Blanc 2004
With Starters - Mulderbosch Chardonnay 2003 (K enjoyed this one) and Raats Cabernet Franc 2002
With Main - Rustenburg John X Merriman 2000 (highly recommended) and Beaumont Pinotage 2002 (also very nice)
With Cheese - Weltevrede Cape Muscat 2001 (almost too sweet for me)
With Dessert - De Krans Vintage Reserve Port 2002

And as far as the food went, well, also very good. We started with "Buffalo Mozzarella", I then had the duo of game (springbok and ostrich fillets) while K had the lamb fillet. We then got to sample some delicious European and local cheeses, and ended off with the most delicious chocolate creme brulee (different I know, but definitely recommended).

We've also done a bit of cycling this week. The ribs seem to have healed nicely (mostly bruising I guess), and I managed a 25km cycle on Saturday, a 10km with K on Monday evening, and another 14km with K yesterday evening. My bike is making a bit of a strange noise now, but is due for its first 200km service this weekend, so hopefully will be sorted out then.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm playing golf tomorrow afternoon. I know I know...hard to believe that I'm busy at work, when I'm playing golf in the afternoon, but this is honestly the first time in a long time. And its work related - what a bonus.