Art of the Brick

I’m great believer of giving experiences as gifts rather than objects, why? Because long after the five seconds of excitement with the toy/book/doll has faded, the memories of the experience live forever….

This past Christmas I decided to take my nephews to the Nathan Sawaya “Art of The Brick” lego exhibition at the Watershed at V&A Waterfront as a fun family outing.

And Oh-Em-Gee! It did not disappoint! Room after room of this creative genius’ life work.

The Scream 

From replica Classical  paintings such as Munch's 'The Scream' & Vermeer's 'The Girl with the Pearl Earring'.                     

American Gothic

The girl with the pearl earring

to his Magna Opus, the giant T-rex skeleton, which consists of no less than 80 020 lego bricks!

This fact stuck with my youngest nephew who instantly became a reformed video games addict and just wanted to play with legos.

Who could ever have possibly imagined these tiny colourful plastic bricks being transformed into these amazing works of Art?

Nathan Sawaya successfully proves the old adage

“ Do what you love and you’ll never have a to work another day in your life ” true. Giving us all some hope not to give up on those dusty old scrapbooks/stamp /sea shell collections.

In this New York native's own words: “Art and Lego transcend culture and language and speak to adult and kids’ curiosity and creative aspirations. I hope that visitors will draw inspiration and experiment with a variety of art forms.”

Other than the display, there is also an interactive area focused on kids’ fun, family time and education. This area has PlayStation consoles, Lego building stations, The Art of the Brick merchandise and a snack kiosk.

For a glimpse of this sensational art, you can still catch the exhibition at the V&A waterfront, The Watershed until 26 February 2015. Only R140 for adults and R95 for kids , but great savings if you buy for family of 4 at R400!

Tickets available through computicket.

Let's go, Lego!

The Jax

Chicken Cheesecake

Today was a perfect beach day, so I grabbed my fave 2 gals & headed off to one of my favourite beaches...Blouberg!

We couldn't help stopping at a quaint little cafe called Petit Fours.

Packed with people inside & out, with a killer view of Table Mountain we couldn't resist grabbing an outside table.

After surveying the freshly baked goods counter, amongst the red velvet cupcakes; quiches, brownies & of course petit fours; we finally decided on 2 scrumptious goodies to share. 

The mouthwatering sirloin steak &  red onion pie with tossed salad and crunchy creamy broccoli on the side was positively more-ish!

However, it was the house special, chicken cheesecake,  that not only intrigued us but this melt-in-the-mouth piece of heaven totally blew us away. 

Whilst I'd definitely recommend a pop in if you're in the neighbourhood; I wouldn't go out of my way. 

The food was great, but a pity about the slow service. We probably could've done a Dine n Dash and none would be the wiser. I would never do that, just trying to give a  description of the time lost waiting & waiting & waiting...

I rated this 3 out of 5 stars on TripAdvisor. 

Bon Apetit!

The Jax

The Dominos Effect

No, this isn't a post about what happens when you push over a stack of small black plastic squares with white dots on them.

But rather about what happens to your taste buds when you sink your teeth into the ooey gooey cheesy goodness of a deep pan pepperoni pizza from...you guessed it...Domino's Pizza!

Recently I have had the pleasure of experiencing this undeniable pizza party in my mouth!

That's right, the famous American Pizza brand has landed on our sunny shores at long last, bringing with them everything from the friendly, welcoming, super fast customer service to their delicious mouth-watering pizza itself!

Even the pizza box and napkins look so inviting with their bold retro graphics. I could just lick the box!

Plus! Did I mention the FREE delivery in 30 minutes? How's that for service?

Do yourself a flavour and get down to Domino's Pizza in Tableview Cape Town and try it out for yourself.

Trust me it'll leave your taste buds wanting more...

Buon Appetito!

The Jax

Mother City's Top 10

This Lifestyle & Travel/Girl-about-town blog from a  thirty-something year old Tripadvior junkie/ Global gypsy/ thinker/do-er and all round pleasure purveyor aims to share my views and experiences from here there & everywhere. Life is a journey, so join me on my ride...

So here we are …2015…NEW Year, New Me, New Blog!

Since being the in the tourism & hospitality industry for a good 15+ years, one could say I’ve been around ;-) So why not pass along the gems of what I know, after all sharing is caring.

Whilst most of you probably went away over the December holidays I had a pretty laid back Staycation in my home town, Cape Town.

For those of you few remaining lucky buggers still on leave, I’d thought I’d share a few of my Top 10 Mother City Must Do’s for you to check out if you’re in Cape Town:

1.       Nathan Sawaya’s “The Art of the Brick” Lego exhibition at The V&A Waterfront Watershed One of the most amazing art exhibits I’ve ever seen & totally child friendly

2.       See the Watershed at V&A waterfront, has tons of artisan shops and window shopping is FREE

3.       Hop on Hop off Red City Bus – even have the connecting Canal Boats to CTICC. This is great if you have limited time in the city and want to see as much as you can or even at your own pace

4.       The amazing solar powered Sun Star atop Signal Hill – go check it out it’s free!

5.       Beaches – Clifton, Camps Bay, Blouberg they’re all good! And free!

6.       FREE Sunday Concerts in De Waal park, Gardens. Pack a picnic, bring your family!

7.       Galileo open air cinema at V&A waterfront, Kirstenbosch, Hillcrest Quarry

8.       Stroll along the seapoint promenade

9.       Enjoy local Capetonian art for mahala every Thursday at Frist Thursdays in the CBD

10.   Table mountain or hike up Lion’s Head

That's all folks....

Happy Travels!

The Jax