Sunday … aaahhhhh bliss. A relaxing morning felt quite luxurious really and we had lunch to look forward to. Today we were going out to a really expensive place to celebrate Shean’s 50th birthday, which was actually last Wednesday. Today it was also Stephen’s 47th birthday (but it was Shean that got the special birthday cake).
We had 2 dalla dalla’s booked – really, we could have all fitted into one, but since both of them did arrive on African time, we spread out. I had to smile – yesterday coming home there were 18 (including the driver) in the dalla dalla and I thought it was quite normal! I was also the only white person, and although everyone was carrying an assortment of bags & shopping, there wasn’t even a single chook on board.
We arrived for lunch at Shamba and spent the first hour just sitting chatting and checking out the shop – at the front of the complex they were making the beads and other glass works, and the shop at the back, facing onto the lawns, had a range of goods for sale. Drinks were served and the conversation continued. Eventually they called us down to the thatched dining room for lunch. Most of us hadn’t eaten too much because we wanted to save ourselves for lunch. Sandy did make me smile because she said she’d “given up her morning tea” for this special occasion.
The lunch was amazing. Not just the setting: the thatched open dining hall which looked out to either the sweeping lawns or down to the river past the frangipani and acacia trees. Or the tables: long hand hewn wooden tables, with vases of tightly bunched pink roses, place mats made to look like Maasai women’s necklaces, gleaming glasses and layers of cutlery. Or the service: loads of waiters, and what a sense of humour they all had!
But, aaahhhh, the food: a choice of either carrot & ginger or spinach soup started the meal; this was followed by vegetable samosas with delicious sauce; (by this time I was filling up fast) then we lined up for the buffet (the waiter wiped each plate before handing it out, and it was so huge we needed both hands to hold it) of mouth-watering salads and then outside to the buffet BBQ – beef, sauce, wrapped sweet potato, chicken, wrapped fish, sausages, crumbed zucchini, lentils in a peanut sauce (yum).
Eventually this all disappeared, but the waiters had warned us at the start to make sure we kept some space for the dessert. This came around in a layered trolley, and they served out the five different desserts on a large plate for each of us. Somehow we managed to eat all that as well. And then of course they came around asking if we’d like coffee (brewed, not instant) or tea, so we just had to finish with coffee and even this was served like we were at Harrods.
Then the waiters came out with Shean’s birthday cake. Actually there were two cakes – we’d ordered one from town and they must have also baked one because when the booking was made, they knew it was for his birthday. So the waiters all came out in a line and we all sang happy birthday, with the waiters joining in. Then they sang it in Swahili. Stephen decided to add to the atmosphere, and started jumping up and down like you see the Massai warriors do, which caused much laughter all round.
The entire meal, plus the cost of hiring the dalla dallas to get us all out there, was 20,000/= which of course was a fortune for a meal, but we all agreed that it was worth every shilling. After all, it’s not every Sunday you can enjoy such a banquet in those surroundings for $13-50 now is it?
And of course word went around that one had to visit the “ladies”. I could see why. I’ve been known to take photos of ladies loos in a variety of places, and this just had to have a photo – I’ve never been in a loo before that had a day lounge! And the only time I’ve seen a loo so enormous is at Sue & Roger’s place – there are houses with smaller bedrooms than this loo.
After this, we headed down to Michel’s. This is the French wine, cheese, pate etc shop cum café I mentioned in yesterday’s blog. There was an interesting crowd there – a mixture of Tanzanian, Kenyan, French, Australian, American and British. It was the perfect way to finish a very relaxing day. Just sitting and chatting. Some people have led very interesting lives it turns out. Then Paula (one of the volunteers here) and Bill started their gig – both had guitars and sang.
aaaahhhhh …..
(for those wondering about the time difference between here and there, yes, this is a day late. Our internet connection was down again last night, and so between the internet being off and on this afternoon after school, I'm endeavouring to get yesterday's post done tonight)
At the school gates, waiting for the dalla dalla with Ellena (left) and Cindy (right) - Bondi mates
At Shanga, as you can see the grounds were very peaceful and it wasn't a hard job just relaxing while drinks were being served
Inside the dining area
Kat and Cindy ... the roses on the table are actually grown in the area, and I've heard that they are flown over to the flower markets in Europe. So a bunch of roses from a street vendor is quite cheap.
Cindy just being Cindy ...
This is the women's loo!
The bit I didn't mention in the blog was that just after we'd sat down in the dining area, we looked over and saw our official taste tester busy testing the soups.
He'd had a few mouthfuls, and then just looked around to check he wasn't being caught ....
and then had time for a few more quick mouthfuls before he really was caught and was "asked to leave". Having seen that the soup was obviously OK, we all tucked into it with much gusto!!!
Looks and sounds gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteBetty