Love Was in The Air

Love was truly in the air at the Valentine's dinner last week, where club members were invited to bring their partners and friends to a dinner cooked by some of the very talented cooks and chefs in the club.
     Luckily there was no competition to decide on the best dish, as there were a number of strong contenders amongst the half a dozen or so main dishes. Who would've wanted to decide a winner amongst that lot!

Tuesday night, 14 February was definitely couples night. Here Debbie and Julian Nagy share the love

     But of course love was the big winner on the night and the evening was pronounced a success by everybody there.
     Debbie and Greg Smith were the stars of the night, hosting a table of 12 people in the Auckland Lodge conference room, where a table had been set up specially for them.

Greg and Debbie Smith took time out from their table of guests to smile for the camera

Graham and Joan Donet share a joke before dinner

In Afrikaans the say hoe rooier hoe mooier and red was certainly the theme of the evening. Linda and I share a moment together

Ian and Robyn Widdop shared their table with guests Michael and Inez Willeboordse and Julian and Debbie Nagy and quite few bottles of wine!

Proof that even old people can have fun! Ian and Jankees Sligcher wrestling over who knows what!

Jankees and Paul Kasango being naughty schoolboys, wearing hats that are meant to be wall decorations

While Jankees was hamming it up, Judy Sligcher was slaving away
in the kitchen. Her bitterballen were definitely one of the favorites

The Smith table tucking in to their dinner

Some of the dishes that went down so well. On the right is Carol Stier's
 Portuguese beef stew  

It was a veritable feast

Carin Holmes shared some good times with the radio personality Anita Visser, a guest of Steve du Plessis and Jenine Coetzer

Lyn Collocott (left), our club AG for the year, attended and shared a table with Judy Symons and her guest, Lyn Mayer and Frayne Mathijs, who was back in Johannesburg for a short spell between research trips to KwaZulu Natal

Susan Kasango and Frayne enjoying a chat before the dinner started

While Jenine was taking the photographs, Steve du Plessis was enjoying himself after cooking his Hawaiian Island Chicken, definitely also one of the favorite dishes. With him are Debbie Smith and Paul Kasango

Michael Willeboordse proved that if he and Inez do decide to join New Dawn, he would
 be by far the youngest and best looking of the four members in the photo (Julian Nagy,
 Ian Widdop and Jankees Sligcher)!

     Because all the food and wine was donated, the R250 per person we charged all went into the kitty, which means we made a round R10 000 from 40 guests.
     The idea was to invite potential members and it looks as if the Willeboordse couple, Michael and Inez, could be interested. They would be a great catch for the club. Thanks Jankees for inviting them.
     A number of people went to great lengths to make the evening a success, so forgive me if I have left any names out. Firstly, thanks to Linda for providing the venue and table set-up and decorations. It looked spectacular.
     Thanks also to all the chefs and specially to Carol Stier, who provided a stew and pavlova even though she couldn't be there on the night.
     A big thank you to Jenine Coetzer for taking such wonderful photographs.
     And finally, thank you to Paul for taking a collection to pay the guest house staff who stayed up all night to see that everyone had enough food.
     Speaker: The speaker at Wednesdays meeting is Inge Hoffmann of Boekenhoutskloof Wines.
     A Thought for the Week: The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)