Bruching Adventures: Caffiend, Petone

Caffiend, Petone has been on my ‘eat at’ list since I moved to Petone, so when asked one Sunday morning where I wanted to eat I knew my answer. 

Walking in, it felt a lot calmer then some of the other places in Petone. This could be due to the larger sized room then the others. With ample seating available, we had the room at our finger tips. If it were a bit warmer, we could have sat outside.

Browsing the menu, we quickly made our decision and ordered at the counter before finding a table. Sitting down we settled in for what we thought would be a long wait.  Our coffee came out quick and they tasted good.

It was a surprisingly short time till the food made an appearance.

Eggs Benedict for him. Bacon cooked perfectly, crisp, fresh bread and eggs that had just the right amount of run.

For me it was french toast with grilled banana and maple syrup. Dipped look enoughthat the bread was soaked right through they were delicious. I think one of the things that impressed me the most is that as soon as I asked for no bacon they asked me if I’d like something else instead.

Caffiend, Petone  is somewhere I’m definitely going to be having brunch again.

Find this restaurant on Zomato | Caffiend, Petone http://zoma.to/r/7100761

Brunching Adventures: Sweet Vanilla KItchen

When looking for a place to live, distance to the nearest coffee/ brunch place is a key factor for me.

Imagine my delight then, while exploring the streets of Lower Hutt, I stumbled upon Sweet Vanilla Kitchen. So one Saturday morning we decided to venture there to try it out.

After ordering food and coffee, we decided to take one of the tables in the back room. Little did we know this was where the kids toys were located and although good for keeping children occupied bad for those wanting a calm and quiet meal.

The drinks came quick and we were left to talk about the art on the walls and what room in the converted house we thought this use to be (I still think the lounge). The food finally arrived and boy did it look good. Ad had ordered the daily special of pancakes with banana and a salted caramel sauce. The pancakes were amazingly fluffy and the sauce very rich (maybe too rich for that time of the morning).

I had ordered off the menu board and went for sweet as well. Banana bread with fruit compote and greek yogurt. It was something a little different from what I normally get but I was not disappointed at all. The only slight change I would have made is serving the fruit warm rather then cold.

The food selection was large and varied (mince on toast everyone) and in my perspective seemed to have something for everyone.

Sadly we didn’t end up finding a place in Lower Hutt, but we did finally manage to find one in Petone, which offers even more choice for brunch!

Planning a big trip: Where we stayed

Hostels, hotels, guesthouse, apartments and even a boat, were just a few of the different places we stayed during our EASTERN EUROPE TRIP.

The idea of accommodation started out simple enough… hostels are cheap lets stay there to save money. But over the time we traveled, we ended up trying all sorts of accommodation for different reasons. Here’s some of the good and bad from the different places.

See not all cheap accommodation is bad (or a hostel)

Hostels

We stayed in a hostel while in Athens… One of the most horrid sleeps I had during the the trip. I work up the next morning covered in mosquito bites. The 4 bed room had no window in so imagine Greece in summer and you’ll catch my drift. It wasn’t sound proof and located next to stairs.  And most annoyingly it was a hostel that had no kitchen!! I know the absurdness of it all. It did do a good pancake breakfast though. 

While in Mostar, the draw card for the hostel we stayed at was the different tours offered by the owner. Small kitchen but at least we could cook and. By now we knew to take the private room if we had the chance, but sadly in Belgrade it was back to the 6 bed dorm in a city that was known for partying (I however am not). It was however a good stay as we were some of the few guests who had stayed at the hostel, the staff were lovely and even offered us shots of the local alcohol and food to “introduce us the the culture”. 

Hotels

The main draw card for a European hotel… Clean and no shared bathroom! We stayed in 3 (and only 3 nights) during our whole trip. After a week at a hostel in Brasov we decided we needed some time to ourselves in Bucharest and having free nights on bookings.com meant we could stay at a hotel and not feel like we were spending loads of money.

Apartments

Prior to this trip I had never used Airbnb or even thought to. That was until I worked out in some places (especially if staying for an extended period) it was cheaper to rent a whole apartment then it was to rent a dorm in a hostel. It means that at times you don’t get the social atmosphere of the hostel but I don’t mind having a bit of me time.
We’ve rented 6 apartments in 5 different countries, Spilt, Bol, Budapest, Belgrade and Tallinn. Out of them I’d recommend 5 to others the other one…well… Let’s just say this was the front door and that is some serious boltage

I’ve found one of the hardest things about using Airbnb is having to try and arrange the initial check in. This is especially true if you don’t have wifi and are relying on a phone to either have credit to text or to receive messages. Or if you are not sure of your arrival time which could leave you sitting for an hour waiting for the host to make it across the city

Boat

Don’t get me started on boats

Did I forget to mention the time I slept on a train?

I’ve added this post to the Travel contrast link up hosted by Emma, Kelly, Rebecca and Zoe. glad I fianlly joined in again 

Brunching Adventures: The Most Amazing Waffles

This July, #Brunchclub headed to the heart of Wellington city, to the understated Ti Kouka Cafe.

Having walked down Willis Street countless times, I must have passed by Ti Kouka more times then I can imagine. However, I never thought of heading up those stairs at all. But that’s the good thing about #brunchclub, you dine places you otherwise wouldn’t, (or at least I find).

Having checked out the menu before going, I found that a lot of the dishes seemed..well… on the healthy side, or at least as close to as you could get. Ti Kouka cater for a variety dietary needs and foods like polenta feature. One dish in particular caught my attention.. Waffles!

Avocado on toast

This #brunchclub I was craving something sweet, so imagine my dismay when I arrive and read the menu, to find NO WAFFLES!  As we waited for others to arrive, our drinks order were taken and quickly brought to the table. There was no rush to order food which turned out to be a good thing since after 45 minutes only 6 of us had shown up! That’s not a bad thing as it meant everyone was able to join in conversations and the staff were more then helpful when we asked to move away chairs.

Potato Rosti with eggs

When it came time to order, our waitress informed us there were two specials,a potato Rosti (which I had last #Brunchclub) and… WAFFLES. Not just any waffles but the most delicious waffles ever. With Vanilla Mascarpone, Hazelnut Meringue and Maple syrup, It was gone much to quick for my liking.

But hopefully the next #Brunchclub will bring waffles just as delicious

A Trip to Mexico

Have you ever walked past a place and wondered why anyone would want to go inside? That was how my friend described her reaction to Mexico, as we turned up one cold wet day.

Inside was a completely different story. Warm, vibrant and inviting, with art to admire on every wall. It was hard trying to settle down and read the menu. Though I’m glad I did, since the food all sounded amazing. I found that Mexico was more then your normal bog standard Mexican food. Yes it had soft shell tacos and quesadillas (which tasted fantastic) but it also had a range of snacks and specialties including chickpea patatas, which I highly recommend. Each time I return (the count is three times so far), I’ve tried to have something new, whether it’s food or a drink. My favourites by far are the cold pressed coffee and the chickpea patatas. I would recommend if going for dinner to make a booking as both times I’ve been at night the place has been packed and for good reason! If you need any more excuse to check it out, try here.

Planning the Big Trip (part 1)

it’s just under a year since I left the Uk to return to New Zealand but before I went, I knew there were so many more places in europe I wanted to see.

The time for small trips had passed so it was time to plan the big one. We wouldn’t have jobs to rush back to, no rent to pay, family that wouldn’t mind waiting another few months to see us. The only thing holding us back was the amount of funds we could save.

We had two way to do this…

1. We could plan everything in advance. We could know where we would be two months before we went, where we would be. We could have budgeted our money to know exactly how much we could spend in each place on each day. We would have a written itinerary ready to recite when needed or

2. We could wing it. Planning day by day, keeping an eye on money, trying to keep things cheap but not missing out on experiences because of how much things cost.

Our decision was a mix of both. We started our trip at the end of summer, when people still trying to find a bargain, were holidaying in all the places we were headed to first. We knew this would be a factor and when we first started looking into where we wanted to go and places to stay, found that a lot were already being booked up.

Another factor to consider was that I would be in Malta for the month of August so anything we wanted planned and booked would have to be done before I left for there. This meant lots of nights in July debating where we both dreamed of going and how realistic it was to go (“what do you mean you don’t think it would be a good idea to visit the Russia right now!”) Knowing that our first destination was going to be Greece, We booked our one way tickets to Athens in July, 2 months before we begun and started looking at hostels.

We also knew that while we were in Greece, one of Ads best mates  would be as well and considering it would be awhile till they saw each other again, that played a part in choosing where we wanted to go. We wanted to see at least 3 different Islands and so we took to the internet for advice, I found Ngaire’s blog post to be one of the most useful and she was such a source for information when I was asking. In the end we knew the three islands we would visit Santorini, Paros and Milos. We booked the ferry to Santorini but left the rest till later.

The only other trip we booked ahead of time was a Traveltalk sail Croatia trip. This was in the hopes of having a week off planning on own own, but looking back, I wish we had just done it on our own terms. We might not have partied (I don’t think I would have minded that much) or sunbathed (I probably could have found the time on my own like in Bol) as much but we wouldn’t have been forced to skip places so that we could spend 4 nights in Split so we didn’t miss a party with other boats.

Apart from that, we were pretty much on our own. We had a guide book (left behind prior by Ads sister) and an idea of what we wanted to see and as we went along places were added and taken away. There were cities that I wanted to see but didn’t work into our plans such as Berlin and places I’d never assume I’d go such as Serbia or Romania. Yes sometimes we did backtrack a bit but at the end of the day it was an experience. We spent the better part of 2 and a half months traveling and getting to see things we would have probably missed out on otherwise and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Have a look at where we got to on our travels:

Stay tuned for Part 2: How we traveled 

It’s not the size that counts but the way you use it

While I have my own list of things I want to do, so does the fiancé.

And while in Tallinn, Estonia he got to tick something off his own list. Fire a gun (or 4)

So on a cold morning, we caught a tram across the city to The Tactical Shooting Centre. It was a good thing we left early since yep, we got lost and after wandering onto a base of some sort (with men who had big guns of their own) they were thankfully able to point us in the right direction.

Arriving, we were led into a room where we were given a safety brief. Number one rule of gun handling… Don’t point it at yourself or others..

We got the basic package which consisted of 4 different guns, a pistol (which Ad was better at using), a revolver (that was my favourite), a pump action shot gun and a desert eagle (supposedly the most powerful pistol in the world).

Was it fun? Yes Would I do it again? for 50euros probably not, but like I said it was fun andit was an experience and that’s the main point. And I figure with all the chocolate factories and other random excursions I dragged Ad to during our trip, I should at least do something he wanted.

Ad (left) Mine (right)
His was done with the assistance of a laser pointer

We organised this excusion by emailing in advance and booking a time but you can find them at

Shooting range in Tallinn
Taktikalise laskmise keskus OÜ
Kopli 103, 11711 Tallinn