Kafeine Balmain- My new favourite cafe

This year I’ve been going to a pilates class with friends on Sunday mornings. Most weekends we end up at Kafeine for brunch after the class. We are loving trying everything on the menu and are slowly making our way through.

Kafeine is usually pretty busy and most weekends we have a short wait before getting a table but its worth the wait!

Heres some of our favourite things from the menu.

Eggs Benedict with Potato Rosti Acai Bowl

Coconut Pancakes Green Eggs and Ham

French Toast

September 3, 2016 0

Picnics

I love picnics!! I think sitting outside in the great outdoors and enjoying great food with friends and family is just the best!

Heres some inspiring pictures for you all to encourage you to host your own picnic! ENJOY!

The latest picnic I attended was with my family at Barangaroo Reserve.

In October last year for my birthday we had a picnic at Watsons Bay. A spectacular view is essential for a picnic.

For the Easter long weekend this year my family had a picnic at Parramatta Park. This time we took a camping table and chairs and walked around the park.

September 3, 2016 0

Girls Weekend Away – Melbourne

A few weeks ago I flew down to Melbourne with two of my best friends for a weekend away. We left Friday night and were back Sunday night in time for work on Monday. We had an incredible time and would love to go back some time.

The city is filled with beautiful old buildings.

The famous Hosier Lane filled with graffiti.

Degraves Street was hustling and bustling for brunch over the weekend.

We ate at Il Tempo Cafe for breakfast on Saturday morning.

Then we walked around and explored the Queen Victoria Market.

We took a train to Brighton Beach to see the famous beach houses.

Then had lunch at The White Rabbit, Middle Brighton.

In the afternoon we visited the spa at the Sheraton Hotel where we were staying and relaxed in our room before heading out for dinner.

In the evening we took the tram to South Bank and had dinner at Left Bank restaurant.

The next morning we had brunch at The Quarter, Degraves Street. We strolled along Bourke Street and did some shopping at Melbourne Central.

For lunch we ate delicious dumplings at Shanghai Street, Little Bourke Street.

And then it was over all to quickly and we were back at the airport heading home. It was a lovely weekend away. Melbourne- I’m sure we’ll be back soon!

August 26, 2016 0

High Tea in Sydney

Over the past few years I’ve visited a few high tea places in Sydney. I would highly recommend visiting either for a special occasion with family and friends

Boronia House Tea Room- Mosman

This beautiful historic house is located on Military Road, Mosman. There is a carpark nearby which is very convenient and the gardens and house itself are spectacular.

The food was delicious and plentiful! My favourite was the scones with jam and cream.

The Gate House Tea Rooms- Parramatta

This one is located in Parramatta park and there is also parking available. The surroundings of this building aren’t as beautiful as Mosman due to it being so close to the buildings of Parramatta but the inside of the house is lovely and the food also delicious.

I’ve been to The Gate House Tea Rooms twice and each time there was a little something different on the plates.

There are rose gardens nearby and lovely poppies and flowers within their own garden. Outside seating is also available if the weather permits.

High tea is always exciting and a lovely thing to do with family and friends. I even made Home Made High Tea once, check out my blog post on that.

August 20, 2016 1

Hawaii 2016

In January I took a trip to Hawaii with my Mum, as a final relaxing holiday before I started my full time job. We decided not to do too much while we were there so we spent most of our time on the beach and shopping at the mall.

For the first few days we stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, it’s a huge hotel with multiple towers, lots of shopping and a variety of pools to choose from. There were so many people there though! Part of the reason we only stayed there for a few days was because it was booked out, as well as the fact that it was a bit pricey. My favourite part though was the man made lagoon pictured above. It was beautiful as well as nice and calm to float around in.

View from our room at the Hilton

For the rest of our time we stayed at the Outrigger Wakikki on the Beach. We decided that we liked this hotel better. It was smaller, closer to the main restaurants and shops in Wakikki and had a nice beach front restaurant.

When we arrived we had a gift from the hotel in our room! And even though we didn’t have a waterfront view we could see the water.

We watched the sunset on the beach from Dukes Restaurant and ate Hula Pie.

No trip to the USA would be complete without a visit to the Cheesecake Factory. So of course we stopped by for dinner one night and got some cheesecake to take home for dessert.

One night we ordered pizza and watched the fireworks on the beach.

We also toured Pearl Harbour, the USSR Memorial Site and USS Missouri.

I absolutely loved our trip to Hawaii! Was a last minute planned trip and it was totally worth it. Would definitely go again.

August 17, 2016 0

Delicious Bliss Balls

I’ve been loving making bliss balls lately. A great afternoon or evening snack. Here are a few recipes I’ve been making.

Apricot and Coconut Balls

I based this recipe from one I found on a blog called ‘Just A Mum’. They were very easy to make.

Blitz up 1 cup of dried apricots and 1 cup of desiccated coconut in a food processor.

2. Add the zest of 1 orange and 1/2 cup of cashews.

3. Once its all blended together roll the mixture into bite size balls and roll in coconut.

Date and Cacao Balls

This recipe is based on one from a blog called ‘The Organised House Wife’- with a few of my own adaptations.

Place 2 cups of dates in boiling water to soften.
Blitz up 1 cup of cashews and 1 cup of almonds in a food processor.

3. Drain and blitz the dates separately, then combine with nuts and blend together. I actually broke my mini machine here and had to switch to a bigger one 😦

4. Add 1/3 cup cacao and blend together. (My sister requested mint chocolate balls so I added a few drops of peppermint essence in at this stage- this is

5. Once combined roll into bite sized balls.

My personal favourite of these two was the date and cacao but both were delicious and go well together. I’ve been snacking on these for the past few days and loving them!

June 21, 2016 0

Home Made Terrariums

I recently visited a garden centre with my mum and saw some amazing looking terrariums. I was going to buy one and then I thought ‘I could probably make this myself!’-so this weekend I bought all the materials and had a go. It’s really simple and enjoyable. Heres some basic instructions….

Inspiration images from the garden centre

You will need:

Glass Jars
Potting Mix
Sand
Pebbles
Sphagnum moss
Succulents
Scissors
Spoons

Step 1: Cut the succulents to size. We happened to have an overgrowing succulent in our back yard which I cut into smaller pieces to replant. I stripped off the old dried leaves from the stems.

Step 2: Place some sphagnum moss into water to soak.

Step 3: Start layering. I started with some pebbles on the bottom followed by the moss, soil and sand. I think you really could layer it however you like and be creative.

Step 4: Make a hole for the plant. I simply used a chopstick to make a hole in the soil for the stem of the succulent and then placed it in.

Step 5: Finally I added some more sand or a few last pebbles on top to ensure the succulent was secure.

And there you have it, easy, simple, beautiful, home made succulent terrariums! I’m really happy with how they turned out!

June 13, 2016 0

The Grounds of Alexandria

Today I visited The Grounds of Alexandria with my parents. We had lunch at The Potting Shed and the food was delicious. The Grounds were beautiful and the weather was stunning. We had a lovely time exploring the gardens and soaking in the sunshine.

We had homemade raspberry lemonade and eucalyptus soda.

For food we ordered Chilli-Salt Squid, Crispy Chicken Fillets, Sticky Pork Ribs and a Roast Chicken Salad.

I would definitely recommend you visit The Grounds one weekend if you are in Sydney 🙂

October 10, 2015 0

Back at My Favourite Place in the World

As part of my quick trip to Adelaide I visited my favourite place in the world- The Murray River! I was so glad to be able to spend 2 days there with my Gran. We escaped the city and enjoyed the calm quietness of the Murray.

I had a bit of fun taking panorama snaps of the beautiful landscape.

Some of the wildlife we saw near the Murray

Willy Wag Tail and Sleepy Lizard

Cute Family of Ducks

We went for a walk to this natural billabong and took a yummy packed lunch.

We saw so many of these lovely flowers and ant trails like this one, on our walk.

There is plenty of Prickly Pear around which my Gran says is a nuisance for the natural land.

Grans dog ‘Honey’ got very hot and took a rest in the shade on our way back.

Unfortunately I had to fit in a bit of uni study while I was there but what a view!

Burgers for dinner made the real Aussie way on the bushfire BBQ!

I always love my time up the river no matter what time span. These few days were a definite highlight of my trip. Can’t wait till I get to go back after Christmas!

October 2, 2015 0

Hahndorf and The Adelaide Central Market

I’m currently visiting family in Adelaide and today i took a trip to Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills and finished off the day with a visit to the Adelaide Central Market. Today was a beautiful sunny day and i took some lovely pictures- check them out below….