Sangria de Cava

This weekend I am off to meet AD in a beach side town just outside of Barcelona, hooray!

I’m looking forward to a weekend of relaxing, long lunches and cocktails at the beach. Last year when we went to Ibiza we had lunch at Yemanja on Cala Jondal just down from the famous Blue Marlin. One of the highlights was the Sangria de Cava. The waiter comes to your table with a jug that is quarter filled with concentrated juice and fresh fruit and then he opens a bottle of cava and pours this into the jug, gives it a stir and hey presto! A refreshing and delicious drink.

 
I’ve done a bit of research on the recipe and it was difficult to find a definitive list of what goes into this drink. Lots of restaurants which have this as their signature drink claim to have secret recipes. When we had our one we definitely tasted banana which I’ve read can be used in Sangria. There was definitely peach and strawberry and maybe apple? Sometimes another liqueur is used as well like Brandy. I think I’m going to have to experiment this summer!

We also had a really yummy paella at Yemanja which is served up at your table.

 
I hope we'll be able to track down some sangria and paella this weekend!

MP

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Holiday Rental Essentials - A Guest Book

Whenever I stay somewhere that has a guest book, I love flipping through the pages to see where in the world the other guests have come from and what they have thought of their stay.

Many years ago, we stayed at a place in Rarotonga where nearly everyone who had written in the guest book mentioned the great accommodation, the beautiful beaches, the friendly people, then they wrote things like "kill the rooster", "axe-murder the rooster". We discovered later that night exactly what they all were referring to. There was a resident cockerel that crowed relentlessly all night long...

For me, a guest book is a holiday rental essential. It is great to have a record of people that have stayed in your home and also to see their thoughts on your property. It can also be really useful to other guests if previous visitors leave notes about their discoveries in the local area - favourite restaurants, walks, beaches etc.

With permission, you can also use visitor's comments on your website to attract future guests.

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Summer Essential - Hats

Hope you all had a nice weekend. We had beautiful weather here and spent the time swimming and at the park. Switzerland has beautiful summers and you can usually depend on it being sunny for most of the time. An essential for this summer so far is a hat. I've noticed a few age / sun spots showing up so I've taken sun protection much more seriously! When I'm with the girls at the pool I find a cap works best as it stays firmly on my head when running around after them and when I'm in the pool. This metallic one from J Crew would look great yet being practical at the same time:

My favourite hat at the moment is my panama hat. They're so easy to wear. I'd love to be able to try on this J Crew one:

And also look as good as this when I'm wearing mine!

MP

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Holiday Rental Essentials - Oven Mitts

While cooking is to be kept to a minimum on holiday, there are definitely times where you will need to be getting things out of the oven. In our case, it's generally to get some wedges out to go with a bbq!

Personally I prefer the double handed oven mitts as they seem to give me more control. This one would work well in a holiday rental:

These silicone ones from Ikea could be good as well as you wouldn't need to keep washing these:

This Zara one would be cute for our own bach. White is not the most practical colour therefore I would not recommend for a rental property!

MP

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Geraniums

At our house, the gardens are relatively easy to look after. At the front of the house there is a 3x4 metre patch of roses that grow a bit wild and just need trimming back a couple of times a year. I also need to get in amongst the rose bushes every now and then and pull out any weeds. Out the back of our house is an area of about 9x6 metre that is mostly paved over. There is a big pear tree at the back, a wildly out of control wisteria in the corner and a couple of other types of climbing plants that grow along the fences.

To keep the garden looking a bit better, I usually try and have a few potted plants spread around. When we first moved in I would head down to Columbia Road flower market on a Sunday and come home with a haul of beautiful herbs and flowering plants - dahlia, jasmine, camellia, lavender, sweet peas, hydrangea. These would all inevitably die within a month. The zinnia that looked amazing on the day I bought them didn't even last one week. I have also brought back tulip bulbs from Amsterdam and found they never even sprouted come spring. Let's just say I don't exactly have a green thumb!

Overall, it can be pretty disappointing, so I have learnt these days to stick with the basics. The basic plant for me is the geranium plant. For the past two years I have just bought these in bulk (an added bonus is that they are really inexpensive) and planted them as a single colour in all of my pots.

Last year I had white geraniums. Some of them have come back this year. I bought a whole lot in pale pink the other day to finish off my remaining pots. These should last throughout the summer and hopefully come back next year as well.

Red geraniums always remind me of Italy - where you see them absolutely everywhere. Geraniums would be great at a bach (holiday house) as they seem so hardy and don't require much maintenance. 

AD

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Wedges ...

Potatoes not shoes! 

There is no doubt that one of our favourite foods are potatoes. Not very diet friendly I know, but great comfort food and so yummy! I learnt this really simple yet amazingly tasty recipe for wedges from AD many many years ago and still use it regularly today.

Basically, cut up some potatoes into wedges, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and some herbs (any herbs work fine but I usually use oregano) and bake at 200 degrees celsius for around 40 minutes, turning occasionally to stop the wedges from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The result:

 
Another recipe I'd like to try are these Garlic and Parmesan Fries. 

 
Have a great weekend!

MP

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Holiday Rental Essentials - Pots and Pans

While my favourite method of cooking when on holiday is using the barbecue, we will usually prepare a couple of side dishes to go with the grilled meats, seafood and salad. This week I am adding pots and pans to our list of holiday rental essentials.

Rather than buying a huge range of sizes of pots and pans I would stick to just five or less and buy better quality so that they don't warp and need replacing all the time. For a holiday rental I would buy stainless steel as if you buy non-stick Teflon pots and pans they are likely to become scratched and unusable very quickly.

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Borough / Tate / Southbank - London

For my sister's trip over to Europe in April I had done quite a detailed itinerary which was a good thing as she hadn't really planned anything! Maybe that's because she knew I was looking into it. It can be quite daunting to start planning a trip and building itineraries but I know that this a skill that AD and I are really good at. Over the next few weeks I'll share with you our London itinerary. This guide is aimed at the the traveller that has never been to London before and wants to see all the big sights (which was my teenage nephew's request). So here is how we filled one day:

BOROUGH MARKET / TATE MODERN / SOUTHBANK / LONDON EYE

Make your way down to Borough Market and soak up the atmosphere at this vibrant and bustling food market. Grab a coffee from Monmouth and be sure to get the most amazing cheese toastie from Kappacasein! These are made with a mixture of three cheeses (Mongtomery's Cheddar, Comte and Ogleshield) and an onion mixture (white and red onions, leek and garlic), sandwiched between Poilane sourdough bread and grilled to perfection.

 
After the market, it's about a 15 minute walk along the Thames to the Tate Modern and you can stop and have a look at Shakespeare's Globe on the way.

A visit to the Tate Modern gallery is a must. All the galleries in London are free to enter which makes it so easy to just pop in and out when you like. On the seventh floor there is a restaurant and bar which is the perfect place to stop for a glass of champagne with an amazing view (a half bottle of Billecart-Salmon is £26).

 
From the Tate it's about another fifteen minute walk to the Southbank where you'll find another food market. Last time where we were here we AD and I had some yummy Indian food and a couple of glasses of Prosecco for £4 each.

 
Just along from here is the London Eye which gives unbeatable views over London. My tip if you're planning on doing this is to book your tickets in advance from here. 

Down in this area as well is The Shard, Western Europe's tallest building. One day I hope I'll get up to Aqua for a drink to experience the amazing views.

Stay tuned for details of another big day out in London!

MP

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Pomegranate Ice Cubes

Last weekend I took my daughter along with me to meet a friend at Bill Granger's latest opening - Granger & Co. in Clerkenwell. We had a long leisurely brunch consisting of some of Bill's classics - fresh juices, coffee, corn fritters, scrambled eggs and coconut bread. It was all very delicious.

After brunch we wandered up to the playground near Exmouth Market and hung out there for awhile. We then walked up and down Exmouth Market and decided to pop into Morito for a drink.

I ordered a cava pomegranate and it was refreshing and delicious. It was simply cava served in a chilled glass with a pomegranate juice ice cube.

I made up a batch of pomegranate ice cubes yesterday - using POM Wonderful pure pomegranate juice and a few fresh pomegranate seeds.

I added a cube to a glass of sparkling water today - but the possibilities are endless. I'm definitely going to keep a tray of these cubes on hand all summer.

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Holiday Rental Essentials - Games

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This is the view back to Auckland on the ferry over to Waiheke. You don't want weather like this but there generally is a day or two when it rains on a summer holiday (well at least in New Zealand!) One summer we went to Portugal where we were so unfortunate with the weather. I think it rained the whole week. You can read more about that here.

When it rains it would be great if the holiday rental was stocked with DVDs and games. AD has mentioned Perudo and Quoits. We've played Balderdash many times and that's a really fun way to spend a few hours. Pictionary and Cranium are always very entertaining as well.

On our recent trip back to the UK I picked up Uno Junior for my daughter and we have been playing that non stop. I remember when I was young, I'd be stuck in a room for hours with my cousin playing Old Maid and Fish. This set below would be great for little ones.
What are your favourite games to play? We'd love to hear from you!

MP

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Greece Daydreaming

My daughter has just started nursery so I suddenly find myself with a few hours of freedom! It's almost a bit overwhelming to know where to start on my extra long 'to do' list. The house could do with a spring clean from top to bottom. The wisteria in our garden is invading at least three neighbour's properties and needs to be dealt with. I've got a huge pile of stuff to either sell on eBay or drop into Oxfam. The list goes on... I do want to spend more time on the business side of Bamboo and Blue and I also want to spend more time on the blog. MP has been much more efficient than me at getting her trip reports up from her recent holidays. I am still well aware that I have a couple of posts drafted but not finalised from my trip back to New Zealand in February. Keep an eye out for those posts within the next couple of weeks.

I have to confess that the tasks on my 'to do' list such as defrosting the freezer and cleaning the oven were demoted in favour of sorting out holidays for this year. I have got a girl's weekend coming up at the end of the month in Sitges, Spain and then a trip to visit MP in Switzerland later on in August. I am also really excited about a two week holiday that we have just booked to Greece in late September.

Santorini has been near the top of my list of places to visit for years and we are combining this with a few days in Athens and the island of Mykonos as well. It is a bit of a gamble going so late in the season, but the prices were pretty good and if it is a bit cold for sunbathing and swimming then I will just go for walks, take 1000s of photographs and read lots of books.

I can't wait to see all of the white and blue buildings covered in pink bougainvillea in person. Have you been to Athens, Santorini or Mykonos? I would love to hear of any travel tips.

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