My farewell to Hawke’s Bay was one last visit to a winery, Elephant Hill Winery & Restaurant, and the perfect ending to a perfect food and wine experience in New Zealand.

An elephant guards the entrance of Elephant Hill Winery

Visitors to Elephant Hill Winery are welcomed by the oversized elephant statue overseeing the sweeping views over the vineyard and the Pacific Ocean on the horizon.

Located on the Te Awanga coast Hawke’s Bay, this New Zealand winery allows you to indulge your senses from the terrace of the Elephant Hill Restaurant. Water features surround the restaurant, where you can sit among the vines and breathe in the ocean view. 

It was a beautiful spring day in Hawke’s Bay when I sat down on the terrace. My first sip was a surprisingly refreshing Elephant Hill Rose, lighter than I’d expected, almost sparkling wine-esque. Read More »

Hey, Cupid – make sure you pick up the check.

Now here’s something romantic: You’ve just finished a delicious Valentine’s Day dinner with that special someone, you’re both a little giddy – perhaps from that last glass of wine, perhaps from love – and neither of you notice the check when it comes to the table because you’re too busy gazing into each others eyes. And then your date says, “How about we split this?”

According to Zagat, which just released the results from its first ever Valentine’s Day Dining Survey, it doesn’t happen very often: Only 11% of diners are sharing the check that night; 46% of the mostly female respondents say their date is picking up the bill. Not that there’s ever anything wrong with paying your own way, but it seems on February 14th Cupid doesn’t do dutch.

Here are some other interesting morsels from the survey, that queried some 600 Valentine’s Day diners:
Read More »

Located in the charming waterfront village of Ahuriri, New Zealand, Milk & Honey is an old-fashioned, comfort cooking restaurant serving, breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Breakfast at the waterfront Milk & Honey near Crown Hotel in Napier.

Small villages dot New Zealand’s landscape, and that’s part of the charm when you find these small towns with homey restaurants where locals gather, like the Milk & Honey. Read More »

My friend came to visit from France. She lives there now, but lived in Spain for years. We wanted to catch up which meant not just any old Barcelona bar or restaurant would work. The thing is, Barcelona is noisy. While I can tune out the din for the most part the noise factor becomes important when you want to hear what the person sitting next to you is saying with out having to lean in close and then shout your response, which is likely to be, ‘What did you say?!” or “Come again?”
Read More »