The Maui Food Scene

I planned to share this post ages ago, and didn't...and now in what has been a long winter, I am craving the sun and surf of Hawaii. Here is a post on a couple of our favourite places we ate at.

We didn't do much on our honeymoon...we planned it that way. We wanted some time to relax, and for the most part, that's exactly what we did. One day we even slept for 18 hours. The one thing we did do pretty regularly was eat really delicious food. The food scene is Maui is excellent. There are tons of great little local independant restaurants, and that's what we spent time checking out. Here is a review of some of our favourites:

Kihei Caffe

The Kihei caffe is amazing. It is a breakfast spot, it is very cheap (for Hawaii) and it is BUSY!!! You stand in line to order your meals and then you go and find a table (only after you order). It's a bit daunting, but everyone always finds a table or makes a new friend. I had the traditional breakfast which was fried rice with an egg on top. It was delicious and the portion was huge, I ended up eating it for lunch the next two days. We also got a very yummy Banana Bread muffin with chocolate chips and coconut on top, it was incredible!

808 Deli

For lunch one day we tried the 808 Deli. Everything on their menu is under $10, and the food is Fresh and Delicious. This is a picture of my yummy Turkey Sandwich (Chris said it was boring) and he got the pulled pork. We both loved our choices and the atmosphere of the Deli.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I know Cheeseburger in Paradise is a chain, but we had some very yummy burgers here one day, and they served the Hawaiian beer that Chris really enjoyed. It's definitely worth checking out if you're craving a god burger!

Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice

Don't take Chris' look as an indication of how yummy this was because it was absolutely delicious and a small was HUGE!!! I think the Mister was just annoyed I was taking a picture before he could dig in! There is a lot of debate over the best shaved ice between Ululani's and a place called Local Boys, but we loved Ululani's. Make sure to ask for a snow cap add on which is a sweet cream mixture, gives it a nice creamsicle touch!


Monkeypod Kitchen Restaurant

This place is reviewed as one of the best places to eat on Maui. The food is fresh and the atmosphere is awesome. This is a picture of the homemade jalepeno poppers and they were very yummy. They have a great happy hour where all appetizers are 50% off and pizzas are only $9. This was one of my favourite places not just for the food but how awesome the decor is:

The moral of this story is, we ate very well on our honeymoon, and in this cold long winter, I can't help but think:

22 Hours Later: Our Trip to Maine

It feels like I have been MIA for ages on the blog. We've had a busy couple weeks, so please excuse the radio silence. The busyness started with a whirlwind trip to Maine to visit my good friend Cait and her sweet new puppy Piper. My husband decided we could drive and after 11 hours each way (with a snowstorm on the way back), we proved him right. It was so good to catch up with Caitlin, meet Piper and introduce Chris to all the Maine landmarks.

After showing up at 2am and getting a bit of sleep, Elliot rewarded me with some cuddles.

We had to get this guy a Maine lobster roll the first day. 

Note: Don't let two girls who don't eat lobster pick out the lobster spot. 

Chris was introduced to all things LL Bean!

My comrads at the start of our shopping trip.

And After!

No trip would be complete without a trip to Scratch Baking Co. for their yummy bagels and spice cookies.

The Beach Walk Had Beautiful Sights

Including this pretty girl- the star of the weekend!

All in all, we had a great trip. The driving wiped us, and then we hosted my dad the following week and this week is our 1st Annual Country Christmas which means we spent last weekend decorating, prepping baked goods and tidying the house. I hope to be back later in the week with some DIYs and our wedding pictures have finally arrived, so you should expect an update soon!

Cottage Weekend

We had a girls weekend this past weekend at my friend DA's cottage. It was a wonderful escape, and just what the doctor ordered with one month to go before the big day! We ate, drank, sunned, swam and laughed the whole weekend, it was truly wonderful!

On Saturday morning, Megan and I hit up a garage sale (of course), and I found a few great items including the sweetest little half pint Ball jar! I am planning to stain the crate and turn it into a side table!

The highlight of our weekend was definitely discovering, adopting and feeding this sweet stray kitten. We named her Mrs. Fuzz Tail. We all really wanted to take her home, but we thought she probably belonged to someone at the beach, as she wasn't afraid to come close and she was up for a few pets. She left with a fully belly, so we're hoping she made it home.

It was a great weekend, and definitely a little sad to be leaving this great view behind!

We've decided we need to make this trip an annual tradition because it was just so much fun. Sometimes you just need a girls weekend away!

Beautiful California

Chris and I have been in California for the week. We capped off our trip with a magical night as Disney yesterday, but I wanted to share some of the sights from my trip to Mission San Juan Capistrano. This was a Spanish Mission in Southern California founded in 1776. It has beautiful gardens and architecture, as well as droves of 10 year olds! It is a requirement as part of 4th grade California curriculum to visit a mission (as well as build their own). We were told over 25,000 fourth graders visit this site each year:)

I also managed to find an antique store in this small town! The prices were a bit steep (likely due to the Tourism draw), but it's always fun to look around in a new city!

Deju Vu

Almost a year ago I was sitting in the buffalo airport heading to Nashville. This blog was born in that airport, and its amazing to think about everything thats changed and happened in the last year. I will post a proper anniversary blog in a few weeks.

This time I found myself delayed in Houston en route to Orange County. We had an emergency stop in Cleveland for fuel and after missing the first two flights to Orange County, I decided to make lemonade.

I always treat myself to a nice meal when I'm stuck in an airport, and yesterday was no different! I highly recommend this as a remedy to flight delayitis! Cozy socks also help!

Day Off

Today I took the day off in all senses of the word...we spent the better portion of our weekend right here...and we did not want to leave...if it weren't for the rain this morning, we probably wouldn't have headed home early...and I likely wouldn't feel like i had time to organize myself for the week ahead...but we would have been here...

Fab Find Friday: Caramel Bits

I know this isn't vintage or antique related, but I felt I needed to share one of my favourite baking products from the US. Whenever I visit Cait, I make her take me to the Grocery Store. I love visiting grocery stores in other countries and checking out what they carry that we don't have in Canada. A few years ago I spotted these Kraft Caramel Bits. Originally for caramel apples I'm guessing, they're the perfect size for cookie mix ins! I picked up two bags this past trip, and I can't wait to make Chris' favourite Peanut Butter Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies! When I don't have these on hand, I just use the caramel squares and cut them into bits myself (certainly not as convenient), but the results are similar.

How about you, do you have a favourite product you can only get in another country?

Happy Friday everyone!

Jess

Mainscapes

Maine is a beautiful state; I like to think of it as an American New Brunswick! 

Two local businesses we visited worth calling out are Willard Scoops (you must try their Salted Caramel...I am going to try to emulate at home) and Scratch Baking Co. for their amazing Apple Spice cookies and yummy homemade bagels. If you're looking for bagels aim to get there before 9am.

Cait and I went on a beach walk on Saturday morning...I couldn't get over the size of the seagulls, my picture does not do them justice! The turquoise door was lovely, the wreath was made of seashells!

House Crashing- Portland ME

My friend Caitlin bought her first house last December. It was a foreclosure, so she got it for a great deal, but as we all know with many great deals comes a lot of work! This house received a full paint job, new wood floors throughout the main floor, a window cut out between the kitchen and living room to open the space and a wall knocked down to turn a main floor bedroom into the dining room!

 This was my first visit to Caitlin's house, and here are a few of my favourite things!

L-R:

• The 210 on the shelf is the number of Cait's Grandparent's house...love this idea!
• I loved the L.L.Bean mat Cait had at her front door. This is also a shot of the wood floors and the wall that was knocked out for her dining room. It completely opens the space:)
• This was a print Cait has in the living room and I absolutely loved it! She's taking her time covering her walls with art she absolutely loves and I definitely support that approach! 

Mr. Elliot Charles is also a fine fixture in Cait's new home! He's definitely loving the new space and the wider windowsills!

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope you have a great day!

The Way Life Should Be

Hello from the beautiful state of Maine! I am visiting my good friend Caitlin and her sweet kitty Elliot this weekend. Caitlin just bought her first house in December and this is my first visit to her new digs. I will post a house crashing post next week of all the great work and decor she has done already (and of course an Elliot photo shoot)!

This morning we met up with my parents in Portsmouth New Hampshire for me to try on wedding dresses. We found a couple that I liked and will keep in mind, but more importantly figured out the style I like and what looked good.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. A big shout out to one of my avid readers Emily and her kitty Luna:)

Window Shopping: My Dream Come True

Chris and I spent one morning on PEI touring Charlottetown with a coffee and tea in hand. We happened across Young FOLK & The Kettle Black and quickly realized this was most definitely one of my dreams made into reality! This shop had a quaint coffee shop on the first floor and then a second floor filled with antiques and handmade unique treasures! 

An old window filled with resin and buttons

Loving the handmade letters

Chris and I almost made this barn board door handle coat rack a couple of months ago...was cool to see it completed. I think the faucet handle one would be cool in a bathroom to hang towels on. The top racks were keys in key holes...

Have you come across any cool shops lately?

Atlantic Tour: Georgetown PEI

As I mentioned in Friday's post, Georgetown is PEI's hidden gem...not terribly hidden as they have a famous restaurant in the Tourism guide, but a wonderful sleepy little town with so much maritime charm! Here are some of my favourite shots of Georgetown!

The Kings Playhouse has a traditional Ceilidh every Tuesday night! 

The little harbour/marina had tons of old fishing shacks, great patina and awesome nautical images.

I couldn't stop taking pictures!

Fab Find Friday

So we made it back safe and sound on Wednesday night. We had an amazing time in the maritimes, the wedding was beautiful, catching up with family and friends was wonderful and we squeezed in some great beach time!

The highlight on Prince Edward Island (and my fab find today) was definitely the Historic Georgetown Inn. I have never been to the east end of the island, and I must say it is worth the trip. The inn is run by Dawn and Joel. The accommodations are lovely and dinner at the restaurant makes it definitely worth the drive! Joel sources the majority of his ingredients locally, and the result is fabulous! Dawn is a great source of information about the island, and always has a recommendation for a day trip or two! If you make it to Georgetown, you must go to Basin Head Provincial Park and check out the Singing Sands Beach!

Happy Friday to you all! This weekend will be spent catching our breath and saying goodbye to dear friends. I'll be featuring pictures and stories from our trip next week.

CHRIS' GUEST POST: SANS PATINA

CAR-tiquing

So, we've just returned home from a great weekend up north in Gravenhurst. We had travelled all that way to celebrate the marriage of our good friends Shreyansh and Archana, and decided to stick around for the weekend. We had a great stay at Inn on Bay in Gravenhurst, where the host and the Inn exceeded our expectations. This is #1 reason why I agree to let Jessica book B&B's as opposed to hotels when we go away. #1A is the awesome value as B&Bs are generally well below the cost of a hotel. I'm sure Jessica will get into more detail on this in one of her regular blog posts. 

AS FOR ME, I'm going to showcase some meat and potatoes as opposed to the usual girly stuff Jessica posts.

Case and Point Below. Cudos to BALA Legion for ensuring that I didn't spend the entire day Sunday inside the arena at the Antique Show.

Bala Legion Car Show: Sunday, July 1st, 2012.

1ST GENERATION (1964-1973)

FORD MUSTANG 302 - CUSTOM ENGINE

The 302 was originally
introduced in 1968

This Custom Built Ford Race Engine
is definitely not original but clearly
this was built with both beauty and power in mind

The interior has been completely restored. The driver's seat is just inviting you to sit down and go for a ride. The dash has a sleek and sexy black/wood design, and the oversized steering wheel, and wonderful PEARL WHITE shift knob makes it easy to clear all four gears, without realizing you've topped out the speedometer in what I'm assuming will only take mere seconds with this custom engine. The original 1968 included two engine options that would give most modern cars a run for their money in the half mile. 

These two engine options from 1968 carry more horses than the current base model 2012 Mustang, and the 427cid is only 20 horses short of the current 412 hp 2012 GT model.

427cid 4V V-8 390hp

428cid 4V V-8 335hp (Cobra Jet)

This vehicle will turn heads on any roadway it drives down. I call this SANS PATINA, because this car has completely removed any signs of PATINA it may have once had, and would look sexy beside any of its younger sisters produced today. THE BEST NEWS IS THAT JESSICA HAS ALREADY AGREED THAT I CAN BUY IT ONE DAY! (Only a few expenses to take care of before then, wedding, house, car loans, student loans...). 

Ahh well, a man can have a dream can't he?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRx2xzz7cJc

Room with a View

We stayed at a hotel on the lake last weekend, and this was the view from our room...made me miss the East Coast just a little bit more

Paradise

My sincere apologies for my lack of posting this week. I have been gearing up for a vacation to a sunny destination! This will be me tomorrow afternoon!

I've got tons of posts ready to go for when i'm back including an escapade with strawberry buttercream, a drowned rat cat, and a series on what to do with old jars!