Life Out Loud Archives - Page 5 of 6

Vernette August 24, 2016

Tea Time, Hotel Normandie

Sometimes, I drink tea.

I know, I know…a coffee-lover like myself talking about tea. But you’d be surprised to know that I love a good cup of tea almost as much as I love coffee.

And I’ll have you know that the little girl in me, still loves a tea party – complete with all the little cakes and sandwiches that are the stuff of the best pretend tea parties of my childhood.

These days, instead of my plastic tea set, I get to sip from lovely real tea cups and snack on all the pretty petit fours, often with the company of a friend equally game to try something a little different.

Every Wednesday, Hotel Normandie has Afternoon Tea which is quite affordable. There are three menu options to choose from and you will have a hard time deciding which of the delicious treats to start with first. There is also live entertainment, which adds to the ambiance.

Give me all the things! You have a choice of savoury and sweet and believe me, you will think you can eat them all. But they add up. Choose wisely. Don’t be like me. I was oinking by the end of our evening.

If you’re in the mood for a little something different on a Wednesday, you can find them here.

Featured image via Unsplash

Vernette August 20, 2016

#WeekendCoffeeShare 08/20/16

If we were having coffee, I would first have to apologize, because it’s been a while since we’ve shared coffee in this space. Things have been hectic and I’ve been finding it pretty difficult to slow down and savour my coffee. I mean, I’m so busy these days, I got my coffee routine down to 3 mins – grind, brew and chug.

Today however, I’m relishing in the recreational aspect of coffee on a Saturday. Today, we’re gonna sloooow right down and savour the moment while we catch up.

My coffee routine starts with the choice of beans. I bought some absolutely delicious Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee back in June and have been chinksin* on it so that it could last and last. Choose beans, then prepare grinder. It’s not the best, but it gets the job done.

Pour over last Saturday in Grand Riviere.

Beans, nicely ground we move on to the brew method. Today, we’re going to explore pour over. It’s Saturday, we have the time. While the coffee drips, let’s catch up.

Back in May, I shared that I was on a new desk at work and things were feeling a bit like the first day of school. Well, four months later, I’ve settled down a bit. I still feel some anxiety hitting ‘send’ on an email, but it has gotten better.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that because of work, I missed the opportunity to go to BlogHer16 this year and connect with some of my favourite people, but I am a firm believer in you are exactly where you need to be, so I’m not stressing to much. If I make it to BlogHer Food 16 or BlogHer17…it was meant to be.

If we were having coffee, I would pour your first cup. Savour my first sip and settle in to hear all your news. So tell me about your week and your plans for the rest of today, I’ll listen while you talk.

*****#WeekendCoffeeShare is an awesome link-up where coffee (or some other awesome beverage) is being shared over great conversations.

#WeekendCoffeeShare originated at Part Time M onster:

I started the Weekend Coffee Share last year after lots of feedback and several months of writing posts that imagined a conversation with my blog readers that started with the “if we were having coffee” line. The coffee share runs on the weekends, and there aren’t a lot of rules—-posts just need to be formatted like a conversation over beverages (we’ve had tea-drinkers and cocktail-hours as well as coffee) AND be written within the past week (so you don’t need to publish on the weekend to join the link-up). The hashtag #weekendcoffeeshare is in use all weekend on Twitter and Facebook, and it is sometimes used a bit during the week as well. .~Part Time Monster

Vernette August 10, 2016

Coffee Break: Novella Cafe

I just love discovering little cafes in and around Port of Spain. It not only gives me options when I choose not to brown-bag it to work but it’s also a welcome respite when I’m having a stressful day at the office.

Enter: Novella Café. Open since September last year, I like the fact that they are not that new to the scene. After almost a year, they would have had a chance to settle in and sort out any teething problems that comes with being a new cafe in Downtown, Port of Spain.

I was immediately struck by the decor, which is mix of modern with quaint little touches apparent in the little owl figurines and owl themed decor dotted through-out the café.

Don’t mind if I do!

Chocolate Macarons FTW!

While the cafe does not offer a lot of seating options, that did not stop the steady stream of patrons who visited while I was there. Take-out seems to be quite popular with the lunchtime crowd.

Thankfully, we – my cousin and I, were able to score a seat at one of the tables and I was able to enjoy my coffee treat comfortably. Cappuccino and macaron get in my tummy. This sweet treat was particularly good!

The menu offers affordable options: salads, subs, smoothies, dessert bites and coffee. For lunch, I had the California Salad – since I’ve been California dreaming lately. I’m still bummed that I missed BlogHer16. And it really doesn’t help that all the reports have been superlative thus far.

The California is an interesting mix of lettuce, red onions, cranberries and arugula topped with walnuts and feta cheese.

My cousin and I chatted about vacation plans and how we should stop clock-watching at lunch and just enjoy the coffee and each other’s company. What’s funny, is that when I returned to the office, I had one of my most productive days for of the week. Just proves that a midday coffee break goes a long way towards maintaining my sanity and improving my productivity.

Find Novella Cafe, Monday through Friday – 7 am – 3pm at 87-89 Frederick St., Port of Spain. (Please note: They will be closed from August 15th until August 29th. They will open on August 30th but will be closed for August 31st – Independence Day.)

I love hearing from you, leave a comment below or come on over to Instagram and say hi!

Vernette August 3, 2016

I Caught The Bouquet…NOW WHAT?

Yep. That happened. And it was my first time ever. Aaaand I wasn’t even trying.

But let me start at the beginning…

So this past weekend was my birthday and my original plan was to be in Las Vegas getting my drink on. Long story short…man plans and God laughs. I ended up staying in Trinidad with no real plan for the weekend (and my birthday) other than spending time with family and attending my cousin’s wedding.

Things have a way of working out, you would think after three decades plus on this earth I would know this by now…but somehow that knowledge does not stick and I need reminders.

Anyways, back to my story, my cousin said ‘I do’ in a sweet ceremony that had the bride, the groom and most of the guests in tears. They are such a lovely couple and I wish them all the best life has to offer on this journey they are about to embark on with each other.

Fast forward to the reception, where things really got celebratory. Thanks to Johnny, Jose and Jack. Then, really medieval – because that’s how long DJs have been shaming all the single ladies at weddings. I took a sip of my scotch and LLB (that’s lime, lemon and bitters for you non-Caribbean folks) feeling all superior that I was just standing there making up numbers for the apparently highly anticipated bouquet toss.

*sad trombones* there was a false start. The bouquet hit the bulk head and landed on the back of my cousin’s lovely dress. That silhouette on her was amazing by the way, such a lovely bride!

Bouquet toss take-two was more successful. As it flew through the air…not too high, not too low all.the.single ladies…save one lunged forward, with excited screams and out-stretched arms…

Then the bouquet landed at my feet. And in my scotch infused humor I looked stupidly at it like…oh hey look. With what felt like minutes of hesitation then a slow-mo stoop to pick it up, I realized that the girl next to me was also waiting on my reaction. Which was priceless in itself.

Oh hey look…I ‘caught’ the bouquet!

So ya’ll I didn’t actually catch the bouquet as much as it landed at my feet and I scooped it up.

My question after the photogs wanted that precious photo of the bride and sexy bouquet-catcher was…what do you do with the bouquet after you catch it? Do you give it back? Although I felt like that might be rude and you know if there is some truth to the legendfairytaletradition about the bouquet-snatcher being the next one to get married, I wouldn’t want to mess that karma up.

Cuz you know, I suck at dating.

All you single ladies…have you ever caught the bouquet at a wedding? What did you do with it afterward…and just out of curiosity *asking this for a friend* were you the next to get married?

Vernette April 26, 2016

Finding My ‘C’ Spot

As life gets more hectic, getting four friends together for an evening of wine and some painting took some coordinating and the patience of our awesome facilitator Simone.

Last Saturday after many stops and starts, we finally made it to CSpot Studio for some painting and sips.

Click here for more info on CSpot.

The target!

My thoughts at the start: There is no way my painting is going to look like the original.

Aaalll the burshes!

So many choices.

Photo credit: Ruhi F.

At this point, as the painting started shaping up…I was amazed.

My Masterpiece! Never mind the wonky bird.

Our facilitator Simone, kept things lively. A genius idea, this “finding your C-Spot”. She had everyone chuckling with many veiled references to techniques on finding your creative soul. The laughter certainly helped ease the anxiety about perfection or questions about skill.

She has only been running the sessions since July of 2015 but already the idea is catching on here in Trinidad. Sessions run for two and half hours and can be tailored to your needs – private sessions, birthday celebrations etc. She also runs creative sessions for kids – of course tastefully tailored for the audience, which I think is a great idea for family fun and if you’re already thinking about things to do during the August Break.

An artist herself, Simone said that she wants to enjoy what she does as much as the creatives who come to the sessions. Thus, she would not paint the same thing two days in a row and there was evidence of quite a few options in rotation. Here are some other options available for creatives:

An evening well spent discovering our creative spots, definitely next level girls night out ish! I certainly recommend this session and will be back, as soon as I can synchronize watches with my friends once again.

Cheers! Girls Night Out was a resounding success!

POLICY OF YES