• Arcadia – so close to our South Yarra property (this means you can stumble home!)
• Bridie O’Reilly’s – On Chapel St, it’s an Irish pub and lots of fun. An afternoon session is a must here. The perfect location for people watching, just grab a table out fron!
• The College Lawn - On Greville St. Sunday afternoons are the go for this place.
• Fog – Also on Greville St, you can get some nice cocktails here and the food menu is great.

• Borche Vodka and Tears – A polish restaurant and they have the most extensive AND DELICIOUS vodka drinks list! It’s a small place and if you want to go for dinner I would make a booking. The evenings usually see an older couple dressed in traditional Polish gear playing an accordion, very cute!
• Hoo Haa – You can grab a great Pizza or a casual dinner, after about 9pm the bar kicks off on Thursday through to Sunday. Hoo Haa has a great Vibe and is always a good place to start the night!
• Lucky Coq – Great any night of the week. They have $4 pizzas!! Woo! The décor has that ‘I found it so I’m going to use’ feel, but very chilled and its buzzing here most nights of the week.

• Orange Bar – A small, very chilled out bar/café. The vibe is often set by the person behind the bar. He plays whatever music he feels like listening too. Nice for a quiet sit-down drink.
• Railway Hotel – Has that pub feel with a bit of class attached to it. The upstairs area is great, and the best bit about it is that attached to the hotel is a 24 hour bottle-o!!!
• The Social – The crowd tends to be a little older (I suppose), a small bar with booths set up outside, couches along the wall and a dance floor towards the back. Decent music.
• The Windsor Castle – Friday nights are packed in the beer garden with an eclectic mix of drinkers. Decor is rainbow fantasia meets the tropics, with hurricane lanterns and straw umbrellas and palm trees. I would say one of the most popular drinking holes in the area.
• Bable – Next to the Coles car park. Great for breakfast or a hot or cold drink.

• Is It Café – Go just for the tagine breakfast…Oh so tasty!
• Mother’s Milk – Great for a quiet drink during the week, or a place to start the shenanigans of a Saturday night!

• Killing Time – Great music and a very cool crowd. A small bar which feels like your own backyard. I would recommend Saturday night. Start here then head to 161.

• One Six One – Go for the music and stay for the retro dance-floor. Thursday nights have live music.

• Electric Land Land – Again, great for a quiet drink during the week, or, Friday and Saturday nights here get very busy. More of a sit down kind of place with heaps of cosy corners to tuck yourself away in.

Please feel free to add anymore to the list! We are always looking for new places to go and to recommend to our guests!

“C’mon! Wake up; we’re going out for breakfast!”

‘Urgh…Just five more minutes…’ I thought!

Rolling out of bed, a little unimpressed I must admit, I hastily got dressed and ready to go.

We took the 10 minute drive down to Abbotsford, where tucked away amidst all the traffic and busy streets, lies a beautiful national park (The Yarra Bend Park) in which you can find the Yarra River lazily flowing through AND The Collingwood Children’s Farm.

There are huge arrays of nature walks you can choose from and joining the many other baby-strollers, joggers, bird watchers and fisherman we made our way around the park, taking in the crisp, fresh morning air. I couldn’t believe that this quiet little sanctuary existed right under our noses and I had never visited before!

Continuing our stroll we diverted into The Farm Cafe to feed our grumbling bellies, and there we sat amongst the cows, chickens, sheep, peacocks and fascinated little children while we sipped our delicious coffee and ate one of the tastiest breakies I have ever had (all produce comes directly from the farm and you can really taste the freshness!).

As if the animal distractions weren’t enough, it is even possible to hire a canoe for a few hours and drift your way down stream (or paddle up if you’re feeling that energetic!).

All in all, if you’re visiting Melbourne, or have just relocated to our beautiful city, be sure to check out this hidden little gem, right in the heart of the city (and fun for young and old alike!)!

“Wow! I’ve always wanted pink bed socks!”

As mothers Day creeps up on us yet again, I ponder what my mum thinks every time she opens her gifts. Each year mum is lucky enough to spend the second Sunday of every May opening boxes of chocolate and fluffy warm bed socks.  But does she really need another pair this year? I think not!

So, for all you fluffy sock buyers out there, I’ve given you the easy way out and done some extensive research on what to get my mum this year. Now, I promise to share my ideas, if only you promise to share yours!

Now there is nothing wrong with giving mum a bunch of flowers, but what about a bunch of flowers she can eat!? Edible Blooms provide gourmet chocolate bouquets, home baked cookie blooms, fresh fruit flowers and hampers including French champagne and specialty beers. They are based in Adelaide with stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Australia-wide delivery is available for most items, score!

Get something that will make even the daggiest of mums say “That’s cool!” Check out Cool Things’ online store for some quirky gift ideas. The Piggy Door Stop and Body Stroker are two of my favourites!

I often think that an experience is worth a thousand gifts…

Deals offers great deals in Melbourne with many businesses offering discounts on services, dining, great products and more.

With daily updates of discounts of up to 90% off the normal price, Deals.com.au is a great way to find gifts for mum. Daily deals include day spa treatments, Dining Packages, and great getaway deals.

Or alternatively (this is my favourite!!!), for the extreme Mummy, Red Balloon has everything from Rally Car driving, Helicopter rides, Barista courses, hot air ballooning and shopping (with champagne of course!) tours.

So when your mum opens her gift this Sunday, I’ll know who you (or she!) will be thanking – ME!

Do you have any other great Mothers Day ideas? I would love to hear them. Who knows, maybe I’ll be thanking you next year!

Chicken & vegetable pies

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 30g butter
• 500g chicken breast fillet, cut into 2cm chunks
• 1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs flour
• 1/3 cup (80ml) white wine or water
• 1 cup (250ml) chicken stock
• 1/2 cup (125ml) thick cream
• 1 large carrot, peeled, cooked, diced
• 1 large potato, peeled, boiled, diced
• 1 cup frozen peas, cooked
• 1 tbs chopped fresh or 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
• 4 sheets puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a frypan over medium heat, add the pieces of chicken and cook until lightly browned and almost cooked through. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside. Add the leek and garlic to the pan and cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add wine and bring to the boil for 1 minute, then pour in stock and cream and cook, stirring, for a further 5 minutes over medium-low heat.
2. Return chicken to pan with cooked vegetables and tarragon, season well, then set aside to cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
4. Cut four 18cm squares from the pastry, reserving off cuts. Place some chicken mixture in the centre of each square, then lift up the sides of the pastry to form a parcel, pinching edges together to seal. Cut out leaf shapes from the pastry offcuts and place over the joins. Make a small pastry rose for the centre of each parcel.
5. Place parcels on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Brush with beaten egg and bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

Basic tomato sauce

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil leave

Method

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until onion has softened.
2. Add tomato paste. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add tomato. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until sauce has thickened slightly. Add basil. Stir to combine and Serve.

Amatriciana

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 quantity Basic tomato sauce (above recipe)
• 8 slices (125g) prosciutto, chopped
• 1 small red chilli, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• Cooked rigatoni pasta and thinly sliced chilli, to serve

Method

1. Make Basic tomato sauce, adding prosciutto and chilli flakes with onion . Replace basil with parsley.
2. Serve with rigatoni Pasta, top with chilli and Serve.

Bacon & cauliflower soup with parmesan crisps

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 500g bacon bones, cut into pieces
• 1 (700g) cauliflower, trimmed
• into florettes
• 1 litre water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 1/4 cup lite cream, optional
• 1/2 tsp horseradish cream
• Salt & white pepper
• 1 tbs snipped chives

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan. Saute the onion and bacon bones over the heat for 5 mins. Add the cauliflower, water and bay leaves and bring to the boil.
2. Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer the soup for 15 mins. Remove the saucepan from the heat, set aside to cool slightly. Remove and discard the bacon bones and bay leaves and process the soup in a food processor in two batches until smooth.
3. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place tablespoons of parmesan cheese onto baking trays, spread out to form 6cm rounds, bake in batches for 5-7 minutes mins or until crisp and golden. Working quickly lift the parmesan crisps from the tray and set aside on a cooling rack.
4. Return the soup to a saucepan and warm gently, add cream and horseradish and season. Sprinkle with the chives and serve with the parmesan crisps.

Special thanks to www.taste.com.au FOR THESE YUMMY RECIPE IDEAS

It got me thinking… is this because people use the internet for all their research these days? If so, by the time they actually pick up the phone to call us, they’ve effectively narrowed down their search to a select few properties, and they may have a couple of specific questions to help them make their decision. How do you decide where to stay when you go away on holidays or for business travel?

It’s kind of sad that the internet has taken much of the personal touch out of booking your accommodation. We love chatting to prospective guests and getting excited with them about their upcoming trip. It’s a great opportunity to offer advice on various attractions, transport options, our favourite place to grab a coffee etc.

Our use of social media has helped bridge this gap between the non-personal research/booking formula to have us offering the type of ‘personalities’ that our guests will encounter over the phone or when they arrive. However, our input into social media can only be of use as a selling tool for those who want to listen/ engage. To everyone else it may just come across as ‘noise’, or something else to interrupt their day. I hope not. But I’m sure there are people out there who feel that way!

So I’m interested in hearing what processes you go through when booking your accommodation. Do you do it the ‘old-fashioned’ way and pick up the phone? Or do you prefer to email/ enter your details into online booking forms to secure your accommodation?

Remember that we LOVE to hear our phone ringing, and being able to provide a more personalised service over the phone. Try it next time, you’ll be surprised at the additional extras you might even get thrown in for your stay

Personally, I LOVE to fly, maybe it’s the excitement of a holiday, or going somewhere new, or even coming home to my loved ones, I just love it! However, plenty of people I know, hate flying, it’s the hardest thing about any holiday for them! I know of people out there who hate it so much, they just don’t go anywhere!!  

I have a lot a friends and relatives overseas, who think Australia is SO FAR away from everywhere, and that the flight is just too hard. We Aussies are tough and can handle anything, and so can many of our guests, we see so many people arrive at Caroline Apartments are such long flights we wonder how they are still standing!

So I started to think about, what I do on a flight that makes it that little but more bearable, or even enjoyable, and I have put together a few tips on how to survive a long flight:

First and probably most important, if you are prone to a little travel sickness, prepare yourself with some motion sickness tablets, or even some natural ginger tablets. If you can, ask for seats that are over the wing of the plane, as these have the most stable ride in the whole airplane. It will help guard against the motion that causes airsickness.

Flying causes dehydration, so be sure to drink plenty of water throughout your flight, and bring some extra snacks if you think you might get hungry.  Don’t drink a lot of alcohol. I know it can be very tempting to just knock yourself into a slumber with a nice, big glass of wine or something stronger, but if you overdo it, you’ll get even more dehydrated. Drink more water if you do decide to have a drink!

Try to stay away from salty things, as they will only dehydrate you more and lowering your salt intake will also help with the discomfort from the swelling, which can happen on long flights. To avoid swelling as much as possible, exercise throughout the flight. Do some basic stretches and walk the length every so often. You will feel much better if you don’t allow your muscles to get stiff.

I find reading on a long flight really good, as you can get caught up in a book, and the next thing you know a couple of hours have passed.

Try and bring a new book with you, that you are excited about reading, or bring a travel guide of the place you are flying to. If reading isn’t your thing as much, bring some magazines and at least you can read little things and look through the pictures. Trashy gossip mag’s are my favourite!!

Most planes have personal TV screens now, and watching a movie or TV shows, can easily pass the time. These are great as they have plenty of music you can listen to as well. I like to bring an iPod with me, and prepare a playlist in advance, of songs I like to listen to. I also think it’s a good idea to have music playing when you are trying to fall asleep; it cancels out the sounds of people talking around you, and the humming of the aeroplane. If you feel like forking out a little, you can buy ‘noise-cancelling headphones’ which have been specially created to block the noise of an aeroplane. Earplugs are a good cheap option too!

Try to sleep!! If your flight is reasonable long you will probably be flying through either your home night time, or the night of your destination. If you can just nap for a couple of hours, you will be surprised how quickly your flight goes, and it’s always a good idea to try and get into the sleeping pattern of your destination early!

Asking for an upgrade never hurts either!!

Who would have thought that a social media networking site, that started out with a flash idea from a university whizz kid, would have exploded into the world phenomenon it is today? Facebook helps us to not only keep tabs on our ex’s, but to branch out and network with people and companies we would otherwise not be in contact with. Facebook has opened an endless amount of opportunities for local and international businesses all over the world, and here at Caroline Serviced Apartments we have been sure to jump on the band wagon!

We not only use Facebook to stay in touch with previous, current and future guests, but we give guests the opportunity to experience our apartments. Jump onto our fan page to find out information about up and coming events in Melbourne, tips on what to do while you stay, check out new photos of each property, score yourself a great freebie (yes we have competitions ALL the time, you can even win a FREE night at one of our beautiful apartments!) or score a discount for your next stay. Feel free to hit up some of us local girls to find out what we like to do in our spare time so you can begin to plan your holiday!

It’s as easy as becoming a ‘Fan’. Click the following link and your on your way Facebook fun!:

http://www.facebook.com/CarolineServicedApartments

So what are you waiting for? Endless discounts and prizes await….!!!

The internet, global travel agent intranets and increased competition have all played a part in changing the way we run Caroline Serviced Apartments. The job itself continues to evolve as we adopt new ways of marketing ourselves, and improve our knowledge of our industry.

Here are six ways in which our business has changed in the last six years:

• The internet levels the playing field: The internet has enabled a small business like ours to compete with the bigger hotel chains globally. It helps even the smallest of businesses reach their most ideal client base… or better yet, have that target market find them.

• The internet has changed how people shop around: The information available online about any topic, product, service or business has completely changed the job of sales person. The phone used to ring off the hook throughout the day. We used to negotiate rates with prospective guests on most calls, and hear more about their specific needs before they made their booking.

• Online Booking sites were once only for last-minute availability: A couple of online booking sites was all that was needed to sell those last minute rooms, at super discounted prices. A room sold with a 25% discount is better than an empty room at full price when it comes to last minute sales. Now a number of 3rd party websites enable us to have inventory & rates listed for up to 365 days in advance! This offers a huge opportunity for offering better rates for quieter months etc.

• Hotel Websites a useful tool, and the booking engine was once optional: Our website used to be seen as a way to show our location, show photos of a couple of our best rooms and then hope that this would be enough for people to call. When we introduced an online booking engine to our website, we met it with suspicion and distrust (hilarious now when I think about it). Now we use our website to show people exactly what they are booking, and not just showing our top room. We feel this transparency builds trust from our prospective guests, as we have nothing to hide. We’re proud of our product!

• Yellow Pages, once were necessary for advertising: There was a time when it was essential to pay for an advertisement in the Yellow Pages. Delivered to every house, it was a sure fire way of getting your business noticed. Not anymore. The Yellow Pages is more useful as a door stop these days! We no longer list ourselves in the Yellow Pages. Now, most of our paid advertising is done in Search and Display campaigns. This has proved play a key role in getting our brand name noticed on a global level.

• Low cost advertising used to only reach a small, chosen market: In the past, if we wanted to advertise something specific but not launch into a full paid advertising campaign we would probably have had to get on the phone and call people, or produce an email or flyer. Now, there are so many opportunities to reach out to target markets (and beyond), thanks to the Social Media phenomenon. We Tweet daily and/or update our Facebook Page to let people know if we have a special offer available. But beyond this, we also make use of our YouTube channel or our Flickr photos to show guest testimonials, our rooms, our locations and our staff. Have you connected with us via any of these platforms? If the answer is no, then I suggest you check it out. We love that Facebook and Twitter offer us a quick way to respond to any questions or feedback from our guests, as well as allowing us to connect with them and offer advice or ideas of things to do/ specials at local restaurants etc while they are staying with us.

The internet has completely changed the face of our business in the last few years! Sometimes I do miss the days when someone would call up and I could spend some time going over all the features and descriptions of our room types, and they would make a decision straight away. But I have to say that I love embracing all of this new technology – as it’s just helping us get the name Caroline further and further out there!

What about you? We’d love to hear about how the internet has changed the way you find accommodation when you travel. Or how do you feel about the changes in your own business or industry with regards to how the internet?

People often ask me “who is Caroline?”, and while we may not have a team member with that name, we all use it whenever we pick up the phone at work. Caroline means ‘beautiful woman’, ‘joy’ or ‘song of happiness’, and our company name was chosen by taking the name of the beautiful street we are located on in South Yarra. If you’ve ever been to Caroline Street, you’ll agree that it never fails to impress – with those large plane trees forming a dramatic arch across the street leading up the hill. No photo I have ever taken of this street has managed to capture the impressive effect of that archway of trees (maybe I need a better camera). It’s always so much better to view it in person. So perhaps the person who named the street broke into song after he/she planted those trees knowing that it would one day be beautiful!

So how well do you think the meaning of Caroline suits our Serviced Apartments, and our team? Our apartments are definitely unique and some of them have views that you could happily sing about. We have a mixture of ultra modern and functional family accommodation in 2 of the best locations in Melbourne. This convenience has made a lot of people happy during their relocation… and what about the team? Who is Caroline really? I’m not going to get into a discussion about who is more beautiful than another, to me beauty has always been about the personality within. Whenever we employ a new team member, we always hope to find someone that is genuine, approachable, friendly and capable of handling many different types of situations. From our Housekeepers who will do anything possible to make each guest feel at home, to our Front Office team who are the ‘face’ of our business… we aim to live up to our name.

Now what on earth am I going to call my new female kitten? I’m thinking something French might be nice… oui?