Easter
Easter Break
Regardless of what it means to you in terms of Pagan Festival, Christian remembrance, or just the kids being home from school, in this business it means domestic guests have four days to travel
We had a great Easter with most of our guests here for the Mission Estates, Rod Stewart concert. It is an opportunity for us to attract domestic customers away from the motel industry. Many of our guests had not stayed in a shared house model of accommodation before.
I think we did pretty well!
I baked hundreds of hot cross buns.
They are easy to make and soooo much better than store bought. If you have a bread maker, most of the work is done while you sip wine. (oh, that was me). This may have been why some of the crosses on my hot cross buns got all creative into swirls and happy faces.
I planned to make Sunday morning breakfast the main event for Easter. I have a very clever and crafty mother - and I know she reads this - so Hi Mum and a very big thank you!
Mum sent me some of her creations and we were able to make our Easter breakfast table look awesome with egg carrying frogs and a tall rabbit family.
The menu included:
Hot cross buns
Simnel loaf - originating from the United Kingdom this fruit cake is wrapped in marzipan - which I also made.
Chocolate brownie
Lemon curd scrolls
Marshmellow drops - we'll call them drops because my shaping into egg-shaped didn't work out. I'll try again next year.
I had not made the Simnel loaf, marzipan or marshmellow before. It was a busy day in the kitchen.
Hot cross buns
Simnel loaf - originating from the United Kingdom this fruit cake is wrapped in marzipan - which I also made.
Chocolate brownie
Lemon curd scrolls
Marshmellow drops - we'll call them drops because my shaping into egg-shaped didn't work out. I'll try again next year.
I had not made the Simnel loaf, marzipan or marshmellow before. It was a busy day in the kitchen.
I've mentioned before that it can be difficult for us to get away from the hostel. With almost all of our guests going to the concert on Saturday night, we were almost guaranteed having all check-ins (aka - chickens), settled by 6ish.We took a chance!
Franck made dinner reservations at
A locally owned and operated French restaurant.
If you are in Napier and looking for something special - this is it.
Make a booking.
We highly recommend it and we are already making plans to go back.
Franck, Jo, Gareth and I socialise a lot together. They are wonderful friends and they understand how we have to put the hostel first in everything we do. Actually, all of our friends understand this. We have great friends!
So they 'get it' when I announce...
The south bound bus has broken down in Taupo.
We all know our dinner reservation is at risk. (and such is the life of a hostel owner)
Our doorbell has an audio and video connection to my phone. It's a great tool. We decide to duck and weave around the bus repair updates. Given the info from the guest there was a good chance we would get through dinner before the bus got to town.
Turned out not - the door bell rang just before our main meals were due to be served. So much for updates!
I don't know where my brain was but I stopped mid-chew, straightened like a meerkat and excitedly blurted out...
'Wow, someone has the same door bell as us!"
Gareth, Franck and Jo almost in unison chorus 'It's yours!'
Oopps!
I ran off to the powder room for a quite place to talk. The lovely older Asian couple are standing in our door way. He tells me in his very best English over the intercom;
From China. English Shit
OK - we can work with that.
Gareth got the guests settled in the hostel and then came back to the restaurant. This is how we have to navigate the balance of hostel life and social life. It's not for everyone, but it works for us.
Our mix of domestic and international guests is what makes this business interesting. Though Easter gave us the opportunity to host mainly Kiwi's the smattering of international travelers bring a diverse flavour to the house. The breakfast table brings people together. Regardless of language, food is a great gatherer!
So they 'get it' when I announce...
The south bound bus has broken down in Taupo.
We all know our dinner reservation is at risk. (and such is the life of a hostel owner)
Our doorbell has an audio and video connection to my phone. It's a great tool. We decide to duck and weave around the bus repair updates. Given the info from the guest there was a good chance we would get through dinner before the bus got to town.
Turned out not - the door bell rang just before our main meals were due to be served. So much for updates!
I don't know where my brain was but I stopped mid-chew, straightened like a meerkat and excitedly blurted out...
'Wow, someone has the same door bell as us!"
Gareth, Franck and Jo almost in unison chorus 'It's yours!'
Oopps!
I ran off to the powder room for a quite place to talk. The lovely older Asian couple are standing in our door way. He tells me in his very best English over the intercom;
From China. English Shit
OK - we can work with that.
Gareth got the guests settled in the hostel and then came back to the restaurant. This is how we have to navigate the balance of hostel life and social life. It's not for everyone, but it works for us.
Our mix of domestic and international guests is what makes this business interesting. Though Easter gave us the opportunity to host mainly Kiwi's the smattering of international travelers bring a diverse flavour to the house. The breakfast table brings people together. Regardless of language, food is a great gatherer!
Our jigsaw got finished!
I had been chipping away at this one for weeks, a gift to the hostel from Fiona. Only a few folk had taken an interest so it had been on the table for a while. On Good Friday the jigsaw was about half done. On Easter Sunday I came out to find it complete!Actually a lovely guest dobbed-in her mate, over facebook! So we know it was Jenny!
I admit...I felt a mix and Yay and Ohhhh. Excited that someone had enjoyed the puzzle and a little sad I wasn't there to see the last piece go in. But, such is life of a hostel owner.
We have bought more puzzles!
This one is a Wasgij.
We are virgin wasgij-ers. So we chose just 500 pieces.
The Easter Break was full to the brim with social time, baking, eating, chatting, jigsawing - well that was mostly Jenny...and then along came Monday!
The big tip-out day.
Most people were heading for home. Kim - our friend and most valued housekeeper, takes it all in her, very quick, stride. I, on the other hand, was running from first coffee to first wine! It was a big cleaning day!
Many times folk have commented on what an interesting job I have - and I do. Meeting people from all over the world. Cooking and baking for various cultures means I get to experiment in the kitchen - which I love. Chatting over wine, hearing and sharing travel stories. It's all good.
The reality check comes when we have 20 rooms to clean within a time frame before the next guests arrive. Henry the vacuum cleaner and Haier the dishwasher work as hard, if not harder than we mere humans!
By about 7pm Monday a relaxed evening on the couch with NetFlicks (aka SleepFlicks), seemed well deserved.
After,
we meet and greet the eleven Vietnamese workers about to arrive.
The couch will have to wait.
Barely a word of English between them. With lots of sign language we managed to get them settled - the bare minimum is keys and wifi - as long as they understand those two functions, everything else seems to fall into place.
And then, we fell into bed. Exhausted and happy. It's not for everyone. But it works for us.
Comments
Post a Comment