COFFEE, TEA OR ME? ISSUE 1 20 14

LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST

ISSUE1234567890

VOLUME1234567890 2014

CUPCAKE AND COFFEE

FAZER CAFE, HELSINKI , F INLAND

PHOTO: KATJA PRESNAL

COFFEE, TEA OR ME?

We would like to welcome you to read our very first Skimbaco Lifestyle magazine, a collection of articles from SkimbacoLifestyle.com and special features from carefully selected contributors.

Get a cup of coffee, or tea, and enjoy our first issue.

Fittingly, our theme is “coffee, tea or me” and we bring you the timely recipe of something sweet to enjoy with your coffee, and how (and where) to discover tea in Asia. We feature interesting people who are making their dreams come true, and above all - we hope to inspire you to live life to the fullest.

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SKIMBACOLIFESTYLE .COM

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EMAIL KATJA .PRESNAL@SKIMBACO.COM

FROM THE EDITOR | KATJA PRESNAL

Hello friend!

The word to describe how I feel about SkimbacoLifestyle.com is PROUD. Our team has worked extremely hard and I feel lucky to work with such a talented team.

Over half a million unique readers read Skimbaco Lifestyle in 2013 and our team reaches over 100,000 people via social media. The actual big number is 3400 - the number of photos tagged with #skimbaco hashtag on Instagram by our readers. The fact that you want to share your best moments in life with us is why we publish Skimbaco Lifestyle. It means that we have evoked emotion and in-spired action to enjoy life. Two of our favorite Skimbacoers and their photos are featured in this magazine.

In all simplicity, our mission is to inspire YOU to live the Skimbaco Lifestyle. I hope you will continue sharing what Skimbaco means to you and join us in inspiring people around the world. Happiness is the sum of all things, like the perfect cup of tea.

Katja Presnal

Editor-in-Chief / Owner of Skimbaco Lifestyle

6PHOTO: PETER MEYER

13 TRAVEL INSIGHT: Coffee as hotel

room luxury

20 FASHION: Let’s go for a coffee - out-

fit ideas for a coffee date

37 INTERVIEW: Meet the ladies who

baked a cake for Lady Gaga

46 TRAVEL: Tracing the Origins of the

richly flavored Ceylon Tea in Sri Lanka

56 DREAM COME TRUE: MY Perfect

Cup of Tea in Maokong 貓空, Taipei

62 CULINARY TRAVEL: Traditional After-

noon Tea or a Cream Tea in England

68 CULINARY TRAVEL: Scarlett O’Hara

would be Impressed with Afternoon Tea at Jefferson Hotel in Virginia

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ISSUE: COFFEE, TEA OR ME

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Special feature: tea around the worldfrom Page 44

72 GLOBAL KITCHEN: Semlor, the

sweet almond-filled winter time buns from Scandinavia {with recipe}

76 BEAUTY: DIY coffee scrub

82 FOOD: Banana mocha coffee cake

recipe

84 DRINK: Nespresso cappucino a la

rose recipe

85 SHOP: 16 shades of Valentine’s Day

gifts from Red Envelope

7 Letter from the editor

34 COMMUNITY: Featured Skimbacoer

91 COMMUNITY: Featured Skimbacoe

92 INSPIRATION: My top Skimbaco mo-

ments

98 JUST IN {5 healthy coffee trends}

99 Story behind the cover photo

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IN every issue

SKIMBACO TEAM

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SATU VÄNSKÄ-WESTGARTH | project manager | Norway

Adventure traveling mom. Kayaked around the world. From Fin-land, currently lives in Norway. Knows travel industry and market-ing. Always ready to go to destination unknown and try new out-door sports.

KATJA PRESNAL | editor-in-chief/owner | Sweden

Likes cooking big family dinners. Her three children were all born in different countries, within three years. Award winning social me-dia strategist. Unstoppable, making dreams come true.

LEIGH HINES | luxury travel editor | North Carolina, USA

Obsessed with luxury hotels and loves the afternoon tea. Former TV journalist. Southern girl who loves everything European. Thinks a good luxury hotel is a destination of its own. Mother of two.

ADRIENNE SHUBIN | fashion writer | California, USA

Sonoma chic fashionista who knows how to accessorize. Califor-nia wine country expert. Visits Paris every year. Lives the rich life on a budget, which is also her blog’s name. She often travels with her dogs.

REETA LAAKSONEN | global lifestyle writer | United Kingdom

Global luxury lifestyle expert, jet-setter, mother of three. Little known fact: a last minute injury prevented her from being an Olympic athlete. Lived in more countries than most people ever visit. Has extensive business and finance background.

WES HOLLAND | fashion & men’s lifestyle writer | New York, USA

NYU business student. Mover and shaker, champagne lover. Write down his name so you can say you heard about him “already when”. Fashion & luxury lifestyle expert. Preppy jet-setter.

Valentine’s Day gift ideas at RedEnvelope.com

FEATURED CONTRIBUTINGWRITERS

VEERA PAPINOJA | travel blogger | Finland

Passionate traveler & a travel blogger at Running-With Wild Horses, mostly exploring new destina-tions in Asia. In a few months she will hold a Bache-lors Degree in Tourism and will continue working with Destination Management, Aviation & Social Media. Fun fact: she is obsessed with blending vegetables. “Not a day goes by without a fresh healthy smoothie!” says Veera.

Read Veera’s article about finding tea in Taiwan on page 56.

Get Allison’s DIY coffee scrub recipe on page 76.

ALLISON CZARNECKI | style blogger | Utah, USA

Allison is the founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life. Happily married (to a hot Polish immi-grant) and mother of two. Fashion stylist, traveler, and known for her edgy style, gorgeous inside and out. “I adore everything there is to be adored about fashion and style and am a pro at a good smoky eye, but I can go granola and camp with the best of them” says Allison

By Leigh Hines COFFEE AS HOTEL ROOM LUXURY

PHOTO: KATJA PRESNAL

I ’M ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO DESPISE GOING TO A HOTEL LOBBY FOR A MORNING CUP OF COFFEE .

More importantly, I want a good cup of coffee to start my day. I’m not alone in my views, but after polling the HinesSight Blog Facebook community, it’s about 50/50 on whether in-room coffee is a necessity when staying in a luxury property. In-room coffee is not always found in luxury properties because these hotels are all about service, and making mediocre cof-fee in the room doesn’t meet its service ex-pectations. In-room coffee is a necessity, and without the hefty room service bill.

IN-ROOM NESPRESSO MACHINES DEFINE THE NEW LUXURY IN THE

HOTEL ROOM COFFEE

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BY LE IGH HINES

WWW.HINESSIGHTBLOG.COM

INSTAGRAM:HINESSIGHTBLOGTWITTER: HINESSIGHTBLOG

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I racked up a $30 room service bill, in-cluding tip, at the five-star Jefferson Ho-tel in Richmond this summer for a large pot of coffee, one milk, and one orange juice because I wanted to enjoy cof-fee in my room.

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PHOTO: LE IGH HINES

LET ’S JUST TALK ABOUT T H E E L E P H A N T I N T H E ROOM, SHALL WE?$ 3 0 I S A N A B S U R D A M O U N T T O P A Y F O R C O F F E E I N A H O T E L R O O M , W H E N Y O U COULD HAVE HAD IT FOR FREE IN THE LOBBY.

IN-ROOM COFFEE IN LUXURY HOTELS

Many luxury hotels that used to provide no in-room coffee are now providing single-cup Keurig coffee makers in guest rooms, as for example all Hilton Garden Inn rooms will be equipped with Keurigs.

The quality has been high enough to suit its guest expectations, at least for now.

The five-star property The Umstead Hotel and Spa, located in Cary, North Carolina, is one of those properties that listened to its guests and decided to give in-room coffee a try, and they furnish complimentary Cari-bou coffee in the hotel rooms.

“It was important for us to listen to our guests, and provide both value and con-venience to their stay,” remarked Darah Whyte, the Umstead Hotel’s Marketing Di-rector, when we chatted about the topic (over coffee, by the way).

The Ritz-Carlton, a top luxury hotel brand, in the Buckhead area of Atlanta has pro-vided in-room coffee for several years be-cause of the same reasons.

The five-star Williamsburg Inn in Williams-burg, Virginia, only serves complimentary coffee in the lobby, just like The Jefferson in Richmond, but the hotel will provide a Keurig coffee maker in the room at a guest’s request. They tell me that they get very few requests for the coffee maker, though. The Colonial Williamsburg Founda-tion has equipped Keurigs in all rooms in the Williamsburg Lodge, though, which is their other luxury property, but that hotel is not at the same level of luxury as the Williamsburg Inn, The Umstead Hotel and Spa, The Ritz-Carlton, or The Jeffer-son.

The Jefferson, on the other hand, says it is constantly evaluating in-room coffee serv-ices. Public Relations Manager Jennifer Crisp revealed:

“We have not yet found, however, a solu-tion that provides the consistent quality, variety and convenience that we antici-pate that our guests will expect. That said, as products change, we will continue evaluating. We do find, however, that our guests enjoy the complimentary coffee service in the lobby. It’s a bit more tradi-tional and does allow us to provide a high-quality product and a variety of cof-fees, teas and accompaniments so that guests can concoct their perfect cup.”

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WILL ESPRESSO MA-CHINES DEFINE A NEW LUXURY FOR HOTELS FOR IN-ROOM COFFEE?

The Shangri-La Hotel in Toronto thinks Nespresso is the latest in luxury. The Asian-founded luxury hotel chain has in-stalled Zenius Nespresso machines in all of its guest rooms. Guests can have compli-mentary morning coffee in their room with a choice of two regular flavors and one de-caf option. Shangri-La prides itself as be-ing the first hotel in Toronto to equip Nespresso machines in all guest rooms for complimentary use.

The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead is following suit with a select number of guest rooms located near the spa. The new Spa level rooms are the latest in this hotel’s luxury portfolio with special features such as ac-cess to the Spa Lounge, an in-room dining Spa Cuisine menu, and the luxury of enjoy-ing your own espresso in each room.

Each room has an espresso machine and beverage brewer for complimentary cof-fee beverages and teas. Non-spa level rooms are still equipped with coffeemak-ers, just not espresso makers.

Trump International Hotel & Tower Chi-cago, a member of Preferred Hotels & Re-sorts, features an in-room Nespresso cof-fee and tea machine in its rooms for

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PHOTO:SHANGRI -LA HOTEL TORONTO

guests’ complimentary use. The ME Hotel in London, also a Preferred Hotel, offers the same coffee perk.

However, other Preferred properties such as The Jefferson Ho-tel in Richmond and The Michelangelo in New York City re-main more “old school” luxury when it comes to in-room cof-fee. They will happily brew you coffee for your room, but ex-pect a room service charge. Other properties in the member-ship may offer some type of single-cup brewing system, if not Keurig.

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IN-ROOM NESPRESSO COFFEE MIGHT NOT BE FREEI experienced my first Nespresso machine for in-room coffee while staying at the Ho-tel Le Germain Maple Leaf Square in To-ronto over the summer. In-room coffee at this luxurious boutique hotel is part of the mini-bar, so each capsule comes with a small charge.

Katja and I were drinking the coffee, not re-alizing it was a mini-bar charge. I had stayed at some very high-end hotels in North Carolina prior to this visit that were equipped with in-room Keurigs, so non-complimentary in-room coffee never en-tered my mind.

I was disappointed that it was not compli-mentary. However, after experiencing a ho-tel stay with no in-room coffee at all, my views changed on the espresso mini-bar concept after that. Even at a charge, one capsule will not set you back that much and is about the cost of an espresso in a lo-cal coffee shop. For those who could wait, Hotel Le Germain still offered complimen-tary cappuccinos in the guest lounge area as well as complimentary espressos for breakfast. There are plenty of places to get your coffee fix, free or not, and that was nice.

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LET’S GO FOR A COFFEE

by Adrienne Shubin

Dressed in Sonoma Chic style

CAFÉ CHICMeeting up for coffee is almost always a casual event.

Jeans are more than acceptable as are shorts, yoga wear and yes, I have even seen the occasional pajama-wearer, usually bleary-eyed and messy-haired, ordering a double espresso to go.

I prefer to leave the pajamas where they belong, in my bedroom, and dress in the casual and relaxed yet stylish way, I call Sonoma Chic Style.

While waiting one rainy day to meet a friend at Basque Boulangerie in Sonoma, I got settled at a table to catch up on emails until she arrived. I wore an ivory silk blouse, black blazer, skinny jeans, classic Hunter rain-boots and I brought along my favorite umbrella, a Guy de Jean I bought in Paris years ago. I never let a little rain get in the way of meeting a friend for coffee or look-ing stylish!

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TEXT AND PHOTOS:ADRIENNE SHUBIN

THERICHLIFEONABUDGET.COMINSTAGRAM:

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PINTEREST: R ICHLIFE

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I never let a little rain get in the

way of meeting a friend for coffee

or looking stylish!

I like to meet up for coffee in the middle of

a busy day spent do-ing errands.

It breaks up the mo-notony of running

around from place to place and it’s nice to

sit down, relax and recharge!

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Being on the go around town requires comfortable clothes and shoes but that doesn’t have to mean work-

out clothing.

A fashionable sneaker, worn with a warm coat and cozy sweater, is the more stylish option. I wore this

outfit to meet my husband when he was in between

meetings.

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Sometimes it’s wonderful to just sit and have coffee alone in a quiet place. That’s just what I did at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn when I stayed there with my husband last fall for our 13th wedding anniversary. Our room had a Nespresso machine that we put to good use.

On our last day, I dressed in boyfriend jeans, booties and an Australian outback hat, and made myself a hot cup of coffee. I enjoyed it on our patio, in solitude, while my husband packed up his things to leave.

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One of the reasons why I like vacation rentals is that you can take your time on the mornings. You can sleep late, if you wish, and not try to rush it for the ho-tel breakfast, and you can make your own coffee in the kitchen, just the way you like it.

COFFEE LOVER’S TIP:If your vacation home doesn’t have the type of coffee maker you like, it still might be cheaper for you to buy a simple coffee maker to the rental property than ruin-ing your travel budget by expensive coffees. In the US the cheapest espresso machines go for under $40 and in Europe I recommend getting a Bialetti stovetop coffee maker, which you can find typically for under 20 euros.

Katja Presnal, editor-in-chief of Skimbaco Lifestyle

MY CHOICE FOR VACATION RENTALS: FLIPKEY.COM

LOCATION: ROME, ITALY

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NAME: Paul T. Tran

I’M FROM: Orange country, California

PROFESSION: Franchise developer, I work with investors in opening niche res-taurant chains all over the world.

LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST MEANS TO ME: Knowing yourself, staying your-self in a world of comfort zones and fear; uncovering your talents and shar-ing them; doing all things out of love; asking questions and setting out to an-swer them; exploring and being inspired by the world.

MY LIFE CHANGED WHEN I REALIZED... that there is more to life than just my career. I don’t need to be a millionaire - after reaching a comfortable level of in-come level, I can just stop and be with my family and friends, travel, try new things, read good books etc. The net worth of living life to the fullest is infinite and I don’t have to wait to live. I can take mini-vacations and getaways on the weekends now, because “wait-ing for the retirement” is illusive - you may not live to that point, your health may not even allow that to hap-pen, and you can always make more money but never more time. Most people spend their health to gain wealth - only to later on spend all their wealth on trying to regain their health.

MY FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATIONS: Sweden and Greece

I DREAM OF TRAVELING TO: New Zealand. Pictures and videos of the country blow me away.

FEATURED SKIMBACOER

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DECORATE WITH

COFFEEBEANS

The Pepper Pot is one of Dublin’s many ca-fés. A very cozy one, I might add, with taste-fully mismatched colorful tablecloths, teak-colored sturdy wooden chairs, hand-written menu on the prominent red-tiled wall as the cafe perches on the indoor ter-race of the Powerscourt Townhouse.

MEET THE LADIES WHO BAKED A CAKE FOR LADY GAGA

By Satu Vänskä-Westgarth

The location in one of Dublin’s more unique shopping centers is ideal really, as it goes so well hand in hand with the slightly quirky and warmly welcoming at-mosphere of the café.

Or so I thought, until I sat down with Marian Kilcoyne, one of the two owners, in the morning hours of one Monday last summer to find out what is cooking in the Pepper Pot Café and what makes the café so spe-cial.

I also wanted to find out how this small café, that both hosts midmorning knitting groups and has catered cakes for such stars as Lady Gaga and U2’s Bono on cou-ple of hours notice, has been able to set themselves apart from rest of the city’s competitive lunch-time offering.

When you see the queue forming in front of café at lunch-time, it is hard to imagine how just over three years ago on some days there might have been barely ten peo-ple walking past the place where the Pep-per Pot Café is now located. This is where Dervla James, Marian’s business partner and Marian herself sat counting the passer-bys day after day weighing the pros and cons of setting up their own cafeteria busi-ness in the midst of the recession. The

Powerscourt Management was looking for fresh and innovative entrepreneurs to breath life into the food offering in the cen-

tre, and the ladies jumped into the challenge.

Dervla, with whom I caught up with over the phone, never thought she could cook. But one summer job in a restaurant kitchen changed that, and over the years she worked her way through some of Ire-land’s most prestig-

ious culinary institutions.

Marian, on the other hand, with business degree under her belt and years of experi-ence from working in the restaurant busi-ness, wanted to change the course of her career from administrative jobs to some-thing more meaningful, signed up for an in-tensive cooking course in Ballymaloe. Af-ter getting some valuable work experi-ence, she found herself working full-time in the same cafe with Dervla in Dublin, who was then finishing her degree in Bak-ing and Pastry Arts.

Four days after Dervla’s final exam, the la-dies’ “when we have our own café” banter became reality when the Pepper Pot Café opened its doors.

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TEXT AND PHOTOSSATU VÄNSKÄ-WESTGARTH

TODESTINATIONUNKNOWN.COMINSTAGRAM:

TODESTINATIONUNKNOWNTWITTER: SATUVW

PINTEREST: SATUVW

I wanted to find out how this small café, that both hosts midmorning knitting groups and has catered cakes for such stars as Lady Gaga and U2’s Bono on couple of hours notice, has been able to set them-selves apart from rest of the city’s competi-tive lunch-time offering. Read my interview with the owners of The Pepper Pot.

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When I ask what sets the Pepper Pot café apart from Dublin’s café offering both women hesitate.

“It’s hard to put it down to words. But by not taking the business too seriously, and doing what we love and is our passion, everything comes naturally and is not forced”, Dervla says.

Marian also mentions that their friendly staff is in the core of the business, as noted by their loyal customers.

“We just want to make people happy. Our staff. Our cus-tomers. Our landlord. We are just two girls who love to bake and make good food, and have fun while doing it”, Dervla adds.

And the passion and warm-heartiness is evident when you step into the Pepper Pot. From the small design de-tails to the business ethos of home-baked bread, quality local ingredients and seasonal menu, Marian and Dervla

HAVE YOU EVER DREAMED OF DOING SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T THINK YOU COULD DO? THESE LADIES DID.

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have not cut any corners holding on to their values. Everything is made from scratch at the cafe and for two years they even baked all the bread by hand without any use of machines.

“It has been lot of hard work, but it was never so much about making money, but being able to do things our way while maintaining the lifestyles we want”, Mar-ian mentions.

The lifestyle for Marian meaning the possi-bility to travel for food inspiration and ad-venture, and for Dervla the chance to bal-ance family and work.

And as the Pepper Pot cafe is on a crest of a wave at the moment, everything is definitely possible for these entrepre-neurs in the future.

Still there wondering about those cakes for Lady Gaga and Bono? See Lady Gaga’s gory “wedding cake” from her production team and Bono’s birthday cake from Alicia Keys on The Pepper Pot’s Facebook page!

THE PEPPER POTAddress: Powerscourt Townhouse, Dub-

lin, Ireland Phone: +353 (0) 1 707 1610Website: www.thepepperpot.ieFacebook:

www.facebook.com/thepepperpot Twitter: @pepperpotcafe

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WHAT IS SKIMBACOLIFESTYLE FOR YOU?

“BY NOT LETTING OPPORTUNITIES PASS BY

AND BEING OPEN TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES, EVEN

WHEN ITS NERVE-WRACKING.

JUST GOING FOR IT. SOMETIMES IT WORKS, SOMETIMES IT DOESN’T.

EXCEPTING LOT OF CHALLENGES ALONG THE WAY AND NOT BEING TOO

AFRAID ABOUT IT.”

MARIAN KILCOYNETHE PEPPER POT

PHOTO: VEERA PAP INOJA

SPECIAL FEATURE:

FINDING TEA IN ASIA

ENJOYINGENGLISH AFTERNOON TEA

Tea picker working in the former Lipton plantation on the way to the famous mountain-top Lipton Seat, a picturesque location that used to be the favorite place for Thomas Lipton to relax and think.

TRACING THE ORIGINS OF THE RICHLY FLAVORED CEYLON TEA IN SRI LANKABy Reeta Laaksonen

After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world.

Sri Lanka is one the world’s largest producer of tea.

TEA

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TEXT AND PHOTOSBY REETA LAAKSONEN

HOUSEOFANAIS .COMINSTAGRAM: HOUSEOFANAIS

TWITTER: HOUSEOFANAISPINTEREST: HOUSEOFANAIS

TRACING THE ORIGINS OF THE RICHLY FLAVORED CEYLON TEA IN SRI LANKA

Ever since I was a little girl Ceylon tea was the one thing that came into my mind when thinking about Sri Lanka, that South Asian island for-merly known as Ceylon. So when our family was in a vacation in Sri Lanka, getting to know the tea production and tasting local teas was definitely one of the must-do things on the agenda!

Tea still contributes about 2% of the GDP of Sri Lanka and some 2 mil-lion people of a population of 20 million still work with tea, either di-rectly or indirectly.

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The British brought the tea from China in 1820s, but the first plantation was started

with Indian tea by James Taylor in Kandy area in 1867. Then later on he worked with Thomas Lipton ,whose brand is still one of the most famous ones in the world.

We learned that tea picking is very meticu-lous work – the leaves need to picked at certain time of the day (usually morning) to get the right humidity, and different teas (black, green, white – or also called silver tip tea) come from different parts of the

plant, or rather the leaves. For example the silver tip is very expensive because only the small, young shoots picked at certain time of the year will be accepted.

The black tea is considered the local spe-cialty and it is used for making different blends also.

Most of the tea is grown in a region known as the Hill Country and the tea bushes grown often in very steep hills and are manually collected.

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These breathtakingly beautiful views can be seen from the Lipton’s Seat, at a height of 1950m, or 6400 ft – but it’s a bit of a hike unless you manage to persuade the guard to let your vehicle drive all the way to the top. The road to the top is windy, narrow and treacherous with very few passing point and not the faint-hearted – a tuk-tuk would be a much better choice than a car for this journey!

This lookout point is located  in the Poona-gala Hills, and there is tiny tea-shop where Lipton tea is brewed on wood fire and tea cakes are being served. The changes of getting to admire these beauti-ful views are rather slim though – on the day of our visit there was a thick fog, which cleared on one side for a while dur-ing our stay, but on the other side of the valley we could see just a white wall of fog.

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After seeing the actual tea plantations, leaves being picked and having tried it ourselves, it was great to visit a local tea factory called Glenloch – and yes, if you wonder about the name, it does come from Scotland!

The tour and tea-tasting in Glenloch are free of charge, as is the case in most tea factories. This was a small factory with a shop and a restaurant and I would definitely recommend buying some local tea, as it is not normally being sold under the local labels outside the country.

We were lucky to see fresh tea leaves being brought into the factory and see parts of the whole process of tea production. First the tea leaves are being dried for 12 hours on the belts before being moved to the next phase.

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During the process the tea is being dried, moistened, shaken, ground and different parti-cle sizes are being separated in processes that are very precise, quite amazing indeed as one gets to see the old machine and latest sophisticated separator machines from Ja-pan.

The tour of the factory was well-loved by the children as they got to feel and smell tea leaves during different phases and at the end they all very enthusiastically also partici-pated in the tasting process.

After our tour it was quite easy to identify some of the teas, which was really exciting. I just love how we all were able to learn something new in such a fun way! We brought home a tin of our favorite, the orange pekoe blend, and remember the day every time we have a cup of tea at home.

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PHOTOS: REETA LAAKSONEN

FIND YOUROWN CUP OF TEA

Get the Green Tea Ginseng Limoncello and the Lipton Palmer cocktail recipes made with Lipton tea from SkimbacoLifestyle.com.

PHOTO BY KATJA PRESNAL

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My dream was to travel the world to find the perfect cup of tea.

I found it.

By Veera Papinoja

MY PERFECT CUP OF TEA IN MAOKONG 貓空, TAIPEI My dream was to travel the world in search for the perfect cup of tea, and I found it last year from Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan.

The tea leaves for my perfect cup of tea were planted on the hills of Maokong, which is located on a hill in the southwest of Getou Mountains in Wenshan Distric of Taipei outskirts.

Maokong is famous for its tea plantations and scenic views over the city. You can even spot one of Asia’s most well known skyscrapers, Taipei 101 in the horizon. Maokong is ideal for growing tea due to its high elevations, the rich mois-ture in the soil, and cool temperatures.

Maokong is easily connected to the city’s Metro system and can be approached with an inexpensive and adventurous 15-minute gondola ride that starts near the Taipei Zoo.

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What made my cup of tea so perfect in Maokong?

When you get to enjoy a cup of green jasmine tea made out of what grows literally next to your feet, and you get to drink it thousands of miles away from home –it has that taste of freedom and wilderness. That was all I needed for the perfect cup of tea.

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TEXT & PHOTOS BY VEERA PAPINOJA

RUNNING WITH WILD HORSESINSTAGRAM: VEERABIANCATWITTER: VEERAPAPINOJAPINTEREST: VEERABIANCA

Also worth visiting in Maokong:

• Three Stone Teapot Museum for tea

• Zhinan Temple

• Walking paths

• Monkey Mountain

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Champagne tea at Vertigo 42 – lovely afternoon tea with unbeat-able views over London.

When traveling to England, experiencing a proper after-noon tea, or a taking a lovely cream tea break should be on your to-do list. London is the place to enjoy a proper afternoon tea, cream tea, high tea – or my favourite, the champagne afternoon tea.

If you are now wondering what are the differences be-tween the teas, and how is the afternoon tea done “prop-erly”, I have some tips for you - and you will be an after-noon tea expert in no time.

THE TRADIT IONAL AFTERNOON TEAThe traditional afternoon tea became popular in 19th cen-tury and was intended to be a light meal around 4pm – between the lunch and the dinner, which used to be served around 8pm at the time. This tea comes with both sweet and savory bite size treats, usually savory fin-ger sandwiches, maybe quiche, scones and cakes or petit four.

TRADITIONAL AFTERNOON TEA OR A CREAM TEA IN ENGLAND

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By Reeta Laaksonen

THE CHAMPAGNE AFTERNOON TEAThe lovely champagne afternoon tea is just an extension of the traditional tea, where a glass of champagne is serve be-fore the tea. If you like champagne, then a tea option with free champagne refills is what I’d recommend for you.

If you would like to experience one of the classic and famous traditional afternoon teas, I recommend Claridge’s, Dorchester,

Savoy or the Goring Hotel. The Ritz is also another classic favourite for the tourist, but it’s afternoon tea rating has been on the decline.

If you are looking for a different kind of af-ternoon tea experience, then Vertigo 42 might be best suitable for you – you’ll get a sweeping view over London (window seating only!) with your delicious cham-pagne tea.

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CLARIDGE’S AFTER-NOON TEA – I ’D P ICK THIS ONE IF THERE WAS T IME ONLY FOR ONE TEA EXPERIENCE

THE CREAM TEACream tea is the simplest of the teas – it’s more like an afternoon snack: basically a pot of tea and some scones. Normally there are condiments to go both with tea (milk and sugar) and jam, butter and clot-ted cream, possibly also lemon curd for the scones. Most cafes will offer this, and if you travel outside London and visit some local castles and gardens, a cream tea is the perfect way to finish off a lovely afternoon in the countryside.

The question, whether to spread first the jam or the clotted cream on the scone is an interesting one, a  bit like whether you first pour the tea or the milk into your cup. The clotted cream question goes back the origin of the clotted cream, or rather creams: Cornish and Devonshire cream.

It seems to be unclear where clotted cream originates, but it’s one of the two re-gions mentioned above: people from Corn-wall spread first the jam and then top with

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the cream, whereas people from Devon do it the other way round.

There is no right and wrong etiquette for the clotted cream. I have tried both ways – and prefer to spread first jam and then add as much clotted cream as possible!

THE HIGH TEAThere is one more tea concept to cover: the high tea. The name high tea is often used in-terchangeable with the afternoon tea, but high tea actually means the same as what most people in England call tea-time: the

dinner. Whereas an afternoon tea was a so-cial event for the upper class, high tea was a necessary evening meal for the working class consisting of a mug of tea, bread, cheese, vegetables, and occasionally also meat. Therefore places that nowadays offer high tea normally include in the meal sa-vory items such as pies, omelette or English muffins.

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TEXT AND PHOTOSBY REETA LAAKSONEN

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SUPER COOL. LITERALLY.

PHOTO BY SATU VÄNSKÄ-WESTGARTH

READ ABOUT L IFE IN NORWAY AT DESTINATION UNKNOWN.

By Leigh Hines

Word around Richmond is that

“Gone with the Wind” author Mar-

garet Mitchell stayed at the Vir-ginia’s Jefferson Hotel while writing the famous Southern novel, which turned into the iconic movie classic. As an avid fan of “Gone with the Wind,” I will go ahead and say, “Fid-dle dee-dee, they do look a lot like the stairs in Rhett and Scarlett’s At-lanta home.”

We’ll never really know for sure. But I do know that at the top of

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TEXT & PHOTOS BY LE IGH HINES

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SCARLETT O’HARA

WOULD BE IMPRESSED

WITH AFTERNOON

TEA AT VIRGINIA’S

JEFFERSON HOTEL

those beautiful stairs is the Palm Court Lobby, where you can have one of the best afternoon tea services in the South. Seriously, it’s the most elaborate, tradi-tional tea service that I have encountered on my Southern travels, especially for the reasonable price.

AFTERNOON TEA AT JEFFERSON HOTEL IMPRESSES WITH SEAT-ING UNDER T IFFANY STAINED GLASS

First off, the setting for afternoon is exqui-site. Dining under Tiffany stained glass takes it up a notch in an elegant ambience. The original stained glass is impressive,

and so is the marble statue of the hotel’s namesake, Thomas Jefferson.

Like with most afternoon teas, I fill up on the scones with Devonshire cream and strawberry preserves. I can’t help it. I love scones and that rich cream with just a touch of sweetness. Frankly, my dear, I would be fine with just scones, but you get a lot more than that at the Jefferson Ho-tel.

We had tea service for four, and we had so much food that we ate the rest of it the next day for breakfast. Yes, scones taste delicious the next day just plain. The Jeffer-son afternoon tea includes assorted tea sandwiches, pastries, and tea breads for $24 per adult.

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Afternoon tea is under the direction of the Hotel’s signature restaurant, Lemaire, and under the culinary leadership of a Rich-mond native, Chef Walter Bundy. As a special treat, we also sampled a fabulous fruit-and-cheese platter, and a few extra sweets such as chocolate-covered es-presso beans and pretzels. Lemaire spe-cializes in a menu rich with Virginia-grown products.

The Jefferson Hotel, located at 101 West Franklin Street in Richmond, Vir-ginia, is a member of Preferred Hotels and is a five-star property. It is one of 45 hotels in North America to hold both the Forbes Five Star and AAA Five Diamond awards for 2013.

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IT’S TIME FOR SEMLORS,THE SWEET ALMOND-FILLED WINTER TIME BUNS FROM SCANDINAVIA

By Katja Presnal

Mardi Gras and Fat/Shrove Tuesday is on March 4th this year, and while you can get the king cake in New Orleans, we have something different in Scandinavia. They are sweet, they are huge, and they are filled with cream and almond-paste. They are

called semla in Swedish and laskiaispulla in Finnish, and these buns appear on baker-ies already right after Christmas.

Originally this sweet creamy bun was only eaten on Shrove Tuesdays as the last fes-tive food before Lent, but Scandinavians don’t observe a strict fasting for Lent any-more and semla in a bowl of warm milk became a traditional dessert every Tues-day between Shrove Tuesday and Easter. Nowadays the traditions have stretched a

little, and semlor are eaten more than ever. They are available in almost every grocery store and bakery from late December until Easter, and they are even more popular in

Sweden than in Finland. It is said that each Swede consumes on average five bakery-produced semlor each year, in addition to all those that are homemade.

In Finland the Shrove Tuesday is known as “laskiaistiistai” and it’s celebrated by play-ing in snow and going sledding. And what’s better after a day in snow, than a bun filled with cream?

Get the relatively easy recipe, and try this treat at home.

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TEXT & PHOTOS:KATJA PRESNAL

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SWEET CREAM & ALMOND PASTE BUNS

known as “semla” in Sweden and “laskiaispulla” in Finland

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BUNS: 4oz butter50 grams / 2 oz yeast (one fresh yeast package or 3 dry yeast

packages)2 cups of warm milk 1 egg, lightly beaten1/2 cup sugar1/2 teaspoon salt1/2-1 teaspoon grounded cardamon4 1/2 cup wheat flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

+ 1 egg for brushing the buns before baking.

INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING: 200 grams/ 7 oz almond paste/marzipan1/3 cup milk

Pint heavy cream3 tbsp powdered/icing sugar

+ powdered sugar on the top

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1. First melt the milk in a microwave, and pour it into a large bowl. Crumble the yeast into a bowl and let it dissolve into the milk.

2. Add the egg and mix well with the milk. Add the salt, cardamom, sugar, baking powder and start adding the flour by work-ing the dough. When you have added around 4 cups of flour you can add the sof-tened (or almost melted) butter and work it in the dough well, and you should be able to work the dough to the consistency it won’t stick to your fingers anymore. If needed, add around 1/2 cup more flour.

3. Let the dough rise under a towel in a warm place for 30-45 mins.

4. Once the dough has doubled, make around 20-25 buns and add them to a bak-ing sheet with baking paper. Make sure they are not too close to each others, be-cause they will rise more.

5. Heat the oven to 250C/480F and put a towel on the top of the buns and let them rise again for around 30 minutes or at least while the oven heats.

6. Beat the egg and use a brush to glaze the tops of the buns. Bake the buns until golden.

7. Allow the buns to cool before adding the filling.

8. Prepare the almond filling by warming the almond paste/marzipan in the micro-wave with the milk and mix them well. You don’t have to really warm them, but it will make the marzipan softer and easier to work with.

9. Whip the heavy whipping cream with powered sugar.

10. Once the buns have cooled off, cut a top off and add the almond paste first and then the whipped cream and add the bun top back on. Decorate with powdered sugar.

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TIP: you can also do what they do in Finland: instead of marzipan use jam, for example raspberry jam.

Coffee

smells like

magic and

fairy-tales. Allison Czarnecki

petitelefant.com

DIY COFFEE SCRUB by Allison Czarnecki

77PHOTOS BY ALLISON CZARNECKI

Coffee lovers, rejoice! Your ever-lovin-coffee-minds are about to be blown with this DIY coffee scrub.  I’ve done citrus scrub, regular ol’ sugar scrub, and straw-berry salt foot scrub, and I thought it would be fun to mix it up (wakka, wakka) and try some coffee scrub. Yes, truly, today I’m going to show you how to make your own coffee scrub. 

I trust you love the smell of coffee.  When you walk into a bookstore or coffee shop, you lift your head in the air and inhale, deeply.  Because coffee smells like magic and fairy-tales, that’s why.

So it makes sense to me then, that you and I would love to wake up with a morning shower featuring a coffee scrub finale before heading out into the world.

Every little bit helps, you know.

The sugar and salt scrubs I make always feature some sort of natural oil.  The combination of the exfoliant, in this case coffee grounds, with the oil makes your skin smooth + moisturized, just the way you like it.  The way I like it, anyway. 

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DIY COFFEE BODY SCRUB

Coffee Body Scrub

• 1/2 cup coffee grounds

• 1/4 cup coconut or olive oil

• 2 T white or brown sugar / I use one of each

• vitamin E gel tabs

• 1 T vanilla

Step 1: Mix together coffee grounds and sugars and com-bine thoroughly

Step 2: Add olive oil, vitamin E and vanilla

Step 3: Mix until all ingredients are completely combined

Step 4: Put mixture into a water-tight container with a lid.

Your coffee scrub will smell like happi-ness on a spoon.  Put it in the shower, and every time you bathe use a table-spoon or two to exfoliate all over your body. 

If you’d like to focus on the areas that have a bit of cellulite (who me? never!) coffee grounds reduce the visi-bility of all that nonsense, temporarily at least.  And, it helps to reduce any redness + inflammation on your skin.

My favorite part of it though is that I end up smelling like a latte, and I’m nice and soft to boot.

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TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ALL ISON CZARNECKI

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Gift idea!

If you’re making the scrub for your friends, use a cute cupcake wrapper to spruce things up a bit.  I made mine in a tiny canning jar with a screw on lid, and put a cupcake liner in-between the jar lid and the screw on lid.  You obvi-ously won’t take it into the shower like that, but life is all about presentation.

Wrap a little colored string around the top and you’re the new Martha, coffee scrub in hand.

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By Katja Presnal

PHOTO: KATJA PRESNAL

Makes two loafs or one large Bundt pan.

INGREDIENTS:2 ripe bananas

4 oz butter1 cup strong coffee

2 eggs1 cup sugar

2 cups flower1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder2 tsp vanilla sugar

2 tsp cinnamon1 tsp ginger

Mocha topping ingredients 3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp strong coffee 1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder1 tsp vanilla sugar

INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C2. Smash bananas. 3. Brew some coffee for you & for the rec-

ipe. Melt the butter and mix with coffee.4. Whip the eggs with sugar. 5. Mix the dry ingredients.6. Mix the dry ingredients, egg-sugar mix

and bananas carefully. 7. Prepare two loaf-sized pans or one large Bundt pan with butter and flour and pour the mix in. 8. Bake in 350F/175F 30-50 min depend-

ing on your oven and the size of the pan. 9. Prepare the topping by mixing all of the ingredients in a small pan and carefully melting the butter and while mixing it with the other ingredients. The topping will be pretty runny. Once ready, drizzle on the top of the coffee cake.

BANANA MOCHA COFFEE CAKE WITH MOCHA TOPPING

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I hope you enjoy this easy recipe, perfect with afternoon coffee!

Katja

Ingredients:2 capsules of Dulsão do Brasil2 pieces of white chocolate7 oz. of milk1 oz. of rose-waterCrystallized rose petals

Instructions:Heat your Cappuccino cups. Add a piece of white chocolate in each cup.

Prepare the capsules of Dulsão do Brasil as an espresso and pour in each cup. Combine the milk and the rose-water. Prepare the flavored milk using the steam nozzle of your Nespresso machine or the Aeroccino milk frother. Pour the frothed milk into the cups and decorate with crystallized rose pet-als.

NESPRESSO CAPPUCCINO A LA ROSE

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for two!

More Valentine’s Daycocktail ideas at

SkimbacoLifestyle.com

16 shades ofred

Hot gift ideas for the Valentine’s Dayfrom Red Envelope

ADVERTORIAL

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VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT IDEAS FROM RED ENVELOPE

by Katja Presnal

Looking for hot gift ideas for your Valentine?

I picked my favorite Valentine’s Day gift ideas from our sponsor Red Envelope, all very fitting to our “coffee, tea or me” theme.

One of the things I love about Red Envelope is the signature red gift box the gifts arrive in, making gift giving always very special.

1. Jura Impressa F7 coffee machine for the perfect cup. $1,799.95

2. Personalized puzzle with map where you met $39.95

3. Cashmere robe for the morning moments. $249.95

4. Coffee mugs to share the moment. $2086

BREAKFAST IN BED

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TAKE ME AWAY1. Mercado Global Rosa Brocade weekender bag for her. $279.95

2. Leather weekender bag for him. $299.95

3. Cashmere eye mask and blanket set for relaxing trip. $249.95

4. Love potion aromatherapy candle to set the mood. $14.99

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JUST.. TAKE ME1. Hanky Panky set you’ll both like in a heart shaped box. $50

2.Eberjey Millie cami + short set, starting at $96.00

3.Sensual Delights spa set for bath together. $60

4.Rose petals seductions game to heat things up. $30

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YOU ARE A KEEPER1. Mabel Chong gold fill garnet leaf necklace to last a lifetime. $250

2. Personalized wall art to daily remind of your love. $79

3. Pillow with your names to cozy up. $52

4. Necklace with special message to carry next to her heart. $69.99

NAME: Angel Constance Eeg

I’M FROM: Bergen, Norway

PROFESSION: I work as an interior designer, but the past year I have been working as a location scout and done research for a Norwegian TV-producer. My newest project is a website / travel blog, which of I hopefully one day can make a liv-ing.

LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST MEANS TO ME: spending time with my two beautiful daughters, TRAVELING, photography and yoga.

MY LIFE CHANGED WHEN I REALIZED that I was working way to much and I prioritizing the material things in life rather than experiencing and appreciat-ing the moments in life. “Happiness is a way of travel not a destination.”

MY FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATIONS: There are so many, but Paris, Provence, Tuscany, Bali and Ha-waii will always be destination I will keep returning to.

I DREAM OF TRAVELING TO: Africa, Peru and Cuba are on my dream list.

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FEATURED SKIMBACOER

Follow AngelConstance on Instagram!

SKIMBACO moment isone which is characterized by no sense of time because it embodiesyour passions and interests.It’s a moment of “flow,”or pure enjoyment.

Wes HollandLife Through Preppy Glasses

MY SKIMBACO MOMENTS

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PHOTO: FR INGE MAGAZINE

By Wes Holland

I was featured in FRINGE magazine!

incorporatE what you are passionate about in as many facets of your life as possible.

When I joined the Skimbaco team in 2012 I wrote that for me, the Skimbaco Lifestyle "is incorporating what you are passionate about in as many facets of your life as possible." While my view of Skimbaco moments has definitely grown more profound, when I re-flected on 2013 I realized my initial thoughts were still underlying many of my top mo-ments. My top moments were characterized by things that I love: travel, fashion, design, and friends. While I am known for my love of designer apparel, not every moment was a "made in Italy" or "made in France" mo-ment, some times it is the small moments that are the best as well. Here are my top Skimbaco moments of 2013.  

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I learned to ski in Aspen, Colorado.

Read the full article at SkimbacoLifestyle.com

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Spa Day at the Ritz-Carlton.

I fell in love with Barcelona.

Touring Southern Europe with a friend. Highlights: city of Dubrovnik, Croatia and the luxury of the Bvlgari Hotel in Milan.

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Many of my Skimbaco moments are characterized by lots of laughing with friends.

Weekend escapes to Hamptons, and feeling like a Van Der Woodsen the in the Royal Suite at the New York Palace.

Pursuing my interests in fashion, design, and style in New York City.

Fashion Week is one of the most exciting weeks that comes twice a year in New York.

TEXT & PHOTOSBY WES HOLLAND

LIFETHROUGHPREPPYGLASSES .BLOGSPOT.COMINSTAGRAM: WES_HOLLANDTWITTER: LTPREPPYGLASSES

P INTEREST: LTPREPPYGLASSES

4.

5.

1.

2.

3.

SAY WHAT?3 COFFEE RELATED BEAUTY TRICKS

Coffee is another item to add to your beauty regime says Amelia Old, the beauty expert of Pretty in the Queen City-blog. Read her 3 beauty tricks:

“Coffee is full of antioxidants and can fight off signs of aging. Do I think this will turn back the clock several years? Of course not, but hey, most of us will try anything to rid of puffy eyes, age spots and fine lines.

Studies have shown that caffeine helps re-duce cellulite. Bring on the coffee to your booty cheeks. This is easy to try at home by simply adding coffee grounds to your body scrub.

I recently read that coffee grounds are great for hair. Seriously! By applying grounds to wet hair before shampooing it will help remove buildup and will leave hair silky smooth. “

2 COFFEE DRINKS FOR ATHLETES

Caffeine helps athletes to train longer, con-centrate better, and recover faster after workout.

Two very specific hot drinks are trending among the cross-fit athletes in Copenha-gen, Denmark according to Troels Iversen of Riders magazine, the leading freeriding ski magazine of Denmark.

Bullet proof coffee before training is sup-posed to give you the extra energy to ex-tend your cross-fit training just a little longer. Bullet proof coffee is coffee, coco-nut water and unsalted butter blended well, and this trendy athlete’s coffee is a hit around the world.

However, I had never heard of chai egg lat-tes before. You read it - a chai latte with a raw egg blended well, and the raw egg gives you the protein to keep you going for longer.

5 HEALTHY COFFEE TRENDS

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Did you know there are more benefits to coffee than just giving you a good boost through the day?

THE STORY BEHIND THE COVER PHOTO

monicatorne: That moment when you are almost ready to start exploring a place: nice breakfast, camera ready, map check-ing..

susan_vibrantireland: Planning something new & fun, in a relaxed & enjoyable way--savouring every moment, not rush-ing through them with stress.

technomade: This image = the perfect morning, full of promises!!!

spillingthebeans: Shows power, action and determination. Plus with coffee, we know we can take on anything!!

emelancon: This is a slow Sunday morn-ing planning a trip while having a coffee with the love one.

thevanwithnoplan: It says waking up in a new city, ready for an adventure.

inga_ros: Why not? Let's go!!!

notsupposedto: Ready to explore!

sweetsh36: This makes me feel like *Let us plan the next trip* .....maybe that's what I will do later!

aseedinspired: All kinds of lovely in this shot.

WHAT DOES IT SAY TO YOU?

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THEY THOUGHT THIS P ICTURE

SAYS .

READ THE COMMENTS . AND

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WHAT YOU THINK OF IT !

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FOLLOW SKIMBACO ON INSTAGRAM AND

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MENTS OF L IVING L IFE TO THE FULLEST ,

WE FEATURE BEST P ICS . SEE MORE AT

SK IMBACOLIFESTYLE .COM/INSTAGRAM.

LOCATION: FLORENCE,ITALY

THE STORY K IND OF GOES L IKE THIS . . .I spoke at the TBD-Italy conference in Rimini last fall and I participated on a trip in the Abruzzo-area of Italy as part of the post-conference tours. After the trip, my plan was to travel to Northern Italy to visit a friend, and then head to Venice to meet up with my family. I started having knee pain, and realized that there was just no way that I could travel from Southern Italy to Northern in one day.

My Spanish friend Inma Gregorio of A World to Travel was heading to Bologna to stay at Blogville, a blogger house project of Emillia Romagna area. Another new friend Rick Mereki from Australia was traveling the very skimbacoish way of “plan as you go.” We all ended up camping at Blogville for a night, and I felt like I was taking back those youth hostel nights that I never expe-rienced.

The cover photo was taken in Florence, in a cafe right next to Duomo. We stopped in Florence before catching a train to Bolo-gna. Rick went to see “Duomo in 15 min-

utes” and I just needed a coffee break! Inma and I sat in the cafe, and planned a quick 30-minute walk route by the river before heading to the train station. She had been to Florence before and my travel plan was to come back there the following week. This coffee moment was a perfect break during the crazy travel day of sitting in a bus and train through Italy.

The truth is, most people got the “story” of the image right even without knowing any of this. It does represent a moment of calmness while experiencing great adven-tures. It does show action, the camera is ready to shoot, it does show planning and determination to walk the city streets. It does show we love to stop to enjoy the moments (and coffee) and the good com-pany of a friend. It shows we love to travel and share our travels with others (via pho-tos we take).

This was just one of those perfect travel moments. And this is what Skimbaco is all about.

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by Katja Presnal

“Let’s go for a coffee” can mean a quick dash for

java between errands, a lengthy meeting over

cappuccinos on a rainy day, or a solo coffee - just you

and your thoughts.

Adrienne ShubinTheRichLifeonaBudget.com

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