Kia ora and welcome to my blog. I'm Renata - mom, DIY enthusiast and home chef and would like to share a bit of my world with you. Enjoy the ride!
My German friend’s Kiwi partner once said to her “Gosh, you Germans are so home proud..”. All I thought when I heard that was: “That is so true!”. We just like having it comfy and warm, best topped with some good food. Even though I’m half German and half Polish, I’ve lived in Germany for long enough to live up this. Plus, Polish people aren’t much different in that regard, but consider themselves better cooks. These days I’m living in New Zealand and have so for the last 10+ years. I've decided to share some of my life and experiences with you in this blog. It will cover food, DIY projects and parenting ideas with German, Polish and NZ influences, plus some from my travels.
Why I love DIY
Living on an island (NZ), can be sometimes limiting. For instance, the variety of products isn’t as wide (e.g. there is no Ikea) and we pay island tax on everything we buy (products and services). So DIY is a good option and whenever I can, I try to be thrifty. I thought some of the ideas and projects I’ve done so far might be worth sharing - so my blog was born. I hope you find it helpful. My drive for DIY projects comes from my Polish/German background - I find that Polish people share the same can do attitude as the Kiwis. But also, in Germany, whenever you move you make your rental you own, i.e. you take your kitchen along, put new flooring in, put up wallpaper, paint, buy fitting furniture etc. Our family has always rented, so whenever we moved, my family would do the whole shebang. My dad always allowed me to help, so I had a lot of DIY exposure and have few inhibitions about being able to DIY something. I plan it, research how to do it and then do it… That’s just how my mind works. I realised that this whole DIY thing is a big part of me, when we drove past our local hardware store and my kids said: “Mom look, your favourite store!”. At Playcentre, I was the property manager for 2 years which had me painting decks to make them less slippery, filling holes in rubber matting, fixing walls after leaks, installing all kinds of things, unblocking drains, water blasting slippery surfaces and so much more – there’s just no end to it when you’re dealing with an old building like the one we had. My own place is a bit better, being a solid house from the 1960s’, but still not new and needs modernising, i.e. the perfect breeding ground for DIY projects. I’ll share as much as possible with you.
Parenting skills
I’ve been a mom for 7 years and have been part of Playcentre for the last 5 years of my life. Being part of Playcentre has seen me gain lots of experience in dealing with young children and gained me a New Zealand Certificate in Early Childhood Education and Care. Now that both my kids are at school and I have some more time on my hands, I’ve decided to share some of my experiences in the hope of helping other parents along on their journey. In the end it takes a village to raise them!
My love for food
As far as I can remember, I’ve been helping my mom in the kitchen make traditional Polish and German food. When I moved out and travelled the world, finally ending up in New Zealand – my food horizons expanded. So you’ll find many different influences in the food section of this blog (still to come). I love cooking and baking. For the last five years I’ve been a vegetarian, which was quite a learning curve for me coming from a meat loving family on both mine and my partners’ side. I’ll be posting some old meaty family dishes as well as the dishes I newly discovered. I also plan on comparing some vegetarian meat substitutes, which can vary majorly in their quality and taste. So watch this space!
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