Building & Renovation

How to open a bottle of wine with a hand drill

There are many options to open a bottle of wine without using a cork screwer, last summer I tried a new method - using an old school hand drill.

f you have been following my blog and especially home remodeling series you have probably noticed I have been trying out a lot of interesting tools lately, how about mowing a grass with a scythe? 

Tools you will need:


A bottle of Badagoni, semisweet Khvanchkara wine (produced in…

Stacking firewood in barn

Last summer taught me a lot of new things. I tried mowing grass with a scythe after which I "upgraded" to a trimmer. After all I was doing a new thing for me - home remodeling. 

In today's Piece of Life photo series I will share with you another great outdoor activity I did last summer - stacking firewood in barn. 



Firewood waiting to be stacked in barn



Stacking firewood in barn



Stacking firewood in barn



Stacking…

Food blogger

How to prepare traditional Solyanka soup

In today's food blogger series I'll share a photo recipe on how to prepare traditional Solyanka soup. Solyanka is among my favorite soups and I prepare this some 3-4 times in a year. Pictures in this article are back from summer 2015 when I boiled a large pot with this delicious soup.


Solyanka is a thick, spicy and sour Russian soup that is common in Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union. …

Travel

Michelangelo Square in Florence, Italy

Michelangelo Square is one of the best place in Florence to take picturesque panoramic views of Florence. We found this place thanks to suggestions on some travel guide and indeed, the pictures taken here are amazing.

We were lucky enough to find this place quickly as it was located in just some 3 minute drive from our hotel. Read more: Villa Carlota hotel review. We parked our car at Michelangelo Square, I installed a tripod and…

Digital Photography School

How To Take and Post-Process Night HDR Images

In today's digital school photography project I'll show how to take night HDR images and post-process them in Adobe Lightroom and Postmatix. 

A year ago - taking a decent night photo sounded mission impossible for me, since I have acquired a DSLR camera a lot has changed, and I'm starting to feel being capable of creating even night HDR's now. Take a look on this tutorial: Practicing Photography: Doing Night Shots - Tbilisi By Night…

Hotel reviews

Hotel Villa Carlota in Florence, Italy

Villa Carlota hotel in Florence is a 4-star hotel. We stayed here overnight just day before New Year in 2015. We arrived here after paid a visit to the leaning tower of Pisa and short wanderings around Tuscany vineyards.

Previous night we spent at another 4-star hotel in Lucca. Read more:  Albergo Celide Hotel Review in Lucca, Italy. Villa Carlota compared to Albergo Celide is a truly a 4-star hotel and I will definitely return to…

Vineyards in Tuscany, Italy

If there are a thousands things to see before we die - I believe to see vineyards in Tuscany are among them. At the end of December 2015, we traveled around region of Tuscany in Italy and to memorize those fascinating places I created a few panorama photos. Vineyards in Tuscany - Piece of Life.



Vineyards in Tuscany

It is amazing to observe how using a simple DSLR camera with kit lens I figured out to create a panorama…

Italy

'I Fossi' Restaurant in San Gimignano, Italy

I Fossi is a small roadside restaurant located in San Gimignano town in Italy. We arrived here just shortly we paid a visit to the Leaning tower of Pisa.We made a stop here by chance, just because noticed there is one free parking spot available. Unfortunately we managed to order just two cappuccinos and noticed there is a queue with cars on the nearby street, some lady had arrived to the hotel (turns out there is a hotel as well at…

Restaurant reviews

Roadside cafe near Surami Mountain Pass

I'm not quite sure what name this pace actually wears - I started to call it Perevelnaya (From Russian: Перевальная) which in English might sound like Next to the Mountain Pass. Since this cafeteria is actually located next to the Surami mountain pass, I believe there is nothing wrong with such of interpretation by me.

This cafe is a regular stop for me, whn traveling from Tbilisi to Kutaisi by car, in most cases I'm heading to Kutaisi…

Latvia

Cafe 'Jumis' in Skrunda

Cafe Jumis in Skrunda was among my top dining places during Summer 2015, because of it's close location to our rural house.

Located next to the highway connecting Riga with Liepaja in Skrunda town, they serve a typical bistro food here for a very attractive prices. They definitely have the best desserts I have tried in these parts of Latvia. Banana, plum and other milkshakes just rocks here.



Cafe Jumis in Skrunda



Daily menu at…

Latvia

Cafe 'Pagrabiņš' in Kuldīga

If you are the lucky one and you have a chance to visit picturesque Latvian town of Kuldīga, make sure you make your dinning out at town's of of the best cafe's/ restaurant - Cafe Pagrabiņš.


Or take a look of another Kuldīga restaurants here.


Located in the heart of Kudlīga Old town on Baznicas street, this place offers traditional Latvian cuisine for a very reasonable prices.  



Cafe Pagrabins in Kuldīga

Located next to the…

Blog income

Blog Traffic and Income Report for 2015 - 347,035 users / $9,819.71

This time of the year have come when I'm looking back on previous 2015 year. In today's article I will reveal some data behind the scenes - both traffic and income for whole year of 2015.

If you have been following my blog for a while, you have already probably noticed that once in a month I cover monthly traffic and income reports. Make sure you check them out. This article is a round up posts for previous twelve reports. 

This blog has…

Travel

Leaning tower of Pisa in Italy

We all have heard about Pisa tower, I won't be too original by saying - it's that leaning tower located somewhere in Italy. 

At the end of 2015 I had a chance to visit this place second time in my lifetime (my mom, told me that I was here back in 1990 or 1991, but was so tired that refused to leave our tourist bus and took a lovely nap instead of wondering at this oblique tower).

This time I felt very energized, armored with a tripod and…

Restaurant reviews

Restaurant Antica Drogheria in Lucca, Italy

Restaurant Antica Drogheria is located in Lucca, Italy, we discovered this restaurant by accident, just shortly checked in at Albergo Celide hotel and decided to make an evening walk beyond Lucca's city wall.

And here it was - another great Italian restaurant located on  Via Elisa, 5.



Antica Drogheria in Lucca, Italy

We had to wait for about some 10 minutes to get a free table (seems this place is extremely popular), by…

Feast in Kuldiga

A brilliant festival is held in town of Kuldiga (Western Latvia) each year just shortly after midsummer.  In today's Piece of Life photo project series I would love to share some images from Feast in Kuldiga (taken July, 2015)

Such trade fairs are pretty popular in Latvia  - visitors can buy goods from local craftsmen, artists or small producers.



Cider sold from retro car in Kuldiga



Feast in Kuldiga banner



Basket…

Building & Renovation

Lawn mowing in the backyard territory

If you have been following home remodeling series on my blog you might tell I'm starting to repeat - another article on lawn mowing? Yes, another article on that. 

After trying mowing grass with a scythe I just understood how hard it actually is and started to look for some more serious tools, and then trimmer replaced scythe. Just after some month I realized the grass is back, and I was left with no option as to loan a trimmer again, this…

Travel

Kidobani Trading center in Tbilisi

When something from your home appliance or electronics are broke and you think you could fix it by your own - Kidobani trading center in Tbilisi is a great place to find those small details you are looking for.

Kidobani trading center is located between Tbilisi Railway station and Dinamo arena, next to the Dezerteer Bazaar.

I have bought here replacement battery for a laptop, twice a tap nozzle and some plumbing insulation…

Postcards from Jvari Monastery

Postcards from... are actually a really cool photo project some can run, after submitting postcards from Tbilisi and postcards from Sighnaghi (both are located in wonderful Caucasian Republic of Georgia) I realized - postcards from.. are going to be more often featured on Piece of Life series photo posts. 

In today's article - let me share some postcards from Jvari monastery (again, Republic of Georgia)



Postcard from Jvari monastery…

Tbilisi - Fairyland in Winter

It was an early morning at the end of January when my better part awakened me and told me - hey, it's snowing - it's time to make those lovely and socially sharable Tbilisi winter photos!

That's exactly we actually did - after some five minutes the coffee was served, and 10 minutes later we were already on street catching a taxi. I was so excited of seeing a snow (again, after some 3 weeks, previously I seen it back in Italy, when we did a…

Postcards From Sighnaghi

Signhaghi (Region of Kakheti, Republic of Georgia) has always been a special place for us to visit. Probably because it's pretty far away from nations capital Tbilisi, we have been heading rarely, but every visit here has been spectacular at least. 


Learn more about my Travel guide to Signagi




View to Sighnaghi town

The town and its environs are also known for their landscapes and historical monuments. Sighnaghi has recently…

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