The Last Post

Yes we are home and how wonderful it is to be home. Experienced travellers will understand the frustration of jet lag, of waking in the middle of the night and being awake for several hours, fully alert (and sometimes even wanting to eat!). Then there is holiday euphoria and holiday brain. I can't get the smile off my face and can't stop looking at photos but then again my brain has gone to mush. I am resisting routine as long as possible but it is probably time to get with it.

Since coming home I have had so many perfect 10/10 coffees. Thank you Team Hahndorf's. I have even got straight into Italian cooking, right from my first night home. So far I've made chicken cacciatore, my favourite potato and peppers dish(with less oil), gnocchi (including a very successful gluten free version) with a vegetarian sauce and tonight the stuffed zucchinis and meatballs with Adrianno's prize polenta dish( except I can barely remember this one and am going by the photo on my blog).

Whilst this is technically my last blog I will be adding a recipes tab and loading up recipes for those who are interested, obviously Italian ones and gluten free successes. Last night was definitely my most successful gnocchi dish ever. I still plan on adding more photos and comments to my Scotland blogs because I had no idea what I was doing then. My last blog was going to be a 'Blooper Reel' which was Tony's suggestion but after he read my draft he realised that he was the main person of interest, so it has been deleted. Instead here are our favourite photos, highlights and lowlights:

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Scotland. How can I not go back? What a big, wonderful family I have all living on the other side of the world. Scotland is beautiful and we'd both love to see more of it but the time spent with my family was precious to both of us.

2. Food tour 1: Calabrian Table Tour. I don't know why more people don't do food tours. What a wonderful way to have an authentic experience, away from the crowds. You can learn so much about people from their food; about their past and their present. Like other tours meeting other like minded souls adds to the experience. Chrissy and Barb, it would never have been what it was without you.

3. Food tour 3: Umbrian Appetites. And I was worried that a second food tour would be overkill! No way. So many more food experiences and high quality cooking lessons. Just like in the first one we stayed at an amazing Agritourismo. I recommend this style of accommodation for those wanting an alternative to hotels.

LOWLIGHTS

1. Hard pillows (this was more of a Tony problem because there was usually one softish one!)

2. Sub-standard coffees (I won't say any more about this except Tony is still having espressos!)

3. Crowds of tourists and cities in general (My Vatican blog says it all here).

4. Poverty on every city corner. (I struggled with this. It's okay to say just ignore them but how does one reconcile a holiday of plenty with those without a roof over their heads?)

5. Airports (make them smaller please ... Or have instructions for dummies!)

6. Tiny bathrooms (and I needed a manual to figure out how to turn on most showers). Oh, and those horrible male toilets. Why do they have them when there is barely any room to turn around? I was always worried my washing line was going to fall in there .....!

7. I almost forgot this one: smokers! All major cities were the same, passive smoke overload. The only way to have a meal without a massive nicotine fix was to eat inside. Reverse discrimination at its best.

Some of my favourite photos:

Whilst I don't wish to end my blog with anything corny, the last few photos speak for themselves, Oh what fun WE had  ......   xoxo

Airports!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a quickie to say we are travelling home. We are currently in Dubai airport, ready for bed but with a 3 & 1/2 hour wait until we board for KL. Just when we thought we had airports all sorted we mucked up in Rome. Of course we were there in plenty of time and of course we found our gate before we relaxed and had something to eat and go to the loo, etc.  The toilet was the last stop before boarding and the queues were so long at the ladies, so we didn't arrive back at our gate until 10 mins after boarding had started. No need to panic, boarding takes so long.

The only problem was we had the wrong gate! How did we do this after being in and out of airports for 7 weeks? Obviously we've become too complacent. I mistook 'zone' on our tickets for 'gate'. And off we ran again. There was no time to spare. All the signs said 8 minutes to the right gate. Everyone knows that's only 4 if you run. But that only took us to the train station. Luckily we only had to go one stop and we were there, almost, just a short run to join the back of the queue.

Now everyone knows it's a long haul and it's best to stay 'fresh', at least initially, not run like a mad lunatic through an airport before you even get on the first plane.

Now we're in Dubai. I cannot believe how long it took us to get to the 'right' gate and yes we have triple checked that it is the right one. Lots of walking, elevators, lifts, and another train journey.  There was only one small hiccup and it wasn't even our fault. We boarded the train and the destination flashed up as 'luggage collection' which couldn't possibly be us because we were just transferring planes. So whilst everyone got off the train (usually a bad sign) we stayed on for the next station, thinking that would be our gate. Wrong again! The train headed back in the direction we'd just come from. So we just played it cool, went back then back again, got off at luggage collection and found more directions to our gate. And it's not our fault because they should have announced that all passengers should get off! 

Anyway we are not moving from our gate! Bye from Dubai.

Here are a few photos from yesterday:

I think this is the Sant Maria Basilica.

I didn't know Tony was taking this shot. Maybe I'd had enough of churches by this stage!

I think I'm yawning.

And a quick photo from our last dinner:

And Tony being silly!

And a last minute attempt to get my runners dry:

As I ran out of internet in Dubai I couldn't publish this entry, so we are now safely in the correct gate lounge in KL. Two thirds of the way home. We got this far before they confiscated our lovely Nduja!!!!!!!

 Melbourne here we come x

Raining in Rome

This is it, our final day. Tomorrow we begin the journey home.

Yesterday over a late lunch the heavens opened and we watched people getting soaked. Today they watched us! We have so many wet clothes and runners that, as I write this, Tony is trying to dry them one by one with a hairdryer. This was my good idea. His was that we can wear the wet socks and runners on the plane and they'll dry in half an hour! My runners were so wet I could pour water out of them and wring out my inner soles. He can wear wet shoes if he wants. Plane travel is uncomfortable enough without wet shoes!

Our day didn't start out wet. Instead there was sunshine and blue sky. 

We headed to the Spanish Steps and found a horse and carriage waiting for us. How lovely. 

Whilst negotiating journey and price, an enthusiastic animal liberationist came up to us warning us not to accept the ride. She claimed they would soon be out of business as the horses drop dead in the streets! Not to be put off we paid the chap and in an hour saw many of the city sights, stopping to visit The Pantheon and Piazza Narvona, etc. this was so much better than the 'hop on, hop off bus'.

I must confess that the animal liberationist's warning kept repeating in my head. So much so that I was conscious that the load for the poor beast was unbalanced and kept shifting in my seat accordingly. I then had the driver stop at a stall at the Trevi Fountain to buy the horse, and all his friends, some very expensive apples. Turns out I couldn't feed the horse his apple in case other 'would be' customers noticed it frothing at the mouth from all the apple juice, thinking it was neglected and about to drop dead. I only have the driver's word that the horses will actually get the apples and they won't become apple pie for his dinner!

Thoroughly rested after our horse and cart ride we headed up the Spanish Steps. In case you're wondering, I checked the horse and he hadn't even broken out in a sweat.

136 steps later, we had a wonderful view of the city and at this stage, blue sky!

Keeping to our plan, we headed to the Villa Borghese Gardens, so that we could enjoy a break from the tourists and see something green. We hadn't gone far when the sky began to change colour. We tended to ignore it though, enjoying the walk and the views.

At this point we still had time to turn back but we continued on to the gardens. As it got darker we headed to a lovely cafe in the heart of the gardens. We just kept getting further away!

We waited until the heavens opened, got our coats out and ran for it! I'm still not sure why we didn't stay and have lunch??????

Tony is always looking for an opportunity to make me run. Just as an aside, I have worn almost everything in my suitcase except my running top and shorts. Funny about that! Anyway we ran past subways?

And we kept running until the crowds of tourists disappeared and then we enjoyed the views again, all by ourselves.

And so, now you know why Tony is drying our clothes using a hair dryer!

So far I have not even mentioned food, even although as I write this, Tony is planning his last cake and probably our last dinner.

Do I like Rome better this time?

Much better, especially in the rain x

Day 7 Umbrian appetites Cooking class No. 4

Technically for me, this was more a Masterclass than a cooking class.  Guiseppe, you are a legend. I know you haven't read this blog, yet somehow you are a mind reader, having instructed and demonstrated ALL of my favourite dishes. I am now ready to go home equipped with so many recipes, new ideas and hopefully, some of the right skills. Tony has embraced all of the cooking experiences and is a whizz at pasta making, so between us we 'should' be able to recreate some authentic dishes.

Whilst this lesson didn't offer as many 'hands on' opportunities it offered much more in the way of instruction and demonstration. 

This way we covered more recipes and learnt more 'tricks of the trade' and were free to ask Guiseppe about any of the dishes he'd cooked for us during the week.

Guiseppe had already prepared the pasta dough for the Capellata. The real lesson was in filling the pasta and shaping in into little 'caps'. This was quite a challenge. In case you're interested, this dough was made just using egg yolks. I have lost count of the number of pasta dough variations. You can see how orange this dough is as it only contains egg yolks (24) and flour.

The filling was 3 parts ricotta to one part cooked spinach with plenty of Parmesan to taste.

Our attempts were lovely and rustic:

You might remember the individual lasagnes from a previous blog. These were made in disposable foil containers, about the size of a muffin tin. We used a large sheet of fresh commercial pasta, placed it in boiling water for a minute to soften. We then cut a strip off the end (about 5cm wide), then cut this strip into 3 squares. The large lasagne sheet was placed into the greased foil containers, with its 'ears' sticking out, meat sauce added, layered with a square of pasta, then a dessert spoon of ricotta, the second pasta square, more meat sauce, third square of pasta, finished with ricotta then you fold over the pasta 'ears' and bake, sprinkled with cheese. Guiseppe's recipe has a side of rich cheese sauce. 

One more of my favourite recipes included the very gorgeous chocolate molten pudding which is very easy to make. The trick is to freeze the puddings and cook frozen to maintain the 'lava'. This makes preparing ahead very easy. Using good quality dark chocolate (70%) is also important to avoid the puddings being too sweet.

Lastly, we made the melt in your mouth Porcini Mushroom Flans. I have promised to type this recipe up and will place it under the recipe tab on my blog. I may be home when this happens though.

I have now officially eaten too much. It has taken me 7 weeks to feel this way. Sure there were a few times when I was determined that at the next meal I would eat less but it never happened. There was always something new to be surprised by that needed to be tried. 

We are now on a fast train to Rome to spend our final 2 nights before flying home. When I look back on the photos from the earlier part of our holiday it seems we have been away much longer. There are so many 'chapters' to our holiday and it is almost time to write the final one. 

Rome, you have one last chance to impress!

NB. I can't resist posting a few happy snaps.

The above photo was in the mountains just before the truffle hunt. Clearly I am missing Lenny!

Tony is missing him too.

It's a cliche I know but I've finally found the time to stop .... And smell the roses.

And the stinky truffles !