LIFE UNLEASHED

Not even 24hrs back in Canada and we we treated to a giant feast of East Coast lobsters that my father and his wife Carolyn hosted.  There is no lobster in the world that compares to the Canadian east coast lobster. They rave about the Tasmanian lobsters in Australia, which are good, but they are just no where near as sweet and tasty as their Canadian Canadian counteerparts. Lisa’s loud exclamation at the dinner table –”Look at the size of these claws!” ensured we were invited to have more lobsters at their Pigeon lake cottage.   Sweet!  As we said, it’s all about subtle hints and lots of gratitude.

When it comes to good food we had to look no further that Lisa’s Mom’s great Eastern European / Germanic cooking. There is nothing like home made potato pancakes, rouladin (tender rolled beef), Spetzle (South German dumplings), stuffed peppers and of course some of her famous Christmas pecan squares.

Turkey has always been something a bit hard to get in Australia except for at Christmas and even then in can be very expensive. They don’t have Thanksgiving in Australia and, lets face it, at Christmas it’s just too damn hot to make cooking turkey very practical (most people have seafood instead).  Our first Turkey dinner was provided by my brother’s wife Sue who created a whole Christmas in July with decorations, a huge group of revellers, and a turnip that people actually like! It was a dinner made even more fun by a water fight and a group mauling of apple pie! Great party. Our second turkey dinner was made by Lisa’s mom who made a nice family sit down meal that felt like such a special occasion. Those types of meals with family are something you truly miss when you are away.

Being home also gave me a chance to cook,  which as most of you know is something I quite enjoy. When you go ten months without cooking it’s a pleasure to get back into it. I cooked a couple good Asian meals and a huge Tuscan feast for Lisa’s parents anniversary.

Ahhhh, the taste of a good home cooked meal! There’s nothing like it. 

We took a bit of a gamble booking into an American run Agritourismo in Italy.  Shouldn’t we pick a more authentic experience?  Shouldn’t someone’s mother be cooking for us? Well, as it turns out, the best food we had in Italy was made just like Mama used to make, provided your Mama is a 20 something chef named Jason from New York. 

First off the setting of there Agritourismo was perfect.  Surrounded by rolling hills their gorgeous estate was the perfect place to get away from the noise and hustle of the towns.  The classic old stone home  was so well cared for and had all the modern conveniences you could want and a beautiful and refreshing pool to relax by.  The couple running the place, Ashley and Jason, were the best hosts we had in all of Italy and were always on hand too recommend things to do and place to see.  The concern on Ashley’s face if she saw us finish our wine glass as she ran to fetch the bottle from the fridge was fantastic.

When it came  to dinner we didn’t really know what to expect other than they were big believers in the slow food movement which we have also always followed.  Slow food is basically the opposite of fast food where time and effort are put into to making things from scratch with the freshest possible ingredients.  It is alo the art of enjoying the meal and taking time to savour the flavours and your company rather than scarffing everything down so that you can sit blankly in front of the TV.  Jason took the idea of slow food to the extreme.  Many of the ingredients he had grown right in his own garden.  Others he had travelled the countryside to find local providers of.  We were in for a treat.

Jason too simple ingredients such as fresh zucchini and just by taking the time to shave it thin and season it with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper before finishing it with fantastic aged Parmigiana.  He did the same sort of thing in providing us with garden fresh lima beans and pecorino.  Jason surprised our taste buds with 30 year old aged balsamic vinegar which he described with something akin to love as he drizzled it over a light omelette.  In New York, Jason said, you can never spread pig fat on toast and have people eat it but in Italy he served us a pig fat that had been aged carefully in a marble box before spreading it thinly on crostini.  It was amazing.   As for the mains, serving me roast rabbit one day and then veal the next will make me one happy puppy.  How did he know two of my favourite things?

 If you plan to get out to Marche east of Tuscany you must go to La Tavola Marche.  It’s perfecto! (www.latavolamarche.com)

Italians are known for their love of food but the one food they love more than anything is Gelato (Italian ice cream).  There are Gelato bars on practically every corner of the major cities and even the smallest towns will have a couple Gelaterias.  If you have never had good homemade Italian Gelato you have simply not lived.  

We tried as hard as we could to not have the same flavour twice.  We had….

Hazelnut, Honey Cream, Pistachio, Coffee, Banana, Sour Cherry, Chocolate, Nutella, Tartufo, Mora Berry, Raspberry, Lemon Basil, Stratichella, Mint Stratichella, Dark Chocolate Cherry, Coffee, Zuppa Englese, Strawberry, Mixed Berry, Cherry Cream, Chocolate Fondante, Biscotti, Rose, Peach, Peaches and Cream, Peach and Orange, Orange Cream, Fior De Latte with Sesame, Fresh Mint, Kiwi, Caramel Pear, Green Apple,  Saffron, Fior De Latte Raspberry, Zabione Vin Santo, Saffron, Cinnamon, Cappuccino and Rum, Blueberry, White Mint, Liquorice, Toasted Pine Nuts and Cream, Ricotta and Lemon, Zabaglione, Lemon, Orange, Dark Chocolate

We visited some of the best places in Italy according to what we read in guidebooks and researched on line.  We kept a log and rated them on taste and quality.  Yes, I can make gluttony seem like a hobby.  If anyone is coming to Italy and needs a tip on where to get your best gelato fix just ask us - we‘ll hook you up. 

Oh, and please whatever you do, do not come to Italy and buy pre-made ice cream bars in corner stores.  I have taken to randomly slapping  the few foreigners I have seen do this.  So one day if you are in Rome sucking on a Creamcicle Brand frozen treat, don’t be surprised if one of us races out of the shadows, knocks your lame popsicle from your hand and gives you a smackin‘.

Every mourning we would start at a Turkish coffee house. If you have never had Turkish coffee you are missing out. It is long roasted, fresh ground coffee which instead of being filtered is left to settle, creating a rich caffeine laden mud at the bottom of the tiny China cup. Addictive! Combine the strong aromas of the coffee with the beautiful wafting smoke of the Sheesha pipes and you may never want to leave. Sheesha is a fruit flavoured tobacco processed in a way to remove the nicotine from it, yet, everyone in Cairo is addicted to it. My dear friend Asthma prevented us from indulging but I can tell you the smell is alluring.

Our next stop for the day would always be a bakery. We would by an assorted mix of almond biscuits, fruit flavoured cookies and hard biscuits and then…find another coffee shop. Although, at the second coffee shop we would some times order Nana (fresh mint tea). After that it would be on to another bakery to get some Baklava or other sweet pastry for desert. What a tough life.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, we also stumbled into these huge triangle shapes in the desert just outside the city. They were pretty cool. If anyone knows what they are please let us know! And, if anyone knows how to make one please put a documentary on Discovery Channel.

Although not every meal can be a South Indian engagement extravaganza, we can heartily say we’ve been eating well!  South Indian food is a good rival to our favourite Thai and Vietnamese.   Our first love is the Masala Dosai which is a crispy lentil flour crape stuffed with a delicious mashed potato filling.  Then there is idli -  a steamed rice patty that is perfect for soaking up coconut chutney.  On top of that you can have Vadai a clove spiced donut again for dipping in your favourite curry, sambal or chutney. 

If you’re still hungry after a dosai breakie, practically every restuarant in south India servers it’s own “Thali” meal set.  Served on a banana leaf or on a silver tray fit for a king, you are presented with anywhere from 5-15 different dishes — vegetable curry, lentil dahl, sambal, coconut chutney, lime pickle, sticky sweet fruit conserve and plenty of papads, chapatis and heaping mounds of rice to scoop it all up with.  Yummo!

Once you are sick of all that you can move on to the great seafood and choose from beautiful white pomfret fish, shark or huge prawns.

And of course, no meal is complete without Indian sweets.  My god are they good.  The Barfi fudge (okay it’s a bad name) is fantastic and come in many flavours including carrot, coconut, pistachio and chocolate.   Small diamonds of compressed milk and sugar kaju katri are covered in edible silver and look as good as they taste.  Galub Jumuns are deep fried cream cheese sponge balls that are then covered in sticky sweet syrup are defiantly unhealthy but are also a path to divinity.  If it’s too hot for tea and sweets you can always head for kulfi which is Indian Ice cream and comes in great flavours like cardamom, pistachio and mango.

A note for our friends back in Toronto.  Our favourite restaurant that we have visited so far in India is a chain called Saravana Bhavan.  And guess what?  They have opened one in Mississauga, Ontario.  If you want to experience a little bit of our travels go there and have a dosai or a Thali (set meal). You will love it.  Their sweets counter was also the best we have had …so far.  In case you live in the east end of Toronto and have never heard of a place called “Mrs. Awgga“, we also recommend Udupi Palace on Gerard in Little India.  Ask for a Paper Dosa and be embarrassed at the sheer size of it when it is served.