LIFE UNLEASHED

After nearly a year of travel we were bound to have a few flight/airport stories. But really, who wants to listen to us winge? I guess our poor blog readers will Let the winging begin…

It all started out well on our flight from Toronto to LA. Lisa even convinced ground staff to let us into the American Airlines lounge in LA for free food & internet. If you give them a big enough sob story you can get into any airport lounge in the world (remember she learned a lot about getting what you want using the best story in India!).

An hour later we boarded the new Qantas double decker A380 aircraft bound for Melbourne, Australia. Four hours later we were still taxiing around the runway while Qantas said they were working on a problem with the main landing gear that would not allow it to be retracted once airborne. Shortly after that they pulled in to a gate to allow “engineers” on board to fix the problem. To our dismay these engineers carried guns and LAPD badges and removed 3 passengers. Another hour later waiting for the “landing gear” problem to be fixed while they unloaded the prisoner baggage and we were finally off. No problem they said, we would make up a couple hours in the air plus we had a few extra hours in Melbourne to catch our flight to Perth. About an hour before landing they said “Ummmm, we have another problem.  Melbourne won’t let us land because of strong winds so we are being redirected to Sydney but don’t worry we’ll put you on connecting flights to your final destination”. What they failed to mention was if they would include our luggage on the connecting flights. And… they followed through by not sending us our luggage for a full 48 hours.

Worst flight connections ever but at least the A380 is pretty cool. Heaps of legroom and hundred of movies on your wide screen in-seat entertainment unit. That is, if you can distract yourself from the drama unfolding in the aisle.

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. 

Picture yourself dockside, glass of wine or beer in hand listening to the loons (large white and black water fowl with an unmistakably loud call) as you gaze over the glasslike surface of a pristine Canadian freshwater lake. The water laps lightly onto the rocks of the Canadian shield and maybe a few canoeists drift by in the distance barely making a line of ripple in the lake. THAT’s the Canadian dream… or rather, the reality of cottage life.

We spent a good couple of weeks at various cottages in Canada. Man, a dip in a freshwater lake is like nothing else. Yes, we love the ocean with it’s crystal clear water and white powder sands. But a freshwater lake has it’s own pleasures. You actually feel cleaner when emerging from a fresh water lake. There is no fear of large, many toothed, predators circling below you. To fish on a quiet fresh water lake can be a sport or a form of meditation. You do not gag and feel sick for three hours if you swallow a bit of lake water. It is as if the fresh water lake is both the cause of… and cure for hangovers. It is Canada. It is Bliss.

O’Canada, Our home and native land….Was it? Is it? We were about to find out!

It was so easy being in Canada. Knowing our way around and how to acquire the that things we needed is a major comfort. Yet, it felt a bit strange being able to speak the language of the place we were in. There were strange customs we had to relearn like how to drive on the right side of the road and how to sit on a couch and be fed information from a glowing box that told us stories of world happenings.. There were strange foods that we hadn’t tasted (in years) like the Tim Horton’s coffee, Swiss Chalet Chicken, veal sandwiches and buffalo style chicken wings. We were so far removed that we weren’t sure who the Prime Minister currently was. We had heard it was Harper. We had heard it wasn’t Harper. We heard it might be Harper but maybe not tomorrow.

You would think all this would make us feel like foreigners in our own country…but…but…there is nothing like the feeling of love and belonging you get from seeing your friends and family. Having them welcome you back. Having them cook you a meal and pour you a drink. Having them treat you as if you had never been gone at all. You can move away, you can go travelling, but you can always go home again.

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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)

“Get your motor runnin‘.  Head out on the highway.”  There is no better way to see the Tuscan countryside than on a motor bike -  All 125 cc’s of it screaming up hills and around windy corners.  As an Italian co-worker of mine told me - “Us Italians, we like our roads like we like our woman…CURVY!”  We spent the day driving past olive groves and vineyards, past castles and over hilltops.  We stopped when could to sample the fine foods and wine, admire the awesome views and walk through the ancient battlements.  The effect of the day was made even cooler by Lisa’s idea to wear 60’s inspired blue jean bell bottoms.  We WERE Easy Rider!  Scooters are so prevalent in Italy that you can actually feel cool riding one.  Especially if you park it next to a 1500 cc BMW bike so and pretend that we rode in style.  Go mad motor scooter, GO! 

We even did most of our riding on the right side of the road, which in Italy, is the RIGHT side of the road.  However, my Australian brainwashing did have me drive off a one way street on the LEFT side of the road. That’s one more of my nine lives gone. The only consolation was that the screaming man coming towards us on a very fast moving Ducati would have assumed we were British.